When Jim Bates was defrocked and run out of town during the 2009 season, the Bucs could have simply kept his title and job in place and let him serve as an active defensive advisor to Raheem Morris after the head coach took over the reigns of the defense.

Hours before Bates was sent packing, Raheem had explained how Bates insisted on changing the defense on the fly that led to a Quincy Black interception and a near win in Miami. Even after Bates was defrocked, Raheem spoke of how much he had learned from Bates and treasured their relationship.

One would think the elder Bates would have been mature enough to handle it. But the Bucs opted to push him aside completely, still pay him, and let Raheem run the show.

This is one reason why Joe now thinks it’s unrealistic to strip Raheem of his defensive coordinator hat and let Raheem sit back and play No. 2 voice on defense to a new guy. Is Raheem mature enough to handle that? Apparently the veteran Bates wasn’t. And where else has that happened around the NFL? Let alone happened successfuly.

Now Joe knows that Raheem considers himself one of the most mentally tough individuals on the planet — he’s said that many times — but getting stripped of his defense would be the equivalent of getting sucker punched in the gut or gettting brazenly kicked in the balls.

The complete disaster the Bucs defense has become is a major factor here. A defensive coordinator would have to take over the defense and couldn’t just be a glorified yes-man for Raheem, who has proven he’s a bottom-tier defensive coordinator.

Listening to former Bucs DE Steve White (1996-2001) last night, on Two-Hand Touch on WQYK-AM 1010, Joe heard him say with certainty that if Raheem is to return next season, the Bucs would have to get him a new offensive coordinator, a new defensive coordinator and a bunch of new players outside of the talented core currently on the roster.

Months ago, Joe suggested the Bucs hire a consultant to help figure out the Bucs’ slow starts and other woes. And Joe has written many times, starting months ago, about how a defensive coordinator would/could help Raheem. But for Joe the game has changed a bit with Raheem leaving no doubt that he deserves an F grade as Bucs D-coordinator through 14 games. A new guy would have to be the alpha dog and it would take a minor miracle for that to be a smooth transition.

Maybe the Bucs offense would be better if Raheem had more time to be up his offensive coordinator’s ass? Maybe the defense would be better if Raheem had less on his plate?

Those are questions for optimists, and Joe’s no optimist when it comes to the head coach. The more Joe studies the Bucs’ plight, the more it appears that starting with a new head coach is the move with the best chance of success.

The Bucs are in a sad state of affairs.

Just over two years ago, the Bucs pulled the trigger on the heinous Jim Bates Experiment as opposing offenses looked akin to a cattle stampede the way they ran through the Bucs defense.

Head coach Raheem Morris took over the defense and, for a variety of reasons, that defense has reverted to levels worse than the heinous Jim Bates Experiment.

The offense isn’t that much better after the Bucs were curb-stomped by the Panthers, chain-whipped by the woeful Jags and alley-beaten by the Cowboys, on national TV no less.

And while the embattled Morris may very well pay for this mess with his job, Steve Wyche of NFL.com is of the mind Morris’ players are Pearl Harboring Morris’ tenure with the Bucs.

Players resoundingly say that they really like Morris and want to play for him. But liking Morris and respecting him are two different things. There’s a good chance that some Patriots players don’t like Bill Belichick, but they respect him. The fact that the Bucs want to play for Morris could signal that they are too comfortable with him.

That the Bucs are 4-10 also tells me that they don’t like playing for him that much. Getting blown out in their past three games — a 41-14 loss to Jacksonville being particularly inexcusable — also tells me that they’re really not playing to save Morris’ job.

That shouldn’t matter. What should is players playing to save their own jobs. The film won’t disappear if Morris is fired. A new coach will come in, see that lack of effort and start making changes.

Now Joe has made it clear he has no idea if Morris will be jettisoned at season’s end or retained. Joe’s quite certain Morris will finish out the season unless he unexpectedly resigns, which is not in his DNA.

But Joe is certain whoever the coach is, as Wyche hints, there will be wholesale changes in the roster.

The eye in the sky doesn’t lie.

Asked today to assess Mason Foster’s play in the middle of the Bucs’ porous defense, Raheem Morris praised his rookie MLB for playing “Grade A ball” early in the season and battling ankle injuries before hitting a funk.

Morris also went on to say Foster is missing the gift of experience around him and time to ease into his job.

