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Welcome to the wildest most unpredictable Buccaneers offseason in ages. The Bucs haven’t had an all-new coaching staff on the way since 1996!
It truly was the end of a long era yesterday, even though Raheem Morris was only in power three years. The ties to the Dungy-Gruden days only just hit the streets.
Plus, there’s no predicting what the Bucs will do in the draft sitting in the coveted No. 5 hole and not needing a quarterback. Even if they keep the pick, do the Bucs go offense or defense? They’ll also surely have to fill some holes in free agency, at least giving their new head coach some latitude to bring in a few of “his guys.”
Rockstar general manager has said before that he’s a defense-leaning guy, but he’s also said the Bucs have to build around Josh Freeman. What’s next is a definite mystery.
Former Bucs beat writer Don Banks, now with Sports Illustrated, took an interesting look at the Bucs’ next moves in a story penned yesterday. Here’s a snippet:
In Tampa Bay, the Bucs find themselves in a very tough division, with playoff perennials New Orleans and Atlanta leading the NFC South, in addition to vastly improved Carolina. It’s no easy task to go up against the likes of Drew Brees, Matt Ryan and Cam Newton six times a season, but things change rapidly in the NFL, as Tampa Bay’s plummet from 10-6 in 2010 to 4-12 in 2011 clearly illustrates.
The Bucs have invested heavily in the defensive line at the top of recent drafts, and they need to get some significant return on those selections, with tackles Gerald McCoy and Brian Price staying healthy, and ends Adrian Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers developing into solid pass rushers. On offense, the addition of another playmaking receiver for Freeman to target is a must, but with their No. 5 overall pick next April the Bucs might be in position to nab Oklahoma State junior Justin Blackmon, the consensus top available pass-catcher. Look at how much difference last year’s top receiver made this season in Cincinnati, with No. 4 pick A.J. Green giving the Bengals the vertical threat they craved and making rookie quarterback Andy Dalton better than anyone expected.
Joe wonders whether Team Glazer and Dominik will covet an offensive– or defensive-minded head coach. Sure, Team Glazer said the team has a completely open mind, but there’s always a leaning.
Perhaps in a division with this much firepower the Bucs are better off with a defensive guy and leaning their plan toward that side of the ball? The argument can go many directions — just like the Bucs this offseason.
There were a lot of reasons why the end of the Raheem Morris era came yesterday just over 12 hours after one of the most horrific losses in Bucs’ chequered history, coughing up 42 points in the first 22 minutes of the season-ending game to the Dixie Chicks.
For longtime Sports Illustrated columnist Peter King, Team Glazer terminating Morris was a no-brainer, he wrote in his weekly must-read Monday Morning Quarterback yesterday.
Points allowed, Tampa, last eight games: 37, 35, 23, 38, 41, 31, 48, 45. A disgrace is what it is. How does a head coach with a defensive background allow that to happen?
Try to pin the blame elsewhere, try to make excuses, but the bottom line was, no matter what level of talent anyone thinks Morris had, that talent never improved, in fact it got worse by the week. “The progress of the team,” as Bucs co-chairman Joel Glazer said yesterday. That falls squarely on the coaching staff, not a suit in the front office.
Team Glazer had tens of millions of dollars invested in said talent with zero return. It was almost like buying real estate at the height of the boom and walking away from a house that is terribly underwater with no hope of any return on your pricey investment.
Team Glazer cut the losses. Quickly.
The good people of WFLA-TV Channel 8 visited tailgaters/mental midgets at the Outback Bowl earlier today and found fans praising Team Glazer’s move to jettison Raheem Morris.
The video gets reaction on Raheem Morris’ demise from several Bucs fans that were tailgating outside the Outback Bowl when news broke. Full disclosure: Joe was in that crowd drinking Dos Equis when a cheer erupted from the party next to him. “What happened?” Joe asked. “The Bucs fired Raheem,” a grinning man said.
