Gruden has a plan, and an explanation

The Bucs coach arrives after a much-needed day of planning in his Tampa offices.

By RICK STROUD, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 22, 2003

Jon Gruden on preparing for the game [Times audio: Jack Rowland] Photo gallery with audio

SAN DIEGO -- Jon Gruden's decision to stay behind an extra day in Tampa moved the Bucs defense way ahead in its preparation for the Raiders.

The Tampa Bay coach, who arrived at Super Bowl XXXVII Tuesday morning, spent most of his time with Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and his staff, breaking down the intricacies of the Raiders passing attack.

Though the Bucs run a similar offense as the Raiders, Gruden used Monday's staff meeting and Tuesday's nearly six-hour flight to San Diego to brief defensive coaches and players on the best tactics against quarterback Rich Gannon and receivers Jerry Rice, Tim Brown and Jerry Porter.

Jon Gruden on Tampa Bay's first Super Bowl [Times audio: Jack Rowland]

"We played 17 games, and we've played some good offensive clubs before. You don't want to tell them too many things to screw up the stew," Gruden said. "We've got a pretty good stew cooking now on defense. So there are some things from a personnel standpoint maybe I can be of help. At the same time, some of the structure, some of the things I have seen and I've studied, maybe I can help with.

"But when you defend Rich Gannon, you're defending a guy that will audible every single play. So we've got to prepare for the great football team, the Oakland Raiders, and we've got to prepare for one of the all-time great decision-makers in Gannon."

The Raiders, however, don't believe Gruden's understanding of Oakland's schemes will be an advantage. "He knows Jerry (Rice) eats spaghetti, so what does that mean?" Raiders cornerback Rod Woodson said. "We have nine new starters on defense. I wasn't here last year. If he knew I eat bananas and yogurt, does that help him? I don't think so."

The Bucs say they are more interested in playing their game than in playing the Raiders', and they will rely mostly on the schemes that have made their defense No. 1.

"A lot of times, too much information can be bad information," Bucs defensive backs coach Mike Tomlin said. "When you talk about every nuance of a player, then you have guys guessing out there. We believe in what we see and just playing our keys."

Gruden's decision not to travel with his team to San Diego on Monday was viewed by some as gamesmanship and prompted Raiders coach Bill Callahan to also skip the scheduled news conference Monday night.

But Gruden insisted Tuesday he was not trying to delay having to answer questions about his abrupt departure after four seasons as the Raiders coach when he was traded to Tampa Bay on Feb. 16 for four draft picks and $8-million.

Gruden had the Bucs inform the league on Sunday night he would not attend the news conference and had ordered his coaching staff to remain in Tampa.

"That's not gamesmanship," Gruden said. "We played the Philadelphia Eagles. We didn't get home in our beds until 3 o'clock in the morning on Monday. To wake up and come into the office and get on a plane at 12 o'clock and fly 6 hours to San Diego, I didn't feel gave our coaching staff, me included, any opportunity to preview the Raiders at all. We needed a day. We did it the right way. We communicated with the league office." Around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, Gruden and his staff chartered a luxury jet used by the Dallas Mavericks and their owner, Mark Cuban, and arrived in San Diego a half hour before the Bucs appeared at Media Day at Qualcomm Stadium.

The Raiders had a much shorter flight to San Diego, and there was no extra week before the Super Bowl after the conference championship games this year, so Gruden thought his staff was at a disadvantage. "Everybody's looking for some cryptic message why we didn't come out here (Monday)," Gruden said. "We're not flying 20 minutes down the highway here. We've got a 6-hour flight. And we need to prepare for this game somehow, some way."

Gruden's concerns about the Bucs defense come though it is somewhat familiar with the Raiders offense, No. 1 in total yardage, fewest points allowed and passing defense. "We watch it every day," Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp said of a Raiders-style offense. "We play the West Coast offense. And the guy that made their system (Gruden) runs ours, kind of."

But Gruden said the Raiders offense has evolved under Callahan and league MVP Gannon.

"Bill Callahan has done a great job," Gruden said. "He's put his own creative spin on this attack, and Rich Gannon is featured a lot more now. It looks to me he's in the no-huddle quite a bit, mixing a lot of audible decisions. ... When it's all said and done this is one very big offensive beast you've got to defend."

Gruden tried to deflect questions about the acrimonious ending to his career with the Raiders. He acknowledged many of the hard feelings among Raiders players stemmed from his decision not to contact them after the deal.

"I understand if there's bitterness. I did not leave communicating, really, with anybody," Gruden said. "I left very quietly, and I believe that's the only way you can do it. I don't want to say anything to anybody to present a contrary opinion about an organization. I don't want to say anything negative, I don't want to say too much and I don't want anything I do say repeated. I think four years at Oakland with those players, I think a lot of them know how much they meant to me and how much that job meant to me at that time. I realize some of them are bitter and some of them will probably always be bitter. For that, I'm sorry."

When asked why he didn't speak with any Raiders or ex-members of his coaching staff, Gruden said, "I didn't want to get any more tampering suits filed against me. I think we'd given up enough compensation already.

"Change is hard, man. ... All I can say is I appreciate the support I was given there, and I had four great years that I'll never forget."