“…Then he hit a little bit of a rookie wall. Got a little tired there. Got a little fatigued. You know, everything started to ache. Everything started to battle. Now he’s starting to come back around, starting to play fast, starting to play physical. He’s done this all year, so he’s one of those guys that’s going to grow into his body and become that natural mike [linebacker,]” Raheem said.

“He was thrust into kind of an awkward situation at the Bucs. You know, Derrick Brooks had Hardy Nickerson. Shelton Quarles had Derrick. You know, these guys had established guys around them that were beasts and in some cases got a chance to sit behind. You know Barrett Ruud got a chance to watch Shelton for a couple of years. … That was something [Foster] was thrown right into. He’s done a nice job of handling it as a young football player, and he’s done a nice job of all the aches and pains you deal with in the NFL.”

Well, there you have it. Foster, per Raheem, is coming around to his Grade A ball self. So Joe can’t wait to see Foster display that and yungry on Saturday at Carolina.

Also, it seems clear Raheem doesn’t see Quincy Black as an “established” guy who is a “beast.” It’s good to know the coach and Joe are on the same page on that one.

“And I respect Raheem Morris with the utmost respect. But a lot of these guys has quit, man. They’ve shut this thing down. I know quit when I see quit. And quit is not disguised tonight. It’s evident they’re not mentally, physically, emotionally in this thing tonight.” — Deion Sanders on NFL Network at halftime of the Bucs-Cowboys game.

Those were the damning words of Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders at halftime of the NFL Network’s broadcast last Saturday when discussing the Bucs.

Of course the players never heard it until later. And those words from Sanders irked Bucs offensive tackle Jeremy Trueblood who blasted Sanders today, via Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times.

“Basically, he doesn’t play for us. He’s an outsider looking in,” Trueblood said of Sanders. “Great player, but that doesn’t mean he knows exactly what’s happening in our locker room and on our field. You know, you respect what people have to say, but you don’t always have to agree with them.

“We wouldn’t have done better as the game went on, so I don’t really find any merit in that at all. The offense started playing better toward the end, if we had quit, that wouldn’t have happened.’’

Well, if Trueblood is angry at Sanders, then he should also be mad at his head coach, embattled Raheem Morris who admitted his team didn’t give a great effort in the Bucs’ eighth loss in a row.

Bucs fans and the nation saw rockstar Bucs general manager Mark Dominik wearing a headset in a sky box during the Bucs-Cowboys game on NFL Network on Saturday.

Listening to sports radio this week, Joe has heard many fans wonder aloud why Dominik is doing such a thing, and even Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud was on The Fabulous Sports Babe Show on WHBO-AM 1040 today saying he had no clue why Dominik would wear a headset, and then Stroud whined about not having access to the general manager to ask him.

Allow Joe to shed some light.

First, Dominik routinely wears a headset. In fact, he’s an active participant and in communication with coaches. Raheem Morris talked about it on his radio show on WDAE-AM 620 back in November. The head coach was asked about whether he knew about Saints being down several live bodies in their secondary. And Raheem explained that he’s getting a steady flow of personnel information from his eyes in the sky.

Raheem Morris: We do a great job of in the box of handling a lot of that stuff. You know, Mark Dominik’s on with us. He tells us exactly what’s going on up there. We got our trainers, Todd the trainer, all our coaching staff is the box to see what’s going on and how many players they got what, who’s going out when, and who’s coming back in and all that kind of stuff. We get a bunch of information over the sets.

Also, just two weeks ago, eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune noted how he spotted Dominik walking out of the coaches’ box during the curb-stomping at the hands of the Panthers. Additionally, it was Morris who admitted he spoke with Dominik in the middle of the game when the Bucs played the Patriots in London, letting Dominik know he was putting in Josh Freeman in his first NFL action.

Joe gets that some fans and media will have a knee-jerk reaction to this information about Dominik, something like, ‘what the hell kind of power trip is Dominik on to be meddling with his coaches during games?’

But the reality is that if Dominik knows the playbook and is supposed to be constantly evaluating talent, then he should have a headset on to know what play is coming next so he can most effectively scout the team.

As for Dominik communicating to coaches during games, one can speculate all day long, but there’s no way to know the depth and scope of the communication. Only the guys with the headsets know that.

Joe has done research in the past six weeks on whether this is common practice among NFL general managers. Joe’s gotten a wide range of answers, so Joe really can’t offer an intelligent take on that.

One thing is clear, though; Dominik is extremely hands-on.

Hope Bucs fans got a good look at the Bucs starting secondary Saturday. It could be drastically different next season, as pointed out by Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times.

