Buccaneers got lucky with Chucky

Would you pay two first-round draft picks, two second-round draft picks and $8 million to acquire a coach? Would you then give that coach a five-year, $17.5 million contract?\nIn a league where 15 teams won between seven and nine games and where the only thing valued more than mediocrity is parity, some teams must do a little extra.\nThat's what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave up last February to the Oakland Raiders to get Jon Gruden. Gruden always looks dyspeptic like he had some bad onion rings, but please note that the guy can coach. In one year, he has done something that highly respected predecessor Tony Dungy couldn't do in six years and what nobody could do in 26 years: take the Bucs to the Super Bowl.\nThe differences between Gruden and Dungy are noticeable. Dungy's teams are soft, especially around playoff time. His last two Tampa Bay teams were outscored 52-12 in the 2000 and 2001 playoffs by Philadelphia. \nJust to prove this wasn't a fluke, Dungy's first Colts team got pushed around, 41-0, by the New York Jets in an AFC Wild Card game. Anna Nicole Smith would have been more competitive on "Jeopardy!"\nGruden's first Bucs team whipped Philadelphia, 27-10, in the NFC Championship game, and that came after a 31-6 thumping of San Francisco in the Divisional Playoff round. Gruden did it with Brad Johnson at quarterback, who prior to this year was known as a playoff choker who couldn't throw the ball beyond ten yards downfield. Johnson isn't mobile, but Gruden called quick dropbacks in the pocket, and the blitz-happy Eagles never sacked him in the NFC title game. \nHe did it with Mike Alstott at fullback. Alstott, who prior to this year had never met a big game where he didn't fumble, ran for only 25 yards on 17 carries against the Eagles, but Gruden worked around it.\nEarlier in the season, he told off Keyshawn Johnson, his best wide receiver, in a highly publicized sideline tiff. Gruden, an alum of Clay High School in South Bend and the son of a former IU assistant coach, diffused the situation, though, and got Johnson to make more big plays than he had under Dungy. Johnson, who had 106 catches but only one touchdown in 2001, came through when necessary against Philadelphia, catching the touchdown pass in the second quarter that put the Bucs ahead for good.\nGruden is known as an offensive guru, and upon taking over for Dungy, he left the Bucs' defensive coaching staff in tact including ace coordinator Monte Kiffin. While Gruden's impact was more felt by the Bucs' offense, don't think he had nothing to do with the Bucs' defense. Shortly after taking the Bucs job, he moved Shelton Quarles from strongside to middle linebacker, and Quarles had his best season, finishing second on the team in tackles behind Derrick Brooks, the league's Defensive Player of the Year.\nAnother example of Gruden's impact on the defense was the Bucs' stopping of Atlanta Falcons' quarterback Michael Vick. Vick is perhaps the most elusive runner to ever play quarterback, so Gruden suggested to Kiffin to put in five defensive linemen to face Vick. The Bucs wound up beating the playoff-bound Falcons in their two meetings, 20-6 and 34-10. Vick had just 16 yards rushing and 162 yards passing in the two games combined. \nGruden's demeanor also helped the Bucs. They suffered an embarrassing loss to New Orleans in their season opener on a botched punt, hardly a good omen. Gruden got the team to regroup. Against the Eagles, they allowed a 70-yard opening kickoff return and a 20-yard Duce Staley touchdown run in the game's first minute, hardly a good omen. The Eagles scored only three more points.\nRemember, Gruden is coaching the Bucs, a team at which the Bengals and Susan Lucci used to laugh. The Bucs went 0-14 in 1976 and lost at least ten games every year between 1983 and 1994. This is all not too shabby for a guy who has coached in the NFL for five years now and is ten months younger than Jerry Rice, somebody who will be playing in the Super Bowl.\nMake the trade? You better.