Freeman Sank Raheem “More Than Anything Did”
January 5th, 2012
Bucs icon John Lynch talks about Raheem's demise and says the Bucs' talent makes them a choice head-coaching vacancy in the NFL
In one of the more astute former-Buccaneer rants Joe’s heard in a long time, Bucs icon John Lynch gave a take on why Raheem Morris was fired during an interview with Todd Wright on Yahoo! Sports Radio this week.
Lynch opened by explaining Raheem is a friend of his and the two sat next to each other in position meetings when Raheem was an up-and-coming coach.
“He had somehow lost it,” Lynch said. “A young team, he had lost their attention. You know, it was kind of sickening to watch, I think, because there’s one thing that’s non-negotiable in this league to me from players, and that’s effort. In the last three or four games that I watched, there were numerous times where you were questioning effort. That doesn’t work. It’s inexcusable. And at that point you have to make a change.
“You know I think the next time around I would venture to say Raheem is going to come out and lay the hammer down. You know, I think it’s ok to be good to your players, treat them like men. But you also got to let them know that there are going to be standards to live up to on and off the field. And if you don’t, that there’s going to be consequences. And I don’t know if that ever happened. And I think that probably was some of his of his downfall.
“Ultimately when you’ve got a stud franchise quarterback and he’s not deveolping, in fact he’s going the other way, I think that’s what really more than anything did it. And that’s what happening with Josh Freeman. I really think that kid has the goods. And if I’m looking for a head coach for that team, that day No. 1 is to find a guy that can get the best out of him. Because I think then you build around him.”
Joe couldn’t agree more. Freeman having a solid 2011 surely would have brought the Bucs a couple more wins and cemented Raheem’s job (with a new defensive coordinator). Nobody would have wanted to mess with Freeman this offseason if he were thriving.
Lynch went on to say he thinks the Bucs have the most quality pieces of the NFL teams with a coaching vacancy, calling the Bucs’opening a job “people would really covet.”
As Joe’s’ written before, the Bucs gig is a plumb job, with loads of talent in the trenches, a 23-year-old quarterback with all the tools who showed he can put them together for a year, and a dangerous running back that nobody’s figure out how to use. That’s hadly a bad start to a new regime.
January 5th, 2012 at 10:16 am
Raheem ot fired.
Freeman regressed.
The WR’s are nothing to write home about.
Dom picked the WR’s.
Glazers tell Dom to be cheap.
Greedy Owners + Cheap GM= the state of the Bucs
January 5th, 2012 at 10:16 am
While i dont agree that Josh was the harbinger of doom for Raheem; the entire lack of team effort and poor play was. I do agree that we have a FEW great peices to work with that can get this team going. We just need someone that can prepare and guide them in the right direction.
I really like Blount too. The man had 1k yards in less than a full season and if used and schemed for correctly can be a beast. Now bring in a shifty RB and we have ourselves a nice package for Josh to work with.
I have heard allot of folks/analysts ask for D and O minded coaches. I prefer a great D coach and have him bring in a OC that can work with Josh. I believe we have enaough on offense to work with. Our glaring problem has been the defense points allowed.
January 5th, 2012 at 10:16 am
Still patiently waiting for Tampa Bay to develop a QB. It’s like us and Baltimore that haven’t. If it were early Basketball March I’d say a good whoop’n only helps a team focus. I worry that the Bucs’ got too much of a whoop’n. Hope they can recover. No Whammy’s no Patrick Ramsey’s.
January 5th, 2012 at 10:20 am
A plum job? You’ve go to be kidding me.
I know you need to spin a certain narrative to keep eyeballs on this website and in turn keep advertisers paying, but let’s be honest: this post is exaggerated, borderline dishonest, and lightly scented of bullsht. And that’s just today’s blog!
@Bucs4life – THere’s no BS in this post. And there’s really no reason for you to lie about Joe. Surely, Joe doesn’t need any “certain narravite” to keep eyeballs on the site. (You’re a professional sports blog consultant? Please.). Joe writes what he thinks, observes and believes. Thankfully, many tens of thousands choose to read it somewhat regularly. Don’t bother coming back if you’re going to attack Joe. Start your own site.)
