Comments on: A very odd Cavs game as they beat New Orleans, and Jon Gruden is fired

By: Bonnie Fagoh

Bonnie Fagoh — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:32:52 +0000

The question is really who's team was it that won the Super Bowl for Tampa??

By: larry d.

larry d. — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:27:26 +0000

Cursedfan could live in Timbuktu and he'd still be wrong about the Bucs, who are actually a young team outside the quarterback position, Barber and Brooks.

And the best players on Dungy's teams were drafted by Sam Wyche.

By: terje

terje — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 16:00:53 +0000

thanks for the info cursedfan. i knew about the mckay stuff but not the new g.m.

"Like Pat says, the real and only proof as to whether Lerner was correct in his approach and strategy will be if Mangini and company are the right guys. Given the dysfunction on display, we'll have to give it 2-3 years."

pretty much. sad isn't it?

By: ProfPaul

ProfPaul — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 13:52:30 +0000

Terje, in case you missed it the Browns wanted to hire an HC quickly so he would get first pick of assistants. Would it have been advantageous to wait? Presently it looks like the same pool of hot candidates are making the rounds and I'm sure Mangini would have been among them.
Like Pat says, the real and only proof as to whether Lerner was correct in his approach and strategy will be if Mangini and company are the right guys. Given the dysfunction on display, we'll have to give it 2-3 years.

By: cursedfan

cursedfan — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 12:28:43 +0000

The GM, John Allen was hand picked by Gruden after Rich Mckay, whom Gruden didn't get along with was forced after after the 2003 season. Allen got Gruden the types of players he wanted, the Bucs became a very old team, patching things up with an assortment of veterans, not trying to build for the future with the draft as Mckay had done under Dungy. That formula laid the groundwork for the Bucs' turnaround of the mid to late 90's.
I know; I lived in the TampaBay area for years during that time.

By: terje

terje — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 06:13:31 +0000

i would have been happy to see gruden with the browns too. i'm not sure what the rush was to hire mangini. does the team that hires it's coach the quickest make the super bowl faster than the other teams getting a new coach?

i think the g.m. was to blame for tampa's problems. they never had a qb, cadillac was in the shop all the time and the return of warrick dunn was a bust, the expiration date on brooks and barber passed during the season and a guy who was out of football in '07 was their best receiver. not to slag on what antonio bryant did but the g.m. wasn't getting enough good players.