Bucs win first game under Morris, 24-23 over Jacksonville

by Buc Wild on Aug 23, 2009 10:45 AM EDT in News Comment 7 comments

The Raheem Morris took it's first statistical positive step last night with the Bucs notching their first win of the (pre)season. The game was in doubt until a failed two point conversion late in the 4th quarter, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers walk out of Jacksonville with the win, and pull to .500 on the preseason at 1-1.

Playing to a half full stadium, the Bucs got off to a poor start, as the first play from scrimmage resulted in a 74 yard TD pass from David Garrard to Troy Williamson. The Jags went play action and Williamson, a burner with questionable hands, got behind Sabby Piscitelli and Garrard dropped in a perfect pass. 0-7 Jags.

Byron Leftwich would come in and lead the Bucs on a drive that stalled at midfield, punting to the Jags, who returned the favor and punted back to the Bucs. After a short drive that failed on a 3rd and 6, Mike Nugent came in and botted a 46 yard field goal to bring it to 3-7 Jags.

The next several drives for both teams resulted in zero points, as punts were aplenty. Leftwich gave way to Luke McCown, who quickly went 3 and out. After the punt, the Jags marched 89 yards in 6 plays and capped the drive with a 1 yard TD run by Greg Jones. 3-14 Jags.

McCown finally started to heat up after Sammy Stroughter returned the kick off to the Jacksonville 20, and on the second play, McCown found tight end Jerramy Stevens for a 17 yard TD pass to get the Bucs their first TD of the game and move the score to 10-14.

On the next Bucs drive (that started close to midfield), McCOwn would lead the team inside the 10 and find rookie wide receiver Sammy Stroughter on a 9 yard TD pass, the 2nd for McCown of the night and first for Stroughter. 17-14 Bucs.

The half would end with no more scoring and as McCown gave way for Freeman, Bucs fans were given a glimpse of the future. Freeman would connect on some good throws/catches and on 3rd and 8 from the Jax 28 yard line, we caught sight of what Freeman could do. No he didn't throw a 28 yard strike, instead shutting down the arm, turning on the jets and scrambling for a 28 yard TD. He also capsized during his celebration. Bucs 24 - Jags 14.

The Jaguars would add a field goal, Mike Nugent would miss a 46 yard field goal, and with the score 24-17 Bucs, the Jags would convert a 4th down attempt and a 3rd down attempt and get in position to see Todd Bouman and Tyler Lorenzen hook up for a 20 yard TD pass. The ensuing 2 point conversion would fail, leaving the score 24-23 Bucs.

After a failed onside kick and a knee taken by the Bucs, Morris would get his first victory as a Buccaneers head coach.

No turnovers for the Bucs and an equal measure of success in the run and pass portion of the game saw them claim victory. Next up for the Bucs. A home date with the Miami Dolphins.

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HD video Highlights will be up Monday AM

I just finished watching the game just now (11am) as I had to work last night! Processing video as we speak! At least Ill be off on game day Sundays!

My Buddy went somewhere to get high and watch some good fights, and after a few minutes a Bucs Practice broke out.

by Niko Houllis on Aug 23, 2009 11:32 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Sweet Niko...Lookin forward to it

Hey Raheem, you may want to mount the game ball to your 1st Buc win on your office wall. May it be the 1st of many, no matter how ugly a win it may be

by TheUltimateBucFan on Aug 23, 2009 12:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Observations and Questions

1) What I didn’t like seeing was our first unit secondary looking confused half the time.

2) The QB situation still isn’t fully resolved, although I’d still give Leftwich the nod slightly over McCown.

3) I saw far too many injuries… AGAIN. If I were the players union rep I’d be suing to cut exhibitions back to just two instead of four. The players don’t need the loss of playing time and income come regular season…

4) Is Stroughter really doing well, or is it just being out there playing against second/third units?

5) How would you rate the defensive units so far? I think the D-line is doing well, the LB corps seems decent, but the secondary too porous.

Relive the shocking NOOOOOOOO of April 25 2009 at Witty's Draft Review and laugh laugh laugh...

by witty on Aug 23, 2009 1:36 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I didn't see the game

But it sounds kind of depressing of our Secondary, Flip got hurt, Crowell got hurt, and sabby got beat…..but good to hear that McCown and Freeman played well.

by shadowchicken on Aug 23, 2009 1:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Giants fan

I watched the highlights to see how Derrick Ward was doing for you guys, and I laughed when I saw his big run involved hurdling two defenders. That was one of his favorite moves last year for the Giants, and he even got Brandon Jacobs and the 6’6’’ TE Kevin Boss into the act. While it was sort of ill-advised for the bigger guys, it was kind of funny to see how they imitated him. Maybe the hurdling will become all the rage with the other Bucs players too…

by rich316 on Aug 23, 2009 2:46 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Who starts next game?

by kurby on Aug 23, 2009 5:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Time to pick raheem...

This is why you got picked over John Gruden. Gruden couldn’t make his mind who the qb was going to be every year, please don’t follow that path. Make a decision and live with it. It is no need to drag the process on any further. If you wanna win go with leftwich, if you wanna run the west coast go wit luke , and if you wanna prepare for the future go with freeman. It appears that both guys have played decent but this is why OTA’s and training camp will be the deciding factor. If the bucs wanna be explosive and win they need to go with leftwich starting , freeman second and jj 3rd. Let luke go try his luck with another team like the browns or broncos that need a qb. Leftwich moves the ball when he is in the game more than luke. Luke succeeded because he had a short field but i don’t see any explosive plays from him. I still have not seen him try the defense, he plays to scared for me.

The running game got on track and it appears that if this can remain constant, it will give leftwich time to get the playaction working. Derrick ward looked very comfortable running the zone blocking sceme. The line is looking good and when mahan gives way to faine, that line should be dominating across the board. Luke started the 1st game and threw for 19 yards and 51 the second game. Leftwich got 61 yards and 63 yards in his performances but if we had some recievers that could catch, he would have put more points and sustained drives but throwing to hankton and BC is like a 50 percent chance and stovall is probably 60 percent.

If i was coaching i would go with leftwich, freeman and jj.

by tbbuc4 on Aug 23, 2009 8:42 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs