Despite Leftwich's wishes, Morris not in rush on Bucs' QB call

Much like the fans he now plays in front of, Byron Leftwich is ready for this Bucs quarterback derby to end. In fact, Leftwich says, it needs to end. Now.

In the wake of their 10-6 loss to the Dolphins on Thursday, Leftwich said the Bucs need to decide once and for all who their starting quarterback is or run the risk of stumbling out of the gate at the start of the season.

The comments marked the second time this week that Leftwich has talked about the dangers of delaying a decision on the starting quarterback but it seems Coach Raheem Morris isn't listening.

Though Morris could very well decide on a starter before Tampa Bay's final preseason game Friday against Houston, he sounded on Thursday like a man who just might wait until the last minute to make that critical decision.

"I don't know that Byron's statement would be accurate given that Joe Flacco started the first game of the season [for Baltimore last year] when he wasn't supposed to and they went to the playoffs," Morris said.

Flacco was named the Ravens' emergency starter after Kyle Boller went down with a season-ending injury and Troy Smith went down with an illness. Sixteen starts later he became the first rookie in NFL history to win two playoff games.

It's quite possible then to name a starter in the week leading up to the season opener and still have success in this league, and the Bucs just may wind up going that route this year.

Virtually even through two preseason games, neither Leftwich nor Luke McCown did anything during the Bucs' 10-6 loss to the Dolphins to lay claim to the Bucs starter's job.

Leftwich completed nine of 17 passes for 101 yards but was well off target on several key throws and McCown made a couple of poor decisions with the ball while completing just five of 11 throws for 38 yards.

Morris believes both quarterbacks also had some good moments in their outing Thursday, but he had to admit the performances may once again force him and his staff to delay their decision on a starter.

"It's always too early [immediately after a game] to evaluate the quarterbacks," he said. "You've got to go back and evaluate the film and grade the guys."

The grades for the quarterbacks probably won't look all that good after the Bucs latest outing. They could be better than the grades some other players get, however.

Though his quarterbacks struggled to move the ball and the team consistently, Morris was most displeased by the fact his team was penalized 13 times for 85 yards against Miami.

"Any time you have a 13-penalty game you can't expect to win it," he said. "That would be the negative thing you talk about tonight - just a lot of undisciplined penalties."

The positives, Morris said, were the play of running backs Cadillac Williams and Earnest Graham, the play of the first team defense and the play of third wide receiver candidate Maurice Stovall.

The play of the quarterbacks, meanwhile, was neither positive nor negative, Morris said. He said he once again saw as much good as he did bad in the play of his two potential starters.

"We missed a couple of big plays that could have actually turned this whole thing around," he said. "But there were no critical errors tonight as far as a ball being run back for a touchdown.

"There were no turnovers that will absolutely destroy you down the stretch, so you can't say they didn't manage the game well. We had a chance to win the game the whole time, and that's all you can really ask for."

Actually, Morris could and has asked that one of his top two quarterbacks step up and take control of the starter's job. The fact that hasn't happened hasn't left him frustrated, though.

"This is your football team and you don't get frustrated with your football team," Morris said. "You just have to coach 'em through it and stay mentally tough."