Raheem Morris is ready to start the offseason and help the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers turn things around.

Whether he will get that chance remains to be seen.

Dropping their season finale 45-24 to the Atlanta Falcons on
Sunday, the Bucs closed the year with 10 straight losses _ the
franchise’s worst in-season stretch since the 1977 team lost its
first 12 games.

Morris, though, isn’t planning for Monday to be any different
from the day that followed last year’s encouraging 10-6 finish that
left Tampa Bay barely out of the playoffs.

“If I was in the business of worrying about my future, I
wouldn’t be coaching,” the third-year coach said. “I’m going to go
to work tomorrow. It’s not the time to talk about that type of
stuff. That’s for mental midgets. For us, we’ve got to go out and
play football and do what we have to do.”

Center Jeff Faine indicated that Morris’ postgame speech made no
mention of the meltdown that began with the Bucs trailing 42-0 in
the second quarter. Instead, the focus of his talk was to encourage
players to dedicate themselves in the offseason.

As the NFL’s second-youngest team, the Bucs (4-12) might have
not handled last year’s NFL lockout as well as an experienced club,
but Tampa Bay still managed a 4-2 start that included an emotional
16-13 win over Atlanta. That Week 3 victory ended a five-game
series losing streak that gave quarterback Josh Freeman his first
win over the Falcons.

But this time, Freeman threw a first-quarter interception to
Dominique Franks that set up Julio Jones’ 48-yard touchdown catch
on the next play to put the Bucs in a 21-0 hole.

Tampa Bay ran four plays on the ensuing possession before
defensive end John Abraham sacked Freeman and stripped the ball
away for a fumble recovery. Michael Turner’s 1-yard run six snaps
later made it 28-0.

Freeman’s next drive ended with linebacker Curtis Lofton picking
him off and running the ball back for 35-0 lead.

“It’s always tough when you fall behind and fall behind early,”
Freeman said. “Today was no different. You have to, as an offense,
find a way to keep the game close. Early turnovers don’t allow you
to do that. They capitalized on every single turnover and with
that, you aren’t always going to win football games.”

When Tampa Bay struggled badly in Morris’ first season of 2009,
the Bucs still had a reputation for playing hard despite their 1-12
start.

But they won 16 of their next 25 and seemed ready to challenge
New Orleans and Atlanta for supremacy in the NFC South.

Everything began to unravel, however, after they beat the Saints
26-20 on Oct. 16. They lost their next 10 _ the franchise’s worst
stretch since the 2008-09 teams combined to drop 11 straight.

Sunday marked the seventh loss this season by 16 or more
points.

“The team was prepared to play today,” Morris said. “We got
outplayed by a better football team. They went out there and played
hard, got out of the box quickly and we couldn’t tackle them.
That’s an issue, and when that snowballed and got away from us and
went back and refocused and played a little bit better in the
second half, it wasn’t good enough.”

Tampa Bay’s defense struggled fundamentally and trailed 42-7 at
halftime after allowing 186 yards rushing and 133 passing.

“It boils down to guys not doing their jobs, and it all goes
from there,” linebacker Geno Hayes said. “If everyone isn’t doing
what they’re supposed to do, it doesn’t work. We get paid to a job,
and it hasn’t been working.”

Cornerback Elbert Mack returned an interception of Atlanta
backup quarterback Chris Redman for 40-yard touchdown to make it
42-18 late in the third quarter, and the Bucs went on to score 24
unanswered points against a Falcons team made up mostly of
reserves.

But the effort wasn’t nearly enough.

“You’ve got to start fast in this league,” Mack said. “We didn’t
execute what the coaches have been preaching all week.”

Morris hopes he gets a chance to keep coaching these players
next season.

“There will be a 10 a.m. meeting, there’ll be another one at 11
and there will be a noon press conference and I’ll see you there,”
Morris said. “I’ll go to the Outback Bowl in the afternoon. I’ll
come back and do a radio show and be ready to deal, ready for this
offseason and get back and attack it.”

Morris was then asked if he expects to coach the 2012 Bucs.

“That’s like asking you if you expect to be a work tomorrow,” he
said. “Correct.”

TAMPA — The Bucs drafted cornerback Myron Lewis believing he could be the future of the position.

Now, as Lewis nears the end of his second season, it’s reasonable to ask whether the 2010 third-round pick from Vanderbilt has a future in Tampa Bay.

Lewis, 24, has not been a key contributor while the likes of 2011 seventh-round choice Anthony Gaitor have played extensively in the absence of starter Aqib Talib (hamstring). And reading between the lines, coaches believe Lewis hasn’t done much to warrant many more opportunities.

His latest comes Saturday at Carolina now that Talib has been placed on injured reserve.

“It’s up to him what he does with it,” defensive backs coach Jimmy Lake said. “If you don’t get it done, you’re going to be somewhere else. If you get it done, you’re going to be here. Same thing with everybody else.”

Why hasn’t Lewis shown the play expected of a third-round choice.? The reasons are varied.

At times, small, nagging injuries have been his downfall. He made his first impression on Tampa Bay’s coaches during the 2010 rookie minicamp by spending the three-day event on the sideline with an abdominal strain. He went on to become a key part of the rotation after Talib’s 2010 season-ending hip injury, serving as the third cornerback for the final four games.

At that point he showed some signs the Bucs had been looking for. He held his own against elite players such as Calvin Johnson of the Lions. Going into the offseason, there was much optimism.

The team considered him to be in a battle with E.J. Biggers for the role of third cornerback entering training camp. But Lewis missed most of camp and the preseason with a hamstring strain. When he returned in the preseason finale, he was injured again. That time, an ankle sprain slowed him and he remained inactive for the first two regular-season games.

Lewis has gained a reputation for being injury prone. Those injuries have effectively negated what little gains he has made.

“Last year he … made some nice plays on balls, showed that he had really progressed,” coach Raheem Morris said. “He became a smarter football player. This year he came back into camp and looked sharp, looked good but then started to battle some injuries again.”

Those injuries have created chances for others — Elbert Mack and Gaitor, for example —and Lewis has been the obvious loser.

“In training camp, some other players caught up with him and some other players were playing better and kind of jumped in front of him,” Lake said. “That’s how it works.”

After being inactive for six of the 14 games — even last week’s against the Cowboys’ potent passing game — Lewis should be on the field Saturday.

And he knows full well what’s at stake.

“Basically, it’s an interview all over again,” Lewis said. “Hopefully they give me the opportunity to play. It’s been frustrating not being active. But hopefully I get the opportunity and I can take advantage of it.

“It’s kind of difficult to show consistency when you’re not playing a lot, but I guess they just want me to go out there and be that player that they saw when they drafted me.”

It’s critical that the Bucs go into the offseason knowing what they have in Lewis. Cornerback is a position that almost certainly needs to be addressed given Talib’s shaky status (he faces a felony charge for a shooting in Texas) and 36-year-old iron man Ronde Barber’s potential retirement. It’s possible Tampa Bay could lose its two starting cornerbacks.

Will Lewis be a part of the solution? That’s up to him.

“I love football,” said Lewis, who grew up in Pompano Beach. “It’s a game I grew up playing. I’ve played cornerback all my life, from little league to high school to college, all the way to the NFL. I’m just going to do the best I can do. I really need to finish these two games strong.”

Stephen F. Holder can be reached at sholder@tampabay.com.

By Rick Stroud, Times Staff Writer

In Print: Friday, August 5, 2011

---

Arrelious Benn, left, was coming on strong last season when he injured his left knee.
	[CHRIS ZUPPA | Times]

TAMPA — Arrelious Benn exploded from the line of scrimmage, his knees pumping like pistons before he chopped his feet, pivoted on a dime and rotated 180 degrees until adjusting for the football that struck his outstretched hands.

It was the first day of training camp practice and the play would’ve been unremarkable for any other Bucs receiver. A simple pattern. Except there’s nothing routine about the route Benn has taken to return to the football field.

