Buccaneers Teased, Pleased, Then the Defense Floundered

Looked like Josh Freeman would do the impossible once again, didn’t it?

There he was in his second NFL start, braving the crowd at Land Shark Stadium, braving the Miami defense, leading his Buccaneers from a double-digit deficit to what looked like a spectacular second victory for this young team.

The big guy handed off to Cadillac Williams who wiggled in mid-air and somehow found his way across the goal line and lo-and-behold, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were leading the Miami Dolphins 23-22 with a little more than a minute to play in their Sunday afternoon battle.

Looked like things were finally going the Bucs’ way, eh?

Freeman did his part, Kellen Winslow did his part, Maurice Stovall helped out, Caddy scored, the defense made some stops, made some plays like that Quincy Black interception that set up what looked like the winning series.

And new place kicker Conner Barth did more than his part. He became the first Buccaneer to kick three 50-yard plus field goals (51, 50, 54) in a single game. It was the Birth of Barth.

It was looking good, wasn’t it?  Looked like 2-7 was in the bag.

Surely this defense could muster one good final effort. Surely this defense wouldn’t let a rookie quarterback march his team down the field for the winning field goal.

But reality struck. This, after all, is the Tampa Bay Buccaneer defense, the Achilles’ heel of all that is Pewter.

Reality was a 77-yard drive in that final 1:14 that doomed this hard-playing Buccaneer team.  

Chad Henne passed and Ricky Williams ran the Dolphins close enough for Dan Carpenter to kick his fourth field goal of the day, a 25-yarder with 10 seconds left that provided the 25-23 Dolphins victory that sent these Bucs back to Tampa at 1-8.

“They played hard,” coach Raheem Morris said of his team afterward. “Those guys played their hearts out.”

Morris beat himself up afterward, blaming himself for getting that unsportsmanlike penalty that led to a Dolphin touchdown before the half.

“At the end of the day, I lost this one at halftime,” Morris  lamented. “It’s all on me…a discipline issue.”

Morris was wrong. He wasn’t on the field playing defense in that final minute.

Put this one on them.

They teased us all day, played well enough to keep it close. Played well enough to set up Freeman for another great comeback.

Then, after almost 59 minutes, they didn’t play well enough to win it.

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers Win Over Pack “Rings” Loud and Clear

Amid an old school sea of 1979 Orange on a balmy Sunday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, an iconic superstar was honored and perhaps a new star was born.

Lee Roy Selmon, Tampa’s greatest player and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, became the first member of the team’s Ring of Honor.

On the field, the Buccaneers passed, ran, defended and special-teamed a ring around the Green Bay Packers and forged an amazing come-from-behind 38-28 victory to end the team’s losing streak at seven.

It was a heart-pounding debut for rookie quarterback Josh Freeman who showed enough poise and field generalship to direct the fourth-quarter stunner. On this special day, Freeman hit three touchdown passes, two of them in that final quarter when the Bucs outscored Green Bay 21-7 to stun the Pack.

It was Freeman’s debut and he was impressive at the least. “By the fourth quarter, he was a veteran quarterback,” declared Michael Clayton.

The Buccaneers won this game because Freeman did nothing to lose it.

The Buccaneers won this game because they found big plays from all facets of the team.

They won because Freeman managed the game the way so many hoped he would.

He threw only one interception on the day, was never sacked and the team had only two penalties in the amazing debut of the youngster who recently turned 21.

But Freeman was only one piece of the complete effort.

“So many players contributed, it’s a blur right now,” said Raheem Morris, who was presented the game ball from team captain Ronde Barber.

Barber was one of those contributors. He scored in the second quarter on a 31-yard return after linebacker Geno Hayes made a head-rattling punt block.

Clifton Smith was a key special teams player. He started the furious fourth quarter rally when he returned at kick 83 yards immediately after the Packers had taken a 28-17 lead.

That set up Freeman for the first of two TD passes of seven yards.

“Not bad,” said Morris afterward of his young quarterback. “He was poised and patient. An impressive performance.”

The defense finally had its day in the sun.

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers hit a 74-yard touchdown bomb on the first Green Bay series to James Jones but after that, the Buc defensive line tormented him. Before it was all over, Rodgers was sacked six times and was nearly taken down for a safety.

