That is a bit surprising given that the other teams with openings have been courting, wooing and hiring coaches already. Of course, the Bucs are seemingly more ready to win than most of the the jobs that were available (except for maybe Denver), so it'll be interesting to see who they get and if there's a feeding frenzy for Chucky's services now that he's on the street.
Poor Jay Gruden. His offseason job is on hiatus for the year (at the very least) and now he's most likely out too.
“You are going to get a certain amount of snarkiness on the Internet no matter what, and my rule is that you don't post anything that you wouldn't say to someone's face.” Marc Andreyko (Writer of DC Comic’s “Manhunter”)
Ladies and gentlemen, the following public service message is brought to you by your friends from D-Generation X, who would like to remind each and every one of you that if you're not down with that, we've got two words for you... Ugh, ugh, ugh, hate the move. Hate it, hate it, hate it.
First off, this is clearly a knee-jerk reaction to the December collapse. Memo to the Glazers: The Bucs's performance in December was not Jon Gruden's fault. The defensive veterans who failed to perform to even their early-season standards were solely to blame. The D only played well enough win one game - the Atlanta one - and we were handicapped in that game without Garcia.
Secondly: Who are you going to replace him with? The big names aren't going to come since you won't give them GM powers (for Penguin's reference, that means no Shanahan or Bill Cowher). If you hire a newb from the outside, he'll want to blow up the entire playbook and start over, calling back to the days when Dungy would install a new offense every year and claim it was the fix we needed, but actually produced the same maddening inconsistency. And if your idea is to elevate Morris, I have severe doubts as to his readiness for a head coaching job. (Plus, I hope to Goddess you have a plan B - the last time we hired a coach, you had no plan B and had to fashion one in rapid fashion with 4 draft picks and oodles of cash.)
Thirdly: Even if we put Gruden's firing aside, why fire Allen? The guy got us out of cap hell much quicker than we ever could have realistically expected to. His drafts have been solidly balanced and produced a number of impact rookies (Tanard Jackson and Jeremy Zuttah come to mind immediately). By my count, he was doing an excellent job. Where's the rationale there, guys?
I'm ready to completely write off 2009. This is a stupid, costly move by the Glazers (remember, they just gave Gruden and Allen long contract extensions last year, and now they'll have to eat a lot of it) and they WILL regret this.
smark/net attack Advisory System Status is: Elevated (Holds; June 18, 2006) While the switch from Cena to RVD should alleviate some complaints, the inevitability of the belt's return to Cena (note where Summerslam is this year) and the poor initial showing by the new ECW are enough to keep the indicator where it is for now. The pieces are in place, though, especially on RAW, for improvements to be made to the IWC's psyche in the near future.
From what NFL.com's Adam Schefter said, the Glazers talked to many Bucs players, and it was no secret they weren't a fan of Gruden. I'm sure that played a big part in the decision.
Okay, teams who need coaches: St. Louis, *Tampa, Oakland, Denver, and the New York Jets.
So Chucky's options are thus (*eliminated by deduction).
I doubt Oakland will take him back if he wanted, and Denver seems to be looking for a more defensive minded coach, which leaves St. Louis and The Jets. Hrmm, the Jets.
A boy can dream...
"Laugh and the world laughs with you. Frown and the world laughs at you." -Me.
The year 2010 in the NFL for coaches was shaping up to be almost as big as the year 2010 in the NBA for free agents (well, not quite, but you get the point). Knowing that, why wouldn't the Bucs wait one more year before cutting Gruden loose? All the top candidates they could want to replace him aren't gonna be coaching in 2009.
Plus, Gruden still seems to be a pretty good coach, so I don't know who BETTER they expect to get. It's not (entirely) his fault that the entire defense is ready to collect social security.
I hate the Bucs, though, so anything they do that doesn't make sense is fine by me.
I did hear speculation on SportsCenter last night that if Chucky shows up in New York that it might entice Favre to come back since they have a past relationship together from Green Bay. Of course, that's just people throwing everything out there in the wake of such a sudden and partially surprising development.
The Oakland "possibility" is hee-larious. With the talking out of both sides of his mouth about his QBs since going to Tampa, I wouldn't be too surprised to see him explore the possibility. Hell, Davis might not even remember the whole debacle of his having left and think he's getting the hot new coaching candidate ;-)
Originally posted by StingArmyThe year 2010 in the NFL for coaches was shaping up to be almost as big as the year 2010 in the NBA for free agents (well, not quite, but you get the point).
A bit of thread drift, but since I don't follow the NBA after my team was *STOLEN*, I'll post it here: With what little NBA news I hear (and actively avoid when possible) via SportsCenter, PTI, various radio programs, etc., it sounds as if a few teams are clearing cap space to take a run at LeBron when his contract comes up, even though that isn't for a while yet, and people seem to think he'd be stupid not to leave the Cleve. What if he's allowing this speculation to happen to weaken teams in his own conference for the next year or two and will then re-sign with Cleveland anyways? (The NBA, it's fann-tastic only not)
Regardless, I'll try to follow it as little as possible! F-You Stern and F-You NBA.
(edited by DrewDewce on 17.1.09 0429) “You are going to get a certain amount of snarkiness on the Internet no matter what, and my rule is that you don't post anything that you wouldn't say to someone's face.” Marc Andreyko (Writer of DC Comic’s “Manhunter”)
I believe the Rams could use a guy with a fire in his belly. Obviously Haslett and the guy he replaced had none. With a hopefully healthy Bulger, Jackson and Torry Holt, I can see a pretty decent offense if Gruden took over.
Originally posted by StaggerLeeI believe the Rams could use a guy with a fire in his belly. Obviously Haslett and the guy he replaced had none. With a hopefully healthy Bulger, Jackson and Torry Holt, I can see a pretty decent offense if Gruden took over.
The Rams hired Spagnuolo today.
Gruden to New York would have to entice Favre to come back, but I would think the Jets ownership would have acknowledge the fact that Favre is a stopgap answer for them at QB. Given Gruden's inability to develop a young quarterback, he'd be a bad fit for them long term.
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