The QB Blast: Simplify Offense For Freeman, WRs
May 4th, 2010
Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson
By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst
Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.
This time a year ago the Bucs were just getting organized with their new coaches, players and draft picks. New philosophies were being put in place under the new head coach and new offensive Coordinator, Jeff Jagodzinski.
Last spring we were told the Bucs’ offense would be run- and play-action heavy with their solid offensive line and strong stable of runners to complement either veteran quarterback Luke McCown or Byron Leftwich. We were also told rookie first round pick Josh Freeman would spend 2009 learning from the sidelines.
We all know those plans changed dramatically when Raheem Morris turned over the coordinating duties to Greg Olson just before the first kickoff. That wasn’t the reason for the horrible start, but it didn’t help. And the best intentions of leaving Freeman on the bench to learn turned out to be a “baptism by fire” after just seven games.
After taking on the task of offensive design and play-calling, Olson turned the team back to his comfort zone and to the previous regime’s influence, but all I could differentiate was a little less of the pre-snap running around that Gruden was so fond of and was mostly show anyway.
That pre-snap motion is hoped to expose the coverage, but as one long-term player under Gruden said to me, “It just made us tired before the play.”
Losing a lot of that nonsense was a step forward for the current offense. A young QB’s head is already swimming with thoughts at the line of scrimmage, trying to figure out what the defense is planning. And the more movement before getting set gives him less time to figure out if he wants to audible and what to audible to before the play clock runs out.
Another thing that needs to change from that offense is the extensive wording. While some of the running plays are called simply enough, the passing game verbiage is ridiculous.
If you watched “Gruden’s QB Camp” on ESPN recently, Gruden disparaged Colt McCoy’s southern accent, saying no one would be able to understand the extensive play call with his current accent.
I learned multiple pro offenses, including the 3-digit system that many teams are still regularly winning with (Chargers and Cardinals among others), and none of them sounded anything like Gruden’s — “Flip Right Double X Jet 36 Counter Naked Waggle at 7, X Corner. Heads-up for a 358 Cannon Check on 1.”
We know that football teams aren’t overflowing with rocket scientists in the first place, and players also haven’t spent years and years in the same system, nor do they spend the same amount of time in their dark “laboratories” studying film like their coaching staffs. In fact, players are much more likely to be coming in for the night at 4:17 AM, not firing up the video reel of third-down blitzes like Gruden does.
Although relatively good things should be expected from the Bucs’ running back contingent in 2010, last year’s run-oriented plan didn’t work out as well as hoped and this group still lacks a homerun threat.
This team is now squarely on the big, young shoulders and arm of Josh Freeman and the focus should shift to where the biggest plays will come next year and that is through the air.
To maximize that effort, Olson would do well to simplify the verbiage and pre-snap movement of whatever his offense morphs into. That will benifit his star QB and his potential star rookie wideouts.
May 4th, 2010 at 10:06 am
Gruden’s offense was offensive.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/mckenzb/Sigs/gab2.gif
May 4th, 2010 at 10:58 am
Are you truly a great offensive mind if you are the only one that gets your offense? Gruden sucked because he tried to make a cupcake recipe into a manual to enrich uranium. It’s not that hard. Making it as complicated and confusing as possible, as Gruden did, makes no sense at all. It doesn’t confuse defenses. It only confuses your own offense. Most NFL players don’t seem extremely bright. What are the chances that all 11 will know exactly what they are doing when you verbage sounds like pig latin under water? I don’t think Olsen will have that problem. I think Olsen and Freeman and Van Pelt will work together very well this season. I just hope our offensive line can protect Freeman and allow us to run the ball. That’s the million dollar question.
May 4th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Man if Gruden’s offense sucked id hate to come up with a descriptive term for what we saw last season.
I recall two games with no firsts downs at all at half time.
May 4th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Eric, you are another Chucky’s acolyte aren’t you? Last year’s offense was atrocious, but does that make Gruden’s offense less putrid?
May 4th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
I keep hearing how complicated Grudens offense was to understand.
The question I have is why was it not a problem for the players in Oakland?
They were at or near the top of the league in offense while he was there. If I’m not mistaken the year we played them in the Super Bowl,, they were the number one offense in the league using Grudens complicated playbook.
I can understand dumbing it down a bit for the younger players but if a guy is getting paid what these guys get paid I would hope they would put in the time to make sure they understand the playbook. No matter how complicated it is.