He was intercepted three times, the final one a 38-yard pick and return for touchdown by Tanard Jackson. It put the icing on this cake of a win.

This game had a different feel, even before kickoff. The orange-clad crowd was excited about Selmon’s induction but there was a talk of good karma from the presence of the ’79 NFC Central championship team.

“I’m happy for our guys and it was a great tribute to the ’79 championship team,” declared Morris after his first win as a head coach. “Special teams were the driving force.”

“We delivered a punch in the front of our home crowd,” declared Clayton.

Indeed, Clayton, Kellen Winslow (touchdown catch), Sammie Stroughter (touchdown catch), and Derrick Ward (touchdown catch), made plays.

Hayes had a monster game. Return man Smith picked the perfect day to re-discover his Pro-Bowl form.

The secondary burned Green Bay more than it was burned.

The defensive line that has taken its lumps, brutalized Rodgers with those six sacks and held the Packers to 81 yards rushing.

In short, it was a complete team effort, an old-school effort with those marvelous orange jerseys on the backs of a team that was desperate for victory.

On his way out of the stadium, former Detroit head coach Wayne Fontes who coached the Buccaneer seconday in 1979 made a simple observation that perhaps put this one in proper context:

“It was sensational, wasn’t it?” Fontes said. “It was great. And hey—keep the orange!”

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers Greatest QB: Remembering Doug Williams

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will salute the 1979 NFC Central championship team on Sunday and induct Lee Roy Selmon into the inaugural Ring of Honor. This is the first of three parts, remembering those who formed the backbone of that special team.

 

“You can break the back but you can’t break the spirit of a small-town Southern Man..”

–Alan Jackson, “Small Town Southern Man”

 

John McKay took what appeared to be a major risk in the 1978 NFL draft. The Buccaneers had the 17th pick in the first round and selected Doug Williams, a quarterback from tiny but legendary Grambling State University.

African-American quarterbacks were few and far between back then and McKay felt that Williams, a small-town kid from Zachary, LA, was the final piece to the puzzle that could provide Tampa with a winner, a championship-calibre team.

We marveled at his size. At 6’4″ and nearly 235 pounds, he looked up close like a linebacker. His throwing arm was powerful, he was a physical specimen. But could he handle the pressures of an NFL quarterback?

The answer came slowly but Williams progressed. He won the heart and respect of his teammates. He learned the game. He was humble in the process. He was easy to interview, just a country guy from Louisiana.

He took his lumps in 1978 but never complained. Doug was a gamer. He could take a beating and gave up his body time and again for a first down. He didn’t mind taking a big hit to complete a pass. He was pure heart.

Then came 1979 and what a special year it would be. These lowly Buccaneers from seasons previous were off to a 5-0 start and made the cover of Sports Illustrated . They were the talk of the town, the talk of the NFL, the talk of the nation. It became clear that the confidence McKay had in Williams paid off.

Williams was the leader of the offense, no mistaking that.

McKay had Williams, Ricky Bell, and Jerry Eckwood in that backfield. One day, McKay looked at the three of them and said:

“You guys remind me of the great old Army teams…”

“You mean the Four Horsemen?” Williams asked.

“No,” quipped McKay, “the Black Knights of the Hudson.”

Williams laughed, realizing he had the wrong college team with his guess.

That’s how he was. He smiled easily and his fearless play won over the fans.

“We knew we were never out of a game,” Jimmie Giles once said. “With Doug’s arm, he could strike at any time, complete the big pass at any time, didn’t matter if we were behind, he could bring us back and we knew it.” Giles, the tight end on that team, was Williams’ favorite target.

Those grand ’79 Bucs came within a game of the Super Bowl, but lost 9-0 to the Rams in the NFC championship game on Jan. 6 in the old Tampa Stadium. It was a heartbreaker, but still, Williams and his team got there fast, in the fourth season of the young franchise.

The biggest sin of the franchise came when the Bucs didn’t sign Doug in 1982. He was looking for $600,000 a year, the team offered $400,000 and it could  have become a deal at $500,000. But the Bucs lost their franchise quarterback over a lousy $100,000.

Williams toiled in the USFL but found his moment for all time in Super Bowl XXII when he led the Redskins to a 42-10 romp of Denver. He became the only man to throw four touchdown passes in a single quarter.

