Jon Gruden's first NFL coaching job was as an offensive assistant with the 49ers in 1990. Back then, the future Chucky was nicknamed Uncle Buck, after the title character in a John Candy movie because Gruden drove a beat up Oldsmobile Delta 88.
"Nothing worked," he said. "The speedometer didn't work; the horn didn't work; it guzzled a lot of gas and it leaked. It was terrible.
"It was a bad car."
The team, however, was a Cadillac.
The five-time Super Bowl champions made quite an impression on Gruden.
"That was the greatest football team I've ever seen," Gruden said.
"If you get around good people and great players, you have a chance for some of that to rub off on you. I don't know if it did, but I tried every way I could to learn."
GREEDY TYPES
The Bucs and Niners are accustomed to creating turnovers. Tampa Bay is a league-best plus-10 and San Francisco tied for sixth at plus-five. Each team has forced 14 turnovers.
NUMBERS GAME
2: sacks allowed by the Bucs, fewest in the league.
11.3: league average for sacks.
19: sacks by the 49ers, most in the league.
SMALL WORLD
Bucs safety John Lynch played at Stanford, located just south of San Francisco. After moving from quarterback to safety as a junior, he recorded 95 tackles, four interceptions, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and one sack.
OFF LIMITS
No self-respecting Bucs fan would be caught dead eating rice today. After all, it is the San Francisco treat. Go for the baked potato, loaded of course. (We'll assume panning for gold was not in your plans.)
THE LAST WORD
"When we just humbly show up and take care of business, we're a dangerous football team. We don't believe in doing a whole lot of talking, just a whole lot of showing up." - Bucs linebacker Derrick Brooks
