Raheem The Dream Not Happy With Receivers
August 17th, 2009
Raheem the Dream called out his receiver (with the exception of Sammie Stroughter) for not bringing it Saturday night.
As Joe hinted in his preview of the game Saturday, be careful to judge starter Luke McCown. He might have trouble with reserve receivers.
Now Joe isn’t going to point his finger at the receivers. McCown simply looked out of his element, skittish, hurried, and greatly uncomfortable. And that can’t totally be attributed to the receivers when Bryon Leftwich and Josh Freeman both came into the game later and moved the ball with lesser receivers.
Regardless, Raheem the Dream was not happy with his receivers’ play and he called them out writes Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune.
Bucs coach Raheem Morris was disappointed with the play of his receivers without Antonio Bryant (knee) and Clayton (hamstring) during Tampa Bay’s preseason loss against Tennessee on Saturday. Each receiver had an opportunity to impress Morris with Bryant and Clayton on the shelf, but nobody did.
“The receivers are guys who actually had the opportunity to step up,” Morris said Sunday. “You saw Sammie Stroughter show up, a young guy we’ve been talking about. He saw some balls. He dropped one, but I wanted to see more out of Cortez Hankton. “
Again, Leftwich moved the ball. Freeman moved the ball. And both of those quarterbacks were playing with guys farther down the depth chart than McCown was.
Joe isn’t sure how the receivers can be called out.
August 17th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Really? How about on McCown’s first pass when Stoval runs down the field instead of the comeback?
What about the numerous drops Maurice had? The balls that should have been caught but weren’t?
Those WR’s made me really yearn for Ike… 🙁
August 17th, 2009 at 10:33 am
it’s just one preseason game so i’ve decided to be patient, Joe. now is not the time to panic, though i understand the criticism. i liked the energy and hustle on defense, except for Mr. Heyward. Go Bucs!
August 17th, 2009 at 10:53 am
George:
Not panicking at all. There were holes on the left side of the line to run through but Graham, for whatever reason, couldn’t get there. Maybe he’s lost a step? Maybe you just have to tip your cap to the Titans? Remember, they have already logged a game and are a damned good defense.
This team will be a work in progress. They are still learning both the offense and defense. Everything is new. Joe was told by many players (more on that later) that they have barely scratched the surface of learning both the new offense and defense.
All that said, McCown really looked disoriented out there. He’s a great guy, but geez, he surely didn’t do anything that Joe saw that helped himself in his quest to be the starting quarterback come September.