Welcome to TBO.com. Skip directly to: our Keyword Search, Section Navigation, Content.

TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online

TBO > News

The Bucs Have A Plan, Right? And So We Wait

Tribune photo by JAY CONNER

Bucs coach Raheem Morris, left, and GM Mark Dominik explain the decision cut Derrick Brooks and four other veterans Wednesday.

By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 26, 2009

Related Links

How Many Games Will The Bucs Win In 2009?

TAMPA - It is already established that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be vastly different this fall.

What isn't so clear is whether that difference will lead to enjoyable Sunday afternoons for their legions of fans or whether they've just created the kind of team that will make pewter people want to hide their eyes.

They will be younger.

They could be faster.

They could be more athletic.

They will play a different style on defense, perhaps with more pressure – but without the presence of Derrick Brooks. And I don't have a freakin' clue what the offense will look like. No one does.

It's too early to say much more than that on this late-February morning. We don't know what free agency will bring. The draft is two months away. New coach Raheem Morris hasn't even held his first minicamp.

"You always want to feel you can be competitive for a playoff berth any time you step on that grass," Morris said. "We have plenty of time to set this team up to what we're going to look like next year. Free agency is around the corner. The draft is coming, and then we have training camp."

We assume there is a master plan in place; you don't have something like the "Wednesday Afternoon Massacre" – when Brooks, Warrick Dunn, Joey Galloway, Ike Hilliard and Cato June were released – unless there is a plan on how to proceed. Part of that will no doubt include giving opportunities to players already on the roster, but you'd also hope they have a good idea who might be available in free agency and the draft.

They better have.

The Great Unknown

Presumably, that includes adding a receiver or three with size and speed to take some heat off Antonio Bryant. With the release of Hilliard and Galloway, this season becomes the last chance for Maurice Stovall and maybe Dexter Jackson – although at 5-foot-9 I'm not sure Jackson fits the definition for "size".

My guess is the receiver who will complement Bryant isn't on the roster yet. This is a pretty deep draft in that area, or the Bucs could go shopping in free agency for help.

But there is plenty of need elsewhere, too.

As football analyst Merrill Hoge told reporter Anwar Richardson of TBO.com and The Tampa Tribune, "When you look at the position of running back, they're not strong there. They've got a lot of guys coming back off injuries."

So how can they not put a high priority on acquiring an impact running back?

They can't count on Cadillac Williams recovering from his second major knee injury, even if he is coming along fine in rehab. Earnest Graham is coming off an ankle injury that ended his season. There are a lot of unknowns at that position.

So many unknowns can make people edgy.

"Everybody is entitled to their opinions," Morris said. "Fans should doubt – that's why they're called fans. I've got to make them believe; we have to make them believe. That's our job. That's the beauty of our game."

Away They Go

What happened Wednesday was far from beauty. Fans have poured their emotion into this franchise for decades, and Brooks was a constant on this team since 1995. Everyone acknowledges that.

But teams can't get stuck in a time warp, and that's where the Bucs were. This day was coming sooner or later.

No one can say for sure what that means for this season. There were inevitable comparisons to the 0-16 Detroit Lions as well as the vintage "Yucks" of the Hugh Culverhouse era. My sense is that was just the emotion of the moment talking.

I'm not saying this is a good football team right now. I am saying it's an unfinished canvas. The next two months of free agency and the draft will give us a much better idea what to expect going forward, and going forward is exactly what they had to do.

Either way, it's on Morris and new general manager Mark Dominik right now, along with the Glazer family. Nothing this sweeping happens without the owners signing off on the plan.

Until Wednesday, this was a franchise running in place. At least we can't say any more.

Share this:

* To:
Your Name:
Your Email Address:
Personal Message [optional]: