Tamba Bay Buccaneers: Raheem Morris Looks Forward to the Return of Aqib Talib

Can't you just picture Aqib Talib replacing Billy Bob Thorton in Bad Santa, Part Two?

If there is a guy on this Tampa Bay Buccaneer team who should get coal in his stocking, it's Talib.

The Bucs will now face Carolina on Saturday then the Falcons in the season finale without Talib. Talib is on IR, which should stand for Irrelevant, which Talib typically becomes every season with that bad hammy of his.

Already, Raheem Morris is looking forward to next year with his "wild child."

"Aqib is a really good football player. If we can get Aqib back healthy and get him stronger, get him faster, get him better then we can go back to war with him and get him back on our football team," proclaimed Morris as his "pet" went to IR.

Now a couple of things really stand out in that statement by Morris.

First you'll notice Raheem referring to the future with Talib so it's obvious that Morris plans on being back next year. Does he know something everyone else doesn't know?

Second, you'll notice Raheem used "stronger, faster, better" to describe what needs to happen with Talib. Notice he said nothing about "smarter" and therein lies the problem with Talib.

Morris preaches his "core beliefs" as: "Harder, faster, smarter and consistent." The downfall of this 2011 version of the Bucs is that this team plays soft, slow, dumb and inconsistent. When it comes to Talib, you can simply toss "smarter" out of the equation.

With Talib out, things were jumbled in the secondary last week and when you start to think about 2012, well, this secondary may have an entirely new look.

You have to ask yourself if Ronde Barber wants more of this? If Morris comes back, then perhaps Barber does as well, maybe looking for the final paycheck. With the likes of Elbert Mack, E.J. Biggers and draft-bust Myron Lewis, it's obvious that a trip to free agency may be necessary to bolster this sagging secondary.

Morris is also assuming that his very own "Bad Santa" is able to escape the slammer when he goes on trial in March for his little "incident" in Texas.

Talib will be in the fifth year of his contract next season and he's scheduled to make $1,852,560, which fits nicely into the cheapskate budget of the Glazers.

Ah, so much to look forward to.

Aqib Talib coming back "harder, faster, better."

Smarter?

Not so much.