A prospective head coach, with other options, will undoubtedly look at the way Raheem was treated, the recent spending habits of ownership, Dominik’s lack of backbone, AND the team’s faction of selfish players…Those are all extremely challenging obstacles…Yes, Freeman is extremely talented, One Buc Place is great, and the weather is great…BUT this is by no means a plum job; it’s a very challenging task with myriad pitfalls…The Glazers sales pitch and willingness to shell out major cash on talent will make the difference. Otherwise, the Bucs will end up taking a chance on another coordinator/position coach that is just happy to get a shot…
January 5th, 2012 at 10:20 am
Totally agree with you Joe, sick and tired of the no talent excuse given to Raheem. Nobody was saying we had no talent at the end of last year but some how magically we now have no talent and Raheem was given an empty cupboard to work with? Please!!! We have some studs on both offense and defense. I think part of Raheems undoing was his uneven discipline so players like Winslow and Talib were like inmates running the asylum. If I watch tape of this year those two clowns will be the first to go. Total cancers. Winslow was a cancer to Freeman and Talib to the whole defense. You have to be fair and even handed if you discipline your team and Rah played favorites and then generally was too soft to begin with.
January 5th, 2012 at 10:21 am
You are a player on a football team that is getting blown out every week. You watch game film after the blow outs, and see your teammates being dominated.
IOW, you realize your team is NOT that good. . At first, you play hard, but hard as you play, you still wind up down 14 to 21 points. Why ? Because you and your team suck, and deep down inside you, you know this to be true, so you quit.
January 5th, 2012 at 10:22 am
@mjmoody
Joe Flacko is a very good QB. The Ravens are plying a home playoff game and have been very dangerous their. Im rooting for Flacko.
I like the Ravens, always have had a great D which kept them in games. Thats what the Bucs need again.
D STILL wins championships!!
January 5th, 2012 at 10:22 am
The team completely quitting had a lot more to do with it than Freeman’s regression.
January 5th, 2012 at 10:23 am
As always, the esteemed Mr. Lynch is correct. Once a team tunes a coach out, there has to be a change. It became obvious that players did what they wanted, without any concern of job loss or disciplinary action. Quincy Black was the poster child for that. Raheem sat him a game or two, and Quincy came right back in. And he changed nothing- still refused to take on Blockers, still ran from contact, still refused to play LBer. Yet he kept starting. Quincy’s refusal to play on the field, and Talib’s total lack of control off the field, are what cost Raheem the teams respect- then his job. Shauna king can cry foul all he wants- and he is right about Dominick on most counts. But Raheem’s lack of control over his players is what cost him his job. That, and his inability to prepare a team to play on Sunday.
I liked Raheem, and hope he learns from this. But sorry Shauna, Raheem lost his job on his on merits- even though he’s Black. A little accountability in order here.
As far as the Job being attractive, I gotta agree. Replace the lazy slackers at LB and secondary( All of them, every one. They all suck except Ronde. And they suck bad- even Foster started sucking) and you have talent at alot of key spots. Gotta sign a CB first( to bad we didn’t sign one last off season, heh), then LBers( we have none worthy of an NFL roster), then add speed at skill positions. If that happened( would require some -gulp- FAs to accomplish), then we have a talented football team
Of course, I said that exact same thing last spring, and they did nothing. So we may get more of the same
January 5th, 2012 at 10:30 am
Got spam filtered joe.
January 5th, 2012 at 10:31 am
List of 2012 free agents…
Wonder who well get?
http://www.footballsfuture.com/2012/fa/rb.html
January 5th, 2012 at 10:32 am
Agree 100% with Lynch. I really do think Raheem learns from this exp and treats things a little different next time. Saw he was having a “business” dinner with the Redskins. That would be a great place for him to land honestly and get the chance to work behind and learn from Shanny and Haslett. Nothing wrong with making mistakes as long as you learn from them and apply the lessons learned in the future.
January 5th, 2012 at 10:33 am
Dominik did hit home runs with Quincy, Clayton, Bowden, Tanard, Benn, Lewis, and all the UFAs. He should have been fired. Forget the big name coaches because Duminik won’t have it.
January 5th, 2012 at 10:41 am
Nailed it Joe.
Also, Mark Dom > Raheem Morris.
January 5th, 2012 at 10:55 am
Would be ironic if Bruce hired Raheem wouldn’t it?
Ill be a lot more comfy with Dom when I see some good coaching candidates coming through the door at one buc place. Maybe that will happen.
Grossly underwhelming so far. If they half ass this they are in grave danger of losing the whole community.
John Lynch is awesome. Theres the attitude of a winner. Hell, make him GM, he went to Stanford I think.
