Is Defending Raheem Morris Enabling Bad Play?
December 23rd, 2011
OK, so let Joe indulge a bit; ramble if you will. Hey, it’s the holidays and no, Joe has not sampled any holiday cheer (yet).
In the past, Joe has made mention of the utter respect he has for Joe Henderson, recently promoted to news columnist for The Tampa Tribune. The impact and help Henderson gave Joe through the years has been profound, both professionally and personally, and Joe will never be able to thank him enough.
Long before Joe ever heard of Henderson, Joe met and got to know Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Joe was a naive, wet-behind-the-ears scribe in college covering his first NFL training camp and Miklasz was the beat writer then, covering the old St. Louis Cardinals.
Miklasz, now a columnist who is also a radio and somewhat lesser TV icon in St. Louis, sort of a Gary Shelton, Steve Duemig and Roy Cummings all rolled into one. He’s a tireless worker.
What Joe learned that summer just by observing one of the better writers in the country and and how he dealt with Gene Stallings and sometimes cranky NFL players and listening to Miklasz offer advice over tequila shots in the wee hours of the morning were profound. Joe will never, ever forget Miklasz telling Joe, “You are aggressive; that’s good. Always be aggressive.”
The reason Joe brings up Miklasz is that he penned a powerful column recently about the Rams and Steve Spagnuolo. Granted, this is a Bucs site, but there are many similarities between the Bucs and the Rams. Both are woeful this year. Both have franchise quarterbacks who have been hurt this season. Both have high draft picks that haven’t yet panned out. Both have embattled coaches. Both have fallen far short of lofty goals this year.
Miklasz is not wont to write shock columns. His columns are thoughtful, yet strong, well-researched, well-reasoned. His writings are much like Howard Troxler, the former St. Petersburg Times news columnist who would build up an opposing view only to show how the premise didn’t hold weight.
Miklasz, in so many words, suggested defending Spagnuolo is nothing more than enabling a coach who has not met the team’s or his own standards.
Here’s the odd thing: The more the Rams lose, the more we seem inclined to make excuses on their behalf or attempt to rationalize their failures. We’ve become enablers. And I’m not bashing the fans; the media is at fault as much as anyone. …
This isn’t high school football. Spagnuolo was hired to win football games. If a coach can’t win games, he’s fired. He could be a saint or a sinner, but he needs to be a winner.
Besides, Spagnuolo has fired trainers, an equipment manager and other employees at Rams Park. A big part of his job is terminating players. It’s nothing personal. So why are we so sensitive about Spagnuolo’s future?
Miklasz goes point-by-point to break down all the rationalizations for the Rams’ poor play and explains how none hold water. If you read Miklasz’s piece — and Joe strongly encourages you to do so — and substitute Spagnuolo/Rams with Morris/Bucs, you’d swear Miklasz is writing about the Bucs.
So in short, in grasping at reasons to find out why the Bucs are in an eight-game tailspin and getting blown out by garbage teams, is that not in some way also enabling Morris and bad play from the Bucs?
December 23rd, 2011 at 11:21 am
From the article: 4. The Rams play hard for Spagnuolo. They haven’t quit on the coach. That’s a reason to keep him.
I watch every NFL game each week. Most of them via the “Short Cuts” version on DirecTV. And other than the Kansas City Chiefs tanking on deposed coach Todd Haley, every NFL team has played hard. Some teams aren’t good enough to win, but they aren’t quitting. We really need to have higher standards in judging the Rams.
Really? Has he seen the Bucs play over the last 4 weeks?
December 23rd, 2011 at 11:26 am
Most people on here recognized this about Morris long ago.
December 23rd, 2011 at 11:29 am
Joe – You’re aggressive, but you’re also highly dishonest, and that’s also good for a career in “journalism.”
Since when have you been rationalizing ANY of the team’s play? You and the other sheep on this website have been calling for the collective heads of everyone associated with this regime for weeks. You can’t have it both ways, either Raheem is incompetent and the Bucs are playing poorly because of him OR we’re supporting the team with empty excuses. The dominant sentiment lies in the former.
December 23rd, 2011 at 11:31 am
Bucs4life:
If anyone is highly dishonest it is you. Calling Joe a liar is a very good way to get run.
Feel free to link to any article on this site where Joe called for Morris’ head.
Go ahead. Joe’s waiting. He has all afternoon.
December 23rd, 2011 at 11:38 am
hey joe, did i get run. my posts are posting anymore?
December 23rd, 2011 at 11:42 am
Joe here,
@Buddhaboy — Apparently they’re posting just fine. Could be on your end. There is a filter in place for foul language and other choice words.
But recently you did break a major rule on this site — several times — and Joe had to delete those posts.
December 23rd, 2011 at 11:42 am
i thought the argument was over after the jags game, in which a horrible team,
with a scared rookie qb, an interim coach with 0 wins, and defenders starting that were just signed off the streets, LITERALLY CRUSHED US AND MADE THE BUCS LOOK FOOLISH. Game over, no more arguing.
December 23rd, 2011 at 11:43 am
Sorry Joe, sometimes my language is a little foul when i start thinking about the state of our Buccaneers these days.
