Raheem Morris Declares His Tampa Bay Buccaneers Are NFC's Best

You have to hand it to Raheem Morris, he didn't hold back.

"Best team in the NFC. Yeah, I said it," so said Raheem after his second wife, Josh Freeman, found a way to lead his team from the depths of a disaster of a first half to that stunning 18-17 win over the Rams that surely has the Rams kicking themselves and their supporters using the "C" word.

No, the Rams didn't choke. Freeman flat out took this one from them. He took it, stole it, put together an amazing drive late in the fourth quarter and looked every bit like Cool Hand Josh in the process.

Cool Hand Josh got in that huddle and told the offense that they were about to embark on the game-winning drive.

And a funny thing happened—they listened to him.

This fourth Buccaneer victory came despite a first half that was beyond ugly, it was putrid and looked every bit like the Bucs would be embarrassed by those upstart Rams with rookie quarterback Sam Bradford and the beastly Steven Jackson running it down their throats the first 30 minutes.

Yeah, it was 17-6 and wasn't as close as it sounded. Surely it would end up 27-10 or something like that. Surely sounded like it would.

It didn't.

Sure Jackson rushed for 74 in the first half, looking on his way to 150, at least. And yes, Cadillac Williams had run three times for two yards, looking very Cadillacish. Sam Bradford had thrown for a couples of touchdowns, Freeman for none.

Didn't look good at all.

Things would change in the second half. Conner Barth kept kicking field goals until finally it was 17-12 and Freeman giving his in-huddle pep talk.

LeGarrette Blount was looking like the present and future of the running game and Cadillac, who can't beat anyone with his legs, was helping out with his hands and would catch that game-winner with Freeman rolling hard to his right, running for his life with what seemed like the 101st Airborne in pursuit of him.

He found Caddy, found the win and found a fourth victory.

Who would have thought?

When you looked at the inactive list before the game: Earnest Graham, Jeff Faine, Keydrick Vincent, Brian Price and Elbert Mack. You'd think this young team couldn't get it done with that many names out of uniform. But they did.

Who would have thought that with the offensive line doing everything it could to screw this one up, there would be a victory? Those bozos were flagged nine times for 67 yards and murdered 85 yards in offensive gains that a team like this cannot afford to lose.

Somehow, these gritty Bucs overcame that nonsense.

Which makes this victory all the sweeter. Sweet but ugly.

But the NFL doesn't award style points.

Just wins and losses.

Four up and two down.

Best in the NFC?

Maybe, maybe not but one of the most opportune for sure.