NAPA, Calif. -- During practice week at the Pro Bowl, Jon Gruden did more than just wear a colorful Hawaiian shirt. His calculating mind feverously raced at the opportunity to coach the best players in the sport, temporarily numbing the disappointment of the AFC championship loss to the Ravens.

Mental juices flowed. He designed two tight-end plays with Tony Gonzalez and Frank Wycheck. He schemed three-receiver sets with Marvin Harrison, Rod Smith and Eric Moulds. Gruden barked West Coast offense plays into the quarterback communicator to Rich Gannon and Peyton Manning.

"I heard Peyton making play calls of the West Coast offense, and I'm saying, 'Man, you can't be doing this, this is the Pro Bowl,' " said halfback Charlie Garner, then an NFC Pro Bowler from the 49ers.

	Jerry Rice has a new start with the Raiders at a new position, split end.

As he unleashed the AFC's best, Gruden flashed ahead to the 2001 season. Why not, he thought, bring more of the league's best onto his veteran Raiders roster? Why not bring in Jerry Rice at receiver, Trace Armstrong at defensive end, Garner at halfback to go with current Raider Pro Bowlers Tim Brown, Charles Woodson, Steve Wisniewski and Darrell Russell.

"Now, in every meeting room, we have what we refer to as blue-chip, Hall of Fame players," Gruden said. "They just happen to be our best players. Garner, Tyrone Wheatley and Terry Kirby are great pros in the running backs meetings. You have Rice and Brown there for a young player like Jerry Porter. You have Eric Allen in for Charles Woodson and the defensive backs. Trace Armstrong is there for our young defensive linemen, Tony Bryant, Regan Upshaw and Darrell Russell. We've got Rich Gannon. These are great role models."

Which makes the possible retirement of guard Steve Wisniewski that much more noticeable. Wisniewski is the father figure for work ethic on the offensive line. He is spending an indefinite time at a Southern California seminary contemplating his future. Wide receiver Tim Brown said Saturday that Wisniewski is also affected by possible health problems of his father.

Though the Raiders may have enough depth with Nate Parks, Barry Sims, Frank Middleton and others to cover the left guard position, they would miss the professionalism of one of the best guards of his era.

"He's a very major part of our offense as far as the production of the offensive line," Gannon said. "He has a major impact on the team from the leadership standpoint. Everybody knows he's an outstanding person, and an outstanding family man. We are with him. Unfortunately, it doesn't come at a good time for the football team. You would wish a decision like that would have been made before the draft."

Brown said he never heard the word "retire" from Wisniewski's mouth, but knowing the guard is a spiritual man, Brown said if "God was telling him to retire," Wisniewski might.

The uncertainty around Wisniewski, though, didn't take away from the swagger of the Raiders. With the addition of three Pro Bowlers, they have the walk of a champion. They have 21 players in their 30s, including, Rice, 38, Gannon, 35, Eric Allen, 35, Brown, 34, Andrew Glover, 33, and William Thomas, 32.

	“	I think if you wrote the names of our players, you'd say we've got an older football team. We've got a lot of guys who have double-digit seasons. ”
		— Jon Gruden, Raiders head coach

At the first team meeting Friday night, Gruden told them that they aren't getting old. They are getting better.

"I think if you wrote the names of our players, you'd say we've got an older football team," Gruden said. "We've got a lot of guys who have double-digit seasons. Being at the Pro Bowl helps you become a better evaluator. It gives you a good idea the talent you are competing against in this league. I've always been sensitive to veteran players. I've always admired guys who can sustain a high level of play for eight, 10 or 12 years."

Upon seeing Friday's arrival of Garner, who gained 2,371 yards in two 49ers seasons and instant offense for Gruden when he was coordinator in Philadelphia, they hugged. Like Rice, Garner is starting anew with the Raiders. Wheatley, a 1,000-yard runner himself, is technically the starter, so Garner spent Saturday's practice proving himself with his third team in eight NFL seasons.

It was also a strange day for Rice, a flanker for his entire career at San Francisco, trying to learn the split-end position.

"It's a whole new chapter," Rice said. "I feel like a rookie all over again."

Rice said he woke up Friday morning with his heart racing. "I knew that the fire was still burning," Rice said. What was noticeable on the field was that he still ran routes with the same precision -- only from a different side of the field.

Still, reporters wanted to know how two of the best flankers over the past decade can coexist on a team that is primarily geared toward running the football.

"You (reporters) know me long enough to know that if he (Rice) had a problem, you know I don't have a problem," Brown said. "I knew him long enough to know that we wouldn't have a problem. Otherwise, if we would have had a problem, the deal wouldn't have gotten done or I would have been gone, one of the two."

Before the team's conditioning run on Friday, a teammate came over to Rice and Brown, who were sitting together and laughing. The player said, "You guys aren't supposed to be laughing. You are supposed to be at each other's throats."

"Things are going to be said all year, if one of us has a big game and the other has a bad game, then they are going to say whoever has the bad game is going to be mad," Brown said. "As long as the team knows what's going between the two of us, that's all that matters."

Gruden practiced the team like a veteran group Saturday. Players were in shorts without pads. The morning practice went 90 minutes, but Gruden sets a good tempo to get in the work. It's a winning tempo.

"Coach Gruden was so motivated at the Pro Bowl that he was one of those guys you immediately sensed his enthusiasm," Armstrong said. "I left a place in Miami that I was very comfortable and was happy to be around him and the coaching staff. Every guy out there that played for that staff said that they would love to play for the Raiders."

Gruden, named by People Magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world, continues to take the ribbing from his team. One player told him he wouldn't have been in the top 50 were it not for the players.

"I said I'd be in the top 10 if it hadn't been for them," Gruden joked. The Raiders laughed as a team.

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.