Freeman Calls Out Misbehaving Teammates
December 15th, 2010
Josh Freeman tried to make a case today before the local media that Raheem Morris bears no responsibility for his players off-the-field screwups.
Nice try.
A good effort from the young quarterback, so documented Victoria Lim, of BHSN as well as Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune.
“We’ve got to stop screwing this guy over by getting in trouble off the field,” said quarterback Josh Freeman, referring to head coach Raheem Morris and criticism Morris faces in the wake of the third arrest this season by one of his players.
Freeman said Morris has done his job, leading the team to win games. What happens after practice, meetings and games, Freeman said is up to the player.
“When we get done football, Raheem – you can’t expect him to go by everybody’s house at a certain hour. We have to take a higher level of responsibility for ourselves from college.”
To Joe, this is like not putting any blame on a parent who doesn’t have all his youngsters in line.
Raheem’s youngsters don’t always behave. Whatever he’s doing isn’t working effectively.
A lost cause with this young roster? Maybe.
But the head coach still needs to fix it and still deserves some of the blame.
Joe is quite sure the discipline issue will be a negative mark on the head coach’s postseason evaluation from his bosses.
How could it not be?
December 15th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Come on Joe. These are grown men that need to take responsibility for their actions. This would be like someone blaming my manager if I got arrested for dui or something stupid.
Does Raheem need to do something about it? Sure he does, but at the end of the day, it’s up to the individual to keep themselves out of trouble.
December 15th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Joe is your boss responsible if you get in a fight with a cop at a bar after work?
December 15th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Freeman is right. You can’t pin this all on Raheem. He can’t hold their hand in public. The old saying ‘a leopard doesn’t change his spots’ holds true. Talib, Jackson, etc – what good has punishment done? Personal growth and maturity is the likely way these guys learn to stay out of trouble. Young kids + lots of money + lots of fame = potential trouble.
A fine or suspension doesn’t change always behavior.
I spank my kids when needed, though rarely needed. I take away allowance and prohibit them from doing certain things as well. Do you think I’ve only had to do that once? ROTFLMAO Right.
December 15th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
It seems Joe works for himself…so…yes!
December 15th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
Mcbuc,
True. But it thought Joe said he has a day job as well.
December 15th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Taking another page out of the sensationalist’s notebook, huh Joe? http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/12/15/josh-freeman-says-arrests-not-a-reflection-on-raheem/
December 15th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Oh yeah dmoney…that is right.
“To Joe, this is like not putting any blame on a parent who doesn’t have all his youngsters in line.”
When they are 6 yes, when they are 22 year old pros, not as much. He needs to work it out, but maybe you should take a look at the link OAR posted on this issue in a different post. it clearly showed this is a league wide problem. Talib has stayed out of trouble, and this is Geno’s first problem as a Buc. The leopard thing is not true, these guys just need to grow up fast. We could be like the Steelers and cut some players but keep others. They have had plenty of trouble, even when Cowher was there.
December 15th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
I agree with Freeman, the media puts WAAAAY too much blame on the HC for stuff like this.
I do like the QB getting the coaches back and letting the players know where he stands. More leadership qualities from Freeman.
HIRE GREG OLSEN: Not sure what you are implying to JOE in that statement, but when a QB is quoted on something like this, more than one outlet will pick it up.
December 15th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
I’ve had plenty of co-workers over the years that have gotten DUI’s and arrested for other things like this. I have never once seen one of them get fired, fined, or suspended. Why should these players be any different.
Let the legal system handle them just like it would with anyone else.
December 15th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Morris has no responsibility to police the members of his team, off the field. After the rules are set, he does have the responsibility to the organization, league and the fans to enforce those rules that are broken. This is where, in my estimation he has fallen down.
And Joe, your comment about a parent would amount to that parent trying to enforce the actions of their 25 year old child making 400 K per year.
I would suspend him for 2 games and let the chips fall where they may.
December 15th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
Every team in the league has had atleast three players arrested this year….so I guess every head coach is to blame.
Give me a break people. These are grown men. Rah can’t follow them around and baby sit. They are young men with ridiculous amounts of money and many of them put themselves in bad situations. It has gotten worse over the years, but it’s always been this way. All a coach can do is lead by example and try to teach these young men good values. If they don’t listen then that’s on them.
December 15th, 2010 at 5:18 pm
No one with any sense would agree with you on this Joe. You’re delusional if you think it’s a coach’s responsibility to monitor every single action his 60 players (counting practice squad guys) make. So… exactly when is he supposed to game plan for the next opponent if he’s apparently going to serve as life coach and chaperone as well?
