Q&A: Jon Gruden likes Detroit Lions' chances to win NFC North - and don't rule out Super Bowl run

Source: Detroit Free PressDec.迷你倉西貢 14--The Lions went almost a decade between Monday Night Football appearances in the 2000s, but they're back on the NFL's biggest stage for the third time in as many seasons this week hosting the defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens at Ford Field.Jon Gruden, now in his fifth season as MNF analyst, spent time with the Free Press talking about his role alongside play-by-play man and Ann Arbor native Mike Tirico, his future in the broadcast booth as well as the Lions and quarterback Matthew Stafford.Gruden, who won four division titles and one Super Bowl in 11 seasons as head coach of the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is regularly mentioned as a candidate for high-profile coaching vacancies today.But the always entertaining 50-year-old said this week he's happy with his current job, even if it's one he never thought he'd be doing."There's times I still can't believe it," Gruden said. "But it's been very exciting for me and memorable, that's for sure."Turn to Page 9C for the first excerpt of Gruden's chat with the Free Press, and come back Monday for the second part.Q. You've been in the Monday Night Football booth now since 2009, what's the most rewarding and the most challenging parts of your job?A. "The rewarding part is I'm with a really good team -- I'm with a great team, really. (Producer) Jay Rothman, (director) Chip Dean, Mike Tirico, the guys that execute the camera and behind the scenes production, it's just a great team. They're thorough and they're very -- I don't know, they're very ambitious. I really like ambitious people."So that's the reward, and I get to stay close to the game and I get to see things I've never seen before. I get to watch all these great networks tapes. I'm not kidding you, man. I get these tapes, I can see the sweat coming off Calvin Johnson's face. That's how good my tapes are. So that's the reward."Q. And what's the most challenging part of being in the booth?A. "The most challenging is I didn't grow up really with a lot of expertise. I think the challenge is being a better listener, not trying to be too technical, trying to have a little bit of fun. Those are the only challenges, really. Just trying to get better. Try to improve at what you're doing. I know I've sure driven a lot of people crazy. I am trying to get better."A. "Well, they have a power pitcher. This is a freak throwing the ball. He's capable of making any throw. As a matter of fact, he can make throws I've never dreamed of making. He can throw sidearm, underhand. I bet he could complete 62 percent left-handed."He's got an unbelievable array of releases. He's got a cannon. He's got good mobility. Tough as hell. And he's had tremendous production throwing the football year in and year out in a one-back spread system. It's a credit to him."Q. Why then have the wins not always been there for him and for the team?A. "They've had a lot of people come and go through those doors. It's not like he took over a team that was on the cusp of winning the Super Bowl. He took over a team that was on the cusp of hopefully winning four games."They obviously have misfired over the years, for whatever reason, at the top of the draft. They've had some bad things happened to the franchise. Since Wayne Fontes left, they've had a lot of different coaches, different schemes and different negative things happen."He did get them in contention in (Jim) Schwartz's (third) season. Got 10 wins on the board. But has he been perfect? No. The turnovers have been a problem, he's had injuries that have shortened his seasons at different times. They've struggled in different parts of the offensive line. They've been one dimensional to a degree. They've been unable to get a sustained running game. And they've struggled on defense now. They've struggled on defense, too."This is a team game. I've heard Tony Romo go through this, Jay Cutler's going through this. A lot of guys are going through the similar growing pains that Stafford's going through, but you make a great point. The great quarterbacks, they find a way to win these close games. I think taking care of the football is no doubt a huge priority for the Lions. That minus-10 turnover ratio has doomed them from distancing themselves."Q. You mentioned the turnovers. That is a huge thing. How can those turnover issues be corrected, both that Matt's had and the team has had?A. "The running backs, Reggie (Bush has) had a couple fumbles in recent weeks. Let's be honest, though. When you look at Calvin Johnson, some of the reels that you show on the Jumbotron are jump balls into double coverage. And those are throws that I've never heard anybody even try to convey to their quarterback, 'Hey, throw it up into double coverage.'"I think sometimes you get into trouble because of the greatness of Megatron. I really believe that. Maybe you want to wait for him to get one more step down the field, maybe you want to just hold onto it one more second. Maybe you stared it down a little too long, maybe you didn't see the back-side safety. I believe a couple turnovers have been a result of maybe the good fortune that they've had over the years with Johnson."Secondly, they've got some young guys playing on the right side. They had some veterans that struggled last year. There've been some protection issues. They've lost (Nate) Burleson, they're not playing with a healthy (Brandon) Pettigrew that's as healthy and flashy as he was inside early in his career, if you ask me."So throwing the ball as many times as they throw it, there's going to be some turnovers. That's just the reality of all. When you throw it 700 times, there's a lot better chance you throw interceptions then when you throw it 500."Q. They do chuck it around quite a bit. As a team, the Lions have been a bit up and down here lately. Blowing some leads and playing undisciplined football one minute, but blowing out teams the next like they did against Green Bay. In your eyes, how far should this team go this year?A. "If they're ever going to win the division, if I told you you're going to see the Chicago Bears half the season without (Jay) Cutler and