The Bucs defense has improved in the two games since head coach Raheem Morris started calling plays. That has Morris thinking that he may want to double as the defensive coordinator next year.
“To be honest with you, I might take it. But I’ve got to get to the end of the season to figure out that,” Morris told the St. Petersburg Times.
“I’m not shocked that it’s going well. And that’s not to be cocky or arrogant about it. I’ve got a real healthy belief in myself. I’m more shocked that it didn’t work in the beginning,” Morris said.
It didn’t work in the beginning largely because the coordinator Morris hired, Jim Bates, implemented a new scheme that didn’t fit his players. And the team’s front office didn’t get players to fit that scheme. This all falls at Morris’ feet.
Morris admits his inexperience as the team’s leader may have caused a delay in scrapping a failed plan.
“That’s something maybe I’m learning,” Morris said. “I don’t know if I should’ve done it sooner because maybe I wanted to learn the fact that I should be doing it.”
Coaches rarely get the chance to learn on the job for long in the NFL. And it’s dangerous for the Bucs organization to draw many conclusions because the defense has played well against Chris Redman and Matt Moore the last two weeks. (They face Kellen Clemens Sunday.)
Bucs safety Tanard Jackson provided an interesting perspective on the coordinator change: "[Morris] said he was getting a little bored as a head coach, and it’s good to see him back in the room, teaching like a position coach.”
Be careful what you wish for. Being an NFL head coach requires executive skills in addition to coaching skills.
We wonder if Morris wouldn’t be better off just concentrating on running a defense at this stage of his coaching development.
