Bucs: No Wins, No Discipline, No Hope

They are the last winless team in the NFL. They are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the 0-7 Buccaneers, the oh-so-ugly Buccaneers of coach Raheem Morris. This is a football team without victories and as talk spreads, evidently a team without discipline.

WDAE talk show host Steve Duemig brought new problems to light recently when he alleged that cornerback Aqib Talib broke curfew during the London trip, was confronted by Morris in the team's hotel lobby and promptly fired off a string of "f-bombs" at Morris.

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Bucs' Best Chance for a Win

There's no other way to put it.

Fact is, these Tampa Bay Buccaneers of Raheem Morris are playing like dogs. And perhaps that's an insult to dogs.

After getting wiped out at Philadelphia, the lads from Tampa Bay are home again and they're home with just an ounce of hope.

Hope is arriving Sunday in the form of the 1-3 Carolina Panthers. This MAY be the Bucs best shot at winning, not this week, this year.

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Bucs Make Leftwich the Fall Guy

Teams that start 0-3 typically need a "fall guy."

The Buccaneers found theirs in quarterback Byron Leftwich.

This 2009 version of the Buccaneers is cornered in confusion. A team that spent its entire training camp focused on quarterbacks Byron Leftwich and Luke McCown will now totally reverse its course.

McCown is in Jacksonville and Leftwich has been run over by the bus, thrown underneath it by Coach Raheem Morris, who declared that Lefty was still his starter after last Sunday's embarrassing loss to the New York Giants.

Less than 24 hours later, Morris disposed of Leftwich, demoted him to third-string and named shifty but inexperienced Josh Johnson the starter and the other Josh (Freeman) as the backup.

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Bucs 'D' a Big Nightmare

Tuesday is the traditional day off for NFL players, thank-you Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Some might argue that certain members of the Tampa Bay Buccaneer defense take Sundays off as well.

This 2009 Tampa Bay defense has become youthful head coach Raheem Morris' nightmare.

The question was posed to him at his Monday press conference: "Is this defense getting out of hand?"

Morris, without hesitation blurted: "It's already out of hand!"

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Same Song for Bucs, Bills Fans

Listen to the hard-core fans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Buffalo Bills and you get the feeling you're talking to the same people.

Tampa Bay fans are seeing the bright side of a 34-21 loss to Dallas that embarrassed the Buc secondary. They are talking about how great Cadillac Williams looked, they're talking about the offensive line and the running game and the 276 passing yards that Byron Leftwich racked up.

They see this glass half full, as does the Buccaneer leader -- Raheem Morris. Rah promises to clean up the mess that left poop all over the defensive backfield he once oversaw. He promises that the sins of safety Sabby Piscatelli won't be repeated. Indeed, Piscatelli was out of position often and wound up observing the rear-ends of Dallas receivers as they paraded into the Buccaneer end zone on three big plays.

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Bucs Must Handle Two Big Losses

Raheem Morris called it a "huge loss," and he wasn't talking about the Sunday afternoon defensive fiasco that cost his team immensely in that 35-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

Losing to the Cowboys was bad enough, losing his best offensive lineman made it all the worse.

Morris confirmed Monday that center Jeff Faine is lost for what could be four-to-six weeks with a torn bicep tendon. "It depends on the pain and when he can go," Morris said of Faine's projected return.

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Bucs Soon to Find Out What They Got

Raheem Morris finally has his squad in place and it looks nothing like the 2008 Buccaneers of Jon Gruden.

Byron Leftwich will lead this team into battle against Dallas next Sunday and his immediate backup will be the Wonder Boy -- Josh Freeman. And that means that this team is one really good lick away from Morris and Mark Dominik's self-fulfilling prophecy.

It's not far fetched that Leftwich can get knocked out of a game, anytime. He's a perfect target in the pocket and you know that Dallas can produce a pass rush. But if all goes to Morris' plan, these Buccaneer will run the ball over and around Dallas and keep the 'Boys guessing when big ole Byron will wind up the windmill and hit an open receiver.

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Bucs Mum on Their Thoughts

Anyone expecting a direct answer from Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris on the firing of offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski hasn't spent much time around the NFL

Tampa Bay's passing offense has been next to abysmal during the preseason, with quarterbacks Byron Leftwich and Luke McCown performing their best Alphonse and Gaston act during the first three games wrestling for the starting job.

It's been bad enough to kindle memories of the Vinny Testaverde era. Entering Friday's game against Houston, the Bucs were averaging 154.7 passing yards a game, with a league-worst 4.7 per passing attempt.

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A Mess at One Buc Place

This all looks for very, very bad for Raheem Morris, your rookie head coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Here he was, on his birthday, getting up in front of the gathered media to explain the firing of his offensive coordinator, Jeff Jagodzinski, a mere 10 days before the 2009 season opener against Dallas.

Say what you want, Morris was nervous and uneasy with the explanation.

He kept saying that the offense needs "more precision, more direction."

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Happy Birthday, Raheem Morris

Happy birthday, Raheem Morris.

Today, you have reached the ripe old age of 33.

It's young by life's standards. You are an infant by NFL coaching standards.

Yet here you are, ready to embark on the dangerous waters of the 2009 football season, armed with a re-tooled team that will try and compete using high-energy, fast-tempo and aggression.

While you think about that, Raheem, here are some gifts for you from some well-known names in the world of football media:

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Raheem Morris Faces Bigger Decisions

Okay, Raheem finally got down to business and named his starting quarterback, the mighty Byron Leftwich.

Fair enough.

Now comes the hard work. At 6 p.m. on Saturday, September 5, Morris will have to choose the 53 players for his final roster. He'll have to tell us those players he will take into battle against Dallas and the rest of the NFC East, NFC South and AFC East.

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Bucs' Morris Wears Heavy Headset

Raheem Morris, the youngish coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will turn 33 next month and he's finding out that decisions are a tough part of this high-profile job.

Media and fans were speculating on his big impending decision, the starting quarterback job for his football team. It was supposed to come down this week, prior to Thursday's preseason home game against the Miami Dolphins.

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