Detained by overzealous ICE authorities for not carrying proper documents and worked over by underhanded FBI agents as if he was a common terrorist, Santa Claus has been delayed while on his annual rounds delivering presents tonight. Dragged off to CTU, Claus now faces an unwelcome if not unexpected visit from the notorious Jack Bauer.

Though Gerald McCoy came close, Rams quarterback Sam Bradford was not sacked yesterday, snapping a 30-game streak in which Bradford was sacked.

Yes, Joe knows the Bucs’ pass defense is a sieve like few teams have ever had in NFL history. It turns Joe’s stomach sometimes just watching what passes as pass defense.

Of course, the secondary has been getting scant help from the defensive front line. Ever since Adrian Clayborn got hurt, Gerald McCoy has been getting double- and triple-teamed.

Michael Bennett has been getting decent pressure but not Sunday. And Da’Quan Bowers still isn’t playing 100 percent.

It was bad enough Josh Freeman threw four picks Sunday, a nasty little habit he has developed. To add to the misery, the Bucs helped the Rams break a streak of 30 games in which Rams quarterback Sam Bradford was put on the ground, writes Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Entering the game, Rams quarterback Sam Bradford had been sacked in 30 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the NFL. But it ended Sunday.

He wasn’t sacked, even though the Rams were minus arguably their best offensive lineman in right guard Harvey Dahl, who’s out for the year because of a torn biceps. The offensive linemen discussed ending the streak through last week.

“It was something that we wanted to do for him — see how we could win a game with him being totally upright the whole time,” left tackle Rodger Saffold said. “And it worked. So maybe we should do it more often.”

If the Bucs’ pass defense is going to improve next year, the Bucs must get a better pass rush. This is perplexing to Joe, the Bucs have so much money already tied up on the defensive line, but the results aren’t what Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik had hoped for.

If there is a bright spot to Freeman’s struggles, it is every time he has a bad game, that means Michael Bennett’s chances of re-upping with the Bucs improves.

“You see this, Mark? They never would have understood that in July.”

In what was a somewhat random comment this afternoon, the leader of the New Schiano Order praised the football IQ of his team.

They’re “umpteen times more football smart than they were five months ago,” Schiano said.

Joe was pleased to hear that, but it’s also a bit scary. If the players are so wise and savvy, then what’s going wrong?

Is it coaching? Is it confidence? These smart Bucs are quite healthy by December NFL standards, so it can’t be that.

The leader of the New Schiano Order said suspended Eric Wright will rejoin the Bucs in preparation for Sunday’s season finale in Atlanta.

Speaking to media this afternoon, Greg Schiano said he was confident Wright would be in good aerobic condition but his “football shape” was unclear.

Bucs players were given the day off today and return to the practice field Wednesday. Wright was strugging with an Achilles injury before serving his four-game suspension for substance abuse, allegedly for Adderral.

Wright has Twittered out pictures of himself training in recent days, and he advised fans of his much needed spa and dining weekend while the Bucs were getting clobbered in New Orleans.

After leading the Bucs in rushing last week against the Saints, LeGarrette Blount didn’t get a carry yesterday. But he did march onto the field in the first half and promptly missed a block  on Rams safety Quintin Mikell.

That led to Josh Freeman getting clobbered from his blind side and a fumble. (See photo)

Blount stayed in the game and made a good block on the next play and wasn’t heard from again.

Whiffing on blocks on your quarterback’s blind side can’t happen, but Joe still views Blount as an unused weapon.

It’ll be interesting to see what kind of restricted free agent tender the Bucs slap on Blount when the season’s over. Clearly, the New Schiano Order doesn’t believe the NFL is a two-back league, so Joe can’t see a reason why the organization wouldn’t want Blount back next season. He’s an inexpensive luxury to warm the bench.

Joe has a difficult time believing just weeks ago, the Bucs were riding high with six wins in 10 games, on the cusp of a playoff push.

The last five weeks, the Bucs sunk deeper and deeper in the pool to the point they are circling the drain. This happens when your quarterback of the future seems to be auditioning to become the quarterback of past.

This is not lost on Tampa Tribune humorist Martin Fennelly, who sees a dire team that wandered off the field at the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway after losing to the Rams yesterday.

See any growth lately?

I don’t.

Despite nearing the end of his fourth season, quarterback Josh Freeman is dissolving before our very eyes. He had an incredibly deceiving 372 yards passing yards on Sunday. He also threw four more interceptions, for eight in two weeks, or as many as he had in his first 13 games this season.

His head is full of mush. Maybe the Bucs should lock him up with a contract while the price is right. How does five years, $100,000 a year sound? Suddenly, No. 5 is a project again, the priority worry.