Joe can already smell the new divide among Bucs fans. Now that Raheem Morris is home sharpening his core beliefs, a new man will be tied to the Tampa city whipping post until the Bucs start winning again — that would be rockstar general manager Mark Dominik.
Frankly, there’s not a Bucs fan in the world that could convince Joe that Dominik is more than 15 percent responsible for the mess of the 2011 season. Joe’s written before that the historic failure of Raheem’s staff deserved the lion share of the blame — for a team that exemplified hungry over a season plus six games but then effectively quit in a big way.
But Dominik’s already getting skewered mightily, even a matter hours into a new era. Surprising to Joe was St. Pete Times columnist Gary Shelton’s long take today out of the Dominik-Glazer news conference at One Buc Palace. Here’s a snippet that troubled Joe.
That’s the thing about the Backwards Gang. Some of the ringleaders got away. Some of them stared into the cameras Monday and tried to explain why tomorrow is going to be different from today.
Sure it is. Tight-fisted owners are going to spend freely, and a short-sighted general manger is going to get smarter, and an immature bunch of players is going to grow up overnight.
Either that, or the Bucs will meet here in another three years to fire another coach.
Oh, during their news conference, Joel Glazer and Dominik suggested they shared the blame, too. Who is to disagree? The Bucs’ roster is filled with players who will have successful careers with whatever Arena Football League team they end up with. The Bucs lacked enough cash and enough commitment to free agency to give Morris a roster that would have made a better argument in his behalf.
First, Joel Glazer didn’t “suggest” he and Dominik shared blame, as Shelton wrote. Glazer flat out said they owned their share of blame. Why Shelton didn’t pick up on that (it was crystal clear), Joe has no clue.
Second, calling Dominik “short-sighted” is almost silly. Dominik, if anything, was “long-sighted,” if there was such a word meaning too focused on the future. The Bucs needed more veteran talent to hit their goals for 2011, but how could Dominik or anyone else have forecast an across-the-board, midseason failure of the coaching staff?
Lastly, if Shelton really believes Team Glazer is “tight-fisted,” then blaming Dominik surely has questionable merit. And it seems Shelton doesn’t realize that the new NFL labor agreement will compel Team Glazer and the rest of the owners to spend hard cash on salaries come 2013.
The reality is Raheem had all the talent he needed on his roster to keep his job. Maybe not win the division, but surely stay employed and have the Bucs poised for impact upgrades in 2012. A truly “yungry” looking team through this past season — even with ups and downs — would have gotten Raheem another year.
Raheem has only one man to blame, and Joe believes fans should recognize how much blame that guy deserves.
Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
The Bucs’ lasting contender plan always included signing free agents when necessary to reach the ultimate goal. The whole build-through-draft mantra got a little misconstrued by some folks, so Joel Glazer told media today at One Buc Palace.
Glazer referred to the notion that the Bucs are draft-only builders unwilling to spend as a “slight misconception.”
“You do have to supplement with other players, free agents,” Glazer explained. “We are going to spend whatever it takes to win.”
Glazer also reiterated what Joe’s heard Bryan Glazer say previously, that the Bucs under Team Glazer never have lost a desired player from the team because the team wouldn’t pay him, and poor drafting is what’s led to years of low payroll. Joel Glazer used the examples of Donald Penn and Davin Joseph as players that blossomed on the Bucs and were rewarded accordingly and said that trend would hopefully continue. (Funny, there was no Quincy Black reference/)
Of course, this essentially is years-old news made fresh today. However, Joe realizes many fans think Team Glazer is just rationalizing reasons for frugality when it comes to player payroll.
It will be fascinating to see how many impact free agents are brought in when the free agency bell rings in March. And, of course, the cash chatter basically becomes moot in 2013, when the new labor agreement will force every NFL team to spend nearly the same amount of hard cash on salaries.
Look for eight regular season Bucs home games in 2012. The home-game-theiving excursion to London is over.
Joel Glazer broke the glorious news at the post-Raheem news conference today at One Buc Palace.
