Buccaneers Dive Into "Complete Disaster"

You'd figure the New York Giants would come in, school the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, then head home with a hard-fought victory Sunday. There was nothing hard-fought going on at Raymond James Stadium. Instead, the Buccaneer faithful witnessed a disaster. Head coach Raheem Morris went even further and tabbed it "a complete disaster." Score one for Raheem, on a day when his team failed to score, sending the unbeaten (3-0) Giants back to the Big Apple with a 24-0 skunking of the winless (0-3) Buccaneers. It's a good thing the team now goes on the road for two weeks. It will take that long to get the stench out of Raymond James. It was stinky, it was awful, it was abominable at best. With a little more than nine minutes left in the game, these re-tooled Buccaneers of the Morris-Mark Dominik regime found themselves threatening a throwback to the inglorious days of 1976 Bucdom, the bad old winless days. At that point, Morris finally had mercy on the battered Byron Leftwich and replaced him with backup quarterback Josh Johnson. At that point, the Bucs had managed a paltry 51 yards of total offense. All-time Buccaneer low is 65, from the bad old days. Johnson rescued his team from the lowest of lows. He managed to run for 15 yards and pass for another 36 to get his team to an embarrassing 86 yards of total offense for the day. "We don't use that word," Morris said of the e-word, the "embarrassment" word. Don't worry Raheem, everyone else will take care of that for you. If Morris were to venture out into the real world this week, that's what he'd heard around every Tampa water cooler. It will used often this week. Embarrassing. We're talking about Cadillac Williams getting eight yards on two carries and former Giant Derrick Ward picking up an astonishing two yards on five carries. That's okay, Leftwich went seven-for-16 for 22 yards. Don't worry about Lefty, he'll start against the Redskins next week. "These guys will be better next week," Morris predicted. Safe prediction, it's hard to imagine that they could be worse. This game could have been worse, the Giants appeared to call off the dogs. Eli Manning spent most of the fourth quarter taking in the sights from the sidelines. Leftwich won't be on the sidelines next week. Don't blame him -- Morris doesn't. "If I take Byron Leftwich out, I may as well take everyone else out with him," Morris declared. Perhaps it's not a bad idea. Morris and his guys are now tasked with picking up the pieces from this "total disaster." It's on to Washington and a game with the Redskins, the team that ended the losing streak of the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Perhaps the Redskins of Jim Zorn can lend a hand to Raheem and his guys. Maybe, maybe not. If the Redskins watch the video from this game, they may become entirely overconfident. "You are what your tape says you are and we're not a good football team." And that doesn't bode well for the rest of the season, does it?

Gaines Adams: Is This His Last Stand?

Perhaps, just perhaps, this might be the beginning of the end for Gaines Adams. Who? That's a fair question as his name hasn't surfaced much when you check the defensive stats for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That's Gaines Adams, defensive end, whose name is rarely called during games. His efforts against Dallas and Buffalo have produced no sacks and only four tackles. That's totally anemic for a guy taken with the fourth overall pick in the draft a few years back. He has a giant target on his back, as far as Buccaneer faithful are concerned. He has a giant target on his back with head coach Raheem Morris. Morris has voiced his displeasure with Adams, called him out during training camp, called him out again last week and now you have to ask yourself: "Is this the beginning of the end for Adams?" Unless he comes up with a huge game against the New York Giants on Sunday, the answer is probably "yes!" Morris won't hesitate to take playing time away from Adams and if he can find a worthy replacement, Adams may be destined for the bench and next year, the waiver wire. Is Adams worried. "Not at all," he says and that is perhaps why he's in danger of demotion. "He (Adams) is not getting it done," Morris said frankly, and that in itself should send a wake up call to No. 90. But Adams isn't the only one to blame on the Buccaneer defense. The total of 24 missed tackles weren't all his. "Twenty-four missed tackles is embarrassing," said tackle Chris Hovan. "If no one wants to say it, I'll say it." He said it. And he's right. Missed tackles galore, a first-round pick who appears unmotivated at best, it's all embarrassing. Very embarrassing.

Buccaneer Defense Is One Big Nightmare

Tuesday is the traditional day off for NFL players, thank-you Collective Bargaining Agreement. Some might argue that certain members of the Tampa Bay Buccaneer defense take Sundays off as well. This 2009 Tampa Bay defense has become youthful head coach Raheem Morris' nightmare. The question was posed to him at his Monday press conference: "Is this defense getting out of hand?" Morris, without hesitation blurted: "It's already out of hand!" Morris pulls no punches, he doesn't sugar-coat, doesn't make excuses. He simply holds players accountable and there's lots of accountability to go around for a defense that ranks 31st out of 32 teams in the league. Only the Houston Texans are worse. The Bucs have given up 67 points in two games and an average of 450-yards in offense. Surely makes Buccaneer fans long for the days of Monte Kiffin. But Monte is long gone. Raheem's nightmare began with a sequence of events, triggered by the suspension of standout safety Tanard Jackson when he failed to appear for a routine drug test. Morris now has to face the incoming New York Giants with another safety, Jermaine Phillips, out six-to-eight weeks with a broken thumb. Can it possibly get any worse? Sure, try these two words: Eli Manning. No doubt Manning and the New York offense are watching game video of the Buccaneers with a "can't wait" attitude. They surely can't wait to get their hands on this stupefied Buccaneer defense. Morris has a lot of fixing to do between now and Sunday. Sounds impossible at best. There is virtually no pass rush and Morris has voiced total displeasure with the performance or lack thereof from defensive end Gaines Adams, the former No. 1 draft choice who plays like a seventh rounder. Adams is not alone but he is the poster-child for a defense that cannot defend.

Buccaneers Get Buffaloed

"No one circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills!" Chris Berman, ESPN The Buffalo Bills didn't have to circle their wagons on Sunday. No, the team they were facing wasn't that big of a threat. Sure, there are no easy wins in the National Football League, but before some of the hometown fans were planted in their seats, the Bills had run up a quick 17-0 lead on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Sure Tampa Bay fought back and made a game of it for a while, 20-14, Bills, but when all was said and done, when all the Buccaneer defensive weaknesses were exploited, Tampa Bay headed for home 0-2 and absorbed another defensive setback in the 33-20 loss. The Buccaneer defense again surrendered more than 400 yards, 163 of that on the ground to a guy named Fred Jackson, who isn't even Buffalo's starter. Out of hand? "It's already out of hand," Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris said at his day-after press conference. The smile was gone from Morris' face on Monday. Even the King of Upbeat found it difficult to be upbeat about this latest Buccaneer failure. To make it worse, he lost another key player -- Jermaine Phillips. "Jermaine broke his thumb and is out six to eight weeks," Morris informed. Yikes! This pirate ship is leaking and it springs more leaks each week. To make matters worse, the Bucs next face the New York Giants on Sunday, yes the same Giants who spoiled the opening of Jerry Jones' new stadium on Sunday night in Dallas. Morris was obviously most unhappy with the defensive line and Gaines Adams in particular. There was little to no pass rush on Trent Edwards all day. "We have to change things up if they're not getting it done," Morris said. The secondary is still vulnerable to the long ball. Terrell Owens caught one and dropped another bomb that went right through his hands. Easy catch, but no catch. It was a penalty party as well. The Bucs absorbed 100-plus yards in penalties, four of which were face mask yanks. Not pretty. There was no running game, but Morris admitted that when the team got behind, he abandoned that game plan. "We're a running team, we have to be a running team. We can't be throwing the ball 50 times." Byron Leftwich threw 52 times and absorbed an inhuman amount of punishment. "They beat us, they played better than us," said Leftwich, who made Rocky Balboa look like he'd never been hit. What it all adds up to is lower expectations for a team whose expectations were already in the dirt. What's next? Eli Manning is what's next. And that's not encouraging.

