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Gruden's Job Gets In The Way

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 11, 2008

TAMPA - There is a downside to being the head coach of an NFL team, and Bucs coach Jon Gruden is experiencing it right now.

A "huge" baseball fan and longtime follower of the Rays, Gruden's day job, which often turns into a night job, will keep him from watching most of the Rays-Red Sox American League Championship Series.

That his job has kept him from keeping tabs on the Rays and some other current issues seemed to have the coach a bit down Friday afternoon.

"In some ways, I'm very disappointed in my inability to keep in touch with reality," Gruden said. "There's an election coming on here and I really haven't even gotten a chance to get to know either candidate, honestly.

"And I'm really a big baseball fan. I was a heck of a player once, too. Hit a home run one day. And I've been to so many Rays games. I think they're the greatest story in sports."

Gruden will be rooting, even if he's not watching.

"I have a lot of respect for pro sports and what it takes to get to this phase of the tournament, so I just hope they can put an exclamation point on what has already been one very exciting year for me and my kids," he said.

MUST WIN AGAIN

The season isn't even half over and the Bucs are faced with another must-win situation.

It was just a few weeks ago, after losing the opener to New Orleans, that the Bucs thought they were in a must-win game against Atlanta. Now, for much the same reason, many Bucs believe they must beat 4-1 Carolina on Sunday to avoid falling out of the division race before it gets going.

"It pretty much is a must-win situation if we want to repeat as division champs," WR Ike Hilliard said. "I mean, we don't want to get too far in the hole here and have to make up ground or count on other people to bail us out. To avoid that we have to win this one."

Gruden sees this as a big game, too. He won't place it in the "make-or-break" category, but he realizes the consequences of losing.

"It will knock us out by two games if we lose, and we don't want that, that's for sure" the coach said. "It also gives us a chance to move into a tie for first place if we win."

THIRD AND LONG-SHOT

The Bucs enter Sunday's game ranked 24th in the league in third-down conversions, largely as a result of their own mistakes.

There were three occasions last week when a penalty on second or third down saddled the Bucs with what Gruden says is a virtually unwinnable third-and-long situation. Those situations have become commonplace for the Bucs this season.

Of their 71 third-down plays, 40 have found the Bucs needing to gain 7 yards or more to get the first down, and 17 have been 11 yards or more.

"The conversion rate on third-down-and-10 is incredibly low," Gruden said. "And the conversions you do see are usually wild, freak plays. It's a scramble, a jump ball, a how-did-he-get-that-in-there play. It's got to be around 10 percent, if that.

"So once we get to third-and-11, I just decide that I'm going to let quarterbacks coach Greg Olson call the plays and I'll take some of the other calls."

INJURY REPORT

WR Joey Galloway (foot) and FB B.J. Askew (hamstring) will not play; QB Brian Griese (elbow, shoulder), MLB Barrett Ruud (right knee sprain), LB Derrick Brooks (hamstring) and S Sabby Piscitelli (elbow) are questionable; TE John Gilmore (illness) and G/C Sean Mahan (abdomen) are probable.

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Roy Cummings

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