The Gruden Trophy
From the Cheap Seats
by Chris Hahn
I’m not really ready to rename the trophy. But considering I have long stuck to the premise that coaches get too much blame during the bad times and too much credit for the good times, the Super Bowl has made me rethink a little.
Make your argument however you want…I will stick to the following: Coach Jon Gruden was the difference in winning the Super Bowl. Need me to rehash the proof? If so, you most likely are one of the folks that watches on mute until the commercials come on (you should be ashamed of yourselves), but I’ll oblige anyway:
John Lynch commented on the Bucs sideline that Tampa had practiced every play Oakland had run. Need two guesses why?
The Bucs offense kept the Raiders confused and off-balance…even though it wasn’t a drastic difference from what they see in practice every day! A supposedly non-existent ground game ran rampant while a conservative passing game moved the ball when it needed to. Did we ever see that from Tampa before Gruden?
Several key first downs were generously handed to the Bucs by way of penalty…several of which were bonehead plays by a Raider. Gruden wouldn’t stand for that stuff (or perhaps he wouldn’t sit still for that stuff)!
Even Michaels and Madden found plenty of ways to prove this point during the blitzkrieg in San Diego. Madden several times blasted the Oakland players for looking so uninspired…it was if they weren’t excited about playing. The Bucs, on the other hand, would have run through a wall. A fiery coach who would lead them through that same wall wouldn’t be a factor in that, would he?
I know the Raiders got a lot for Gruden: two first-rounders, two second-rounders, and a lump of cash (sidebar – have you noticed that cash is making a rejuvenated appearance in trades recently….hmmm….), so Raider fans will argue that they’ll get better as a result. It’s simple, though. It doesn’t matter unless you win the hardware, and Gruden was worth every bit of it for Tampa because they have it and Oakland does not.
I suppose if I’m going to completely revise my opinion on coaches and their over/under-valued appreciation, I’ll have to see Jon Gruden keep his teams at the top for a little longer. What I am starting to really buy into, however, is that a coach can be a huge x-factor for a professional sports team (college sports are a whole other issue). A great coach can put a team over the top while a bad coach can deflate the team from its potential.
After all, isn’t that why it’s called the Lombardi trophy?