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Using A New Approach, Gruden Got The Job Done In 2007

Jay Conner/Tribune photo

Bucs coach Jon Gruden did what few thought he could this year: help lead the Bucs to the NFC South championship.

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 30, 2007

Updated: 12/29/2007 11:55 pm

TAMPA - A few weeks ago, less than 12 hours after the Bucs clinched the NFC South and a playoff berth, the guard in the booth at One Buc Place saw solitary headlights approach. It was 3:30 a.m. He did not call for backup.

"It was Jon," the guard later said.

Christmas Day also found Jon Gruden at the office, not early, not all day, but he managed to spend some time there.

His world hasn't changed much since he began coaching.

But it changed enough this season. It changed when it mattered most.

That's why today we're not writing the story we thought we'd write, the story of Jon Gruden's final game as Bucs coach, and where do the Bucs go from here?

They go to the playoffs.

OK, so this isn't the perfect Patriots. But think of where this story was going.

Gruden rewrote it, on the fly, with a team that defines team, with the quarterback he long wanted, and with a new approach. Look at what the man did.

Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber did that a few weeks ago after Bobby Petrino did what he did to the Falcons.

"The thing is, Jon never quit," Barber said. "He could have. But he didn't. Instead he learned and he grew, and so did this team. We did it together."

An Important Moment

Bucs players and coaches needed good news when they came to training camp. Some of them felt Gruden lost his team last season, let himself wallow in self pity. The Bucs went 4-12. The end seemed near.

Then came camp and just about the first words out of Gruden's mouth.

To a man, the coaches and players remember.

"We went 4-12 last season," Gruden said.

It might seem like a small thing, the emphasis on "We," but it wasn't to some Bucs who had wondered if Gruden truly knew 2006 was his fault, too, and understood that he had to change.

"It was an important moment," one Bucs veteran said.

Change Jon Gruden did.

It stopped being about his future and started becoming their future.

The man grew.

He had to grow, of course, but give Gruden and his silent partner, Bruce Allen, credit for this team and this season.

Give the head coach credit for reaching out. He buried his head in that 4-12. This season, he gathered his men around and made a winning chemistry.

He stuck with his plan. He didn't desert the running game when runners kept going down. He didn't go nuts. He never gave up on anything or anyone.

He grew young talent, something the Glazers might have wondered about him before this season. Some of the kids improved.

Look at the men Gruden brought to Tampa. The pieces fit, the pieces won. Of course, none of this works without the quarterback, A lot of people had given up on Jeff Garcia. A lot of people had given up on Gruden, too.

Then there are all those guys from nowhere, just itching for a chance, the perfect bunch for Gruden at this point in his career. He gathered them around and told them to go prove something, and they did. So did the coach.

They Did It Together

We wondered why he didn't truly try to win last week in San Francisco. That might be forgotten today during a truly meaningless affair with Carolina.

Funny, but it's the coach on the other sideline this afternoon, John Fox, who might be on the hot seat, not Jon Gruden. Funny, or not, it's Rich McKay who is scrambling in Atlanta, not Jon Gruden in Tampa.

Granted, we're not sure what it means if the Bucs come out next weekend and lose their first playoff game, as they did in 2005, another Born Again Gruden year.

We can only go on what has happened so far.

Jon Gruden, early bird, kept the clock from striking midnight. He's the Bucs coach, today and tomorrow.

"How could you not be proud of this team," Gruden asked a few weeks ago.

They're proud right back.

They did it together.

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