Glazer said the Buccaneeers have informed the NFL “we wouldn’t want to be participating [in London] in the forseeable future.”
This is welcome news to Bucs fans, minus the few hundred or so Bucs crazies living in England. Though it means Bucs season ticket holders will be paying for an extra game next season, effectively a price increase coming off a dreadful 2011 campaign.
Joe suspects fans won’t have any problems cutting a bigger check if the Bucs nail the right coach and add some big-time talent in the coming weeks.
Team Glazer and Mark Dominik say the new head coach will have huge input into the direction of the Buccaneers
Team Glazer member Joel Glazer gave a warm goodbye to Raheem Morris today before media at One Buc Palace, thanking Raheem for his roughly 10 years of service to the Buccaneers and his tireless work as head coach.
So why was Raheem fired?
Glazer answered that by first saying that the entire organization has to take some responsibility for the failures of the 2011 season, specifically mentioning ownership, general manager and head coach.
But Glazer made it clear that the big picture doomed Raheem.
“The progress of the team. I think that was a big thing about the decision,” Glazer said. “Not just one thing. … The totality of the situation.”
Interestingly, Mark Dominik said launching the new era won’t be about finding a head coach ready to conform to the organization’s current plan to build a lasting contender. Dominik said finding the best person for the job was paramount and if that person has a part in personnel matters than so be it.
“The new coach will have great input into how we proceed,” Glazer said.
Glazer said all he cares about is winning.
“We don’t like losing,” Glazer said. “Nobody likes losing less than us, I assure you. It’s not fun losing.”
Glazer refused to offer a preference for a type of new head coach, saying the Bucs will “keep an open mind.”
“We are not going to pigeon-hole our decision,” Glazer said. “There’s a lot of different good potential candidates out there.”
Pressed about fan reaction to a new coach and ticket sales, Glazer said selling tickets “is not the driver to a decision.”
Joe will have more through the day from One Buc Palace.
Black Monday, as NFL pundits call it, was burning up the Yahoo! Sports Radio airwaves this afternoon, as Yahoo.com senior NFL writer Jason Cole chimed in on all things NFL, including the next era of Buccaneers football.
Cole, a Gainesville resident, made a strong case for a team like the Bucs to sink its hooks into Jeff Fisher. Cole said a guy like Fisher “knows exactly what he’s doing” and comes with “no learning curve,” qualities from which the young Bucs surely could benefit.
Cole also talked about how well Fisher presents himself in a community, dealt with challenges under owner Bud Adams, and how it’s a good thing that Fisher never won a Super Bowl, considering the esteemed list of coaches that won a ring but failed in future tries with new teams.
Joe’s surely not sold on Fisher by any means, but the Bucs surely could do a lot worse.
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The above headline was a favorite one-liner of Raheem Morris. Raheem knew the Bucs existed for the fans.
Though he made a handful of foolish comments, Raheem rarely shied away from putting himself in front of the media and using it to communicate with fans. Few coaches around the NFL engaged with fans more. Raheem was a gem in that area. And Raheem knew his team’s job was to go out there and play entertaining football for the good folks of the Tampa Bay region. But his team tuned him out and hung him out to dry.
Joe’s reinforcing the entertainment point because of the readers whining at Joe’s end-of-regime post below announcing Raheem’s demise as Bucs head coach. Those who think Joe’s a sleaze for presenting Raheem’s demise like Joe presents nearly everything else Bucs — with a goal of informing and entertaining — are really taking sports far too seriously.
Raheem Morris didn’t die today. He’s got $2 million still on the way. He’s healthy, and Joe’s sure in days he’ll be “ready to deal,” as Raheem likes to say.
Bucs fans should take no shame in cheering the necessary change and dancing at the thought of a new era. Be a fan. Enjoy yourself. Pop some bubbly. Raheem would probably come drink it with you. Throw a pool party. Raheem used to talk about those.
