Revisiting The Raheem Morris Era
September 22nd, 2014
“Beats me why Lovie’s team is so unprepared. I’m still trying to figure out how the Bucs hired me five years ago.”
Yes, the chain-whipping the Bucs received at the hands of the Dixie Chicks really has driven Joe to a dark, dark place. That is the Raheem Morris era.
To this day, Bucs fans still continue to scratch their heads — if not their privates — as to how someone with so little coaching experience got a head coaching job in the NFL — not even 24 hours after Chucky was jettisoned from One Buc Palace. It was as if Team Glazer didn’t want to launch a coaching search and just decided to pull a name out of a hat of assistants already under contract.
With the exception of one teasing season (oh, the Kellen Winslow game will go down in the annals of Bucs lore), the result was predictable: an unmitigated disaster that ended in 2011, when the Bucs, again, thought to be a playoff contender, lost the last 10 games of the season.
One of Joe’s biggest gripes with Morris was how, week after week, the Bucs came out simply unprepared to play. It was as if Morris had no clue how to coach up a team or to game plan. To be fair, Morris always seemed to make great adjustments, especially in the second half. The problem was, the Bucs usually found themselves so far behind by the time the second half rolled around, it didn’t matter, it was too often too late. The hill was too steep to climb.
Thursday night at Atlanta, not only did the Bucs seem to take a page from Morris, even worse, they also couldn’t replicate Morris’ often sound adjustments. It was like a senile old man using a remote with dead batteries, grumbling why the channels on his TV wouldn’t change. Nothing the Bucs tried went right.
Joe brings up Morris (sorry for the flashbacks) because the Bucs this season sure seem hellbent on trying to outdo Morris when it comes to starting from behind. No less of an authority than Big Ten Network-hating, pedestrian-bumping, olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball box score-reading, NPR-listening, filthy-hotel-staying, fight-instigating, barista-training Peter King, of theMMQB.com and NBC Sports fame has the gory numbers.
In the NFL, you have to figure the first three quarters of every game, and most often more than that, are going to be wholly competitive. So the biggest indictment of the Tampa Bay season through the first three games would be the composite score of the Bucs’ games through three quarters:
Foes 79, Tampa Bay 14.
That is terrible.
Now Joe is trying not to go full-blown rage here and trying to be reasonable (which doesn’t make for fun writing or reading). Those stats fall on coaching. That tells Joe either your team doesn’t have the horses (possible) or the team isn’t being prepared (more likely).
Joe never dreamed he would type that sentence with Lovie Smith as coach.
Granted, three games is a small sample size. Granted, we are still less than a month into a new regime without its offensive coordinator. While there are any number of ways to analyze why the Bucs are in the dumpster fire they are, from Tedford’s absence to Josh McCown’s ghastly turnovers, at the end of the day, it falls on coaching when a team doesn’t perform.
Joe knows Lovie will blame a lack of takeaways. Joe’s not buying that because the Bucs are currently tied for fourth-most takeaways in the NFL. Incidently, the Bucs finished fourth in the NFL in takeaways last season.
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:05 pm
Tied to the Whipping post
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi-dm1JU4no
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:09 pm
In Lovie we trust!
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:10 pm
“Joe’s not buying that because the Bucs are currently tied for sixth-most takeaways in the NFL.”
By far the most misleading stat of the season. Our one and only pick came against TJ Yates, one fumble was due to the ball being accidentally kicked by Scott Solomon, one was a ball we recovered but promptly lost again, etc etc. We SHOULD be concerned about takeaways, considering we had great opportunities in Weeks 1 and 2 playing scrub quarterbacks.
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:11 pm
Glazers thought they had next tomlin cause rah was young, black, secondary coach. Talk about cliched superficial thinking. Huge mistake. You don’t fire unless you have proven good experienced coach or coordinator. Still haven’t recovered.
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:12 pm
We have taken a step backwards from last year!
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:12 pm
Say what you want about this guy yes he was a bad coach but considering how Dominick dumped the team on his shoulders with zero experience and not one single start like we have now, schiano came say he has a 10-6 record in his second season and lovie the most experienced and has a team with the most talent for beat down worse than any coach we ever had…. He gets no slack and it wasn’t given to anyone else, I don’t care about what lovie did before he got here
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:15 pm
__________
Gee?
Ya think?
#It’s a Bucs Life
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:15 pm
OMG…think though of Lovie vs Tomlin match up had not yet crossed my mind…Oh..the dismal abyss
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:17 pm
I heard the nfl, with the all Domestic violence issues, beatings, and bad press, are now investigating the Altanta Falcons for beating the crap out of the bucs. Is this true joe?
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:21 pm
If the Jags win before we do that’ll be the sign that the Bucs will definitely be picking first in next year’s draft. Fantastic…because there’s a good chance we’ll end up with the renowned Marcus Mariota as our QB in that case. Yes…that is sarcasm, because Mariota wouldn’t even be a first round pick in a draft deep at the QB position.
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:24 pm
“To be fair, Morris always seemed to make great adjustments, especially in the second half”.
They did make adjustments only scored 21in the second half. lol
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:28 pm
Random but Bruce Arians is a good coach, I wanted Zimmer when Rah and Schiano were fired thought maybe Lovie would be a ok coach, I miss that 10-6 season with Rah lol
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:30 pm
So far it looks like the only adjustment Lovie is making at halftime is changing the volume on his headset.
