"Jeff, man, you know how this Favre dance goes by now. I love the guy, and I love you, too."

Expect the New York papers to ignite the rumor mill in a matter of days. It makes too much sense, right? Brett Favre is coming to Tampa Bay for the 2009 season.

Favre’s New York teammates are blasting him, reports ESPN.com, including 1300-yard rusher Thomas Jones. And the Jets have no coach; Eric Mangini, who named his infant son for Favre, was fired Monday.

Jon Gruden is probably begging Bruce Allen to pick up the phone and call the Jets to ask if Favre is available for a fifth-round pick. After all, Gruden loves quarterbacks, and Jeff Garcia’s a free agent. Heck, Chucky, seemed happy and ready to have both of them on the Bucs roster last summer.

Maybe the Bucs offer a conditional draft pick, much like the Jets did when they traded with Green Bay for Favre.

If Chucky stays on as coach, there’s every reason in the world to believe the Bucs will go after Favre — early and relentlessly — similar to how Gruden blames injuries for his teams’ struggles.

Monte Kiffin hired his new D-Line coach at the University of Tennessee only three days after the Bucs walked off the field in disgrace. Joe is sickened by the likelihood of Monte recruiting the guy while the Bucs' defense was imploding in December.

How did Monte Kiffin hire a hotly recruited defensive coach less than three days after the Bucs season-ending collapse without actively recruiting the guy during the Bucs season?

Circumstantial evidence is mounting that could reveal the ex-Bucs defensive coordinator was distracted during his final weeks with the Bucs, after announcing in early December he was leaving the team to coach at the University of Tennessee.

Local sports radio talking heads and print scribes have buzzed over the past week with speculation that the Bucs defense may have quit on Kiffin. For the record, Joe thinks that’s ridiculous. And Joe is far more troubled that the Bucs’ defense likely played its absolute best against the Raiders to send Kiffin off with a performance worthy of his stellar tenure in Tampa.

But Kiffin’s swift actions this week, along with his son Lane’s, the UT head coach, could lead one to believe that Monte Kiffin devoted time to Tennessee business while working for the Bucs.

On Wednesday, Lane Kiffin hired two NFL assistant coaches to join the UT staff: Ed Orgeron, the Saints’ defensive line coach, and Jim Chaney, the Rams’ tight end coach. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that father and son Kiffin interviewed Orgeron on Wednesday and he committed that day. Many thought Orgeron was headed to Louisiana State University.

“I’m so excited,” Orgeron, 47, told ESPN. “I get to coach with Monte (Kiffin) and I’m getting to recruit again. It’s pedal to the metal, and I can’t wait to get up there.”

What is disturbing to Joe in this article is the description of how close Orgeron was to leaving for LSU, and how quickly he committed to Tennessee.

It’s difficult to believe Monte Kiffin wasn’t actively involved in recruiting Orgeron, his new D-line coach and UT’s recruiting coordinator. It’s also hard to imagine didn’t devote time to planning a staff with Lane Kiffin before the Bucs final game in Tampa, given how quickly Orgeron was hired. He was hired Wednesday morning, less than three days after the final whistle blew in Tampa.

“Lane and Monte took a jet to Destin,” Bobby Hebert, a former Saints quarterback and lifelong friend of Orgeron, told Gannett Louisiana. “They were all freaking out at Tennessee after they thought he was going to LSU, and they just stepped it up. I’m not sure what Ed will be making at Tennessee, but it will be more than he would’ve made at LSU.”

Orgeron, who coached with Lane Kiffin at Southern California from 2001-04, is expected to make $650,000 annually, making him one of the highest paid assistants in the country, according to ESPN. Orgeron was making approximately $500,000 with the Saints and LSU was offering around $600,000.

“Ed also favored working with Monte Kiffin over John Chavis,” Hebert told Gannett Louisiana.

Count Joe among the many fans sickened that the Bucs’ players’ performance in December slightly tarnished Monte Kiffin’s reputation. Joe is even more sickened by the thought that Kiffin may have been distracted by his new job and not given the Bucs 100 percent of his attention.