you're going to see (Aaron) Rodgers 迷你倉將軍澳iss about half of the season for Green Bay, I would say that'd be the year that you should win it. Minnesota's played three different quarterbacks, and this is the year Stafford and the Detroit Lions, I think, should win the NFC North."They made a veteran acquisition at safety. (Louis) Delmas has stayed healthy, so (Glover) Quin and Delmas have solidified the middle of their defense. They've got two top premier pass rushers inside. They've been healthy for the most part on defense. They've got to eliminate these big plays."My goodness, there've been so many good things they've done on defense, but there've four or five head-scratching plays you can't imagine, you just can't understand. And they've got to eliminate those plays defensively and I think they could be in business."Q. Beyond winning the division, how long do you think it is before this team seriously contends for a Super Bowl?A. "I see just modern-day football's a lot different than football five years ago. This is a completely different era of football. The way that teams practice now, the way that the salary caps and the teams are orchestrated from the top down. You're not going to see a lot of three- and four- and five-, six-year dynasty programs anymore. I'm seeing the Falcons go from first to worst, the Texans went from first to worst, so did Washington. So if you can go from first to worst, that means you can go from worst to first, right?"Q. So basically, if you get in it you've got a chance? If they get in it this year, they've got a chance?A. "Yeah, I really believe that. I think the last three years a wild-card team has won the Super Bowl. I mean, you'd like to have homefield advantage, you'd like to have a steak dinner and you'd like to have an escort take you to your home stadium every week. But the reality is the last few Super Bowl champions, Green Bay, Baltimore, the Giants, they got in as a wildcard and they've beaten people up on the road and enjoyed it and won the Lombardi Trophy."So this is about getting in the tournament and having a healthy quarterback, a great receiver and a solid defense that can get it done at crunch time. I think the Lions have people in place that can make plays if they get the opportunity."Q. They certainly have the great receiver in Calvin.A. "Is he something else or what? That's not even right, is it?"Q. Can you imagine having a weapon like that when you coached?A. "He's like Jerry Rice and, I don't know. Jerry Rice and Muhammad Ali in their prime rolled into one. The guy's -- I'm going to put a little segment together on him, all the F-sounding words. Fearless, the guy's focus, his physicality. His ability, he's fast. There's nothing he can't do. He's just amazing. And he's a hell of a guy, too, isn't he? That says enough right there."Q. You were in the booth in 2011 when the Lions played their first Monday Night game in a decade and the Bears had nine false starts that game and the Lions won going away. What do you expect this week?A. "I think you're going to see an ugly, physical game, I really do. And I think you're going to see a lot of penalties. The Ravens have had a hard time, particularly their right tackle Michael Oher, I think he had three (false-start penalties) against Pittsburgh."I think the noise -- they're inexperienced at center, left guard, their left tackle just came here at midseason. They want to run a no-huddle offense, and the Lions jump offsides. I've seen them jump offsides still a lot themselves. So I think you're going to see some pre-snap penalties. I think you're going to see some very physical play out of both teams. I think both offensive lines have their hands full big time."The Ravens are deep and very physical. And the Lions are deep and very physical, and I think advantage defense in this game. And pass interference, I think pass interference based on what you and I have seen the last few weeks, I think there's going to be some pass interference calls that might have a big say in this game. You know, (Joe) Flacco likes to throw it deep to Torrey Smith and (Jacoby) Jones and your guy likes to throw it deep to Calvin in any kind of coverage."Q. Last thing about you personally, Jon. There's always a lot of speculation about your future in the booth and returning to the sidelines. Under what circumstances can you see yourself back on the sideline coaching?A. "I feel like I've never left coaching, really. I've got more football going on than I've ever had. I don't like to speculate. I'm very fortunate to be where I am, to have a job and I'm just trying to get better at it. That's about all I can say, other than, you know, I mean, the life is tough. There's no lifetime contracts in anything you do. You've just got to do the best you can and do the work while it's there to be done and take advantage of your opportunities, see what happens down the road."Q. What about 2014? There was that report last week that you were committed to the booth for 2014.A. "Yeah, I'm committed to doing what I'm doing. Now, I don't know that -- that doesn't mean that they couldn't go another direction. They could easily move me out. I don't know what our ratings are or what the prognosis is. I haven't had a chance to sit down and visit with my boss here at ESPN at all, really. And I won't do that until the off-season."But there's a lot of great, young coaching candidates out there that are certainly more, I think, qualified to do a good job coaching on the field than me, that's for sure."Q. If they want you back, do you plan on being back in TV?A. "Yeah, that's right. I sure do. Yes, I do. I sure do."Q. One of those young coaching candidates may be your brother. I imagine that'd be pretty awesome to watch Jay get a job somewhere.A. "Yeah, that'd be tough. Now, if he came back -- I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes off the Bengals anyway, Jiminy Christmas. Blood is thick in our family, so I obviously root for my brother wherever he is and if he got to be a head coach, maybe I could get a job being his part-time quality control guy, I don't know."Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Detroit Free Press Visit the Detroit Free Press at .freep.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉尖沙咀