ALAMEDA — Jon Gruden was keen to remind everyone last year that the Raiders — despite having the oldest 53-man roster in the NFL heading into the 2018 campaign — were a young team.
It was a panacea excuse for all of the Raiders’ copious — and in many cases self-inflicted — woes.
And after an embarrassing 34-14 loss to the Vikings in Minneapolis, Gruden went back to old reliable on Monday.
“We’re a young team. I’m not going to sugar coat it, we’re a young team at a lot of critical positions. We’re building our football team,” Gruden said of his team’s listless performance, where the Vikings ran the ball across, over, and around them to the tune of 211 yards and a 31-7 lead in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter.