TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris is hesitant to heap too much praise on his surprising young Buccaneers.
At 3-1, the Bucs have already matched their victory total for last season and are alone in second place in the NFC South – ahead of defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans.
Still, Morris said Monday that it’s too early to assess where the team stands in the second season of a rebuilding project he and general manager Mark Dominik launched when Morris replaced Jon Gruden following a late-season collapse that cost Tampa Bay a playoff berth in 2008.
The Bucs stumbled to an 0-7 start last season, but have shown steady improvement with Morris serving as his own defensive coordinator and second-year quarterback Josh Freeman growing in an offense that’s making strides, too.
“I’m real excited about how the team is improving every day. But they’re so young, I don’t want to really say where they are right now,” Morris said, adding that one of the keys to the fast start has been minimizing mental mistakes and being more consistent on offense and defense.
“They’re at a point where they’re beginning to believe. … We’re playing one game at a time, trying to remain humble and, really, it’s bringing us closer together,” the 34-year-old coach added. “It makes it easier to sell the message every week. It’s making it easier for these guys to be critical of themselves. It just makes everything a little bit easier.”
After starting the season with victories over Cleveland and Carolina, the Bucs were beaten handily at home by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Morris used a bye week to prepare several young players for expanded roles in Sunday’s 24-21 victory over Cincinnati.
The Bengals appeared to have the game under control before the Bucs intercepted two passes in the final 2:18, setting up Freeman’s 20-yard touchdown pass to rookie Mike Williams and Connor Barth’s 32-yard field goal that won it in the closing seconds.
“We’re getting better. We’ve played smart enough to get three wins,” Morris said. “In the game we didn’t play smart enough, we lost. That’s where we are.”
NFC South rival New Orleans visits Raymond James Stadium this week.
Morris scoffed at the notion that Tampa Bay, with the NFL’s second-youngest roster, can make a “statement” by beating the Saints.
“There’s only one statement game in the National Football League, and that’s the last one,” he said. “This is not a statement football game for them or for us. It’s a tough divisional opponent coming to our house that we’ve got to fend off.”
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