Raheem Morris Refuses to Blame LeGarrette Blount; Says Refs Made Error

Filed under: Buccaneers, NFC South

If Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris had done anything else but defend rookie running back LeGarrette Blount it would have been a shock.

Blount, a 247-pound back, missed a hole on fourth-and-one from inside the Atlanta 5-yard line in the closing moments of the Buccaneers' 27-21 loss in the Georgia Dome. The play was designed as a dive play, but Blount bounced outside and was tackled.

Morris said the mistake could have been made by a veteran, as well as a rookie like Blount.

"He didn't run the wrong play, he just made the wrong cut,'' Morris said. "We're all great running backs the next day. If he bounces out there and runs over DeCoud and scores a touchdown, we're all having a pool party.

"But he stuck his foot in the ground, he made a cut, his vision at that time was different than ours would be today looking at tape and he should go down hill and he didn't. That happens. That's part of a young football team making a mistake but we'll come back and get better from it.''

"That can happen with a vet. You can't second-guess the play. You don't want to go down that road."

Morris said the referees failed to restart the 25-second play clock after LeGarrette Blount was stopped inches short of a first down at the Atlanta 2-yard line on that possession.

Referee Terry McAulay spotted the ball after the play, but did not restart the clock.

On top of that, Morris said, the Bucs sideline headsets went off and quarterback Josh Freeman had to use Tampa's last timeout to get a play in from the sidelines.

"I think they made a mistake,'' Morris said. "We're in Atlanta and somehow our headsets went out in that play. We had to run out there and tell our quarterback and ran out of time. We had to use our timeout because we didn't have enough time to get to the line of scrimmage and snap the play because our headsets were out.

"You're supposed to re-set the (play) game clock when you're spotting the ball and we didn't get to re-set the game clock and our head sets didn't come back at all. So we never had the luxury of talking to our quarterback during that play. It is what it is. We had to use our timeout right there.''

 

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