Agent: Gruden ignores abilities of Keyshawn

[Gunzlingr]

It's not the thigh bruise. It's not the double teams. It's not the quarterback.

Only one person is responsible for making Keyshawn Johnson disappear from the Bucs offense: Jon Gruden. According to Johnson's agent, the coach continues to ignore his Pro Bowl receiver. Johnson caught one pass for 4 yards Sunday in a 24-7 loss to the 49ers. Only two of the Bucs' 41 passes were aimed at Johnson.

"(Gruden) had plenty of opportunities to put the ball in the No. 1 playmaker's hands," agent Jerome Stanley said Monday. "He threw him no screens, nothing long. ... He threw him two passes in the first quarter and that was basically it. (Niners receiver) Terrell Owens is the most covered player in the NFL and still manages to catch enough balls."

Johnson has 26 receptions for 356 yards and one touchdown this season. But he has not caught more than four passes in a game since grabbing nine for 102 yards against the Panthers in Week 2. Johnson suffered a deep left thigh bruise against the Colts Oct. 6 and missed most of the second half. Though the injury forced him to miss several practices, he has remained in the lineup.

Gruden defended his use of Johnson and said the Bucs were finding ways to get him the ball.

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[Tom A Hawk]

wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I don't like that cluck. MeShawn is bad for any team.

[The Spaz]

What abilities this guy is as overrated as they come!!!!

[Gunzlingr]

Keyshawn: Give Me Parcells (And Ball)

Given his choice, there is no one Bucs wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson would rather have walking the sideline as his head coach than Bill Parcells.
``I'll say it and I won't run from it,'' Johnson said Wednesday. ``He's my favorite coach. He's the best coach I ever had, period. And I didn't even win a Super Bowl with him.''

Johnson earned his only Super Bowl ring last year playing for Jon Gruden, whom the Bucs hired as their coach after attempts to lure Parcells fell through.

But Gruden doesn't yet belong to the same league of distinguished coaches that Parcells does. Not according to Johnson, who played for Parcells during the last three years of a four-year stint with the New York Jets.

``He's far ahead of his colleagues to me,'' Johnson said of Parcells. ``He's the kind of guy that has that magic that some coaches have.

``Dick Vermeil is another guy. Whatever it is, they got it. Jon Gruden, he's going to have to get on a roll in order to catch up with Parcells, a legend.

``I mean, he's going to have to win another Super Bowl and then turn a franchise around and then turn around another franchise.''

That ``magic'' isn't the only thing Parcells has that Gruden doesn't, according to Johnson. Johnson said Parcells also had a rapport with him that Gruden doesn't.

It was a rapport so great that Johnson said he could walk to the sideline during a critical moment in a game, suggest a play and Parcells would run it.

``But I've never had a rapport like that with any [head] coach, other than John Robinson [his coach at the University of Southern California],'' Johnson said.

``I mean, as a coach [Parcells] taught me so much more than winning. He taught me how to be a receiver and how to not pay attention to getting hit in traffic.

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[Cntrygal]

That ``magic'' isn't the only thing Parcells has that Gruden doesn't, according to Johnson. Johnson said Parcells also had a rapport with him that Gruden doesn't.

It was a rapport so great that Johnson said he could walk to the sideline during a critical moment in a game, suggest a play and Parcells would run it.

``But I've never had a rapport like that with any [head] coach, other than John Robinson [his coach at the University of Southern California],'' Johnson said.



so he doesn't like Gruden because Gruden isn't kowtowing to him. pathetic.

[Cntrygal]

"It's not about me," said Johnson, who caught one pass for 4 yards in Sunday's 24-7 loss to the 49ers. "I feel if I'm not contributing we're going to lose the game.

"That's just my mentality. I don't care about being selfish. I don't think when you have a player that considers himself playing on a high level at all times, you consider (him) selfish when he does everything you ask - everything."



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