January 5th, 2012 at 11:03 am
This autopsy of Raheem Morris is ridiculous. The man is gone and there is no one at One Buc but Mark Dominik. All eyes should be on this guy! Time is going to tell us very shortly where this team is going and why it hasn’t gotten there. Looking back at Morris is like watching the light when you are crossing the street. You better start watching the cars (Dominik) because the light never killed anybody!
January 5th, 2012 at 11:04 am
We were almost dead last against the run, and rushing ourselves, and sacks, and gave up the most points in team history, but we have “loads of talent” in the trenches?
Wow.
Agree that Freeman may be a reason to get a good coach, if Dom will talk to one.
January 5th, 2012 at 11:12 am
SOmething that is a complete falacy (spelled right ??) is that we should focus on an Offensive minded coach to have a good Offense.
The HC must be a leader with experience … I dont care what side of the ball he comes from (MIKE ZIMMER)
Then bring in the OC. Hell Mike Sherman can be OC … Just dont make that man HC !!!!!!!!!!!
January 5th, 2012 at 11:27 am
Raheem was a terrible head coach. All rah rah and no discipline. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know you have to instill respect from your team or you can’t lead. Raheem never had respect and was their buddy as everyone knows. Then when Talib and Winslow went south he didn’t have the guts to set them straight. I would be surprised if Raheem ever gets another head coaching gig. The guy was just terrible plain and simple. Defensive coach and your team is down 42-0 in the second quarter are you kidding me????? That being said Dom deserves one more closely scrutinized year but he has made major mistakes and I would rather have an experienced GM here looking at talent. The Glazers are cheap and that hurt Rah too so they need to step up to the table THIS YEAR.
January 5th, 2012 at 11:34 am
@NickinMelbourne
The problem with one more year for Dom is he is currently involved with decisions that will saddle the franchise, good or bad, for years to come.
Were already having to recover from the atrocities already committed.
January 5th, 2012 at 11:52 am
Yes Eric, we have loads of talent in the trenches….they just happen to be rookies or injured last year. If you can’t see that then you shouldn’t be posting because you have no idea how to evaluate talent. You’re a Thomas clone and a waste of space where someone with an educated opinion could post but it IS a free country and ANYONE can post….no matter how stupid it is.
You don’t think a DC would love to work with a D-line of Bowers, Clayborne, McCoy and Price???? Oh but in your world McCoy is a bust because he has been injured for two years….just like Matthew Stafford turned out to be a bust with his injuries…and we all know that Bowers was a stupid pick because of that devestating knee injury that everyone but that fool Dominik saw. Yeah…he’s a no talent bum…. And Clayborne…what has he shown besides #2 rookie DE in sacks?
And GMC….who would want a guy that Davin Joseph says is a beast and that lives in the opposing teams backfield when he’s healthy?? By the way, you rarely re-tear a biceps so I’d say the odds of him staying healthy are good. Price is the only one that I’m not sure can stay healthy because of his injury and the new surgery technique they used to repair his hamstrings but when he is healthy he is very disruptive. Now LB’s….that’s a different story. We took Foster, who will be a very good OLB, and put him in at MLB…a position he had never played before in college and expected him to excel. He did very good up until the time he started fighting through ankle injuries. We need a new MLB and another OLB. Get rid of Hayes and use Black as a backup (only because they have to keep him..noone else will pick up his contract and he’s too expensive to just let go. Who knows…with a good LB coach he may actually develop). The defensive scheme was the reason we looked so bad, the same on offense…Olson was just terrible. We claimed to be a run first team but had the fewest rushing attempts in the NFL. The drafting of talent is light years ahead of the Allen era. The coaching is the problem and that is in the process of being fixed.
January 5th, 2012 at 12:05 pm
@Bobbby
Werent you and your ilk the ones that said Rah was a great coach? The players all loved him and he was better than Monte Kiffin, rising young coach, etc. etc. etc.
Perhaps its your evaluative skills that are suspect?
Some of the players you mentioned have potential and upside. I have never said McCoy is a bust. He may be good. May also be a bust.
Any coach is looking at this thinking there is a lot of work to be done talent wise. Thinking we are there already is the same mistake Dom made when he by his own admission decided to “stand pat” after 2010.
But that guy continues to be a sacred cow in some folks eyes.
If you dont like olson why do you like the guy that hired him?
January 5th, 2012 at 12:07 pm
i read constantly that Freeman is a stud QB can someone please tell me what that is based on except everyone saying it. What stat does he have that even makes him a good qb, won loss record, interceptions. I know that the pundits keep saying he is a stud, but someone explain to me why that is so. He could become one, but please lets not get ahead of ourselves.