Frankly, one reason JoeBucsFan.com began is because Joe was sick and tired of the serious, traditional approach to sports coverage, and coverage of the Buccaneers specifically. So Joe set out to change the landscape and hopefully make a few bucks along the way.
If you can’t have fun agonizing, cheering and booing the Bucs, this ain’t the site for you.
Raheem Morris and his core beliefs have left the building.
The Bucs are going to have play fast, hard, smart and consistent for somebody else — hopefully.
The Buccaneers fired Raheem Morris this morning.
And Raheem’s entire coaching staff is gone, too, so WDAE-AM 620 reported.
Now Raheem will have take his underwear off, put on his big boy pads and put himself on somebody else’s team.
Was there really any doubt after five consecutive blowouts and 10 consecutive losses and a team that clearly quit mentally, if not physically? Raheem himself said the players tuned him out and questioned their effort repeatedly.
Raheem brought some great moments. Obviously, 2010 was a great surprise for Bucs fans, but everything came crashing down and Joe has pounded the drum for weeks that the primary cause was a widespread coaching failure, not a lack of talent or a foolish plan.
Make no mistake, the Bucs head coaching job is a very attractive one with the Bucs having top shelf talent in the trenches and at quarterback, plus a pile of cash they must spend on salaries come the start of the 2013 season.
Joe might even go out on a limb and say Tampa Bay is clearly one of the more attractive jobs open in the NFL right now.
The Bucs have a news conference from One Buc Palace scheduled for 3 p.m. Presumably Team Glazer and rockstar general manager Mark Dominik will explain what they perceive went wrong and what will happen next.
Stick with Joe through the day and night on this historic day. (And for those blasting Joe for not reporting this news the minute it happened, get off Joe’s back.)
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As the saying goes, there’s blood in the water. The sharks are circling Raheem Morris, specifically the local media sharks.
The big-boy newspaper columnists in town, Martin Fennelly of The Tampa Tribune and Gary Shelton of the Tampa Bay Times, have called for Raheem Morris’ head in their publications today.
ESPN NFC South writer Pat Yasinskas even went so far to claim that if Team Glazer extended Raheem’s contract that the team would lose all its fans.
Aside from the fictional owner of the Cleveland Indians in the movie “Major League’’ and former Bucs owner Hugh Culverhouse, has there ever been an owner in any pro sport that didn’t want to win? The Glazers also don’t like to be embarrassed.
There’s no denying this season was an embarrassment, and much of that falls on Morris. His team often looked ill-prepared and he questioned his team’s effort on three occasions. If a team’s not prepared and isn’t giving strong effort, that’s not a good reflection on the coach.
Besides, there’s also the fact that 2012 is the final season of Morris’ contract. There’s no way the Bucs could extend him without losing their remaining fans. If they let Morris go into a lame-duck season, they run the risk of the team getting even more out of control.
Now Joe thinks Yasinskas took it a little over the top there. Surely the Bucs wouldn’t lose all their fans if Raheem returned. Joe suspects there’s still be plenty of readers on this site if Raheem brings back the core beliefs for 2012, and the stadium would have at least every third seat occupied on game day.
No word yet from One Buc Palace on Raheem’s future (So stop emailing Joe). But Joe suspects that if Raheem comes out for his scheduled noon news conference, the line of questioning will be brutally harsh.
Before or after Bucs embattled coach Raheem Morris joins Joe – in a manner of speaking – at the Outback Bowl today to enjoy some good football for a change, he will have a sit down with perhaps Team Glazer or Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik or both to discuss his employment status with the Bucs.
Now, Joe knows that Team Glazer and Dominik, unlike the rest of us, are not mental midgets. So Joe suspects there are at least three questions that Morris needs to answer fully if he is to be retained as Bucs head coach, much less defensive coordinator.
1) Why was your team rarely prepared?
