Writing abou the Buc’s win at the superbowl, a sportswriter wrote that Gruden, at 39, is known as an offensive guru.
So I don’t know much about football… why is he a offensive guru? Has he come up with completely new methods?
Generally, he is considered a ‘guru’ because he put his own spin on what can be called the “West Coast Offense”.
The West Coast Offense was popularized by Bill Walsh of the SF 49ers in the 80’s. It is a system of short and medium pass plays with a lot a ‘reads’ done at the line of scrimmage.
For example, the play is called by the coach, radioed to the QB and it includes the formation and some other tidbits. At the line, before the snap, the receivers and QBs determine their routes and options based on the defense set up. Unlike ‘old school’ football, the play is finalized until the receivers and QBs read the defense. And then, they almost need telepathy to be on the same page, and the pass will be done on timing and location (throwing the ball before the receivers breaks for the spot).
With Gruden, he has more formations to confuse the defense, and has created better back up plans for the QB should he not be able to read the defense with the Wide receivers. Gruden has taken an offensive scheme so complicated that only premier Qbs and wide recievers could run it, and he manages into a system where even average Qbs and WRs could thrive in it (or at least get a bad offense up to average levels).
Gruden a guru? Maybe not…maybe just a guy who put a few good and simple options into a complex offense. He got the Bucs to boost their offense, thought they never did become a offensive powerhouse. But he got them to score a few more points in a few more games, and rode the defense to the title.
Sometimes, the difference between being a coach and a guru is squeezing out a few more TDs, a few less interceptions, and getting a few more wins. Gruden got Johnson to have more/simpler options in the West Coast Offense.
But with that Defense of theirs, the offense was able to struggle, learn and improve marginally…and make it look like he was a genius.
To further what Philster stated so succintly, Gruden was the final offensive piece in an already well tuned defensive machine. Had Dungy not already created and populated such a great defense, Gruden’s offensive contributions would probably have been cancelled by the Raiders offensive might.
Of course, Gruden was in a rather unique position to defeat Oakland, since he’d coached them.
My perception was that Tampa Bay seemed to know what play Oakland was running on almost every down; several of those interceptions looked as if the defensive back was waiting to step into the passing lane.
I knew Tampa Bay’s defense was good, but what amazed me was their ability to put a lot of heat on Rich Gannon. The Raiders’ offensive line is so big and so powerful, I hadn’t seen anybody get close to sacking Gannon in ages. Most of the time, he’s been able to get rid of the ball in a big hurry. But he couldn’t do that yesterday.
Several things seemed to be at work. First, the Bucs’ secondary was so good, the Raiders’ receivers just weren’t getting open, and Gannon had to hold on to the ball a lot longer than he wanted. Second, the Bucs’ defensive linemen were quick enough to get around the Raiders’ blockers and contain Gannon.
And third… well, all during the week, I heard people speculate that Gruden’s knowledge of the Raiders’ offense was an advantage for Tampa Bay. I had pretty much dismissed that. But it seemed pretty obvious yesterday that the Bucs’ defense knew exactly what was coming on almost every play. It was telling when we heard John Lynch saying, “We’ve seen every one of these plays in practice.”
Incidentally, while Jon Gruden can be an obnoxious egomaniac, and is not one of my favorite people, I respect the way he’s given due credit to Tony Dungy for leaving him a superb defense. Gruden is smart enough to know he didn’t do it all by himself, and has enough class to give a good man like Dungy the props he deserved.
Bingo. Having class makes it easier for others to extol even more praise on you.
Gruden is also reported to require only about 2 hours of sleep per night, and to spend the rest as a workaholic. The extra time may let him prepare his teams just a little better.
Also, being closer in age to his players than other coaches, he may have less trouble relating to them personally, and to find what buttons each one needs to have pushed.
Pity Dungy never understood what he had well enough to win it all. He’s shown the same trouble in Indy, too - well, there are many cases of great assistants who couldn’t handle the top job, and he looks like another.
Well, Dungy is not an offense guy, he’s a defense guy. Remember that even this year with the tweaked offense, the Bucs still lived and died by their defense - which was a product of Dungy.
Give Dungy a few years to get Indie’s defense in shape and they will be much better. Gruden had more to work with on offense in Tampa than Dungy has to work with on defense in Indie.
Exactly. Really impressive. Those four guys changed the entire game.
Again, a result of the front 4. With those 4 guys able to put pressure Gannon by themselves, they didn’t need to blitz or get fancy – they had 7 guys in coverage all game. Th bucs offense didn’t look that great at all – a few decent drives, but also a lot of punts and mistakes. Without those 21 (!) defensive points, it would have been a different game.