What is a rock star general manager Mark Dominik supposed to do? Here he and the team’s brass thought they had their quarterback for the next decade.

Do they? Surely doubt has crept into the minds of the movers and shakers at One Buc Palace.

Joe knows it is Christmastime but Freeman played like he was Santa Claus at All Children’s Hospital with all the gifts he gave to the Rams (same amount he gave to the Saints the previous week).

For a no-tolerance-for-turnovers kinda guy like Bucs coach Greg Schiano, these must be trying times.

Greg Schiano quit on the first half with three timeouts in his pocket and 24 seconds left, trailing 14-6 with a 2nd-and-3 on the Bucs’ 27 yard line yesterday.

The leader of the New Schiano Order, who claimed last week that his team needs to learn how to win, threw in the towel on a chance to drive for a score. Yes, this is the same head coach who blows up offensive linemen on a kneel-down play because his team’s allegedly will always fight to the finish. Yes, this is the same head coach who repeatedly claims he’s got an outstanding field goal kicker.

So what did your team learn from quitting on the first half, Coach Schiano?

Joe learned that the head coach has no confidence in his quarterback to make a couple of plays with timeouts to burn. Every other team in the NFC South in that situation takes another shot or two. But Schiano looked at his franchise quarterback and his win-now, high-paid offense and decided to run for the locker room serenaded by a chorus of boos.

Joe could do without that kind of “culture change.”

How fitting it was that the Rams scored a back-breaking touchdown on the next play from scrimmage.

Look, Joe knows Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman has few friends this Christmas Eve after throwing eight picks in the past two games and melting down more and more each week right when the Bucs needed him most.

Joe had a chance to walk on the field of the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway just as the final seconds were ticking off to the ugly loss to the Rams. There were two images that struck Joe the most.

1) Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik looked like a beaten man. Normally affable and walking with a smile if not perfect posture, Dominik walked to the Bucs locker room slumped over, head down as if he had just been put through a wringer.

2) Fans’ reaction to Freeman: There were untold dozens of fans in the stands as the game ended. Unlike last year at this time when the crowd was livid if not vile at the entire Bucs team. This was different. When various Bucs players walked off the field, fans clapped for them, asked for an autograph, a towel, a wristband, et al. But when Freeman appeared, that mood quickly switched to hostile, angry. Joe heard someone yell “Freeman!” and a loud chorus of boos erupted along with fans shouting all sorts of foul things to the Bucs quarterback. It was stunning to Joe.

This town, by and large, has turned on Freeman in just a handful of days and turned on him big time.

But while Dominik looked drained and Freeman was mercilessly heckled, this is the perfect time for those two to come together in their moment of need.

Yes, this is the perfect opportunity to sign Freeman to an extention.

Right now the Bucs have massive leverage on Freeman the way he has folded in recent weeks. Currently, he has little bargaining power with Dominik.

The Bucs’ front office leader could try to re-up Freeman to a very team-friendly contract, loaded with incentive-based clauses, where if Freeman cannot turn the corner, the Bucs could wash their hands of him with limited financial repercussions.

If Freeman is able to right his ship, with a heavily-laced incentive-based contract, he makes out good and positions himself for a massive pay increase in, say, 2015, and the Bucs get to keep their quarterback.

It buys both parties time. It’s a win-win.

Joe knows Dominik doesn’t want to let Freeman walk. He is linked to Freeman as that was his first — and primary — draft pick.

It’s the smart thing to do for the Bucs, both short-term and perhaps long-term. Re-sign Freeman in the coming weeks.

Yes, Joe knows many fans couldn’t make it to the game today against the Rams, and yes, Joe knows the game was blacked out. Joe also is aware there are many who refuse to watch the illegal, pirated feeds of the games because they are rife with malware and viruses.

So here is the answer to that. NFL.com, for a limited time, offers Bucs games that are blacked out free at midnight the night of the game. Here is the link to watch.

The only trick is, your IP address has to match a location within the Tampa TV market. So, for example, if your IP address shows up in, say, Oklahoma, you are out of luck. You will have to pay for the service.

Caution: The free broadcast is not available during Monday Night Football and is available free only for a scant couple of days.

Mired in a losing streak as the season nears an end, the Bucs remind veteran sports columnist Gary Shelton of the trainwreck in 2011. Shelton offers his thoughts on the loss to the Rams Sunday in this Tampa Bay Times video.

Here are quotes from key figures in the Bucs loss to the Rams Sunday courtesy of the media relations staffs of both the Bucs and the Rams.

