A big subject of speculation shortly after Jon Gruden’s appointment as the Oakland Raiders’ head coach was how his relationship with quarterback Derek Carr would play out. Gruden, who is notoriously tough on his quarterbacks, was expected to go hard on Carr. But it remained to be seen how the young QB would react to such an approach.

As it turns out, Carr seems to be handling things just fine under Gruden. Despite the doubts about how they would coexist, Carr claims the two of them are actually a lot alike:

“I think we both found it pretty amusing,” Carr said per Jerry McDonald of the East Bay Times. “If they were to sit down in a room and hear us talk and get after it, they would see we’re eerily similar.”

Carr also added that while it's not easy to play under Gruden mentally, he’s enjoyed how his new head coach is constantly looking to get him out of his comfort zone.

“I meet with him every morning,” Carr said. “He’ll say something to me at 5:30 and won’t bring it up the rest of the day. Then he’ll throw it at me in practice, making sure I’m still on top of the little thing he gave me in the morning. He just continues to push me and get everything out of me and it’s been really cool.”

Obviously, it’s a good sign that Gruden and Carr seem to be getting along well. Carr’s performance will be crucial to the Raiders’ ability to bounce back from last year’s disappointing campaign so it’s promising that Gruden’s methods are getting through to him.

Carr showed a couple years ago just how much star potential he has in him. If Gruden can successfully squeeze all that potential out of him through his coaching, the Raiders should be in fairly decent shape this season.