It was his finest moment. He was a Super Bowl MVP.

His path of life led him home and he took over as the head coach at Grambling after the legendary Eddie Robinson retired.

He was a hit, he restored the program and its pride.

Then what seemed impossible, improbable, happened.

Doug Williams returned to the Buccaneers.

And that’s where we find him today. Home.

He’s the father of eight and the Bucs director of pro personnel.

But he’ll always be THAT great quarterback of the 1979 team.

He was a man of huge stature, huge heart on the football field.

And still is today.

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Buccaneers Headed for Oblivion and Beyond?

Winless has a face.

Disrespect has a face.

This franchise in turmoil known as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has a poster child.

He is Aqib Talib.

You’d hope what WDAE’s Steve Duemig reported late last week is not true, but there’s no reason to doubt it.

Duemig values his credibility, and he wasn’t about to throw out false claims days after the station suspended Dan Sileo for making false claims regarding the team’s owners losing $400 to $450 million in the Bernie Madoff scandal.

Duemig reported that Talib broke curfew in London after the loss to the Patriots. Coach Raheem Morris was in the lobby and confronted Talib as he returned. With others looking on, Duemig reported that Talib hit Morris with a verbal blast of “F-bombs.”

The Bucs have yet to deny the report.

If it is true, this goes beyond disturbing. It would be an indictment of this team, an indictment of Morris’ leadership, or lack thereof. 

If it is true, it would be prime evidence that this is a ship without a rudder—a team without direction, without discipline, and without hope for the near future.

And this would be yet another incident involving Talib, who tested positive for marijuana in college, started a fight at the NFL rookie symposium, hit a teammate with his helmet last spring, and will be indicted next week for assaulting a local cab driver.

If it is true and Talib is not dealt with harshly by Morris, then where will the nonsense end?

This team has enough problems executing the game plan on Sundays; it doesn’t need dissension; it doesn’t need a major bad apple in the barrel at One Buccaneer Place.

Now the team has to prepare for the debut of rookie quarterback Josh Freeman. It has to prepare for a Green Bay Packers team that is angry about its home loss to the Vikings on Sunday.

This Packers team will no doubt want to vent some frustration, and the Buccaneers are made to order for that.

The sins of this franchise are numerous. There are sins of misjudgement, sins of wasted time in training camp and sins of disciplinary omission.

There are way too many sins.

Too many sins and no wins.

The clock turns back to 1976 on Sunday, when this team dons the orange jerseys of the Bucco Bruce era.

The only difference is that those 1976 Bucs had heart and discipline.

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Bernie Madoff, and a Wacky Bye Week

Even when they don’t play, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are being “dogged.”

Seven straight losses will do that.

The latest came from WDAE radio talk show host Dan Sileo, who now looks like a total buffoon.

Sileo came on the air earlier this week during his morning talk show and threw out the incredible statement that through his “inside credible sources” he believed that the Glazer family, owners of the Buccaneers, had lost $400-$450 million in the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme and that they were in desperate straits and would need to sell the Buccaneers.

The normally quiet Glazers were hot, real hot.

“100 percent false. We never invested one penny with Bernie Madoff,” came an official statement from Joel Glazer, fired off through the official Buccaneer pipeline.

This one really set things on fire.

You see, WDAE is the flagship station for Buccaneer game radio broadcasts and thus is a “partner” of the team.

Sileo, who played at the University of Miami then had a less-than-successful short career in the NFL, was suspended by the station.

The station then quickly issued a mea culpa, please forgive this buffoon apology to the Glazers:

“…Dan Sileo made some statements that were factually inaccurate. We sincerely apologize for these statements and hereby issue a full retraction.”

Zowie.

Could be the end of Danny boy’s gig with WDAE.

Another WDAE talk show host, Steve Duemig, spoke on his Friday show and declared that some players in the Buccaneer locker room are “a cancer.”

Duemig further said: “They need to get rid of those players.”

Duemig said there are players who are “breaking the rules and they’re still playing.”

Most curious.

Could this team be totally falling apart from within?

Has Raheem Morris lost control?

Has the front office lost control?