QB JOSH FREEMAN

(On the game)
“We’ve been working, working hard. This week was one of our best weeks of preparation; it’s just untimely turnovers in the past couple of weeks. I’m the quarterback, I have to put it on me and find a way to limit those, because when you have a team like us that’s been in a little bit of a rut, you can’t make those mistakes that cost you. Once again, our guys played for 60 minutes, offense and defense, but it just wasn’t quite enough. You talk about those earlier drives where you get in the red zone and go for it on fourth down and don’t get it, those are the ones that if we score two touchdowns, you’re looking at either a tie ballgame or a one-point ballgame with plenty of time left in the fourth quarter. But we didn’t do that. We’re going to have to go back and take a real hard look at ourselves as an offense. Me personally trying to find a way to cut these turnovers out of the game and win.”

(On the loss)
“(I’m) not depressed, just, I’d say, frustrated. As anyone who goes out each week and does everything they can to win (would be). When you lose, it’s frustrating. Like I said, the Rams are a good team, they came in here today, but I like my team. I feel like we can go out, without those turnovers, find a way to win. Even with those turnovers, we still had a few drives in the second half that we could have cut it close, we were just unable to capitalize. No, I’m not depressed by any stretch. Just definitely frustrated.”

(On the past two games)
“Frustrating, they really have been. That’s all you can say. The Saints game and then this game, not really the brand of football I expect to play. Two games (where) you feel great, you feel prepared going into, and a few things don’t go your way and you find yourself on the wrong end of the win-loss column.”

ST. LOUIS RAMS
HEAD COACH JEFF FISHER

(On the win)
“Well, it’s huge for us. We talked about, earlier this week, taking one of two approaches: one – we’ve won three out of our last four or, we just lost to Minnesota. So this team, now, I think, is taking the approach that we’ve won four out of our last five and we’re not perfect, but they are playing hard. They’re having fun and, fortunately, we got great effort out of the defense today with the turnovers, and a turnover for a touchdown. To come out of the blocks like we did, to start the third quarter with the one play for a touchdown pass, was huge. All in all, with the sacks and the fourth-down stops and the turnovers, that was, obviously, the difference in the ball game. We ran the ball very well when we were managing the game, and at the end, (it was) difficult to run against them. They’re first in the league in run defense; we knew it’d be difficult to run. We managed the clock. Great, great coverage and (that) was a great part of that job. Overall, all three phases contributed.”

(On the Lance Kendricks touchdown reception)
“It was a play-action pass. We’re trying to pull the guard, the linebackers bit and the safeties were deep. Lance had a good takeoff (and) it was a good throw-and-catch.”

(On Janoris Jenkins’ chances for Defensive Rookie of the Year)
“There are a lot of good players out there. We’ll let his peers vote on that, but he’s really been playing well as of late. It was a good catch and a good return (today). He’s been tackling well.”

(On the season)
“Well, we’re going to play hard. We’re going to finish up strong and go up to Seattle. It’ll give us a chance to finish out on a winning note and a chance to be undefeated in the division. I think if we’re able to do that, I’d say we can jump into the offseason with optimism for next year. We got seven wins now and I don’t think many people thought we would do that, but we got a chance to get eight.”

LB JO-LONN DUNBAR

(On forcing multiple turnovers)
“It is definitely a boost. Any time you get turnovers, it’s good for your defense and good for your offense. It creates short fields for the most part, and it’s a momentum changer. We were fortunate enough to create those turnovers and we just have to keep that rolling.”

(On giving up some big plays down the stretch)
“They’re a good team, they’re going to make some plays. They came up with some big plays at a key time to kind of get them back in the game. But, defensively, we bounced back and we were able to make some stops. It was a full team effort. They are a good team, and they’re going to make some plays.”

(On the win)
“It feels great to get back in that win column. We had that bad taste in our mouth for a week now, so it feels good to out here and get back to work and make sure we are focused for next week.”

(On CB Janoris Jenkins)
“He’s a huge playmaker. Any time that ball is up, he has a play to make on the ball. He’s proven that over the course of the season, and I think he’s just going to turn into a great pro if he just keeps working at it and stays humble.”

LB JAMES LAURINAITIS

(On playing well defensively)
“Our coaches do a phenomenal job of getting us prepared. We felt like we had a good bead on these guys going into this game and what they were trying to do. They had some tells, so we have to credit the coaches and then credit the guys for studying hard.”

(On giving up a few big plays)
“We just had some miscommunication, that’s all it is. You can’t let those big plays happen, but it’s football, it happens from time to time. You have to move on to the next play, but I’m proud of the way our guys buckled down on those fourth-down plays deep in the red zone. We gave up more yards then we should have, but I couldn’t care less as long as we get the ‘W.’”

