Winning suits Bucs and Morris

Bucs coach Raheem Morris got rid of the Bucs losing streak -- and that knot that has lived in his stomach for seven weeks.

"No pressure is off. The only thing that comes off is that knot that sits in your stomach,'' Morris said. "You don't have it. It's really good, it's fun. This week will be a little more fun in the building. It's fun Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. All that stuff gets a little better. A little more exciting.

"This league is competitive and everybody wants to be in it. And the only way you stay in it is if you play well. All the guys in my locker room, they're so young, they're all fighting for their jobs. Everybody. Coaches, players, myself. We know that. So there is no quit. We don't have a veteran led team. We don't have a bunch of guys who can shut it down and say I'll be back next year because my contract says this. We just don't have that.''

Morris praised rookie quarterback Josh Freeman for his composure during his first NFL start. Freeman threw three touchdowns Sunday in Tampa Bay's 38-28 win over the Green Bay Packers.

After the game, Morris said he did not do anything to celebrate but received a lot of text messages and some phone calls from coaches and former players like Derrick Brooks and Warren Sapp.

"I took Sapp's call because if I don't take his phone call, he'll yell at me,'' Morris said.

"There just wasn't a knot in my stomach. I do the same thing, I go home, see the family, chill out and watch other people be miserable. For me, it's the same deal. I didn't go out and throw a party or tear up Tampa.

"It was special getting the first win, it was good getting the first win.

Morris said the Bucs record will prevent them from spending too much time enjoying their win over the Packers. Tampa Bay plays at Miami Sunday.

"I don't think we can. We are 1-7. We're not competing for the NFC Championship game yet,'' Morris said. "They've got to come in this week and grow off what they did the week before. Hard work paid off. How they practiced last week in pads paid off.''

Morris did admit that he has instituted a little more discipline on his team lately. He took away their hip hop music during stretching and instituted a dress code for games.

"There's little things you can take way from these guys,'' Morris said. "Make them come to the game looking the right way, make them look like winners. Maybe yesterday the dress code changed everything.

"It's more of my little punishment deals. The music can come back. You can go to work in jeans and nice shirt and you're still the same person, but for me, it was more of a punishment deal. People might want their jeans back. People might want their music back. So in able to do that, we've got to do some winning. We've got to turn some things around. We've got to pay more attention to detail. That was my thought process. Just tighten up the screws a little bit to get these guys to tighten up the screws a little bit.''

 

Comments

[Dspkable]

Maybe punishment should be wearing Orange and white colors all week, so as to not forget what it was like to win. Keep tightening the screws Bucs, because otherwise the ship will come apart.

[Valrico Rick]

I was just wondering where everybody was/is? There must be a bashers convention somewhere! It's one game, but it's not about no music or dress codes, this was a football team that found that if they come together and play hard for 60 minutes they can win. Offense, defense, and special teams all contributed big to the win. Who said Freeman doesn't have talent! He made mistakes, but he made plays and throws that were big time. I still have big doubts about the OC and the play calling, but this is why you have to give things a chance sometimes before you start barking out your back end about how bad it's going to be!

[Aaron Shaw]

I'm not sure if the fact that hip-hop music being taken away has anything to do with the fact that the team seemed to come together to display its strongest point, and thats an impressive show of unity. Unity that streched across the total spectrum of the game, from special teams to the best defensive front yet this season. And the team broke one of its infamous long time curses in that of winning a gane in the oranges.

[Robert]

Aaron, I dont think it was about the music, but more about Rah showing his guys that he is not their buddy anymore and he is the Lead Dog. Being able to dress how you want and listening to music is a priveledge and they didnt deserve any priveledges. Plus, I think there should be a dress code for every game anyway. You guys are getting paid millions working for a huge corporation and should dress nice. These athletes always say, " It's a business" and business men wear suits not jeans and shirts.

It seems like Rah has finally started to become the Lead Dog and not a buddy anymore. There were no chest bumps this week. It was all business and thats how it needs to stay. GREAT JOB RAH.

[Bucscountry23]

Wow, we win one game and suddenly the message boards go empty. I guess it shut the haters up for a day. Glad we finally got a win. Does anyone esle think Atlanta's Coach (Mike Smith?) is a classless jerk who needs to stay out of opposing players' faces? Remember last year he tried to bait Bryant by yelling in his face (uncalled for)? Now, yesterday, he was trying to pick a fight with Redskins players. One of these days he is going to step up to the wrong player.

[Itch]

Until yesterday the only thing this team was consistent at doing was playing badly - together. Yesterday they just played together. They have to do this consistently from now on.

The offensive play calling was a bit more varied, but still questionable at times.

The O-Line finally showed improvement. Will they keep it up?

The D-Line played as a unit and made Rogers pay. Can they defend the Wildcat next week?

Our back field got burned badly several times - that has got to stop.

But all in all, it seems that Freemen has sparked some confidence, and he is rather humble, and maybe he can set a tone with that "steady-eddie" demeanor of his.

I am not holding my breath, but I am a bit more hopeful.