The players are off on a four-day weekend. Time for them to think about their performance or lack thereof and time for Raheem Morris to take a long hard look at himself and perhaps wonder that by taking this head coaching job with the Buccaneers, might he have bit off more than he can chew?

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Buccaneers Not Joshin’: Freeman’s Your Starter

His time has come.

No need to mess around any more with Byron or J.J. or anyone else.

It’s time to put him on the field.

Raheem Morris has finally put his beat-up range balls back in the bag and has pulled out that sparkling new Titleist Pro-V1.

The Josh Freeman era begins next week. It begins at home against the Green Bay Packers and it begins in the old-era creamsicle orange uniforms that hung on the winless 1976 Buccaneers of the late John McKay.

“It’s time for him (Freeman) to come in there and join his team and lead us,” said Morris, fearless leader of this 0-7 team.

It is a self-fulfilling prophesy, one that surprises no one.

With no wins, why keep the No. 1 pick under wraps?

You have to find out if the kid can play sooner or later, and sooner will be in 11 days.

Morris let the world know of his decision after Wednesday’s practice session.

“He’s going out there and it’s going to help him,” Morris said.

Tampa got a quick preview in the waning minutes of the New England fiasco in London last Sunday.

Freeman snapped off a couple of completions but then had a fumble and was sacked.

No doubt, he’ll get the full business from Green Bay.

But it is his time, his place, his team.

Morris and GM Mark Dominik have bet the franchise future on Freeman, and their individual futures along with it.

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Buccaneers-Patriots: Tampa Bay Can’t Touch New England In London Loss

While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers stood proudly on the sideline of Wembley Stadium Sunday in London, the crowd of 80,000-plus sang “God Save The Queen.”

Perhaps they should have sang “God Save The Bucs.”

The Queen doesn’t need any help.

The Buccaneers need a lot.

There wasn’t much these international travelers from Tampa could do as Tom Brady led his Patriots (5-2) to a relatively easy 35-7 victory over the winless lads from Tampa Bay.

You could see this one coming early. The Bucs ran five plays to start the game and on the sixth, quarterback Josh Johnson stared long and hard at his receiver in the left flat. Brandon Meriweather saw it too, picked off Johnson’s offering and took it to the house.

The rout was on.

It was quickly 14-0 then 21-0 and it was easy to see where this one was headed. It was headed to that same disturbing place the Bucs have visited the previous six weeks.

“I think we are going to see an outstanding game,” CBS analyst Phil Sims told his broadcast partner Jim Nance before kickoff.

Shame on you Phil.

Way to mislead everyone.

You couldn’t mislead some of those British fans, you know, the ones who took those Buccaneers bandannas and tied them about their faces like old western bank robbers used to do.

Who could blame them.

It was 21-7 at the half and virtually over.

Sure the Buccaneers had their moments. That is their problem, their good play lasts just moments, not quarters, halves, or entire games.

Johnson had his moment when he completed two passes in a row to Antonio Bryant for 51 total yards, the second, a 33-yard scoring strike for the only Buc points.

It could have been and should have been a lot worse.

Brady helped the Bucs as best he could. Tanard Jackson picked him off in the end zone in the second quarter to stop what looked like a gimme touchdown for the Pats. Aqib Talib got a pick. Two picks on an un-Brady-like evening on the Wembley pitch.

Brady got over those and drilled Tampa for 308 yards and three touchdowns. The Bucs had no answer for the shifty little Wes Welker, who latched on to 10 passes for 107 yards and a touchdown.

Sure, there were moments when the Tampa defensive line bothered Brady. But there were not enough moments.

Not enough completed passes for Johnson. Only nine.

And nine was significant in this game.

With nine minutes left, Raheem Morris held up five fingers, and with that, rookie Josh Freeman was in the game’s final quarter.

Wasn’t much he could do. He was roughed up, sacked, fumbled and completed a pair in his premier appearance as a Buc.

The Bucs can come home now.

They can come home, take a week off and inhale the stale air of 0-7. Morris can take his bye week and figure out what’s next.

Is this the start of the Josh Freeman era?

Did those five Morris fingers point the way for a Freeman start against Green Bay?

Will this downward spiral continue?

Can this team win a game?

God Save The Bucs!

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Buccaneers Hope They Can Survive “The Evil Hoodie”

A word to wise Buccaneers:

Beware the evil hoodie!

Beware of the mad scientist of New England.

Beware of his quarterback, Tom Brady.

Beware of the team that just butt-kicked the Tennessee Titans into the land of 59-0 oblivion.

Yes, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, you best be in the “beware” mode when you head for London on Friday.

It’s not bad enough that the Buccaneers are 0-6. It’s not bad enough that they have to grab a trans-Atlantic flight for this week’s “home” game in Wembley Stadium.

Now the Bucs’ brain-trust gets to match game plans with Bill Belichick, the NFL’s “evil hoodie.” Raheem Morris can spend all the time he wants but even in his dreams he’d fall short of out-preparing Belichick.

It’s been bad news for these “Bad News Bucs” this season and the news didn’t get any better for Morris when fullback B.J. Askew went on the injured reserve list.

Askew was involved in an auto accident that Morris initially termed “a fender bender.”

Perhaps Morris underestimated the incident the way he underestimated his team’s talent in training camp. The “fender bender” left Askew with head and neck problems that have taken him away for the remainder of the season.

Earnest Graham will fill in at fullback, which leaves only Derrick Ward and Cadillac Williams in the running game.

Yes, there was some good news for the Bucs this week. Sammie Stroughter, he of the franchise-long 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against the Panthers last week, is the NFC’s Special Team Player of the Week.

The Buccaneers will need more miracles like Stroughter’s efforts against Carolina to have any hope against New England.

The P-men are a two touchdown favorite.

And that seems low, doesn’t it?

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers Lose to Carolina and Fooled You, Didn’t They?

The Buccaneers fooled you, didn’t they?

Bet you thought this was the game. Bet you thought they’d beat Carolina on a picture-perfect day in Raymond James Stadium.

Bet you thought this was their day after that near-perfect first quarter and a 7-0 lead over the Panthers.

Bet you still felt pretty good about things with that 7-7 halftime score.

Your Buccaneers were looking decent, playing well and doing what they needed to do to capture that elusive first win for Raheem Morris.

Bet your heart began to sink in that third quarter when the Panthers turned a Josh Johnson mistake into a 14-7 lead then added another TD to lead 21-7.

Looked dismal, didn’t it?

Ah, but then those huge plays gave you hope, didn’t they?

Didn’t you go crazy when little Sammie Stroughter went for a 97-yard kickoff return for touchdown, longest in Buccaneer history and only the third-ever for this franchise?

You had hope at 21-14, Carolina.

Then Tanard Jackson excited you with the interception for a touchdown that created a 21-21 game with 8:33 to play.

You felt it coming, you knew this was the day, the Bucs’ day. The Bucs’ day to pull one out.

Then came the “heartbreak.”

It was a drive like no other, a “heartbreak” like no other.

You watched helplessly as the Panthers took to the ground on a mighty 16-play drive.

You watched in horror as eight hand-offs went to DeAngelo Williams for 33 total yards, and another seven hand-offs to Jonathan Stewart for 43 total yards. Only a four-yard pass to Steve Smith broke up the ground massacre of the Tampa Bay defense.

The “heartbreak” chewed up eight minutes, four seconds, and there were only 29 ticks left on the clock when Williams scored from a yard out.

At that point, at 28-21 with those 29 ticks left, you knew it was over.

You knew it wasn’t to be.

You realized that 0-5 is now 0-6 and that the Panthers (2-3) still own the Buccaneers.

You realized that these Bucs can’t stop the run when they need to.

You realized that on this day, the Buccaneers fooled us.

Didn’t they?

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Buccaneers Send Gaines Adams To Chicago

Thank you, Chicago Bears.

Thank you, Lovie Smith.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

It sounds too good to be true, but it is. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have traded the underachieving first-round bust, Gaines Adams, to the Chicago Bears for a second-round draft choice.

Almost sounds too good to be true,  doesn’t it?

Done deal.

The Buccaneers unloaded Adams on Friday, got rid of his massive salary, his lack of production and actually got something in return.

At this point in its 0-5 season, it has to be the most significant positive in a Buccaneer season overloaded with negatives.

It was verified by the Chicago Bears Web site and Adam Schefter of ESPN.

Now, all the Bucs need is someone who wants Michael Clayton.

Stay tuned.

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