May 4th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Five different motions prior to the snap only to end up in a recognizable formation anyway does not reach Guru status by any stretch of the imagination.
I, with no more than high school ball background, could identify half of every play ran under Guru Gruden’s watch. As soon as they stop the stupid multi-man, multi-motion crap with 3 seconds left on the play clock almost everyone with common f-ball knowledge knew where the play was headed.
Oh, Gruden ponders, I’ll really fool the defense and throw the ball deep on 3 and 1 but we’ll run it up the gut on 3 and 10!
Yes, Gruden coached our super-bowl. Yes, I think he got us over a plateau that we had become stuck on. However, the team was in place to do so and did not require building. This team lost ground for returning to the SB each and every year Gruden was hear thereafter. Bringing in just enough used up vets to make playoff and South Div runs but no young core sustain a future.
I hope he gets back out there next year. I hope it is with a descent team. Where ever it is your will see a slow dismantling of any chance that team has of sustaining a future. Maybe then all the Guru Gruden lovers in here will finally admit that he sucks!
May 4th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
The bottom line is, it doesn’t matter what offense you use and what verbage you have:
IF your players are better and execute better, they will succeed.
The Cowboys from the 1990’s had a handful of running plays for Emmit. No one could stop it. The passing game was: Irvin on and out or Irvin on a slant. OR TE Novaceck in the middle. Once in awhile they would air one out to Harper.
They won because they executed better and had better players.
The Colts offense is very simple. There is no movement. They win because they are better and execute better.
Bottom line: you need the players. The Bucs are on the path to having great players again, but it is still 2 years out.
May 4th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
@gruss222, I just hope Gruden doesn’t come back with a team like Carolina because there’s going to be some SERIOUS payback. You might laugh now, but the guy is going to haunt us if he gets back into our division.
If Gruden had such a crappy offense how did they win 9 games his last season? It wasn’t the offense that cost us those last four games — it was the defense. Last season, The Dream wins 3 games. I’ll take Gruden over The Dream any day of the week.
May 4th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Exactly! You’ll take a 9 win and get no where from a coach who has been here for years over a 3 wins from a coach in his first year with the awful talent left behind by the previous coach.
Fact is clear:
1. Talent level fell each year Gruden was here and we ended up with an older, talentless (for the most part) team.
2. In the second year of Rah being the HC the talent level, all be it on paper for now, has risen.
Those are true facts! If the talent level continues to rise, then the natural outcome is that your over all success sould rise with it. I’ll take Rah headed in the right direction with his minimal experience over Guru Gruden sucking the life out of the team and headed in the wrong direction all day, every day and twice on Sunday!
Go Rah! Go Dom! And Go Bucs!
May 4th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
@gruss222, you’re assuming The Dream and his staff will be able to win with the new talent. That is far from a “clear fact”. You’re putting A LOT of faith in someone who was only able to scrape together 3 wins last year.
And yes, I’ll take a 9 win season over a 3 win season any day of the week.
May 4th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
@gruss222
I support Raheem and I root for him to turn this team around. But make no mistake Jon Gruden is head and shoulders above him as a football coach.
You are right Grudens downfall was his and Bruce Allens talent evaluating and drafting.
Some say that is because the Glazers tied their hands with the payroll. I don’t know if that is the reason or not. But if Gruden gets with a team and a GM/President that is a good talent evaluator and will stand up to Gruden and command his respect.( Mike Holmgren in Cleveland comes to mind) then the rest of the league had better look out.
Gruden is a great coach if he has the right players he just isn’t great at deciding which players are the right players.
May 4th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
Eventually, the “its Gruden’s fault” excuse will expire.
I hadn’t realized the Super Bowl was “nowhere”, and NFC South Titles too.
Who woulda thunk it.
May 4th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
His offense turned the Eagles(off coord 95-97) around from ranked in the lower 20’s to the top 10. His offense turned the Oakland Raiders(an 4-12 team to a superbowl contenders) ranked 22 offense to top 8(four years in row). Oh and most importantly won a Superbowl!
May 4th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
“ranked 22 offense to in the top 8”, sorry bout that
May 4th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
I couldn’t stand Gruden. I don’t think he was a good coach. If he is an offensive genius, like he has been called, I never saw it. Gruden should thank god Monte was there running the D, because we never had a good offense. I hope the Bucs heed Carlson’s words and make the play calling simpler. People were making fun of the complicated BS Gruden was calling, while our team offense was near the bottom of the NFL.
