TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Bucs Beat: Gruden Has Earned New Contract With Team

ADVERTISEMENT

By ROY CUMMINGS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 23, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO - It is no longer a question of, will they? The question now is, when will they?

The answer, most assuredly, is sometime shortly after the season ends, which could be late January. Shoot, the way the Bucs are going, it might be early February. Either way, Jon Gruden will get his contract extension.

He will be back as Bucs head coach not only for the 2008 season he is already contracted for but for several seasons thereafter. The Glazers will see to it. Gruden has earned it.

His Bucs are on a roll. They've won five of their past six games, two of the past three NFC South division titles and three of the six NFC South titles they've fought for.

But forget about the numbers. They're not the reason Gruden has gone from the hot seat to just plain hot. They bolster the argument for him, but those numbers weren't necessarily what the Glazers were after.

What they wanted most was to feel good about the future of their franchise again. They wanted to know that their team, under Gruden, was back on the playoff track and was bound to stay there awhile. It seems it is.

No, the Bucs have not beaten a lot of good teams this year. In fact, they've reached the playoffs by beating up on a lot of bad or mediocre teams. But beat up on them they have.

When they've won this year the Bucs have often done so convincingly, so convincingly that they'll go into the playoffs as something of a dark horse, a team no one wants to face because they're so hard to gauge.

Next year is sure to be different. The Bucs won't sneak up on anyone in 2008. Their schedule will be tougher so their victories will likely be harder to come by. But the Bucs should be better as well in 2008.

Don't think that doesn't factor into the equation. The Glazers wanted to see the Bucs get younger this year. Beyond that they wanted to see their young players get better under Gruden. They have. Well, most of them have.

Michael Clayton still can't seem to get out of neutral. Cadillac Williams couldn't seem to get out of neutral when he was healthy; now he might never be healthy again. It may not matter.

Earnest Graham has gotten better under Gruden, developed into a difference-maker. So have Jovan Haye and Greg White and Gaines Adams. So have Jeremy Trueblood and Davin Joseph and Donald Penn.

It all bodes well for the future for the Bucs and especially for Gruden's future. It's hard to imagine anyone else leading this current group to wherever it is they're going to go. Don't think that's not a factor, either.

Before they could ever decide to let go of Gruden, the Glazers would first have to consider the alternatives to him. And what are the alternatives? Bill Cowher? Steve Mariucci? Charlie Weis?

Would any one of them guarantee the Bucs a better run at the prize the Glazers and Bucs fans covet? Probably not. Besides, a change would probably result in changes elsewhere, in a shakeup of the roster and the coaching staff.

No shakeup seems necessary here. The roster will eventually need a tweak here and there - at areas such as receiver, cornerback and center - but the nucleus of a perennial playoff contender seems to be forming.

As for the coaching staff, the coaches have their players playing hard; they have them playing hurt. No small achievement there. Speaking of achievements, think about where this team was a year.

It was 4-12 and seemingly on the way down. As bad as it seemed, though, Gruden never believed it was really all that bad. Maybe he's right.

He did lose his quarterback three weeks into the season last year. If recent history has taught us anything it's that Gruden's teams can win consistently when they have a good quarterback running them.

With a competent quarterback in 2002, Gruden led the Bucs to a Super Bowl; with two able quarterbacks in 2005, Gruden led the Bucs back to the playoffs. Now he has led them there again.

Which begs the question: Why mess with success? Chances are, the Glazers won't. Not this time.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT