Ronde Barber Comes Out For Raheem
December 28th, 2009
"Ronde, keep texting Michael Silver that I'm coming back. Maybe that will keep him from including all his liberal BS opinions in his NFL columns."
In recent days, more and more Bucs are beginning to stump for the return of Raheem the Dream. Jeff Faine, Chris Hovan and Barrett Ruud were among the first to lobby for their head coach.
Now add Ronde Barber to the mix. The veteran Bucs cornerback reacted angrily via text — as best as one can react angrily via text — to a suggestion from Yahoo! Sports NFL columnist, good guy yet Maoist Michael Silver, that Raheem the Dream would get punked for Bill Cowher.
That Tampa Bay fought back from a 17-0 deficit to a team stinging from its first defeat of the season the previous Saturday – and looking to sew up the NFC’s No. 1 overall seed – makes the Bucs’ victory even more shocking. I asked veteran cornerback Ronde Barber on Sunday night to explain what the hell is going on in Tampa, and he attributed much of it to the players’ affection for Morris. “We’re just finding ourselves!” he wrote via text message. “One thing you cannot accuse us of is not playing hard. [A lot of teams quit, but] not us. We love our guy too much.” Trailing 17-3 at halftime, Morris, who took charge of the team’s defense after firing coordinator Jim Bates (in the wake of a 38-7 defeat to the Saints) five weeks ago, came up with some strategic wrinkles to help the cause. “Great adjustments,” Barber said. “A couple of defenses that we never even practiced, and guys were just buying in. Postgame, in our locker room, you’d have thought we won the Super Bowl.” As for the notion that Morris could be gone after Sunday’s regular season finale against the Falcons, Barber said, “Don’t buy into that [expletive]!”
Despite Barber’s sell, Silver noted that he isn’t totally buying. Silver points out that Bryan and Joel have been enamoured with big-name coaches before and that Bryan and Joel have been known to react swiftly, if unexpectedly, when making coaching moves.
Therefore, Silver writes, there may be smoke to the Cowher fire as Peter King points out.
Joe admits Silver’s argument is compelling. We will all find out in roughly three weeks who is full of it and who isn’t when it comes to Raheem the Dream’s job security.
December 28th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
All Morris can do is beat Atlanta this weekend and hope that’s enough.
December 28th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
It’s simple – Hire Cowher and demote Raheem to DC – where he belongs. If Radio takes the gig all is great; if Morris doesn’t take the demotion then the Glazers are off the hook for his 2010 salary.
If Morris is SMART he’d take the demotion, get the Bucs defense back into the top 10 – then he’d have some bargining power when it comes to HC positions. Let’s face it Raheem IS the youngest guy out there and he’s got plenty of time to LEARN; just not on the job with the Bucs.
December 28th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Mr Lucky..put down the crack pipe and step away from the vehicle.
Freeman is getting some valuable experience for next year, and Raheem is doing the same. I expect Raheem to stay – win or not vs the Falcons. He deserves to at least start year 2 with momentum, coordinator stability and a 3 shiney new draft picks from the first 42 or so. I see good things ahead, especially with a last place schedule for 2010.
(Does anyone know what AFC division we play next year?)
December 28th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Jeff…We play the AFC North, with Pittsburgh and Cleveland at home and Baltimore and Cincy away.
December 28th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Hey Lucky, for one thing no HC is going to take a demotion to DC and stay on the team. It has never happened and never will. Too many egos. Secondly, Bill Cowher isn’t going to be told who his DC will be. Cowher will have total control over that. Thirdly, Cowher runs a 3-4 and Rheem is a 4-3 guy.
Not so simple.
December 28th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
BRING IN THE CHIN
December 28th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
You guys don’t think outside the box- the purpose of demoting Radio to DC is that will force Morris to quit – THAT gets the Glazers off the hook for his salary. Geez. Once Morris is gone that opens the door for Cowher to walk in and take over.
To Jeff – ME smoking crack? Tell me in what OTHER profession can a HC get paid 1/2 million, ruin a team, have the 3rd worst record in the NFL, make his team the laughing stock of the NFL, get valuable OTJ training and keep his job?
The only tragedy WORSE than keeping Radio as the Bucs HC is giving TARP money to Citibank, AIG, Freddie and Fanny.
So Jeff I guess you’re HAPPY that Morris lead his team to 3-12? Boy what company are YOU running? Wait don’t tell me Circuit City maybe
December 28th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Bring in ass chin.
December 28th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
My question is why 3 weeks to find out when the last game is on Sunday. Is that just typical Glazer procrastination. I think they are going to keep Raheem after he beats Atlanta next week. C’mon man.
December 28th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Wow! First of all Mr. Lucky all that ” Radio ” talk lets me know how mature you really are and all this bring Cowher talk also lets me to believe that you don’t know ANYTHING about Football. Let explain. If you bring in Cowher your also bringing in a Football Czar and if you know the Glazers they like a checks and balances type of organization so you know B. C. won’t be able to make all the football decisions. Second this def. would go through a complete OVERHAUL to a 3-4 and we already saw wut happens when we play somthing other then the tampa two. Lastly Cowher will likely pick another QB soooo there goes all that time and $ that was invested in J.F. Ohh yeah and all this would cost money and we know how the Glazers are as far as spending. So if you want 2-3 more yrs. of losing then go ahead! I like this direction we are goin.
