From the Mouth of Morris; 8/19

Coach, How was practice?

"Jacksonville preparation today, went out and did some of that stuff today.  Got some individual drills in, finished in with our fundamentals like we started, finished up with core beliefs like we started, had a small red zone period.  That's what we did today.  We got a little bit of two-minute and also hit some third-down today – all the situational football stuff we've been talking about, things we need to get better at, all the things we've talked about from the game.  Third down was a big obvious point that I wanted to get better at this week.  We really wanted to emphasize it this week with our guys so we did it every day in practice.  We finished it up today.  I thought we got a little bit better, we've still got a ways to go, we still need to get better, we still need to do different things.  We were able to see that improve this week, as far as the game as concerned." 

 

Coach how do you feel about training camp in general?

 

"I thought it was very productive, I thought it went very well.  The camp ran pretty smoothly besides a couple [days]…I thought we got rained out twice, but we kind of handled that pretty good.  We went out 40 minutes later [once], canceled one.  It was a 

very productive training camp as far as how it was planned, how we got through it.  I felt really good about it.  No major injuries.  Everybody's coming back and I felt really good about that, so that's always awesome.  As far as the injuries, I'll update you guys on Thursday on a person-to-person basis to let you know who we're going to have ready to go for Jacksonville.  We should get a lot more guys back.  As far as roster moves, we signed Steve Cargile today, we waived [C.J.] Byrd and we waived [Joel] Filani." 

 

We know its a touchy subject, but will Tanard Jackson get to work the rest of the preseason games?

 

"Yeah, because he's still coming back.  You've got to work him; he's got to get his work.  You really like to work those guys a lot so that they can maintain their football, because they're going to be out for four weeks.  So you'll see Tanard for a little bit this week.  But the plan…you guys know Will Allen; he's been playing really well for us.  He started for us for two to three years.  And again, there are no excuses.  Tanard is not going to make or break the Buccaneers; he can only help us when he gets back.  He knows that, he understands that.  He knows it was a poor decision and he's very disappointed in himself.  

The organization's very disappointed in him.  But at the same time, we love him.  That's our guy.  We're going to help him get better, we're going to help him back.  That's like my little brother.  Shoot, I drafted him.  I loved him.  I saw him at the Senior Bowl, I brought him in here, I put him under my arm.  I helped him yesterday, I helped him today and I'll help him throughout this situation, throughout this whole process.  We'll get him right and he'll be back for us after the fourth week.  And until then we'll have Will Allen, out there looking like Will Allen." 

 

Really? Your comfortable with Will Allen there?

 

"Oh yeah.  I was directly responsible for being one of the guys that helped start Will Allen, draft Will Allen.  I'm very comfortable with Will Allen.  I've been telling him for years – he was a starter in this league.  It just so happened last year we had four and you 

can only play three.  So we played three and then we played him when we had an opportunity.  Now he's ready to get back to a three-man rotation, like we thought, and it just so happens he's in a two-man rotation right now and we've got to find who else is 

going to be the third.  Is Donte Nicholson going to step up and be the third, or are we going to have to use Flip?  We're going to have to find that out.  Or one of these young guys – we just signed Steve Cargile.  Who knows, somebody could jump out of the box this week." 

 

You say your going to have the Quarterback situation settled after this week. Any other positions that you will make decisions on after this game? Where are the biggest battles that you see?

 

"Realistically, this third football game you are thinking that your whole football team is decided. When you get to that third week and see the guys running out of the tunnel, those are usually the guys running out of the tunnel for you against Dallas. We have been talking about quarterbacks so much, but for the most part a decision should be made on whose running out there versus Dallas. I know I have been saying quarterback, but also the entire football team, so to speak." "You need to come to my evaluation meetings and give your opinion. There are guys out there, a bunch of smart people that I will sit down and help us make all of our decisions. I don’t sit in a room by myself and run the Tampa Bay organization. I take all the opinions I can use, sit down to give my opinion about what I think. We formulate what we want to come up with and then I make the decisions. I’m going to use all my information and I’m not going to be the lone looker or the lone guy doing it. We have to make a decision and I’m going to make it." 

 

How is Josh Freeman progressing in your mind?

 

"He’s obviously, since I’ve seen him, he’s developed more maturity. I’ve seen a more mature Freeman than I had seen of him as a freshman. I’ve seen a more giggly Freeman as a freshman, but still was detailed and still sharp. I’ve just seen a guy when I was at 

Kansas State the only knocks you could have had on him was that he befriended everybody. But since he’s been here, he’s kind of really been on the screws with things. He’s been detailed, listening to these guys. When he was at Kansas State, I think he kind 

of felt like he knew he was better than everybody, his arm was better and that was going to be the deciding factor. Like just get out of my way. When he came here, he could see stuff that he respects from Luke. He could see stuff that he respects from Byron and he can see stuff that he respects from Josh (Johnson) so now he is trying to steal it and make himself better. That’s kind of the maturity I’m talking about. He’s seen those things. He recognizes the talents in the guys around him and he’s trying to steal them as much as he can and use them as much as he can. I heard him the other day, ‘Byron, he’s got natural leadership skills and Luke can really get outside the pocket. Did you see that run by Josh?’ You can see all those things he’s talking about, talking about pocket awareness with his quarterback coach. It’s been great to watch him develop with Coach Olson, as 

well as all of them, but that’s the only new thing I can say I’ve seen in him." 

 

Thank You coach!  Its been a pleasure interviewing you while not actually interviewing you this camp!

It's my pleasure.

You didnt actually say that did you?

It's not in the box. I didnt really say it.

Well, they said you would think outside of the box....!

can we end this pretend interview now?

Yes Thir.