Now that he’s Coach of the Year, Raheem Morris has no plans to step back from his defensive coordinator duties and play only the role of CEO/spiritual leader/miracle worker of the Bucs.
Speaking on WDAE-AM 620 on Monday evening, Raheem explained his feelings in no uncertain terms in response to a fan question.
“I probably will at some point be able to name some type of defensive coordinator. But, you know, as far as calling it, and the gameday procedures, I don’t think I’d want to head coach and not do that right now. You know at some point maybe I’ll be JoPa, and I’ll be able to stand on the sidelines and go back to my management days. But right now I’m enjoying it too much. We’re having way too much fun with putting our plans together and going out there and really executing what we want to get done,” Raheem said.
“We got so much room for improvement and so many things we can do to get better. … I wish I could play tomorrow. … I look forward to getting some of these guys back off IR and really being excited about it again.”
Of course, Raheem’s defense was gashed in the running game this season and rarely got pressure on the quarterback without a blitz, but still it managed to finish ninth in the NFL in points allowed at 19.9. Bodes very well for next season, assuming the many wounded Bucs heal well and Ronde Barber returns.
Joe has to take a moment to pat Raheem on the back for having the guts to take calls from fans on live radio for the second consecutive season. Although calls are screened (but seemingly not too heavily this season) very few NFL coaches open themselves up to that kind of thing.
This time tomorrow Geno Hayes is scheduled to be arraigned in Hillsborough County Court on his alleged crimes of acting like an idiot at a Tampa nightspot, which landed him on the wrong end of a stun gun, a few hours in the hole and misdemeanor charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Does Joe care? Well, yes. Because the outcome here will determine if Hayes gets suspended.
And Hayes played nearly every snap this season with four sacks and a bundle of tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Sure, Hayes has a lot of room to mature in his game, but he’s still just 23 and a mad talent. He would be missed on opening day, if that’s where this is headed.
Joe’s been keeping tabs on the case and unfortunately nothing has changed significantly and it doesn’t look good for Hayes.
"You'll be a trivia question when I'm through with you, Drew."
The other Professor, Cork Gaines, is a Tampa Bay area native and lifelong Bucs fan. Today he graces Joe with a historical look at Josh Freeman.
The Bucs may have missed the playoffs, but this team left a lot to be excited about moving forward. Josh Freeman, who was only 22 this season, put together a sophomore campaign that left him in some very elite company.
Freeman finished with a QB rating of 95.9. In the last 50 years, only two other quarterbacks had a QB rating of at least 90.0 under the age of 23 (minimum eight starts). You might have heard of them: Dan Marino and sleazy Ben Roethlisberger.
Freeman also threw 25 touchdowns, one short of the team record. Only three quarterbacks under the age of 23 in the Super Bowl era have even thrown 20 touchdowns in a season. Again, this group is a who’s who of successful QBs, that includes Peyton Manning, Drew Bledsoe, and Marino.
Let’s take a look at how Freeman’s 2010 numbers compare to these great quarterbacks…
Freeman’s numbers compare quite nicely with that group. And one could argue that Freeman’s 2010 season is the best-ever for a QB under the age of 23.
And oh yeah, those other quarterbacks have combined for six Super Bowl appearances and three wins (so far).
Now if we can just get Freeman to do something about that Taco Bell fetish.
Now Clayton says Raheem Morris is No. 3 on his list of Coach of the Year candidates. Speaking on The Fabulous Sports Babe Show on 1040 AM yesterday, Clayton revealed Eagles coach Andy Reid gets his vote, followed by Todd Haley in Kansas City. Raheem checks in at No. 3.
C’mon, Clayton. Joe might have made a good case for Reid if he hadn’t lost to the Vikings at home in Week 16. The Bucs’ 10-6 is more impressive than the Eagles’ 10-6.
