Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
Confrontations between Keyshawn and Gruden may become common this season.
By RICK STROUD, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 25, 2002
TAMPA -- Keyshawn Johnson said to expect more sideline outbursts like the one he had Monday night with Jon Gruden if the Bucs coach continues to take him out of games.
The bickering Bucs receiver went nose-to-nose with Gruden late in the fourth quarter of Tampa Bay's 26-14 win over the Rams after being replaced by Keenan McCardell on a critical third-down play the team failed to convert.
"I'm pretty sure we will have more," Johnson said Tuesday. "It's just the way I play the game. I'm very emotional and that's coach Gruden's personality. It's not much different than when I was under Bill Parcells.
"At the end of the day, I like coach Gruden and I like his emotion. ... It has nothing to do with who's better, me or Keenan (McCardell). It has nothing to do with that. I've just never been one to come off the field, and I don't expect to do that."
Johnson had four receptions for 59 yards but did not catch a pass in the second half.
With the Bucs clinging to a 19-14 lead with 2:47 left and facing third and 4 from their 44, Gruden called timeout. When Johnson reached the sideline, Gruden criticized the receiver for failing to line up properly.
"We had a play called that involved a little shift, a little motion and he didn't hear it like I thought he should've heard it," Gruden said. "And I asked him about it. Other than that, it was just he said this, he said that, it was an investigative type thing. No big deal."
But when play resumed, Johnson remained on the sideline while Gruden went with McCardell and tight ends Ken Dilger and Rickey Dudley. The play failed when quarterback Brad Johnson overthrew Dilger on a fade rout, forcing the Bucs to punt.
Gruden was asked why Johnson, who made three catches for first downs, was not in the game on the play.
"It's a good question," Gruden said. "You've got a certain personnel grouping where you have two tight ends, two backs and one wide receiver. Sometimes that's a good personnel grouping to be in in that situation where you're guarding yourself against blitzes and things of that nature. From a wide receiver's standpoint, someone has to come off the field. That's either McCardell or that's Keyshawn Johnson.
"In some of those plays, it's McCardell that stays and some of those plays it's Keyshawn Johnson that stays. The final play of the game that we had offensively, Keenan had practiced that all week and that's the way we went. Those are two pro receivers, both of them have impressive football cards. Hopefully they can understand that. I think they do."
But Monday night, ABC cameras caught Johnson in a profanity-laced confrontation with Gruden after the punt by Tom Tupa.
Gruden sought Johnson to make amends after Derrick Brooks' 39-yard interception return for a touchdown sealed it.
"There's going to be outbursts of emotion with (Johnson)," Gruden said. "Certainly, I have a tendency to get a little excited once in awhile. I love the guy and I respect him tremendously, and I think he knows that. And sometimes there are some sparks that fly in the heat of the battle.
"I want this guy to be as emotional and I want that heart thumping as fast and as loud as we can get it. If he wants to vent on me, he's going to vent on me. He knows that. I want this guy to go back to whatever phase of emotion he can reach on game day. I don't want to encourage these sideline things, but again, this is a great victory for our football team and we're talking about two guys late in the ballgame that are emotional, and I'm going to put this to rest now."
Monday was not the first time Gruden and Johnson have clashed. They had a similar -- though less heated -- discussion in the opener against the Saints. That conversation prompted Gruden to meet with Johnson in his office several days before the Bucs' 25-0 win over Baltimore.
Monday night, Johnson was featured in the first half, responding with a finger-tip catch for a first down that sustained the Bucs' first touchdown drive.
"What can you say about some of the plays that guy made?" Gruden said. "That third-and-15 catch. The catch that Oronde Gadsden makes at Miami and the catch that Keyshawn Johnson makes -- put those on a reel and never forget those plays."
Despite Monday's incident, Johnson said he was motivated by Gruden to play harder.
"He challenged me at the end of the week to whip (Rams cornerback) Dre' Bly's a--," Johnson said. "I basically did it, too. We were looking at the film, and on two (running) plays, I almost killed him. I took him into the water buckets.
"I just don't like to come off the field," Johnson said. "That's just not part of my game. If that's the way he's going to run it, I'm sure there's not much I can do about that."
Gruden, who spoke with Johnson Tuesday, said the matter was overblown by the presence of so many cameras focused on the sideline.
"There's nothing to this," Gruden said. "It's like being on Hard Copy sometimes, honestly. It's a great football player who thrives on emotion. I'm trying to be as good as I can be as a coach, and I sometimes get emotional also.
"When you combine that, sometimes there is some combustion, some sparks that do fly. I don't make any more out of this than what it was. It was the heat of the battle, and we're moving on to the next game."