It’s very possible that Ronde Barber, Sean Jones and Aqib Talib all could be gone.

No one knows what Team Glazer will do with embattled coach Raheem Morris. But let’s put that aside for a moment.

The Bucs will likely stink again next year, if the Bucs truly are as bad as their record says the team is. So why would Barber actually want to return to this mess, or have to come in and learn a new defense under a new coach or new coordinator?

Then there is Sean Jones, whose contract is up after the end of the season. Jones could walk away or the Bucs could let him walk. Either way, it’s entirely possible Jones won’t be back.

Then there is Aqib Talib. There again, the State of Texas could make the Bucs decision for them if he is thrown in a jail cell. And if that doesn’t happen, there is always the looming shadow of NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell.

And if there is a new Bucs coach, is he going to want to put up with all the drama of Talib? It’s not like he’s irreplaceable.

So keep that mental picture of the Bucs secondary in your memory from Saturday night. The next time the Bucs play at home, it could be very different.

In what felt like a scathing accusation of rockstar general manager Mark Dominik and Team Glazer, Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud questioned the character of those at One Buc Palace that haven’t come out publicly recently to express unity with Raheem Morris.

Stroud, employed by the St. Pete Times, gave his take on The Dan Sileo Show on Monday.

“But I think it’s unfortunate that you see in that front office, in that management, the sort of leaving [Raheem] out there on an island. And I think that’s disturbing to me,” Stroud said. “I would hope that there’d be more character in that building — that people would step up and say, ‘Hey wait a minute. The team’s not playing up to whatever talent level it is. It’s not playing up to it. But by the same token we picked these players and we’re all in this together.'”

Frankly, Joe’s not big on this kind of weak talk that says it’s unfair to Raheem that the organization seemingly has gone silent on his job status. Raheem’s a grown man earning $2 million a year to get the most out of the players he has, but Raheem has failed miserably on that task in 2011, losing eight in a row with three straight blowouts on the back end.

Goodness, Raheem repeatedly said in news conferences that he’s one of the most mentally tough individuals on earth. Yesterday, he even shared that routine childhood beatings gave him Superman-like mental strength. Raheem can thrive on “an island.”

No, Dominik and Team Glazer shouldn’t feel obligated to run cover via the media for their free-falling head coach. His players won’t step up and help him out. So why should his bosses?

Just like Raheem Morris, Joe has core beliefs for his website and sets goals. One of those goals is to hit 400,000 actual visits to JoeBucsFan.com for the month of December.

Thankfully, Joe is in striking distance of this record number. And since it’s the season of giving, Joe’s asking you to give him a little help.

Perhaps take half a minute to tell a friend about JoeBucsFan.com, or use one of the little buttons below every post to share a story on JoeBucsFan.com with your Facebook or Twitter followers. Or maybe just remember to come back on Christmas Day. Yes, Joe will be pounding away on his laptop.

Thanks again for all your support. — Joe

Last month Bucs fans learned that Raheem Morris mastered the lesson of thick skin as a young elementary schooler, after some kids said his granny looked like a bulldog. Raheem beat them up and then his mother counseled him at home.

Feel free to refresh your memory here.

Last night on The Raheem Morris Show, the head coach shared how he developed mental toughness. Thank you Michael, Barry and Harry Morris.

“I grew up around three uncles who were all older than me and they beat the crap out of me every single day,” Raheem said. “And eventually, I became the big little guy. You know, and I changed that whole perception and how to deal with it. And that’s why you can sit in front of anybody and deal with any type of mental toughness disease that you have to deal with because that’s who I am. That’s who I’ve become. Because I built it through character, and I built it through hard work, and I built it through adversity. And that’s why I thank my uncles, Michael Morris, Barry Morris, Harry Morris, so much for, for building that type of character in me. At one point, [the Bucs] will be the big boys on the block. We’ll be the guys that come out and have future Hall of Famers, and future Pro Bowlers, and guys that come out and absolutely come out and take advantage of people as we grow and learn together.”

It’s interesting to Joe that a coach that credits childhood beatings for making him mentally tough is perceived to be soft on his players and has an undisciplined team that won’t play hard for him consistently.

Regardless, Joe loves the stories Raheem shares of his youth on the tough streets of Jersey.

Another injury plagued season for Aqib Talib is over. He was placed on injured reserve today, so Raheem Morris announced on The Raheem Morris Show moments ago on WDAE-AM 620. Officially, Talib played in 13 games this season, but in two of those, including Saturday, he played a flimsy handful of snaps with a hamstring injury.