“I probably have to look at the scar, because I can’t even tell which leg was hurt,” receivers coach Eric Yarber said. “He’s such a hard worker and a fast healer. He’s a medical marvel. I said he should be in some kind of medical journal.”

Benn, the Bucs’ second-round pick from Illinois last year, shrugged when asked if he has watched the play that ended his rookie season with one game left.

“I watch it all the time,” Benn said. “I’ve seen it on tape. In fact, that was the last play we ran today, and I’m going to run it the same way.”

Bucs trainer Todd Toriscelli watched it, too, and said what was so unusual is that Benn’s left leg wasn’t planted at the time of the injury.

Early in the second half against Seattle in Week 16, Benn caught a short pass in the right flat, turned and raced down the sideline until the helmet of defensive back Marcus Trufant drove through his left knee with such brutal force that it tore the anterior cruciate ligament in half.

He became the fourth rookie and the 10th Bucs player to land on injured reserve. But what really hurt was how it halted the momentum he could have carried into the offseason.

Of Benn’s 25 receptions for 395 yards, he had 16 for 252 yards in his final seven games.

“He was spring-boarding,” Yarber said. “He was coming into his own, and that’s what was so unfortunate about the lockout, he was looking forward to the offseason and being able to take his game to the next level.”

Instead, Benn woke up in the surgical recovery room of Dr. John Zvijac, the team’s orthopedic surgeon, with one recurring thought.

“My first reaction was when can I walk?” Benn said. “I was ready to walk out of there. I didn’t want to waste any time. Even though I couldn’t walk, I thought I could sit down and catch like 1,000 balls a day.”

General manager Mark Dominik credits a few things to Benn’s quick recovery: Zvijac did a good job, the team was able to monitor the first month of his rehab before the lockout and Benn’s healing powers.

“It gets down to the kid and his work ethic and his protoplasm,” Dominik said. “The only reason you might not see him at practice is because I’m holding him back. We want to be smart with him.”

Benn, 22, is being limited to one practice a day and no contact. There’s a chance the Bucs will not play him in the preseason, but he has no doubts about being ready for the Sept. 11 opener against Detroit.

“Oh yeah, I’ll definitely be 100 percent by the opener,” he said.

Nobody is rooting harder for Benn than Mike Williams, the Bucs go-to receiver who led all rookies with 11 touchdowns last season. Williams was drawing double-teams when Benn excelled in wins at Arizona and Washington.

He will have to battle Dezmon Briscoe and Sammie Stroughter for the No. 2 receiver spot.

However, at 6 feet 2, 220 pounds and with what teammates say is about 4 percent body fat, the Bucs have never had a receiver that big who was that fast.

“Keyshawn (Johnson) was physical, but not as fast,” Dominik said. “It’s why we traded up to get him and people said, “Why would you trade up for (Benn)?’ Well, we saw traits in terms of strength and speed to run after the catch.”

Thankfully for the Bucs, he’s also a fast healer.

[Last modified: Aug 04, 2011 10:30 PM]

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Read More: Nnamdi Asomugha (CB – OAK), Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Francisco 49ers

This news comes as no surprise. According to ProFootball Talk, it sounds as though the Tampa Bay Bucs were never serious suitors for Nnamdi Asomugha:

A source with knowledge of the situation tells PFT that the Bucs aren’t, and haven’t been, in the hunt for Asomugha. …

Though there’s a chance it was all a smokescreen, it’s more likely that the Bucs are being bandied about because they’ve got the cash. Which in turn could drive up the price.

As we mentioned last night, the Nnamdi/Bucs rumors never made a lot of sense. The Bucs have expressly stated that they intend to build through the draft, depending on a core of young players, and Nnamdi is already 30 years old. He also will come at a very steep price tag, and while the Bucs have cap space, they have been very hesitant to sign expensive free agents.

The most current rumors suggest that the Nnamdi Asomugha bidding has come down to just the Jets and Cowboys, as the 49ers have supposedly backed out.

For more on the Bucs and their offseason signings, follow SB Nation Tampa Bay on Twitter or Facebook.