Chucky Ruined Bucs By Passing On Thomas Jones?
December 13th, 2009
It might be time for Joe to give a nickname to Tom Balog, Bucs beat writer/columnist for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. The guy hits very hard and reckless at times, and he even breaks new journalistic ground with his commentary.
Joe’s debating calling him The Hammer, with no disrespect to real athletes John “The Hammer” Milner and Greg “The Hammer” Valentine.
Today, Balog absolutely goes off on Jon Gruden with wild assertions about Jets running back Thomas Jones, the former Buccaneer.
Here’s just a small sample:
Always trying to prove that he knew bettter, Gruden sometimes didn’t know when to leave well enough alone.
If only Gruden had kept Jones, the history of the post-Super Bowl champion Buccaneers would not be the shambles that it has become, and he might not have been fired after the 2008 season.
Balog continues:
Then again, maybe Gruden would have run Jones into the ground like he did [Cadillac] Williams, and his career would be hanging by a thread, just like that of Williams, a 700-yard back whose future after five hard seasons, will be that of a role player, as long as he can stay healthy.
There’s more, as well, as Balog outlines with wild hypotheticals how the Bucs would look if they didn’t fail to re-sign Jones after the 2003 season.
Look, Joe and every other astute football fan can acknowledge that letting Jones walk was a bad move, but it surely wasn’t the epic screw-up Balog makes it out to be. Somehow, Joe doesn’t think anyone, including Balog, was thinking about Thomas Jones last December, when the 9-3 Bucs fell apart.
December 13th, 2009 at 9:29 am
I believe Jones signed with Chicago like 5 minutes after free agency started so the decision was made prior to that day. Either he wanted out or Gruden was indifferent ’cause they sure didn’t sign him.
December 13th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Gruden sure stayed on that Pittman train for an extensively long time. We should have Rode Jones for a few years and had him share the backfield with Caddy. Allow Graham to continue to be the role player and Jones/Caddy the 1-2 punch. Shoulda- Woulda- Coulda! Bring on 2010. Go Bucs!
December 13th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Sounds like this clown is not only irresponsible like most other MSM types, he is also as historically ignorant as they are! I guess he doesn’t remember all the stories about how Jones wanted out of Tampa and that the Bucs had little chance of resigning him. Oh and as far as Caddy goes, I thought backs taken in the top 10 in the draft should be feature backs and feature backs should be able to handle the work load. Gruden’s mistake there was not that he “ran him into the ground” but that he used a top 5 pick on a back with a history of injury problems.
December 13th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
People seem to have such a short memory. When Thomas Jones was fed the ball during his time in Tampa, he was a fumble machine. That is why he wound up in Gruen’s doghouse and lost carries to the other backs on the roster. One thing about Gruden was that he had a very large doghouse and he used it when his players constantly cost the team field position and points. That is why Jones signed with another team at 12:01 am the first day of free agency.