Tampa Bay Buccaneers Were Amazing, Overachieving and Such a Wonderful Surprise

Raheem Morris should be NFL Coach of the Year.

He was serious about all this 10 win banter, wasn't he? Serious enough where we're now thinking to ourselves, "It should have been 11."

Really, it should have. These Bucs should have been prepping for a playoff game but alas, you get what you deserve in the NFL and these Buccaneers deserve a lot of credit. They deserve praises, respect and every accolade that comes with a 10-win season.

They deserve to shout from the top of Raymond James Stadium that was one improbable journey to double-digit wins that ended on Sunday with a convincing victory over playoff-bound New Orleans. Their hopes went down to the wire, this team of young hopefuls making meaningful noise in December.

Give Raheem credit and, by golly, give him a new contract before one of those really needy NFL teams decides to do just that.

Could the future look any better for this team?

Josh Freeman was the steal of the draft in 2009, as it turns out. Who knew? Morris knew, said he would have taken the big kid No. 1 overall and he still would have been a steal.

Freeman was the driving force behind an offense that overachieved, an offense that found brash young players who simply ignored the fact that they were rookies. Mike Williams couldn't have been a better find, a better fourth-round steal. LeGarrette Blount may be one of the best practice squad steals in NFL history.

And so on and so on.

This young team is full of talent, eager talent and there's more to come. Take a quick look at the IR list and it's full of talent.

The future simply seems unlimited for this team. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ignored the preseason predictions that had them in the NFL lower tier and became the little engine that did.

Sure, it's sad that the fellas didn't get into the playoffs but perhaps that will give them a little more hunger next season.

All the pieces are there and this has suddenly gone from a rebuilding project to a reloading project that only needs a few tweaks here and there.

Yes, the NFC South will be a tough place to live next season, but the Bucs showed us that they can and will compete.

Perhaps you remember that day a few years ago when Jon Gruden declared the future was so bright that he was in need of a pair of shades.

Raheem Morris won't be petty enough to come out with that kind of statement.

But the fact remains that someone should send him a pair of Oakleys.