December 23rd, 2011 at 11:46 am
Bucs4Life I never saw Joe call for Raheems head thats not even his job. Its 99 percent of the fan base doing that. Which means you are that 1 percent that is illogical out of touch and a pure koolaid drinker. So we need to feel sorry for a coach that puts garbage football on the field week in and week out and gets paid money you and I will never see to do such?? To top that he makes hundreds of thousands of Buccaneer fans miserable every Sunday because he can’t do his job properly and we are not supposed to tell him to take a hike?? This is not a high school job we are talking about. You need to wake up pal your way out of touch.
December 23rd, 2011 at 11:47 am
Ya, I think the bad language filter should be disabled whenever the Bucs are under .500
Come on Joe, you know you want to.
December 23rd, 2011 at 11:47 am
Bucs4life one more thing. Raheem is way beyond incompetent he is gutless and clueless to boot.
December 23rd, 2011 at 12:17 pm
BuddhaBoy its very difficult discussing Raheem and the job the Bucs are doing on the field of late without cursing and threatening and doing all sorts of crazy things. This season has made me say things I never thought I would say about a Buccaneer coach again in my life. I thought those days ended with Richard Williamson!!!
December 23rd, 2011 at 12:22 pm
Yeah, it is hard to get too mad at Raheem because he is a true Buc I believe. He has put his heart and soul into this team, but it is obvious that it isnt going to work out. I am not really upset with Rah, just disappointed it didnt work out, because we all wanted it to. Ya know.
Having said that, an all new direction is needed. Let go of all old Buc dogmas. No more using old retreads. No more dungy D, no more Gruden playbook. Everything needs cleaned and washed and come out the other end springy and shiny, with a whole new direction. It is neeeded…
December 23rd, 2011 at 12:33 pm
When Morris is gone that is nothing more than treating the symptom not the disease itself. The larger problem seems to be the owners. What has me most nervous, as a life long Buc fan, is how the Glazers respond to this crisis. We will soon find out if there is a light at the end of the tunnel and not that of an oncoming train with engineers Joel and Brian looking to steamroll Tampa’s loyal fans.
December 23rd, 2011 at 12:35 pm
Raheem is charismatic, how can anyone help but like him. Gruden, though he won us a Super Bowl, made faces, making him easy for some to hate.
December 23rd, 2011 at 1:05 pm
Applefritter:
We dont like him bc he has won 17 games in 3 years, never made the playoffs, lost 8 in a row, has one of the worst defenses in nfl history and has the worse team today than 08 or 09.
Joe, run that punk who called you a liar. That hate is reserved for me for commenting that this is a horrible team and coach. Whoops? That turned out not to be a lie. Thus, Rah is a goner!
Merry XMas
December 23rd, 2011 at 1:19 pm
WAKE THE HEK UP JOE. ARE YOU JUST NOW FIGURING OUT ABT THE LAMESTREAM MEDIA IN TAMPA BEING ENABLERS? SHEESH, YOU ARE DIMWITTED. YOU AND THE REST OF THE TAMPA MEDIA LOVE LOSERS. YOU LOVE WRITING ABOUT LOSERS AND YOU NEVER USE YOUR INFLUENCE TO MAKE THINGS BETTER. IT’S ALWAYS ABOUT GIVING THE CURRENT GUY MORE CHANCES
December 23rd, 2011 at 1:23 pm
If you think Joe has influence with Team Glazer, you really need to lay off the egg nog.
But Joe’s humbled that you think he wields such power.
December 23rd, 2011 at 1:39 pm
The few remaining fans who want to give Raheem “another chance” are basing their arguments wholly on hope, speculation and projection…events that have yet to happen; whereas the majority who want him gone are basing their arguments on verifiable facts…events that have already happened.
I’ll let you decide which approach is based on fantasy and which is based on truth.
Bye bye Raheem. Wish I could say it was nice knowin’ ya.
December 23rd, 2011 at 2:09 pm
Joe, in the link you provided from the St. Louis guy:
“It seems that we’re suffering from a loose football version of the Stockholm Syndrome. We have developed deep and misplaced empathy for professionals that were hired and given a mission to win games.”
BINGO! That’s what Shaun King and the other guy in the afternoon on the other station have for RahRah. They are willing to go to absurd lengths to defend a coach who is indefensible. Stockholm Syndrome.
Not sure what kind of syndrome Toby David suffers from though.
December 23rd, 2011 at 2:32 pm
LOL really the Stockholm Syndrome I listen to that station King is on and they do everything they can to defend Raheem but they say they are just trying to point out the Dominick and the Glazers are at fault too. Well pretty much everybody knows that so why should they defend Rah’s inept coaching just because he is not the only culprit?? When a team stinks as bad as we do the first one to get the axe is the coach plain and simple then the GM later. I just pray the Glazers do the right thing and not “enable” Rah to take this team to further depths in 2012.
December 23rd, 2011 at 2:53 pm
The RahHolm Syndrome
December 23rd, 2011 at 4:05 pm
If the rams fire their head coach Spagnolo i would hire him in an instant to be our def coach… we got a promising young DL (which he had in NYG) which could be the foundation to rebuild our defense.
December 23rd, 2011 at 6:38 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtz2F5j-4cw&feature=related