Posts tagged JonGruden at FanHouse

While there's been no official word from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at this point, there is a very good chance that Jeff Garcia could be returning to the starting lineup this coming Sunday, thanks in large part to Champ Bailey's dismantling of Brian Griese's arm/shoulder/elbow in Tampa Bay's 16-13 loss.

Garcia came off the bench after being relegated to backup duty following the first game of the season, and completed 13-of-17 passes for 93 yards and a touchdown, pulling Tampa Bay to within three points late in the fourth quarter.

"It felt good to have the old me back again," Garcia said. "In terms of the movement and finding receivers and having receivers making plays and just stringing together a drive in a difficult environment, it was good."

I still think Garcia is the best quarterback on the roster, so this probably isn't a bad thing for the Buccaneers. Especially since Griese entered Sunday's game tied for the league lead in interceptions, which didn't seem to be much of a concern to Head Coach Jon Gruden.

Earlier this week, it was brought to the attention of Tampa Bay Head Coach Jon Gruden that his starting quarterback, Brian Griese, isn't have the best statistical season. Seems like an accurate assessment, considering Griese currently ranks 25th in completion percentage, 30th in yards per pass attempt, 30th in passer rating, and is tied for the most interceptions in the league with Cleveland quarterback Derek Anderson.

The interesting thing about those numbers? Gruden doesn't care.

"You've got some real good stats there. You know he's 3-0 as a starter; how about that? We've played two very good defenses. The Chicago Bears on the road – he was the player of the week for us last week. He threw a couple interceptions yesterday and we can't have that. He knows that. But he's a winning quarterback for us and we're going to rally around him, continue to try to improve on his strengths and try to clean up a couple plays that hurt us last week."

Translation: If you're a Tampa Bay fan, get used to the sight of Griese lining up under center. At least as long as the Buccaneers continue to win football games.

Great news, Lane Kiffin: when God closes a door, he opens a window. Or something. The second-year Raiders head coach is out of a job, and owner Al Davis has the freakiest press conference in NFL history to show for it. Ah, to be a Raiders fan.

To the madness: some choice bits from Davis' surprisingly coherent but still extraordinarily bizarre presser (click that handsome mug above for the moving-pictures proof).

"Maybe I didn't want to admit that I made a mistake ... to be quite frank with you, I'm firing him for cause now, I'm not firing him for anything else other than cause. ...

I reached a point where I felt the whole staff, we were fractionalized ... that the best thing to do ... was to make a change. It hurts because I picked the guy. I picked the wrong guy. This is regretful, but I thought it was best for the Raiders. And I wanted to make it work, because I want the Raiders to do great. Someone said to me the other day, a newspaper man, 'Why don't you tell us your side of the story? Why don't you tell us what's happening?' And I said to him, look, I don't want to win in the press, I want to win on the field"

Um, obviously? Of course, Davis then proceeded to ignore himself and try to win in the press. Or, at the very least, malign Kiffin in such a way that he comes off looking like a guy who's fresh off running a bed and breakfast. Davis read from a letter he had given Kiffin prior to the Week 3 Chiefs game that included this nugget of awesomeness:

I have this vision of Tony Romo spending his time away from football explaining the nuances of everyday life to his moderately famous girlfriend Jessica Simpson. How to distinguish chicken from fish, or why buffalo wings aren't really made from buffalo meat. You know, the important stuff.

You'd think Romo would look forward to work to get a break from all the absurdity and, well, you'd think wrong. To his teammate's credit, most can spot identify fish without much prompting, but Jason Witten and Terrell Owens can both be extraordinary nags in the huddle, particularly if passes aren't coming their way.

"He'll tell me sometimes, 'Just relax,'" said Witten, who rooms with Romo on the road and hangs out with him often. "Sometimes Terrell says something and he'll just shake his head and he won't say anything. He takes it under the chin a little bit between all of us sometimes. But he'll let me know, 'If you get open, maybe you'll get that ball.'"

Good advice, all of it. I suppose Romo could tell T.O. to shut his pie hole, but the last time a Pro Bowl quarterback tried that, Owens became a monumental distraction and ended up doing topless sit-ups in his driveway. Nobody wants that.

Because you need one more reason to goof off at work on a Friday afternoon.

We're one week into this thing and there's already plenty to talk about: Will Brett Favre nurse Peter King back to health after losing Tom Brady for the season? Who's crazier: Jeff Garcia or Jon Gruden? Which team is the early favorite for 0-16, the Rams or Raiders?

And who knows, we might even talk about the Matt Cassel-istic Patriots, whether the Colts will rebound against the Vikings, if the 'Skins have a chance against the Saints, and look ahead to the Sunday and Monday night games.

Okey doke, let's get this party started.

It is very dangerous to attempt to trade for a quarterback like Brett Favre when you already have someone like Jeff Garcia coming off a Pro Bowl season as your starter. Not because Favre would hurt the team if he came in, but because if you whiff on the deal, it's egg all over your face and you have a ticked off old man running your team.

