I do show prep for the media here on this blog

Joe Henderson wrote a column this afternoon which was a basic reflection of what I wrote earlier this afternoon about the Bucs and the future. Must I do all the show prep or media reports for the lazy newspaper reporters? Please. No one in the St Pete/Tampa media last year predicted a breakout season for Antonio Bryant, but I did, check the blog, I'm tired of doing all the work for the newspaper hacks.


TAMPA - If firing his offensive coordinator 10 days before the first regular-season game is the right move, it's only because Raheem Morris made the wrong move to begin with in hiring Jeff Jagodzinski. And if one of Morris' two most important hires didn't even make to the first game, it does little to blunt the argument that he really is over his head.

However the rest of this discussion – and this season – evolves, let us not forget that.

Even by the standards of this volcanic off-season, Thursday was a remarkable day at One Buc Bunker. Morris, the rookie head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, stood before the cameras and said that the decision to send his offensive coordinator packing was "not a knock on Coach Jagodzinski."

It's sure not an endorsement.

He couched it in vague language – "We needed more direction … we needed more precision" – and even offered up that Jagodzinski "may be a better head coach, may be a better position coach" than an offensive coordinator.

Whatever that means.

For those not tuned into the language of football, that's called a misdirection play. Besides, the Bucs had spoken eloquently about the situation earlier in the morning with a news release that said "Offensive Coordinator Jagodzinski Dismissed."

If Jagodzinski wasn't a detail guy or wasn't precise, you'd think that would have come up in the job interview. If there were questions about his ability to run an offense and call plays during a game, maybe that should have been one of the talking points, too.

And if the man appointed to succeed him, quarterbacks coach Greg Olson, is as "highly intelligent" and has as brilliant a football mind as Morris said he has, then why wasn't Olson even interviewed when the job came open during the off-season?

"This is on Raheem Morris," Raheem Morris said, and on that point, at least, he is correct.

There was back-channel chatter Thursday that this move had been cooking for at least a month – and that it has nothing to do with the choice to start Byron Leftwich at quarterback. I'll buy that. You don't make a move like this on a whim, so if there were serious problems with Jagodzinski then perhaps it's best to lop his head off now. As University of Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley likes to say, whatever you're going to do inevitably you should immediately.

Problem is, you can't look at this move in a vacuum.

Not after Morris said the Bucs would only keep three quarterbacks, but now might keep four.

Not after he said he would name his starting quarterback after two games, but then waited through three games and a couple of days.

Not after Morris moved Jermaine Phillips from safety to linebacker, then back to safety.

Not after Tanard Jackson's four-game suspension for a substance violation, or for Aqib Talib's arrest. Morris was their position coach before he was promoted.

Now this.

Taken separately, you can perhaps explain each of those things.

Taken collectively, though, you can make the argument that this is a team in chaos.

"When you talk about being in chaos, you're talking about not having a plan. The plan has not changed," Morris said.

That plan includes zone blocking, an emphasis on the run, that sort of thing. Maybe it will all work better now under Greg Olson. If it does, perhaps Morris will be lauded for making a tough call and taking the heat.

Right now, though, it looks like they're just throwing stuff against the bunker walls to see what sticks.