SUPER CHUCKY!
Jon Gruden pulled an inside job in Super Bowl XXXVII. The coach went from Oakland to Tampa Bay 11 months earlier, and took his Raiders playbook with him. With his team a step ahead on both sides of the ball the entire game, Gruden and his Buccaneers routed his not-so-old team, 48-21, for Tampa Bay’s first title in its 27-year existence. Gruden had returned the Raiders to their winning ways in his four seasons, going 38-26 with a trip to the AFC Championship Game and a loss in the Tuck Rule game that turned out to be his Oakland finale. His West Coast offense clashed with Al Davis’ desire to go back to the Raiders’ traditional deep passing attack. So when Tampa wanted to hire Gruden to replace Tony Dungy, the Raiders owner demanded and got two first-round picks and two second-rounders to let Chucky out of the final year of his contract.
The move paid off immediately. The Bucs won a club-record 12 games then crushed the Niners and Eagles in the playoffs.
Brad Johnson threw for 215 yards and two touchdowns and Michael Pittman rushed for 129 yards as the Bucs led 20-3 at halftime and 34-9 after three quarters.
But the key for the Bucs was the defense built and left behind by Dungy. With Gruden’s knowledge of the plays and Raider coach Bill Callahan neglecting to change audible signals installed by Gruden, Tampa dominated the Raiders and NFL MVP Rich Gannon, the journeyman quarterback whose career Gruden had revived by bringing him to Oakland.
Gannon threw a Super Bowl-record five interceptions, including two by Super Bowl MVP Dexter Jackson. The Bucs returned three INTs for touchdowns in the second half, two by Dwight Smith. The Raiders did not have center Barret Robbins, who went missing the day before the Super Bowl after not taking his depression medication. Backup center Adam Treu had no chance of stopping Warren Sapp and Co. as Tampa held the Raiders to 19 rushing yards, 269 total yards and 11 first downs.
Gruden downplayed his knowledge of the Raiders as being a factor but defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, a holdover from Dungy’s staff, credited his boss for helping prepare the Buc defense.
“Jon Gruden was Gannon. Nobody can be like Gannon like Gruden can,” Kiffin said. “He taught Gannon. He was in Gannon’s head.”
Added safety John Lynch: “Every play they’ve run, we’ve run in practice.”
The heavy price the Bucs paid for Gruden would catch up to them as they managed just two wild-card playoff losses in the next six seasons before Gruden landed in the broadcast booth, where he found even bigger stardom.
As for the Raiders, they have not been to the playoffs nor had a winning season since the Gruden Bowl, though they did get the last laugh on their old coach. In the 2008 finale, the Raiders rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit in Tampa to eliminate the Bucs from playoff contention, leading to Gruden’s firing three weeks later.