Morris takes control of Bucs defense, brings back Tampa 2

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris is taking control of his team's beleaguered defense.

For the final six games of the season, the Bucs (1-9) will use more of the Tampa 2 defensive scheme it played with tremendous success for more than a decade and Morris will take over the play-calling duties starting with Sunday's game at Atlanta.

First-year defensive coordinator Jim Bates remains involved, but in a reduced role.

"We played hard, we played fast, we played physical,'' Morris said of the first 10 games. "We just didn't get better every week. The big plays are still there. We still can't stop the run. We have to get better at doing something and that's why I put myself in charge.''

Through 10 games, Tampa Bay ranks 27th in the 32-team league in total defense and last against the run, allowing 378.3 and 168.9 yards per game, respectively. The Bucs' 294 points allowed is second only to Detroit's 301.

The decision late Monday to relieve Bates of his play-calling duties came in the wake of another disastrous defensive outing by the Bucs, a 38-7 loss to the undefeated New Orleans Saints.

The change is the second of its kind in the past three months. The Bucs also changed offensive coordinators, relieving Jeff Jagodzinski of those duties and promoting quarterbacks coach Greg Olson 10 days before the season opener.

Like that move, the change in defensive directors will appear subtle to most observers. Though the Bucs are expected to play more of the zone-based Cover 2 scheme that gave the team its identity under former coordinator Monte Kiffin, Morris plans to employ a hybrid system.

"Even when Monte Kiffin was here, you saw us dabble with quarters (coverage), with man (coverage) and with two-match (coverage),'' Morris said. "That's where we wanted to go. I thought we could be that super mega-morph (defense) and that we could get this thing going this year, and I still think we can.

"That's why I put myself in charge of it. There won't be much of a change. There will just be a little more of a Raheem Morris influence. That's what I'm planning to do.''

The Bucs ranked among the league's top-10 defenses in 11 of 13 seasons under Kiffin, who announced late last season he was leaving to join his son Lane's staff at the University of Tennessee. Kiffin's departure coincided with a four-game losing streak that saw the team drop from 9-3 to out of the playoffs.

The slide contributed to the firings of head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Bruce Allen.

And though the personnel was suited to the Tampa 2 system run so successfully by Kiffin, Bates opted for a scheme requiring more physical play.

Now, the defense is going back to what it used to do best. And many players couldn't be happier.

"It's going to be like riding a bike,'' defensive end Jimmy Wilkerson said of returning to the zone-based scheme. "It never gets old. It's going to be refreshing.''

Bates, 63, installed what was supposed to be a blitz-heavy, man-coverage scheme that often called for the linemen and linebackers to play a system that requires players to read and anticipate plays instead of simply crashing through the line to make a stop.

In the zone-based scheme the Bucs are going back to, linemen are responsible for plugging one gap, linebackers are allowed to run free from sideline to sideline and safeties split the deep portion of the field in half in an effort to prevent big plays.

Nicknamed the Tampa 2, the Cover 2 scheme calls for players to rely more on speed and athleticism than size and bulk. It is the system many current Bucs defenders, from tackle Chris Hovan to linebacker Geno Hayes, were brought here to play.

"Am I more comfortable in it? Yes,'' Hovan said. "...My abilities are to run, penetrate and create a new line of scrimmage. I have a familiarity with it and it's something I've always been successful with.''

While players reacted positively to the return of the Tampa 2, they denied player opinion had a role in Bates' demotion.

"There wasn't any player input,'' defensive captain Ronde Barber said. "There wasn't a mass revolt against Jim Bates. That's completely false.''

Said Hovan: "It had nothing to do with the players. We had no effect on the decision. I know nothing about (players calling for a change), nor have I heard anything about that.''

Barber indicated the scheme change will not be wholesale, that many of the concepts of Bates' scheme will remain in the game plan.

"There's some defenses that we all liked in the past that we've been in minimally this year that we'll probably see a little bit more of," Barber said. "But we're not doing that much different than what Jim was doing. We're just giving ourselves some different options.

"Jim's still working here. It's not like we fired Jim. Jim's a big part of what we are right now. Everything we did from March to last week is Jim's stuff and we don't just get rid of that. ...Don't think that Jim's stuff was bad. It wasn't bad. We didn't play it well enough. And when you're struggling like we're struggling, some certain situational football, you have to make some changes. That's all we've done."

Until late last season, the Bucs were successful with the Tampa 2. They did not allow a 100-yard rusher in the first eight games and ranked among the top 10 defenses in the league.

"I like it,'' Wilkerson said. "It's going to be a very good thing for us.''