First Half Not Dreamy For Raheem Morris
September 12th, 2010
Bucs coach Raheem Morris was anything but his normal gregarious self as he left the field and spoke on the Bucs radio network. Morris was asked about Mike Williams circus catch to pull the Bucs within 14-10 late in the first half but Morris wasn’t dancing cartwheels.
“We’re making too many mistakes,” Morris said. “We should be up. We have to go in and fix it. Kudos to Mike Williams but we have to play better in the second half.”
Indeed. But Bucs look lethargic. Dave Moore on the Bucs radio network believes it’s fatigue. Josh Freeman looks rusty but even Joe could have predicted that with only throwing eight passes in the preseason.
September 12th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
I hope Freeman’s thumb doesn’t become worse. It might’ve been wise to have sat him this game and let Johnson or Carpenter play.
September 12th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
I’d say Freeman is the one that needs to worry. If this is what he is bringing to the table against Cleveland he won’t be this revered qb of the future much longer
September 12th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
hate it when they miss obvious calls caddy just had his best run and gets horse collared NO CALL!!!
September 12th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Graham fumbles on the 2yd line!!!!! NOOOOOO!!!!
September 12th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
Just like old times relying on the D!!! Lets see how much heart our D has!!
September 12th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
now we go to a 3-4 d WTF!!!
September 12th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Raheem must have lit a fire under their ass’, they looked like a different team 2nd half.
September 12th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
How bout them Bucs. Gonna win arent we. . .
September 12th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
This isnt the BCS, a win is a win. Bucs ball is back
September 12th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
First to say it BUCS WIN BUCS WIN BUCS WIN!!!!
September 12th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
ok haters…lets here it
September 12th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
That was freaking ugly. Rah should have takin the field goal. That is why no one likes Rah. It would have been a 6 point lead and and we got lucky that Delhomo didn’t make a Carolina come back.
September 12th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
So what if it is Cleveland, We have a lot to work on Talib will help alot .Hopefully Freeman’s Thumb is OK and Caddy’s what ever he hurt!
September 12th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
The BEST thing I saw was the Bucs made changes during halftime. I believe they obviously have some sort of plan – unlike last year.
A return to Dungyball!
Way to go Bucs
September 12th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Bucs WIN BABY, and just as importantly, the young Guys played great! Also great coaching, especially second half adjustments- GO BUCS!!!!
September 12th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Atlanta is in overtime right now against the Steelers tied 9-9!!! GO STEELERS!!!
Carolina is getting whooped by the Giants right now!! If they both lose, Bucs are tied with the Saints for first place!
September 12th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Good solid comeback win against a team we should have beaten. This is a game we would’ve lost last year hands down but Rah took ’em in, got ’em refocused and came back.
Good job men.
September 12th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
carolina and atl lose…love it
September 12th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
Our team will be real good soon.
September 12th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Who knows what this season will be like. but we know we can win. we have a good core of young talent. Wonder if Raheem might be the one to make it happen. . .
September 12th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
Remember people, Freeman has a bad thumb on his throwing hand and hardly played the last month. Plus he is in his second year, notorious for being a bad year for most QBs who played as rookies. I have confidence he will get better.
The issue I saw was what we all knew: DE. They did nothing as far as pass rush. The young DTs all played pretty god. The LBs and DBs played pretty good. There was one major lapse when they TJax (I think) took a Sabby angle and it went for Cleveland’s first TD. Other wise, I think the Defense played pretty good.
HEY… THE BUCS ARE IN FIRST PLACE!!!!!!! LOL
Next week is another week in wich they have a real shot at winning. After that, it gets tough for a few weeks.
September 12th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Ok. We won. Awesome. We looked real, real sketchy. They got big plays in the first half. Second half we kept them under control but our offense was still atrocious. Hopefully a rhythm develops by next week. We showed a lot of potential, but also a lot of potential problems.
September 12th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
BUCS WIN!!!!! Come on Joe, you are quick with your hater articles. Where is your Win Announcement.
Wife and I were at the game, sat through the heat and the downpour and just got home. I would say there were close to 50-55k real fans there. Not everyone went on your lazy drive to Yeehaw Junction to watch the game. Awesome feeling that we beat the predictions, and most of all…..we are tied for first place in the division.
September 12th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Let these young taste teh sweet blood of victory. they’ll gel at some point. but they at least know they can win.
September 12th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Well one nice thing is we won’t ever hear we might go 0-16 this year. Thats a load off these guys shoulders.
September 12th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Not gonna go jumping cartwheels here. It was a win. I’m glad we won. It was a bit sloppy, but the end result is what we needed.
Looked like good pressure by the D-line, even from the 3-4 with Black rushing. They were getting pressure and hits. Crowder looked pretty good on the edge, even made a play in zone blitz coverage. He also got beat in coverage once, but he’s a D-lineman so I won’t bitch too much. I like the guys inside. McCoy/Price/Miller will get better, and already are looking better than what we had last year.
Biggers played pretty good today. He should slide over to nickel no problem and make us pretty strong at CB. Tanard Jackson did NOT look good today. He needs to quit going for the pick all the freakin’ time and take the right angle to support his CB.
