Tampa Bay Buccaneers Need Live Preseason Work

You will get your first glimpse of the 2010 version of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday.

Raheem Morris and his mighty men will travel to Miami for their first exhibition game.

Some of us were already a bit disturbed when Morris stated this week that one of his goals was to "protect" his players.

Now what does that mean?

Does it mean he'll play Josh Freeman and the starters for a series or two?

That would be a mistake at best. This is not a veteran team. It is a very, very young team by design, and it needs all the live work it can get.

When you look at the 2009 draft class and this year's draft class, there could be 15 players on the final 53-man roster with virtually no experience. The only way Freeman will be ready for the season is to play at least the first half in these practice games.

Mark Dominik was boasting the other night that this is one of the few teams in the league with 80 guys in camp and practicing.

That's already down to 79. Brian Price, the guy with all the type from the offseason, has a nagging hamstring injury, and that does not bode well if he was expected to push Roy Miller for playing time. No one pushes anyone from the sidelines.

If Morris thinks a lot of practice reps will prepare his charges for the opener against Cleveland, then perhaps he's not all he's cracked up to be.

Practice is one thing. Game speed and situations are another.

If Morris spends the bulk of these preseason games determining who his fourth and fifth wide receivers are, who his fifth running back might be, and whether he sticks us with watching Rudy Carpenter play half the games, then this preseason could end up a giant waste.

Freeman and these young guys also need to feel victory as well.

A couple of "practice" victories wouldn't hurt, would it?

And while Morris goes around preaching "violence" and "physical" play by his team, someone needs to remind him that touchdowns count for six points.