Raheem The Prophet
October 31st, 2010
"You see them, Ken. That's the best team in the NFC."
Nostradamus. Samuel. Muhammad Ali. Raheem Morris?
Clearly seeing the future, last week Morris called the Bucs the “best team in the NFC” when they weren’t. And now, one week later, they actually have the best record in the NFC at 5-2.
Magic.
Using the Bill Cowher method, Raheem has now joined some of the great prophets of all time. And there’s no stopping the head coach. The Bucs haven’t beaten a team with a winning record, their stats are for losers are among the top half of the league in only a few categories, but none of that means a pile of crap.
Scoreboard! That was the message Raheem gave the media again after Sunday’s win in Arizona, per the news conference video on NFL.com.
“I’m going to remain unwavered. You know, there’s no doubt about it, man. As long as my record says that we’re the best team in the NFC, I’m not going to let anybody tell me what we’re not,” Raheem said. “I’m certainly going to tell my team that we are. And that’s what we are, man. And like I said the whole week, ‘Somebody has to be No. 1. Why not us?'”
Well, why not? It’s fun to believe.
Now Joe will be on the edge of his couch Sunday but expects the Bucs’ balloon to be deflated in Atlanta and Raheem to kill the “we’re the best” rhetoric for a while.
But ultimately that’s OK, as long as the Bucs are in the game. The Bucs can absorb a loss, bounce back at home against Carolina and head to San Francisco at 6-3.
No matter what, the Bucs will be playing meaningful games in December, a great learning experience for the young players and a flat out miracle already performed by the head coach.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:19 pm
Already giving the falcons the W? Thankfully I have a little more faith then that. You gotta have some more faith brother ! The young bucs have arrived.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:20 pm
With Blount running the ball I think we can pull off a win over Atlanta. And besides, we have a wildcard… we happen to have the luckiest coach in the NFL! 🙂
Although he still is one big joke, this team is hot with young playmakers. Maybe Raheem was on to something when him and Dom went out and got a bunch of young pkaymakers on offense… they had to cover up Raheems weaknesses SOMEHOW.
Other than that, his in game decisions are left to be questioned at best.
Go Bucs players! You keep playing this well, and you guys are gonna turn Raheem into coach of the year. Raheems new nickname is DumbLuck.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:34 pm
look, right now i guess falcons has 70% chances to beat us, but thats ok, i mean, this young bucs enjoy being underdogs, and is like they have an answer for every moment, as a fan i will always pick my bucs to the win, im concerning about the DLine, please guys, make a stand!!
October 31st, 2010 at 11:37 pm
San Francisco…..I’m not gonna say that’s an easy win. The last couple of times we played the 49ers, we end up losing even though they were a very weak team. Also, the Bucs never have success at Candlestick.
It’s gonna be an exciting matchup against the Falcons. What’s even more exciting…..I’ll be able to see the game next week!
As for Carolina, I think we’ll take care of them easily.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:52 pm
Buc You you are an idiot.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:58 pm
None of the coming games will be “easy”. Each of the teams we’ll play will play hard and be tough to beat. We have the best chances against the 49’ers, Seahawks, Panthers, Lions, Redskins. We can beat the Falcons, but I’m just looking for the team to keep it close and have a chance in the 4th. If we can play them tough in the Dome and keep it close, we have an even better shot to beat them at home later in the year. If they can even beat the 5 I mentioned above, they’d be 10-6, that’d be even greater than I predicted. If they can steal one from the Falcons, this could be one of the greatest turnarounds in the NFL.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:59 pm
Joe why are you so quick to annoint the Falcons the best team in the division? They have only beaten one team with a winning record. They lost to the Steelers just like us and they got destroyed by the Eagles two weeks ago.
The Bucs are playing pretty good football on offense. Now that they have found a running game I wouldnt be so quick to just hand the win to the Falcons.
November 1st, 2010 at 12:01 am
I challenge Buc You to name me Raheem’s “mistakes” today other than his two lost challenges. Go ahead, I dare you.
November 1st, 2010 at 12:02 am
Joe’s giddy (and trying to get drunk) off of the Bucs win today but Joe still can’t shake how porous the Bucs defense was to a couple of profound hack quarterbacks despite getting four picks.
