Raheem needs time, but will he get it?

On one sideline at hallowed Wembley Stadium today you'll see one of the most accomplished coaches in National Football League history.

On the other side, there is Rah.

Bill Belichick of New England has three Super Bowl rings as a head coach. He led the Patriots to a 16-0 regular-season record two seasons ago and came within seconds then of winning a fourth championship. He is ruthless, mirthless, dry as 2-day-old toast, and all he does is win. He is meticulous in preparation, adaptable in all circumstances, and as cold-blooded as anyone on the planet.

On the other side, there is Rah.

Raheem Morris of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hasn't won a game as a head coach in six tries and almost certainly won't today when the Bucs and Patriots meet in London. He is accommodating, has a personality that can light up a city, but all he has done so far is lose and he's going to lose a lot more before this season is done.

A major reason for that is the Bucs' lack of talent, but it's fair game to ask just how prepared he has been through this first part of the season.

At his news conference Monday, Morris - or, as his players call him, Rah - said he wasn't aware that the Patriots had won 59-0 the previous day until he woke up that morning. In that same news conference, he was asked about being outscored 47-7 in the third quarter of games this season. He said he wasn't aware of that.

Maybe it's a small thing, completely insignificant to the bigger picture of leading an NFL team. But maybe it isn't. Maybe he was trying to be glib, but I'll bet his bosses didn't think it was funny. He is the public face of this team right now and like his team he needs to be getting better each week. Even small gaffes at times like this can create long-term images that can be hard to shake.

People are even starting to ask if Morris can keep his job after this season. I think he will, but it's telling that the subject has even come up this early in his career as a head coach. Unless the Bucs start winning - and that seems unlikely - the question will get asked a lot more in the next few months.

People say the Glazers were going cheap when they promoted Morris to head coach after firing Jon Gruden. Well, you can certainly make that argument. He had been a defensive backs coach for most of his career - although he had been named to replace Monte Kiffin as defensive coordinator, he never actually assumed that role before he was bumped up to the head job.

It takes time to learn how to be in charge of everything. Even Belichick got fired from his first head coaching job.

I think the Glazers named Morris because they thought he would be the next great young hire in the NFL. After watching Lovie Smith and Mike Tomlin leave the Bucs and become head coaches who took teams to the Super Bowl, I think the Glazers believed Rah had the right stuff too and they wanted him to show it here.

Maybe he does, but right now he seems like a guy who was rushed to the top before he was ready.

Morris told us all spring and summer that these Bucs would be physical on offense and would run the ball. Yet, they have passed 70 more times than they have run. They rank only 21st in the NFL in rushing and 28th in total yards per game.

Derrick Ward, brought in from the Giants at great expense to beef up the run game, has been largely an afterthought. He has just 12 carries in the past four games - he missed one of those with an injury - for 41 yards. He got the ball one time last week against Carolina.

That's the kind of issue that lands on the head coach's desk. If you're going to lose, at least go down using all your weapons. You could argue that the offense became a mess when coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski was fired near the end of training camp, but I'd counter that no team in the NFL was a bigger potential disaster than Denver and look what has happened there.

Josh McDaniels - like Morris, a rookie head coach - took over for legendary Mike Shanahan this year and promptly alienated the Broncos' franchise quarterback. He later had to suspend their best receiver. Everyone thought Denver was falling apart, but instead the Broncos are undefeated and McDaniels is in line to be coach of the year.

He also proves that age has nothing to do with it. He is barely older than Morris.

Of course, McDaniels also served as New England's offensive coordinator under Belichick for three seasons prior to moving to Denver. Maybe he was better prepared.

People are going to be watching Morris closely for the next 10 games to see if he, too, can weather the storm. Will his team still play hard and competitive football or will he lose the locker room? If the Bucs lose, do they at least use all their weapons? How will he go about breaking Josh Freeman into the lineup?

Are they pointed in the right direction?

That matters a lot more than the won-loss record at this point. And with ticket sales plummeting, it's worth wondering just how patient the Glazers will be.