It seems that Monte Kiffin’s successor at defensive coordinator, 32-year-old Raheem Morris, will begin his Rooney Rule tour in Denver on Monday.

Rick Stroud, of the St. Petersburg Times broke the story today reporting the Broncos have asked permission to interview Morris for their head coaching job and he will meet with Denver owner Pat Bowlen on Monday. Longtime Broncos coach and general manager Mike Shanahan was fired this week. (Kudos to the Times, as the Denver newspapers have yet to report Morris will interview).

On Wednesday, The Rocky Mountain News reported Morris was among young coaches to watch, when it comes to longshot head coaching candidates.

Two NFL general managers who were asked Tuesday to name an up-and-coming defensive assistant who might be ready for a move up mentioned Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive backs coach Raheem Morris as someone that both had “on the radar.”

Morris is a respected young coach but has never held a coordinator position in the NFL. How he could be considered a legitimate head coaching candidate – let alone for a storied franchise like Denver – is hard to understand.

Even boy genius Jon Gruden, who was 34 when he was named Oakland Raiders coach, had been an offensive coordinator with the Eagles before landing his first head coaching job.

Joe believes Morris is a Rooney Rule candidate for Denver. The 5-year-old Rooney Rule requires NFL teams to interview minority candidates for a head coaching vacancy, with a few exceptions. Morris is African-American. Morris is a fabulous young coaching talent who, right now, is not qualified to be a head coach in the NFL.

Joe hates all of the race-based, equal opportunity hiring processes across the United States. It would be nice to one day live in a world in which people were judged solely by what they can offer.

Let’s all toss out a huge high-five to JoeBucsFan.com analyst Bob Fox.

Fox tracked the NFC playoff drive over the past two months and nailed playoff picks that were hardly popular.

Among the highlights, Fox wrote the Eagles would make the playoffs when most considered them left for dead following their tie with the Bengals. Fox also wrote the Vikings would lose at home in Week 16 to Atlanta yet bounce back to knock off the Giants in Week 17 and win the NFC North. 

Look for more playoff picks this weekend from Fox and the rest of the JoeBucsFan.com staff.

Joe would like to wish all JoeBucsFan.com readers a Happy New Year, and may the days, weeks and months to come bring health and prosperity to all.

Just because the Bucs season is over, Joe is NOT done for the year. Hardly!

Joe will have posts daily through the offseason. You can count on JoeBucsFan.com for loads of offseason news, commentary and analysis. Joe will break down the 2009 draft in detail, and Joe has  plans in the works to deliver draft coverage unmatched by local media.

Also, Joe will report on all the Super Bowl happenings in the Tampa Bay area leading up to the game.  

As JoeBucsFans.com readers have already noticed, JoeBoltsFan.com will debut later this month.

In the busy final month of 2008, Joe procrastinated on offering thanks to a number of people.

Joe appeared on various sports radio shows, including The Ron and Ian Show, on 620 AM, The Sports Animal, the Blitz with Justin Pawlowski, as well as the dean of Tampa sports radio, “The Big Dog,” Steve Duemig. Among other topics, Joe spoke on WDAE about the active civil law suit that involves former Bucs Anthony Davis and Michael Bennett. The case is pending and, of course, Joe will keep readers informed of the twists and turns of the case. No one else in the Tampa Bay MSM is.

Thanks Ron, Justin and Steve!

Additionally, Joe was on with J.P. Petersen and his producer “Big Papi,” Dave Ortiz during the “Happy Hour with J.P.” show heard on WQYK-AM 1010. Many thanks again to J.P. and Dave!

BSPN has an interesting piece on how Bucs running back Warrick Dunn recently confronted the murderers of his mother, who was killed when he was in high school.

One of the pieces of human debris actually had the unmitigated gall to say to Dunn’s face how he was innocent. The switch can’t be pulled quick enough on that dirtbag.

Joe has no shame in saying how animals like that do not deserve to be sucking our oxygen.