After four NFL seasons, it’s fair to say Talib has been unreliable when it comes to his health, missing significant action over the past three seasons. Talib’s next challenge is now his court date in March.

“Myron Lewis will get his opportunity,” Raheem said.

Replacing Talib on the roster is defensive tackle Jovan Haye, a former Bucs starter at the 3-technique who the Bucs passed on in free agency after the collapse of 2008. Tennessee had signed him to a fat deal, but he was cut by them this year and was last cut by Detroit last week. “

Raheem said Haye is “a familiar face around here” and “a character guy.”

Clearly Haye is auditioning for a job next season replacing Albert Haynesworth, who is scheduled to earn about $7 million in 2012. Haynesworth has proven he’s not worth that kind of cash.

One of Joe’s favorite features on Buccaneers.com is the one labeled “Behind the Bench.” Essentially, NFL Films cameras capture cool stuff on the sidelines and give fans a glimpse of camera angles of game action seen nowhere else.

Joe highly recommends this week’s edition from the Bucs-Cowboys game. Just click here.

Here are Joe’s highlights/lowlights, depending on your perspective:

1) Watch Raheem Morris talk to the defense and Keith Millard deliver the most basic fundamental reminder to the defensive line.
2) Watch Dezmon Briscoe get drilled by Mike Jenkins at the goal line when Briscoe stopped running full speed as he approached the end zone. (If only the Bucs had kept running at Dez Bryant in the end zone).
3) See Frank Okam and Demar Dotson stay motionless and emotionless after the Bucs score a touchdown while others around them cheer.
4) Watch Albert Haynesworth demand the defense rally around him for what seems like a motivational speech on the way.

Feel free to offer your impressions in the comments.

Joe’s not sure whether the losing has gotten to Bucs fans or if they are delirious from their significant others dragging them to malls or awful company Christmas parties.

Joe has heard the calls on various sports radio shows, with fans giddy in a strange way for Team Glazer to pull the trigger on embattled coach Raheem Morris. Some fans on this very site note they refresh their computer screens several times a day, hoping to catch the news of Morris’ alleged impending exit from the team.

Calm down! It’s not happening. Not yet. Even NFL.com’s Jason La Canfora explains via Twitter.

Rams and Bucs have no plans to make coaching changes this week. If those moves takes place would be at end of season at this point

When Team Glazer has jettisoned coaches, never ever have they pulled such a move prior to the end of the season. Never.

If — and that’s an “if” because no one knows what Team Glazer is thinking — Morris is jettisoned, it will be on a Friday night in January, not before.

In this NBC Sports video, iconic NFL writer Peter King says he’s certain Raheem Morris will be fired and touches on “anti-Raheem” and “anti-Glazer” sentiment among Bucs fans, calling Raheem “the sacrificial coach.” (Bucs talk starts about 2:50 minutes in)

“And I respect Raheem Morris with the utmost respect. But a lot of these guys has quit, man. They’ve shut this thing down. I know quit when I see quit. And quit is not disguised tonight. It’s evident they’re not mentally, physically, emotionally in this thing tonight. — Deion Sanders on NFL Network at halftime of the Bucs-Cowboys game.

“And that’s bad Rich, because Raheem Morris is a good coach, and for his players to quit on him it’s not even fair.” — Marshall Faulk immediately following Sanders’ comment.

Joe referenced parts of the quotes above in a post immediately following the Bucs-Cowboys game, but today Joe went back to the videotape to give you the exact words.

It was a brutal moment in the history of the franchise, getting called out on national television by a couple of Hall of Fame players.

Joe’s waiting for Raheem’s “next-man-up” theory to really show up in the form of benching players that are embarrassing the franchise. Raheem always talks about the importance of the bottom of the roster. Well, if these guys can’t see the field now, then Joe’s just going to throw his hands up in the air.

Yes, Joe realizes a guy like DE Daniel Te’O Nesheim got some snaps against Dallas and showed some life, and Joe saw Quincy Black on the field less than usual and Dakoda Watson do some good things. But Joe would like to see broader changes, including on the offensive line and the end of the Sean Jones era. Let’s see who wants to play.

Joe routinely hears Bucs fans and pundits claim that the Bucs have fallen apart because, in part, that they don’t have enough veteran players that have the character and experience to weather tough times.

Joe finds this reasoning silly, and Joe points to the offensive line as Exhibit A.

