Private Texas time with Josh McCown made a difference

You hear athletes talk about it often: “The Zone,” a dreamy area where they seem suspended in time, where they can do no wrong. Mike Evans visited the zone Sunday. The Bucs star rookie wide receiver had 209 yards and two touchdowns in the win over the Redskins.

Evans, a former stud high school basketball player who came to football later than most, said he felt like a modern version of Steve Alford last Sunday, a guy who cannot miss. (more…)

It’s always ironic when a potential Hall of Fame coach (Mike Tomlin) cuts a guy and a surefire Hall of Fame coach (Bill Belicheat) signs the same guy in a matter of hours.

So goes the life of LeGarrette Blount, the man former rockstar general manager Mark Dominik and Greg Schiano booted from the Bucs for Jeff Demps and a seventh-round pick. (more…)

There’s disagreement in Chicago from a former Bucs coach

Yesterday, despite various questions at his press conference, Lovie Smith did his best to downplay his Sunday return to chilly Chicago. The Bears just happen to be the team that fired the Bucs head coach not quite two years ago for the nerve to have 10 wins.

Lovie tried to explain Sunday’s game is about the Bucs getting on a winning streak and has nothing to do with him. In theory, Lovie is right. (more…)

Josh McCown is busy behind the scenes

Time off with a bad thumb — and waiting to see if Mike Glennon would be the quarterback of the present after being named quarterback of the future — was great for Josh McCown.

McCown jumped on SiriusXM NFL Radio this week and explained. (more…)

At first it was jarring to hear. But research proved it correct. Bears linebacker Lance Briggs, who was close to Lovie Smith when the current Bucs coach led the Bears, noted in a teleconference call with the local pen and mic club yesterday that Lovie was the third-best coach in Bears history.

Briggs was spot-on. (more…)

Mason Foster fans should be troubled

Who knows Tampa-2 linebacker play better than Bucs icon Derrick Brooks?

Nobody.

So Joe perked up when Brooks offered firm evaluation of the Bucs linebackers yesterday. (more…)

Jacquies Smith

Until recently, it was a flat out embarrassment how the Bucs could not get heat on a quarterback.

Tampa Bay spent so many draft picks and so much Team Glazer money in the past five years trying to find a heavy pass rush, only to be foiled at every try, sans drafting Gerald McCoy. Joe thought this team was cursed, almost resigned to a fact it just wasn’t going to have a pass rush and should proceed accordingly. (more…)

Lovie Smith did, in fact, say football doesn’t really begin until November.

So maybe what made Joe cringe during yesterday’s news conference should have been more expected. (more…)

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

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

He joins two other wounded Bucs

The thought of a gimpy Lavonte David is enough to send Joe for a rare Wednesday night beer run. (more…)

Bears coach Marc Trestman thinks the Bucs have recovered from the loss of offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford.

Joe has written repeatedly that when Bucs offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford left the team due to health issues in August, it was the equivalent of tossing a hand grenade into a china shop.

The Bucs offense, all the work that was put in since January, through minicamps and OTAs and training camp, was blown up and left in the hands of someone (Marcus Arroyo) who, through no fault of his own, was terribly over his head. (more…)

Is Josh McCown laughing at Dave Wannstedt?

The message inside the walls of One Buc Palace sure seems clear: the Bucs are driving now to win the NFC South — even if former Bears head coach and Tampa Bay special teams coach Dave Wannstedt says there’s no way Lovie Smith believes that. (more…)

Photo courtesy of Tampa Bay Buccaneers

It’s official!

The photo is just in case you case you forgot Mike Evans’ gem from rookie minicamp. (more…)

What a difference a decisive win makes.

“Simple as that,” as Lovie Smith likes to say.

Zogby-like polling of JoeBucsFan.com readers yesterday saw a shift in various opinion analytics on the head coach. (more…)

Bears linebacker Lance Briggs and his then-coach Lovie Smith in happier times.

For nine years Lovie Smith was the coach of the Bears. He did much more good on the icy shores of Lake Michigan than he did bad.

Lovie was but one of two Bears coaches to lead the historic franchise to a Super Bowl. Even in the season that eventually got him fired, 2012, Lovie finished 10-6. (more…)

Have the Bucs found a coaching gem? A prominent Buccaneer thinks so.

Joe is stunned that many Bucs fans believe Lovie Smith already has decided to use a premium 2015 draft pick on a quarterback, and hire a new offensive coordinator for next season.

On the contrary, Joe thinks Lovie would rejoice at the chance to bring back Josh McCown and acting offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo. (more…)

Jacquies Smith brings down Redskins QB Robert Griffin III. (Photo courtesy of Tampa Bay Buccaneers.)

Bucs defensive end Jacquies Smith is quite a story. Signed by Tampa Bay just after the first game of the season, it marked his fifth stop through the NFL and CFL in three years, and his first time on a 53-man, NFL roster.

All of a sudden, Smith has become a bright spot in a unit that has been miserable. (more…)

So what Buccaneers did Josh McCown reference as big-time team leaders yesterday on his radio show? (more…)

Bears fans are just about fed up with bratty Jay Cutler.

If one didn’t know any better, it was as if Josh Freeman came out of his Salmon Rushdie cave and took over the Bears offense the way the Monsters of the Midway have imploded.

Of course, the main target of Bears fans is the erratic play of bratty Jay Cutler. The Bears quarterback always seems to be copping an attitude of some sort. That’s cool when things are going well, not when you are being outplayed by Josh McCown. (more…)

A Chicago Tribune columnist tried to frame Bears GM Phil Emery as some sort of Judas Iscariot who plotted to overthrow former Bears coach Lovie Smith.

It wasn’t that long ago — a handful of hours — when Bucs fans, per Joe’s unscientific poll, were not all that confident about former Bears coach and current Bucs coach Lovie Smith.

Lovie, you may recall, had a basement in suburban Chicago where he hatched his plan to lift the Bucs out of the cellar of the NFL. So far, not much has gone right. (more…)

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

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

It was time for the popular “JoeBucsFan Hour” this evening with the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig of WDAE-AM 620.

All kinds of topics were on the table. (more…)