Jon Gruden NFL Monday Night Football Fact Check: Week 2

We are back for Week 2 of the 2011 Jon Gruden NFL "Monday Night Football" Fact Check. Why are we doing this? Because it's fun.

A lot of commenters thought we were hard on Gruden last week, picking nits left and right. Keep in mind, folks, this is all meant in good fun. Gruden says things and sometimes those things are total nonsense. Sometimes those things are spot on. We'll do our best to find some of both.

(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 leave them in the comments.)

So, with apologies to the guy who said last week's post was the worst thing ever published on Bleacher Report, we present the Jon Gruden NFL Monday Night Football Fact Check – Week 2.

FIRST QUARTER

Gruden starts each game with a set of talking points, like any announcer. Spending time in the first quarter hammering home those talking points has been a staple of his career in the booth. Again, he's not unlike the Dan Dierdorfs of the world in this regard. On Monday night, he got on the no-huddle offense of the Rams really early.

"

"Yeah, and the no huddle is a big part of Josh McDaniels. I love starting the game and staying with the no huddle against the Giants. They've got a lot of new players, particularly in their secondary and middle linebacker."

"

Fact! He wasn't wrong, but he did try to hammer home the no-huddle point at a pretty inopportune time, saying, "I expect to see a lot of this tonight," while the Rams were in a huddle that got them penalized for an illegal substitution. They should have stayed in the no-huddle!

At the eight-minute mark, Gruden had some good analysis of the Rams' muffed punt before throwing in a little note about himself that I, for the life of me, don't understand.

"

"That just kills you. When you thrust a rookie into a role like this as a return man, you can practice all you want, but game day is a whole new deal."

"Returning punts in the National Football League—that's not for everybody. I learned the hard way, there."

"

I don't know if he meant he learned the hard way back in high school or college, or if he simply confused "I" with "he." In any case, "I" don't have a clue what "he" was saying.

With seven-and-a-half minutes to go in the first: "It would help if [the Giants] could convert some third downs and get some more plays. There will be more touches for everybody." Fact.

With six minutes to go in the first, Brandon Jacobs ran through the hole before getting tackled by Rams safety Quintin Mikell.

"

"That is a nightmare for a free safety. Quintin Mikell, this is the last thing in life he wants to see. A well blocked play and one-on-one, Brandon Jacobs, coming right through your living room."

"

I admit this is very nitpicky, but it brings up two Grudenisms that we should address this week. First, everything is a superlative. Jacobs was the last thing IN LIFE (probably better in caps if you heard Gruden's inflection) Mikell wanted to see.

Second, the "right through your living room" line is fine, if the camera angle wasn't the overhead shot where Jacobs was running away from our living room, not into it. Unless he meant Mikell's living room, but I always thought athletes had a kitchen, not a living room.

With three minutes to go, Tom Coughlin threw a challenge flag, leading Gruden to say, "Nobody gets more challenges right than Tom Coughlin." That is an absolute fact, backed up by the ESPN graphics department. Fun note: It looks like nobody gets more challenges wrong than Coughlin too. The guy likes his red hankies.

A minute later, Gruden went on a "this guy" rant about James Laurinaitis and how good he is (he's very good):

"

Tirico: "Laurinaitis controls the St. Louis defense."

Gruden: "Yeah, that's an understatement. He sets the front. He'll call line stunts. He'll check to a blitz, he'll check out of a blitz. He'll check to a coverage and he makes sure everybody gets the calls communicated. There's not many guys in football that do more for their team on defense than Laurinaitis."

"

So basically, Gruden described any NFL middle linebacker. Laurinaitis is a good middle linebacker, but a middle linebacker nonetheless.

I thought that was going to be it for the long first quarter, but Gruden snuck one in under the gun.

"

"What a play by Mathias Kiwanuka in the open field. you're not going to see many weak side linebackers that are 6'5", 280 pounds."

"

You may not see any, considering Kiwanuka is listed at 267 pounds. He is a huge linebacker, but it should be noted—here or during the game—that Kiwanuka is in the same division as DeMarcus Ware and Brian Orakpo who are both listed 6'4", 260. Close, but technically not as big.

SECOND QUARTER

"Last year the Giants led the league in perimeter defensive backfield blitzes." Okay, someone at ESPN is messing with me, right? Kudos to whoever looked that up. We'll call it a fact and move on.

Another second quarter factoid from Gruden came before the 10-minute mark: "One thing I know about the Rams is that they've lost 38 straight games when they lose the turnover battle and they're losing it tonight." He'd be a speechwriter's dream.

