Top 119 Quotes & Sayings by Jon Gruden

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American coach Jon Gruden.
Last updated on September 17, 2024.
Jon Gruden

Jon David Gruden is a former American football coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. He held his first head coaching position with the Raiders franchise during their Oakland tenure from 1998 to 2001, where he won two consecutive division titles and made an AFC Championship Game appearance. Gruden was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002, whom he led to their first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XXXVII the same season. At age 39, he was the then-youngest head coach to win the Super Bowl. He served as Tampa Bay's head coach through 2008, setting the franchise record for wins, but made only two further playoff runs. After his firing from the Buccaneers, Gruden was featured as an analyst for ESPN's Monday Night Football broadcasts from the 2009 to the 2017 seasons.

I draw plays every day.
I love the AFC West.
Julio Jones doesn't drop wide-open touchdown passes. — © Jon Gruden
Julio Jones doesn't drop wide-open touchdown passes.
We used to tell our receivers, 'If you want to run an inside breaking route, and you want to fight for yardage after the catch, you better be careful, because these defensive players, they're on the hunt.'
I like being with the quarterbacks. I like calling the plays.
The Gruden-McVay relationship goes all the way back to 1970. John McVay and my dad are best of friends. My dad continued to work with McVay as a 49er. When John McVay became the general manager, he hired my dad to be one of his scouts.
Inches matter. That's why they measure first downs. That's why they have a crew down there with those chains.
Nobody talks about Shaq Thompson. I don't know what he is. He's like a nickel corner/linebacker.
You miss the adversity. The journey is what I'm talking about. Helping a guy get better. Seeing a guy get a contract. And seeing a seventh-round choice or free agent make the team.
This stereotype as Marcus Mariota as a spread quarterback that just runs read options all the time, that's ridiculous.
I love finishers.
Anytime a guy gets traded at midseason - a young player - it's surprising.
Some people feel pressure; some people don't.
I hate to predict my future. I never really thought I would be a head coach at 34 years old. I never thought I would be traded to Tampa. I never even really thought I would be fired, even though I probably deserved it. I try not to predict things.
When the season ends, it's all about the next season. — © Jon Gruden
When the season ends, it's all about the next season.
If you aren't winning, we are not going to be happy.
Tebow is the kind of guy who could revolutionize the game. He's the 'wildcat' who can throw. Most of the teams that have the wildcat back there, it's Ronnie Brown, it's Jerious Norwood, it's whoever you want to say it is. This guy here is 250 pounds of concrete cyanide, man. And he can throw. He throws well enough at any level to play quarterback.
When you're the head coach, you coach 53 people, and their wives and their girlfriends and their families and all those people.
When I got fired from coaching, I started coaching high school because my son played. I realized real quick that high school football is in trouble. There's no budget. A lot of kids have got to pay to play, and every year, coaches are getting out of the profession. Kids aren't playing like they used to. It bothers me.
I only live one time.
It takes courage to pull the ball down and reverse field and do some of the crazy things that Favre and Manziel do. There's going to be consequences when sometimes it doesn't work out. But it takes a tremendous amount of guts and courage to go make a play when there's nothing there instead of throwing the ball away.
I break down the tape like I'm a quality-control coach, just like I was with the Packers in 1992. I break it down by hand, every play.
I miss high school football.
All it takes is one coach that believes in you.
I have a different mentality than most guys, I guess.
You never say never to nothing.
You don't want to read about your quarterback in the newspaper every day of the week.
I get excited when we make a play. I get excited when we make a first down.
There are some great video clips of me swearing, screaming at players, but I was also the biggest cheerleader in the league.
If it wasn't for football, a lot of the best times of my life, my brother's life, my dad's life, wouldn't exist.
I really get excited when we win. I get really upset when we don't, and I hope that still has a place in the NFL.
I feel a lot of unfinished business and loyalty and responsibility to get the Raiders going again.
You have to keep trying to get better.
I don't know what's going to happen in the future; I just know this: I'm going to continue to give my best effort to the game, stay prepared.
If you're a leader, can communicate, and have a great work ethic, those are the things you're looking for.
Simon Cowell is a pretty rough guy.
Mariota is special in a lot of ways. He's a dynamic dual threat on the field, and he is humble - no-nonsense, full of character - off the field.
Not many people do what Jameis Winston did: first year as a starter winning a national championship, only one loss in his two years as a starter. He's got great charisma. He's polarizing for some people, but he's a rare talent.
There's a lot of things I could've done better, and I regret not doing better. I do know I always gave it my best shot. — © Jon Gruden
There's a lot of things I could've done better, and I regret not doing better. I do know I always gave it my best shot.
I coached the Bucs with a Florida State quarterback named Brad Johnson. Things worked out all right.
Having been in the league with five different franchises, I know what the meaning of Monday Night Football is. It's usually the best games and the greatest venue outside the playoffs.
I used to take a lot of pride into what went into practice.
I don't want to be a negative piece of barbed wire sitting up in the booth with all the answers. I think that's a turn-off.
I love that Mel Gibson.
You have to help your players understand that when they speak to the media, or when they tweet or text or e-mail, a lot of times, they become public knowledge.
I'm a backup quarterback at the University of Dayton. I was a one-year starter in high school. I think I got the job in high school because our quarterback left and went to another school.
I just love football.
In the NFL, you've got to get to the Super Bowl, and you've got to win it. That's the evaluation we're all accountable to.
There are not a lot of things that Andrew Luck can't do, but the thing I like about him is his work ethic. He's a workaholic, and that's what impresses me the most.
If I ever come back and coach, I'm never huddling again! — © Jon Gruden
If I ever come back and coach, I'm never huddling again!
When it comes to football, I'm more of a traditional guy. I love going to Green Bay.
Carson Wentz, when you watch him on tape, No. 1, I just like a big guy that has athleticism.
I've always coached energy, hustling, rushing to the pile, and if it is wiggling, you do hit it because guys are fighting for yardage, and sometimes, you've got to give up the ball because of one inch.
All I really have in my life is my family and football. That's about it.
I'm not good at Blackberrys, cell phones, or packing.
I got a lot of the greatest values in life from playing sports, from playing football - teamwork, sportsmanship, my work ethic, resiliency, dedication - I got it all by being on a team.
Does the draft really matter? At the end of the day, at the end of your career, at the end of time, does it really matter?
Just to get cufflinks on my shirt is a challenge.
I think there is a huge ceiling in Derek Carr. I think he has proven that.
All I really have going is football. I don't know what I would do without it.
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