Jon Gruden Fired By Bucs! WTF? Chuckie’s Gone!!

And so the blood letting continues among the coaching ranks.  Biting the dust tonight?  None other than Chuckie himself, notorious bad sleeper Jon Gruden.

Gruden was done it, it seems, by the Buccaneers end of season collapse.  Tampa slid from 9-3 at one point to missing out on the playoffs completely.  For that sin, so ends the Gruden Era.  And for good measure, the Glazer family canned GM Bruce Allen too.

So there you go.  No internal power struggle in which ownership sided with someone other than their coach.  Pure and simple the Bucs decided that 9-7 just wasn’t good enough.

Part of me says good for them.  Sure, Jon Gruden won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay and not that long ago. But, he’s been mediocre since.  Gruden’s records since his first glorious year in which he went 12-4 and won a title are as follows:  7-9, 5-11, 11-5, 4-12 and then back to back 9-7 records.  He’s gotten to the playoffs twice since winning it all and both times Tampa lost in their first and only game.  Last year, he seemed to make a serious error by resting his starters way too early in the regular season and dropping late season games and losing at home to the miracle Giants in round one of the playoffs. 

The other part of me says who the heck does Tampa Bay think they are?  Tony Dungy, who preceded Gruden, had guided the Bucs into respectability.  Four times in his six years in Florida, Tony Dungy got his Tampa teams into the playoffs.  They had talent.  They just never seemed to be able to put it all together for a sustained post-season run.  When Dungy went 9-7 in 2001 and got slaughtered in round one of the playoffs by the Eagles for the second straight year, the Glazers fired Tony Dungy.  Next, they ponied up a ton of cash and draft picks to bring boy genius Chuckie to town.

It worked.  I know I said it earlier in this post, but Gruden managed to win a Super Bowl in Tampa in year one.  It’s true that Dungy had handed him a winning organization and deserves a great deal of credit for Tampa’s title he didn’t get to see.  Still, it bears repeating Gruden won it all in Tampa Bay of all places.

And now he’s gone.  Only in his mid-40s, you get the feeling there’s a lot more football left in Jon Gruden.  It will be interesting to see how his availability changes any plans teams with coaching openings have.  For my money, the Rams and Jets could do a lot worse.  It’s fitting, of course, that Detroit just hired somebody and so won’t be in the hunt for Gruden, a guy who’s won in both Tampa and Oakland.  Who’s to say he couldn’t turn around Detroit?

As for Tampa, it’s a gutsy move on their part and tells us who they think they are.  The Glazer family wants their franchise to be one of the upper echelon teams and is signaling they won’t settle  for less.  The Glazers have always liked big names.  How many times, after all, did they woo Bill Parcells only to be left at the alter embarrassed and humiliated? 

Names like Cowher, Shanahan and Parcells (doesn’t he always find a way out of his deals?) are out there.  It will be interesting to see what big fish Tampa tries to reel in this time.

More Important Than McCain! The NFL Is Back!

If summer has to end than at least we can console ourselves that it’s time for some football.  And I’m not talking that rinky dink distantly related cousin know as college football.  I’m talking NFL, baby!

Just a few thoughts, as it’s late and I’ve just finished a long McCain post. 

First, as a Giants’ fan.  What a great night!  After all the doubting and injuries to the D-Line, Big Blue comes through even after being the only team unable to convince someone to come out of retirement (Michael Strahan).  It pains me to say it, but I still don’t think they’ll be defending their Super Bowl crown come February 09.  But, I’m going to keep rooting for them to do it no matter what!  Comon sense and you can’t stop me!

This has been a weird start to the NFL season already.  Maybe the NFL is trying to match the kind of drama we’ve seen in the presidential race so far.  Here’s a few odd ways to kick off the season.

OK – the biggest one first.  Favre in green is one thing.  Farve in Jet green is unbelievable.  Still not going to turn out too well though…

The last name “OCHO CINCO” will be on an NFL jersey this year.  I thought Chad Johnson made a lot of noise about never playing for the Bengals again.  I guess he just meant under the name “Johnson”.

Detroit signs Rudy Johnson formerly of the aforementioned Bengals only to have him show up and accuse the guy he’s replacing at RB, Tatum Bell, of stealing the contents of his luggage.  Whatever happened to going the Steve Smith route and just punching out your teammate?

And here’s a sure sign of the coming end of the world.  Several credible sports columnists have clearly begun smoking crack and have predicted that the Philadelphia Eagles will win the Super Bowl.  Their predictions gloss over Donovan McNabb’s injury tendencies.  Plus, even if he stays healthy, who’s he throwing to?  He’s got no wide receivers.

Finally, Dante Culpepper who not long ago posted one of the greatest QB seasons ever, decided to retired.  He claims that teams aren’t giving him a fair shot.  I loved Dante during his time in Minnesota and I do think he’s got a point that there are other guys in the league getting shots that have never achieved the things he has.  However, he’s ignoring his two bad knees and two bad seasons in Miami and Oakland.  Finally, he’s proof positive that when you act as your own agent or lawyer, you’ve got a fool for a client.

No matter, I’m sure it won’t be too long before Culpepper un-retires.  Maybe he can replace Brett Favre in a year or two when he bails out on the Jets!

And here’s wishing a happy football season to all (except the Cowboys and their fans)!  Did you really expect anything less from a Giants’ fan?

PS – Does anyone else find it odd that the Miami Dolphins are now led by a tuna?  Sorry, it’s late and I’m lacking the judgement to resist.