Arguably, the line has had its two worst games of the season over the past two games. The running game has done nothing. Donald Penn has been beaten badly. Jeremy Trueblood looks soft. (Yes, Joe remembers when you could at least count on Trueblood for intensity and finishing blocks.) Raheem Morris even criticized the entire left side of the offensive line after the Jacksonville drubbing. And Josh Freeman has been getting heat.

Last Joe checked the O-line is a veteran unit cashing massive paychecks coached by a highly-regarded veteran offensive line coach handpicked by Greg Olson.

This is one reason Joe hangs a lot on the Bucs’ coaching staff. Even the treasured veterans seemingly have checked out.

"C'mon, Olie. We got you Luke Stocker this offseason to add to your arsenal. You're not being your best self."

In the mind of popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, beer-chugging Peter King, the Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports, Raheem Morris may soon be looking for a job, in part, because of the team’s collapse on offense.

King looked at game logs and came up with these disturbing numbers in his Monday Morning Quarterback column.

7. I think the 17 offensive drives by Tampa Bay over two games — plus the fact that at one point in the last two games the Bucs had allowed 68 straight points — show why Raheem Morris is in such jeopardy. The defense has regressed hugely, and the offense is right on its heels. The 17 futile drives against Jacksonville and Dallas: punt, punt, fumble, interception, end of half, interceptions, fumble, punt, punt, downs, interceptions, fumble, punt, punt, punt, punt, end of half.

All Joe can do is bury his face in his hands.

Joe suspects King is seeing what’s obvious to Bucs fans — that the Bucs are failing miserably in the fundamentals and in all aspects of offensive and defensive play.

To what awful level have the Bucs sunk? Why, one writer went so far to invoke the winless 1976 Tampa Bay Bucs.

And said writer was not stretching things either. Pat Yasinskas of ESPN was comparing the ugly defense of the Bucs. Combined with the woeful showing in Jacksonville and the abysmal start against the Cowboys, well, it was one of the franchise’s worst.

The Bucs fell behind 28-0 in the first half after allowing 41 unanswered points to Jacksonville last week. The 69 consecutive points allowed are the second-highest total in franchise history. The worst was in 1976 when the Bucs allowed 79 straight points in a three-game span, according to Elias Sports Bureau. The last NFL team to give up more than 69 consecutive points was the Titans, who allowed 76 in 2009.

Wow, numbers like that, no wonder the Bucs defensive coordinator is taking heat from all corners.

Wait a minute! The 2009 Titans? Weren’t they coached by, um, yeah… Jeff Fisher! You can scratch his name off the list.

First, let Joe congratulate the Kansas City Chiefs for firing their third-year head coach Monday and jolting their team into an inspired victory against the previously unbeaten Green Bay Packers today.

In other developments, the Redskins and Panthers were kind enough to score victories Sunday and catapult the Bucs into a tie for the fourth-worst record in the NFL. 2012 draft position is looking brighter!

And with the Panthers win, the Bucs now sit in last place in the NFC South, which means they’re all but guaranteed to play the lowly Rams and Vikings next season, bottom-dwellers of the NFC North and NFC West. In 2012, the Bucs will play the entire NFC East and the AFC West.

In Joe’s mind, the Bucs head coaching job got a lot more attractive today.

Today Raheem Morris admitted the Bucs didn't play hard for him last night.

Facing the media this afternoon at his postgame news conference, a relaxed Raheem Morris didn’t offer anything enlightening.

In fact, Raheem said nothing about last night or this losing season leaves him surprised. “Nothing comes as a surprise when you don’t play hard, fast, smart and consistent,” Raheem said.

Raheem went on to say the team failed against Dallas in all four phases of those “core beliefs,” as Raheem calls them.

Raheem specifically was hard on the Bucs offensive line for not executing against what they knew was coming.

It was a “breakdown on both sides of the ball, up front we didn’t get it done,” Raheem said.

Joe’s at a loss for what to say about a team that doesn’t play hard with their coach’s life on the line on national TV at home — on the heels of two consecutive blowouts. Barring a Christmas miracle, it’s going to be real ugly on the field the rest of the way.

“Our fans are our stockholders. They’re what we play for — the people in our stadium and the ones that watch on TV. That’s what it’s all about: winning and how they feel about the team. If they don’t feel good about the team, then there’s something wrong. . . I think you all know the sense that’s out there. It was time for a change.” — Bucs owner Bryan Glazer following the firing of Chucky in 2009.

