Raheem Morris A “Genius” Sunday
November 23rd, 2010
Joe’s been banging on his laptop at a popular coffee shop doing real work for a change and is all caffeined up.
Generally, this means Joe is about to fire off a missive about the Bucs that would singe most people’s eyes, or write such a lustful post about Rachel Watson that it would cause most red-blooded American males to start downing shots or run for a cold shower, or both.
But neither is the case here.
Joe just can’t write enough about the stunning job Bucs coach Raheem Morris did in crafting a gameplan to shutout the 49ers. Blanking an NFL team on the road is spectacular enough but for the Bucs soft defense to do this, to hold Frank Gore to 23 yards and to rack up six sacks on a mobile quarterback, well, Joe thinks that was the performance of the season and perhaps the best coaching job done on the Bucs sidelines since Chucky in the Super Bowl.
It was the first time the Niners suffered a shutout at home in 33 years, a third of a century if you can imagine.
Since, Joe has written several times that almost as equally surprising to him is that Niners coach Mike Singletary is still employed after such an awful effort. National scribes made such a big deal of the Packers wiping the floor with the Vikings Sunday but Joe thought the (lack of) effort and coaching done by the Niners against the Bucs was far more shameful.
Given the fact Singletary didn’t lead the Niners to the NFC championship last year, Joe thought sure Singletary’s head would be on a platter before sullen, mumbling introvert Brad Childress, who Joe doesn’t think could lead a Little League team to an ice cream shop much less a gaggle of sailors on shoreleave to a house of ill repute.
Seems as if the blog Niners Nation agrees with Joe, and thanks to Raheem, has called for an outright firing of Singletary. Now.
Mike Singletary was out-coached in every aspect of the game. Raheem Morris, eighteen years younger than Singletary, put together a gameplan that was tailor-made to beat a team that would have a one-track mind. The 49ers deficiencies are clear and out there for everybody, and it falls on Singletary and his assistants to disguise and correct them. Raheem out-coached Mike at every single turn, and looked like a genius doing it, in only his second full-year as an NFL head coach.
That’s pretty much what Joe thought, that Raheem was two steps ahead of Singletary virtually each and every play. In Joe’s eyes for that Bucs rush defense (weak) to shut down Gore is such a way, and for that Bucs defensive line (anemic) to nearly double their season sack total was nothing short of brilliant.
If Raheem can keep that up, the next few weeks should be special for Bucs fans.
November 23rd, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Heckuva Job, Morriss.
Too many people opine that Raheem is too close, too friendly with his players. Fact is at this time, it works. Raheem will need to evolve over time or lose the team. I think he can do it.
November 23rd, 2010 at 2:09 pm
He will need to evolve over time? Why? How? Give an example….
November 23rd, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Why does he need to evolve? Based on what? They are a football team, not a military unit. If his style works for the players on the roster then why change anything? It didn’t work for players like Derrick Ward- and he found himself on another roster (and based on his comments after his release he thought the Texans had so much better leadership… does he still think that????).
So what if he’s too close to his players? When he has the youngest roster in the league maybe that’s what they need! A good friend/role model to keep them in line and on-focus. Let them grow together.
Maybe he will need to change in the future- but as long as the results are there it would be highly arrogant of us fans to say what his style should be.
November 23rd, 2010 at 2:26 pm
The guy is sharp and quite the talker. Can’t help but like him. And obviously he knows football. Seems he’s the perfect fit for a young team.
Hey Joe, please ask one of the reporters that cover the Bucs press conferences to ask why Larsen was pulled from the game. I hate that those people many times don’t ask the obvious questions.
November 23rd, 2010 at 2:30 pm
No one really has proof of that anyway. We really do not know how he is with the players, but whatever he is doing is starting to work well.
November 23rd, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Personally, I think the Ravens are in store for a dose of this too. Take a look at the stats. In offense, Ravens are middle of the road in passing, but we actually are better than them in rushing. In defense, they arent that great against the pass, but are better than us in rush defense. This is the game that is going to be played the full sixty minutes like last week. A methodical attack in the first half to wear down the old Ravens defense senior citizens, and come out in the second half to air it out.
Mike Singeltary said it well, “The Bucs did stuff they didnt expect”. Thats how you win, and Raheem is a winner.
Bucs over Ravens 35-21
November 23rd, 2010 at 3:12 pm
South Tampa- I’m hopeful that the Bucs will win, but expecting the same Singletary performance against a Harbaugh-led team is not reasonable. Singeltary, while a great player, appears to be in way over his head as a coach (funny that’s what everyone said about Raheem up until 2 weeks ago). Decent talent (Willis and Gore are pretty good centerpieces) and mediocre-to-poor results for 2 years. Harbaugh is a much better game planner and coach. Ravens D is on the downswing with aging talent- like the Bucs’ prior 2-3 seasons, and offense has a great young QB and a great pair of RBs – but they can still play with the big boys.
My point is that we can’t rely on Harbaugh being outcoached to the degree Singletary was. It will be much closer than you’re predicting
November 23rd, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Rah Rah Rah for coach of the year! Bucs 24 Dumpster Turkeys 21.
November 23rd, 2010 at 4:07 pm
I just have this feeling that we will win against the Ravens and then go into the home game against the Falcons (with a sold out crowd) and both of us will be 8-3 competing for 1st yet again. The dirty birds play Green Bay and the past few game Green Bay has been playing well. I think the dirty birds get man handled this game and when we play them again our boys will have a chip on their shoulder with how the last game played out. Against the Ravens, well I think we will win but it will be a fairly low scoring game: Bucs 17 – 10.
If you can afford to go to the Falcons game then please do! We need a sell out and scream their offense right off the field!
Oh, BTW – go to nfl.com and vote McCoy for ROW. I think we have had a nomination every week except against the Steelers and our bye.
GO BUCS
November 23rd, 2010 at 4:11 pm
I kind of agree with Rob. Although, all coaches can be out coached. Gruden spanked Dungy when the Bucs played the Raiders, but Dungy’s Colts pulled of one of the most amazing comebacks of all time out coaching Gruden. Anytime a team wins some say the other team was out coached…but if the players do not execute all the game planning in the world is out the window. Morris has a new style about him, so Harbaugh may not see him coming either. I see this one being closer to 24 – 17 Tampa.
November 23rd, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Hearing a lot about the Bucs winning against the Ravens this week. Now…. who would have thought we had a chance at this game before this season started????
November 24th, 2010 at 1:41 am
I see nearly every aspect of Tampa getting better each week, including the Coaching.
It seems all Olson’s offense needed was a running game, and our defense needed the addition from Kansas City. Tampa just keeps getting better and better each game