Whoa Now, Raheem

September 15, 2009 at 11:49am by Scott   •  4 Comments »

Most rookie head coaches would take the stand humble but optimistic after a loss like the one Raheem Morris had on Sunday. After all, it was… you know, a loss. And when you consider the fact that the secondary is where the game was truly lost and that Morris is a secondary coach by trade… you’d kind of think that maybe this wouldn’t be the time to pick a fight. But this is a violent team and they don’t take no shit from no one! GRRRR!!

“I’m really proud of some of those guys on offense,” Morris said. “I sure hope the question of Mike Clayton signing back with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was answered today. Did you see that guy catch the ball over the middle with the safety bearing down on him, stay up, spin around and not even come out of the game? To get up and walk off the field like that, that’s the type of toughness we’re going to be about right here.”

“The play of Michael Clayton and the toughness … you know he had a drop last night, but that’s not going to define Michael Clayton,” Morris said. “What’s going to define Michael Clayton is his ability in the run game, blocking for Cadillac and blocking for Derrick Ward and making the tough catches across the middle and not blinking. He goes over there a lot. A lot of us wouldn’t even step foot in there.”

“I dare somebody to write an article about why Clayton is on the team again,” Morris said. “I dare you.”

Easy, tiger. We know you’re all fired up over this, umm, loss and all, but there’s no need to go daring anyone to do anything. What happens if someone writes an article about why Clayton is on the team? Do you and Clayton come down to their office and beat the shit out of them? After a challenge like that, I think you have to.

I AM ON MY KNEES BEGGING MARTIN FENNELLY TO WRITE SUCH AN ARTICLE.

But come on, Raheem, seriously. One good game and all of a sudden we forget the last four years? If this is how Clayton is going to be in Greg Olson‘s offense, then awesome. Tough catches, good blocking… that’s great. I’ll buy a damn Clayton jersey if you want. But he was also pretty damn good in his first year in Jon Gruden‘s offense before he got fat and lazy and injured and all… Clayton-y. If we have to judge Clayton based on Sunday, do we get to do the same to Sabby Piscitelli? Or does it only work when the player does well? “I dare somebody to write an article on why Sabby needs to be traded to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats!”

How about we all see how we feel about Clayton at the end of 2010 before we decide if this was a good move or not. You’re building a team from scratch and the results are going to be measured in wins and losses and championships over the long haul. We’re talking at least the term of your tenure, not one game. So maybe you want to tone down the bravado a little. Besides, I wouldn’t go challenging a whole group of people you’re regularly in an enclosed room with. I hear Ira Kaufman will stab a bitch just for looking at him cockeyed.