No doubt Raheem The Dream and his Chucky-like work ethic poured over game film into the wee hours on Sunday.

He talked to the Bucs media staff about what he saw. There was high praise for the linebacker corps, though he called Jermaine Phillips “very average.”

“The linebackers, I was excited about them, to be honest with you,” said Morris. “You’re talking about exciting play from Quincy Black. Flip was decent for his first time out in the box – very average but decent. He shot his gun a couple times. We looked very fast, very explosive. The only thing we’ve got to clean up is some of the flat throws. Some of those were toughs, some of the bootlegs when we’re playing quarters and you’re trying to read that thing. Some of those things are tough, some of them are schematic differences in the defense that show up.

“But talking about playing fast, hitting, hustling, physical and tough play, like we’ve talking about all season? We got that. They played fast and they hit. I was excited to see the young guys go. Geno Hayes is another one that played well. Hayward, Quincy, Niko and Rod when they were in there…take away that one missed tackle by Hayward and he played pretty good.”

Morris also went on to praise the Bucs’ tackling.

“For the first preseason game? I don’t know if I’ve seen this team tackle that well in the first preseason game,” said Morris. “Maybe that has something to do with the camp; that wasn’t the first time we tackled. For a preseason game, I was ecstatic with the way we tackled. The tackling, the hustling, the physical play…that was there.”

Joe’s just giddy that the Bucs defense didn’t display any glaring weaknesses other than a largely non-existent Gaines Adams, first-team pass rush.