Now Joe knows that playing high school football in southern Illinois is in no way to be compared to the NFL. It’s a preposterous thought. But Joe had the luxury of having a coach who had just retired from the NFL. This guy was coached by John Madden, Tom Landry, Gene Stallings and Lou Holtz, all in their prime. Indirectly, you could say Joe was also coached by Bear Bryant and Woody Hayes.
Whenever we, as a team, would ask our coach about how an opponent might react or respond, his stock answer was, with a devilish grin, “You never know.” In short, no matter what defensive formation we were in, we were prepared for the kitchen sink to be thrown at us.
After games and in later years, Joe would talk to players of teams we beat, teams in some cases we had no business beating, and these former opponents would almost say the same thing, “It was like you always knew what we were doing.”
It was preparation. That was drilled in our head: That the smarter team, the better prepared team can always get the upperhand of a more athletically gifted team.
So when week after week Joe would see the Bucs struggle early in games and after a loss, Joe would hear some sort of take from Morris saying the Bucs didn’t expect X, Y or Z or the opponent did something the Bucs weren’t expecting. Well, a few times is understandable. Not week after week.
The Bucs haven’t scored 10 points in the first quarter dating back to the Chucky administration. The fact that never has a Morris/Greg Olson squad been able to score 10 points in three years is difficult to fathom.
Throw in the fact Morris’ defenses often found themselves scurrying for cover in the early stages of most games, the root of the evil is simply lack of preparation.
That squarely falls on the coaching staff’s shoulders. How is it week after week opposing teams could be prepared and not the Bucs? Give Morris credit for, prior to this year’s London trip, for finding a way to plug defensive leaks in the second half. But he shouldn’t have had to consistently, or rely on the magic of Josh Freeman’s fourth quarter rallies last year, if he and his staff did their jobs in the days leading up to the game.
2) The misuse of LeGarrette Blount.
From the early weeks of this season, it was clear the Bucs passing game was off. You can use legitimate excuses (Freeman’s health) or illegitimate excuses (no offseason) to blame for this.
With the struggles of the offense, it was crystal clear the Bucs’ best weapon was Blount. Yet the Bucs, short of the Packers loss, rarely used him. It seemed Olson couldn’t wait for the Bucs to fall behind 10 points (and with the way the Bucs defense played this year, that didn’t take long) so he would have a reason to bench Blount the rest of the game.
If there was one main reason for no offense this year, it was how Blount was horribly used. He was the key to the Bucs offense. Once he would start running the ball, it naturally would loosen up the defense for the passing game. And Blount showed flashed ability in the passing game. But no, Olson was happier with Freeman forcing passes to Kellen Winslow in triple coverage than to give the ball to a guy who threatened to take the ball to the house every time he touched the ball.
Now Joe has heard many stories about how Blount is often late to meetings or doesn’t study his playbook effectively. For example, former Bucs quarterback Shaun King hints at these stories on his WQYK-AM 1010 radio show. But you know what? If Blount was truly this irresponsible, why didn’t Morris just deactivate him?
If, as has been suggested, Olson and the Bucs didn’t trust Blount (because he didn’t know the playbook/late to meetings) then why was he on the active roster? How about deactivating him and telling him, “Look, as soon as you start showing up to meetings on time and know the playbook, then we will activate you.”
Morris had him on the active roster, USE HIM! If you couldn’t use him, or didn’t want to use him, then why on earth did he eat up a roster spot and take away valuable practice and playing time from someone like Mossis Madu?
This gets to the next question that Morris needs to answer:
3) Why the lack of discipline and the wanton use of discipline?
So Blount fumbled and you benched him. Freeman made turnovers too. Did you bench him? Others fumbled too, did you bench them?
Winslow fumbled but that’s OK, he was trying. Ah, got it. So Blount wasn’t trying to gain yards when he fumbled?
Players made dumb penalties all year. So roughly three-quarters through the season, Morris decides to make an example of Brian Price, a guy Morris should laud since he’s playing on one leg, and shows him up in front of both teammates and a home crowd and told to go home, like some high school stunt.
