An accomplished FOX TV reporter in Denver, Josina Anderson, studied Raheem Morris’ qualifications to become Broncos’ head coach.

A Denver Reporter Takes A Long, Hard Look At Raheem Morris

Anderson, unfortunately, throws race into the mix, trying to use Barack Obama analogies. But that aside, she talked to Simeon Rice, Bucs WR Bryan Clark (a former Bronco) and NFL execs and agents to put together a written analysis.

It’s the kind of stuff that the Tampa Bay media should have been all over when Morris was put on the head coaching radar. But the local scribes and TV reporters got soft. Too much holiday cheer, perhaps. In the old days, a local media outlet or two would have sent a reporter along to Denver with Morris. Oh, well. Joe is here now to help.

Anderson offered a rare glimpse at the respect Jon Gruden and Bucs players have for Morris.

Besides this season, there were several times Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden gave Morris the opportunity to address the entire team in preparation for upcoming games.

[Bryan] Clark continued to stress Morris’ preparation and his attention to detail-citing one game as one example.

“When we played the Saints that’s obviously a heavy passing team. Rah’ told all his players his mindset was that [Drew] Brees was launching a personal attack on the defense if he felt he could run up the score on them. On the sidelines he said, I can’t repeat the language but to paraphrase he said, ’if these guys think we are that soft and we are that sorry to win this game by passing, they obviously don’t know who they are messing with.’ Jo, you could see it in his eyes, veins bulging, blood rushing; and the guys responded to it. At the end of the game I remember Jermaine Phillips caught the interception to seal the deal. Rah’ went nuts. But Rah’ wasn’t so much happy about the interception as he was that Jermaine let the Saints know that if they play the Bucs they are going to have to find another way to beat us because it’s not passing.”

Matter of fact Simeon Rice told FOX31 Sports that if Bowlen hired Morris as head coach, a certain future Hall of Famer and former Bronco and Buccaneer maybe both enticed and invited to come out of retirement.

“John [Lynch] may even come back. I’m telling you, you guys would love [Morris] out there. He is cool. He is a fresh look, and he is the closest thing to Tomlin out there-and Tomlin is a damn good coach in a new league,” said Rice.

When asked whether Denver is ready to have a black coach as the head coach Rice said,

“It has nothing to do with the black or white card as much as it has to do with age. But with Raheem, he is a leader. A guy like Raheem is going to address things earlier. Older coaches take a longer time to get over themselves sometimes.”

Anderson sat down for a video intervew with Morris, which Joe highly recommends. He’s intense and well spoken. Again, the lTampa Bay MSM has offered so few opportunities to get to know this guy.

Anderson: How do you speak to your critics too that say that: this is just a Rooney Rule interview; that you are too young for the interview; that you’ve only been a newly named coordinator for over a week or so? How would you speak to those critics and say you know what I am ready for this job?

Morris: You really don’t. You just let your work speak for itself. You go do the best job you can do, and that’s all you can do. There are always going to be critics. There’s always going to be people that have a reason for whatever is going on. You don’t really worry about that. That’s gray matter. I’m way too mentally tough to deal with that.

Joe recommends the unedited interview at the bottom of page. (((Note: As usual, Joe expects TBO.com to post all this information on its Web site within a few hours of it appearing on JoeBucsFan.com. Keep up the good work, fellas.)))