Great offensive lines eluded Lovie Smith during his nine head coaching seasons in Chicago.

Heck, so did a top-10 offense.

Joe talked to Lovie about O-line building last week in Phoenix. (more…)

Caution: This post will discuss the Bucs’ offensive line. Read at your own peril. — Joe.

Since Tampa Bay is not in the greatest bargaining position to fill holes on their porous front line, Bucs fans, as usual, see a name they recognize and immediately think said player is an upgrade.

Be careful what you wish for. (more…)

The action starts at 10 a.m.

Yes, Joe is typing this here post from Tallahassee, where Joe will be among the many at Florida State’s indoor football practice facility watching Jameis Winston’s final public display of his talents before he is drafted by the Bucs. (more…)

In what felt like one of those ESPN Sunday Conversation segments without cameras, Joe sat down with Team Glazer at the fabulous Arizona Biltmore resort, during the NFL Owners Meetings last week.

It was a 1-on-1 session with Buccaneers co-chairman Joel Glazer. (more…)

There was an interesting progression of exchanges at the NFL Owners Meetings in Phoenix, where Joe had breakfast with Lovie Smith and other media types last week. (more…)

Lovie Smith weighs in on Luke Stocker.(Photo courtesy of Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

The lone Tampa Bay survivor of the Buccaneers’ 2011 draft, tight end Luke Stocker, represents a great example of Lovie Smith learning about his football team.

Lovie showed up after the MRSA-infected, Josh-Freeman-stained demise of the New Schiano Order and wasn’t quite sure what he had. (more…)

Peter King, lord of theMMQB.com, writes in retrospect, the Bucs got the raw end of the deal that brought G Logan Mankins to town.

Joe is trying not to write about the offensive line for several reasons:

1. We know it stinks.

2. It rankles the Bucs when Joe reminds fans it stinks. (more…)

The star linebacker performer at the NFL Scouting Combine was a guy who played for a dreadful football team at the University of Kansas.

Heck, where Ben Heeney was a tackling machine the past four years, 2-14 may not seem so bad. (more…)

Lovie Smith talks about universal trust in a possible Jameis Winston selection

So who is against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafting Jameis Winston?

Per Lovie Smith, these anti-Winston types are not among the hundreds employed at One Buc Palace. (more…)

“Lovie loves you, my son.”

Joe’s always eager to deliver happy thoughts to the Mike Glennon Mob.

Joe realizes that crowd is on life support. (more…)

The return game, like most of the team, was messy last season.

True, it is hard to find solid position groups when a team finishes 2-14. Special teams for the Bucs was a big reason why. Specifically, the return game.

Yet again, the Bucs went dumpster diving for return guys, and got the expected results. It was a turnstile of ineffective return men. (more…)

The way the Bucs have swung and missed obtaining defensive ends the past decade — and letting the only decent one walk away for no good reason — is bordering on the ridiculous.

It’s almost like the campy “Batman” TV series from the 1960s, when an evil villain appears twice a month to take over Gotham, yet is foiled time and again by Batman and Robin. (more…)

Crab-legs-stealing, BB-gun-shooting, obscenity-hollering, Heisman-Trophy-winning, former national champion Jameis Winston, the pride of Florida State University, continues to look like a much better quarterback prospect than Mike Glennon.

It’s Joe’s daily nugget on the Jameis Watch, celebrating the best quarterback ever to wear No. 5 in the state of Florida.
(more…)

Man, Joe sure will have a great dinner today at Pete & Shorty’s in Clearwater. Check out the menu.

Tuesday won’t reveal any hidden message

Bucs fans are buzzing on Twitter today about Gil Brandt’s report claiming Marcus Mariota will have a private workout with Tampa Bay on Tuesday.

Hey, that’s the same day Jameis Winston will have his pro day at Florida State University. What gives? (more…)

Bucs tackle Kevin Pamphile

Previously, Joe has referred to the Bucs’ 2014 fifth-round draft picks, offensive linemen Kevin Pamphile and Kadeem Edwards, as “milk cartons.”

That’s not kind, and it may be a little unfair. But hey, fans were looking for Pamphile and Edwards — and still are — to show signs of life. (more…)

Lovie Smith talked to Joe

The Bucs seem desperate for a nasty defensive end, after coming up empty in pursuit of Trent Cole and Greg Hardy in free agency.

This year’s draft class allegedly is rich with DEs. So, of course, Joe asked Lovie Smith about it at the NFL Owners Meetings in Phoenix last week. (more…)

For reasons Joe doesn’t quite understand, All-Pro Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers is suddenly making noise because he doesn’t want to uproot his family in the expected San Diego franchise relocation to Lipstick City.

Well, if Rivers is traded, wouldn’t he have to uproot his family anyway? Perhaps to lesser places to live? Los Angeles may not be Shangri-La, but it sure beats living in, say, Chicago. So Joe is dubious of the Bucs ever getting Rivers. (more…)

Change on the way?

Joe believes the Bucs have perhaps one of the deepest stables of running backs in the NFL. And the way running backs get beaten to death, that’s a good thing. (more…)