May 4th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
Thank you Mr. Duemig.
May 4th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
@Eric
No! Eventually all of you who can not leave your life hero Guru Gruden in the past will hopefully follow him to his next team.
There would be no mention of his name if not for all of you Grudenites claiming your overwhelming allegience to his superior coaching every other post.
@Louie
I am making no assumption of what Rah may or may not accomplish with this team. My point is, and I believe most pundits have stated, the Bucs have acquired some “potentially” good talent in last years’s draft and followed that with this year’s draft. THIS is called building. Did he win last year with what was left behind from the previous admin? No. He began a building process. He added to that building process this draft. It is for this reason I would chose Rah over Gruden time and time again at this point. Rah builds for a future long term winning program, and Gruden either does not bring in young talent or gets in a riff between him and the talent he may have until there forced from the team. Bottom line: One builds, the other tears down. I’ll support the builder!
Go Rah! Go Dom! Go Bucs!
May 4th, 2010 at 5:25 pm
I’d love it if Gruden coached the Panthers next year. It would be great fun to watch us beat down his rag tag teams of oldies.
May 4th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
@JDouble
Absolutely 100% correct!! And would only get easier with each year that passes as he hires his next over-the-hill QB and puts Steve Smith on the bench because “he’s in his dog house”!! LMFAO!
May 4th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
@JDouble & gruss222, talk is cheap and you two are overloading your mouths. I do find it interesting that Gruden won 9 games with essentially the same talent as The Dream had in winning 3 games.
I truely hope Gruden ends up in Cleveland, but if he goes to an NFC South team who is willing to spend some money, then it won’t take too long to over take The Dream’s 3-13 team.
May 4th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
@Louie
I would expect nothing less from you than to show your loyalty to your Guru!
I would love to see Rah’s defense just kick the holy crap out of the tonka toy worthless offense Guru Gruden would put on the field. Monte’s defense won us a Super Bowl. Rah is a desciple of Monte and will bring our defense back to championship form. Guru Gruden’s offense didn’t post crap the entire time he was here.
I pray for Gruden to end up in an NFC South position!! Tampa Defense will rip the crap out of that easily predictable play calling of your Guru!
May 4th, 2010 at 7:28 pm
@Oar, enlighten us what he accomplished as an offensive coordinator in Tampa.
May 4th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
@gruss222, I sure hope The Dream can cash the checks your mouth is writing. I remember what Gruden did to Oakland (his old team) when he crushed them in the Superbowl. I don’t want that to happen to the Bucs. Are you old enough to remember when Gruden’s Raiders crushed Dungy’s Bucs 45-0? I’d just rather play it safe and have him go out of the division. If Gruden gets the right situation, he’s going to be really good.
May 4th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
@Louie
yeah, and by the way, I’m just old enough to have watched the majority of other teams laugh at our worthless offense controlled completely by your Guru!
Tampa won games when it’s defense won for them! They have never been able to RELY on that worthless Gruden offense. Good riddance with that hope-to-get 7 points a game crap!
Tell me. Did other teams fear our defense or our offense during Guru’s time here? I believe they actually named defensive schemes after ours! I don’t think any other team were formulating there offense in the shape of Gruden’s Bucs offense!!
May 4th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Its very simple. When the dream marchs into Ray-Jay with the Vince Lombardi trophy, then he can be considered Gruden’s equal.
Until then its all blah-blah-blah-blah.
May 4th, 2010 at 8:49 pm
@Eric
Hard to dispute facts.
Teams feared our defense and modeled theirs after it!uPur defense won that Super Bowl!
No team has feared our offense and no team has formed theirs after ours!
Get over Gruden! He’s gone! Now give Rah a chance to show what he may be able to do!
May 4th, 2010 at 8:53 pm
The Gruden apologists are busy comparing him to Rah, but NONE want to delve deep into what he did with Tampa’s offense in 8 years. He did NOTHING. Brian Billick 2.0
Wait, he did something…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/mckenzb/Sigs/gab2.gif
May 4th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
@Eric. I have debated over the same issue weeks back. Gruden’s Bucs lost many games even when the defense restricted opponents to less than 17 points. What Gruden did in Oakland, GB and Philly is meaningless in this discussion, what has he done in Tampa?
