In many cases, a public vote of confidence has the same effect of a mouth kiss from Michael Corleone. But in plenty of other situation, NFL owners proclaiming support for their head coaches means nothing other than the NFL owners support their head coaches.
As Joe Henderson of the Tampa Tribune explains it, the owners of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers eventually will need to give coach Raheem Morris a public vote of confidence, if the Glazers plan to keep Morris beyond 2011.
Henderson actually thinks it would be “silly” for that vote of confidence to come now. But if the Glazers intend to keep Morris, the sooner they let Morris and the rest of us know, the better.
Given that Morris has a contract that runs through 2012, the best way to give him a vote of confidence would be to give him an extension. Absent that extension, Morris remains vulnerable to termination after the season.
And that’s probably why he has received neither a vote of confidence nor a suspension. The Glazers likely haven’t decided what to do, and they reportedly want to see signs of progress down the stretch.
The team is mired in a six-game losing streak, and Morris has shown signs of stress via the offering of flimsy excuses for the team’s struggles and, most recently, the dropping of an “F” bomb at a post-game press conference.
The Bucs have a great chance to reverse the reverse their slide on Sunday with a game against the struggling Jaguars. If the Bucs lose that one, there could be a lot more “F” bombs flying in Florida. And, eventually, at least one pink slip.