December 29th, 2009 at 12:06 am
I disagree on the new QB part. Why would Cowher want a new QB when he has a Freeman who is very simialr to Big Ben? I think Freeman would be one of the positives of this team in Cowhers mind.
December 29th, 2009 at 12:16 am
I’m torn to be honest. I think the team has shown real improvment these last 6 or 7 weeks. Especially the last two weeks. Most important is the fact that Rheem has this team playing very hard, and that says alot. I think Rheem is inexperienced and has made alot of mistakes, but I think he is alot better coach now than he was at the beginning of the season. I also think he was handed a very shitty situation. In my mind he deserves a second year with some new new coaching staff and a second draft. We have finally found our identity again, I don’t think starting from scratch again is the best idea.
On the flip side, I have been praying for Cowher to come here since mid season. He is probably my favorite coach all time and it would be like a dream come true if he came here. If we were going to make the switch, it would need to be now so Cowher can get 3-4 starters for his 3-4 defense in this draft. This is a very big draft for us and if we draft all cover two guys, we will really not have a choice to make a switch next year. Cowher and his crew would also help tremendously with scouting, and bringing in free agents.
I’m 50/50 at this point. If we win next week, I think you gotta give Rheem a shot to continue winning next year. If we lose than I’m still gonna be 50/50 and won’t be upset either way it goes….as long as it’s Cowher. The worst scenerio I can think of is firing Rheem and then replacing him with someone other than Cowher.
December 29th, 2009 at 3:38 am
Bucsfan – first my reference to Morris as “Radio” goes back and if you’ve read Joe’s site for awhile you’d understand
Secondly I know a lot about football and THAT’S why I feel the Bucs can’t continue down this current road. As for Cowher liking a 3-4 instead of 4-3 what’s the big deal? Look at the current crop of D-Line do you REALLY think this is the line for the next 3-4 years? If you do then YOU know nothing about football.
Hovan is just about out of gas, Wilkerson busted his ACL and while he had a good year next is doubtful. Ryan Sims looks like anything but what a 1st round pick should be – unless you like Gaines Adams play. Roy Miller is a better player but needs coaching – can he make the transition to 3-4 I don’t know. I guess you’re high on Dre Moore? If you are stop doing crack. Greg White returned to his 2007 form and I could see him doing well in a 3-4 system.
As for linebackers do you mean to tell me that you’re happy with Quincy Black, Ruud and Hayes? Black and Hayes are habitual back-ups (I’ll give Hayes a pass this year) but their back-ups of McCoy and Hayward would do better in different system.
As for your ASSERTATION that the Glazers like a checks and balance system I say, Oh Really? How much balance/checks was there with Bruce Allen and Gruden? NONE! Allen was a Chucky yes man.
Finally you ASSUME that Cowher would pick a new QB? Why? He might or he might not you’re ASSUMING to know how Bill thinks.
With the lack of experience Morris has DEMONSTRATED this year with his choices of hiring and firing the OC and DC, with the STUPID play calling such as the most recent 4th and inches call I don’t want Morris sticking the Bucs with Kansas St’s latest draft picks. The Bucs will have the opportunity to stock up on lots of talent for the next few years. if they are going to make the transition to a 3-4 (look at how Green Bay did this year Mr. Football guru) NOW would be the time to do it with a new PROVEN HC and lots of draft picks.
As for you liking the direction the Bucs are going that shows how little you know about football. What direction? Sure the Bucs travel to Seattle and the 1-11 team beats a 4-8 team woo hoo! Then beating the Saints appeared nice but what did the Saints have to play for in the first place? They have the #1 seed anyway.
the Bucs don’t have an “identity”. Radio said that he’s not letting his Special Teams coach leave because he’s under contract. Boy I bet THAT’S gonna make Rich B a real happy camper. Who’s their QB coach? Greg Olson? The same guy who has so much faith in his franchise QB that he won’t call a 4th and inches QB dive? That’s a great direction.
I don’t understand all this love for Raheem when he’s demonstrated his incompetance, double-speak crap from day 1. Do you REALLY want to see this same crap next year? As a long-time fan I’m surprised you’d be content to see the Bucs return to the days of the YUCKS and that’s what will happen under Radio’s tenure
December 29th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Can someone tell me what all the love for Bill Cowher is about? If given the choice between Mike Tomlin and Cowher, which coach do you think most Steeler fans would choose to have? I have disliked Morris all year, but he has shown me something the past two weeks, especially Sunday when he got his team to FIGHT even after going down 17-0 quickly to one of the best teams in the NFL, instead of folding like a cheap Wal-Mart card table. To me it is silly to think the Glazers might spend $5 million on a coach when they are nothing but cheap bastards when it comes to getting talent for this team. It doesn’t matter who the coach is if the talent is limited.
December 29th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Hey Mr Lucky, you’re an assclown. The Saints didn’t have the #1 seed on Sunday yet and didn’t get it until last night when the Vikings lost, because the Vikings actually held the tie breaker had they both finished with the same record. That is why the Saints were playing guys by the name of Brees, Bush, Colston, etc. So the Bucs win was actually even more impressive considering what the Saints were trying to achieve. Keep up your love affair with Slobbering Spitter Cowher.
December 29th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
with Cower we can get to a superbowl in 17 seasons