Barber: At 56, Raiders coach Jon Gruden must prove himself again

NAPA - It was Jon Gruden's 56th birthday Saturday. Was the Raiders coach doing anything special to mark the occasion?

“No, not really,” Gruden said after a morning walk-through behind the Napa Valley Marriott. “Wish I did, but, uh, last couple days of training camp. Just gonna try to finish strong.”

Another iconic NFL coach, Bill Belichick, famously used the phrase “We're on to Cincinnati” to deflect questions about a previous game. Gruden had clearly moved on to Aug. 18. Anyway, there is probably no way he would rather spend his birthday than watching footballs spiral in the air and hectoring rookies into NFL players.

Gruden was 34 years old when Al Davis hired him to coach the Raiders in 1998, and he may have looked younger. Even after establishing himself as a top-tier NFL coach by winning a Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, Gruden was always perceived as the young guy. No longer.

Returning to the field after all that time in the broadcast booth casts Gruden as something of a throwback, and he has the dad bod, receding hairline and permanent coach's sunburn to prove it.

Gruden is certainly no wunderkind at this point. He has won 104 NFL games, including postseason. Don Shula had won 255 before his 56th birthday. Andy Reid won 151, Jeff Fisher 161. Belichick, seemingly born a grumpy old man, had won 142 by age 56.

Whether or not Gruden finishes the audacious 10-year contract he signed at the beginning of 2018, you'd have to figure this is his final act in coaching. But if you watch him on the practice field, if you hear his mic'd-up antics on HBO's “Hard Knocks,” it's hard to distinguish any difference between Jon Gruden, 56, and Jon Gruden, 34.

His interactions with backup quarterback Nathan Peterman, an NFL-media punching bag the past couple years, were the highlights of Episode 2 of “Hard Knocks.”

“Damn it,” Gruden blurted during a drill on the field. “Hey, Nate! You gotta hurry up, man, it takes forever. Start the motion, get it going! We're running out of time, my life is running out of… life span. So casual. Like a house mouse.”

A different clip showed Gruden trying to rally Peterman with sugar, rather than vinegar.

“Quit being so introverted, man,” he told the quarterback. “Put some pressure on 'em. You're just too … you're just too nice.” Here Gruden mimicked a timid, mealy-mouthed delivery before continuing his plea: “No, come on. Be a little bit more like me. Be a little bit of a jerk. There's gotta be something in there that pisses you off.”

Gruden gave Peterman a pop in the shoulder pads to punctuate that last observation.

I doubt Gruden sits down with a bowl of microwave popcorn and watches entire episodes of “Hard Knocks.” But word of his portrayal has filtered back to him.

“I don't like hearing all the profanity,” Gruden said Saturday. “It's like every time I swear, it makes the show. I just really love football. I have a lot of passion for this, and I get way carried away sometimes. I apologize. I'm not as foulmouthed as people think.”

A little earlier, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr had suggested that, counter to Gruden's assessment, the coach might have dropped a swear word or two that didn't make the HBO series.

“It's definitely funny to me to sit back and watch it on TV,” Carr said. “And then him to say, he says he needs to stop cussing and all those kind of things. I said, ‘Good luck, man. I wish you the best.'”

Gruden's coaching style has always been partly shtick. But the shtick is real, if that makes any sense. It's like another man who transitioned seamlessly from bench to booth: John Madden.

Madden found a comic persona that fit his profession. But he wasn't faking it. Maybe he just learned to accentuate the shtick a little more to suit his purposes. And I'd say the same is true for Gruden.

“He's hilarious and fun to be around, so it's been awesome,” wide receiver Tyrell Williams said. “Just his one-liners and all that stuff is just fun, and seeing him on the sidelines in games is comedy, too.”

I can't lie, I love watching Gruden coach, or even talk to the media. He can be such a pest, or even a troll, but his affection for his players, and his love for the game, shine through.

“The thing about him that people don't get to see enough of, maybe, is he treats us like we are his kids, like he loves us dearly,” Carr said.

The quarterback noted that he, personally, hadn't felt the edge of Gruden's tongue much, because both were winging it in the early stages of rebuilding the Raiders.

“We had very minimal moments like that,” Carr said. “I can think of maybe one or two, just off the top of my head, where it's like, ‘Hey, that's just unacceptable.' You know how much he cares about you. You know where his heart is.”

I admire Gruden's tough-love approach to coaching, and his boundless enthusiasm. He clearly has a good mind for football, too. Despite his advanced age (one year older than this columnist), I can't imagine anyone watches more film than Gruden, or has a better appreciation for the evolution of the game.

Unfortunately, all of that will take Gruden and the Raiders only so far. He has always had passion and energy in deep supply, but he hasn't always won. Last year, I will remind you, the Raiders finished 4-12. Gruden is a great Xs-and-Os schemer. His in-game play- calling and his ability to evaluate talent, however, have always been suspect.

Gruden is the star of “Hard Knocks” and the dominant personality on the Raiders' practice field. But training camp ends Monday. Soon the theater of preseason will be replaced by the grind of the 16-game marathon. Gruden will be cursing a blue streak, only we won't get to hear much of it.

That's when football will return to the brass tacks of wins and losses. And Gruden, age 56, will have to prove himself all over again.

You can reach columnist Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Skinny_Post.