I distinctly remember Bucs fans losing their minds on a near-weekly basis when Jon Gruden's offenses didn't roll up and down the field. When are they going to do the same with Raheem Morris and his poor defenses?
↵Here's a list of the times Raheem's defense (and it is his defense -- I don't buy for a second that Keith Millard is in charge of the defense) has given up at least 395 yards since he took over as head coach. I was going to cap it at 400 yards, but there are several games where they were just a few yards short, so I added those too. All the data in this post is from Pro Football Reference.
↵9/13/09, vs. Cowboys: 462 yards
9/20/09, vs. Bills: 438 yards
9/27/09, vs. Giants: 397 yards
10/25/09, vs. Patriots: 414 yards
11/8/09, vs. Packers: 404 yards
1/3/10, vs. Falcons: 397 yards
10/17/10, vs. Saints: 475 yards
10/31/10, vs. Cardinals: 396 yards
12/12/10, vs. Redskins: 399 yards
12/19/10, vs. Lions: 433 yards (overtime)
9/11/11, vs. Lions: 431 yards
9/18/11, vs. Vikings: 398 yards
10/9/11, vs. 49ers: 418 yards
10/16/11, vs. Saints: 453 yards
10/23/11, vs. Bears: 395 yards
11/6/11, vs. Saints: 453 yards
That's 16 times in 40 games, and six times in eight games this season. The worst part is that most of these games don't have any of the cheap yards teams give up when they're defending a lead late in the game. It's just the Bucs getting whipped from start to finish. They were 27th in the league in total defense in 2009, 17th last year, and 26th this season coming into today, and that should drop after the Saints gashed them again (and because they've already had their bye week, unlike most of the teams ranked lower than them).
↵And yes, offense in the NFL is increasing, but not by that much. From the beginning of the 2009 season through Week 8 of the 2011 season, NFL offenses were averaging 338.4 yards per game. The Bucs haven't beaten that number in any of Raheem's three seasons. After today's game, they're giving up almost 399 yards per game in 2011.
↵P.S. Monte Kiffin's defenses gave up 395 yards or more a total of 18 times in 219 games.
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