Gruden on Galloway: tempers flared

Jon Gruden at Monday's season-ending press conference. [Brendan Fitterer | Times]

Joey Galloway and Jon Gruden had what Gruden described as a disagreement on the sideline late in Sunday's game, but Gruden said this morning it was just a matter of emotions flaring and a result of frustration with his injured shoulder.

"I pulled him out of the game," Gruden said. "Obviously, he was hurting. You could see it on the tape this morning. I think emotions flared. This is very important to him. He's played a long time and wanted a shot at a championship. He knows he's a key cog here and one of our big reasons why we have a chance every Sunday. I think emotions might have got the best of him."

Galloway left the field with a few minutes remaining in the game, presumably after being told by Gruden he would not re-enter. Galloway didn't address the situation after the game, but Gruden insisted their relationship won't be affected.

"I have a great relationship with him," Gruden said. "We needed him yesterday and, unfortunately, he wasn't 100 percent."

Jeff Garcia leaves One Buc Place Monday. [Brendan Fitterer | Times]

Comments

[Keyshawn]

Can you say Keenan and Keyshawn all over again?

[don]

i dont like joey. he is a buckeye and i hate OSU. he is ego heavy and should be cut. we need more UF players that will give us a chance to win, like EG, and not galloway

[boltz25]

Thank you Don, for the idiot comment of the day. There are great players from every program; even programs you have never heard of. UF has great college players, but that doesn't always translate to NFL success. I could give you a whole list of UF flops, but it's not necessary.

Galloway is a key player here, but we need a couple of more playmakers to be successful. I think Gruden did a great job this year, no matter how much I disagree with sitting the starters the last two game. Hopefully the result of Sunday's game will show Chucky that sitting them, is not the best route.

Go Bucs!

Yeah, cause Reidel and Quez gave three consecutive 1,000 yard seasons like Galloway. I'm sure the awesomeness of Reche Caldwell, Travis Taylor and Taylor Jacobs are atop your wish list.

Goobers.

[Football Fan]

Typical UF mentality there, Don. UF produces great college players, not NFL players. There have only been a few great ones from UF. Don’t get so much “tunnel vision” UF guy. Do you remember Spurrier and the Skins? He surrounded himself with UF Alum. Good move there, don’t you think! Most are starting up the AFL because they can’t hang in the NFL!

[Stephen Blackehart]

I would disagree w/ the UF thing, but only slightly. UF puts LOTS of players into the NFL, just not many quality QBs or WRs. I say that, yet I'm no gators fan, believe me.

On the Galloway front, we need more guys at WR who can run and catch and (unlike Joey) fight for the ball. Who would that be, though? If you take away TO and Moss, who is there who's a truly dominant receiver?

To put it in perspective,can anyone name he Bucs leading reciever and where he is from.......

Ike Hilliard, University of Florida..

Can Anyone name the Bucs leading Rusher and where he is from...

Earnest Graham, University of Florida..

Nuff' Said

[Mike]

The Bucs need big play makers which Galloway is the only one we have,Don I do not think Bubba Caldwell is the answer. The Bucs have addressed certain line needs on both sides of the ball but they need more speed at the skill positions.

[DR]

The Bucs need a #1 WR. Galoway has never been and never will be a #1 WR, he has always been a #2. That INT was a bad throw, but just a flat out stupid play. They were taking away the post all game and Galloway isn't going to out leap anyone for a jump ball. The Bucs have to be big players for a WR next year if they want to compete with good teams. The only team with a winning record they beat all season was the Titans and that doesn't say much. they overachieved because of a weak division and weak schedule. They'll be nothing next year with the players they have on the roster right now.

Yes, Graham and Hilliard, leaders of the vaunted 18th ranked offense in the league. Graham is a good back, but no elite player and neither is Hilliard, so don't get too head over heels about your two boys from UF. They are decent players, but not great. (see first round playoff loss).

[DeadheadDan]

Good Lord Don, I'm a Gator fan and even I think you're a forking idiot. Congratulations on making us all look bad, you freaking moron. Do us a favor and adopt FSU instead.

Has anyone ever thought of this -

The Giants just played better yesterday.

If given a choice between Bernard Berrian or Riley Cooper, this guy would probably flip for the latter. Christ, im a UF grad and even I don't have glasses that rosy.

" To put it in perspective,can anyone name he Bucs leading reciever and where he is from.......

Ike Hilliard, University of Florida..

Nuff' Said
"

2007 receiving stats:
Joey Galloway: 57 catches - 1067 - 6 TD
Ike Hilliard: 62 catches - 722 - 1TD

But im sure you're gonna base your "argument" solely on a five catch pad.

Nice try.

Please give us a new coach next year?? How about it? Bill Cowher?? Let's get a coach that will build a tough, physical team like Jack Del Rio did in Jax. I grew up a Bucs fan, always have been and always willbe a Bucs fan. We deserve better than Gruden.

[Florida Native]

The Giants just played better yesterday.