May 4th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
Like I said, blah, blah, blah.
May 4th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
Exactly!!! The great Gruden groopie is finally speechless! Maybe we can get through a couple post without having his name brought up!
Judge Rah for what he does. Good or bad and put it out there. That’s fine. But stop with the idiotic Gruden comparisons.
May 4th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
@ Eric. Good job backing out of the discussion, you just proved my point.
May 4th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
As far as comparisons with Rah goes. Was I happy with his hiring, ABSOLUTELY NOT. But the man shows courage to shake off the rust and rebuild, if its a fail we will get another coach, if it is success, well and good.
Ultimate motive = Consistent excellence, not mediocrity or suckiness.
May 4th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
actually Gruss222, if you look at the posts, it was Jdouble and johnny that started talking trash about Gruden, I didn’t introduce the topic.
But, like I said, check the trophy case.
Nuff said.
May 4th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
@Eric
My discussion was with the two of them. You chose to join in and clearly declared your side with more Gruden rhetoric.
Again, trophy case is owed to a great defense. Rah was actually part of the coaching staff for that defense. Therefore, Rah deserves as much credit for that trophy as Guru Gruden does for his worthless excuse of “improving” our offense.
Thank you to ALL that were involved with winning it. Now let’s support our future instead of the past. Rah is our leader and Rah should be supported.
May 4th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
“Rah deserves as much credit for that trophy as Guru Gruden”
Ok man, your thinking is spot on. The quality control coach was the key!
Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA
Congratulations for having posted the dumbest remark ever!
May 4th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
If there was any doubt that Gruden is a polarizing figure . . . Geesh
May 4th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Come on Eric! Everybody knows the quality control coach was the key to the Bucs Superbowl! What’s wrong with you man???!!! ROFL
May 4th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
@Gruss222, are you sure you’re not The Dream’s mommy?
May 4th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
I gotta chime in here…. Let’s give Gruden credit for winning a Super Bowl in which Monte’s defense actually scored 21 points directly and set up another FG. That basically gave us 24 points and we allowed 21. Hmmm… Our defense won the game 24-21. Same, I suppose, could be said for the offense winning 24-21, but the offense didn’t do much until the D and ST set them up.
Now, I can’t fault Gruden exclusively for the decline of the team after that year. The front office gave up 2 first round draft choices just to get Gruden here which greatly restricted our ability to improve our talent. Beyond that they had to overpay the guys we had just to keep them around, since we couldn’t draft any replacements. Then we were up against the salary cap and had to let the talent go, and still couldn’t replace them.
It was not Gruden’s fault the team declined after his arrival, it was the GM. Not even the ownership could be blamed for being cheap, as they were at the league maximum for salary cap for a few years. That said, Gruden couldn’t take the players he had and make them a good offense. With the Raiders, he took aged players like Gannon, Tim Brown, Rice, Garner and made them look incredible, but he couldn’t take the players we had and make them look decent. He alienated players and we lost even more talent.
Raheem has done absolutely nothing yet. I won’t even dare to say he’s as good as Gruden. I will say the front office appears to be doing a better job so far. That said, Raheem will have every opportunity to show that he either is or is not a good NFL head coach. History will judge that, not prediction. The talent is in place for him to take a virtually new team to the same level it was at when Gruden left this year, and even further in years to come. That’s not saying it will or won’t happen, just that Dom has given him the players to have a chance.
That’s my rant, take it for what you will.
May 5th, 2010 at 8:27 am
@Eric: “it was Jdouble and johnny that started talking trash about Gruden”. Like you talk trash about Morris? At least I can sell my trash.
May 5th, 2010 at 8:57 am
My point is that Coach Kiffen’s defense deserves the credit for winning us that superbowl not any Gruden offense. The argument that Gruden won us a SB is lame.
Yes, Gruden deserves credit for minimal input. The pieces were in place and he motivated those pieces to give a little extra and got us over that hump. However, his motivational skills grow old on his players rather quickly and they end up in “his dog house” and not on the field. Exactly how many times did we go back to the SB after that? Where was all this masterful offense that you boast of him having? We didn’t go and he didn’t get it done. This offense STUNK under his masterful control. Veteran toy after veteran toy only to have that toy get boring to him and put on the bench.