Buccanner and Bills Fans Sing the Same Song

Listen to the hard-core fans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Buffalo Bills and you get the feeling you're talking to the same people. Tampa Bay fans are seeing the bright side of a 34-21 loss to Dallas that embarrassed the Buc secondary. They are talking about how great Cadillac Williams looked, they're talking about the offensive line and the running game and the 276 passing yards that Byron Leftwich racked up. They see this glass half full, as does the Buccaneer leader -- Raheem Morris. Rah promises to clean up the mess that left poop all over the defensive backfield he once oversaw. He promises that the sins of safety Sabby Piscatelli won't be repeated. Indeed, Piscatelli was out of position often and wound up observing the rear-ends of Dallas receivers as they paraded into the Buccaneer end zone on three big plays. But Piscatelli wasn't the only secondary sinner -- Jermaine Phillips and cornerback Elbert Mack looked foolish several times. Still, the Bucs fans are giddy over that ground game and think their team will run all over the Bills. Likewise, Bills fan is lamenting the "giveaway" to the Patriots on Monday night football. Indeed, the Bills had it in the bag, it was there for the taking had it not been for a fateful kickoff fumble and typical heroics down the stretch from the surgically-repaired Tom Brady. Terrell Owens was silent after the loss but began his media recovery this week. "We handed them a win," said TO, the ultimate NFL attention-hog. TO even began the process of stepping on his quarterback, Trent Edwards. "Trent has to better assess what he's seeing out there." Nice work, TO. Still, Bills fans are still in their "honeymoon" period with TO. They say this is not the TO we all know so well, they tell us that this TO needs a chance. As if he hasn't had plenty. What both fans of these teams will tell you is that this is a huge game. Buffalo needs to reassure its faithful that it won't blow games in the last minute. It needs to pounce on a team that the national media views as a gang of rebuilding pirates. Buccaneer fans know they don't want to be oh-for-two coming home to face perhaps the most powerful team in the NFC -- the New York Giants. Yep, both teams need this game. And that should make it quite a struggle for both.

Bucccaneers Must Handle Two Big Losses

Raheem Morris called it a "huge loss," and he wasn't talking about the Sunday afternoon defensive fiasco that cost his team immensely in that 35-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Losing to the Cowboys was bad enough, losing his best offensive lineman made it all the worse. Morris confirmed Monday that center Jeff Faine is lost for what could be four-to-six weeks with a torn bicep tendon. "It depends on the pain and when he can go," Morris said of Faine's projected return. In the meantime, Jonathan Compas, a player claimed off waivers from Oakland, of all places, takes Faine's spot at center. Compas, a rookie from Cal-Davis, must now fill in for the team's best offensive lineman. That bad news comes on the heels of the home loss that saw Tony Romo throw for a career high 353 yards that was spurred by three bombs of 80, 66 and 42 yards against a secondary that seemed confused at best, particularly Sabby Piscatelli. Morris refused to make excuses. His predecessor, Jon Gruden, would have made plenty. Not Morris. "We're not into pointing fingers. Every man in the room has to be accountable. Sabby, he's accountable right now. He cannot be a hindrance. As a man, he's accountable. We'll get him going right." The meltdown of the secondary goes back to the suspension of Tanard Jackson, who will miss three more games. Morris never used that as an excuse. On the positive side, Morris was quick to point out: "We won the offensive phase, we lost the defensive phase and we lost the kicking game phase." The offensive phase was spurred by Cadillac Williams, who ran Sunday with a vengeance. He ran hard and hit holes quickly, and notched 97 yards on 13 carries for the afternoon. He put life in the home crowd and life in the passing game. Indeed, quarterback Byron Leftwich played well, passed for 276 yards with no interceptions , as did receivers Antonio Bryant and Michael Clayton, who had a great afternoon with five catches for 93 yards. And Morris didn't hesitate to point that out. "This young Tampa Bay Buccaneer team is gonna be a good football team and I'm gonna tell them that." Morris said don't blame the mistakes on the new defense. "Don't blame the scheme," he said quickly. "It's about making the play you're supposed to make." Accountability and honesty from a head coach. Even after a loss, it's a new day in Tampa Bay.

