Bucs Lack of Discipline Finally Catches Up

Yesterday afternoon in their 27-16 loss, the Bucs resorted to their tried and true MO of mailing in the first half of a game and scrambling desperately to make it a contest in the last 20 minutes.

Unfortunately, by the time the Bucs turned it on they were rallying to avoid embarrassment as much as to win the game. This is now the second time Tampa has played a playoff caliber team and dug too deep a first half hole to pull themselves out of, the first being Detroit.

If you toss in an embarrassing loss in San Francisco and one of the sloppiest games of the season in London against the Bears and the pattern that emerges is on a reckless, undisciplined team that is almost as big an adversary to itself, as it is to top tier competition.

If the Buccaneers want to go anywhere this season, they need to become a lot more disciplined.

Part of the charm of this team is also a double-edged sword, head coach Raheem Morris keeps his team looses and encourages a recklessness out of them on the field that is supposed to free them from overthinking and just let them react and play. The problem is in many cases it seems to free them from thinking entirely.

Good teams rarely, if ever, commit dead-ball personal foul violations, they don’t taunt and they definitely don’t rack up multiple stupid calls in the same game. The Bucs do that regularly. Whether it’s Aqib Talib giving the Bears a second chance by sticking a finger in Roy Williams facemask or its LeGarrette Blount smashing Will Smith in the helmet to stall out a drive, these things aren’t the sign of a good team.

They’re the sign of an immature one.

Yesterday the Buccaneers committed nine penalties for 80 yards, that’s essentially giving a team like the Saints a TD drive just through penalty yards. You toss in the missed assignments, mental errors and mistakes that didn’t blow up in the Bucs’ faces and it could have been lot worse.

What did look bad though, regardless of stats, was the brief implosion out of Tampa yesterday afternoon in which the team clearly became frustrated and started to lash out. Even despite the late-game rally, that period of the game really failed in terms of the NFL eye-test. You could take one look at that stretch and get a good idea that the Bucs are not where they want to be as a team yet.

These are all correctable issues but it needs to start up top with accountability from the coach. The times when Raheem Morris can fall back on having a young, overzealous team are over. That was last season and now it’s time for these Bucs to take the next step and stop playing like a young team loaded with potential, and start playing like a team that went 10-6 last season and has the experience of being in a playoff dog-fight.

The latter of those teams is the one the Bucs came out and played like against the Falcons and Saints the first time. The latter of those teams is there at some point every week but the Bucs have to wrestle with their own lack of discipline and immaturity first before they can get to it.

This is where it does start to come down to coaching and this will be Morris’ second half challenge. Right now Tampa is 4-4 at the mid-way point and they have a chance to make a playoff run, but not much margin for error.

If Raheem Morris can reel his team in and start to get them to play disciplined football then the Bucs have a legitimate shot at the playoffs even sitting 4-4.

If he can’t though, forget it.