nERD: 12.39
Record: 4-12, 4th in NFC South

There are definitely a few head coaches who never really got a fair shake in the NFL, who just got put on the wrong team at the wrong time. Raheem Morris, who replaced Super Bowl-winning head coach Jon Gruden on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2009, feels like one of those hires. In 2011, though, Morris was coming off of a 10-6 season and looking to build on that momentum.

Just one year after a solid 10th-place ranking in Adjusted Offensive Mike Williams, and he ranked 41st at his position in Total NEP this year.

The offense was a mess, relying on the ever-declining Josh Freeman at quarterback, whose -0.05 Total NEP per play that year ranked 28th out of the 34 qualifying quarterbacks. LeGarrette Blount hadn’t yet figured out how to run through defenders, and his -0.08 Total NEP per play was 58th out of the 63 qualifying running backs. It was a bad year.

The defense slipped, too, dropping from 23rd in the league to dead last in Adjusted Defensive NEP per play this year; their 0.12 rate in this metric ranks eighth-worst of all teams over the past 15 years. They gave up the most yards per play and most points in the NFL that year. In a final shovel of dirt on the season’s grave, the rival Atlanta Falcons leapt out to a 42-7 lead by halftime of Week 17, and Morris found a pink slip on his desk the next day.