Joe Henderson: Return to Tampa 2 unlikely to help Buccaneers

We've had a day to absorb news of the latest flip-flop at One Buc, and we can see things clearly now -- even on a rainy, cloudy day such as this.

So having carefully considered the basic options (or lack thereof) facing Raheem Morris in his switch to the blessed Tampa 2 (bow your heads when you say that), we can conclude that the shipment of straws did arrive at the Bucs' headquarters and Raheem has grasped them for all he's worth.

OK, that was a cheap shot.

But it's not cheap or unfair to point out that returning to the defensive roots of this team probably won't help one iota. Or have we forgotten so soon what happened at the end of last season, a four-game stretch that helped pave the way for the ongoing disaster that has played out through the first 10 games of this year?

Playing the Tampa 2 with many of the same guys who are out there now, the Bucs went 0-4 to close the regular season in 2008 and missed the playoffs.

They were outscored 123-81 in those four games, including (gulp) 59-19 in the fourth quarter. They allowed 756 yards rushing, almost 200 yards per game. They surrendered 1,544 total yards in that span.

People decided then to blame the problem on Monte Kiffin, who had let it be known he was leaving for the University of Tennessee. I think the problem went deeper, though. Tackle Jovan Haye got hurt and cost the Bucs a key player at stuffing the run. And from what I remember, the rest of the players were worn down or simply not up to the task.

We remember the images of linemen being blown back five yards off the ball. We remember linebacker Barrett Ruud being absolutely manhandled on running plays. There was the iconic image of Derrick Brooks limping after Oakland running back Michael Bush, who was off and running on a 67-yard touchdown.

Michael Bush!

And what have we seen this year?

Linemen getting blown back five yards off the ball.

Linebackers being manhandled.

On Sunday, New Orleans ran at will in the second half. Carolina drove the length of the field to beat the Bucs earlier this year, all but one play on the ground.

It's the same thing that's been going on out there for almost a year now, and I don't think schemes have one darn thing to do with it.

If anything, the dearly departed Jim Bates seemed to tone things down from his style as the year went on. He came here advertised as a blitz-loving, quarterback-pressuring, attack-dog coordinator. After the first few games, he seemed to abandon that for a more conservative approach. The Bucs even seemed to spend a fair amount of time playing a hybrid of the Tampa 2.

Obviously, Bates saw all the big plays the defense allowed early in the season and realized he wasn't given the players to make his scheme work.

Well, guess what?

The players still aren't there.

The Tampa 2 excelled because Monte Kiffin had stalwarts like Warren Sapp, Simeon Rice, Derrick Brooks and John Lynch. I'll grant you that the current players are probably better suited to run this scheme than whatever it was that Bates was trying to do, but that's not the same as saying I think we'll see any real improvement.

Teams obviously feel they can run on the Bucs whenever they want, and none of the changes this week will address that.

The Bucs are in this mess because they got old and didn't address it. They whiffed on draft picks (see Adams, Gaines) and didn't seek remedies through free agency. Of the players currently on defense, I honestly see only Aqib Talib, Tanard Jackson, Roy Miller and maybe Geno Hayes as significant contributors over the next few seasons. That's a lot of holes to fill.

The problems of this organization go far deeper than X's and O's, though. The real solution is in putting the right kind of organization together that can scout well, draft well and supplement with the right kind of free agents. It's the only formula that works.

Until they get that fixed, schemes don't mean a thing.