Joe Called It!
March 16th, 2012
- Super Bowl-winning coach Brian Billick is among those now crying foul that the Bucs jettisoned Raheem Morris.
Moments after Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik made a splash that is still being felt through NFL circles by signing receiver Vincent Jackson, cornerback Eric Wright and guard Carl Nicks, Joe predicted there would be cries from Raheem Morris apologists that he was unfairly jettisoned.
While Super Bowl-winning coach Brian Billick wasn’t the first to make such a claim, he has a much bigger microphone to broadcast his displeasure.
Though Billick hinted at the following when Joe interviewed Billick at Super Bowl Media Day, Billick this time took to Twitter and expressed his bewilderment at the firing of Morris.
@CoachBillick: I wonder what Raheem Morris is thinking right now? Had #Bucs spent this kind of money last offseason, he’d still have a head coaching job!
Um, Joe guesses it’s always fair to play Monday Morning Quarterback, but let’s think about this a moment:
Though Joe is confident Wright will help the Bucs, would he alone have been able to turn around a franchise-historic trainwreck of a defense? Would Wright have prevented Gerald McCoy from getting hurt; Cody Grimm from getting hurt; Aqib Talib from getting hurt? Would Wright have saved what turned out to be one of the worst linebacker units in all of football? Would Wright have made Brian Price’s pelvic injury vanish?
Consequently, would Jackson and or Nicks prevented clueless offensive coordinator Greg Olson from not using his best weapon, LeGarrette Blount? Would the new offensive duo have prevented Olson from calling the now infamous Benn’d Around play repeatedly?
Could any player have stopped the Bucs’ slow starts, aka getting outcoached from the opening whistle?
While Joe appreciates the esprit de corps Billick displays when discussing his coaching fraternity, let’s not go all revisionist history like some Bucs fans are wont to do when they whine about the Bucs not drafting Adrian Peterson.
Please.
March 16th, 2012 at 8:14 am
Nonsense. Morris didn’t merely lose games, he lost the team.
March 16th, 2012 at 8:14 am
Blount’s not a very good RB and Olson never had a chance with the Head coach he had to work under. I agree with everything else.
March 16th, 2012 at 8:20 am
TrueBlue
EXACTLY!
I’ve seen monkey-$h!t fights at the zoo that are more organized than we were.
March 16th, 2012 at 8:22 am
And billick cant get so much as a sniff for a new hc job.rahs staff was horrible,he was worst dc in buc history,capt of sinking titanic of a team.was way over his head.im sooooo glad we have moved on
March 16th, 2012 at 8:23 am
I think that a young, new coach, young players and no offseason took a devastating tole on the Buccaneers last year.
I have no doubt Raheem will be successful in the future and wish him luck, but he needed to be let go after last season.
March 16th, 2012 at 8:24 am
Exactly to all of the posts above. I haven’t really heard any of raheem’s posse (Bucs players) come out and really say firing the entire coaching staff was a bad thing. I have hear dnothing but optimistic talk from our young players.
March 16th, 2012 at 8:31 am
Your suppositions are correct.
Rahrah was a historically horrible coach, I believe probably the most incompetent and least qualified in NFL history. It wouldnt matter who his players were, the rampant lack of professionalism and lack of discipline would lead to consistent long-term losing.
Schiano has forgotten more football than rahrah ever understood. You wouldnt want to turn these new highly paid players over to a complete hack.
I/we just have to get over being taken advantage of by the ownership for 3 seasons while they fixed their financial position. Of course it took a new 2013 CBA mandate to push them in this direction.
Billick is a blow-hard in my opinion.
March 16th, 2012 at 8:35 am
Escaped the mothership, I see.
March 16th, 2012 at 8:49 am
He probably would still have a job, but that means we would be stuck with 2 or 3 years of below average football. It could not have worked out better this way. We have a coaching staff that now has direction and leadership. Schiano was not the biggest name out there, but I really believe that he is the right man for the job. How do you feel about the Bucs trading down and taking Keichly from BC and Deannard from Nebraska in the 2nd? With the wright signing and Ronde coming back it makes the most sense.
March 16th, 2012 at 9:01 am
Let’s Go Bucs 2012, 2013, 2014 and so on, in other words lets move forward, we could hash over Sam Wyche being fired after drafting, Brooks and Sapp, or Dungy being fired after turning this team around, or Gruden winning a super bowl, or Rah giving us a year of hope and a glance into what the future could be, let’s get on board of Schiano’s ship and ride it to another championship, let’s just see improvement, week to week.
March 16th, 2012 at 9:06 am
shut your pie hole Billick. Nobody cares what you say.Dude didn’t even get a interview for ANY HC job .
March 16th, 2012 at 9:08 am
Up until now big money FA’s would have been a waste. Freeman wasn’t ready and rookies every else. The Bucs have opened their window to be a contender, go for it!
March 16th, 2012 at 9:10 am
Who cares! Life’s not fair.
Like all else, it’s in the past
I’m more interested in seeing Freeman/Jackson become a dangerous connection
And I’m one of the few who would get excited about this, but I’m just as excited to see Penn/Nicks/Zuttah/Joseph/ Trueblood work together!
That SHOULD be the best line in Football
I think it will be.
March 16th, 2012 at 9:12 am
Yar,
Blount is an excellent RB, as you will learn this year. Olson never stood a chance…because he is Olson.
Morris was hands off the offended.
Thomas, you made that claim a few days ago and I proved you wrong. Please go back and read it so I don’t have to copy and paste it here.
March 16th, 2012 at 9:14 am
Raphael-lol! Ain’t that the truth!
That dude did something taboo! He is seriously black listed!!
March 16th, 2012 at 9:18 am
Regardless of the money the Bucs spent while Rah was the coach, you have to play the hand that you are dealt. They had one good year and tanked it in the second year with those same players. Clearly there was an issue within the team following the London vacation, likely a result of double standards for the coaches and players as it relates to team curfews. You can’t tell the players one thing and do another and expect the players to buy into. That’s not leadership. Schiano needs to enforce team rules/policy fairly and equally without regards to personal favorites to get the team back on track.
March 16th, 2012 at 9:19 am
This subject does not require a response.
March 16th, 2012 at 9:25 am
Yeah at this point, who cares? Onward and Upward.
This is our staff and team today and that’s what matters now.
Go Bucs!
March 16th, 2012 at 9:25 am
And…..now we know why Bitter Billick is still without a HC gig. I actually wanted this guy…at least instead of Sherman and Chilly.
March 16th, 2012 at 9:26 am
Unfortualtely for Rah…clearly the rest of the current NFL leadership thought so highly of him that he is now a defensive back coach (not DC, not HC) for the Washington Deadskins. And he wants to recruit some of our current defensive backs?….LMAO!!!!
March 16th, 2012 at 9:27 am
Blount could be good if he looses his jump-back-fumble move and learns how to block and catch.
March 16th, 2012 at 9:33 am
Sorry, Cap…I have to do it again…apparently THOMAS 2.2 never saw the response a few days age.
THOMAS, REGARDING YOUR CLAIM THE RAHEEM IS. THE WORSE COACH IN NFL HISTORY:
You know, I was going to let this slide with no further comment…but then I thought, “Thomas would call anyone else an idiot for getting it wrong…”
So I suppose what is good for the goose is good for the gander, right? So here are some coaches who had as many as, OR MORE, seasons without playoffs:
Gary Kubiak: Houston Texans (2006-2011?) -4-5 years without making the playoffs
Dick Jauron: Chicago (1999-2003), Detroit and Buffalo (2006-’09) -10 years head coach experience and only made the playoffs one time.
Dennis Erickson: Seattle Seahawks (1995-’98 (4 yrs), 2003-’04 (2 yrs)) -Never made the playoffs.
Dave Shula: Cincinnati Bengals (1992-’96)
Dave McGinnis: Arizona Cardinals (2000-’03)
Marion Campbell: Atlanta Falcons (1974-’76, 87-89), Philly Eagles (’83-’85) Three 3 year NFL Head Coaching stints, and he never even sniffed the playoffs. That’s 9 years without playoffs.
Bart Starr: Green Bay Packers (1975-’83) Eight years as head coach, and only one winning season. No playoffs.
John North: New Orleans Saints (1973-’75)
Romeo Crennel: Cleveland Browns (2005-’08)
Dan Henning: Atlanta Falcons (1983-’86), San Diego Chargers (1989-’91) Never made playoffs
John McKay: Tampa Bay Bucanneers (1976-1984) 5 of his 8 years did not make the playoffs
Darryl Rogers: Detroit Lions (1985-’88)
Lindy Infante: Green Bay Packers (1988-’91), Indy Colts (1996, ’97) Six years as a head coach, only 1 playoff season.
Joe Bugel: Phoenix Cardinals (1990-’93), Oakland Raiders (1997) Four years with the Cardinals before they changed their name, and did not make the playoffs.
