New coaching staff will have young talent to mold into winnersIn the end, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2011 season will be remembered for one thing; the worst Bucs team ever to play the game. Worse than 1976- they had an excuse, and they had some heart. Worse than 1977, they won the last two games, and they had a defense. Worse even than 1986- and let me tell you because I lived through ’86, the Bucs team that year was as much a disaster as the NASA Space program that year. This 2011 team was worse; the ’86 team never quit.
All year long I’ve preached that Raheem Morris is a good coach, and perhaps he will be one day, no doubt he was the last two years. But at some point a key group of Bucs players stopped listening to him, and he did nothing about it. Yes it was against the Falcons back-ups, but did you see Ahmad Black and Anthony Gaitor in the game in the second half? They were playing with fire. Why weren’t they playing weeks ago the first sign of the team quitting? Weren’t we supposed to be YOUNGRY? Instead we had Sean Jones and Tanard Jackson, of which only one player has any remote excuse, and that is Jackson. But both of these guys probably got too close to the head coach, a fatal mistake Morris made, one made often by “Players” coaches. Morris got the idea to discipline his team too late; the damage had already been done. He sent home Brian Price, and the season got worse from there. He benched LeGarrette Blount for fumbling. Good move, but as Shaun King tweeted…”Only problem is his backup sucks”.
Dezmon Briscoe has a career game vs Atlanta, and always responds when called upon. Why didnt he move up the depth chart? Why didnt Mack? Geno Hayes was benched for not producing, but he didnt produce when he came back. Yesterday, Geno Hayes and Quincy Black combined for 3 assists!!
I refuse to pin all of this on Raheem Morris. To be sure he was made a little bit of a scapegoat here, the Glazers, and or Mark Dominik went with this YOUTH program, a program devoid of veterans not already on the team, with the intentions of rewarding Bucs core players. But someone on this team does not know talent when they see it. Kregg Lumpkin will not play in the NFL if he is released from the Bucs- he’s simply not good enough. But how was that missed on the field? Perhaps it was overlooked because of the lockout, with no OTAs to really see what he can do? Enough has been said about Barrett Ruud and Cadillac Williams, but lets be honest here, Barrett Ruud was horrible last year, he was run over constantly, but no one took into account his leadership. Same with Cadillac, who only ran decent once LeGarrette Blount came into the picture. But Caddilac knew how to pass protect, and was a veteran who could have helped this year.
I’m still in the camp that the Glazers are not cheap. That they simply have not had a reason to spend money on their own players until their contracts come up, and that they have been burned too much by paying for free agents like Derrick Ward, Michael Nugent, Michael Clayton, etc that blow up in their face. I believe they honestly believe this Youth movement was the way to go, that it was as close as 1996 as possible. You dont build the best facilities in the NFL when you’re cheap, ask Culverhouse players about the old One Buc. You don’t fire a coach and GM (Gruden/Allen) who make 10 million each year combined and pay that out and get nothing in return, they honestly felt Raheem Morris was an exciting young coach with a lot of energy who could get the players to play; and for the most part, he did. In 2009 the Bucs played hard, and won two games at the end they had no business winning. Taking over as defensive coordinator worked, the Defense improved.
Then came last year, 10 wins. But ultimately, it had the same effect on all of us. The Glazers drank the koolaid, they gave some to Dominik and Morris. We sipped on it too. But now were here in 2012 and the Koolaid has something in it; its tainted.
Raheem Morris is not a bad dude, in fact, he’s a great guy. He deserves to be fired with class. Loud mouth jerks who comment on websites with the protection of psudo names who probably don’t even have season tickets to begin with just hate the man, probably because of the color of his skin, or that he talks too fast for them. Never mind that Raheem Morris knows more about football than any of us put together. He failed as coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, I get it. But he is still a human being, and a good one at that. He deserves some respect; this is only a football game in the end. I hope the Glazers end this quickly, removing him this morning no later than 10AM, no reason to let him have a press conference to tell us what we already know. Let Morris have his final press conference in dignity; I’m sure the local press would appreciate that too. They all like him, what’s not to like. He doesn’t throw players under the bus, he takes accountability.
Mark Dominik on the other hand, may need some help. Someone grossly over estimated the talent on this team; either that, or Morris is worse of a coach than even I imagined. I dont think he should be fired, but I think Dominik needs someone with a proven record of talent to help out; maybe a good assistant. Maybe listen to Hickey a little more, and the Glazers a little less.
Ah the Glazers, key essentials in all of this. They want the public to invest more in the Bucs- Fine; then they must also invest more in the Bucs. This community will forgive anyone, if you win. They’ve forgotten all about the Super Bowl, so they will forget all about the ‘lowest payroll’ over the last 5 years, if you start spending now. Free Agency in March will be a good one for the Bucs needs. Corner Back and running back will have a top tier talent in the draft, so look for WR help in Free Agency. But the bottom line- Spend, spend, spend! They can do it right now by paying a coach some good money to come to Tampa for starters. Then players in March; you’ll see the ticket sales climb.
It’s going to be an exciting time in Tampa Bay as a lot of changes are made, but before that, we have to mourn a little first. At least, if you have some respect, you will.
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