Quote:
Originally Posted by BucEyedPea
I don't agree completely with that analysis of Gruden.
Consider the following facts:
Gruden did inherit a fully-loaded team which was built by Dungy, but that was mainly on the defensive side. Dungy didn't rebuild the defense on his own, but with the help of Monte Kiffin the DC who was also brilliant. It was one of the best defenses in the league.
Dungy himself couldn't really pull off the big win though despite his off-season appearances for the team after years of being considered losers. Gruden was brought in to improve the offense and quarterbacks. Brad Johnson wasn't the greatest QB but he did make the Pro Bowl that year. The defense was still the strongest part of the team though.
It may be date-coincident that the Bucs won that year Gruden came on, but the change was still needed to push it beyond just making the playoffs. The Raider's weakness was their defense—the opposite of the Bucs. So that's the match-up that met in that SB and it was just the right one for the Bucs.
So I think Gruden deserves his share of that SB credit and in a major way because his knowledge of the Raiders. TB dominated the Raiders on offensive plays. The most damning reason was because Gruden still knew Raider's playbook, and the Raiders hadn't even changed their audibles that Gruden installed. Lynch came right out said after teh SB, 'cuz I heard him, they knew what plays were being enacted which made those interceptions easy. Lynch said those Raider plays were all practiced with Gruden before the SB. Gruden would play Gannon at QB. I say that was just the thing that finally pushed them up the notch they needed to finally winning a SB, along with the luck of a perfect match-up despite Oakland being heavily favored.
Gruden was also very highly paid—some would say overpaid. I think it was just a year or so ago that his very expensive contract was finally paid off. I don't think that helped in paying talent once the SB over. That and the owners weren't as committed to winning once they bought Manchester United. Lots of fans complained about that. I remember when the Bucs rebranded the entire team's look while the team was also revamped. With the Patriots, you have an owner committed to winning, as well as a coach and QB. The Buc's no longer had that. Plus their new branding sucks big time. Just ugly uni's.
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WTF????
A solid football take by BEP?
Oh man. This has me freaked out a little bit. Like something odd is going to happen today.
This is some twilight zone shit. I am a creature of habit. I log in around the same time everyday and i expect the same posters to make the same kind of posts.
This has thrown me for a loop. Completely thrown off my day now. Thanks BEP. You ruined everything.