TAMPA, Fla. -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris isn't giving up on the season despite a five-game losing streak that has all but ended any playoff hopes for his team.
"We remain committed to growing as a football team," Morris said Monday, one day after Tampa Bay dropped to 4-7 following a 23-17 loss at Tennessee. "I don't think the mentality of this team is ever going to change."
Morris said he has a bunch of guys playing with pride.
"They're not done playing, and we're not done coaching," he said. "We'll keep going out there and keep giving it our best effort. I don't see any quit in these guys."
Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib called the long skid "the most frustrating thing that can happen to a football team."
"We've just got to find a way," Talib said. "It's all about finding a way. We go out there and play on Sunday, we try to win. Stuff happened and we lost. It's football."
The Bucs continued a season-long trend of not finishing games. Tampa Bay had the ball late Sunday, but quarterback Josh Freeman fumbled a fourth-down snap, recovered the ball and only managed to get back near the line of scrimmage with 40 seconds left.
Officials ruled the Bucs had turned the ball over on downs, and the Titans ran out the clock to finish off the six-point victory.
The Bucs will look to stop the lengthy slide this Sunday when they host the Carolina Panthers.
"We're grown men," Talib said. "We've all had seasons like this. We've got more games to play, so we're going to play more games."
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