Thank God for LeGarrette Blount!
November 1st, 2010 at 12:03 am
Buc You,
This game would have been in hand much earlier if it weren’t for a muffed punt (special teams, gonna call for Bisaccia’s head too????) and Blount’s fumble returned for a TD (whom you are obviously enamored with, you couldn’t blame him for fumbling, blame it on the coach). As it is, we had to once again come back and win late. Remember though, even after we got the lead, we needed Talib to make that pick to put it away. That’s defense, that’s Morris’ guys making those plays. Whine all you want, but his guys are doing what they need to do. 3 of our 5 wins, the D shut out our opponent in the 2nd half. Today, it wasn’t the D’s fault (special teams and a fumble by Blount), yet the D still came up big when it counted.
November 1st, 2010 at 12:03 am
I fully expect a loss next week and then a win against the Panthers, so 6-3 sounds very likely. I still think we end up 8-8 though.
If we actually managed to win next week in Atlanta….I would have to start second guessing my 8-8 prediction, but that is highly unlikely so let’s not go there.
I fully expect our defense to get embarassed all year, but I think Blount is going to open this offense for Free. Plus our back up offensive linemen look better than our starters, and Benn might be emerging. I expect big things from our offense by year’s end. I don’t think today will be the last time we see both teams combine for a total of 60 or more points.
November 1st, 2010 at 12:05 am
umm @buc You give the credit where it is due i didnt believe in him either… but we cant stop the run, less than average against the pass, but some kind of way we force turnovers (def playcalling) and josh freeman seems to know how to WIN. We are not gonna win the superbowl… but im happy with the effort i see on the field. The confidence trickles down from our head coach and its working. so leave our overachievers the eff alone. no offense
November 1st, 2010 at 12:11 am
JDouble:
Joe isn’t so sure. That means the Bucs will go 3-6 the rest of the way. Don’t see that happening.
Joe thought Raheem was nuts to suggest 10 wins and Joe was hoping the best the Bucs could do is go 8-8. After today, going 5-4 isn’t that outrageous of a concept. The Bucs have four games left in the division, right? They should split those two, at least. If that happens, that means the Bucs only need to win three non-division games.
Frisco is a winnable game.
Washington is a winnable game.
Detroit is a winnable game.
Seattle is a winnable game.
Getting to 10 wins actually seems reasonable.
The Bucs are in a playoff hunt. For 2010. Two months ago if you would have said Joe would type those words, Joe would have had you committed.
November 1st, 2010 at 12:11 am
Joe,
Im not saying the Bucs don’t have their issues. I’m just saying I’m not so sure the Falcons are that much bettter than them. They’ve played three teams with winning records and lost to two of them.
November 1st, 2010 at 12:18 am
Also everyone keeps saying we haven’t beaten a team with a winning record but both the Rams and the Cardinals would be above .500 if they had beaten us.
November 1st, 2010 at 12:39 am
Is it possible to have two rookies nominated for “Rookie of the Week” in the same week? I could easily see both Mike Williams (105 yds, 1 TD) and LeGarrette Blount (120 yds, 2 TDs) being up there this week. If there are 4 nominees, that’d finally give us a 50/50 shot at getting it.
November 1st, 2010 at 12:44 am
One thing I gotta say is Greg Olson called a FANTASTIC game. He was unwavered when the Bucs were behind and has a huge amount of faith in his QB. Ballsy calls all over the place. I respect the guy so much more today.
November 1st, 2010 at 12:45 am
Joe, I’m not saying they can’t over achieve ans get to 10 wins, but that would mean they have to win all 5 games that they “should” win. I’m confident they’ll win 3 of those 5, but we’ll see.
As for the two Falcon games, Saints, and Ravens…I don’t think we are ready to hang with those guys yet. Like I said, if we pull out a win in Atlanta next week it would change my opinion, but right now I feel like the offense isn’t quite as good as it can be, and certainly not good enough to overcome a defense that is just plain awful 50% of the time, mediocre the other 50%.
If our defense starts getting pressure, and starts playing at kickoff instead of mid way thru the 2nd quarter, then I think we could be an honest play off team. I just don’t see it happening this year. I think we just need more talent on the defensive side of the ball to truly be a contender.
