All these guys have as much to blame as Raheem Morris for Bucs messIt didn’t happen with Tony Dungy, and it never happened with Jon Gruden. To be fair, it was way to early in history for it to happen to Sam Wyche, and that is having so many Bucs fans calling for the head coaches job on the internet. This community is united for the first time since the Super Bowl, in the zeal to fire Raheem Morris. You may get your wish, or you may not. To be honest, it’s probably no greater than 50-50, because the people who make the decision, have their hand in this mess too. There are few people who get out of jail free in this debacle, so lets get started.
What’s wrong with the Bucs:
They are too young in some areas, and not good enough in others. Front Office did not properly address depth on this team, and Fate/Mother Nature/Bad Luck provided the worst case scenario with timing.
Last year the Bucs were involved in two games that got away from them: Week 3 Vs Pittsburgh, and Week 5 Vs New Orleans, both home games. Against the Steelers, the Bucs got an early INT but failed to turn that into a TD, settling for a FG instead. The Steelers veteran team exploited a weakness by completing a long TD pass on rookie safety Cody Grimm, probably the only glaring bad play he had all year. It was 14-6 Steelers early in the 2nd Quarter, and the Bucs defense could not stop Pittsburgh’s momentum, allowing them to score two more TDs in the first half. That was the end for the Bucs in that game.
With the Saints game, New Orleans led 14-0 at the start of the 2nd quarter, the team traded possessions the rest of the way, but it allowed New Orleans to score a FG w/ 4 mintues left in the half. The Bucs drove down the field, but Connor Barth’s FG attempt hit the right upright. Cody Grimm snuffed out another Saints scoring threat, and that momentum kept going into the second half when special teams forced Saints to start their first drive of the half from the 8 yard line, but the Bucs defense let New Orleans keep the ball for 7 minutes letting little known Chris Ivory run all over them. Even though the Saints missed a FG, the Bucs offense wasnt capable of making a play, and eventually, the Saints scored again, and the rout was on.
In both cases, the Bucs young players were unable to stop momentum from snowballing against them, and this has been magnified this year, probably because the Bucs are even younger this year than they were last season. This was never more clear than this past Sunday, when Bucs players were clearly at a loss of a way to stop or turn around the events of the Jacksonville game that were happening right in front of their eyes. It was almost as if the players were looking for someone, anyone, to show them what to do to stop the avalanche, but these players are too young, and no one knows how.
Players like the Bucs are young, and they need a veteran, not a coach, IN GAME, to show them what to do. Who could have helped? Cadillac Williams could have helped. Barrett Ruud could have helped, like he’s helping Tennessee’s Colin McCarthy. This offseason I predicted the Bucs would franchise Barrett Ruud for another year to teach Mason Foster. It was explained to us by the Bucs that a veteran presense is taking away from a young guys playing time. Maybe it is at first, but shouldnt that young player be forced to WIN that job over the veteran, like Ruud did when he learned from an elder Shelton Quarles? If Albert Hanesworth is showing us anything, its showing us that the Bucs need a veteran player to teach these young guys the stuff the coaches dont get. Plus, having Keith Millard who isnt that far removed from his playing days himself could be one reason why the defensive line is the one unit on the Bucs defense that is playing semi respectable, after all they did hold Maurice Jones Drew in check most of the day.
NO matter if the Bucs decide to part ways with Morris, or change assistants on the staff, the one thing that needs changing the fastest is the “No veteran” approach; it must end in 2011. The Bucs need to create a fire in the Tampa Bay are, and firing a coach may or may not do that, but bringing in a top notch free agent certainly will. Imagine a Keyshawn Johnson coming to the Bucs at this time. Or better yet, a Hardy Nickerson is desperately needed. Then you have to bring in some veterans and draft some players, then have them COMPETE. Too many Bucs players were given jobs because of their draft status. Da’Quan Bowers wasnt, he had to compete. Is it any wonder he is coming on like wildfire?
So where is coaching failing?
We cant fully excuse anyone for this mess, and coaching is at the heart of the problem. Accountablity has been mentioned all year long, but I dont think Raheem Morris understand what accountable means. Preston Parker fumbles the ball not once, but twice, and it’s good that coach Morris doesnt have a dog house, there is no place for that stuff. But when the press tried to talk to Parker after the game, he waved them off.
EXCUSE ME? That is NOT being accountable, not to your fans certainly not to your media who cover you. Maybe he is held accountable to his peers, but thats not the same.
Kellen Winslow Jr has problems during a game, and he shuts up too. The Big Dog Steve Duemig point out an interesting fact yesterday, Winslow is one Bucs player who in three years now with the team has never done a Radio show? I went back into the archives and checked it out. Not one. Who the hell does Kellen Winslow Jr. think he is that he doesnt have to do a radio show? I will tell you what K2 is- Not accountable, and he is looked to as a leader, which means OTHER Bucs are learning how NOT to be accounable, and this is one of the problems with coaching right now, and why some coaches and players wont be back in 2012, and it would not bother me one bit if Winslow is one of them.
Wide Recievers quit on routes when they think Freeman has gone down, only to find #5 has escaped, but has no one to throw to. When evaluating Josh Freeman’s interceptions in 2009, it was shown that Antonio Bryant was the cause of several of them because of his lack of effort to fight for the ball when it became obvious he needed to act more like the DB in the situation than the reciever. Your QB is depending on you to give maximum effort, but FAR to many WR like Mike Williams are being lazy and not fighting for the possession. A veteran Wide Reciever or a better coach should teach this factor, but it doesnt seem to be getting done, or the message is not getting through.
Josh Freeman leads the league in Interceptions, and clearly no one missed the offseason as much as he has. Josh Freeman LIVED at One Buc place during the 2010 offseason, and that was why he had s uch a great year in 2010. Is it that hard to figure out that he didnt have an offseason this year, and that could be the problem?
Penalties are becoming an epidemic, and for once, its not the core guys doing it. Jeremy Trueblood used to be the most penalized Buccaneer in the league. Now he had one Sunday, but you don’t hear his name with anywhere near the frequency before. Trueblood is finaly grown up, matured, and thats what the Bucs need from guys all around the team, but they are no where to be found. You can’t expect Brian Price to learn from Gerald McCoy, whose going to teach McCoy??
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Turnovers and fundamentals are things Tony Dungy preached and taught his team when he took over in 1996, and surely he worked on them with his staff and players throughout his tenure here in Tampa Bay. But I dont recall him pulling them out in 1998 when the success of 1997 was washing off. That’s an excuse for “We have too many players who have bad fundamentals”. You dont teach not to fumblel to Pro Football players, they learn that stuff when they are teenagers, and from their High School and College Coaches. YOu dont make it to the NFL if you dont have your basics down. That means the Bucs didn’t plan well for the 2011 season.
Gerald McCoy, Cody Grimm, Earnest Graham have all been missed greatly by this team, the running game and run defense have been affected by their loss, but other teams lose players too, its called injuries, and they happen. But other teams are deeper than the Bucs, and this falls on either Mark Dominik or the Glazers and we may never really know who is at fault.
One thing is for sure, this team CANNOT be the youngest team in the league next season again. The Bucs NEED to go out and acquire some free agents. You dont have to be Philadelphia and mess up your team chemistry, but you dont have to be the 2011 Bucs and simply bring in a kicker. Look how much affect Michael Koenen had on the Bucs, imagine a few more well placed men like that would do in 2012 and beyond.
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