Anybody that knows anything about the Bucs will attest:
How the Tampa defense goes, so goes the team. The offense has never been able to be relied upon to provide squat. Even when the defense would be in position to pitch a shutout, Gruden’s offense would cough up a point scoring turnover to get us beat.
Monte deserves the credit! Gruden deserves what he got! Rah deserves our patience and support to see what he has to offer!
May 5th, 2010 at 9:22 am
gruss222:
You make some interesting points, but Joe has to wholeheartedly disagree with your premise that Chucky had minimal impact on the Super Bowl season. Of course, Kiffin deserves more than ample credit. To this day it drives Joe nuts he can’t specifically remember the following so Joe apologizes, but there was a blitz scheme that Kiffin used liberally that season that previously, Father Dungy wouldn’t let Kiffin use. Chucky gave Kiffin free reign. Joe remembers Kiffin talking about this but Joe cannot remember what blitz scheme it was.
If you don’t have NFL Network (Joe doesn’t know what to politely say if you don’t 🙂 ) go to Hulu.com and watch the Amercia’s Game video highlighting the Bucs Super Bowl season. Both Warren Sapp and John Lynch — neither of which are remotely friendly to Chucky; Lynch won’t even talk to him — both lauded Gruden for putting the Bucs over the top and why Gruden was the difference-maker in that season.
Also, remember that Chucky totally revamped the Bucs offense, bringing in five and sometimes six new starters. Three of those guys had major roles in the Super Bowl against Oakland.
Chucky’s input into the Super Bowl season is hardly trivial. It was significant.
And Joe’s not a Chucky acolyte either.
May 5th, 2010 at 10:54 am
@Joe
I have stated several times that Gruden deserves credit fir getting us over the hump. Either by motivation or, as you have stated, by taking the reins off of Kiffen to allow him to get it done.
My dispute is with the neverending outcry from the few well known Gruden Groopies boasting of Gruden’s supreme offensive production.
This team survived by it’s defense, won championships by it’s defense and is best known for IT’S defense!
The offense stunk when Gruden was brought in to overhaul it and the offense stunk every year he was here. Trust me. I am on offense minded fan and begged for the day he could turn it around and make just one team fear our offense. He didn’t get it done and the only fear of the offense he put on the field was the possibility of laughing yourself unconscious!!
Some need to take there ” Got Gruden?” shirts off, put them away and let’s get on with the future!
Go Rah! Go Dom! Go Bucs!
May 5th, 2010 at 11:11 am
Gruss222:
That offense was there in the postseason run to the Super Bowl and largely for the second half of that season. The Bucs rolled the Niners in the playoffs, put up 21 on the road at Philly (where they previously couldn’t score a touchdown) and was pretty good in the Super Bowl.
Overall, Gruden’s offense was overhyped. But it lived up to the hype in the 2002 postseason.
May 5th, 2010 at 11:51 am
“This team survived by it’s defense, won championships by it’s defense and is best known for IT’S defense!” But, yet you pat the guy on the back, that wanted to get rid of our Tampa-2. Then you give him praise, when he realized what an assinine idea that was and went back to it! Brilliant, I say, BRILLIANT!
May 5th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
jonny, What Gruden did in Oakland, Philly, and Green Bay or where ever, has everything to do with it. Especially, when one is saying “he sucks” or “is a horrible coach”. It is his career/guru in question with the haters, is it not? So they all have to do with it. You can’t just look at one team or just a few years in someones career, otherwise one could say Pat’s Bilicheck sucks(if one only looks at his Cleveland years)!
BTW I think its funny how the offensive rankings are or can be looked at. A lot of times a FG or a safety per game is all a team needs to lift them from the middle of the pack into the top 10. It is a game of decimal places at that point. For instance, in 2008 we ranked 18th in scoring with 22.6 points/game, yet Atlanta at the number 10 spot had 24.4 points/game. Wow 2.2 point difference to be in top 10. Shoot New Orleans was #1 that year with only 28.9 points/game. A td more a game or 2 FGs and we would be at the top.
May 5th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
@OAR
There has been no patting of backs or applauding of decisions. As I have stated several times. Dom and Rah have been appointed the leaders of this team. No body walks in to a team, with as dismal talent as this team had, and immediately makes them champions. It is a building process. Some build for immediate, short lasting success. Some build for sustainable, long lasting success.
