Saturday marked Jon Gruden’s final broadcast as ESPN’s color analyst, and he left the booth just as he arrived: in a feverish state of football-induced constipation.

The look that Gruden gives the camera after he realizes he nailed his “Remember the Titans” line is so incredible hahaha 😂. Love that guy! #NailedIt #NFLWildCardWeekend #TENvsKC pic.twitter.com/ixPmd2aWic

— Matt Chatham (@chatham58) January 6, 2018

The Super Bowl-winning coach has been at the network since 2009, but he is returning to the sidelines next season to coach the Oakland (and, eventually, Las Vegas) Raiders. According to reports, Raiders owner Mark Davis made a staggering 10-year offer to Gruden that’s worth around $100 million, making it the most lucrative coaching contract in NFL history.

Doubters will point out that Gruden’s record as a head coach is just a notch above .500 (95-81 during the regular season), and that his lone Super Bowl appearance (and win) came after he inherited the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team that happened to boast one of the greatest defenses in NFL history. Those same doubters will surely accuse Mark Davis of poor judgment, but does this look like a man who doesn’t know what he’s doing?

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Just taking a second to appreciate Mark Davis' hair. Oakland's finest. pic.twitter.com/iM4jngRnkk

— MG (@mofgimmers) January 3, 2018

As an analyst, Gruden will be remembered not for what he said, but for how he said it. His insights rarely went beyond I love this guy! or Here’s a guy I love!, but that didn’t matter. Gruden’s true broadcasting skill was his ability to muster enthusiasm for even the dullest Monday Night Footballcontests (and there have been plenty of stinkers over the past 8 years).

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Thankfully, Gruden’s last game behind the microphone was a postseason thriller. The broadcast was chock-full of Gruden-isms, which are benign observations made with the manic, painful passion of an electrified squirrel. Here is but a sampling:

“If you play man-to-man coverage, you cover your man!”

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“You can feel this in your bones!” (In response to a Derrick Henry 7-yard run.)

“They call it ‘exotic smashmouth,’ but there’s nothing exotic about this smashmouth!”

Gruden’s best-known gimmick is the “Gruden Grinder,” an award he gives out at the end of every Monday Night Footballbroadcast to the player who excited him the most. Each week must have presented an agonizing decision for Gruden, a man who is profoundly intense about anything football-related.

That’s why, before he grinds his way into the sunset, he should award one last Gruden Grinder—to himself. No one would appreciate it more.

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