[TriplePlay]

If you're a Green Bay fan you now have to know your season is over.

Aaron Rogers made so many good throws only to prove how bad he is by throwing some stupid passes that the Bucs rookie wouldn't throw.

Give Freeman credit, the line held most of the time and when they didn't the slow footed rookie looked elusive.

[jjbjeff]

I was extremely impressed with FREE. He played a great game considering it was his first start as a pro. That Packers defense is not a joke, either.

Of course, one game doesn't make a carreer, and he has alot to work on, but what a great start. The fade route on fourth down to Sammy Stroughter was big time. Congratulations to the kid.

I'm glad that Raheem got a win, as well. I'm not ready to say that he is the man after one win, but it is a step in the right direction.

Maybe he can take away their ipods and credit cards this week.

[Bucs101]

Stop the haters for one day? Tampa is 1-7. Nothing is going to stop the haters. And I'm really glad the Bucs won too, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. If this same team had better coaching from the beginning Tampa would not be 1-7 right now. Morris reminds me alot of Herm Edwards in his KC. Edwards was in a rebuilding year and never came out of it. To stop hemorrhaging, this team needs a better coach next year. If Tampa sticks with Morris its going to be alot of long years. It shows the Bucs have talent, they just need a strong leader to bring them along better. Sammie, is a solid receiver, he is talented and plays with alot of heart. I'm glad Tampa got that kid and I hope he becomes as good as a Steve Smith if not better.

[G. Michael Reynolds]

Thoroughly happy about the results of the game. I thought in preseason Freeman looked the business, and so he is. He's definitely still a rookie, but the guy has all kinds of potential. Like a smarter Daunte Culpepper in his early years, or Roethlesberger with better wheels. Even if they lose to Miami, I'm glad we'll get a week of feeling good from this.

Nickname of the weekend, from Chris Berman: Sammie "Sergeant" Stroughter. LOL!

[willem]

I am not saying we are contenders, but especialy young teams like this need confidence, miami has a up and down season, saints and flacons after that might be out of reach at that time but the last 5 games of the season might be against teams who are allready in the playoffs or shut it down for the season.
Carolina, jets, seahawks,saints falcons.
So we might end up with 4 wins this season. That doesnt matter for the draft any way to many loosing teams need a QB, and with dez bryant, suh, berry there is plenty talent where we have needs

[Tom]

Is it me, or does anyone else here see that we play better in zone defense? Mack gets beat in man coverage, gets an INT the very next series in zone.

[willem]

couldnt agree more tom

[BucFandango]

Happy 234'th B-Day USMC! Oorah!

Bates needs to go....still.

[Zalamut]

I'm glad we won, and it's nice to see Rah starting to act like his predecessor (implementing disciplinary measures,) but let's face it; if not for Bissaccia (the coach - Special Teams - from the last regime,) this game goes to Green Bay. It's the only part of the game that appears consistent - go figure. We still looked very bad most of the time on defense; getting smoked for two long TD passes and giving up another big day to the running game. Our O-line looked better because our QB actually made plays in the passing game, which in turn, made their defense play more honestly. Definitely the bright spot, even though still shaky, was the QB & special teams. Kudos Bucs; it was a win.

[Kurt]

First of all I'd like to say: Way to go Bucs! Congrats on a huge win to keep us out of the winless cellar! Thank you C Smith, G Hayes and J Freeman!

How ironic, justifying and vindicating those comments are by Raheem Morris! I agree whole-heartedly with Zalamut here. I would just add that it seems contradictory to Morris fans (which I am not - as HC at least,) that he has reverted to doing things the "old" way in order to get some semblance of production (however meager) out of his players. Didn't we fire the last coach because he "didn't listen to the same kind of music" and kept that awesome third stringer "Clayton" in the dog-house and supposedly "lost the team" because of it? Or can we just call it what it is: making players accountable for their actions/inactions? It seems to me that we are reverting back to our old "winning ways," by implementing a bit of discipline and holding people accountable like we "used to do!"

Unfortunately, we still have the problem of poor coordination (except by Bissacia) and zero leadership - until this weekend when the leader began acting like he whom we fired; no chest bumps. At least he is starting to act like a HC. Still was and will be a huge step backward from the last coaching staff. I'm just sayin...

[Dave]

Kurt, I agree. And let me say, as a Mor-O-Nik basher, I didn't stay away from the blogs because the Bucs won a game. I was out of town traveling, actually was in Baltimore during the game and heard their sports radio announcer say "Can you believe it, the Suck-aneers actually won a game!"... I still think this team sucks as a whole, with poor leadership from the top down. The Packers aren't as good as most of you think they are, be realistic. The Bucs have a half dozen or so really good players and alot of young potential that won't be optimized without competent coaching.