Gruden was actually really clean in the second quarter. He did, however, get a little too effusive toward Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo with four minutes to go:

"

"Defensive players love playing for him and it's reflected in free agency. Guys like Quintin Mikell, Al Harris, you see Ben Leber, Brady Poppinga, Justin Bannan. Free agents want to come and play for Spagnuolo because they know his system works and it's very demanding of them above the neck."

"

Again, he's not wrong. But look at the list of guys he named. Mikell wasn't welcome in Philadelphia anymore. Poppinga was cut by the Packers in July, and Bannan was let go by Denver. Ben Leber was a good signing for them, but he's on a one-year deal for little money, just glad to have a place he can start. Al Harris was cut by the Packers then the Dolphins last year and could barely even run. This isn't exactly Nnamdi Asomugha wanting to play for Spags, is it?

Best line of the night, with just under three minutes to go: "Positive yardage on first down…Big."

Fact.

THIRD QUARTER

Yes, there was more about Laurinaitis. Of course there was. "Oh, I like this Laurinaitis. He's my kind of guy. You want to get off the bus right behind this linebacker."

The entire booth spent way too much time talking about the Giants new fullback, Henry Hynoski. Gruden did drop a nice fact about his nickname, though, before calling him Harry later in the quarter.

"

"Henry Hynoski - "Henry the Hynocerous, they call him. The fullback did a nice job escorting that big back [Brandon Jacobs] to daylight."

"

Last week, Gruden gave credit to Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano for hiring a new offensive coordinator when he basically had no choice. This week, Gruden gave credit to the Giants coaches for playing so many young guys when they have little choice.

"

"A lot of people don't know who these guys are. Greg Jones, Jacquian Williams, Michael Coe. You gotta give these New York Giants credit for playing a lot of young kids this early in the season due to these injuries."

"

Later in the game, Gruden challenged the Giants defense, calling out the fact that most of the players were first- or second-round draft picks. It was odd to hear, considering how much credit he was giving them earlier.

The one thing that Gruden is great at doing in the booth that's a valuable asset to the telecast is know what plays are about to be called. He has a great sense of what play is coming, and can tailor his pre-snap comments to what he expects to happen. This was the case near the end of the third quarter when the Rams faced a 3rd-and-10 situation in the red zone.

"

"They just have had no success what so ever. They better find something quickly."

"

They did. They found a touchdown. It was Gruden's best moment of the night. I'll be honest, it was so good, I missed his mistake after the catch, and give credit to the guys at Awful Announcing (or whoever sent it to them).

"

"Want a big receiver? How about this Danario Alexander from Alabama State?" Alexander went to Missouri.

"

Alexander did not go to Alabama State, but defensive back Michael Coe, who was covering on the play, did.

FOURTH QUARTER

Usually in the fourth quarter of a game like Monday night is when Gruden relaxes a little and starts saying complete nonsense that a fact-checker like me would love. You can almost hear his tie loosening as the game goes on. This week, he was as boring as the game in the fourth.

He did have two moments worth discussing, however.

Look, the Giants didn't play very well at all. They won the game because their bend-don't-break defense held up enough and the team benefited from a short field on a muffed punt and a fumble return on the lateral Cadillac Williams gave up on. But that didn't stop Gruden from waxing nostalgic about Coughlin's great ability to bounce back from a clunker.

"

"You know the one thing you never want to do? You don't want to play a Tom Coughlin football team after they've had a bad game. Because you know, especially on Monday night, he's gonna take that extra day. 'I'm gonna get my New York Giants ready.'

"I asked Tom. I said, 'are you guys in the tank, all these injuries, everything's gone wrong?' He says, 'we don't give in. We never give in. We never say woe is me. Somebody is going to step up and we're going to play better.'"

"But you never want to see Coughlin and his team after they've had a bad outing."

"

Actually, you do. I took Gruden's mention of a "bad outing" and, for the sake of this fact-check, considered that to be any loss. As bad as you might play, a win is never a bad outing. For a guy like Coughlin, I can't imagine he's chalking up moral victories in his career.

So, with the standard that a bad outing is the same as a loss, Coughlin is 46-54 in his career after a bad outing. He is 23-21 following a loss during his Giants tenure, after a terrible 23-33 record in Jacksonville. Since winning the Super Bowl, Coughlin's Giants are 8-9 after a loss. Sorry, let's make that 9-9 after last night's win. 

We'll end on a positive note. Gruden had a brilliant point—screen capture that, ESPN PR guys—of giving the defensive linemen credit for holding penalties. We count sacks and hurries, but penalties-caused is not a widely used stat. It really should be. As Gruden pointed out, a holding penalty is worth ten yards, and can actually prove to be more valuable to a defense than a sack.

That…is a fact.