Which is what Jon Gruden has now, judging by Garcia's comments yesterday.

Garcia took another shot at Bucs Coach Jon Gruden when asked if he had any hard feelings about Tampa Bay's pursuit of former Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre.

"I'm just a journeyman according to some people. Why should I have any hard feelings? I'm thankful to have this job.

"I might pay Bruce and Jon for bringing me out here," Garcia said after Monday afternoon's practice.

That sounds so evil, but I think he means he should hand over money for the opportunity to play football. Unless -- *gasp* -- he's actually planning on muuuuuurder. (Sorry, I've been watching too much Caruso on A&E lately.)

I get that the Bucs wanted Favre, but it's not like the Jets gave up that much to pick him up -- if you're Tampa and you've already shown your cards, don't you at that point go over top and make sure you lock the guy up?

FoxSports.com's Alex Marvez thinks today's the day -- Brett Favre should be a Buccaneer before midnight. Whether that happens is another issue.

And while Tampa Bay will likely get rid of one (or more) of the five quarterbacks currently on the roster, head coach Jon Gruden is in no mood to answer your stupid questions about what the future holds for his team, particularly when it comes to Favre. So, um, beat it.

, "You can talk to Brett, yourself. If we have permission, I"m sure you do, too," Gruden said in his media huddle after the first workout. "I don't have any reports on Brett, okay. There'll be some more opportunities to write stories on this situation. It's a great story to cover. I wish I had time to cover all the things that are going on. His situation is going to handle itself."

The primary issue for the Bucs -- at least right now -- is what this all means for incumbent quarterback Jeff Garcia. Presumably, he's less excited than, say, Gruden about the possibility of Favre coming to town. No worries, though, Gruden's got a handle on it.

This morning, Bacon broke the news that John Daly and his beer gut are crazier than ever, and as he "prepares" for the Open Championship, he's advised Butch Harmon, his former swing coach (for all of four months), to stay the hell away.

In addition to these gems, Golf Channel's Rich Lerner also got a few choice nuggets from Daly and Harmon, the best of which are transcribed below.

Harmon: "He's a person who likes to blame other people for any of his shortcomings and I'm sorry he's like that ..."

This all stems from the PODS Championship earlier this year, when Daly had Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden on the bag for part of the first round. Big John claimed that his regular caddie was injured and he needed someone to carry his bag. Harmless enough, right. Uh, no.

Harmon dumped Daly afterward (and this didn't help, I imagine), and now, JD feels he needs to set the record straight: "

... But then the stories come out that I was drinking in the [Hooter's] tent [during the rain delay] drunk and stuff on Thursday, and it's a joke.

Two days later, after rounds of 78, 80, Daly returned to the Hooter's tent to do "charity work."

Yeah, I had a couple of beers, big deal. Signed about, you know, 1,000 autographs, it was a great day, and the next thing I know, it's more bad rumors come out."

Which led to this, and today, this.

Hear that? It's the pitter-patter of fantasy football season approaching. Fantasy FanHouse is here to get you ready by previewing every team from a fantasy perspective.

Meet the ...
NFC South defending champs! I say that with sarcasm because, well, it just doesn't seem plausible. With the exception of one computer (whose owners didn't really even believe it), almost no one saw the Bucs' season coming. Especially after Cadillac Williams went down for the season. But they did it anyway. The problem now for fantasy owners is that very few of the Tampa Bay players will sneak up on anyone. Earnest Graham, in particular, is already being targeted in the second and third round range.

The Breakout
Ugh. Really? I mean, come on. I guess if we're saying "sleeper" here, I'll take Cadillac, just for the upside. I was going say Michael Clayton, but that just seems lazy. Cadillac reportedly has gotten a lot healthier since last season, but hey, there's this Graham guy. Graham can't be a breakout simply because he's going relatively high, and it seems like the Bucs won't give him enough touches to make anything more than a RB2.

This seems fitting: now that Warren Sapp is retired (and Jon Gruden has agreed to chair his Hall of Fame campaign committee), he's free to speak his mind, and he's more than happy to tell you about his time with the Raiders. Short version: man, that place sucked. Slighter longer, more descriptive version, courtesy of an interview with the St. Petersburg Times:

Q: How would you describe your experience with the Raiders?

A: As dark as a black hole. Stuff went on in that organization that shouldn't go on in sports. I don't think there's one person who knows who or what is making the call. Let's just say the Oakland experience is unique. The phone rings quite a bit on that sideline. Insubordination is grounds for termination in any company.

I'm pretty sure he's not using "black hole" in the laudatory manner usually reserved for the Oakland Coliseum on game days. With that cleared up, why is Sapp confused about who has final say on, well, everything? Isn't that the one thing we can all agree on? That Al Davis is still calling the shots, despite the occasional report to the contrary?