Tampa Bay Buccaneers Rumor Mill: Did Morris Battle Dominik to Keep Talib?

When a football team is downtrodden, there isn't much good news.

In fact, when a team falls apart the way the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have collapsed this season, there is more rumor and innuendo than there is decent news.

The latest juicy morsel comes via Yahoo Sports and writer Jason Cole.

Cole makes the case that during the lockout, general manager Mark Dominik basically wanted to dump Aqib Talib. Really, who can blame him if he wanted to? Cole makes his case that Raheem Morris stepped in and used the down time to talk Dominik out of the "dump Talib" mindset.

That being said, we already know that Talib receives special treatment from Morris. What other player could cuss out his coach in the lobby of a hotel and still be on the team? What other player could flat out turn in a pathetic effort on plays during the Bucs-Texans fiasco and get away with it?

That would be the one and only Talib, who Morris has tabbed in the past "my wild child."

Okay, that part of Cole's story is very believable.

Cole then writes that he has a Buccaneer player who said this to him regarding Morris' favoritism shown toward Talib:

"Wrong message. Raheem believes he can get through to anybody and he can, to an extent. Guys do listen to him. But sometimes they have to see that you're going to back it up. (Talib) is a huge talent, but you have to know there are certain guys who are impossible to get through to."

An unnamed player?

Well, it certainly doesn't take Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs from NCIS to know that it's basically impossible to get through to Talib.

If you look up "bonehead" in the dictionary, there might be a picture of Talib next to the definition.

Sorry, we'll take that back. Talib would give a bad name to "boneheads" everywhere.

Morris covered again for Talib this week. If you caught some of the sideline action during the fiasco in Jacksonville, you might have seen Talib running around acting like an idiot on the sidelines.

Morris once again covered for Talib, describing him as "encouraging" the other players.

But there is something interesting in all of this when you start to connect the dots.

You have to wonder out loud what Dominik will be saying to the Glazers when the subject of Raheem Morris comes up.

Is Dominik prepping to distance himself from Morris?

Is Dominik prepping to throw Morris under the bus?

The way the Bucs have played the past few weeks, it seems some players already have done just that.

They've done it with their poor execution, their penchant for penalties and their general lack of discipline.

And isn't Aqib Talib the all-time Tampa Bay Buccaneers poster child for Lack of Discipline?