Jon Gruden NFL Monday Night Football Fact Check: Week 1

Jon Gruden says things. Sometimes those things are factual. Sometimes the things Gruden says are embellished to help prove a point. Still, other times, he just totally makes stuff up. We thought it would be fun to track the things Gruden says and figure out how much is fact and how much is Gruden…just saying things.

(Note: This is not everything Gruden said during the game. We will try to keep each list to things he says where the viewer might respond, "Where did he come up with that?" If you remember others, please note them in the comments.)

So, with apologies to our friends in the ESPN PR office who have tried for three years to convince us that Gruden—this guy!—is a good announcer, we present the "Jon Gruden NFL Monday Night Football Fact Check, Week 1."

PREGAME

Gruden had his facts in order in the pregame, mentioning that Miami had a "Top 10 defense" last season (Fact: they were ranked sixth in total defense in 2010) and went 1-7 at home (Fact: also true).

Then again, Gruden made one of his patented "embellishments" in the pregame when he talked about Patriots defensive end Shaun Ellis. Gruden said, "Over last decade, Ellis has been one of the most versatile defensive linemen in football."

You can make a case that is true, but versatile could also mean mediocre. Ellis did average 6.6 sacks per season with the Jets, but averaged just over five per year since 2005. According to Pro Football Reference, Ellis compares to players like Chris Hovan and Justin Smith. Can versatility be a statistical metric? I suppose we can't technically disprove Gruden's assertion.

FIRST QUARTER

Fifteen seconds in to the game, Gruden mentioned the Dolphins "are going to hurry up and run a play before a review" on a questionable catch down the sideline. Fact: The Dolphins are playing against Bill Belichick and there is no way Bill Belichick is going to waste a challenge on the first series of the game when his opponent is still on their side of the midfield.

At the 11:19 mark, Gruden said:

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You heard Chad Henne saying "alert alert alert," changing the play. That's exactly what Tom Brady does for the Patriots. Brian Daboll, the offensive coordinator of the Dolphins, came from New England.

"

Fact: Brian Daboll "came from" Welland, Ontario. He coached at New England for eight years, yes, but has since been a coach for the Jets and Browns. In fact, Daboll never coached the quarterbacks in New England, he took on that role in New York before becoming the Browns' offensive coordinator for two years.

At the 11:00 minute mark, just FOUR MINUTES into the season, Gruden said, "The big question with Reggie Bush is can he be an every-down back? So far so good."

So far so good, four minutes in. This will come up again later.

At the 9:05 mark, the Dolphins had 1st-and-goal before Chad Henne got sacked. Gruden: "Well, that's the worst thing that can happen. First-and goal, you run a play-action pass. It's either there, you fool 'em, or you don't."

Fact: The worst thing that can happen is a turnover. A red-zone turnover is worse than a sack. That is an indisputable fact.

At the 7:35 mark, Gruden started the Tom Brady love that continued—rightfully so—from him and Jaws throughout the game.

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Yeah, I keep saying 36-4, that's unbelievable. Four different receivers had 40 catches or more. Remember, Tom Brady is 44-11 against the AFC East, but he's 4-5 in Miami. He knows he has his hands full tonight.

"

I want to believe Gruden got that 44-11 stat from someone, so I can't really blame him if it's wrong. According to Pro Football Reference, Brady is 44-12 (now 45-12) against the AFC East. They could be wrong, I didn't count. To be fair, neither did he.

At the 7:29 mark, Gruden remarked on Brady's use of the hard count.

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Hard count. Brady right away uses the snap count. It's been his best friend throughout his career.

"

Fact: Brady's best friend is surely Will McDonough, unless they had a falling out only Gruden knows about.

My favorite Gruden fact check of the night came at the 4:24 mark of the first quarter.

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Brady, watch him. He uses every second of that shot clock. You see it up there on the top right. He's letting that clock wind down, deciphering the defense…

"

Notice the picture taken while he was talking. Fact: There were nine seconds left on the clock when the ball was snapped.

SECOND QUARTER:

12:09: "It's been a good week for Michigan quarterbacks." Fact.

The next one, around the 11:50 mark, is another Grudenism. This guy can't help but pat another head coach on the back:

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We talked about Brian Daboll, the offensive coordinator, and the change in the offense; I give Tony Sparano, the head coach, a lot of credit. He was trained by Bill Parcells and Tom Coughlin to run the ball, run the ball, run to win. Well, they weren't winning. It takes a real man, now, to bring in a new offensive coordinator and change systems. I give him a lot of credit. Hard to change.

"

Fact: The Miami front office actively tried to replace Sparano during the offseason. The change in philosophy and coaching staff were not by choice. They were by survival. Gruden is giving him credit—calling him a real man—for taking his medicine.

Reggie Bush being an every-down back was re-addressed several times, most notably at the 6:24 mark of the second quarter.

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Tirico: "Jon, are you surprised how much we've seen Reggie Bush involved in running between the tackles so far?"