Buccanners' 'Caddy' Makes His Comeback

The Cadillac is back. He's out of the repair shop, out of the garage, back on the football field. Carnell "Cadillac" Williams, the pride and joy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneer backfield will start against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. He'll have all of Tampa pulling for him in this home opener of the 2009 NFL season. It's an amazing comeback story. Consider the fact that he's blown out both patella tendons (knees) in back-to-back seasons. Then consider that here he is, getting the nod over the touted Derrick Ward and the steady Earnest Graham as the Buccaneer starter. All three will get their carries, but it is Williams that is a true marvel. "He has great heart and great strength," says rookie head coach Raheem Morris. Indeed the team is inspired by Williams and it was a theme during training camp. His hard work in the preseason games earns him the start on Sunday. Tampa's game plan under the new regime is run first, pass second. That means Cadillac better hit the road hard, Ward better be good and Graham better get the important short yardage plays. Together, they need to stand out, they need to achieve. If they don't, quarterback Byron Leftwich becomes a target in the pocket and this Tampa Bay team could struggle mightily.

Cowboys O-Line Will Test Buccaneer Defense

Try these guys on for size: Flozell Adams (6-7, 338), Kyle Kosier (6-5, 305), Andre Gurode (6-4, 318), Leonard Davis (6-6, 353), Mac Columbo (6-8, 318). Those are the Dallas Cowboys offensive linemen. Big, aren't they? If you wondering what the Dallas offensive game plan might be, wonder no longer. They're going to pound the football on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That's a NFC East-size offensive line. It's the size line the Bucs will also see when they play the Giants, Eagles and Redskins. Look for Tony Romo to give the ball to Marion Barber. When Barber needs a break, it will be Felix Jones. It's a mighty challenge at least. The Buccaneers sought to beef up their defense when they drafted burly Roy Miller and Chris Hovan put on another 20 pounds. They'll need all the muscle they can muster. This Dallas line is big and strong. Good news for the Bucs is that it is also an "older" line. Most of these guys are well into their 30s and perhaps the afternoon temperature and humidity in Tampa might slow them down a bit. But don't count on it.

Pressure's On Dallas Cowboys, Not Bucs

Come Sunday at 1 p.m., the pressure's on the Dallas Cowboys. No pressure on the Buccaneers. High expectations for Cowboys, low expectations for the Buccaneers. Looming over Dallas is that 600-pound gorilla of an owner -- Jerry Jones. He expects more out of quarterback Tony Romo, he expects more out of head coach Wade Phillips, he expects a Super Bowl. Not too much pressure. As for Tampa Bay, most would like for the Buccaneers to compete, make it close, find a chance to win. Now Raheem Morris will tell you different, but how many in the Buccaneer Nation are drinking the Morris kool-aid? Fact is, the Bucs best weapon come Monday will be the fact that no one has seen the offense with all its parts in tact. We're talking wide receiver Antonio Bryant, who has looked well on the practice fields after his knee surgery kept him out of the preseason. We're talking hamstrung Michael Clayton, who was a preseason ghost as was the greatness that is the league's highest paid tight end -- Kellen Winslow Jr. No one has seen these guys together except for new offensive coordinator Greg Olson, who has about a week on the job. Now add the starting running back, Cadillac Williams, into the fray and no one's seen him for a long time. The Bucs Sunday game plan: run the football then throw at will after that mighty run is established. Sounds good enough. Surely Dallas' defense has seen that play before. It's exactly what the New York Giants do and do quite well. Which shifts the pressure back to Dallas. Romo has the big contract without big results yet. And the cast around him is well aware of that. You think they can feel Jerry Jones breathing down their collective necks? No pressure.

