Jon Gruden wants to take football back two decades and not use analytics

Jon Gruden is taking an old school approach to coaching with his new team in the Oakland Raiders. He wants to play like it’s 1998 and not use analytics.

Why party like it’s 1999 when you can play football like it’s 1998? That was a great year for John Elway and the Denver Broncos. They won Super Bowl XXXIII over the Atlanta Falcons, as the greatest Bronco of all time rode off into the sunset down in Miami. It was also a forgettable, but important year in Oakland Raiders lore for head coach Jon Gruden.

That was Gruden’s first year leading the Silver and Black as head coach. His team improved from 4-12 to 8-8 in 1998. This amazing year in the 1990s will also serve as the base line for what a new era of Raiders football will be based on.

When asked about if his opinion on football analytics at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Gruden responded in an antiquated nature with “Man, I’m trying to throw the game back to 1998.” He would also add, “I’m not going to rely on GPS and all the modern technology…I still think doing things the old-fashioned way is a good thing.”

Is Gruden joking? Let’s hope so, but if not, well, history might be repeating itself again. In case you were too young to watch the second rendition of Joe Gibbs in the Nation’s Capital, we will now have Chucky back in the Bay Area doing football stuff. Yes, Gruden was a successful coach while with the Raiders from 1998 to 2001, but the NFL game has changed at least three times over since his last stint with the Silver and Black 17 years ago.

The collective bargaining agreement has limited practice time. Coaches can now challenge plays on the field. Most NFL offenses go no-huddle. There are even things called slot receivers and run-pass options. They did have internet back in 1998, but you had to dial-in on your landline to use AOL. Who knows if the old Gateway PC still has any juice left in the hard drive?

The good news about taking it back to 1998 is that Charles Woodson is a rookie Heisman Trophy winner coming out of Michigan and journeyman quarterback Rich Gannon still had his best ball ahead of him. Brett Favre was still throwing picks and Elway had just exited stage left.

Next: NFL Power Rankings: 30 Best Coaches of All-Time

Truth be told, 8-8 is still better than Oakland’s awful 2017 NFL season where the Raiders went 6-10. Gruden will make the Silver and Black and interesting team to watch this fall. However, are we sure this 1998 philosophical approach to Gruden football will have aged as gracefully as Seinfeld re-runs? No soup for you, Chucky!