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By Rich Campbell

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Head coaching speculation continues

Oct. 26, 2009 8:22 pm

Good evening folks. We're just a couple minutes away from kickoff, and already today we've seen how the speculation about the Redskins head coaching position isn't going away.

This afternoon, ESPN hosted a luncheon at Sequoia in Georgetown. Jon Gruden, as part of the MNF broadcast crew, took the stage and said a few words. He has been mentioned prominently among possible candidates to replace Jim Zorn, so a bunch of us reporters showed up to see if Gruden would say anything of interest.

The answer, pretty much, was no. But he did slip up and say "we" in referring to the Redskins. And he definitely came off like someone eager to get back into coaching.

"They have players," Gruden said of the Redskins. "There's fuel in the tank. They just need to light the match. The Redskins got to get going. They need some confidence. They need their fans to raise a little hell tonight here, get behind them. We need to have some success early, in my opinion. If they can get some momentum going, positive momentum on offense, they can once again be a heck of a football team because I love the way they play defense. They just need something positive early."

About coaching in the NFL, Gruden said: 

"It's the best of the best. The best coaches, the best players, the best fans, the highest level of competition. It has really taught me to be mentally tough. You're going to get kicked. You're going to get knocked down. You've got to get up. You've got to sustain some mental toughness. But I love to compete. I love being in that locker room with those players minutes before the game because a lot of people feel pressure. Players in this league apply it. They look forward to the pressure situations. That's what I miss most about being in the locker room with the players."

Gruden wouldn't take questions from reporters, and the Q&A-with-fans portion of the program was nixed.

And tonight, maybe you saw Vinny Cerrato's interview with ESPN's Sal Paolantonio on the Monday Night Countdown. Sal asked him to address some of the big-name coaches out there, such as Mike Shanahan and Gruden.

"We're just worried about Philadelphia," Cerrato said. "We've got 10 games to play. We've got a long season yet ahead of us. We're worried about this season, right now, and thereafter. We just want to focus on what's going on now."

So it's clear. Regardless of Cerrato's endorsement of Jim Zorn on Friday, the talk will continue as long as the losing does.

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Rich Campbell joined The Free Lance-Star as a sports writer in Sept. 2007 and covered the Washington Nationals until Jan. 2008. He is not related to Jason Campbell, but he does cover the Washington Redskins and local high school sports.

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