Are you implying that after games Raheem tells his team, “Now I want all of you to go out and get blitzed tonight, and really stir up some trouble. And if you cab home, why not sucker-punch the driver for kicks.” Is that really what you think, Joe?
These are grown-ups, all of legal age. If you MUST blame anyone, blame the guy who signed these players. Raheem doesn’t make all the personnel choices, that would be Dominic. So not only is ytour argument delusional, it’s aimed at the wrong person.
joe – in an age where every player is hooked up to twitter, facebook, and every other type of communication outlet possible, it is impossible for them not to know the recourses for their actions.
December 15th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
OK, so do we make Williams sit for speeding? Stevens was cut pretty fast. Ternard is watching games from a bar or his coach wondering how long his money will last, Talib was pueshed by the league and the team, talib has also not been in trouble with the law since his first offense. Urica was not cut for not having his address right, but really? Geno is on his first offense, and it is standard to let the legal system run it’s course before the team sits him…Oh, and if they decided to not let him start, that usually means the first set of downs. I wish some better Bucs news would pop up, but I guess it is better than Favre’s shoulder.
December 15th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Freeman is such a great leader already and I’m so proud to have him as our QB.
December 15th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Totally agree with Free on this one. Faine said as much earlier in the year, too. Still, if we look at the “incidents” from this year there’s really not much to see… Tanard violated the substance abuse policy prior to being drafted, was on his last strike and got caught. He needs help, help that Raheem can’t give him.
Talib challenged an official to a deul after having his manhood questioned. I see no problem with that.
The “king of turds” was finally punished for years of being a complete douche. For all we know Raheem set Stevens up so we could rid ourselves from his stench.
Mike Williams was out late, yes. Was wrongfully arrested for DUI, while doing nothing more than drive too fast. move along… nothing to see here.
Geno. this is the one that stings. One of Rah’s guys, drafted and coached. I hope Rah is in Geno’s face about this one and I have a feeling Geno will be fined/benched accordingly. Although, I still have not heard the complete story, this situation smells much worse than Mike’s.
Are there any other ‘incidents’ from this year I’m missing? Seems to me the perceived behavior problems are fairly overblown and we should all move on.
December 15th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
The one thing people forget to mention is the fact that most NFL players are not from private Catholic school. Most of these guys have grow up in rough environments where some behavior is not only tolerated, but accepted. The NFL is a tough sport and is played by hard core men who hurt each other daily. You can’t expect them to act like they graduated from Ivy league schools. Some guys can turn it on and off like a light switch and others have a harder time seperating the game from real life. Especially the young guys who are on an endless search for a piece of A$$.
December 15th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Lenignam…I think you suimmed it up. I think some low level coach was busted for DUI, but that may have been last year. Most of this is silly.
December 15th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
McBuc, Agreed. Silly indeed. I forgot about Urritia with the driver’s license and trueblood’s public intoxication, but those are meaningless too. Has there been a final report on Geno’s arrest? It all went pretty quiet, which makes me think we can add it to the silly/overblown list.
Joe, can we talk about who Buc fans should be rooting for? Who has a better chance of losing a second game: Philly or the G-men?
December 15th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Just something else for people to try and bring Raheem down. This is getting ridiculous.
Do you really think Raheem isnt tellng his players how to act? You can lead a horse to water but cant force them to drink.
December 15th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
I agree. These players are grown men and they need to act like it. But I do think that Raheem is too soft. He needs to be more of a hardass and quit being everyones pal like it seems like he’s doing. It seems like the team has a lot of respect for him, just doesn’t seem to be afraid of him.
Not bashing Raheem. I think he’s done a great job this year.
December 15th, 2010 at 6:39 pm
What are you smoking Joe?
December 15th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Dude, Joe, seriously.
This whole idea that Raheem can control the locker room, it getting OLD.
Mike Williams never broke the law. That leaves two instances of dysfunction.
Jerramy Stevens, released, period.
Geno Hayes, OMG! HAVE YOU HEARD THIS FOOL SPEAK LATLEY?? He is dumber than a box of rocks. Its no wonder he tried to fight the police, it has nothing to do with being disipline, he just an idiot.
December 15th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Come on guys. You know Joe is writing this kind of article to keep people like Buc You and Thomas happy. He can’t just appeal to the “sheep”, he has to appeal to the douches too. Obviously it is working, because we are all here. Nicely done Joe!
December 15th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
I wasn’t there and I don’t know how it went down but i tend to look at police reports with the same volatility as a political speech(pick a party).
