Jon Gruden finally decided the time was right to finish what he nearly achieved in his first stint in Oakland and deliver another Super Bowl title to the Raiders.

Nearly 16 years after he was traded to Tampa Bay following a crushing loss in the ”Tuck Rule” game in New England and after a six-year courtship by Raiders owner Mark Davis Sione Takitaki Jersey , Gruden is officially back in Oakland where he started his head coaching career 20 years ago.

Gruden was introduced Tuesday in front of a large crowd that included nearly 50 former Raiders and nine Pro Football Hall of Famers as the coach Davis believes can carry Derek Carr and the Raiders back to the top.

The Raiders nearly got there in Gruden’s first stint from 1998-2001 but the team lost to Baltimore in the 2000 AFC title game and followed that with the memorable loss in the snow against the Patriots that still haunts the franchise.

Gruden was then traded to Tampa Bay the following month for four draft picks and $8 million. He beat Oakland in the Super Bowl the next season but always identified with the Raiders.

”For my career to end that night in New England, it still ticks me off,” Gruden said. ”I’m so thrilled to be back here. I hope people understand the emotion inside. I feel there’s unfinished business. I also feel a lot of loyalty and I feel a lot of responsibility to get the Raiders going again. It’s been a while since we consistently performed at a high level. That’s all I care about.

”I’m going to do everything I can to help this team get right again.”

Davis said he had been trying to bring Gruden back for six years ever since taking over the franchise following his father’s death. He said he thought he had been close four times before and the opportunity was finally right this year after more than a dozen cross-country recruiting trips to Tampa, Florida.

Davis said he first got an inkling Gruden might be ready to return when he met with him during the season when the Raiders spent a week in Florida to talk about how to fix a team that was struggling after winning 12 games a year ago under Jack Del Rio.

Talks became even more serious when they met on Christmas Eve before the Raiders played in Philadelphia in a game Gruden worked for ESPN. That led Davis to decide to cut ties with Del Rio and finalize a deal with Gruden.

Gruden will get a 10-year contract worth about $100 million, a person familiar with the deal said on condition of anonymity because terms had not been released.

”Everybody knows I’ve been infatuated with him or whatever to get him here, but they really didn’t know how deep our conversations were going, how far along we were in that to make it happen,” Davis said. ”Somebody asked me, what was harder – to get the 31 votes to move to Las Vegas? Or to get Jon Gruden? And by far to get Jon Gruden was the toughest.”

Gruden returns to the sideline after nine seasons as an announcer at ESPN. He said he’s eager to take over a team with a promising young quarterback in Carr.

Gruden said he hopes the familiarity with new offensive coordinator Greg Olsen Sheldrick Redwine Jersey , who had that role in Carr’s rookie season in 2014, will help Carr bounce back after regressing this season from the form that made him an MVP candidate in 2016.

The Raiders had major drops in scoring (26 to 18.8), yards per game (373.3 to 324.1) and committed twice as many turnovers (14 to 28) this season as Carr took a major step back in his development after signing a $125 million, five-year extension in the offseason.

”I think he’s got huge upside,” Gruden said. ”With Greg Olsen and the system we will put in place that will demand a lot from him, I think that’s going to unlock the greatness in him. I’m very, very excited to have him as our quarterback.”

Gruden also has hired former Cincinnati defensive coordinator Paul Guenther and former Dallas special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia for those roles on his new staff.

Gruden brings intensity to the sideline and the meeting rooms that made him a fan favorite in his first stint, earning him the nickname ”Chucky” after the character in the 1980s slasher movie ”Child’s Play.”

Some of Gruden’s former players said the new Raiders are in for something they’ve never experienced before.

”Either you buy in or you’re not going to be a part of it,” said Hall of Famer Jerry Rice Austin Seibert Jersey , who played one year for Gruden. ”I hope these players are ready because they’re going to get Chucky. They’re going to get him. Now how they deal with that is a different story, but Chucky’s going to come out.”

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SEATTLE (AP) — While the Minnesota Vikings are still fully in control of their path to the postseason, Adam Thielen knows it’s starting to slip away.Ten points last week in New England. Seven points on Monday night in an ugly 21-7 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. It’s not good enough. The Vikings know it, and the frustration is beginning to build.“We’re fighting as an offense, we’re trying to get something going. We just need a spark. We need a spark and we need it fast,” Thielen said. “I think we have a bunch of guys on this offense that want to win and want to make plays. But we haven’t found that rhythm. It’s there. It’s there. We just have to keep fighting.”Minnesota lost its second straight and had an offensive night to forget against a Seattle defense that had appeared vulnerable of late. Minnesota (6-6-1) twice had scoring chances in the fourth quarter when it was still a one-score game, but was turned away each time.The Vikings’ chances of winning the NFC North took a major hit with the loss, but they still hold the No. 6 spot in the NFC — for now.“I don’t know how to give you a measurement on that, I don’t know what the scale is for that number Trysten Hill Jersey , but certainly, when you’re not putting as many points on the board as you’re capable of or have shown in past games it is disappointing,” Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins said. “I think the added piece of the disappointment is when your defense is playing so well.”Minnesota’s defense more than did its part against Seattle. The Vikings held the Seahawks to six points into the fourth quarter, taking advantage of a poor night by Russell Wilson. And while Seattle ran crazy against one of the better run defenses in the NFL, the Vikings did enough to keep it a one-score game long enough for Cousins, Thielen and the rest of their offensive crew to have a chance.But Minnesota couldn’t convert. They were turned away on fourth down at the Seattle 1 with 9:06 remaining and on their next possession Dan Bailey’s 47-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Bobby Wagner on a debatable call whether Wagner’s leap over the offensive line was legal.Whether or not Wagner’s play was legal, the Vikings never found the end zone until Cousins’ 6-yard TD pass to Dalvin Cook with 1:10 left. All it did was keep the Vikings from being shutout for the first time since 2007.“We’ve got to score points, we’ve got to move the ball, we’ve got to stay on schedule Connor McGovern Jersey ,” Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs said. “We can’t get behind the chains. It’s simple things. We can’t get behind the sticks.”Cousins finished 20 of 33 for 208 yards, but had just 56 yards passing entering the fourth quarter. He noted that teams are rotating their coverages on Diggs and Thielen, trying to slow down Minnesota’s passing game, and he’s not going to force throws into danger. Seattle played seven defensive backs at times trying to contain Diggs and Thielen.That extra coverage is partly why Thielen, who entered the game with 98 catches, didn’t get his first target until midway through the third quarter. By that point, Seattle offensive tackle George Fant already had a catch after reporting eligible on a play.“We didn’t have a lot of explosive plays, again credit the Seahawks for limiting those,” Cousins said. “When you don’t have explosive plays Foster Moreau Jersey , and you’re kind of marching methodically down the field, it was hard for us to sustain.”The most frustrating sequence for Minnesota was early in the fourth quarter trailing 6-0 and after finally hitting a 48-yard reception to Diggs to get deep into Seattle territory. The Vikings had first-and-goal at the 4, but after two short runs and an incompletion, faced fourth-and-goal at the 1. Rather than run, Cousins tried to hit Kyle Rudolph across the middle, but the pass was broken up by Bradley McDougald.“Every situation that we failed at the end of the night is frustrating,” Cook said. “We just have to go and fix it and watch film. We have to get it right.”