SANTA CLARA — Kyle Shanahan officially entered the NFL coaching ranks in 2004, and it was Jon Gruden’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers that welcomed in the 25-year-old son-of-a-coach.
Thursday night, Shanahan takes on Gruden for the first time as a fellow head coach. It’s stirred warm memories from their two seasons together in Tampa, and it’s mercifully paused the conversation about this season’s woes for Shanahan’s 49ers (1-7) and Gruden’s Raiders (1-6).
So let’s dig into their memory banks are and see how Shanahan’s 2004-05 apprenticeship under Gruden translates into the modern era, as well as how Gruden’s experience as a 49ers assistant was transferred to Shanahan:
1.