[jimmy]

Bucscountry23 , I totally disagree, if I were a player I would love a fiery coach like Smith, and if you know anything about D.Hall he most likely had it coming,he is always running his mouth

[Spenc Mann]

Hey look Bucfanding-o-ling finally chimed in and no bashing of Freeman you know, the bust he is and that you hope he fails so we can draft a real QB in the coming draft. I am right aren’t I? Wasn’t it you that said that? To tell you the truth I didn’t except a win against the Pack, not because of Freeman but because of the defense and after the second play I thought here we go again. Like Valrico Rick said total team effort. If Free can build off his play Sunday, he may just be the real deal. GO BUCS!!!

[OAR]

Im glad we got our first win, but it wasn't the qb play. While I wasn't one to say/label Freeman as a bust, I didn't think he was worth the trade up and 1st round pick and still don't. I never questioned his albilities just his leadership, desire, and mentality to read defenses. With that said, I think Josh Johnson as the startng qb, would have had the same outcome.
You guys calling out for "where are the haters are?" are just as bad to think Freeman's one win doesn't make him a bust. In other words one game doesn't make a career. Freeman did show some promise, but needs to keep improving!
Let's not forget Gradkowski had almost indentical numbers 20-31, 225yds, 2 tds, 0 ints(even rushed for almost the same, 19yds) and although Grad lost his first start, he didn't have any defensive interceptions or kick returns to help his field positions.

[Vincent]

I hear a lot of talk about Richard Bisaccia, and that if not for his coaching, the team would have fallen to Green Bay. These comments are only to detract from an otherwise valiant effort by the Bucs on Sunday, and serve no other purpose than to detract from the modicum of success thus far. Obviously, Special teams play was the phase of the game that the Bucs were able to dominate, and many coaches have gone on records as saying "you have to win two out of the three phases (offense, defense, special teams) of the game, to achieve victory. The Special teams SHOULD be leading the charge, at least at this moment in the rebuilding process, for the system has been in place the longest, and it's been developing since the midpoint of last season.

The road ahead for the Bucs is arduous, and the losing is by no means over! Let them have their week, let them celebrate, and let's be thankful that Morris didn't fire Richard Bisaccia, and kept him on as Special teams coach! Since when is it a knock against Morris, that a coach brought in under Gruden, is still in the active employ of the team? Doesn't this further show Morris' ability to recognize talent, this time in the coaching staff? In other words, to suggest that Richard Bisaccia's success with the Special teams, is somehow indicative of Morris' shortcomings as a coach is a preposterous notion.

[Bucscountry23]

I was just kidding with the haters remark, trying to stir things up a bit. Yes Jimmy, I know D. Hall is a punk, but regardless, Hall wasn't even involved in the questionable play that got everything started, yet Smith was trying to pull Hall by the face mask. Man, I hope we can somehow pull out a win against the Falcons this year.

[Vincent]

The over emphasis on "chest bumping" is out of control. If they (BUCS coaches and players) want to "chest bump", it's their choice. Yes, I understand the "military profile" and how it's not acceptable in their ranks. Yet, it's the NFL, not the military. You or I may not like it (I think it to be slightly juvenile), or what it stands for, but then again, we're not on the field are we? It's fine to disagree with "chest bumping", but the over emphasis as if the game is being won or lost based on "chest bumping" is illogical.

[Bucscountry23]

I'm sure all of you read the comments made by coach Haslett, and some of the Tusker's players about how they wish they could play the Bucs and that they could probably win. This Tuskers team, with a mighty 4-0 record, got two of their wins by beating the Las Vegas Cobras. Why do I bring this up? Because on ESPN's "come on man!" segment last night they showed a clip of the Cobras on a punt return, and member of their team tackled their own teamate, in the open field no less!! How does that happen? Ya, and the Tuskers could beat the Bucs........

[Brandon]

Tom,

Of course this team plays better in zone...99.9% of DBs in the NFL do... a good DC would realize that and quit trying to fit round pegs into square holes.

Bucs win, good for us! Bates still needs to be fired. All but one of our sacks were coverage sacks, we still gave up about 400 yards, and the main reason we won was because our special teams and our offense bailed us out. As I've been saying since loss one, we have really good DBs and LBs, but a bad DL and a terrible DC. Monte made it work, Bates is in over his head.

[jjbjeff]

This "man" defense is the problem right now. In the old "Tampa Two" everyone knew what to do, and where the other defenders were going to be.

When you play man-to-man you have no idea where you are going, or where your teammates are going to be. The confusion is obvious!

I am noticing our young safeties and LB's are confused out there. Quincy Black might be a hell of an athelete, but he is so far out of position it is ridiculous.

TJack got burned on the TD Elbert Mack gave up. He was 15 yards out of position on that play. It was more his fault than Mack's.

Or, is that the design of the defense? I just don't get it. Why are our safeties such risk takers? We lead the NFL in giving up big plays and we continue to be reckless.

[OAR]

Some interesting stats of Freeman's first game:

Taking a snap from a shotgun formation, Freeman’s numbers were solid. He was 13 of 21 for 188 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.

Taking a snap from center, Freeman was Dilferesque, completing just 1 of 10 passes for 17 yards and an interception.

With three wideouts, Freeman was 7 of 12 for 121 yards. With just two wideouts, Freeman completed just 1 of 9 passes.