Raiders’ Gruden to bro Jay: ‘Welcome to the club’


Reuters | Oakland | Updated: 09-10-2019 04:42 IST | Created: 09-10-2019 04:36 IST
Raiders’ Gruden to bro Jay: ‘Welcome to the club’
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Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden was sorry to hear his younger brother Jay was fired Monday by the Washington Redskins, but didn't exactly offer a lot of encouragement when addressing the situation on Tuesday. "I'm obviously very disappointed for my brother," Jon Gruden said during his weekly media conference. "It was a long night, last couple of nights. He worked hard. Got a lot of respect for my brother. Obviously, disappointed for him getting fired.

"My dad's been fired. I've been fired. Jay's been fired and ... welcome to the club, bro." Jon Gruden was fired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2008, seven years after they acquired him from the Raiders in a trade. With tongue apparently in cheek, he established the Fired Football Coaches Association, then moved on to "Monday Night Football" for nine seasons before returning to the Raiders in 2018.

Jay Gruden was fired following the Redskins' 0-5 start, the first time since 2001 they have opened the season with five consecutive losses. "I'm not bitter," Jay Gruden told the Washington Post. "This is a production-based business, and I didn't get it done."

Jay Gruden was in his sixth season with the Redskins, compiling a 35-49-1 record that included a 33-7 home loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday. Entering this season, he had won at least seven games in four straight years, including a 9-7 mark in 2015 when Washington reached the playoffs.

Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay, who previously was the Redskins offensive coordinator under Jay Gruden from 2014-16 and also worked with him on the UFL's Florida Tuskers staff in 2009, did provide some uplifting words Tuesday. "When I was his coordinator, in a lot of ways he kind of groomed me and brought me along to where you kind of learn some of the things about how you're setting up a game plan," McVay said, also mentioning that the two men traded texts after the "tough situation" his close friend experienced Monday. "He protected me from a lot of the things."

Regarding Jay Gruden's coaching future, McVay said, "He'll have a lot of options. Those are things that I think we'll, I'm sure, discuss at some point. But right now it's more about just reaching out to a buddy and seeing how he's doing."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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