January 5th, 2012 at 12:23 pm
@Eric….I still think Morris could have been a good HC if he wasn’t put in the position of being DC AND HC. He sucked as a DC. I guess we’ll never know how he would be as just a HC unless he gets retained by another organization. Your comments haven’t been about the coaches…your comments were about another coach being excited to come in and to work with the talent on the bucs roster. The reason your comments about Dom are stupid is because #1. The team went 10-6 last year. What would you have done at the beginning of this year…fire Morris and Olson?? Of course not. They got fired when they should have gotten fired so where did Dom make the mistake?? You didn’t think he made a mistake at the end of last season… and when we were 4-2 at the beginning of this season (after knocking off Atlanta and New Orleans) you weren’t thinking Morris was a mistake either. All the bitching was about Olson…not Morris. Now that Morris has had a bad season and he WAS fired….it’s Dom’s fault for bringing back a coach that went 10-6 last year and nearly made the playoffs while starting the most rookies in recent NFL history??? #2. You attack the talent level of the team, like Dom is a complete moron, and yet most pundits that are former players or coaches say the Bucs have a good core of talent. Maybe Beckles or Sileo would disagree but seriously….those guys know talent??? They think THEY were good. I think you just love to gripe about something and now that your excuse to gripe about the coaching is gone you turn your bile to Dom. Get a life kid. Dom is here to stay and he’s very good at what he does in my opinion. He’s not perfect but he’s waaaaayyy ahead of anyone we’ve had in here since Sapp, Lynch and Brooks were drafted.
January 5th, 2012 at 12:28 pm
I’m willing to bet Dominik will have a slightly reduced role after the new head coach is hired. He had final say on all personnel matters with Raheem, but I bet that changes now with the new coach having final say in case of disagreement. In his new tweaked role I actually believe Dominik will do great. With a new head coach who has an eye for talent, he can override Dominik on players such as Black, Clayton, etc if need be. I’m actually not worried about it one bit, and in the post-firing press conference you could read between the lines that the new head coach will have more say in personnel matters than Raheem did.
January 5th, 2012 at 12:39 pm
@Bobby,
You make some valid points and I hope your right.
If a good coaching decision is made I am on board. Id love to post some very positive posts about the hire, believe me.
January 5th, 2012 at 1:21 pm
@Eric…I hope I’m right too. We both love the Bucs and want to see them kick some #$@!!!
January 5th, 2012 at 1:50 pm
I am not sold completely on Freeman but I will say that Dominik is the deciding factor on Freeman’s success because he afterall has the responsibility to acquire the weapons. He hasn’t done it yet so if I were a betting man I would error on the side of failure courtesy of Dominik. He’s the failure.
January 5th, 2012 at 1:55 pm
Bobby,
If King and Beckles opinion are skewed or as you say “what do they know about talent?” then what gives you the confidence in your Gm that he can acquire the right “talent” to build a consistent competitive team? I would say that we have competent players but no game-changers. Most contenders and perrenial competitive teams have game-changers. Do you believe Dominik can get those players, draft or FA?
January 5th, 2012 at 2:26 pm
More often than not, John Lynch is right. He’s one of my favorite game callers, because he actually knows what he talks about, and he’s self aware. And it came down more to coaching than not having talented players on this squad.
January 5th, 2012 at 2:53 pm
@Architek…..I just read an article about how the Patriots went 13-3 and every team they beat had a losing record. The three teams with winning records they played beat them. http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2012/1/3/2679383/new-england-patriots-nfl-playoffs-2011-12 That’s how Chuck Noll made his living…beating teams at or below .500. He actually had a pretty pedestrian record against winning teams but they were great in the playoffs. This year we played how many teams with a winning record???? 11 of 16 games. We lost 12 but we beat two teams with winning records and that are in the playoffs. If we wouldn’t have been so pathetic in the losses and at least been competitive and looked like we were improving Morris would probably still have a job. Now…to answer your question….
Why wouldn’t Dom be able to get game changers in the draft or FA? Who’s to say they don’t already have a few given the proper coaching?? We have the #5 pick in this draft and we will probably have a choice of Blackmon, Claiborne, or Richardson…any one of whom could be game changers….you never know until they develop. Very few players come in and are game changers as rookies. Until I see good coaching work with these players I’m not willing to write some them off just yet.
January 5th, 2012 at 4:48 pm
Blount is one dimensional at best. Next…