How the Raiders can build culture: Just win, baby

The theme of building culture has become a cliche in football. It’s used more than a high school player saying he committed to a certain college because the coaching staff made him feel like family.

(Man, I really love that one.)

Do you know what defines a winning culture?

Um, winning.

“Every time a head coach or general manager gets hired, they talk about changing the culture,” Raiders general manager Mike Mayock said. “That’s an easy thing to talk about, but it’s a really difficult thing to do.

“It’s about establishing a benchmark and being consistent with that benchmark — preaching every day what you believe in your heart and being consistent enough to follow through with it.”

Almost here

Good night, training camp. It has been, well, a bit COVID-19 bizarre.

It’s getting closer. You can almost see Cory Littleton squaring up against Christian McCaffrey. Almost blink and miss Henry Ruggs flying down the Bermuda grass surface of Bank America Stadium. Almost hear Jon Gruden reacting — good or bad — to a specific play. Thank goodness for those seven-second broadcast delays.

The Raiders will now begin a normal game-week schedule as they prepare to open the season at Carolina on Sept. 13. If there is such a thing as culture beyond the bottom line of wins and losses — and we aren’t suggesting there is — they will search for their version while counting on key rookies to contribute.

It was back to Allegiant Stadium on Friday, where the Raiders held their second practice in as many weeks at their shiny new home. A smattering of friends and family were in attendance, meaning a smattering more than what will be allowed inside when things get real.

You can’t miss them. Names like Ruggs and fellow wide receiver Bryan Edwards. First-year players who will be given every chance to contribute. Who need to, really.

“I’m not anointing these rookies, trust me,” Mayock said. “We’re just hoping they’re going to be what we hope they are. The more weapons an offense has, the more they can stretch you horizontally and vertically. You look at a Kansas City. That’s what they do to people.”

It always comes back to the Chiefs. They won a Super Bowl last year. Pretty dang good culture.

So if that’s the bar, and Kansas City is for everyone at the moment, how close the Raiders are to it might not be clear until after Carolina and then New Orleans and then New England and then who-really-knows?

Like with most NFL teams, I’m not sure how much the Raiders understand about themselves as impending cuts arrive to reach a 53-man roster and expanded practice squad of 16. No preseason games means no live film against other folks. It makes having a set plan toward creating that culture a bit dicey.

Say nothing

“I’m not going to give anybody billboard material,” Gruden said. “We’re a young team, and we’re improving. Our guys are working hard. I think you’ve seen that yourself. Our young draft choices, a couple of them, have taken steps forward. A couple of them we are still waiting on, but we are getting better and I’m proud of the way our guys are working together …

“One of the things you got to be careful of right now is what you say, and we are just going to kind of keep our lips tight and say we’ve had a very competitive camp and we’re seeing progress.”

What he and Mayock have said: That there is more skill to help what was the league’s 11th ranked offense last season finish in the red zone more often. That in finally spending a bulk of free-agent money on defense, coordinator Paul Guenther’s side shouldn’t be as outmanned and outgunned as of late. That the Raiders are more athletic throughout the roster.

“I think when I first got here, people got tired of me talking about (building a foundation),” Mayock said. “But I believe it. And Jon believes it. The bottom line to it is being consistent on a day-in, day-out basis. Trust me, it’s not easy.”

For sure, winning in the NFL is incredibly difficult.

But do enough of it and — voila!— a culture is born.

Ed Graney is a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing and can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.