Gruden unhappy about fight that ended Raiders practice

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — After two days of work against the Los Angeles Rams sandwiched around the inevitable shenanigans that break out when NFL teams get together for joint practices, Raiders coach Jon Gruden had seen enough.

So about halfway through Thursday’s practice, with fists and trash talk swirling after a heated special teams period resulted in a brouhaha, he ordered the horn to be blown and called it a day

“I thought we had great work today until right at the end of the special teams period,” Gruden said. “I have no idea what that was. But that’s enough of that crap. It’s not good for football. It’s not good for anything. So that’s the end of that practice session.”

With that, the Raiders boarded the buses awaiting them and, with the help of a police escort, sped off to their nearby hotel.

Left in the dust was two days of mostly beneficial work against a team many consider a Super Bowl contender. The Raiders did more than hold their own against the Rams. In fact, there were periods in which they controlled the tempo and outcome both offensively and defensively.

“It’s all about experience. It’s all about improving,” Gruden said. “I think we accomplished those two things.”

But there were also more than a few moments like the one that unfolded on Wednesday when Raiders special teamers Roderic Teamer and Rasual Douglas became involved in a fracas with the Rams, resulting in players on both teams rushing in to the melee.

That is when a frustrated Gruden pulled the plug. Nothing really needed to be said at that point. His players got the message loud and clear.

“They know better. Everybody knows better,” Gruden said. “Again, it wasn’t everybody fighting. It’ll be on TV. You’ll see a bunch of guys screaming and yelling. But it was two guys in a special teams period. Then it was a lot of trash talking that escalated. It’s just sickening, really. It’s stupidity. But I’m done with that. It’s child’s play to me.”

From a coaching and teaching perspective, Gruden’s view makes absolute sense. But on a team-building front, it’s a little bit different. Not left unnoticed was the manner in which the Raiders brought the fight against the Rams, figuratively and literally.

Hence the tweet Raiders running back Josh Jacobs sent on the bus ride back to the hotel, simply stating, “I love this team.”

When asked about it, Jacobs pointed out how the Raiders were looking out for each other throughout two fierce days of practice against a stout opponent. It may mean nothing. It may mean everything. But the closeness of this team is getting harder and harder to ignore. That was reflected in how the Raiders handled themselves the last two days.

“If you look at our guys, you see how we reacted,” Jacobs said. “Then you see their guys and how they just let some things happen. I like the fact that our team’s got the fighting spirit. Not only that, but they had each other’s back.”

One negative, at least from tight end Darren Waller’s perspective, was not having to dig as deep to get through practice.

“The best reps, in my opinion, are the ones where you really are tired. That’s when there are chances for more error, and your lack of technique at the end can show a little bit and you can grow from that,” Waller said. “So I would like to finish strong.”

Nevertheless, the Raiders believe they grew over these last few days.

“I think we’re a lot better than what we give ourselves credit for,” Jacobs said. “It’s also still too early to tell. We’re still in camp mode, still trying to grind it out. But you see little flashes of big plays and special things.”

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.