FSU fullback and Bucs legacy James Wilder, Jr. visited his dad’s old team.

Joe’s a little late on this (no, a lot late) but it’s been a busy day away from the bustling JoeBucsFan.com headquarters.

This morning, Florida State all-purpose back James Wilder, Jr. announced on Twitter he was visiting the Bucs. (more…)

Word that the Giants are about to bring sleepy, leaky Josh Freeman in for a workout intrigues Joe because it would mean the former Bucs franchise quarterback likely earned the blessing of highly respected ex-Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan.

Now don’t misinterpret what Joe means by “highly-respected” when it comes to Sullivan. (more…)

The Lovie way will immediately reign in the NFC South, says Willie McGinest and Rod Woodson.

Wow! There were two loud flags planted on planet Lovie yesterday on NFL Network.

Yes, prominent experts have examined the Panthers, Falcons, Bucs and Saints and declared the Buccaneers champions of the NFC South in 2014. (more…)

Why run behind Anthony Collins and a suspect offensive line?

No NFL team pounded the football more without big results than the Cincinnati Bengals did last season. Their former offensive coordinator, Jay Gruden, was committed to the run game like no other.

The Bengals had the eighth-most carries in the NFL but only averaged 3.6 yards per carry, which ranked 27th in the league. That’s almost old school football, and a tip of the cap to a suffocating defense that drove the Bengals to a division title but crumbled in the playoffs. (more…)

Love is alleged to be in the air at One Buc Palace over Johnny Football

After reading the piece linked below last night, Joe almost had to take a cold shower and kept reminding himself that April is the Season of Smoke.

A Houston sports radio host, who just happens to be the son of the assistant offensive line coach on the staff of Bruce Arians with the Arizona Desert Rats, where Bucs general manager Jason Licht worked last year, claims “for a fact” to know the mindset of Lovie Smith and Licht (or both) when it comes to drafting a certain quarterback. (more…)

When the dinner bell rang to start the free agency signing period last month, it took Bucs general manager Jason Licht and coach Lovie Smith all but a few hours to find their man to lead the Bucs offense: Josh McCown.

Many are willing to start digging Mike Glennon’s grave with the Bucs as a result. But in an NFL Network interview that aired last night, Lovie explained the decision to go get McCown came down to two factors: knowledge and numbers. (more…)

The Buccaneers open their 2014 preseason in Jacksonville. And even if the new version of Lovieball and its mysterious offense is squaring up against a Johnny Football-led Jaguars team before a sold out crowd, there’s no way to call that an intriguing matchup.

That’s the order from the Custodian of Canton, the only local Hall of Fame voter, Tampa Tribune writer eye-RAH! Kaufman. (more…)

How a smokescreen helped build a Bucs champion.

Yes, Joe is as guilty as the next person. So-and-so is visiting the Bucs. NFL news!

Hey, Joe is hungry for the beast. And that beast is the draft. The beast got bigger this year because the NFL moved the draft two weeks later to avoid a scheduling conflict collect big paychecks during May TV sweeps month. (more…)

A Super Bowl-winning quarterback offers little love for Johnny Football and his QB classmates

After last year’s pre-draft happy talk about Mike Glennon and Geno Smith, now it’s time for the 2014 edition of Phil Simms’ annual look at quarterbacks in the NFL Draft, via CBSSports.com.

Simms, the former Giants quarterback, is not feeling the love from this year’s giant crop of QBs. And that makes Joe happy on a sunny day with (plummeting?) Johnny Football in town for an intense visit at One Buc Palace. (more…)

This irritates Bucs fans; Joe understands but can’t ignore it. It’s like when the toilet is running. That irritates Joe, too, but he cannot ignore that, either.

On paper, as of April 10, 2014, Joe is uncomfortable with the construction of the Bucs’ offensive line. At best, it is thin as hell. (more…)

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There’s no denying the success of quarterbacks guru and “Cal” reviver Jeff Tedford, the Bucs’ new offensive coordinator, who as Cal head coach brought program from the basement of the Pac-10 to among the elite of college football.

