Jon Gruden apology letter

[Captain Hindsight]

Raheem, just like Gruden, will have deserved to get fired when he does.

[JavaRay]

It's absolutely 100% obvious that Raheem deserves to be fired.   That was not the case when Gruden was fired.   

[Blaze688]

Blaze, when it comes to Gruden, you don't know what you are talking about.   You obviously listened to the media and read bucs.com too much rather than watching the games and forming your own educated opinions.

This almost sounds... sarcastic?  I really can't tell if you're being serious here.

[JavaRay]

100% serious.

To make fun of kicking a field goal to avoid a shutout is ridiculous.    If you have just driven all the way down the field, you would rather be shutout than truly reflect the fact that your team was in position to score in that game?    Scoring a TD doesn't do you any more good than scoring a field goal at that point.   Why give your opponent the satisfaction of a shutout?   They kicked your butt all game, why not piss them off by kicking a field goal so they don't get the shutout?    I'd rather stick one jab into them rather than go out with a goose egg.   Trust me, it pisses a defense off when the opponent kicks a field goal late in the game like that to avoid a shutout.   I had it happen to me when I played high school defense.   I would much rather they tried to go for it and didn't make it.   Not getting that shutout still pisses me off to this day.

[Blaze688]

To make fun of kicking a field goal to avoid a shutout is ridiculous.

I wasn't making fun.  It's not funny.  It's embarrassing.  No other coach in modern history has done that, because it's a -- ahem -- "feline" move, and less a show of defiance than than one of meek ineptitude.  Gruden had at least one other chance to kick a field goal instead of suffering the shutout, and he passed, because that's accepted NFL etiquette.

[DanTurksGhost]

I was a Gruden fan, as you know. Still, Coach Gruden wore out his welcome here. Too many of this players turned against him. Three quarters of the team wasn't even listening to him when he spoke.

I saw potential in Coach Morris. He hasn't lived up to it. This past season, the coaching at OBP was the most disorganized I've seen it in as long as I can remember. It has, IMO, been a very unprofessional environment and I was more or less chastised for saying so out loud.

Things are as bad as they have ever been in the new building. Change is required, I don't see how the current coaching staff can recover this team without some sort of miracle.

[JavaRay]

Things are as bad as they have ever been in the new building. Change is required,

Yep.   The only season as bad as this one was 1986. 

[DailyRich68]

Hey, right now, Morris is following Gruden's pattern of following a winning season with a losing one.  It's just that Morris started off with a losing one and Gruden started with a Super Bowl.

Gruden went 9-7 both of his last 2 seasons.   There goes your theory...

Way to take a joke seriously.

[ONEBIGDADDY]

He doesn't have to - the facts speak for themselves. Feel free to ignore them.

What facts?  What does Raheem Morris's ineptitude have to do with Jon Gruden?

You guys are suffering from selective memory.  The Gruden I remember was the only coach in the modern era to kick a field goal to avoid a shutout.  He couldn't get Galloway and Bryant on the field at the same time.  Over seven years, his teams failed to score an offensive touchdown in 16 games -- an entire season's worth of contests -- and thanks to Monte, we were a surprising 4-12 in those games.

The facts (and history) say that Gruden was an overrated offensive mind, and that if he had the money to spend on free agents, he probably would've blown it on the Terry Glenns or Lamont Jordans of the league.

... Again, better than Morris, though.

LOL...That rant was pretty good show of selective memory. I like to cherry pick the failures without the issues surrounding his failures in those particular instances...He was let go too soon and Kiffen should have been let go instead...Anyhow Its water under the bridge and the Doughnut boys aren't going to bring him back...JMVHO...OBD

[LordJim]

I agree with OBD.  I wrote a volume about this back in January 2009.  Needless to say, I have signed this petition as well, although it will do absolutely no good.

[ufojoe]

I was a Gruden fan, as you know. Still, Coach Gruden wore out his welcome here. Too many of this players turned against him. Three quarters of the team wasn't even listening to him when he spoke.

I saw potential in Coach Morris. He hasn't lived up to it. This past season, the coaching at OBP was the most disorganized I've seen it in as long as I can remember. It has, IMO, been a very unprofessional environment and I was more or less chastised for saying so out loud.

Things are as bad as they have ever been in the new building. Change is required, I don't see how the current coaching staff can recover this team without some sort of miracle.

I'm quoting you and making it a separate thread. Too important not to share. I wish you would have shared this earlier. I was going to be OK if they brought in an OC and DC and kept Morris at HC. But after reading your post, I'm hope they just clean
house completely.

[Samari28]

To glorify an average coach who won a Super Bowl with an all time great defense is laughable. Yes he was the head coach but let's be honest part if the reason we are so bad is because Gruden couldn't draft anybody worth a damn, hence NO DEPTH AT ANY POSITION. You wanna talk about how great Gruden was, other than the Super Bowl season how many playoff games did we get to? How many playoff wins? Criticize Rah all you want but Gruden is not much better and let's not forget when Gruden got here we spent a helluva lot more money and had Hall of Fame players that he had nothing to do with. Gruden is a joke and one of the most overrated offensive coaches ever. Name one offensive player Gruden ever developed that is or was worth a damn. Do we need to rehash all the wasted bull**CENSORED** draft picks under his regime? Let's not forget most of these busts were drafted by the great midget himself. Screw Jon Gruden!!

[nick777777]

Samari. Not much better than rah?  What is rahs win/ lose record?  And what is grudens?  I believe he drafted our only good guard on the team and if I'm not mistaken signed Penn off the Minnesota practice squad.  I loved gruden when he was here and know for a fact he wouldn't.put up with the crap going on here now.  Also if he got fired after 2 9-7 seasons then rah needs to go after this waste of a season.  This is a mute point though cause Gruden would never come back here.

[ONEBIGDADDY]

To glorify an average coach who won a Super Bowl with an all time great defense is laughable. Yes he was the head coach but let's be honest part if the reason we are so bad is because Gruden couldn't draft anybody worth a damn, hence NO DEPTH AT ANY POSITION. You wanna talk about how great Gruden was, other than the Super Bowl season how many playoff games did we get to? How many playoff wins? Criticize Rah all you want but Gruden is not much better and let's not forget when Gruden got here we spent a helluva lot more money and had Hall of Fame players that he had nothing to do with. Gruden is a joke and one of the most overrated offensive coaches ever. Name one offensive player Gruden ever developed that is or was worth a damn. Do we need to rehash all the wasted bull**CENSORED** draft picks under his regime? Let's not forget most of these busts were drafted by the great midget himself. Screw Jon Gruden!!

I respect your opinion and have voiced mine. He had more irons in the fire to deal with tho and to remove them out and say he was as bad as you state I can't agree. Rich McKay did damaged to this team,thus is the reason Bruce Allen was brought in. The Glazers have done worst now and even now show why Gruden and Bruce really had no control over the money.

Dungy came in to put a foundation and structure with the touch of having Kiffen compliment him. Gruden put the finishing touches on it through the offense and needed a better OC and not Olsen. The Glazers and local media really have screwed this team over. Someone needs to tell the King he is naked and put his clothes back on. We will need to refurbish this defense and try to find a OC that will revamp the offense...JMVHO...OBD

[Mean D]

We fired Jon Gruden and replaced him with Raheem Morris.  That sounds like a Hollywood comedy.  Gruden likely won't go to HC a NFL team next year but there are teams that would hire him if he would.  NO ONE will hire Raheem as their HC after he is fired January 2nd.