Por (Brooks Morgan) on November 20, 2006 (Suggest removal)

I think there are 2 main reasons the ship headed for the rocks:
1)Monte lost his staff. As great as he is,he can’t do it all.Keeping a group where the leading players are a step slower and the youngsters are still somewhat raw is an undaunting task and requires a superior coaching staff that has been there awhile and knows their players.
2)Gruden is not good at reading and reacting to team chemistry. Although he is a great x’s & o’s play caller on offense, I don’t believe he cares about house cleaning. This part of being a coach is vital to team chemistry. You have to kill bad seeds before they grow and John is too busy with his offense to do that!

Por (Dexter Fields) on November 20, 2006 (Suggest removal)

If Gruden did leave it really wouldn’t be a big lost.He only knows offense,his offensive shceme suck’s,and he and his buddy(GM)doesn’t have an eye for talent.We drafted a cornerback that can’t play-and the funny part is that we play a zone defense.Two years ago we drafted receivers that still can’t get in the game.Where’s our DT we drafted,Clayton is really a 3rd receiver.We haven’t had a rookie on defense in year’s.We have two garbage safety’s and backup cornerbacks that can’t fill in.I said it before and i’ll say it again-GET RID OF THE COVER-2.ITS DUNGYS DEFENSE THE THE BUCS.

Por (Stephen Blackehart) on November 21, 2006 (Suggest removal)

I agree. Gruden would be crazy to leave of his own volition. The Bucs, likewise, would be insane to let him go…who would you possibly replace him with? Despite the current season’s meltdown, there are only a VERY few coaches in football as gifted as Gruden. I don’t think anyone could’ve expected this season would go the way it has thus far, but in time, I think it will be seen as vital to the long-term good of the team. 
Let’s face it, we’re playing this year with most of the team in either their first or second year playing pro ball…like playing our JV team against the Big-10. Even so, if Chris Simms had started well and stayed healthy (okay, those are 2 big ‘ifs’) I think we still have a completely different season right now.

Por (Timothy Smith) on November 21, 2006 (Suggest removal)

Gruden is going to the Cowboys. How do I know? Well the Cowboy’s are at the point where with or without Gruden they will be in and win a Super Bowl. So if he is the coach he can say look how good of a coach I’am. Now you say who will replace Gruden, what about Fisher from the Titans. His contract is up at the end of the year. There is also talk that Cowher from the Steelers may be free.There are others out there.

Por (Shawn Golan) on November 22, 2006 (Suggest removal)

Gruden does NOT have a good situation here.  Gruden takes good teams and makes them great…the 2006 Bucs are not a good team.  We’re too old on D, too young on Offense, and there isn’t the “veteran” at QB that Gruden seems to need.  It would be best for all involved if Gruden did leave.  The cowboys would be a great place for him.  As for the Bucs - we’ll take a look at Fisher and maybe even Mariucci, but the Bucs will likely go to a young/“new” head coach with a decided leaning towards offense…I hope that “new” offense is one that leans HARD on the run.

Por (Alex DeGregorio Jr.) on November 23, 2006 (Suggest removal)

I think all of this is crazy! How can anyone blame Jon Gruden today. How many draft picks did we lose to get KJ. How many draft picks did we lose to get Gruden. How was the cap situation when McKay left. Let’s see what happens with some good draft picks next year, and some cap room! If Gruden wants out it will be our loss. I have been to RJ stadium for plenty of games and heard the Bring back Dungy chants. If anything some of our fans actions would be plenty of reason to want to leave!

Por (Tom Darby) on November 23, 2006 (Suggest removal)

He will stay in Tampa. He is the type of coach who builds a game plan and expects the players to adjust. Other coaches consider the player ability and build the game plan.

Por (Joe Martin) on November 23, 2006 (Suggest removal)

Gruden will not leave the Bucs
because he never had it so good.
However, he should be kicked out
involuntarily because he is too
stereotyped in player selection
to fit his persona and that persona
will never produce a winner. He tries to get players that he can intimidate with his facial pouting and use of four letter words because he is not a man’s man to do otherwise.

Por (Jon Alan) on November 24, 2006 (Suggest removal)

LOL, Gruden has done nothing for tamper..that6 is why he is looking, his buddy agent Lamonte shopped him to Notre Dame ( it was his dream job ) shopped him to any club college or pro and had his buddie chris mortenson stoke the fires repeatedly IN SEASON while gainfully employed at 1.6 million a season. The man is scum.

If you think for a moment he isn’t looking elsewhere then go ahead and kid yourselves.