However, Tedford’s success plummeted in 2007. Ask any “Cal” fan and they’ll tell you that after starting 5-0 in 2007, Cal fell off the map and never recovered. Tedford was fired after the 2012 season. (more…)

Get this man some help. Later, though.

The Bucs braintrust, led by Bucs coach Lovie Smith and general manager Jason Licht, have recently told fans (more than once) that a reason the team splurged in free agency is fans don’t deserve to wait any longer for the first playoff win since Chucky hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy going on 12 long years ago.

Now cynics would say this is being pumped out by the team because, well, Team Glazer instructed both L&L they were not hired for a five-year turnaround plan. The future is now, in other words.

(more…)

Was he sick of the Bo Pelini-Greg Schiano way?

With the possible exception of Gerald McCoy, there is not a better Bucs player than linebacker Lavonte David. It is borderline criminal how he doesn’t get awarded NFL honors that lesser linebackers receive. (more…)

The data folks/spreadsheeters at ESPN are always talking about money, and they’ve informed Bucs beat blogger Pat Yasinskas that Tampa Bay remains a whopping eight figures under the 2014 salary cap.

Yes, even after bringing in a stunning, league-leading 19 free agents since Feb. 3, the Bucs have ways to go to meet Lovie Smith’s goal of spending every last nickel available. (more…)

For obsessed fans like Joe, today’s news is fantastic news. Confirmation that a football game is less than four months away will soothe Joe for at least a couple of hours.

As usual, the preseason schedule was issued this afternoon without exact dates and times for all games, only specifying opponents and locations. 

Updated: The Bucs will open the 2014 preseason in Jacksonville, likely Friday, August 6, followed by Miami at home, then a Mike Williams reunion in Buffalo for the always-important third preseason game. Tampa Bay wraps up with Washington at home. That useless final matchup has been a tradition for years.

Specific dates and times will be released later. 

Joe noticed in a few of his comments on this here corner of the Interwebs that the Johnny Football haters of Bucs fandom (Joe will bet the same crowd is also largely inflicted with the Sammy Watkins Fetish) were giggling that the Bucs have yet to invite Johnny Football to One Buc Palace for extensive interviews. (more…)

Joe’s ready to bet his house, dog and Sabby Piscitelli jersey on the Bucs drafting a quarterback next month, but Joe’s money isn’t going toward Aaron Murray, not after Murray failed to name the Bucs as a team pursuing him.

Murray, the former Georgia quarterback and Tampa native, spoke yesterday to Pro Football Talk on NBC Sports Network. (more…)

Until early March, Mike Glennon considered himself the starting quarterback of the Bucs. And why not? He started the last 13 games of the 2013 season after former Bucs starting quarterback, leaky, sleepy Rip Van Freeman, went mental. (more…)

The data is in at NFL.com, and no team has added more players than the Bucs since Feb. 3.

The Buccaneers’ magic number stands at 19. With six 2014 draft picks (for now) and a few targeted undrafted free agents likely to make the team, Lovieball’s opening 53-man roster in Tampa should feature at least 25 new faces. (more…)

The way former Texans and Redskins general manager Charley Casserly is talking, it seems he’d draft Eastern Illinois quarterback Jimmy Garopplo over Johnny Football.

Joe can hardly breathe after hearing such heresy on the WDAE-AM 620 airwaves this morning. (more…)

Bucs GM Jason Licht talks quarterbacks (and other Bucs stuff) with NFL.com.

Joe knows Bucs fans love to talk quarterbacks. Joe does, too. Whether it’s leaky, sleepy Rip Van Freeman or the Mike Glennon Mob or Johnny Football, few things get Bucs fans more worked up.

A guy with a white cane can see the Bucs will very likely be taking a quarterback at some time during the three-day Christmas in May celebration of NFL fans, otherwise known as the NFL draft. (more…)

Bucs fans should not sleep on Penn State WR Allen Robinson.

Joe has made no secret of what positions he believes the Bucs should — and in some cases, pretty sure will — upgrade come next month’s draft, which is 30 days away. Here are the positions: (more…)