December 15th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Joe here,
Look fellas, Joe’s just trying to live in the real world. Raheem leads a roster of young players and per his admisssion (NOT JOE’s) Raheem’s job duties include molding these young dudes into men on and off the field and making sure that the team is a source of community pride, and that the players adhere to the principles of the organization on and off the field.
The arrests and problems mean there’s a problem. Freeman admits it. Jeff Faine has talked about the challenges.
It’s very nice and appropriate that Freeman would call out his teammates and try to rip any blame from his coach, but still Raheem has to shoulder some of it. Why? Because by Raheem’s own words it’s in his job description.
Hmmm. They win as a team. They lose as a team, but now they don’t bear the responsibility of their public behavior as a team?
Joe’s not saying Raheem is 100 percent at fault by any means but he has to be accountable at some level. He can’t get a full pass on this.
December 15th, 2010 at 8:49 pm
I like what Jerry Jones did with Pacman a few years ago when he brought him back into the NFL. He put an escort/body guard with him full time so Packy was never alone . I think Pacman actually paid for it too. I know he still screwed up that one time but it was with team mates or something. There needs to be some way to put the clamps down on these kids, atleast during the season. If they are forced to use a company limo with bodyguards to help keep them out of trouble, it sure seems like cheap insurance to me. As Freeman says, they should all be responsible and have enough self discipline to avoid compromising situations on their own, but so far that just isn’t the case. I see this as a problem that should be addressed to the team from above Raheem’s pay grade, say Dominick, Joel & Brian all with whips chains and scissors to cut up checks…IMHO.
December 15th, 2010 at 8:50 pm
“To Joe, this is like not putting any blame on a parent who doesn’t have all his youngsters in line.”
Sorry, but this is a terrible comparison, IMO. Raheem is the coach. He is not their daddy. The players he deals with are also grown men. They have their own houses. They live their own lives. They decide what they do outside of One Buc. They are responsible.
Just my opinion.
December 15th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
I like the old lock them up in the hotel room and call in the hookers or escorts. I mean a bj is a bj, and doesn’t really matter who she is, as long as she sees it through. I mean dress her up in TPD attire if you need to, Bucs’ Cheer outfits, Santa girls, yea that’s the ticket, but c’mon man, something has to change here. It is always cheaper in the long run to bring the party to you than for you to get to, through, and from the party without incident. Just don’t invite Marcus Vick or his buddies. Do it the Marine Corps way and have the Docs certify the girls first, and of course they get a cut for that service.
December 15th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
@Joe
Sorry Joe but I beg to differ. Most, if not all, of us work at our current positions and for our current bosses due to our pay and benefits. We adhere to the standards set forth by our supervisors because we can probably not get immediate employment with equal pay/benefits elsewhere. Most of us do not have equal or better employer waiting in the wing to willfully snatch us up and give us the same pay or better. Our employers are not in an immediate competition with the next employer a city over for the ultimate goal of a championship of which our talents may assist them in reaching. Bottom line: screw up at your job and your fired and praying to find a job somewhere, somehow for whoever will give you a chance. Thus you keep your nose clean and listen to your boss.
In today’s NFL, the players make enough money that mediocre fines mean nothing. Suspensions are a time to relax. And if you cut one from the team, another team will quickly snatch the player up and move forward. The player loses nothing, the team loses it’s investment. Bottom line is the team loses regardless and unless the player has a desire to “do the right thing”, no punishment available to the administration can be successful.
NOTHING TO DO WITH GOOD COACHING!
December 15th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
How come the clowns Tampon 2, Thomas, and Buc you aren’t commenting on this??? Not Morris Fault assholes.
December 15th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
Joe, agreed. I think the blame can be shared by everyone within the organization, from the owners, GM, and coaches. However, the overwhelming majority falls on the players themselves. These are not high school or college kids, they are adults. Raheem is doing the honorable thing by accepting responsibility for molding the guys, but it is unrealistic. It is out of his control. Even if he suspends or cuts them, it doesn’t mean it is going to work (see Jerramy Stevens). No matter who is the coach, players are going to go out and make knuckle-headed decisions at times. It happens throughout the league every year. Not to mention the fact that these charges are questionable at best, and still pending. If it turns out that Mike Williams, for example, did nothing more than speed, why should that count against him or the team? My God, I stayed out until 2 am my entire life until I got married, and I still was able to function well at my job. Until we have some serious arrests or convictions, I think the entire situation is being overblown.
Besides, we would all probably be a little more willing to pass the blame on Raheem if there weren’t certain individuals passing ALL the blame on him. It’s very difficult to have any kind of serious discussions when you’ve got several trolls that enjoy bashing everything about him.
