Jon Gruden Blasts NFL Over Raiders Crazy Stretch of Schedule That Features a Ton of Traveling

The Oakland Raiders began the regular season with two home games at the Oakland Coliseum, winning their season opener before losing in Week 2.

Well, the team may just be kicking themselves for not taking more advantage of their home turf, as the Raiders are now set for a lengthy road spell that won't see them return to Oakland until Nov. 3.

As you can imagine, Raiders head coach Jon Gruden isn't happy.

"We are still trying to understand how that happened, but we are going to have to deal with it," Gruden said. "We just have to showcase our mental toughness and deal with it. It's uncommon, maybe unprecedented, maybe unrealistic that this should ever happen in pro football. I'm not excited about it, but we'll adapt and do it the best we can."

They'll play five straight games away from Oakland, including their Oct. 6 clash against the Chicago Bears at Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London, for which they are the designated home team.

On top of playing away from the Black Hole for more than a month, every one of their opponents are playoff-contending teams. The Raiders take on the Vikings in Week 3, before traveling to Indianapolis, in Week 4.

They'll be in London for Week 5, and when the team returns to U.S. soil they'll be matched up with Green Bay on Oct. 20 in Week 7. They round out their elongated road trip with in Houston for Week 8, finally returning to the Coliseum in Week 9 against the Lions.

It may be early, but Oakland's season will be decided on how well they fare during this extended road trip, and Gruden feels the unbalanced schedule is another unfair obstacle for the Raiders to overcome.