Joe published this quote about 3 1/2 weeks ago when the seat under Raheem Morris was just getting toasty. Now, of course, his seat is hot enough to cause a second-degree burn.

When Joe thinks about how Team Glazer would/should proceed, Joe thinks about this quote, so Joe published it again today.

Glazer’s quote seemed important to revive, as last night’s pattycake effort against the Cowboys was the last straw on this regime for many fans Joe talks to. But Joe doesn’t talk to everyone, so here’s your chance to have your say after sleeping on last night’s game:

In a bold, strong, damning opinion piece, veteran sports columnist Gary Shelton came “this close” to demanding Team Glazer jettison embattled Bucs coach Raheem Morris.

Instead, the St. Petersburg Times scribe tried to think of a defense for bringing Morris back for the 2012 season.

Shelton couldn’t, and stated the best thing for the Bucs is if the team parts ways with Morris.

As far as any lingering debate over Morris, this should just about do it. How can the Glazers not demand more than this?

Argue, if you will, that this team was just too young, or that the owners were just too cheap, or that the roster had more holes than spackle to patch them all. All that noted, there isn’t enough improvement to this roster for Morris to keep his job. This team is lost. It does not have enough maturity, or enough resilience, or worst of all, enough effort to stay on this wayward course.

This was too ugly for human eyes, and where have you heard that before except every week for two months? The Bucs made it close with a couple of scores in the third quarter, but that doesn’t change things. The players of the Bucs provided a rather weak argument that Morris should keep his job — or that they should keep theirs. They lost for the eighth straight time, a number that should climb to 10 over the next two weeks, at which time the unraveling should be complete.

Shelton is right, there is little defense for Morris at this point. Sure, people could nitpick at Dominik, though his decision not to bring back Barrett Ruud — a point that Tim Ryan of SiriusXM NFL Radio was absolutely accurate in every way when he defended Ruud this summer — seems to have blown up in Dominik’s face.

Sure, some could make a stretch and suggest the lack of an offseason hurt the Bucs. This just in: the other 31 teams in the NFL also didn’t have an offseason or a full training camp.

How many people were complaining about a lack of an offseason when the Bucs were 3-1 with a win over the Falcons… and later 4-2 with a win over the Saints? Limited offseason wasn’t much of a stumbling block then. Two months later all of a sudden it Pearl Harbored the Bucs 2011 campaign? Oh.

As it stands now, the horrid play of the linebackers can be directly linked to letting Ruud walk away, and that’s on Dominik. But it’s not just the linebackers that are playing bad, it’s the whole team, sans a pair of rookie defensive ends (which Dominik drafted).

The same things have reared their ugly heads each week for roughly two years now have killed the Bucs the past two months: Slow starts. This malady has never been corrected and that is on the coaching staff, plain and simple. The lone game the Bucs actually had a strong start, they still lost by 27 to a garbage team (Jags).

There is no way to sugarcoat it now. The Bucs defense is bad. And it just so happens the head coach is also the defensive coordinator. Didn’t Morris bring a halt to the heinous Jim Bates Experiment because it wasn’t working? The defense is just as bad now, allowing an average of 32 points a game in this eight-game tailspin which is simply unacceptable.

The Bucs gave up 28 first downs last night. Are you kidding?

Unless the Bucs upset the Falcons, Joe cannot see Morris returning. Not even a win on the road against the Panthers will likely save his job.

And yes, Joe is sad about this. Because if a coach has to be replaced, that means the Bucs are underachieving and not making progress.

In this mess that is the Bucs season, at least Joe can bank on the play of rookie defensive end Adrian Clayborn.

The gentle giant from St. Louis by way of the University of Iowa has a motor that just won’t quit. When you hear others claim the Bucs give up, they are not referring to Clayborn.

After the game, Clayborn actually didn’t want to talk. The soft-spoken man was upset with the team’s loss, of course, but more so over what he perceived as poor play.

It was Clayborn who helped put the Bucs on the scoreboard first with what NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock called “relentless effort,” chasing down Tony Romo for a sack and a forced fumble that Dekoda Watson scooped and scored with.

“It was just one play in the game,” Clayborn said. “I messed up a lot in this game but [the sack] was a critial play. I was lucky to come up with a sack. I could have had a lot more if I played my normal game.”

Now that Clayborn has played in 14 games, more than any college, one could argue he is hitting his rookie wall. Clayborn quickly dismissed such a notion.

“Nah, man. When you love football you can’t hit a wall.”