In a column today on BSPN.com, Clayton went on to rank Josh Freeman as the 13th best quarterback in the NFL, two steps behind Eli Manning and his 25 interceptions. …Hmmm, Joe suspects there’s not a Bucs fan in the world who would trade Freeman for Manning.
Clayton goes on to write that Sam Bradford is more of a lock to become an elite QB than Freeman.
Joe is fired up at the prospect of the Bucs dusting off the checkbook in March to get a big time pass rusher in the building.
It worked before with Simeon Rice helping push the Bucs over the top. And Joe surely sees no reason why bringing in a couple of free agent studs on defense should automatically impede the Bucs’ plans to build organically with youth. That’s just foolish.
If you pick the right guys, then free agency is a great friend, not the dark path Joel Glazer called it in 2009 (only a few weeks after the Bucs made a run at Albert Haynesworth).
But Raheem Morris doesn’t seem to agree with Joe, per his comments last night on WDAE-AM 620. Morris all but dug his heels in the turf and said the draft is the only way to go.
“I start my draft process here coming up very shortly. …[Mark Dominik and the staff] give me a list of people. They give me a list of the top 100 by position. And I get a chance to start breaking them down, looking at all those guys and going through the process that I like to go through in whatever format I’m feeling that day. To name names, we don’t tamper in Tampa. I can’t actually call out games of the guys you would like to have.
“We look forward to the draft. It has to be big around here. You know, we got a saying, ‘We want to draft players that we want to re-sign.’ You know everybody goes out looking for free agents. But we want to draft our guys, get’em here, let’em grow, build them, and then re-sign our guys. Let’s be right in the draft, and let’s do it the correct way.”
Frankly, Joe doesn’t see how Raheem and Dominik could dislike free agency in one breath while claiming at the same time that they’re always looking to do everything they can to upgrade the football team. Something doesn’t fit there — sort of a clash of core beliefs.
Regardless, Joe believes the head coach and general manager will do whatever it takes to deliver the best Bucs team for 2011. They’ve earned that respect after dumping Jim Bates and righting the ship in a big way.
An upgrade to Cadillac Williams at the No. 2 slot?
Former Bucs quarterback Shaun King said “leave it alone” when asked yesterday on 1010 AM how the Bucs should approach the running backs position in the offseason.
King said the Bucs should stick with the status quo, including re-signing Cadillac Williams and giving Kareem Huggins a shot to return from his knee injury.
King said Blount has the rare combination of being “a vision runner” in a big, punishing body. And King firmly believes Blount will be able to modify his short-yardage approach successfully — hit the line faster — with an offseason of work.
Joe believes in Blount and is all in favor of Cadillac returning, but Joe sure would like to see the Bucs land a real change-of-pace speedster to mix with those guys.
Huggins is a nice guy and a nice story, but three full seasons out of a 1-AA school and he’s only proven he knows how to practice hard and get hurt. Surely the Bucs can’t count on him and should be able to find better.
In the eyes of national pundits, the Bucs went from pretenders losing to the Lions to the team everyone would have feared in the playoffs — the sexy up-and-comer ready to rattle the balance of power in the NFL in 2011.
At 10-6 and with young studs at skill positions, the Bucs will no doubt get more offseason love than Wilt Chamberlain used to.
Speaking during The Raheem Morris Show on WDAE-AM 620 on Monday, the head coach talked about how he’s already approached keeping his young team focused.
“You talk to those guys and you tell them how everybody’s going to love them. And everybody’s going to talk about them all offseason. And that’s great for our fans and our fan base and to get everbody back into the stadium, and to get everything going the way we want to have it around here. But for us, internally, it has to be ignored,” Morris said. “You know it has to be the same mentality we came into this season with. It has to be the mentality of going out there and trying to win every game and not feeling like we’re older and entitled to anything. We have to go out and play one game at a time every single time we go on the football field. It can’t never change. It’s how it has to be.”
At this point Joe has resorted to prayer hoping there is no disruption in the NFL offseason.
