18-1*

Hey guys, Adam's been pretty busy, and he asked if I'd be interested in helping out with this blog, and I thought "Why the hell not? Maybe my thoughts will look smarter on the screen then they do when I speak." Well, as a brief background, I'm more of a New York sports fan in a lot of ways, I was born there. I'm a Mets fan (sigh), a Knicks fan (bigger sigh), and a Giants fan. So obviously I'm in a pretty good place right now. I'm a pretty avid Fantasy Football player and I follow most of what is going on in sports. I'll try and keep most of my posts here to Tampa Bay related stuff, but for my first post...

My first post I'm going to use to talk about the Super Bowl, which was just an incredible game and an incredible experience. I'm sure most of the readers here are Bucs fans, and so now I know what you guys felt like a few years ago. On to the game!

A lot of polarizing thoughts with this game, people either wanted to see 19-0 or they wanted to see those dirty cheating bastards go down in flames. And go down they did. What a game. Ebb and flow, Tom Brady's pretty boy arse getting planted into the turf every other play (or at least, that's what it felt like), and Eli Manning outplaying the Golden Boy, especially when it counted most. You know it's got to hurt Brady to lose to a Manning in the last game of each of the past two seasons.

I don't know what my favorite part was during most of the game: the constant pressure on Brady, Eli outplaying Brady, or the awkward movements and facial gestures of Peyton Manning in that private booth. You'd think he was the Giants O-Coordinator for all the times they showed him on screen.

What are they going to call that unbelievable play where Manning escaped three defensive linemen and heaved it to David Tyree, who caught it with one hand and one helmet? The Manning Miracle? The Legend Killer? I have no idea what to call it, just like I had no idea how it happened at first. It was one of those "All-Time" type of plays.

And, finally, we get to the Patriots. The funny thing is that their entire season (which started amidst cheating accusations) means NOTHING. Without a championship, it means nothing to go 18-1. It's such an incredible sounding record, and it means nothing. Not tomention the accusations that surfaced this week surrounding the Pats taping the Rams' practices before their upset of the dominant St. Louis Rams. So now it looks like we're not only going to be putting an asterisk on their season, but maybe their entire dynasty...Bill Belichick's little Gestappo Kingdom that he keeps shrouded in secrecy seems to be crumbling around him. He's lost his perfect season and it looks like his genius label may have been based off cheating.

Not only that, but I get to read Bill Simmons' again with a sneer on my face. Maybe now he can stop knob-slobbing everything that comes out of Boston.

Anyway, I'll always remember this doofy looking goober winning a Super Bowl for my team, and for taking out the team that was already pronounced as the "Best Team Ever."

I've never been so happy to hear Mercury Morris be obnoxious.

Its Time The Bucs Part Ways With Jon Gruden

Thanks for the Super Bowl Jon, but don't let the door hit you on the way out. These are the words that I hope coach Gruden will hear very soon from the Glazers. Gruden has now coached as many years with the Bucs, six, as Tony Dungy did. Gruden has the Super Bowl title, but has 6 less regular season wins, and only one more playoff win than Dungy. If you take away the Super Bowl season, Jon Gruden has a regular season record of 36-44 and is 0-2 in the playoffs. There are 10 coaches who have coached continuously the last 6 six years, and only 1 has a worse record than Jon Gruden.

I will admit that when the Bucs decided it was time for Tony Dungy to go that I felt it was the right move. He had gotten us as far as it seemed he could and refused to make the necessary changes to his staff that the Glazers wanted. Things seem to have almost come full circle now for the Bucs, except that they are worse off. Gruden has a worse record than Dungy did, the team is in worse shape then when Dungy was fired, and Gruden also refuses to make the changes necessary to fix the problem. The difference with Dungy and Gruden is the changes needed to be made by Dungy were about the X's and O's of the game, while Gruden needs to change everything but the X's and O's. Gruden is a great offensive mind, there is no doubt about it, but he is not a good head coach.

Since Gruden took over the reigns in 2002 there have been 9 other coaches who have coached that entire time as head coach. Of the nine other coaches in the last six years only one, Herm Edwards, has a worse record than Jon Gruden.

Coach Reg. Season Record Playoffs

Belichek 75-21 9-2
Dungy 73-23 7-4
Reid 61-35 5-4
Holmgren 58-38 4-4
Shannahan 58-38 1-3
Fox 51-45 5-2
Fisher 50-56 2-2
Billick 50-56 0-2
Gruden 48-48 3-2
Edwards 42-54 2-3

Of the coaches above, Billick was just fired and Edwards was basically fired from the Jets before going to Kansas City. The three playoff wins that Gruden has to his name all came in the Super Bowl year and since than he has not advanced. The coaches on that list that have kept there jobs are consistent and good coaches. Gruden does not belong in the same discussion with most of the guys on that list. Also, the coach that the Bucs fired to get Gruden has the second best record over the last five years and has almost as many playoff losses as Gruden has appearances.

Jon Gruden helped the Bucs get a Super Bowl and for that I will forever be greatful, but his time here is up. Since the Super Bowl season the Buccaneers have gotten worse and Gruden shows no signs of being able to get this team back on track. The offense, which is why he was brought in, has not been very good and the defense has kept this team alive. The team that lost the playoff game today against the Giants did not lose because they lacked the talent. They lost because they played uninspired football and had a bad game plan; those things are on the coach. Jon Gruden, in the words of Donald Trump, you're fired!

Bucs Need More Than FG To Beat Giants

The Buccaneers have exceeded expectations this year and will host a playoff game, but if they expect to get out of the first round they will need to get more than field goals out of their drives. The Bucs have won games with great defensive efforts and getting points from the kicking game if they could not get in the end zone, but in the playoffs you need to score touchdowns with your drives and not just field goals. The Bucs have struggled to score touchdowns in the red zone, and if they are not able to reverse the trend they will not make it past the wild card round.

The Buccaneers need only to look at Saturdays game against the Patriots to see an example of why you need touchdowns. The Giants almost ended the Patriots dreams of a perfect season because they were able to score touchdowns while the Pats were kicking field goals. At one point in the game the Giants had a 28 to 16 lead because they were able to score touchdowns on 4 drives, while New England was forced to kick field goals.

Yes, the Giants lost last week even though they scored touchdowns, but the Bucs are not the Patriots. You knew watching that game that the Patriots would score the touchdowns they needed to win, but the same cannot be said of the Bucs. Many fans have overlooked the Giants and worried about who the Bucs would play in he second round. Hopefully the fans watched Saturdays game and understand that the Giants team is for real and if we continue on our field goal offense we will lose.

The Bucs were able to score in the red zone a couple times today, but still struggled. Yes, they played their second team, and yes it did not matter, but they need to make sure they score touchdowns when they have the ball, because if they don't, it will be a short playoff run for the Bucs.