Benjamin Morrison has missed practices, games and tackles. He’s given up huge pass plays against the Patriots and Bills.
But for the Bucs rookie cornerback, the biggest issue hasn’t been what happens when he’s on the field, it’s been staying healthy enough to get there.
With starting cornerback Zyon McCollum on injured reserve with a hip injury, Morrison, a second-round pick from Notre Dame, is being called upon again.
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Will the Panthers have success targeting Morrison Sunday in Charlotte, North Carolina, or will he rise to the occasion this time?
“I think he’s finally healthy, so you’ll probably see the real Benjamin Morrison that we drafted,” Bucs coach Todd Bowles said on Friday. “He had a couple weeks to take in some things mentally and get physically right, so he’s probably in a place where it’s the best place he’s been in this year. So, I think you’ll see the best one we’ve seen.”
The last time we saw Morrison in a game, he was giving up a 72-yard touchdown pass to the Patriots’ Kyle Williams or losing sight of Bills receiver Tyrell Shavers as Josh Allen connected with him on a scramble drill in the end zone for a 43-yard score.
Morrison has been recovering from a lingering hamstring injury that has kept him out of the past four games.
But with McCollum placed on injured reserve Monday, Morrison and rookie Jacob Parrish will be counted on to play the cornerback position opposite Jamel Dean.
“It’s a huge opportunity, but at the end of the day it’s just football,” Morrison said. “I’m not going all into the logistics and things. I mean, we just had a walk-through Monday. I’m just wishing the best luck for Zyon. I mean, I’ve been in his shoes. My whole focus is to make sure he’s good and being the best teammate I can be for him.”
On the whole, Morrison actually has played pretty well this season.
In the Bucs’ Week 4 loss to the Eagles, he allowed only one catch for nine yards on four targets and broke up a pass intended for A.J. Brown.
Through Week 9, Morrison had been targeted 18 times, allowing nine catches for 129 yards and a touchdown, according to Pro Football Focus. At the time, his 50% catch rate was second among the top 13 rookie defensive backs with at least 100 coverage snaps.
Overall, the Bucs pass defense has not been very good, to say the least. It ranks 31 in passing yards allowed, ahead of only the Cowboys. Teams are completing 66.8% of their passes, the seventh-highest percentage in the league.
Their lack of consistent pressure on the quarterback certainly has been a factor. Outside linebacker Yaya Diaby still leads the team in sacks with six.
Because Morrison plays best in a man-to-man scheme, the Bucs have struggled at times when they play zone. Couple that with the fact that both Morrison and Parrish could see significant playing time at cornerback against the Panthers.
“It’s a matter of them getting over the rookie slump,” Bowles said. “It’s a long season. It’s probably twice as long as college, and then still maturing and realizing that everybody is going to play injured and hurt, and you’ve got to be mentally tough throughout. I think most of them have done that.”
Morrison said he’s not thinking about how critical the next three games are, with two against the Panthers sandwiched around a game at Miami next week.
“I’m taking them one at a time,” he said. “All I’m thinking about right now is Carolina. I don’t even know who we’re playing the second week or the third week, so just focus on the one we have in front of us.”
The Bucs sure don’t want to look behind them, having lost five of their past six, including defeats to the Saints and Falcons over a five-day span last week.
“Obviously, we want to get back out there and just get that taste out of our mouths,” Morrison said. “But at the end of the day, we can dwell on it a little bit and give ourselves time to kind of reflect within, figure out what we can do from an individual standpoint, and now we come together as a team. Now we go from there.”
Dean recalled his rookie year, when he was pressed into service during a 2019 game at Seattle and allowed three touchdown passes.
What can Morrison do to bounce back from some of the big plays he’s allowed this season?
“I just tell them, man, just go out there and play your game,” Dean said. “You got the skill set, because they drafted you in the second round. It’s just a game we’ve been playing since we were a kid. You just keep playing. It’s not like your first time ever experiencing it.”
Up next
at Panthers, 1 Sunday TV/radio: Fox; 97.9-FM Line/OU: Bucs by 3; 45 ½
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