Speaking of Jon Gruden, he was the subject of a recent front-page story in USA Today. It referenced the consecutive losing seasons in the context of impatient fans and relentless critics of the erstwhile “boy wonder” head coach.
Here’s Gruden’s response to growing “whispers” that he won the big one largely with “someone else’s players”:
“The reality of it was, did you come in here and inherit a team that was accustomed to winning Super Bowls? Or did you come in here and inherit a team that was 9-8 and got their brains beat in (in a playoff loss) to Philadelphia and had rock-bottom chemistry?”