So, what's all the talk about 'Chucky?'

He's the subject of Chucky dolls and Chucky bobbleheads and Chucky bumperstickers, but Jon Gruden doesn't exactly embrace his nickname. It's not surprising, seeing how it's based on a child's toy that terrorized children in a series of four movies.

Explained cornerback Ronde Barber: "The first thing he told us, in the first meeting we had, he said, 'You can call me coach. You can call me Jon. You can call me whatever you want. Just don't call me Chucky.'"

For those of you just joining the playoffs, it may seem that today's game is less about championship rings and trips to Disney World than the Play-Doh-faced Tampa Bay coach whose eyebrows say more in a five-second sideline shot than "2001: A Space Odyssey" said in two hours.

Snarl. Scowl. Devilish smile. They don't call Gruden "Chucky" for nothing -- a nickname one of his former players bestowed upon him in homage to the killer doll of the "Child's Play" horror movies.

When the eyes squint and the jaw juts and the spit starts flying when he talks, the resemblance to Chucky is eerie.

"You get the whole persona off TV -- the scowl, the grimace, the quick, smirky answer," Barber said. "He's not that different in real life. You get what you see, and you see what you get."

Coincidentally, the original "Child's Play"movie that featured Chucky was released in November 1988, just as Gruden was wrapping up his only season as an assistant coach at Southeast.

-- From staff reports