A lockout could come around in March when the current labor agreement expires, which would mean all those young Buccaneers would be on their own left to keep themselves in check and motivated and dialed in to the 2011 mission. Not an easy task for young guys. Although Joe imagines Raheem would be texting them all daily.
It’ll be one of the great debates of the Bucs offseason — for fans and probably for the team: What will the Bucs do along the offensive line?
The Bucs lost Davin Joseph, Jeff Faine and Jeremy Trueblood and still blocked for a five-yards-per-carry rusher and kept Josh Freeman pretty clean. Crap, they won 10 games.
Joseph has missed nine games because of injury over the past three years. Faine has missed 12 games over two years. Those guys will make an awful lot of money next year. Did the Bucs really significantly miss either one?
Did James Lee do enough to be counted on as a starter? Forgetting about replacing Jeremy Trueblood, who sure seems like a goner.
Joe has no clue how Faine or Joseph might handle fighting for their jobs in training camp. How do the Bucs look Jeremy Zuttah or Ted Larsen in the face and tell them they’re not starters anymore.
Seemingly not worried about saying anything that could affect contract negotiations with free-agent-to-be Ronde Barber, yesterday Mark Dominik talked about how great Barber played this season and how he looks forward to talking to his agent, so relayed Tom Balog of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Dominik even compared Barber to the Franchise — Josh Freeman.
On Monday, general manager Mark Dominik sent a nuclear cloud smoke signal that the team will make every effort to re-sign Barber.
“I think that’ll be a good private conversation between myself and Ronde and his agent,” Dominik said. “I will say this for Ronde Barber, yesterday, if we want to talk about how Josh Freeman played at the end of the season, I think you can say the same thing about how Ronde Barber played at the end of the season.
”For the many years he’s got in the National Football League to play at that level, and to know what Drew Brees was going to do on a majority of plays is phenomenal. I was really impressed with the way he finished his 2010 season.”
Good for Dominik. Do what you have to do to bring Barber back. He’s not replaceable on the roster. The next man up stuff is nice, but it doesn’t apply in this case.
The kudos and credits and virtual back slaps are starting to flow in for the Bucs, playoff-less despite making the race to 10.
Yesterday Joe brought word of Bucs preseason antagonist Adam Schein, perhaps the harshest critic of the entire Bucs organization, who has performed a 180-degree spin and now is on the Bucs bandwagon more than Marlana Aref.
Schein, before the Bucs season was complete Monday, selected Raheem Morris as his coach of the year.
Joining the fun is “The Playmaker,” Michael Irvin on the NFL Network as he too awards Morris his coach of the year in this NFL Network video.
Yes, the 2011 NFL Draft and all the hype leading up to it will go on as scheduled in late April. Even if the sticky NFL labor issues delay free agency and “lockout” players, the draft and all its glory will go on.
And yes, Joe will deliver you unmatched Bucs and league-focused draft coverage.
Joe’s in heated meetings and negotiatons right now to bring you daily podcasts, position analysis, combine and Pro Day info., massive mock drafts, and all the goodies of what used to be paid subscription draft coverage on JoeBucsFan.com absolutely FREE starting in February.
Exciting stuff. Joe expects to have an announcement soon.
The Bucs are now on the clock with the 20th pick in the first round. The Giants pick 19th because their 2010 schedule was deemed to be easier than the Bucs’, therefore for draft purposes the Bucs are considered a better team and will pick lower.
It’s still amazing to Joe how the Bucs featured more guys from the bottom of the roster — again — against the defending champs with the season on the line Sunday.
On the opening drive, presumably a rather scripted effort, the Bucs got their second first down throwing to fourth-string running back Kregg Lumpkin out of the backfield for 12 yards, his only catch of the season.
Lumpkin!
Then late in the game, following a huge kick return by Micheal Spurlock with the score tied at 10, the Bucs opened that criticial series throwing for 11 yards to rookie fullback Erik Lorig, the converted defensive end from the seventh round.
