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Bucs coach Morris responds to scuffle, alters practice

News Channel 8 photo by BOB HANSEN

Bucs coach Raheem Morris keeps a close eye on Thursday's special teams workout.

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By ROY CUMMINGS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 21, 2009

Updated: 05/21/2009 01:19 pm

TAMPA - Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris had planned to practice his players as usual Thursday, but after the events of Wednesday, when a helmet-swinging fight broke out between two players, he changed his mind.

"Nothing brings a team together like a little 'we-fense,' special teams practice,'' Morris said.

Thursday's special teams workout consisted of mostly 100- and 50-yard running drills, with a little sled-hitting thrown in. It didn't last long, about 30 minutes, but Morris believes a message got through.

"We got better today,'' he said. "We grew as a team today, we developed something today.''

One development Wednesday led to the Thursday special teams work. It was an incident in which special teams standout Torrie Cox was inadvertently hit in the head with a helmet swung by cornerback Aqib Talib at left tackle Donald Penn.

"I definitely let my emotions get the best of me,'' Talib said. "It's just something that happened in the heat of the moment. I apologized to the team, apologized to Torrie, and it's behind us now.''

Talib said he was given a "slap on the wrist'' by team leaders, center Jeff Faine and defensive tackle Chris Hovan, but that the whole team was punished for his mistake.

"We're a family, and so we all got punished together,'' Talib said. "So we all went out and did our little running. It wasn't just me and Donald that got punished, we got punished as a team.''

Cox, who was treated for a cut to the head that required a few stitches, according to Talib, did not participate in the workout Thursday. Morris said Cox is fine.

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