During yesterday's game, DT Brian Price committed a personal foul penalty that negated one a third-and-long situation for the Panters by giving them a first down. Raheem Morris told Price to go home - not just to the locker room, but home.
This was a desperation move for Morris. Apparently nothing he has said or done the last six weeks has encouraged his team to stop commiting stupid and costly penalties, so doing something drastic just as sending a player home was seemingly his only remaining option. All signs point to Morris having lost control of his team, and this was an attempt to gain it back.
But why did he choose Brian Price? Price is a tough guy, having worked through some painful leg injuries in the offseason and each week this season while still playing in top form. And besides from perhaps a few offsides calls, Price has generally been good with avoiding penalties; I believe Sunday was his first personal foul of the year. At the very least, he isn't the face of the Habitually Idiotic Club, as that would go to Aqib Talib and Kellen Winslow. So why not send one of them home with their next penalty? Or even a while ago? What about Talib's punch that took away a goal line stop a few weeks ago, or Winslow's penalty that cost the Bucs a potential scoring drive last week? Price clearly was just in the wrong place at the wrong time: next to the detonation of a ticking time bomb.
Sure, Morris has ample cause for frustration. As do the other coaches, players, owners, fans and anyone else involved in this pathetic team right now. A coach can only go so far to prepare his players, and it is up to the actual players, well, to play, and to play well. Often times coaches get the short end of the stick, as they can only do so much before it's up to the players. That's why I think a lot of heat on Florida Gators coach Will Muschamp is premature - it's only been a year, and he had to deal with countless injuries to an already undermanned and undertalented team, and he had few options with the players given to him.
That said, this does cut both ways, and there are several signs pointing to a poor job of coaching and preparing these players. The first of these is the slow starts. On both offense and defense, the Bucs have come out slugglish, and it takes a while for them to get into a rhythm - if they get into one at all. A lot of this can be traced to coaching and routine. I've heard several times that the Bucs are one of the last teams to come out to warm up in the NFL. Coming out even just a half an hour earlier could do wonders for this team.
Another major sign of poor coaching is the lack of progression in the players. On such a young football team, there needs to be constant improvement, as the young players become more experienced and acclimated to the rigors of the league. Most players on the Bucs, however, have either been stagnant in their development or even have shown signs of regression, such as QB Josh Freeman.
The issues don't even evolve around a lack of actual talent, such as Muschamp's problem is. Morris appeared to be unhappy with the personnel he's been given to work with in his postgame press conference, but the cupboard is far from bare. Freeman, Blount, Williams, Winslow, Penn, Joseph, Faine, Benn, Parker, Barber, Talib, Price, Clayborn, Bowers, Bennett, Haynesworth, Miller, and McCoy all have either been productive in the past or have a great deal of natural talent. Some of the other pieces could use an upgrade (Hayes, Black, Biggers, Lewis), but the core group of talent is there.
Finally, there's the lack of discipline. Obviously I don't have access to the Buccaneer locker room or practices, but all indications point to Raheem, like the Rays' Joe Maddon, being a player's coach. This can be good to an extent, as a coach that players like tend to create a better, more productive atmosphere. However, there comes a point where coaches can become too hesitant to punish a player for stupidity, and so they never learn. And with so much apparent stupidity and lack of discipline on this team, this may be the case with Morris. And maybe sending Price home was his way of trying to change that.
There's a lot to like about Raheem Morris: he's young, he's energetic, he had a great reputation as a coach coming into his promotion. But perhaps he is just more suited to be a coordinator, and he is having trouble juggling the responsibilites of a head coach. Morris is far from a lock to be fired in the offseason, because of those promising qualities, but unless these problems get fixed, and fixed soon, I wouldn't be shocked at what ever Morris' fate is.
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