John Gruden
speaker
989 appearances
13 recordings
2 series
first heard Nov 2024
last heard 25 Mar
John Gruden’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 4 in all, peaking in Jan 2026 with 2.
Appearances
Well, I'm down right now. He's getting mad at me because I'm very doom and gloom.
You don't want to see your quarterback, you know, pointing fingers and blaming guys. I don't think it's healthy. So you got to control your emotions. You got to be an assassin, man. You got to really have a very thick mental toughness about you. And some do and some don't.
I was coaching receivers. I didn't coach Favre. I was the signal guy back then. We didn't have the walkie-talkie. I would signal to Jet Dino, why shallow cross? And he had to memorize the formations. He struggled with that. But I can still remember Mike Holmgren, the head coach, when Favre was scrambling, he'd be saying, no, no, yes, great job, Brett.
And then he'd be saying, no, no, what the hell? To your point, the first couple years, a lot of growing pains, but – Farve, he had a triple X pouch, man. This guy had big balls, man.
He was as tough as hell. And he had a rocket. And he tried to prove it in every drill, every period. He tried to wow you. And he broke a lot of our receivers' hands, face masks.
He had a rocket. We had this debate, not debate, but I pointed out that I like my quarterbacks to throw a couple interceptions. I don't like when a quarterback gets late in the season. It's like, oh, they have no interceptions. That means they're not taking the risks. Is that a crazy thought to have?
Are there some interceptions that you're like, you know what, we can live with that because you're trying to make the big play, and if you keep trying to make the big play, it will happen?
I love this conversation. I hope you're having fun. You know what, when you're coaching aggressiveness with your offense, you got a guy like Favre and you got Sterling Sharp out there running routes. There's an understanding and trust. Hey, I'm the receiver coach. If you throw the ball, if he throws a ball to us and it's tight, he's giving you a chance. Right.
So there's only three things that are going to happen, Big Cat. You're going to be a savage, and you're going to go catch the damn ball. That's why we're paying you, too. Secondly, you're going to make damn sure he doesn't get it. You're going to play defensive back and make sure it's incomplete. Or third, you're going to be like an Academy Award winner.
You're going to get me that pass interference penalty. Yeah. But I think you've got to have a real careful understanding. And I think that's what the Bears' problem is a little bit. Do you not trust Keenan Allen? Throw him the ball when it's tight. He's going to catch it. He's going to make sure it's not intercepted. And he's going to get a couple fouls.
Yeah, that's Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson going to that Steelers offense. You've seen it with George Pickens. He's going to give his guys a chance. And like, yeah, there might be some interceptions, but now his guys are more locked in and they know they can go get those jump balls, those moon balls, and their offenses look totally different.
And when you watch Kansas City early in the season, they threw a bomb to Worthy, their fast receiver from Texas. And I know you remember the play. Cam Taylor Britt of the Bengals makes a one-handed interception, and everybody's like, oh, what a great interception. You know what they were saying in Kansas City? They were pissed at Worthy because what didn't he do? Go attack the ball.
You don't let anybody intercept it. And I think that's one of the reasons Kansas City's a little bit reluctant to to give him a ton of 50-50 opportunities. They used to do that with Deshaun Jackson. Yeah. But D-Jack, he would go up there and he would tip it away from somebody.
And I just think these are little behind-the-scenes things that young quarterbacks, they got to have confidence in their receivers.
they will make you right one way or another.
Well, he's come in there and given them confidence. I think he's walked in there, and they've changed the whole dynamic of how they practice. They never ran the ball in Charger land. I mean, I don't know what the rushing stats were last year, but you could go two or three games and not see 10 or 15 carries. This is now a smash-mouth running team. Forget about Herbert for a second.
You don't know who their receivers are. I mean, their leading receiver is McConkie, a slot receiver.
They really aren't a pass-first team, and they're not a pass-second team. They are running the ball, possessing the ball, and trusting their defense. He just has brought a lot of confidence and physicality to their team. And defensively, 13.1 points per game. Big Cat and I were talking earlier, though. They have not beaten many quality quarterbacks. This will be a good test for them.
Yeah, he went down the list of quarterbacks, and it was Gardner Minshew. It was Justin Fields. It wasn't lighting the world on fire.
I don't think so. I think I was in the booth when he was in the NFL. I just competed against his brother. You love coaches that compete. I think that permeates into the locker room. If your coach is fiery and he's competitive and banging on your shoulder pads and taking snaps in pregame, warm up. He loves football. He loves to compete. He's a badass.
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