Gruden: "Yeah, I really am. He's carried the ball eight times. Caught four passes. You know, Reggie Bush really wasn't the featured back at Southern Cal. Remember they had LenDale White, and I thought Sean Payton used him beautifully in New Orleans. I am surprised and very impressed with the way Reggie Bush has done it all so far tonight."

"

Fact: Four minutes in, Gruden didn't seem surprised at all. A quarter and a half later, he's surprised. I don't find this the least bit surprising.

Hey! Remember when Gruden patted Tony Sparano on the back for being a real man? Well, six minutes later, Gruden sure sounded like he was lobbying for the eventual Miami vacancy later this year.

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I think the stars are great. I want this place packed again with rabid Dolphin fans. I want to bring back the glory days, Mike. Seventy-seven times the Dolphins have been on Monday Night Football. What a tradition.

"

The last Gruden fact of the first half took a long time to verify. In an extremely odd rant about Cameron Wake releasing "the animal" after a sack with just a few seconds before halftime, Gruden talked about how Wake beat rookie tackle Nate Solder on the play. Then he pulled this reference out of his back pocket:

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You know Nate Solder, he went to Colorado. You know what he studied to be? He studied to be a veterinarian. And he better be real careful not to let the animal out of his cage or he'll have to use his education. Because right now, Cameron Wake is heatin' up.

"

Colorado does not have veterinary sciences as a major, but Solder's CUBuffs.com bio does say he was a biology major. A Buffs message board back in 2009 debated if Solder would leave school early. One poster wrote, "There's more likelihood that Solder skips the NFL entirely to focus on his career. I think it's something in the veterinary bio/medicine area he's pursuing."

So, the best random fact of the night for Gruden looks right. Good for him.

THIRD QUARTER

Tom Brady threw an interception at the 13:13 mark of the third quarter, leading Gruden to remark, "That's about the first interception I've seen Brady throw in a long time."

Fact: The last interception Gruden saw Brady throw in a game he called was on November 30, 2009, when Brady threw two at New Orleans.

Gruden was pretty clean in the third quarter, staying away from verifiable nuggets and focusing more on analyzing replays. With 3:30 left in the quarter, he talked about Brandon Marshall needing to score more touchdowns, correctly recalling that Marshall only had three last season.

Gruden was also spot on at the 2:40 mark when he talked about the Patriots' no-huddle hurting the Dolphins defense, saying:

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Clearly injuries, and it looks like conditioning, have caught up with this Dolphins defense.

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Fact: There was a lot of cramping. It decimated the Dolphins secondary.

With 29 seconds before the quarter break, Gruden threw out the stat that the Patriots scored a touchdown in their last 11 goal-to-go situations. I could only count as far back as six, before I realized I should just trust that number and move on. So…fact.

Another great Gruden line came with 10 seconds to go in the third.

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How about the lockout. Everybody talks about the lockout and how it's going to affect teams. It has not affected Tom Brady. I have never seen the Patriots use their no-huddle better than they have tonight, Jaws. It's been unbelievable. The tempo has been extraordinary. The formations. The play selection. The only guy that's not tired in this stadium is…that Patriot offense and Tom Brady."

"

Fact: The only guy.

FOURTH QUARTER

Gruden loosened up a bit late in the third and into the fourth quarter, just saying…things. Like this:

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We talked to both coaches about conditioning. And clearly New England looks like they've taken advantage of living on the East Coast. They look like they're fresher, they're more alive on their sidelines.

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Fact: Florida is on the East Coast.

Fact: Miami is on the east coast of Florida, which is on the East Coast.

At the 8:58 mark, Gruden used this transition to talk more about Brady: "You can say all you want to say about…this or that." Fact: this is an amazing transitional statement.

At the 8:07 mark, Miami drove down to the 25-yard line. "And right away, Miami is in the red zone. Again, plenty of time left…"

Fact: Most people consider the red zone to be the 20 and in.

When Miami got stuffed at the goal line with 5:57 to go, Gruden said, "That's a change of the guard for sure. Miami, over the last three years, has been a power running team"—obviously forgetting the entire conversation about a change in philosophy that led to him calling Sparano a real man for becoming a passing team.

There were other embellishments late in the game, like saying Wes Welker had "well over 80 catches" last season instead of just saying that he had 86 catches and remarking that Patriots cornerback Ras-I Dowling is "well over six-feet tall" when his bio lists him at 6'1".

Last, and certainly not least, Gruden got himself into the mix. After the 99-yard touchdown from Brady to Welker, Jaws mentioned that he had done that before. Gruden joked:

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That's more than I threw for in my career in high school and college.

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I couldn't find his college stats, but a bio for Gruden on Scout.com does mention his college career.

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After one year at Muskingum, Jon transferred to the University of Dayton. He didn't see much action with the Flyers, but the team went 24-7 in his three seasons there. In 1986, Jon graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications.

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So I'd say that's a fact, 500 yards is probably more than he threw for in college. Oh, and a communications degree, eh? Fact: Gruden likes communicating facts and this week he did a pretty decent job, all things considered.