Buccaneers Will Find Out What They've Got

Raheem Morris finally has his squad in place and it looks nothing like the 2008 Buccaneers of Jon Gruden. Byron Leftwich will lead this team into battle against Dallas next Sunday and his immediate backup will be the Wonder Boy -- Josh Freeman. And that means that this team is one really good lick away from Morris and Mark Dominik's self-fulfilling prophecy. It's not far fetched that Leftwich can get knocked out of a game, anytime. He's a perfect target in the pocket and you know that Dallas can produce a pass rush. But if all goes to Morris' plan, these Buccaneer will run the ball over and around Dallas and keep the 'Boys guessing when big ole Byron will wind up the windmill and hit an open receiver. It all sounds so simple. Doesn't it? The question Buccaneer fans must ask themselves this week is what discoveries have been made in the four preseason games? First, it was a "loser leaves town" match between Leftwich and Luke McCown, who was traded to Jacksonville on Saturday. The Bucs were fortunate to find a taker as they unloaded about $4 million in salary over the next two years and paved the way for Freeman to take his place as backup to Leftwich, followed by the third qb -- Josh Johnson. Freeman needs to be in the second spot. It's the only way he'll get enough reps in practice to make the progress needed to groom him for the starting job, which could come sooner or later for the lad who should be in his senior year at Kansas State. Second, no one knows what the starting receivers can do for this team. Antonio Bryant and Michael Clayton were unseen in the preseason as was tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. If those three are not a big part of the offense, this team could be in trouble. Third, the firing of offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski leaves Greg Olson precious little time to settle into the position with Dallas looming largely. Fourth, will a strong running game really materialize for an entire game against a highly-regarded team like the Cowboys? The optimists of the world will tell you that the Bucs will average 30 points a game or more. Sounds more like wishful thinking than a thesis with solid proof. The optimists will also tell us this Buc defense will dominate. If so, it will have to do it without a key component, safety Tanard Jackson, suspended for the first four games. In all, there is a lot to think about this week as the Bucs prepare for their 2009 home opener. They work on Monday, players are off on Tuesday around the league, Wednesday and Thursday are the biggest work days in the NFL. Then it's a short trip to Sunday and a date with Tony Romo and the 'Boys. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Buccaneers Face Fallout And Texans

The Buccaneers' final preseason game against Houston has become a major after-thought. Why, with those goings-on at One Buccaneer Place, no one is paying much attention to this final practice game when the focus is on the activities behind closed doors at One Buccaneer Place. The vision comes to mind of Vince Lombardi from the old NFL Films, looking out at his team and screaming: "What the hell's going on out there?" You might think the same with your Buccaneers. In the wake of the firing of offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski, coach Raheem Morris and General Manager Mark Dominik find themselves in the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Most telling of all observations came from former NFL GM, Mike Lombardi, in his latest entry on the National Football Post. Lombardi wrote this observation on the latest decision by Morris/Dominik: "What would worry me most if I were a Bucs fan is that word going around was that while players and coaches were not happy with Jagodzinski, Morris, in fact, got along with him -- but felt he needed to make the change to make peace with everyone -- that doesn't sound like the work of a leader but rather work of a committee." Ouch! If that were indeed true, well, it will be a most interesting season for Tampa Bay. Certainly no one is talking about the Texans and the fact that Josh Freeman will start and fourth quarterback Josh Johnson will play a lot, the talk is still about what's going on behind the scenes with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Morris' next major decision will be to select 53 players for his final roster by 6 p.m. Saturday. With all the storms swirling around him, that should be a fairly easy task. Stay tuned.

Jagodzinski Fired, One Buc Place Is A Mess

This all looks for very, very bad for Raheem Morris, your rookie head coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Here he was, on his birthday, getting up in front of the gathered media to explain the firing of his offensive coordinator, Jeff Jagodzinski, a mere 10 days before the 2009 season opener against Dallas. Say what you want, Morris was nervous and uneasy with the explanation. He kept saying that the offense needs "more precision, more direction." What he wasn't saying is that it is more than likely that he and Jagodzinski were simply not seeing things eye-to-eye. They weren't on the same page. Most likely, Jagodzinski was not thrilled with the prospect of starting Byron Leftwich, among other things. Morris denied that as a reason. You can bet it was one of several reasons that Jagodzinski, former head coach at Boston College, is out of work as of Thursday. Morris said of the decision: "This one is on me and Mark Dominik." Fair enough. The Buccaneers claim that Jagodzinski was asked to flip-flop jobs with quarterbacks coach Greg Olson. Is anyone buying that? There's nothing to promote staff unity like a demotion and a promotion and keeping both guys in the ranks. Who are they kidding here? If it was a ploy to get Jagodzinski to quit so the team doesn't have to pay him, then perhaps it worked. Still, when you hash through all of this, and this will be talked about and sorted out many times between now and the kickoff against Dallas in 10 days, something just doesn't seem right at One Buc Place. Does it?