TE LANCE KENDRICKS

(On his touchdown reception)
“After I caught it, I looked (and) nobody was over there so I just took off running. I noticed that they were catching up to me, that’s when I started getting tired. I saw Danny (Amendola) coming, I’m like ‘Okay, when Danny comes, you stop, take a step back and try to go around him.’ That’s what I ended up doing.”

(On the route he ran on his touchdown play)
“It was just a seam route up the middle. We had I think Danny (Amendola) and Chris (Givens) on the outside. The safeties know we throw a lot of deep balls to those guys, so the safeties kind of bit on them. I guess they were thinking play-action to Danny or Chris and that left me open down the middle.”

(On St. Louis’ mindset)
“I think of us as a team that can overcome a lot of things, and that’s what we’ve done all year. We would have a bad game and then the next game we would try to really play hard and try to really overcome that loss or whatever. We came out with the mindset of we still have a chance. Whether we make the playoffs or not, we’re coming to play and we’re coming to get better.”

CB JANORIS JENKINS

(On his interception return for a touchdown)
“I got a feel for the ball. I want to thank my front seven for getting pressure on the quarterback first. I just got the ball in my hand and made a play.”

(On taking risks to make plays)
“I’m a DB (defensive back). Everybody’s going to get beat. If I get beat, oh well, but I’m always going to try and come back and get that next play. That’s just something you got to have as a DB in this league, because each and every week you’re going to get thrown at a lot and you just make the best of it.”

(On the difficulty of the game)
“It was a great team on the other end. They played, came out, played hard, fought. We just played overall football better than they did.”

(On having a feel for the ball)
“Every time I touch the ball, I feel like I can get in the end zone. That’s my mentality and I’m going to keep having that mentality.”

S QUINTIN MIKELL

(On CB Janoris Jenkins)
“I’ll tell you what, the guy’s incredible. Not only does he make the interception, but he brings it back for a touchdown. We love to have him. Great to have him on the team and hopefully he’ll get some more next week.”

DE CHRIS LONG

(On the win)
“It’s just about controlling what you can control and today we had a chance to win a football game. We’ve won four out of the last five. We’re just one day at a time, one game at a time. It’s about proving to ourselves every week that we go out to win and we did that today.”

(On CB Janoris Jenkins)
“Some guys make mistakes and don’t make any big plays. So I’ll take the guy that’s scored four touchdowns this year. He’s got a really bright future. He’s done a great job of just being mature and continuing to work at his craft. He’s grown up a lot this year.”

RB STEVEN JACKSON

(On attempting to reach a 1,000-yard rushing season)
“We were hoping that we could knock it out and get it out of the way, but they are a very tough defense; No. 1 against the run. We were very pleased with how we were able to move the ball on the ground as a running offense. They are very stout, very tough to run against, but the offensive line created lanes for me to run through.”

(On the significance of having a winning season with a win next week)
“We have a lot to play for, a winning season, undefeated in the division. It’s something to build off of and go into the offseason feeling happy and strong and make it appealing to free agents as well.”

(On pulling off a tough road win)
“This team is very resilient. Our defense is tenacious. They are going to create turnovers. They are going to get after the passer and they are going to make it tough on the opposing offense. As an offense, it gives us opportunities that we’ve got to take advantage of. A lot of times we weren’t really smooth as an offense, but when we had to make plays we showed up once again.”

The leader of the New Schiano Order offered a rare criticism of Josh Freeman after today’s silencing by the Rams.

Schiano was talking about the highs and lows of Freeman and said his quarterback needs to know more about making the right moves in the Bucs offense.

“I think calculated risk taking is a huge component of quality quarterback play,” Schiano said. “And you need to know, ‘Hey, this is a risk we’re willing to take. This is a risk we’re not.’ And again, I’ll put it on me. Certainly we have to get that communicated better. Because we have to make, and we’ve done it, you know, it’s not, ‘Oh I hope it happens some day.’ It’s already happened. So we’ve got to have it. I keep coming back to this word, consistency. We have to do it. Because there are some plays out there today that are outstanding offensive football plays, but it doesn’t matter when you sprinkle them in with the turnovers.”

As Schiano said, the Bucs and Freeman have “done it” before this season. They’ve had huge days on offense. The preparation and coaching helped get them there, but now it’s as if Freeman has lost it mentally.

Unfortunately, it’s rare, very rare, for a veteran quarterback, which Freeman is after 55 starts, to be able to fix inconsistency.

Yes Josh, Joe feels your pain with those errant lob passes to Mike Williams in the corner of the end zone.