I laughed when I saw this last week, history repeats itself, the ego maniac is 37-38 and his team is bad, all under him and bussie bruce allen, it says here he will either escape or be fired in two years.

Por (Jimmy D. Ross) on November 24, 2006 (Suggest removal)

Everyone blames Gruden.Jimmy D Christmas..So do I….

Por (Jim Tina) on November 24, 2006 (Suggest removal)

Couple of things to remember…

1 - Decision making ability: Picking Sabastien Janakowski in the first round back in 2000 (2 spots ahead of Alexander) should have been a MAJOR red flag. The 02’ Oakland squad on offence was 98% veteran - maybe 100%.

2 - No too many veterans on the offence: He likes vets because they mask his inadequicies as a head coach.

3 - Ego. Can’t understand why he won’t stick with what works. Defences HATE seeing #40 in the backfield. That means they have to tackle.

4 - Ego part 2 - He will not dial down the offence (when most coaches do that for rookie QB’s in complex systems - see Andy Reid and McNabb) and give Gradkowski too much freedom to make mistakes.

Por (Allen Wilson) on November 25, 2006 (Suggest removal)

It’s no secret that the Defense is getting old and the offense is very young. The truth is that no team in the NFL fears Jon Gruden’s alleged offensive genius because unlike us fans they know it does not exist. All the shifting and moving still only means a run or a five yard pass. This type of play calling belongs in Div-1. I say fire the bum and see where he ends up and I guarantee it won’t be in Dallas

Por (Albert McCullough) on November 26, 2006 (Suggest removal)

The defense demise is very similar to what happened at Minnesota in the late 80’s.This defense needs a high level of team speed and at least two dominant all-pro defensive lineman who disrupt opposing teams blocking schemes
Without this in place the “cover 2” is rendered impotent. The demise is rapid
and unforgiving as we have witnessed.
The lack of defensive draft choices in the earlier rounds have significantly excellerated the steep decline in defensive performance. Jon Gruden’s
is ultimately responsible for this incompetant oversight.

Por (Sean Bussey) on November 26, 2006 (Suggest removal)

So let me get this straight…
Gruden should be held blameless
(and the last time the Bucs had an offense in the top 10, was when?), Dungy had nothing to do with the players that won in 2002 (by the way Scott, if you really want to get technical…Sapp, Brooks and Lynch became Pro Bowlers on Dungy’s watch, not Wyche’s), the Cover 2 should be scrapped (a defense, now a part of every team’s defensive package. They just doesn’t have the players. Thanks for those late round picks on defense, Chucky) and Gruden is a gifted coach (???). So basically the plan by Bruce and John, was to let the defense grow old and stop nobody… while the offense grew younger and can’t score against, anyone. And we said these guys, didn’t have plan…

Por (Chris Schrenker) on November 27, 2006 (Suggest removal)

How quickly everyone turns on you when you have a bad season. I didn’t see all these comments when we won the superbowl with Jon Gruden after everyone called for Tony Dungy’s head. Everyone knows we had a cap mess, everytime Brian Kelly goes down our defense struggles terribly, and our offense is full of rookies. Yeah it’s easy to say hang Gruden but like some others said, who the heck is out there thats any better? I say give the guy a chance, he will have everything that he needs to succeed starting next year. I still wouldn’t expect a superbowl next year with so many new players but give them a chance before you hang them. I say them because Monte Kiffin’s defense is just as bad as Jon Grudens offense so blame them together.

Por (Harry Hutson) on November 27, 2006 (Suggest removal)

Don’t you find it ironic that Rich left for Atlanta and left Tampa a cap room nightmare. And do you honestly believe that Gruden and Allen didn’t see this coming? The goal was to pick up on offense early with our draft picks, the way we have the past 5 years, and slowly regain some cap room. They knew that at the end of 2006 we would have the money to finally make some moves in free agency on both sides of the ball. He needed the defense to hold on for one more season, while our young offense managed games. This has not happened and IT IS NOT ALL GRUDEN’S FAULT!!!! Changes will come, but not with the coaching staff. We finally have the cap room to make some moves, and that is exactly what Gruden and Allen will do.

Por (Timothy Smith) on November 27, 2006 (Suggest removal)

Chris you are missing something.It is not 1 season it is 3 bad seasons. You say it is Monte’s defense that is bad to. Yes you can say that and I will agree with you. Now here is something to. How many draft picks have gone for the defense in the last 4 years? I will make it easy just the top 4 rounds will do in the last 4 years. How many coaches where lost in the last 3 years? They where from the defense.