Tom Brady is why Jon Gruden returned to football

The New England Patriots have haunted the dreams of the Oakland Raiders ever since young Tom Brady came from behind to win a snowy divisional round playoff game thanks to officials correctly ruling a play dead on the field, and not a fumble.

Then-Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden was subsequently traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and won a Super Bowl against his former Raiders squad.

So now Gruden is back with the Raiders, shipping away franchise players, and he points to Tom Brady as a reason for his return to football.

“[Brady] can’t run, can’t jump, he’s too old,” Gruden says to Bleacher Report’s Dan Pompei about players with mental toughness. “He gets his ass knocked off. But he’s a Terminator. He ran me out of Oakland in the Tuck Game. Damn. He brought those bastards back in a two-minute drill to beat us in a driving snow. They didn’t do anything the whole night until the game was on the line.

“And here I am 20 years later, and guess who’s still there. That’s why I’m back.”

Sorry, not sorry Oakland. It wasn’t a fumble. Tom Brady’s still around. Enjoy 10 years of Gruden.