Brian Price’s Agent Takes Raheem Morris To Task
December 5th, 2011
Yesterday was a first for Joe. He had never, ever been to an NFL game when the head coach literally told a starter to “go home” long before the end of the game.
But that is exactly what happened when the last place Bucs defensive tackle Brian Price was, for all intents and purposes, thrown out of the stadium along Dale Mabry Highway like a common fan who tried to jump on the field and accost Jamie Hanna.
And it appears Price’s agent Chuck Price is none too happy about it and ripped Morris for the act, per Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times.
“(Brian) regrets the untimeliness and the foolish nature of the penalty, but if that pentalty [sic] was on first down, would the coach have thrown him out of the game?” Chuck Price said. “For a kid who’s probably never had an unsportsmanlike (penalty)? He’s a guy who has played through some enormous challenges.
“He spent six days in a (walking) boot last week. It’s that same fight and attitude that probably (prompted the Bucs) to say, ‘I’m sorry you just got out of a boot, but go ahead and play football for us.’ I know Brian personally had to be disappointed because I know how he loves playing for Raheem. He’s made statements like he wouldn’t want to play for anyone else.”
Holder also pointed out that Morris wasn’t sure exactly what Price did to spark a near-melee on the field. To be fair to Morris, WFLA-TV Channel 8 had a clip of the incident and it appeared — but was not clear — that Price tried to pull a Ndamukong Suh and step on a guy’s arm. Again, it appeared to look that way but Joe couldn’t tell for sure, it was inconclusive, even after multiple viewings.
Morris has walked out on a proverbial plank with this move. First, he admits he wasn’t sure what Price did. Isn’t that a tad overreacting then?
Second, of all the players to single out and tell to go home, it’s shocking for Joe that it would be Price. The guy is literally playing on one leg, with muscles bolted to his pelvis. Price could easily be dogging it because of his injury and he is not. That’s the kind of character that should be lauded, not disdained.
Further, aren’t there better examples of players to tell to go home? Without naming names, Joe knows of one offensive player who is a target of NFL officials and his penalties — not all deserved — have literally taken points off the scoreboard and cost the Bucs games. Why is he given a pass? The Bucs have a defensive player that had made far more headlines off the field than plays on the field. Why are his transgressions dismissed?
Joe has to be honest, he was confident Morris would be brought back for the final year of his contract, if not have his contract extended after this season. The Bucs were a tiebreaker from a playoff berth last year and it can be argued no offseason and a shortened training camp really messed with the Bucs.
But the way this team has imploded from within, Joe truly wonders just how secure Morris is. In short, Joe is less confident after Sunday’s transgressions.
December 5th, 2011 at 9:09 am
He’s gone, just a matter of when.
December 5th, 2011 at 9:11 am
Hmmmmmmmmmm
From reading this it is apparent that the agent talked to price. I am assuming the agent had his approval to release this statement.
Setting aside the issue of whether Raheem was right or wrong, what about a player ripping a head coach, through his agent, during the season?
Even if he is 100% right?
December 5th, 2011 at 9:13 am
Raheem’s obviously feeling the heat and is trying desperately to show management he knows how to hold players accountable. Problem is it’s far too little, too late. Talib’s unsportsmanlike foul would’ve been a better place to start. Gone from youngry to fugly really quick.
December 5th, 2011 at 9:15 am
One more terrible misjudgement by a clueless coach. Winslow has committed a zillion stupid penalties which has cost this team games but because he is one of Raheems guys nothing happens to him. Talib does the same thing and nothing happens for the same reason. Raheem picks on players like Blount and Price who are rookies and he knows he can push around. This coach is gutless and he will now lose the lockerroom when he benches one of the hardest workers on the team. Brian Price should never have been sent home when you have a whole circus of clowns who Raheem protects week in and week out. What a joke.
December 5th, 2011 at 9:15 am
Kicking Price out of the game MAY have been harsh, we dont’ know what happened. But if it’s even close to a Suh like move, it’s deserving. There has to be accountability.
Morris will be back. The first season doesn’t really count, I mean that was a complete gutting and re-evaluation (year 1). We over achieved last year and under achieved this year. The grass isn’t alway greener with a new coach. We would be starting all over again. It took a few years under the Dungy era for us to be consistent.
Think of it this way, constantly replacing coaches is no different that constantly bringing in cast off FA’s. (ala Gruden era) In order to be consistent, you have to have stability.
December 5th, 2011 at 9:18 am
I’m not saying Morris is the answer, I’m saying that a new coach will give us the same for a couple years. I would like to see what one more year does – and that, NONE of us know.
December 5th, 2011 at 9:28 am
@bucfanjeff. If Morris comes back, the fans will not. Period.
