Jon Gruden on Christian McCaffrey, Carolina Panthers
Henderson, Nev. -- The Las Vegas Raiders team charter took the Silver and Black east to take on the Carolina Panthers in Week 1 of the NFL season.
But before Jon Gruden left, he took time to discuss his opponent this weekend and as you can imagine, it didn't take long to get to superstar, Christian McCaffrey.
“Well, you have to know who you’re dealing with," Gruden said. "He’s a great tailback. He can function in a two-back set. He’s a great receiver out of the backfield. He’s a versatile weapon. He’s a guy you can put in the slot. He can run option routes and seam routes. He has a wide array of skills that you have to account for.
"We’ll see a guy like that in Alvin Kamara (of the New Orleans Saints) next week. Most of the teams in pro football are finding guys like this and Carolina arguably has the very best. We have to know where 22 is, that’s for sure.”
But for Gruden, there is a lot more to be concerned about than just a running back.
The Panthers' new coach comes straight from college, along with his offensive coordinator. Gruden respects the Panthers Matt Rhule, and he has had to do some really study to try to assess what his team will look like.
“We did a lot of work," Gruden said. "We watched Temple, we watched Baylor, we watched anything we could get our hands-on. It’s a little like when you were a high school coach and you used to drive across the county to exchange films, but unfortunately, their coach never showed up so you didn’t get any tape to look at.
"It’s a challenge, there’s no doubt. What are they going to play in third-and-5? What are they going to play in goal line, short yardage? We’ll just trust our preparation, trust our rules, do the best we can.”
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