Happy Birthday, Raheem Morris...

Happy birthday, Raheem Morris. Today, you have reached the ripe old age of 33. It's young by life's standards. You are an infant by NFL coaching standards. Yet here you are, ready to embark on the dangerous waters of the 2009 football season, armed with a re-tooled team that will try and compete using high-energy, fast-tempo and aggression. While you think about that, Raheem, here are some gifts for you from some well-known names in the world of football media: Peter King, the Yoda of Sports Illustrated has this prediction for the Buccaneers: He sees the team going 4-12, and places the Buccaneers ahead of lowly Detroit, a team he sees finishing 3-13. Scott Reynold of Tampa's Pewter Report has this for you: "I see them struggling to be a .500 team...." Clark Judge of CBSsports.com has this for you: "Freeman (Josh) will start at some point -- the only question is when....." Mike Florio, the grand master of ProFootballTalk.com/NBC Sports.com has this: "The wheels are coming off this franchise. I get the feeling the Bucs are slipping into the bad organizational category. And this: "I do preseason power rankings. I'm trying to come up with objective reasons not to put them 32. I don't know how in the world they're going to turn this around quickly." Florio's number for Tampa Bay: "5-11." Dan Sileo, a talk show host on WDAE radio and former NFL player: "The Bucs and Jaguars, they might combine for nine wins, five from one, four from the other..." Sileo's number for Tampa Bay: 4-12. Adam Schein and Rich Gannon (former Raider qb) from NFL Sirius radio had this gem for Raheem: "One of the five worst..." Then there's the gift of odds. SBG Global posts the Bucs' chances: Super Bowl: 50-1 Win NFC: 25-1 Win NFC South: 5-1 The reason: "This team has too many questions." And finally, a bit of hope from popular WDAE afternoon host Steve Duemig: "They're not going to be as bad as some people say they are." Happy birthday, Raheem Morris. Blow out the candles and get back to work. It won't be easy this season, but then again, it's hard for every team.

Raheem Morris Now Faces Bigger Decisions

Okay, Raheem finally got down to business and named his starting quarterback, the mighty Byron Leftwich. Fair enough. Now comes the hard work. At 6 p.m. on Saturday, September 5, Morris will have to choose the 53 players for his final roster. He'll have to tell us those players he will take into battle against Dallas and the rest of the NFC East, NFC South and AFC East. Now that he has Leftwich as his guy, Morris had hinted that he might, just might, pick up where Jon Gruden left off and keep four quarterbacks on his team. That's something he might want to think long and hard about. Fact is, the third quarterback on an NFL roster is fairly irrelevant. A four quarterback is an after-thought. It's a luxury this young team cannot afford. It will need all the man-power it can muster for special teams, defense and those other fairly-important facets of the game. One man who most likely will not make the team is kicker Matt Bryant. Bryant was the feel-good story of 2008 but a hamstring injury has hamstrung his hopes of making the roster. Morris told him this week that in order for a chance at the final roster, he needed to play in the preseason finale against the Houston Texans on Friday night. Bryant said he'd rather heal properly and live to kick another day, perhaps for another team. Which brings us to that fourth preseason game. You can bet a pair of club seats to Raymond James for the seven home football games that Morris has pretty much made up his mind on his final 53. Starters don't play in that fourth preseason game. It's a last call for those guys on the bubble and Morris has already honed in on his guys. Four quarterbacks? Let's hope not. A stout defense? Keep your fingers crossed. Derrick Ward, Cadillac Williams and Earnest Graham as your running back rotation? Hopefully, especially is you happen to be Leftwich. Talk about the Houston Texans as much as you wish. Morris and his staff are already game-planning for Dallas. And that's the smart thing to do.