Phil Handler: Chicago (1943-’45, 1949) 2 winless seasons in a row, then a 1 win season. Was given another chance in 1949 and won 2 games…it was a career best. Now that is a bad coach.
AND…
I will be proving you wrong often from now on when you make lies seem like fact in the hopes it will not be checked.
March 16th, 2012 at 9:34 am
Joe, as everything in life, timing is everything.
March 16th, 2012 at 9:34 am
Thomas 2.2.. Says: March 10th, 2012 at 10:03 pm
RahRah is also tied for dead last in NFL history for number of playoff appearances after 3 full seasons as head coach with Zero.
March 16th, 2012 at 9:40 am
Yar Says: March 16th, 2012 at 9:27 am
Blount could be good if he looses his jump-back-fumble move and learns how to block and catch.
———————-
You act like he had the most fumbles on the team. He didn’t. In fact, since people like to mention Tiki Barber’s fumbling, Tiki had 8 fumbles per year for 3-4 years straight. Blount isn’t even close to 8 in a year.
Parker had 8 though…so pick on him.
March 16th, 2012 at 9:42 am
i dont think he mean anything bad by it honestly, just a serious question we ALL asked, “where was this last year” he probably could still have a job, some leadership might have helped some in the locker room, he actually praised us twice on NFL network in the past couple of days, i think it was taken wrong honestly…..
But i am a fan of this new coaching staff, the players (some not so much cough Black cough Black) and inching back towards the Glazer fan, the kids are learning to spend money like dad, that soccer team must be winning lol.
March 16th, 2012 at 9:43 am
Now that I look at it, I don’t think Rah Rah will ever be a good head coach just because of what he said about not changing anything when he was the HC here. Lol what an idiot, glad hes gone.
March 16th, 2012 at 9:43 am
FloridaGirl
I agree 100%! In fact…and I might be wrong on this, but I think the budget was kept low the first year or so for Dungy, but he proved himself and they spent money.
March 16th, 2012 at 9:48 am
Dom said it himself. They claimed they wanted to build through the draft. Then he admitted that philosophy failed, and has said he is doing things differently. The problem is that his little “build through the draft” experiment costed a good coach his job. Three years of building through the draft and the only player who isn’t a bust is the kid from Kansas State who Raheem said was the best QB in the draft and who pushed to trade up to get him.
You are right, Joe. Nothing would have prevented all those injuries, but a good GM would have made damn sure that the team had the depth to remain reasonably competitive. To do that, you have to dip into free agency.
Don’t try to tell us that Dominik knows what he’s doing.
March 16th, 2012 at 9:49 am
Joe
You should have weekly “Call it!” Thread where we can make our own predictions, post our mocks, etc.
Might be fun and would increase traffic.
March 16th, 2012 at 9:49 am
Too funny, as if Ollie would have known which end of Vincent Jackson actually catches the ball..I can hear it now “…yeah but how is he running the decoy?”
Illustrates why Billick wasn’t a serious contender for any NFL job.
He’s almost a moron.
March 16th, 2012 at 9:56 am
Ian- I stopped reading your posts after you called Rah “a good coach.”
March 16th, 2012 at 10:06 am
Maybe Rah was not given the best opportunity, I was rooting for him because he was our coach, but now, he still has a job, he is the dbacks coach of the redskins, still getting paid by the Bucs brass, and he will get another shot likely down the road, he realizes that you gotta go through a progression, he’s young and will be better for it, go Bucs and good luck Rah
March 16th, 2012 at 10:06 am
Ian P. Says: March 16th, 2012 at 9:48 am
Dom said it himself. They claimed they wanted to build through the draft. Then he admitted that philosophy failed…
————————–
I’ve been watching, listening to and reading everything I could find, and not once did I see Dom say the plan failed.
Not once.
I have heard him say this was the next step in the plan.
And the plan did not fail at all. Build thrum the draft, and when ready, plug a few remaining hole with free agents. That is EXACTLY what they have done with the offense.
If you look back, they started building the offense first, that’s why it reached this point first.
And that’s why the defense is STILL being built through the draft. There are just too many needs there to finish up in free agency. It may take another year before it makes a turn around, though I think the line and CBs will play better.
March 16th, 2012 at 10:10 am
Raheem could not have won with the ALL-PRO team.
March 16th, 2012 at 10:36 am
Pete
Tiki started out with less fumbles than Blount his first two years and, true, progressively got worse. Now with that said, I’m just afraid if Blount doesnt fix that problem he could easily end up with 8+ a year. Also, you have to remember Blount didnt get nearly as many touches as Tiki either. I’m with jar he fumbles way to much!
