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.

Rams Finally Win Super Bowl XXXVI Six Years Later!

Over six years after their shocking loss to the upstart New England Patriots, the St. Louis Rams may yet win Super Bowl XXXVI.  Rumors of the existence of a New England produced tape of the Rams’ Super Bowl walk through persist.  Now, there are rumors that if that tape does indeed exist, the Rams will sue to try to re-claim their Super Bowl loss.

As far as I’m concerned, good for St. Louis.  If the tape exists and if Team Belichick ordered it and/or had access to it, than New England deserves whatever they get.  Gamesmanship has always been around.  But, New England seems to be trying to take it to the next level.  I’m no NFL head coach, but I’ve heard from NFL head coaches who say a walk through tape would be a pretty valuable thing. 

Let’s for a moment say it exists, this opens up a couple of questions:

1 – Can you really overturn a Super Bowl?  Based on recent experience with track athletes losing their medals because a relay teammate cheated and colleges voiding conference championships, the mind blowing answer may be yes!

2 – What do we end up thinking about the Pats?  While no one can deny the talent of Tom Brady and the heart of many of his teammates, it’s obvious that if the taping story proves true ALL of their accomplishments will be doubted.  When the Jets story broke last year, I remember one Philadelphia Eagle commenting that it was odd that New England seemed to always know when the Eagles where throwing a screen pass.  Odd or incredible coaching and preparation?  If the tape is real, few will believe the later.

3 – What do we end up saying about the Rams? First off, I think we all have to get over the shock that it would make Mike Martz a Super Bowl winning head coach.  After all, Brian Billick can claim that too.  I think it says more about the “greatest show on turf”.  Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk and all those great receivers.  It is kind of mind boggling to think how amazing they were on offense and how quickly it all came apart.

With one Super Bowl win on their resume, Warner and crew come off like one hit wonders.  They were truly amazing and fun to watch, but ultimately don’t rank among the top football teams of all time.  Now think of them as two time champions.  Two victories in three years.  It may not be the 70s Steelers, but not many teams can claim to have won two out of three Super Bowls.

Somewhere Dick Vermeil must be crying tears of joy.