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Wednesdays Jon Gruden Quotes

Posted Oct 15, 2008 by Anwar S. Richardson

Updated Oct 15, 2008 at 04:39 PM

BUCCANEERS HEAD COACH JON GRUDEN QUOTES
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2008

HEAD COACH JON GRUDEN

(On Wednesday’s practice)
“I’ll be happy to answer any questions that I can. It was a pretty good practice today.”

(On Arron Sears)
“He was limited today. Hopefully he can do more tomorrow. We’ll have the injury report for you here shortly, but he was limited today.”

(On if he expects Joey Galloway to play Sunday)
“I don’t really know yet. It’s very much in question.”

(On how Jameel Cook looked)
“He took a crash course getting re-acclimated with the words and some new terms that we’ve added since he left. We’re happy to have him back. We certainly need his help at this point.”

(On if Cook will start)
“We have no idea who’s going to be starting the game, what personnel group we’ll be in. But we do expect him to be active and compete in the game.”

(On what he’s seen from Seattle)
“They’ve won three, four straight division titles. They’re a heck of a football team. They’ve had a couple injuries; we’ve been there before ourselves. They have a lot of pride. They have a lot of really good players, Pro Bowl players, on defense – [Julian] Peterson, [Lofa] Tatupu, [Marcus] Trufant, [Patrick] Kerney, the big guy, Rocky Bernard in the middle of the defense. They’re having great seasons and they’re a handful. They’re very talented. We have a lot of respect for Julius Jones and the system that they run, Walter Jones. They have a lot of really good players, let’s be honest.”

(On playing in prime time and if that adds to the game)
“The atmosphere might be that. Again, we need the game like everybody else. These games, they all mean a lot and we’re going to have to play really good to win. Whether you play on TV or HBO or UHF, it really doesn’t matter. You’ve got to go out and play.”

(On celebrating Mike Alstott)
“I think it’ll be a great atmosphere to celebrate what was a great football player and certainly a team leader and icon in our organization. We’ll do everything we can to, obviously, welcome him back and celebrate his tremendous career. He’s a world champion and a great guy and Tampa, Florida has a lot to be proud of with him.”

(On going easier in practice to protect guys)
“We’re taking the helmets off. We’re taking the helmets, the pads. A lot of guys are limited. A lot of guys are injured. We’ve got a lot of injuries. I’m not saying we’re the Lone Ranger. We need to get our work done. We need to simulate our opponent and learn about them. The only way to do that is by getting the reps and obviously we got a lot of reps today, but we changed the attire and we changed the tempo a little bit to accommodate some of our players.”

(On his development as a coach)
“I think experience is a great teacher. I’ve got a lot of respect for the game. I’ve got a lot of respect for the players that play at this level. I’ve got a lot respect for the responsibility that you have and I just try to work hard and be consistent with what I’ve always done, to be honest with you. I’ve got a family now. I’ve got some kids that are growing. I’m going to try to do the best I can to be there for them. I take that more into consideration now more than ever, but I still work as hard as I can and try to improve every day.”

(On if one stop in his coaching career was more memorable than others)
“You always remember the first things you do in life. Mike Holmgren, the time I got a chance to go to the 49ers. We were pretty good at that time, to say the least. Steve Young was the backup quarterback. We had a lot of really good players. I remember all our nose guards. We had Jim Burt, Fred Smerlas and Michael Carter all on the same team. That’s before the salary cap was in play. Maybe the 49ers had a lot to with their being a salary cap. We were loaded. That was fun. That was really awesome. To learn a system of football from some great people was really exciting.”

(On if it was convenient to have Cook come back already being familiar with the offense)
“It’ll be convenient if he plays good. No pressure on you Jameel, but we need you and he’s got to play well for us. Acquisition of players is one thing; the performance is another. We need him to play well for us. We’re really counting on him.”

(On how Jeff Garcia is looking)
“Good. Jeff’s playing well. I really think he’s healthy again and he just looks so much better. He’s having a lot more fun. You can see it in his eyes.”

(On overcoming adversity)
“It’s a credit to our players and our assistant coaches and we’ve been through this before. We lost a lot of players last year. We were able to overcome it. We lost a lot of players, including our quarterback, amongst other guys last year. I think our guys have been trained that way. When someone goes down, you’re here to play better than the guy you’re replacing. If you don’t, we’re going to have to find somebody that will. But we’re all in this together. Our coaches have done a great job with our players, I think, creating versatility, asking the linebackers to play versatile roles, the receivers have all been cross-trained. If adversity strikes, we do have people that are conditioned, physically and mentally, to go out there perform. They’re pretty good players too.”

(On the NFL owners meetings and the discussions there)
“I don’t really get involved too much, honestly. Bruce does that and he’s very well informed. He’d be the guy to talk to. We’ve got a lot more things on our plate right now than that. They’ll do what’s right and we’ll go with what they say.”

(On potentially playing games in the spring)
“I don’t worry about the springtime right now. We’ve got a big game this week.”

(On which Seattle quarterback the team is preparing for)
“We’ll get ready for Seneca Wallace. Seneca Wallace is a good player. When he’s played, he’s played good. Real creative guy, great athlete. We had him in and visited him a couple years ago. He’s a very good competitor, good passer, and he can run. He’s a good player. When he plays they move the ball and he does well.”

(On putting a lot on Richard Bisaccia’s plate)
“He’s one of those guys, when you get somebody who’s really good like Derrick Brooks, the more you put on their plate, the better they are. We’ve got a really good coach here. He’s the best backfield coach we’ve had. He’s an outstanding special teams coach. He’s one of the very top leaders that we have here. He’s one of the hardest working guys that we have here. He’s a great coach and I want him to have his much responsibility and hands-on as he can get. Tim Berbenich, our young quality control man and assistant running backs coach, has really helped him. But I’ll go to my grave on Rich Bisaccia; he’s a heck of a football coach and he’s a loyal, hard-working guy and they’re hard to find like that.”

(On Bisaccia’s personality)
“He’s a hard guy, man. He’s a tough guy, man. He’s a tough guy.”

(On what Bisaccia has contributed to the running backs)
“I just think he has great knowledge of it. He’s coached it on the college level. Details. Fundamentals. Tough-nosed mindset, now. If you’re going to pick up blitzes you’re not just going to be assigned, you’ve got to deliver the pick-up. That puts a lot of pressure on those guys and he demands a lot from them. And they like it; I think they really respond to that. He’s on top of it and it’s important to him, and it carries over to special teams. I’m just really pleased with the responsibilities that we’ve added to him, and he’s delivered for us.”

(On if there’s a side to Warrick Dunn he didn’t know about)
“Nope. We screwed that up by letting him out of here. I’ve been pretty clear on that. And Earnest [Graham] is playing great. [Dunn] is just a great guy. He’s a great, great man and just a super football player. What a great role model for every young guy in our organization, to hang around with that guy. He’s a Man of the Year in the league for a reason and he is still one heck of a football player. He’s got a lot left in him.”

(On how he feels about the team)
“Well, you know what, I’m really proud of them. We’ve got a hard-nosed, great work ethic group of people, group of men. They do what they’re asked to do and they do more than that. And they like each other and they respect each other and they push each other, and that’s sometimes something you can be most proud of. That’s where I am right now. I want more. They want more. To do that, we’ve got to play better. We’ve got to continue to improve and work at it.”