Morris and Dominik must share blame for Bates debacle.

In the blame game, someone must point a finger.

When you only have two people however, two guys pointing fingers at each other just doesn't work however. None the less, they can point at themselves or each other, and it will probably be  just as accurate. 

The idea is sketchy to us non-insiders; Jim Bates defense would be brought in to emphasize big, physical style of play from the linemen and the corners. That not only never happened, but the supposed hybrid of Bates and Monte Kiffin's Tampa Two did not come to be either. 

Who is to blame? Who was the one who made the move? Probably the one who did the reversal. 

Any way you look at it, the results are 'in your face' obvious; the Jim Bates idea was a disaster. All told, here are some of the differences since the change back;

• Under Bates, the Bucs gave up 29.4 points per game. They have brought that down to 18 PPG since.
• The 27th ranked yardage against under Bates with 378.3 ypg has turned into 9th over the last two at 303 yards Per game.
• Remember the "We need more sacks" message? The 17 under Bates watch ranked 28th. The 7 the last two weeks would be tied for 3rd in the NFL. Third. 
• The Run defense is not without change; After giving up 114 yards on 14 carries to start the Carolina game, the Bucs gave up 43 yards on 19 carries the rest of the way. Add that to the 75 yards they gave up to Atlanta on 26 carries. Thats a 2.3 and 2.6 yards per carry average respectively.

We wanted something to hang our hats on for the offseason, some glimmer of hope so we can expect more from next year than less. Ndamukong Suh or no Suh, expect an impact lineman to be added next year, and Roy Miller will team with him to put pressure on opposing offensive lines.

Draft decisions seem to be something we can live with.

Coaching moves? Thats something we can live without for 2010.