Raheem Morris felt great about where his defense was.
It was 2005, and as an assistant defensive backs coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Morris was pleased with how his defense had played 13 games into the season. The Buccaneers were 9-4 and coming off of consecutive games where they held the New Orleans Saints to three points and the Carolina Panthers to 10.
The following week, however, was a showdown against quarterback Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, the new dynasty that had won Super Bowl titles in 2001, 2003 and 2004. Even so, Morris remained confident in Tampa Bay’s ability to slow Brady and the Patriots’ offense.
“I felt like we dictated terms a lot,” Morris said. “I felt like we went out there and we were absolutely able to destroy anybody you put in front of us with just our scheme and what we’re able to do from a physical side of it all.”
This game was different. Brady, in his sixth season, was emerging as a star NFL quarterback.
Morris remembered the Buccaneers mixing up different blitzes, with Brady sidestepping them all. It was the first time Morris faced Brady in his career, which is a story he tells often. Although the Bucs entered the game confident, Brady did what Brady has done best throughout his career.
The Patriots won 28-0, with Brady throwing for 258 yards and tossing three touchdowns.
“I vividly remember Tom Brady standing in the pocket and taking small hitches and not even thinking about people running around his body as he delivered strikes down the middle of the field on our defense, who I thought was really good,” he said. “I remember sitting in the box going, ‘Man, this guy is talented.’”
Since, Morris has faced Brady a few other times. In 2009, when Morris was the Bucs’ coach, Brady threw for 308 yards and three touchdowns in a 35-7 victory. The other two times Morris saw Brady in a game were with the Falcons. In 2017, the Patriots defeated the Falcons 23-7, with Brady throwing for 249 yards and two touchdowns. The season before, Brady’s Patriots rallied from a 28-3 deficit to defeat the Falcons 34-28 in overtime to win Super Bowl LI. In that game, Brady threw for 466 yards and two scores.
However, in those two meetings, Morris was the Falcons’ receivers coach and didn’t game-plan against Brady. Still, Morris has never been on the winning side of a game against Brady as a coach.
This time, oddly enough, Brady is with the Buccaneers, the team Morris used to coach. Both the Falcons and Buccaneers will have the tough task of facing each other twice in the next three weeks, with the Bucs coming to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday. The two teams will meet again for the season finale in Tampa.
Brady is 6-0 against the Falcons in his career, with each win occurring as a member of the Patriots. In his weekly interview with Westwood One radio, Brady noted it will be tough to sweep the Falcons since the teams are playing twice in three weeks.
He commended the New Orleans Saints for accomplishing this feat against the Falcons earlier this month.
“It’s hard to win in your division two times against a division opponent,” Brady said. “We’re going to be faced with that, and it’s going to take our best football.”
While the Falcons have been eliminated from postseason contention, the Buccaneers are still vying for a spot in the playoffs. At 8-5, Tampa Bay is in sixth place in the NFC standings and in position for a wild-card berth. Having been swept by the New Orleans Saints, the only hope the Bucs have to win the NFC South is to finish the regular season on a four-game win streak while the Saints lose all three of their games. Therefore, the Bucs have a lot to play for over the next three weeks, beginning with Sunday’s game.
Morris was asked if Brady looks any different with the Buccaneers compared with his days with the Patriots. Morris was nothing but complimentary to the longtime great.
“You won’t get the quote out of me saying Tom Brady doesn’t look like Tom Brady,” Morris said. “He’s one of the greatest players to play our game, if not the greatest quarterback of our game, certainly the winningest. We look forward to playing a great opponent. We know who Tom is.
“We’ve seen Tom before in a nightmare-ish fashion, and we look forward to going and playing him again.”
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