Disappointing debut for Morris, Bucs Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune, published 14 September 2009 Tampa Police Department Detective Henry Duran's job on Bucs game days is to shadow Coach Raheem Morris. His orders are to protect Morris at all costs. When Morris walked off the field following the Bucs' 34-21 opening-day loss to the Cowboys on Sunday, however, Duran wasn't anywhere near him. The reason was simple. He didn't need to be. By the time the clock struck zero on Morris' NFL coaching debut, all that was left of a Raymond James Stadium crowd of 63,806 was a large contingent of Cowboys followers, and they were all celebrating. The vast majority of Bucs supporters who helped usher in the Morris era began leaving about 5 minutes earlier. Safety Sabby Piscitelli almost certainly will go down as the poster child for this loss, as he lost track of Patrick Crayton on an 80-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown that wound up sealing the Bucs' fate. Piscitelli also had a hand in surrendering a 66-yard, third-quarter touchdown to Roy Williams, and was the one who gave the Cowboys new life by running into the punter following a key stop in the second quarter. But on a day when the new Bucs offense did what many expected of it by creating an opportunity to win, there was more behind the loss than the work of one safety. New kicker Mike Nugent missed a field goal try of 46 yards and had a 38-yarder blocked. There also was a 42-yard touchdown pass to Miles Austin in which Elbert Mack and Jermaine Phillips were victimized. That came just before halftime, after a series in which the Bucs failed to make good use of the clock after taking possession at their 14-yard line with two minutes to play. "We'd like to have done that halftime situation a little better," Morris said. "We wish we could have gotten a first down there. I could have done a better job there. But for the first time out, I was pretty pleased with how the coaches communicated, how we got things across and handled situations. We just gave up too many big plays." The Cowboys tallied 462 yards on offense. Quarterback Tony Romo was 16 of 27 for 353 yards with touchdown passes of 42, 66 and 80 yards. Most of those big plays were blamed by the Bucs on poor communication, but new defensive coordinator Jim Bates wasn't buying that. He flat-out chalked up the big plays against to poor execution by his defense. "If you're going to win in this league, you've got to eliminate big plays," Bates said. "They're going to happen, but three in one game is unacceptable." The Bucs had some big offensive plays of their own. There were enough, in fact, to leave several veterans feeling encouraged about what lies ahead for this team. "The potential is there," said quarterback Byron Leftwich, who completed 25 of 41 passes for 276 yards and a touchdown. "We are capable of doing anything on that football field with the players that we have." The Bucs proved that as they racked up 450 total yards, including 174 yards rushing. Most of those came from Cadillac Williams, who ran 13 times for 97 yards in his first game back from a second patellar tendon injury. "Let me tell you, dude, Cadillac is back," cornerback Ronde Barber said. "He looked awesome today. Byron looked strong, too. So I'm encouraged there. I really am encouraged by what I saw on offense. We moved the ball. We ran it well. The final score is not indicative of how well we played at times. We just have to handle our side of the ball."