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          NFL Nation

          Jack Del Rio owns Raiders-Jaguars series in Jacksonville

          • Paul Gutierrez, ESPN Staff WriterOct 23, 2016, 04:34 PM ET
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              Paul Gutierrez joined NFL Nation in 2013 and serves as its Las Vegas Raiders reporter. He has a multi-platform role - writing on ESPN.com, television appearances on NFL Live and SportsCenter, and podcast and radio appearances. Before coming to ESPN, Gutierrez spent three years at CSN Bay Area as a multi-platform reporter, covering the Raiders and Oakland Athletics as well as anchoring the SportsNet Central cable news show. Gutierrez votes for the Baseball Hall of Fame and is also a member of the Professional Football Writers of America and currently serves as the PFWA's Las Vegas chapter president. He is also a member of the California Chicano News Media Association and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Gutierrez has authored three books: Tommy Davis' Tales from the Dodgers Dugout, 100 Things Raiders Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die and If These Walls Could Talk: Stories from the Raiders Sideline, Locker Room and Press Box with Lincoln Kennedy. You can follow Paul on Twitter @PGutierrezESPN
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          JACKSONVILLE -- Jack Del Rio owns this series -- in this yard.

          The second-year Oakland Raiders coach is 3-0 as, well, the head coach whenever the Raiders get together with the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Field courtesy of Oakland’s 33-16 victory here on Sunday.

          Because besides the Raiders playing their most complete game of the season and improving to 5-2, their best since the 2001 team started 6-1, Del Rio’s Jaguars beat the Raiders 49-11 here on Dec. 23, 2007 and 38-31 in the erstwhile Gator Bowl on Dec. 12, 2010.

          And the Jaguars have been a mess since they fired Del Rio after Week 12 of the 2011 season, going a combined 18-57 (.240) since, the worst in the NFL over that time frame.

          The Raiders, meanwhile, are experiencing a seeming renaissance under Del Rio, improving from 3-13 in 2014 to 7-9 last season in Del Rio’s first year to a total culture shift this year while sitting in first-place in the AFC West, a half game up on the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos, and 4-0 on the road.

          Of course, Del Rio was the Broncos defensive coordinator two years ago, was a Pro Bowl linebacker in his 11-year NFL career and an All-American at USC in the early 1980s.

          So yeah, he’s been around.

          “I’ve been in this league a long time, so I’ve gone back to a few places before,” Del Rio, who played for the New Orleans Saints, Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings and has coached in New Orleans, Baltimore, Carolina, Jacksonville and Denver, said this week.

          “It’s not the first time going back to places where I’ve been. So yeah, I think I’ll be OK.”

          Del Rio laughed.

          Of course, Del Rio’s road started in the shadow of the Oakland Coliseum, growing up a Raiders fan the Oakland suburb of Hayward, playing at USC when the Raiders shared the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with the Trojans and could potentially move on to Las Vegas.

          But Del Rio, like every other head coach, is focused on the here and now. And Sunday, it was about getting the Raiders to play well in all three phases -- offense, defense and special teams.

          Mission accomplished -- and what a way to start the Raiders’ week in Florida with a game next Sunday at Tampa Bay. Oakland will practice this week at the IMG Academy in Bradenton.

          But as All-Pro defensive end/linebacker Khalil Mack and quarterback Derek Carr both said, Del Rio's Jacksonville homecoming was not a big locker room topic this week.

          "Coach Jack is cool, man, cool dude," Mack said. "Calm. Conservative. The motto is the same every week -- go out and do what we do and dominate and win. And so that was the whole focus for him. He wasn't worried about coming back here. Everybody knew he had history here, but the focus was to come out here and get the win."

          Carr said it did not become a topic until after the game.

          "I had a ball in my hand and I was like, 'Oh, man, I should give this to Jack because he used to coach here,'" Carr said. "It wasn't something I was planning but it hit me at the end. But it's not something we were talking about like, Hey, let's get one for him. We were just out there going to play."

          Offensively, Latavius Murray had 59 yards rushing on 18 carries, with two TD plunges, in his return after missing two games with turf toe and Michael Crabtree turned in a clutch 62-yard, over-the-shoulder catch before the half to set up his 2-yard TD catch.

          Defensively, the Raiders stymied the Jags with David Amerson picking off Blake Bortles in the end zone early, Mack sacking Bortles in the middle and former Jags safety Reggie Nelson picking off Bortles late.

          And on special teams, Sebastian Janikowski had four field goals and Marquette King flipped the field with several booming punts and had a 27-yard run on fourth-and-24.

          It all added up to Del Rio’s victorious return to Jacksonville, a week after the Raiders’ worst game of the year.

          “Well, a lot of great memories here," he said after the game. "It was a great place to spend nine years, raising the family and being blessed with the opportunity to lead the Jaguar franchise. I was very appreciative of that time. I met a lot of good folks here; a lot of good memories, a lot of good friends. It is good to come back here and get a good effort in this stadium.”

          All he needed to do to cap the day was take a victory lap in each of the stadium’s swimming pools.