Dom and Rah have chosen to start from scratch. Rebuild with youth and attempt a run at the long lasting, sustainable success. Will they succeed? Can they get it accomplished? Nor you or I know the answer to these questions. However, I choose to put my Buc colors on and support the decisions that this team has made. If they fail, so be it. If they succeed, it’s great. But I refuse to sit around yanking on the nads of a previous coach that is no longer here and will never be here again.
This is the same coach that all of you were griping:
“why is Alstott on the bench?”
“why did they cut Lynch?”
“why is Garcia on the bench?”
“why is Galloway on the bench?”
“why is Graham not getting the ball?”
“why is Keyshawn not playing?”
“why is Sapp gone?”
“why can we not score more than 7 points?”
Some of you are a complete joke. You will gripe about who ever is the chief at the time then applaud and beg for them back when they’re gone.
Let it go or follow Guru Gruden to what ever team he is with next year.
I choose to support the Bucs!!! Now and in the future!!!!
Go Rah! Go Dom! Go Bucs!!
May 5th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
@gruss222
Knock yourself out man.
I just hope we have a good quality control coach! We all know how critical that is.
May 5th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
@OAR: As a fan of Bucs and Bucs only, all I care about what Guruden did in Tampa. There are several guys that had great success with their previous teams and failed later as head coaches.
Brian Billick devised one of the BEST offenses in history of the game with Minnesota and even won a SB with Ravens. But at the moment I would not hesitate to say Billick sucked as an offensive mind in Baltimore. Same with Guru Gruden.
You talk about offensive stats being overblown, look at our only two playoff losses. Easily chaseable targets, we still lost because our offense SUCKED balls.
May 5th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
@gruss222…
“My dispute is with the neverending outcry from the few well known Gruden Groopies boasting of Gruden’s supreme offensive production.”
You’re the only one talking about Gruden’s production on offense. You seem to only grade him as an offensive coordinator. The rest of us are looking at him as a head coach. As a head coach, he’s a damn good coach.
Also, you imply that The Dream is this big improvement over Gruden. Years down the line, you might be able to say that, but right now The Dream is a HUGE downgrade. Like I said, Gruden got 9 wins out of basically the same talent as The Dream was only able to coach to 3 crummy wins.
May 5th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
@Louie
Yeah, what a great coach. He won with a team that was primarily built before he came here. Everybody bought into his ChuckyFace hype that first year and yes, they got it done.
Then what happened? No significant free agent wanted to lay for him. Our own players could not stand him and some left because if him. He is nothing more than a short term flash of positive fir any tram and then the downward spiral begins.
As I’ve stated. I truly hope that some poor team takes chance on him and gets him on their sideline as HC next year. It will be fun watching their demise!
May 5th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
U mean it really wasn’t the quality control coach??????????????????????
Look at the big brain on gruss222!
May 5th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
gruss222, I’m sorry to disappoint, but I did not bitch or gripe about any of those. I will be a “class act” and answer them though:
This is the same coach that all of you were griping:
“why is Alstott on the bench?” Wow, multiple neck injuries do that!
“why did they cut Lynch?” Mis-dignosed neck, nice team Doctor.
“why is Garcia on the bench?” I was hoping he stayed on the bench.
“why is Galloway on the bench?” Again, injuries will do that.
“why is Graham not getting the ball?” Was un-drafted and small, bulked up and waits/gets a shot, but you could still say that NOW!
“why is Keyshawn not playing?” Well he was an A-hole! Bitch out your boss on national tv and see where that gets you.
“why is Sapp gone?” Well Monte Kiffin said Bugger could get it done. Bad decision by Monte.
“why can we not score more than 7 points?” A stupid question doesn’t deserve answer even a stupid one.
I also disagree. I think several ex-headcoaches or exp-coodinators out there could have made last years team more competetive. Not champions as you put it, but at least worth wanting to watch.
BTW I am a Bucs fan, since there inception in 76. But, after the Culverhouse days, I’m just not one of those ownership-can-do-no-wrong kinda guys anymore.
May 5th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
jonny, Oh you mean the Redskin playoff game where Chris Simms and Edell Shepard got robbed of that game winning td? Or the one where Garcia(should have stayed on the bench) threw 2 tds? Niether was the fault of Gruden’s offensive scheme.
BTW Where did I say the offensive stats were overblown? I said it is funny how people look at the offensive rankings, when they are really only a few points apart.