December 5th, 2011 at 9:33 am
Actually this season is showing us a great deal about Morris, it is showing us he has no clue with how to deal with adversity, if he did we wouldn’t be looking at a 6 game losing streak. If he knew how to right the ship (yes, I said it) then he would have already, fact is he doesn’t, he has no clue how to fix the mess he created. You’re their coach and leader and to some a parental figure, you are not their friend. This is the attitude that brings undisciplined play because there is no penalty for it. And that show with Price yesterday was a joke, easy prey.
December 5th, 2011 at 9:33 am
@bucfanjeff – “I’m saying that a new coach will give us the same for a couple years”.
Luckily San Francisco didn’t think that way, and look where it’s got them. There’s obviously no guarantee either way, but I’d be anxious to see how a fresh approach would impact these young players, because there is some talent on this team.
December 5th, 2011 at 9:34 am
bucfanJeff it can’t get any worse than it is. This team is not as bad as it now appears to be. The coaching is horrendous. Waiting another year would be only a financial move to save money not a move to get this team any better anytime soon. The grass IS GREENER if we don’t have this clueless coach making gutless moves like this one. You need to wake up and look at 99% of the posts on here who want him gone.
December 5th, 2011 at 9:44 am
@Jake: judging by the stands, what fans? I was the only one there and I will be back because I am a fan. I go to see players play, not coaches coach. They need to get some big free agents for next season.
December 5th, 2011 at 9:49 am
@Anthony
It won’t matter who our coach is unless Dominick changes his bull$*** philosophy.
December 5th, 2011 at 9:51 am
How does Morris still have a job here?
December 5th, 2011 at 9:52 am
Hot seat is heating up.
Gotta do something this offseason or the USF Bulls will outdraw the Bucs.
A new Coach / Staff is cheaper than a Free Agent
December 5th, 2011 at 10:00 am
Why is everyone so concerned?
Tulane is going to have a new stadium.
December 5th, 2011 at 10:01 am
let me get this right they have won 17 games during his tenure and if lucky will one more so in three years his record probably will be 18-30 over three years and why should he be allowed to stay except he comes cheap
December 5th, 2011 at 10:20 am
talib aquib would never be sent to the locker room ….what a idiot raheem is …..lost any respect I had for the guy……loser
December 5th, 2011 at 10:40 am
I’ve been very much a “wait-and-see” guy when it comes to Morris. As it has been stated previously, the first year doesn’t really count as the team was completely gutted, so which is the “real” Bucs team, last year or this year? There are a lot of reasons why this year hasn’t gone well, and the lack of an offseason and no veteran leadership would explain a lot of the woes. Thus, I really wanted to see what he could do next year when he actually had a offseason with the team. That said, after the performance of the team this week, and suddenly deciding to become a disciplinarian on BRIAN PRICE, I’m finding it’s becoming very difficult for Rah to defend his job. I mean, if you’re not going to kick Talib out of a game for sticking his fingers into a guy’s facemask and getting a penalty at the very worst time, then you have no business kicking Price out of the stadium for a penalty which Raheem admits he didn’t even see! You simply can’t have it both ways… I’ve always respected Raheem because he didn’t sell out his guys – apparently that behavior has ended. My guess is Raheem is gone if the team doesn’t win 2 more games this year. Ok, rant over.
December 5th, 2011 at 10:46 am
If the actions of Morris fit a realm of consistency, I could understand the move. However, Morris has given so many a pass for laziness and sloppy play that it just appears Price became a scape goat for Morris’s ineptitude. I never, never thought I would say this but I would rather see Chuck’y back on the sideline.
December 5th, 2011 at 10:49 am
Don’t ask for free agents, I would not be surprised of any of the quality free agents next year would commit to playing for Morris after this debacle.
December 5th, 2011 at 10:50 am
Oh his defense is very consistent.
December 5th, 2011 at 11:03 am
i wonder if the game had been close if this would have still happened? morris just set a precident that he will never be able to consistently maintain. either it’s over for him and he knows it or he already knows he’s coming back next year.
December 5th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
Fire Morris and hire Herm Edwards!
December 5th, 2011 at 12:56 pm
Buc Nekid:
USF has never outdrawn the Bucs. In fact, lost in everyone whining about blackouts, USF’s season ticket base has shrunk each season the past three years.
December 5th, 2011 at 1:32 pm
It was a terrible decision by Raheem, assuming Price didn’t mouth off or do anything worse than what we know. It may very well cost him his job. However, I wish people would stop bringing up Talib. The decision was all about timing. Raheem overreacted as a result of being fed up with the stupid penalties. If Talib or anyone else did it on Sunday, I think he would have kicked them out too.
Raheem deserves a ton of blame for what has happened to this team. I can’t honestly defend him and say he deserves another year. But bringing up Talib is just unnecessarily piling on. There’s plenty out there without having to go there. The idea that some players get special treatment because they are his friends is pure speculation.
December 5th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
Thank you Hawaiian buc this was all about timing. He even said they’ve going over stupid penalties all week and then here we go again! I wish it wasn’t price but he the penalty got called on him so he had to be the example