Senior Bowl Report Card: Grading the game, the experience and more
By John Scimeca
Jon Gruden’s Presence — C+
The Oakland head coach was spotted slapping Raiders decals on players’ helmets after they made a good play. Confused onlookers may have noticed a Delaware Blue Hen or a Utah Ute helmet obscured by something familiar, which turned out to be the recognizable Raiders black and silver logo.
Whether you accept it as a completely normal practice for a football game or deride it as another example of a know-it-all trying to impress his vision of football on top college prospects, it’s hard to deny Gruden the satisfaction of engineering a comeback win with and against a collection of future NFL players.
https://twitter.com/SInow/status/1089280437304864768
Tailgating Food — A+
Senior Bowl tailgating groups don’t mess around. The party was in full swing by 10 a.m. and in the game’s aftermath, you would think that a contest was about to start in the evening. There were stacks of firewood, coolers full of beer, and giant TVs set out in front of RVs galore. We suspect that some fans may not have entered Ladd-Peebles Stadium at all, but we cannot confirm that.
The Piggly Wiggly tailgating party was available to the first 3,500 fans to purchase tickets. Sausage dogs and hot dogs are pretty expected. Some surprise fare thrown out there? Red velvet cake, specialty chex-mix, tea, and ice cream sandwiches were available. The jambalaya (chicken and sausage) was our favorite dish, and it was a nice touch to get several Reese’s peanut butter cups on the way out of the fenced area. The line was moving at a steady rate.