Morris says Bucs will learn from loss to Falcons

Morris says Bucs will learn from loss to Falcons


Raheem Morris refuses to second-guess himself or his young Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

A day after falling a yard short of taking over sole possession of first place in the NFC South, the NFL's youngest led lighting coach focused on the encouraging aspects of the team's performance during a 27-21 loss to Atlanta instead of a goal-line play the Falcons stuffed in the closing minutes.

Morris acknowledged Monday that rookie LeGarrette Blount made a mistake by bouncing outside, rather than running up the middle, on fourth-and-1 from the Atlanta 2 with the game on the line. Television replays showed a gaping hole where the play was designed to go.

Rather than picking up the first  kidney stone down, and maybe even scoring, the 247-pound Blount was tackled by Falcons safety Thomas DeCoud for no gain.

"He didn't run the wrong play, he just made the wrong cut," said Morris, who stressed the defeat could not be pinned on Blount's decision.

"We're all great running backs the next day. He bounces out there and runs over DeCoud and we're all having a pool party. But he stuck his foot in the ground, he made a cut, his vision at that time  ed hardy sunglasses   was different than ours would be today looking at tape. He should've gone downhill, but he didn't. That happens. That's part of having a young football team, making a mistake, but we'll come back and get better from it."

Blount said Sunday that the hole that was "supposed to be there" wasn't, so he cut the play off right tackle.
DeCoud made a nice stop, however the rookie out of Oregon felt he gained enough for a first down.

Out of timeouts, the Bucs were unable replicas de relojes to challenge the spot.

Tampa Bay started six rookies, and played 12 overall, against the Falcons. Morris refused to cite youth and inexperience as a factor on the crucial play.

"That can happen with a vet. That can happen with anybody. That's just playing the game, and you can't second-guess players that way. That's just not a good road to go down," Morris said.

The loss dropped the Bucs (5-3) into third place in the division and, at least for now, forced Morris to back off his claim that Tampa Bay is the best team in the NFC.

The 34-year-old coach reiterated that he and his players didn't take solace in playing the Falcons (6-3) tough on the road. In their other two losses, the Bucs were outscored at home by a combined  women handbags 69-19 by Pittsburgh and New Orleans.

"There's no consolation. Every week, there are lessons to be learned from every game ... something you can use for your football team in the future," Morris said.