March 16th, 2012 at 10:37 am
oops..yar…. not jar
March 16th, 2012 at 10:45 am
Wow, one example. You sure did nail it, Joe. Don’t hurt yourself patting yourself on the back too much.
March 16th, 2012 at 10:45 am
No, I never came close to whining about the Bucs not taking Adrian Peterson. I had publicly stated that I wanted Patrick Willis at the pick where we took Gaines Adams… just as I have been stating that I want Luke Kuechly. The truth is, that I have been right far more than I have been wrong regarding personnel matters for the Bucs… which means I have a far better success rate than the last two GMing regimes. Take Kuechly!
March 16th, 2012 at 10:46 am
@Pete
“RahRah is also tied for dead last in NFL history for number of playoff appearances after 3 full seasons as head coach with Zero.”
What exactly is inaccurate about that statement? Who gives a sh!t at this point, why go to all that trouble of trying to prove a pointless point?
Raheem sucked and as far as I can tell never learned a damn thing from his experience. Every single week started out the same with teams racing out of the gate and then playing off defenses for the entire second half. It was three straight years of that same exact problem, and then to top it off, he claims he wouldn’t do anything different. Raheem is obviously too proud and stubborn to change his style, so I would expect nothing but the same if he had kept his job.
As to the original story here, Brian Billick won’t get another opportunity because he thinks he’s one of those coaches that can also be the GM. I honestly get sick listening to him talk because you can tell that in his mind his sh!t smells ten times better than anybody elses. No front office or owner wants that kind of jerk in the building.
March 16th, 2012 at 11:11 am
Rah was in over his head from the introductory press conference.
Its without a doubt that he never had a disciplined well coached football team and the horrific starts and last place run defense is best evidence.
He was not the “next Chuck Noll”, or “better than Monte Kiffin” as proposed by many on here and which made me want to puke.
March 16th, 2012 at 11:21 am
Someone actually said “better than Monte…”? That is grounds for walking the plank around these parts!
March 16th, 2012 at 11:25 am
@mcbuc
Oh yeah, Rah had a new improved hybrid tampa two scheme that was allegedly better than Monte Kiffins.
March 16th, 2012 at 11:38 am
“RahRah is also tied for dead last in NFL history for number of playoff appearances after 3 full seasons as head coach with Zero.”
Hell, he wasn’t even the Bucs worst coach ever. I refer, of course, to the Leamon Bennett, Richard Williamson, run-run Ray Perkins years as prime examples, plus wick-whacky Wyche , who, at least, was entertaining. Rah was not a good head coach, by any standard, but let’s not allow your hatred of him carry you to rediculous heights with the 20-20 hindsight venom. I will admit that there were those who hated him from the get go, who piled on the hate from the start & are are now correct , somewhat like a broken clock. He was fired, & with good reason. For me it’s just time to let it all go & move on. I wonder how these guys are gonna react if Schiano loses the 1st 4 or 5 games.
March 16th, 2012 at 11:56 am
Well then the big head coaching offers should start rolling in for him soon, shouldn’t they?
March 16th, 2012 at 12:22 pm
@ Scotty
“Unfortualtely for Rah…clearly the rest of the current NFL leadership thought so highly of him that he is now a defensive back coach (not DC, not HC) for the Washington Deadskins. And he wants to recruit some of our current defensive backs?….LMAO!!!!”
That’s not entirely true. He gave a verbal commitment to the Shannahans that he’d become the DBs coach when Frazier came in an offered him the DC position. He turned down the DC job because he didn’t want to go back against his word.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/football-insider/post/raheem-morris-turned-down-vikings-defensive-coordinator-job/2012/01/26/gIQAzWZ0SQ_blog.html
March 16th, 2012 at 12:53 pm
Some advice for Billick… Take a chill pill, get some bed rest and get over it.
March 16th, 2012 at 1:01 pm
we couldn’t land a free agent even when we tried, NO ONE WANTED TO COME HERE AS LONG AS RAHDUMB WAS THE COACH, as soon as we get a new coach guys start signing up left and right, the truth is out there, do the last of the diehard Rahdumb lovers want to believe it is the question
March 16th, 2012 at 1:15 pm
@Eric…I admit that I routed for Morris, and even pinted out how many great coaches had bad starts…I am guilty there…but whoever made that Kiffin claim must not have watched a Kiffin run Bucs defense before. WOW! Man, if only Kiffin would have stuck around a little longer.