How many first downs did Winslow cost the Bucs with offensive interference calls? Oh, but he was trying, Joe’s guessing, so that was OK.
(And yes, Joe understands Winslow was a target of zebras, a lot of calls against him were BS.)
Hey, no problem laying the law down with players for not using their heads. But why not start that in, you know, maybe August instead of November? And it might be a wise thing to dish out the discipline evenly instead of looking the other way with alleged favorites. No wonder people claim Morris lost the team.
It is Morris’ answer to those three critical questions from non-mental midgets like Team Glazer and Dominik that may very well determine if Morris will get a chance to see his fourth year as Bucs head coach.
Joe realizes the thought of many new players on the Bucs roster is therapeutic to legions of Bucs faithful, so let this post be a moment of hope and happiness for you as the stain of the 2011 season rattles your core.
(Yes, Joe realizes most of you won’t breathe easily until the Bucs have a new head coach, but try for a minute.)
By virture of their heinous 4-12 record, the Bucs have scored the fifth pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. Tampa Bay lost the tiebreaker with Cleveland for the No. 4 spot because the Bucs had a more difficult 2011 schedule, so BSPN reported.
Now Joe’s hardly ready to talk draft with college games left to play and no knowledge of what kind of defense the Bucs might run next season. But Joe is pretty certain there will be endless debate over whether or not the Bucs should go after a running back like Alabama stud Trent Richardson with their beloved pick, in addition to spirited chatter about the Bucs trading down as they sit in a coveted position to draft a quarterback they don’t need.
Of course, the Bucs are desperate for a linebacker, and a game-breaker receiver sure would have an impact.
With plenty of holes and question marks — will Ronde Barber and/or Aqib Talib return? — this will be one of the more fascinating offseasons in Bucs history.
Now Joe will be the first to admit he’s far from a perfect fellow — far from it! Joe’s had many people suggest to him he has an inferiority complex. Whatever.
But Joe learned from a young age that you should always be humble, treat others the way you want to be treated (Joe fails at this too often, sadly) and the voice of Joe’s dad rings in his ears, “You put your pants on one leg at a time just like everybody else.”
So personally, when embattled Bucs coach Raheem Morris suggested he is not concerned with his job security because “that’s for mental midgets,” that really rubbed Joe the wrong way, and no it has nothing to do with circus employees.
Now Joe may not be a mental superior of Morris’ or even a mental equivalent. But when exactly does a coach of an NFL football team, also the team’s defensive coordinator whose players in his charge can’t stop a cool breeze, a coach of a team that has lost 10 in a row and was absolutely clobbered to a pulp the past five games, get to cop an attitude that he’s some superior being? No wonder the guy drinks alone on the holidays.
Joe never realized one had to be a virtual Stephen Hawking to run the worst defense in Bucs franchise history. Silly Joe.
So you are 17-31 in three seasons and the architect of the worst Bucs defense in franchise history and you are to be considered a sophist of some sort as a result? “Oh, good for you!”
In a society where debate on the job performance of the most powerful man in the free world, the president of the United States, is welcome, where does a coach with a losing record of a bad team get off that only lesser people can discuss his merit?
Now don’t go mistaking confidence for arrogance. Two totally different things. But a guy with a losing career record that sees his team go from first place in the NFC South and a 4-2 record to the fifth pick in the draft with a defense that couldn’t stop a Weedeater Bowl participant has zero room to be copping some attitude he is better than the fans he serves.
If Morris is retained — and it’s possible, yes — Joe just hopes Bucs fans remember that phrase of Morris’ when you cut your check for season tickets, that you shouldn’t wonder if your team’s immediate future is in the best hands, no matter the record, no matter the results, because Raheem Morris is far smarter than you, better than you and that you, Dear Bucs Season Ticket Holder, are a mental midget for even considering such a passing thought, an untermenschen.
Maybe later this week, this self-glossing superior man of intellect will get a little dose of humility that, by golly, those mental midgets actually fund a good chuck of his salary.
