Quotes by Jon Gruden

Anytime a guy gets traded at midseason -- a young player -- it's surprising.

This stereotype as Marcus Mariota as a spread quarterback that just runs read options all the time, that's ridiculous.

Simon Cowell is a pretty rough guy.

Eli Manning is the one man I just don't want to see in the playoffs. He is a flatliner.

Hey, you've got to have a thick skin. You've got to take negativity for what it is. You've got to keep working, keep pushing.

We've got enough issues in this country without worrying about some of the things we're worrying about. It's unbelievable to me. And as long as I'm alive, I know what football gave me. It taught me my work ethic. It gave me a sense of discipline.

I got kicked out of the league because I had a hard time sustaining at the quarterback position.

Cancer is tough. It is a relentless opponent that won't seem to go away.

When you're the head coach, you coach 53 people, and their wives and their girlfriends and their families and all those people.

If you're a leader, can communicate, and have a great work ethic, those are the things you're looking for.

I love that Mel Gibson.

I had all kinds of different quarterbacks. But we never drafted a first-rounder.

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?

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.

Some of the best tape that I've ever studied was Mike Shanahan and John Elway in Denver, back-to-back Super Bowl win teams.

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.

I get excited for big games in December.

You either have the charisma, the knowledge, the passion, the intelligence -- or you don't.

Inches matter. That's why they measure first downs. That's why they have a crew down there with those chains.

I'm not good at Blackberrys, cell phones, or packing.

God bless Tony Romo.

Some guys, nothing bothers them. Eli Manning is one of those players.

All it takes is one coach that believes in you.

I coached the Bucs with a Florida State quarterback named Brad Johnson. Things worked out all right.

Antonio Gates is spectacular. But he's not a blocking tight end.

I just try to get the most out of every day and be prepared for anything.

To be a good analyst, you need to know what the trends are and what teams are doing.

I learned a lot from Al Davis, and I got a lot better as a coach.

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.

Some of the best lessons that I've ever learned are on a ball field -- basketball, football, baseball, golf. And I learned great lessons from my coaches -- being on time, being mentally tough, having some discipline, and being part of a team.

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 think there is a huge ceiling in Derek Carr. I think he has proven that.

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.'

Follow the ball, man. There's only one ball. They can only give it to one of them at a time, so let's not get too far away from the reality of it all.

I kind of like to be one of the guardians of the game.

I'm not a good golfer. I don't have any hobbies, really.

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.

You never say never to nothing.

There are some great video clips of me swearing, screaming at players, but I was also the biggest cheerleader in the league.

I feel a lot of unfinished business and loyalty and responsibility to get the Raiders going again.

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.

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.

It doesn't make much sense to blitz a guy that gets rid of the ball in less than 1.5 seconds.

Carson Wentz, when you watch him on tape, No. 1, I just like a big guy that has athleticism.

In football, we tried each week to come up with the best game plan for every opponent. Some were tougher than others.

If ESPN ever kicked me out the door and I had to get back to coach, I have to stay on top of what's going on.

From the standpoint that you try to adjust your offense to your quarterback, you try to adjust your football team around your players. You do the best you can with the hand that you have, and you've got to add some parts along the way.

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.

Mike, did you ever see the movie 'Cast Away?' In that movie, Tom Hanks' only friend was a ball named Wilson. In this game, Russell Wilson's only friend is a football.

You know what I hate, man? Guys that you know haven't seen the film: they just quote a bunch of statistical bullshit.

If you understand our salary cap, you have to be logical. If Barry Sanders , for instance, came out of retirement, if we were interested we probably couldn't get real interested. So you've got to temper your enthusiasm with the reality of our situation.

Ultra high speed slow mo.

I'm not thinking about coaching, I'm thinking about heading to Washington, watching the world champions and my brother coach.

When it comes to football, I'm more of a traditional guy. I love going to Green Bay.

A lot of people forget how extraordinary Elway was handing the ball off to Terrell Davis, and those bootlegs, those naked bootlegs off of those stretch plays was devastating.

I think when you get Robert Griffin, one of the most explosive quarterbacks to ever play the position, in a Mike Shanahan-type system, the possibilities are very exciting, I think, with Mike Shanahan's imagination.

Right now Von Miller is the best pass rusher in the world. He looks exactly like Derrick Thomas did in his heyday. He can absolutely destroy a football game.

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.

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 call them the Sons of Anarchy Muhammad WilkerSON, Damon HarriSON, Sheldon RichardSON.

I bet you like sitting at red lights.

You have to be able to recognize defenses on your own in pro football. You can't look to the sideline and read some board. You've got to recognize the defense on your own, and then you've got to communicate to your offensive teammates what you want them to do.

I learned from Al Davis. We didn't have any secretaries. Secretaries, really, in Oakland were young football people.

You think of Brady, you think of Rodgers, Roethliseber, Eli Manning. They're icemen. They have no feelings -- none. They're able to concentrate on a snap-by-snap basis.

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.

Julio Jones doesn't drop wide-open touchdown passes.

I love Olivier Vernon, and I wish he knew how much I appreciate him by just watching him.

There are very few passions in my life -- The man upstairs, family, and football.

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 don't want to look at myself like I'm some superhero. But I'm not going to let people wipe their feet on football on my chest.

If you're a young kid out there, put away your Twitter accounts if you want to be a pro football player. Somebody's going to hack your account; somebody's going to cause you problems.

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.

You want to take a charge from LeBron James coming down the lane with no helmet on -- that's dangerous. But you know what? Some people like to do that stuff. So leave them alone.

Mike, the best band to ever come out of Seattle was, of course, Pearl Jam. And that's what I expect the Seahawks to do -- just jam it up the middle.

When we had a great defense at Tampa Bay, we always measured our defenses against the best quarterbacks.

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.

I'm going to scare a lot of kids Thursday night.

Anything goes on any given Sunday, especially Monday Night.

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.