Oh well, out with the old and in with the new. Let’s see what the new guy can do.
March 16th, 2012 at 3:08 pm
@mcbuc
I wholeheartedly agree.
I feel the community is going to rally around the new coach and the team.
Might put Joe’s black out tour out of biz!
March 16th, 2012 at 3:18 pm
Uh…..Wyche helped us draft three future hall of famers in ’95. That makes him better than Raheem, even if he didn’t have a winning season.
Don’t forget he got to a super bowl with the Bengals too.
March 16th, 2012 at 4:45 pm
I initially hated the Raheem hire.
But after a brief time, I supported him, and felt he deserved a fair chance.
He got one. He lost control of his team . He needed to be fired. He was.
Not the end of Raheem Morris. He will learn from this, and move foward- like all of us try to do( well, except for Thomas. He dwells in the past,but what da ya do?)
I will say this. They did screw Raheem. Free agents or not,
They ruined any chance of winning, when they refused to resign Ruud and Caddy.
Foster was hopelessly lost all last year. His play calling alone us probably responsible for 4 loses. Not his fault. But the truth.
And I don’t think anyone would argue that Lumpkin was a less than terrific 3rd down back. He didnt help us stay on the field on third downs.
If you can’t convert third downs, you will lose in the NFL
Those two captains leaving, where the biggest reason we went from 10-6, to 4-12. I believe that. I also said that would happen BEFORE last season started.
That did screw Raheem. But he lost the team because if how he let Talib and Black quit on the field, and didn’t fire their asses. The other players saw that, and they all started quitting- except the D-line, where Mallard alone apparently didn’t put up with crap.
That is why Raheem was fired, and should have been fired.
March 16th, 2012 at 4:50 pm
Blount could be a great back, If Earnest Byner has watched the tapes and we know he has, the problem is LGB dances in the backfield and his runs fail. When he runs instead of dancing, he does well. Bob Bostad should have the o-line blowing holes wide open for LGB by mid season, best O-line coach in NCAA is now a Bucs coach! 🙂
March 16th, 2012 at 5:40 pm
@capt.tim how do you explain the 4-2 start to the season? The team just lost focus because ther were un disciplined. Plain and simple. And Raheem said he wouldn’t change anything. That right there is a flag for any retread head coach.
March 16th, 2012 at 7:11 pm
Clayborn94- um, I did. Lack of an experienced MLB, lack of a third down back!
We won a couple, because it took the other teams a few reels of tape, to find our glaring weaknesses. Once you watched a few presnaps on film- you realized that Foster had no idea how to adjust the Defense, once the offense changed formation. On numerous occasions, the offense would adjust from a run formation, to a spred passing formation. Our defense would change from one run defense, to another run defense- I.e, safeties up close, LBers at the corners of the line. Once teams saw that, it was a friggin slaughterhouse for the defense! Well, that, and a couple of them just SUCKED!
Offense- same problem. If you watched the year before- when Josh stepped up and audibled a play, Caddy stepped up and audibled the new blocking scheme.
Lumpkin tried, but again- didn’t know where to adjust. If the play changed, and the TE left on a route- LBers got free lanes to Josh, cause the blocking wasn’t adjusted to compensate the Strong side end.
Just the hundred lil things- that keep you in a game- or get you blown out
And didn’t I say in my post, that he lost control of the team, and deserved to be fired???
How come you repeating my post back at me- like it’s a question?
March 16th, 2012 at 7:20 pm
Damn Joe, Pete wants a job.
Why don’t you just hire the guy. I’m sure he’d work for free or clean your office or bathroom if you give him a slot. But make him change that screen name first.
March 17th, 2012 at 4:14 am
Like some have said, who cares at this point? Raheem’s gone, so it’s all irrelevant.
But for sh!ts and giggles, it probably wasn’t completely fair to Raheem. But such is life. Not everyone gets the same opportunities in this world, no matter the profession. You just have to make the most with what you have. Raheem failed to do that. We were not the least talented team in the NFL, but we played like it. That’s the fault of the coach. You just can’t lose 10 games in a row, get blown out in most of them, lose the locker room, and then expect to keep your job. I like Raheem and wish him well, but he didn’t do his job and he had to be replaced. I supported him while he was here (sometimes justified, sometimes probably not), but his firing was absolutely justified. Toward the end, the product on the field was absolutely pitiful, maybe the worst I’ve ever seen in the NFL (I’m probably exaggerating, but it sure felt that way). Two or three free agents wouldn’t have made a damn bit of difference.