Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Okay, so I was wrong

The Bucs can't beat the bad teams either.

Sunday, the Bucs suffered a 38-19 thumping at the hands of the 3-8 Carolina Panthers. I had said in a previous post that at least Tampa was able to beat the sub-500 teams, but even that is beyond their abilities at this point.

With the defense slumping to 30th in the league in total yards allowed and points allowed, head coach Raheem Morris still doggedly works every week to dismantle defensive guru Monte Kiffin's legendary Tampa 2 defense in favor of something only a former defensive backs coach (as Morris was) could love - a blitzing, man-to-man coverage defense similar to what was played in Miami years ago.

Of course, when the Dolphins were having great success with that scheme, they had DE luminary Jason Taylor and hall of fame corners. The Bucs have neither of those. Just a defense so full of rookies and inexperienced young players, that Morris is scaling back the defensive scheme yet again to try and help the floundering players.

Under Morris, the defense is on pace to become the worst in francise history. Last year's 10-6 record is now obviously an outlier and a 4-12 record for this year is not out of the question.

What should be questioned is whether this team needs new management. There's no bright light on the horizon that gives fans hope here. Josh Freeman may be a great quarterback someday. Then again, he could be another Vinnie Testaverde - a guy who looks great in the pocket but never quite reaches the potential you think/hope might be there. Or even another Michael Vick - a guy writers and pundits claim is the next big thing yet never seems able to deliver any team to the promised land. The defense has no rising young stud, despite Morris' penchant for referring to any and all of his guys as "studs."

So how many years do we give this coach and gm to get the job done? Plenty of head coaches with bonifide credentials have been hired by other teams, while we keep our "trendy" choice and slump ever lower in the standings. How many more losing seasons do we endure before we think about a change here?

Just askin.

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