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Andy Reid and Jon Gruden Feud Over Raiders’ Week 5 ‘Victory Lap’

In Tuesday’s Hot Clicks: beef between two old AFC West rivals, a hot start to the NBA offseason and more.

Dan Gartland

The Chiefs have some bulletin board material

The lone blemish on the Chiefs’ 2020 record is a Week 5 loss to the Raiders, a 40–32 defeat at home. Derek Carr was lights out, Josh Jacobs scored twice on the ground, Patrick Mahomes threw a costly fourth-quarter interception and Jon Gruden had his first win over the Chiefs as the coach of the silver and black.

After the game, the Raiders’ buses took a lap around Arrowhead Stadium before heading off to the airport. The celebration was reported by Nick Jacobs, a sports reporter at Kansas City’s 41 Action News and backed up by a guy who claimed to work at Arrowhead and witness the victory lap. 

The incident occurred more than a month ago, but as the Chiefs and Raiders prepare to face off again this weekend in Las Vegas, it’s still a topic of conversation. The Chiefs are already one of the best teams in the NFL, and Reid is 18–3 as a head coach following a bye week. The last thing the Raiders need is for Kansas City to be playing with an extra motivation. 

Andy Reid was asked Monday whether the victory lap was an indication of how much that game meant to the Raiders and whether the Chiefs needed to match that intensity. 

“They won the game, so they can do anything they want to do,“ Reid told reporters. “That’s not our style, but we’ll get ourselves back and ready to play. That’s where we’re at.”

Reid was asked later whether he thought the Chiefs held an advantage over the Raiders after losing the first matchup. He said no. 

“I think they [do] or they wouldn’t have driven the bus around the stadium,” he added.

Gruden was also asked about the victory lap, and it was clear from the look on his face that he wasn’t happy to be talking about it. Gruden proposed that perhaps he took the victory lap to rub it in the face of the Raiders’ bus driver. 

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“Not really,” Gruden said when asked whether the moment was bulletin board material. “I mean, you can find the smart-aleck bus driver in Kansas City who made some snide comments when we got on the bus, maybe that’s why we drove around the stadium—just to tick him off. This is ridiculous. Next question.”

Oh, sure, a “smart-aleck bus driver.” If there’s anything ridiculous about this it’s Gruden’s explanation. Why does he seem more ticked off about the victory lap than the coach he was showing up?

Even as pro sports feuds go, this one is pretty tame. Nobody’s going to throw any punches on Sunday because the Raiders took a tour of the parking lot six weeks ago. But this is the kind of silly thing that can get blown out of proportion when the teams involved already have it out for each other. 

“It’s two good football teams playing each other,” Reid told reporters. “I don’t think either team likes the other that much, as they’ve stated before.”

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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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