(Of course, a cynic would suggest only a mental midget would help support his salary with the types of results fans are left with like Sunday.)
If Morris doesn’t want the entire Tampa Bay community turned against him — as if it isn’t already — perhaps today at his weekly Monday press conference he may want to apologize to Bucs fans for copping that attitude, just like he apologized earlier in the season for dropping and F-bomb in a postgame press conference? Joe understands Morris talking down to fans Sunday was just after an ugly game with his job very much is on the line and emotions can get the best of people, even in a defense mechanism.
Joe would hope Morris would want to apologize later today to the people that help pay his salary.
It’s what a person of superior intelligence would do.
So how will you keep your days in order this year? You’d be wise to start with the legendary Hooters Calendar. Visit the always entertaining HootersCalendar.com today. Joe’s a big fan of the videos.
The Raheem Morris era has been quite a ride. Forget the failures of the Bucs’ coaching staff for a moment, Joe has to applaud the entertainment and honor Raheem has brought fans through his candid news conferences and by seemingly always taking on interviews even in the toughest of times for a head coach.
Raheem has been relentless in his desire to communicate with fans and media. It’s darn rare among NFL head coaches. Sure, Raheem has had tense moments with some media members over the years, but they are rare.
Of course, after today’s debacle in Atlanta, Raheem was peppered with questions about his job. Raheem answered them all, punctuating one response by describing spending time thinking about his future as, “That’s for mental midgets.”
Raheem is a North Jersey guy. Joe knows there are expressions from the armpit of the nation that part of the country that aren’t popular in Tampa Bay. As a kid, Joe heard the “mental midget” line a lot, and Joe’s not that much older than Raheem.
Joe suspects the dwarf population might take offense to Raheem’s comment, but Joe’s quite sure Raheem meant nothing derogatory.
It sure seems doubtful Raheem will be the Bucs’ head coach in 2012, and Joe would not be sad about that, but Joe suspects he’ll miss Raheem’s off-field persona.
The Bucs effectively traded sackless Kyle Moore and Stylez White for Adrian Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers this past offseason. Joe was giddy at the thought of a revived Bucs pass rush.
The Bucs also flushed defensive line coach Todd Wash in favor of Grady Stretz and Keith Millard sharing the duties. Millard focused on the pass rush and Stretz would focus on the run defense. Again, Joe was giddy. Millard was electrifying to watch in training camp and the Bucs’ improved D-line play was key to the 4-2 start this season.
But as Bucs fans sit here today holding their heads in their hands, the Bucs failed to eclipse last year’s sack total of 26.
The Bucs finished the 2011 season with only 23 sacks — dead last in the NFL.
Prior to the season, Millard was heralding how he took a lousy pass rush in Oakland and increased it 50 percent in one season. Amazingly, the improvement never happened in Tampa Bay.
Yes, Joe knows the Bucs set a record today for the worst defense in franchise history for most points allowed.
Just in the past five weeks the Bucs have been freight-trained for 203 points in the past five games. Yes, 203 points!!!
Now it’s not like the Bucs played New Orleans and Atlanta every week. Included in those five chain-whippings are the likes of Jacksonville and Carolina (twice).
Those kind of results can get a defenisve coordinator fired. The heinous Jim Bates Experiment was jettisoned for less.
Bucs class act/Pro Bowler Davin Joseph laid the law down after the Bucs season-ending meltdown in Atlanta today.
“We’ve been facing the same struggles the last six weeks. We’re not playing good on third down on offense or defense and when you do those things, you cannot expect to win. We will find out about dedication to this team and guys’ careers. It will be an interesting offseason. I’m taking one week off and I will be right back at it.
“Success in the no-huddle is not the answer. We have we have to play well on first down and convert on third down. Playing well in the no-huddle is not the answer.
“A losing streak like we have been on will get your attention and you will try harder or you will shy away. And those who shy away won’t around much longer.”