December 15th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
Disagree with Joe: I do believe these guys are handled internally and will also pay for it down the road with either being replaced or in their contracts. Every team has young players not used to having boatloads of money and alot of free time. I do not blame Morris in any way. These are grown ass men and need to be responsible. Suspending the players would only hurt the team. If the offense is bad enough the league takes care of you. If these selfish idiots keep screwing up they will find themselves out of the league. There are plenty examples to drawn on.
December 15th, 2010 at 10:18 pm
Excellent points Joe, I completely agree with you.
HC’s, college and pro, for decades have been blamed lack of organizational control and a failure to establish the appropriate culture.
The fact is guys: this conduct does effect the team on the field. Talib missed a game for punching a cabby then violated a rule by attending the game. Have you all forgotten about a player named T Jax. These are guys who have been taken from the team by the league, not Rah, that effects their performance on the field.
A firm coach, one who firmly disciplines Mike Williams and sets an example may get following players to think twice. Nobody is saying Williams should be imprisoned for his actions, but the team could discipline him for conduct detrimental for being out after drinking at 2am on the morning of travel.
All of this stuff sheds a negative light on this very public org full of public players. Rah needs to quit hanging with them and being their homey and start being a boss.
It seems that Freeman gets it much more than Rah Rah. I do respect Freeman, good thing rah rah has him.
December 15th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Did you even read Freeman’s comments Thomas? Your stupidity never ceases to amaze.
December 15th, 2010 at 10:42 pm
Thomas the zero should be firmly disciplined by the staff at the looney bin he lives at with a night in the rubber room.
December 15th, 2010 at 11:14 pm
Joe if Thomas agreeing with you doesn’t convince you your wrong on this subject, nothing more can be said. How this idiot is allowed to post stupid post after stupid post is really ridiculous.
December 15th, 2010 at 11:36 pm
Too much black & white in your head, Joe(as the ESPN/Radio controversy proved)—flipping that coin…no one is saying Raheem needs to get a PASS on all this…what Freeman et al are trying to guard against is Raheem getting all the BLAME, which the Florio’s of the world will do. Do the right thing ;o)
December 15th, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Seriously, a parent controlling an unruly child is one thing, but a 22 year old is something COMPLETELY different. Parents can have perfect angels for children, but that can change in their teen years, and their 20’s is another story entirely. To think parents control their 22 year old children is almost laughable in today’s society. That said, it’s even more laughable to think a coach can control 20+ year old players any better than parents. Coaches can discourage poor behavior and they can discipline those actions with fines and suspensions, but they can’t stop or control them. The team has said they handle all discipline internally, which means we won’t hear what, if any, action is taken. Who’s to say they aren’t dishing out heftier fines than any other team in the NFL? Thing is, every situation is different. T-Jack deserved what he got, so did Stevens. Mike Williams didn’t deserve any more than a slap on the wrist at most. I don’t have enough info on the Hayes situation to say what the punishment should be, but I’m sure they’ll deal with it the best they can…. but they can’t control or stop it.
December 16th, 2010 at 6:43 am
No Joe, the Coach and GM aren’t here to be their parents. Their only respobnsibility is to draft high Character players, which Dominick and Morris work hard at. Their only problem child so far has been Mike Williams, who blew under the legal limit, and co-operated fully. DUI happens to a lot of decent people. The rest of the problem children are the remnants of the Gruden/Allen regime. They drafted untalented, trashy , problem laden players as often as not. The only likely survivor out that whole group will be Talib. IF he stays in line, and IF he recovers from this injury, which he may not to full speed again. Hayes, etc are not good players, and are being replaced at a very fast rate
December 16th, 2010 at 11:05 am
I think Geno Hayes is almost 24…. even bigger diffrence.
December 16th, 2010 at 11:07 am
Besides, by today’s NFL standards, aren’t only 3 arrests for the year a relativley good thing?
December 16th, 2010 at 11:29 am
Jeff Fisher – 3 Team Arrests this season
Jim Caldwell – 3 Team arrests this season
Sean Peyton – 2 Team arrests this season
Does this make Fisher, Caldwell, or Peyton bad coaches? No.
Does it mean they dont have control over thier lockers rooms? Fat Chance.
December 16th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Has anyone actually seen Morris “hanging” out with players? I hear he is seen with Joe Madden allot. I do not mean a dinner here or there either. All coaches will have dinner with players, shoot, I eat with my boss on occasion. Thomas keeps talking about how he hangs out with them, but I have never seen him at a bar with a bunch of players or heard about it in the news.