May 5th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Whoops…..meant Garcia threw 2 INTERCEPTIONS not tds.
May 5th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
@Louie
Please tell me if I’m wrong.
What was Gruden adamantly publicized as being and ultimately hired as head coach for? HIS OFFENSE!
What did everybody claim Gruden would turn around and make a strength of this team? OFFENSE!
Did he get it done? NO!
This offense stunk when he came in and stunk just as bad when he went out!
So let’s add it up.
Offensive minded coach.
Could not turn around an offense in 7 years!
Nobody wanted to play for him.
Adds up to failure as head coach of this team and time to move on!
May 5th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Gruss222:
There’s absolutely no way you can call Gruden a failure in Tampa Bay when he’s the only coach in franchise history to win a Super Bowl.
May 5th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Gruss222, No problem there, although it was the media that labeled him as such. I just disagree with his replacement.
May 5th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
@Gruss222
Look man, you and others got your way, no more Gruden in Tampa. The Glazers listened to idiots like you, along with Clayton, so there you have it.
The new regime is free to set all the offensive records and win all the championships they can and completely surpass Jon Gruden and his bad coaching.
So Enjoy!
May 5th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
In 2006, Gruden led the Bucs to a miserable 29th ranked offense. The team averaged only 13.2 points per game and just 270.1 yards of offense per game. This is, of course after Gruden has had a chance to draft offensive weapons for a couple years, and neglect the defense.
In 2009, Morris (with virtually nothing to work with other than Freeman, and no Monte Kiffin leading the defense anymore) takes the team to a horrible 28th ranked offense. Averaging only 15.2 points per game and 287.5 yards per game.
Obviously 2006 was not Gruden’s best year, but it sounds like many here think that Morris’ best year couldn’t touch Gruden’s worst year. Statistically, that’s not true. Morris’ first year was better than Gruden’s worst. Gruden’s best year was 2003 statistically (10th in ypg/18th in ppg). In 2002 we were ranked 24th in the league in offense, in ’04 we dropped back to 22nd, ’05 23rd, etc.
Saying Gruden is a guru for offenses is quite a stretch, based on his results in Tampa. That’s not saying he was a bad head coach, I liked him when he was here. The idea behind bringing Gruden in was for him to make the offense as potent as Kiffin’s defense. That didn’t happen, the team deteriorated, Kiffin left. A change needed to be made, the team made it, we have Raheem. Is he better than Gruden? Too early to tell, but I won’t say he’s not, as his first season ever as a head coach was better than Gruden’s 5th with the Bucs based on the performance of the offense. The record was worse, but the defense slipped significantly with the loss of Monte, contributing to the failed record.
May 5th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
“The record was worse, but the defense slipped significantly with the loss of Monte, contributing to the failed record.” Monte leaving was all? There were many other reasons and faulty decisions made by Raheem that contributed to the failed record, not just Monte leaving, lol!
May 5th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
The Bucs were climaxing at the time Gruden was hired. I remember just before Dungy was fired that people were worried the window of opportunity would soon close and that Dungy couldn’t get the team over the hump and win a Superbowl. Gruden was hired and got the team a Superbowl, then the decline began because the team started to show it’s age. For various reasons (cap issues, lost draft picks used to get Gruden, lack of spending and yes, even poor drafting), the team couldn’t rebuild properly. They seem to be rebuilding now, but I personally don’t think they have the coaching in place to be successful.
May 5th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Louie, Good points in that last post and I have to agree.
May 5th, 2010 at 7:32 pm
oar, that’s why I say “contributed to” and not responsible for. Monte leaving was one reason the record was worse. Obviously the trend for a declining record was already in place. I couldn’t have expected Morris and Dom to turn that around in one season, just as I couldn’t have expected Sam Wyche to turn around a losing team when he was coach.
Louie, very good points. The Bucs were peaking when Gruden was hired. Dungy had built a team that was close, but not close enough. Gruden was the last piece of the puzzle. Unfortunately (and not Gruden’s fault), the price for the last piece was the future of the team. We couldn’t maintain the team Dungy built, we couldn’t replace the team Gruden inherited. We were stuck, unable to maintain or rebuild. Whether Morris is the coach needed to be successful or not, I believe Dom is the GM we need and the team is headed in the right direction. Morris may simply be the next Dungy that builds the team the next coach will push over the top.