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:32 pm
Morris and Smith comparison is apples and oranges. Rah was young and inexperienced with no expectations. We were told Lovie was the second coming of Christ – with his experience, expertise, blah blah blah. At least the Glazers were only paying Rah about $750K – Lovie is fleecing them for way more than that.
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:33 pm
Tune in to 620, Big Doooomig refuses to give Glennon his due.
It is personal, as a listener texted, and he flipped out.
Admit it, Dog, you were wrong abour Freeman, and quite possibly Glennon. Tuning in tomorrow for JBF hour. Can’t wait!
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:33 pm
Joe, not sure how u can even question if we have the “horses”!
…. Out of curiosity, did u see Bennett yesterday against Payton Manning? PLAYING WITH HIS HAIR ON FIRE !!!!… jumping over lineman… my god..
we got ponies
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:34 pm
Everyone is going crazy and already wants Lovie out. COME ON MAN!
You think ANOTHER coaching change would do this franchise any good? The reason we suck is because we can’t draft right and we always change coaches, give the guy some time.
Was the loss to the Falcons terrible? atricous? embarrasing? YES! But 1 game does not make a coach. 1st game we could have won if McClown knew how to take a sack and not throw the ball like an idiot. 2nd game we let Austin Davis look like Dan Marino but so did the Cowboys so go figure.
#InLovieITrust
#MGM
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:36 pm
Winner!
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:36 pm
Since we’re revisiting past eras, can we think about were we’d be right now if Chip Kelly had actually taken our head coaching job, and the real reasons why he didn’t? Just saying.
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:44 pm
I disagree Joe. You can’t put this all on coaching. These players are not performing for various reasons; new scheme, no OC, injuries galore. What can you do when you have no depth and your players underperform? A coach can’t tackle, catch, or block. For that matter, neither can this team!
3 games is not enough to put a stamp on it. We knew this was going to be rough.
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:48 pm
Ray Jay – the new “Factory of Sadness”
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:57 pm
Lots of big news today out of 1-Buc about all of the things they’re
are going to do to address Thursdays debacle.
Lol, just kidding. The silence is deafening.
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:57 pm
stevek,
I’m surprised you subject yourself to the Lil’ Pup.
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:58 pm
Ray Jay – the new “Factory of Sadness”
_________________________
I like “Factory of Apathy”
September 22nd, 2014 at 4:03 pm
I know its off topic but has anyone heard the big cry baby on the radio bitching about
Joe’s glennon mob membership?
September 22nd, 2014 at 4:11 pm
For three games on defense that number is not horrific. Offensively it is. Please not one more game this year with Marcus Aroyyo as play caller. The guy couldn’t call a play out of a paper bag. Can we please say we made a mistake with him calling our plays????? Thankfully Tedford will be in that role Sunday. Then we can see if this system will go the way of Jeff Jagozinksi!!!!
September 22nd, 2014 at 4:17 pm
@Bucsfam4lyfe
Actually the two Schiano/Dominick drafts were pretty solid as evidenced by most of the guys still being on the team or at least still in the NFL. Lovie/Licht draft is still a wait and see. Regardless poor drafting was an issue with Rah and Dom together, but I think the Bucs drafted much better from 2012 on up
September 22nd, 2014 at 4:58 pm
You can’t run a simple Tampa 2 on defense and a very predictable, play-it-safe, bland offense and win in the NFL unless you have monster talent (and even then, you probably can’t win a Super Bowl).
Dungy’s Buc defenses were so talented that they could win on their own — they won despite a horrendous offensive scheme and terrible play calling. Now we are using the same strategy with inferior talent (and lots of serious injuries). With the talent level so high across the league, that’s not a strategy. It’s a recipe for suffering and defeat.
You MUST create mismatches and confusion, be aggressive and creative, and play to score touchdowns on every possession, until the other team is crushed. We’ve had exactly one coach who more or less understood NFL football, and we fired him — because he went 9-7.
September 22nd, 2014 at 5:01 pm
Ray Jay – the new “Factory of Sadness”
_________________________
I like “Factory of Apathy”
—————————————–
“Factory of Dismay!”
September 22nd, 2014 at 5:34 pm
When we hired Lovie, Bears fans predicted that we would quickly become disenchanted with the hire. I hate to say fans of another team were right. Also Tedford needs to just retire. Seriously since his life is more important than football and being associated with the Bucs is too stressful for healthy people. L. Frazier should resign as he sucked as a head coach for the Vikings and he sucks as the defensive coordinator for the Bucs. Lovie thought G. Adams was good enough to trade for and Frazier actually gave Freeman a job starting even if briefly.
September 22nd, 2014 at 6:52 pm
It’s all on Smith. He chose Tedford. He chose
McCown. He chose to jettison Zuttah. He’s
in charge of the matador defense.
September 22nd, 2014 at 7:57 pm
Speaking of the past…
Greg Olsen turned out to be a better offensive coordinator than Marcus Arroyo.
That’s pretty sad!
September 22nd, 2014 at 9:12 pm
I know a bunch of bears fans that like lovie.
September 23rd, 2014 at 3:44 am
TIED! To the whipping post