Buccaneers.com | News - Leaving with a Bang

Head Coach Raheem Morris pointed his team toward the bye weekend, but not before conducting a hard-hitting practice

Print Version

Leaving with a Bang

Oct 30, 2009 - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are about to enjoy their one and only extended break during the four months of the 2009 NFL regular season. On Thursday, Head Coach Raheem Morris wanted to get the players revved up one more time before they put it in idle for four days.

The Buccaneers took care of the "extra work" aspect of their bye week on Wednesday and Thursday, holding a pair of practices, each of which lasted a little over an hour. Now the players (and to a somewhat lesser extent, coaches) will move on to the "rest" portion of the bye, as the team's next gathering at One Buccaneer Place won't be until Tuesday.

The players will scatter, and see very little of each other. On Thursday, though, they were right up in each other's faces. That was the way Morris wanted it, and why he put the players in shoulder pads to finish the week. The players responded by banging into each other with enthusiasm, and sometimes with less charitable emotions.

"We had a little padded work, a little physical play today," said Morris. "Some of it was too physical. It was good though, it was good. A little spirited practice right before they go get a little break. They got back and got a little physical play in there. We got some temperatures to rise and now we can get away from each other for a little bit."

Both of the Buccaneers practices this week were aimed more at fundamentals and cleaning up errors, but Wednesday's was constructed mostly around pad-less 7-on-7 periods, which do not include the offensive or defensive linemen. On Thursday, the pads went on and the linemen came out and running backs had to find actual gaps being hotly contested by the big men.

"Sometimes you need to get out your frustration on each other a little bit and that's what they did today when they put the pads on."

Often, a team's bye week is valued mostly for the extra time it gives injured players to heal. Each club gets a chance to assess how its roster is holding up through the grind of – in this case, at least – the first half of the season. But the Buccaneers' roster is fairly healthy and Morris is more concerned with the bottom line in the standings. Tampa Bay is still pursuing its first win of 2009, and Morris knows that "holding up" isn't quite enough at this point.

"We actually talked about this morning," said Morris. "Going 0-7 doesn’t start yesterday. It didn't start at the beginning of the season when we played Dallas. It started in weight training, it started in OTA days, it started in training camp. Everything we've done to this point is who we are. These guys are holding up, but we've got to do more than hold up. We're not in here to hold up. Holding up gets you to 0-7. We're here to fight through, we're here to power through, we're here to be our best selves."

To be frank, the Buccaneers would probably prefer not to have their bye week at this point. The extra break between games only means a longer time to deal with being 0-7. The team would rather take another crack at getting a W as soon as possible.

"The bye week never comes at a good time when you don't have a win," said Morris. "You're looking for your first win, that's the only thing we're concerned about. The bye week's always good to get a little healthier, to get a little better, to get a little bit more in shape. But right now it makes Sunday just as miserable as it was last week for us."

Nevertheless, the bye week is here, and there is significant value in rest, and in getting a little extra time for the coaching staff to prepare for the next opponent. Tampa Bay returns from the bye the following weekend to take on the Green Bay Packers at Raymond James Stadium.

"You've got time to heal up, you've got time for these guys to get off their feet, you've got time for other guys who are fighting little nicks and injuries that come halfway through the season, so they're doing that right now," said Morris. "Now they're going to get a little break until we get back here next week for more Green Bay preparation."

The players left One Buccaneer Place shortly after Thursday's practice to begin a long weekend. They'll also get a fourth consecutive day off because the team has adjusted its schedule for the bye week. The players will take Monday off, then return on Tuesday for a series of practices moved up by one day. The result will be an extra day at the end of the week, allowing the Bucs to run two of their usual Friday-style review practices.

All of those workouts will be focused very sharply on the Packers. But first there was time for a little core work during the bye week, which is what was accomplished on the field Wednesday and Thursday. And it ended on a physical note, just as Morris planned.

"Some of it was good-on-good speed work that you need for [new starting QB Josh] Freeman," said Morris. "Some of it was some Green Bay preparation, get a little early jump on some things just to give him a couple looks at the things that Green Bay does. And the other part of it was just getting the guys acclimated to getting tough and physical with each other. Sometimes you need to get out your frustration on each other a little bit and that's what they did today when they put the pads on."