November 1st, 2010 at 12:57 am
JDouble:
Ravens game is a loss. Joe’s not that drunk (yet).
Finishing 8-8 is very, very reachable. Again, 8-8 and the Bucs could sneak into the playoffs.
(Joe’s is very giddy over this win.)
November 1st, 2010 at 1:14 am
joe,
love the pic and the quote below it….i really got a good laugh out of it…thanks, adam from ny
November 1st, 2010 at 1:19 am
chances are rah and whiz are really just admiring a cheerleader or something….adam from ny
November 1st, 2010 at 1:28 am
Damn man what a bunch of pessimists here. What other team in the NFL could be 5-2 and still have its fans looking for reasons to believe they will not make the playoffs. At 5-2 the Bucs have not played their best ball yet. If this team doesn’t lose any one truly key on offense like Free,Blount, or Williams to injury there is no reason to believe they wont be at least 9-7 with a chance for a wildcard. Its time to believe in the playoffs. Freeman is an elite quarterback NOW. Not in a year or two. He is playing like a pro-bowler now. With the running threat in place watch Freemans completion percentage and QB rating steadily climb towards where the truly elite QB’s are at. 72% completions against Arizona.
November 1st, 2010 at 1:46 am
Please don’t ever proclaim a loss so plainly about our team like that. Why play if “the ravens game is a loss”? Remember the Bills? They made the Ravens D look pretty mediocre last week. I think our offense will prove to be a bit more explosive than the bills. Also the Ravens offense has the tendency to be a little skitzo. Flacco won’t kill us, if we contain their run we can win that game.
November 1st, 2010 at 3:10 am
One thought regarding playoff implications….
Outside of the NFC South, teams that are likely to fall in that 8-8 to 10-6 range and contend for a wild card will include the Redskins, Seahawks, Rams, and Cardinals. We’ve beaten two of them. We play two more. If we can beat the Skins and Hawks, we’d have tie break over any of them. Of course that doesn’t include the Falcons/Saints in our own division, or the Eagles/Giants. But one team from each division won’t contend for the wild card, because they’ll win the division. If the Giants win the east, we only have to contend with the Redskins/Eagles. If the Seahawks win the west, we only contend with the Rams/Cardinals for the wild card. What I’m seeing is that we’re actually winning the “tie break” games against potential wild card competitors.
November 1st, 2010 at 3:37 am
I hope that the performance of so many of the young players on this team will quiet the free agency whiners this offseason. Its going to cost a lot of money down the road just to resign all the good young players that are already on this team. There is no reason to not continue riding out with the players they draft. Wasting money on big name free agents will just mean us having to watch homegrown talent leave down the road when we can’t afford to pay them. I hope the Glazers continue to stay far under the cap until its time to sign some of these guys to big contracts down the road.
November 1st, 2010 at 5:38 am
Am I the only one that is noticing that Buc You is making the same exact posts on every article? As usual, he is giving no facts to back up his argument (probably because there are none). If you are going to be an argumentative prick, at least do it with some creativeness.
November 1st, 2010 at 8:55 am
Hawaiian…Buc You is simply a racist.
November 1st, 2010 at 10:21 am
Yes he is. What a ###### joke !
November 1st, 2010 at 11:11 am
In regards to BucYou,
What did he say that makes him a Racist? Really?
I don’t agree with his views and he obviously doesn’t like Coach Raheem, but a lot of Buc Fans feel the same way about Raheem. That doesn’t make him a racist and you guys should stick the race card back up your ass where it belongs.
The Dems call the Tea Party racists and that too is complete garbage. I’m sick of when someone disagrees or hates the coach they are automatically labeled a racist.
You guys are loyal fans and much smarter than that. Hate on him sure, his posts don’t make sense because his hate clouds his judgment, but that doesn’t make him a racist.
Grow up!!!
November 1st, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Bigmac…I appreciate what you are saying. Eric does not like Raheem, but I do not get the impression that his dislike is based on race. I am pretty sure Buc You is rahdom/javiar, which he has posted racist type things in the past…remember Steve White called him out for it. Now, if I am wrong about the who Buc You is, I will apologize. Many posters have asked and he has not said he is or is not tahdom. No one is “playing the race card” or playing politics. So you grow up, and stick the card and the tea party up your ass!