Greg Olson’s got a hefty sack. Although Joe still can’t understand why he puts LeGarrette Blount in motion and won’t pound the ball with Blount early in games.
Again, an amazing coaching job by the Bucs utilizing the entire roster and finding guys from the corners of the earth who can play. Joe’s mind explodes right now at the thought of the Bucs bringing in another fresh crop of talent to compete with this young roster for jobs.
The Bucs season wasn’t even over — the Giants and Packers were losing at the time — when the first of what many postseason honors may come the Bucs way.
Twittering from the concrete canyons that is Manhattan, Sirius NFL Radio host and FoxSports.com NFL talking head Adam Schein gave out his first postseason award.
@AdamSchein: raheem morris, my 2010 nfl coach of the year.
How can anyone argue with that? Raheem took a three-win team, turned the franchise around using bailing wire, duct tape and gum with all the injuries and rookies, and thumped the Super Bowl champs in their own crib to end the season.
There’s not doubt in Joe’s eyes who is the NFL coach of the year.
Oatmeal-slurping, popcorn-shoveling NFL super scribe Peter King, of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports, spit up his infamous 2-12 prediction for the Bucs along with his other season gaffes this morning in his Monday Morning Quarterback column.
In my worst display of prognosticating since, well, since John Fox, I said the Bucs would finish with the worst record in the league (2-14). Tampa Bay won 10 and was in playoff contention until Sunday afternoon.
And that, dear readers, is why they pay me the big bucks.
Well, that was nice to read. Keep up your endless research, Peter. Just don’t pick the Bucs to make the playoffs next season, that would concern Joe.
In King’s final rankings of all NFL teams, the Bucs checked in at No. 9.
9. Tampa Bay (10-6). There are a few coaches who are glad they don’t have to face the Bucs in the playoffs. What a handful. And let’s put it out there right now: I love Josh Freeman. What a treat it’ll be to watch him play over the next 10 years.
Ugh. How painful is to sit at No. 9 and be home for the playoffs.
Raheem Morris told his team in the locker room, per NFL Network video, that they should remember the feeling running through them now as it relates to 10 wins not being enough. Joe hopes this makes the Bucs hungrier than they were this season.
Now that he’s Coach of the Year, Raheem Morris has no plans to step back from his defensive coordinator duties and play only the role of CEO/spiritual leader/miracle worker of the Bucs.
This time tomorrow Geno Hayes is scheduled to be arraigned in Hillsborough County Court on his alleged crimes of acting like an idiot at a Tampa nightspot, which landed him on the wrong end of a stun gun, a few hours in the hole and misdemeanor charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman is, some believe, on the cusp of superstardom.
Joe is fired up at the prospect of the Bucs dusting off the checkbook in March to get a big time pass rusher in the building.
A lightning-quick running back?
In the eyes of national pundits, the Bucs went from pretenders losing to the Lions to the team everyone would have feared in the playoffs — the sexy up-and-comer ready to rattle the balance of power in the NFL in 2011.
It’ll be one of the great debates of the Bucs offseason — for fans and probably for the team: What will the Bucs do along the offensive line?
Seemingly not worried about saying anything that could affect contract negotiations with free-agent-to-be Ronde Barber, yesterday Mark Dominik talked about how great Barber played this season and how he looks forward to talking to his agent, 
Yes, the 2011 NFL Draft and all the hype leading up to it will go on as scheduled in late April. Even if the sticky NFL labor issues delay free agency and “lockout” players, the draft and all its glory will go on.
It’s still amazing to Joe how the Bucs featured more guys from the bottom of the roster — again — against the defending champs with the season on the line Sunday.
The Bucs season wasn’t even over — the Giants and Packers were losing at the time — when the first of what many postseason honors may come the Bucs way.
Oatmeal-slurping, popcorn-shoveling NFL super scribe Peter King, of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports, spit up his infamous 2-12 prediction for the Bucs along with his other season gaffes this morning 
