FreemanTheGod said:
LOL @ best thing to happen to the franchise. He did nothing for this offense for years. It was stressful watching us from week to week knowing if we went down by 10 points we would surely lose.
Raheem managed to make huge strides this year with the youngest team in the league and the lowest payroll so excuse me if I dont have any sympathy for a high profile, overpaid coach who did absolutely nothing for the future of this franchise.
Other than 2006, when we just got our doors blown off we didn't lose many games by more than 10 points. 2006 was a defensive issue as well. We gave up points in bunches. While starting 3 different quarterbacks, Gruden was able to engineer a passing attack that ranked 11th overall in the league with a rookie quarterback taking a majority of the snaps. In 2004, 8 of our 11 losses were by 7 points or less. In addition, we started 3 different quarterbacks that season as well. Offensively we were 22nd overall, but, our rushing game is what crushed the offense. 29th in the league. Passing offense was just fine. A passing attack which included a supporting cast of Tim Brown and Bill Schroeder. Maybe you should hear some of the players who say that Gruden had them more prepared for a game than any other coach they had played for and one who knew more about offensive football than they had ever worked with (i.e. Joey Galloway).
And once again, Gruden and Allen were working within the restraints of the salary cap hell that this team was in from '04-'06 and literally no money to work with. Why do you think Derrick Brooks had to restructure the contract that McKay gave him so many times?
There were a number of decisions that were out of Gruden's hands as well. Rich McKay would pull rank on him many times before leaving. You mentioned the drafting of Simms earlier as a mistake Gruden made. Completely laughable. For a Bucs fan you would think you would know that Gruden and Simms couldn't stand each other. It was the worst-kept secret in all of Tampa and a frequent topic on sports radio down here. Fact is, Gruden had nothing to do with the drafting of Chris Simms. Here is
EXACTLY how it went down: Last pick of the first day of the draft (3rd round). Gruden doesn't even get a chance to have a conversation with McKay before McKay blurts out "We're taking Simms." Gruden said he wanted to see the pre-draft portfolio on him and McKay says "We don't have one. We didn't bother to scout him. We figured he wouldn't be available." Gruden can't fucking believe it and says he isn't taking a player the organization hasn't even done its homework on. McKay pulls rank and calls in the pick. Gruden wanted no part of Simms.
Another time Gruden was overruled was the '07 draft with Gaines Adams. The Glazers told Gruden he could not trade up for Calvin Johnson. Monte lobbied hard for Adams and actually asked "Is this really happening?" when they took Adams. Adams' was Monte's #1 guy and he was terrible. Another time Gruden had rank pulled on him was with Warren Sapp. Gruden wanted to keep Sapp at the 3-tech and the Glazers said it was up to Monte and Rod Marinelli. Monte and Rod said that Booger could take over for Sapp with a similar level of production. Now, Sapp is a once-in-a-generation player, so I don't expect Booger to live up to that standard, but, the Glazers deferred to Monte and he was sure the drop-off would be minimal. We got butchered and have been butchered on the interior since Sapp left.
The Glazers tried to pull rank on Gruden just before they fired him in 2009. They had lunch with him and tried telling him what players they wanted him to release, who they wanted him to draft, etc. Gruden basically told them they were not going to pull-rank again. He told them they had done it in the past and it always blew up in their face. They got a "yes-man" in Raheem and that's fine. Gruden may never coach again, he may stay in the booth and that is fine too. But, I will not support the Glazers or their product.