Geno is a beast at LB, gotta love him and Black. Ruud is looking better hitting gaps and putting a helmet on the ball.
Mike Williams still needs a bit more time, but he’s already showing what we can look forward to. Other than that, I didn’t see much from the WRs. Stroughter was ok, as was Spurlock. K2 almost made a circus catch, but was not spectacular.
Caddy, gotta love him. He fights for every yard. He had at least 3 big runs, 2 called back on penalties. Graham is seeing a lot of action at FB. I think it’s good use of our guys. With those two in the game, teams don’t know who’s getting the ball. Would have been nice to see Huggins get a touch or two, but it’s early, he’ll see more. The line was ok today, nothing special, but did just enough.
Freeman showed just how much that thumb is affecting him right now. He floated a lot of passes and was lucky he didn’t get picked off more. A healthy thumb and he’d have hit MW on that pass for the score. Instead he floated one to Spurlock on the next play for the TD. As the thumb heals, I think we’ll see his leadership and the results of his off-season work. He will be a good one, but needs to get that thumb healthy. I bet he won’t take another snap til at least Wednesday’s practice, and gets loads of ice on it.
Overall, we won a game we should have with sloppy early play. As they put it all together, the young guys start to figure it out, Freeman gets healthy… the team should be “less sloppy” and have better chances to put games away early and pound it out with Caddy and Graham. Good job Bucs!!!
September 12th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Freeman needs to step it up period win or not. Thumb or not
September 12th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Thanks BamBam. Nice synopsis.
September 12th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
If Tampa 2 is out there…Now you can stop ripping on Barbrer not getting an INT last year, and you can admitt that the Bucs beat the browns, and that you were wrong…
September 12th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
No problem, TrueBlue. I forget that some cannot watch the game. I live in Colorado and rely on my NFL Sunday Ticket to see the games every year.
September 12th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
In the NFL there is no such thing as an ugly win. Wins are tough to come by at home and on the road and especially with such a young team and coaching staff. Let us not forget that the Browns are an NFL team and are getting paid to win just like any other team. Let us quit griping about how ugly it was and quit being goobers and enjoy being 1-0. It may be the last time we are tied for first the rest of the season. Lets also not let it go to our heads. This team is going to have to struggle to find it’s identity and win games. This was a good chance to fight through adversity and come back in the 4th quarter to secure a precious victory. Good job Bucs and good luck next week and Kudos to the fans who survived the crazy heat and rain to support our team.
September 12th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
jaytek74, good post. And this team is built for the fourth quarter. If they can get a lead early and keep it, it’s a win. Just like last year only way better. GOOO BUCS!!!
September 12th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Still think Rah has some room for improvement though.
September 12th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Nice win! But we really need work on our red zone offense, we couldn’t get it done on those last two drives.
September 12th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
One of those red zone drives ended with Graham’s fumble. I agree, we need to eliminate turnovers in the red zone. A FG there, and they would have kicked the FG on the next one to go up 9 and put it away. Instead, they went for it on 4th (I disagree with that call completely, should have gone up 6 instead of give the Browns the ball back and only have to get a FG).
September 12th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
As far as people getting on them for looking slopp and Freeman not looking sharp…………. get over it and enjoy it.
It is a win for a very young team who hardly played together in the preseason. Of course it was going to be sloppy and of course Freeman wasn’t going to look great. Like JOE said, he threw 8 preseason passes and has an injured thumb.
Alot of you are starting to sound like fans from NE: WHINING AND BITCHING ALOT
September 12th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
BAM BAM…I typically agree with you, but not on this point. I lioked that the showed some balls and went for it. If they kicked the FG they gave the Browns a chance to return the ball. Maybe they return it fo a TD and we lose, or maybe they return it to the 50, get some momentum and kick a FG to go to OT. The Bucs D was standing up by then, and giving them the ball next to their goal line was fine. Many will question the call, but if he made the first down or a TD everyone would say it was the right thing to do. I think it was a win win situation. EIther score and win, or pin them as far back as possible.
September 12th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
Not whining or bitching at all, Dave. There was some sloppy play, but I love the win. They hung in there, the D had a great second half, the running game did enough to put the game away at the end. Thing about winning a game in which there was sloppy play is that it can only get better from here. If they clean up some things, they can be pretty good later in the year.
Yes, Freeman’s thumb is hurt and he only had 8 passes in preseason. That probaby explains the ball way overthrown to Mike Williams when he was wide open on the play fake. He came back and hit Spurlock on the next play. When he starts hitting those passes more regularly, they’ll win more frequently. I think the INT he threw was also a result of the thumb injury. Those things will get better.
I love winning a sloppy game, because that means when they get it all straightened out, this team will be dangerous.
September 12th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
McBuc,
A FG at that point would have put us up by 6. They couldn’t have kicked a FG to tie and go to OT, they’d have had to score a TD. As it was, they were driving down to kick that FG to tie at the end. Would have been a more difficult task to score the TD. Either way, we won and I’m happy.
September 12th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
We were loud today. I know they could here it on TV. We willed the Defense to win today. They were stout. Way to go Bucs. All the haters can just suck on it, right here. haha, Bucs Win. What a great game until the bitter end. 1-0 tied for 1’st.
September 12th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
hear, oops sorry