The Bucs are 2-0, one of just eight teams still undefeated.

Last year, the Bucs were so horrid, it was a real possibility that they could go winless. Joe himself braced for it.

The Tampa Bay sports voice of reason, Joe Henderson of the Tampa Tribune, believes the Bucs are light years better than last year. He takes a quick, brave look at the Bucs at this point last season to illustrate just how much better things are for the Pewter Pirates.

The Bucs lost 33-20 to a lousy Bills team and fell to 0-2 under rookie head coach Raheem Morris. Being winless was bad, but they way they got there was worse.

The Bucs trailed 17-0 after one quarter. They allowed five touchdown passes of 32 yards or longer in the season’s first two games and were about to change quarterbacks from Byron Leftwich to Josh Johnson. That wouldn’t be the last major personnel move of the season, either.

I honestly wondered whether they’d win a game. Well, they won three. Big whoop. No wonder expectations outside One Buc were for more of the same this season.

The first and perhaps the most important thing Bucs coach Raheem Morris did last year was to bail on the heinous Jim Bates Experiment. It was one of the absolute worst square peg/round hole stunts in recent NFL memory for Joe.

Just telling Bates to go eat at Boston Market while the Bucs practiced was an improvement beyond words.