A young offensive line that was heralded as the strength of the 2009 Tampa Bay Buccaneers has been "underachieving" through 13 games, according to Coach Raheem Morris.
Before the season began, Morris spoke repeatedly about establishing a physical, even violent, reputation on both sides of the ball. A key part of that identity was supposed to come from a punishing running game, but the Bucs are averaging only 98 yards on the ground during their 1-12 start.
"They haven't played their best football,'' Morris said of a unit now coached by Pete Mangurian, who replaced Bill Muir during the tumultuous offseason. "We talked about that earlier when (QB) Byron Leftwich lost his job. Leftwich didn't miss the block on the right guard. Leftwich didn't fumble the snap, he didn't fumble the ball coming out of the backfield.
"You've got to get better up front, better in the backfield. We've definitely got to call it an underachieving offensive line when you're only able to muster up a couple performances like the one in the first game of the season.''
Morris was asked again about Tampa Bay's lackluster effort in a 26-3 loss to the Jets Sunday, when the Bucs were limited to six first downs.
"We got our butts kicked,'' he said. "That's what I'm going to tell you about the New York Jets. They came out and kicked our butt. I told my team. I gave them some choice words and what I felt about the tape. I made them all go look at it and they've seen it now. They flat out beat our butts.''
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