Absolutely...if you had told me before the game that Eli Manning would make no mistakes, I would have said the Bucs have no chance. That's exactly what happened. Impact players are needed for next year...

[Brady]

Hey all y'all . . . STOP blending college football and the NFL. It's simply apples & cannon balls. Enjoy tonight's national championship, which by the way, has NO Gators,No Seminoles, No Hurricanes,. . . you get the idea. Talk about thinking "outside the box." Think outside of the damn state!

[Tom]

We flat out got beat by a better team on Sunday. There are no excuses. I completely underestimated their toughness. They manhandled us at the line of scrimmage on defense and offense.

I can also say that we were "outcoached" as far as gameplanning yesterday. I was very impressed with our early offensive gameplan but we failed to adjust to their defensive scheme after the 1st quarter. While, the Giants adjusted very well with their short passes.

All in all, I am very happy with what we accomplished this season. No matter what any naysayers tell us, we won the division and got a home playoff game. We have a great nucleus of young players that will benefit from the experience they got yesterday. I believe that making it to the playoff while rebuilding is pretty cool. Every team except one will questions heading into the offseason so you guys need to just calm down.

One more thing, did anyone notice the level of stupidity that attended the game yesterday? It goes without saying anytime you have Giants fans but even the Bucs fans were jerks. It was Plant City's finest out yesterday.

Bucs fans are some of the biggest aholes around, sorry to break it to ya. Everytime I've been to a game they act worse than some of the Eagles fans do. What's worse is that you sort of expect it from bigger metropolitan cities such as Philly or New York, but a small town, back woods place like Tampa?

Bucs fans are big posers too! You love your teams until they LOSE then you bail like the captain of a sinking ship. If I bailed everytime my team lost, I'd be spending most of my time SWIMMING! If I was John Gruden they wouldn't have to fire me cause I'd quit!

Tom, you're totally right! I laughed though when you wrote that you completely underestimated the Giants. What did you expect from a team like the Giants? Yea, you made a HUGE mistake if you underestimated Eli Manning and Co.

[Paulanthony]

Chill everyone... It was an OK season. We have a young team so next year should be interesting.. Gruden played the Giants the right way. Play the run and force Manning to throw into the #2 defense against the pass. The Giants were just too high after playing NE head to head. BTW the Giants are now 8-1 on the road... So this was not going to be easy.

Gruden.. get Caddy healthy, along with Graham and Pittman build an offensive wall that can be seen from other space. And you will win.

[Tom]

The Giants are a very talented team, especially the unsung guys on the O-Line. They are a tough, physical team that mauled us after the first quarter. Our speed really surprised them at first, but they made their adjustments on offense. Without Galloway, our option to keep a TE or RB to help Trueblood was limited. He had a very hard time with Strahan.

Graham deserves to go into next season as the featured back. We need to draft a RB in the earlier rounds but we can build a team around Graham. I don't have much hope of Caddy returning. I like Smith out of UCF.

5:52, you're right. Bucs fans are some of the worst in the league. They'll jump ship as soon as it takes on a little water. They acted like baffoons on Sunday. Fans like those in Green Bay will support their team to the very end with class and dignity.

[John P]

Out of everything I saw yesterday, the defense's inability to adjust to the Giants short passing game was glaring. They were obviously not going to let anyone go downfield - and happily chose death by slow poison. While a lot of critics believe Manning is mistake prone, no one's ever called him stupid. If you've got a guaranteed 8 yards on checkdowns, who do anything else?

As far as the offense is concerned, the blocking was horrid. Garcia played like the hounds of hell were chasing him back there, and it showed. The receivers played like they'd been on the shelf for a few weeks, and it showed. Aside from Graham and Askew, I don't think anyone earned their paychecks.

Kiffin was severely outcoached yesterday, plain and simple.

Gruden, for his part, wasn't outcoached - when the line can't protect, and your QB has a 2 count to set up and throw, and he's throwing to receivers who can't get ANY separation - I just can't bash the game plan on that.

They need to toss Wade on the street, and Muir along with him. Kiffin, for all the praise he's gotten sure didn't have a very good idea of what to do yesterday.

Draft and free agency will be coming up. I'd steal Berrian from the Bears to start with. If he had a decent QB, he'd be a pro bowler every year.

In the draft, get another receiver, another RB to replace Williams (I don't think he'll be recovered next year), center, a run stuffing tackle - and yes, a LB to replace Brooks (or at least to being grooming for the role).

Corners are getting long in the tooth as well, so it's time to start looking on that end, too.

It was a good year though. A winning record is hard to come by in the NFL (ask the Lions, Falcons or Cardinals fans if you think otherwise). Gruden earned another year, and I'm not going to knock him because of the result yesterday.

[frank]

marv levy.

[glasstique]

Give me Del Shofner , McGee or their likes anytime over those WRs' of today. Bunch of pansies that are self loving no shows.I doubt their injuries are real to boot.

[Kyle T]

If I were to tell you before the season that the Bucs were going to field the 2nd youngest team in the NFL this year, and that 14 of their players would be placed on IR, you probably would have forecasted a last place finish. This was a rebuilding year and they squeezed a playoff game out of it. Great job Gruden! I already can't wait for the draft.

[Bob in tampa]

FIRE Gruden... he is just a JOKE. Every game is the same plays 2 runs play then a pass play. He make the game VERY boring!!

[Phil T]

If you want to lay blame; it wasn't Graham, it wasn't Galloway, it wasn't Garcia, it was squarely on the O-line. If they don't pave a path, Graham and Pittman go nowhere. If they can't establish a run, then there goes play-action possibilities. If the O-line doesn't protect Garcia, Galloway/Smith/Stevens/et al don't have time to get open and Garcia doesn't have time to check down. The Giants' D-line came to play, and that's the ballgame.

Bucs fans, a lot of, are fair weather fans. Look at the comments as proof. One week it's, "Give Gruden an extension!" The next, "Fire Gruden!" So fair weather, yes.

However, the clerks at a certain sports store told me every single Giants fan who went in there that day (Sat.) was obnoxious. I saw that at the game as well. Not all, but a lot.

[darrell]

No matter who you root for in college, the bucs better get younger and better at WR or else the 2008 season is goiong to be more of the same for the offense. Bernard Beriam is a free agent, I would start with him then go for a quality WR with size & speed no later than the second round in the NFL draft this year.

[Mike]

How about you played a last place schedule in a terrible conference!!!
Ever think of that one!
I am not a Gruden fan, He won with Tony's team, not one he built himself. Galloway is a great player, where would the team be without him! He just needs some other offense of players around him. I forget what string was the running back this year.

Next year the Bucs will probably finish last next year, don't get your hopes up!

You all will just have to watch the Cowboys vs Patriots this year!

[scuba steve]

I agree with some of the uf comments but look at some of the qb's they had win the heisman and not make it in the nfl, ernast graham is a good starting running back, now they just need a back with some speed to along with him, as for recievers the bucs really do need help, i have a name for everyone and it will shock you all, CHAD JOHNON, he wants out of the bengals organization, we get him to go along with galloway and hilliard and a healthy michael clayton and maurice stoval they will be better plus drafting a reciver this year would be nice maybe picking up another free agent, the bucs have a good starting offensive line so their fine theer and what they really will need is a qb that is not only mobile and smart like garcia but one with a stronger arm to help spread that field, if you really think about it, their have been plays that other qbs would of made but garcia couldnt bc of his arm strength, and trust me im a big garcia fan and always will be, he is good but lacks that cannon arm.
another thing the bucs need is a big devensive tackle that weighs over 300lbs and can stuff the run or tire out some of the opposing teams lineman so that when javon haye and chris hovan attack the middle they have a better chance of getting to the qb.
cato june needs to be resigned to a 5 year deal and they need to look at some other corners available like say marcus trufant of the seahawks who will be available or nick asomogua from the raiders who will also be available, because we all know that ronde and brian kelly are coming to a point where they can not be as dominant as they once were. oh as for gruden whoever thinks that he needs to be fired does not know football, his offensive is great if u have a mobile qb that is smart but also has a cannon arm, something that garciadoes not have. gruden knows how to put people into place and get the right matchups, if he leaves he will have success somewhere else.
so how about we stop talking about what college team has the best players or whatnot and concentrate on the matter at hand and thats the bucs winnning the superbowl and have the right players to do that.

[Jay]

"Thank you Don, for the idiot comment of the day."

Yep - second that.

Joey is probably the best WR to dress in a Bucs uniform. Easily in the top 5, if not the best.

[Tom]

Oh Jimminy Christmas, Mike! It wasn't Dungy's team that won the Super Bowl. I am so tired of hearing that. It was Dungy's team that couldn't manufacture ONE TD in 3 consecutive playoff games. And btw, it was Wyche's team that drafted Brooks, Alstott, Sapp and Lynch. So Dungy went to a team with 3, maybe 4, Hall of Fame players already on the team!

[Maxwells]

"I love it when a plan comes together"

So Jon had decided to "rest" the players after making the playoffs, some teams chose to work theirs.

Who was right? Who knows?

It seemed some Bucs didn't get enough rest... I even saw Garcia laying on his back during the game... jiminy crickets! Those Giants were supposed to be all tired and beat-up from playing their butts off in last weeks historic game with those undefeated Patriots.

They looked more prepared then pooped!

Well now Jon can rest the gang until July, don't even have to worry about that pesky pro bowl getting in the way this year.

RIP Buc's!

I have to agree with Mike, it was Dungy's team that Gruden took to the Superbowl.

Yes "Dungy's team couldn't manufacture ONE TD in 3 consecutive playoff games" but he got them there each time.

With that in mind, all Gruden had to do then is watch the system play itself out and he was heading to the playoffs right? Mix in a new playbook that your rivals had no tapes of to study and bingo.

This is now undoubtedly Jon's team.
I think Jon's a decent coach, but with very poor judgement.

what't up with this firing gruden poll? i know that there are more people out there that want him gone. this is crazy