Like Bucs fans who always have to have a player to hate, whether it is Sabby the Goat or Barrett Ruud or Gerald McCoy or E.J. Biggers or Myron Lewis or now, incredibly, Josh Freeman, Joe must have a Bucs play he hates.

This is usually reserved for the world-renown Benn’d Around Play, a play that stunningly reared its ugly head again this year and only vanished from the Bucs playbook when Benn landed on injured reserve.

Well, Joe has a new play to hate. And that’s the lob in the corner of the end zone to Mike Williams.

It failed. Again. Three times by Joe’s count today. Perhaps more.

To execute this play, the quarterback, in this case, Freeman, has to have touch on his passes. Right now, the only touch Freeman has is when men wearing different colored jerseys have their fingers around the ball.

Rather than throwing away precious plays in the red zone, maybe it’s time to try a run with Doug Martin or a pass over the middle to Dallas Clark (who made a sick one-handed catch today), or even something to Vincent Jackson?

Corrupt that Williams play on your iPad, Bucs coaches. Delete it from your hard drives. Purge it from your memory.

Unless or until Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan has Freeman straightened out, that lob pass to Williams in the end zone should be an afterthought.

One reason the Bucs had a prayer of winning this game despite four Josh Freeman interceptions (!) was the play of the defense. In particular, the play of Lavonte David.

It seemed like David, the rookie linebacker from Nebraska who calls the defensive plays, was spying underrated Rams running back Steven Jackson.

That’s a heavy workload. Jackson, who has run for over 1,000 yards each of the last eight years in St. Louis, and who incredibly has yet to play on winning team, was held to 81 yards today, largely due to David.

Sure, Jackson did get off on a 19-yard run, his longest of the afternoon, but he did little else. Oh, Jackson had room to run. There were holes for him to run through on occasion, but those holes quickly evaporated when David, who led the Bucs with nine tackles, came shooting through.

Yes, it may have been the Bucs best defensive effort of the season. A large part of the credit goes to David for all but shutting a stud running back down for the day.

After a strong start to the season, Mason Foster has regressed along with a big handful of his teammates.

Early this season, Joe envisioned Mason Foster eating pineapple in late January.

The second-year linebacker was playing that well, delivering bone-crushing hits, looking reasonably solid in coverage and racking up tackles.

But Foster has really fallen off. Joe has studied Foster a lot lately and Foster clearly looks slower and like less of a downhill force.

It’s almost like the second-year Foster has hit a rookie wall, while Lavonte David has run through it. Foster had four tackles today.

Looking ahead to next season is about the only thing that soothes Joe right now (outside of Rachel Watson in a Santa suit). And thinking about next season and the near certainty that Quincy Black won’t return, Joe has a feeling the Bucs might look to move Foster to the strong side and look for a bigger, more versatile force in the middle.

If Bucs fans think players don’t care that much if they lose so long as the check cashes, then they don’t know Michael Bennett.

The Bucs defensive end was outraged after the Bucs lost their fifth straight game Sunday, this time to the Rams, squandering perhaps the team’s best defensive effort.

Joe had his recorder rolling for part of Bennett’s emotional venting.

“We didn’t win the game. It can’t be the best of the season if we didn’t win the game; we’re here to win the game. That’s all we care about, to win the game. No matter what we did on defense, no matter what we did on offense, we have to win the game. That’s the biggest thing we have to do.

On the Rams 80-yard touchdown pass to open the second quarter:

“It was a breakdown but as a team, those things happen. We have a lot of veterans playing and things happen but you have to keep playing. You can’t let one play define you. We had many opportunities to change the game. But we didn’t step up.

“The coaches who came up with this game plan, it isn’t up to the coaches. People say coaches this and coaches that, it’s not up to the coaches. It’s the players. We have to execute what the coaches do at a high level. This is the NFL so we have to execute on Sundays, not Mondays, not not Wednesdays, not Fridays not Saturdays.

“Maybe we need to score a touchdown?”

How bout those sad Panthers, winners of three straight after smothering Oakland 17-6 today.

Carolina moves to 6-9, tied with the Bucs for third place in the NFC South. New Orleans won in Dallas to move to 7-9, and with a tiebreaker edge on the Bucs, the Bucs have assured themselves a third-place or fourth-place finish.

In addition to likely saving Ron Rivera’s job this month, Carolina entered today’s game with the NFL’s 10th-ranked defense and probably went up a notch after Oakland only managed about 150 yards of offense.

Again, the NFC South has proven itself to be a very tough division top to bottom.

Nothing should get easier for the Bucs next season.

Yet another loss, yet another frustrating outing for Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman.

It was early in the fourth quarter and the game was still in doubt at a two-score margin, 28-13 Rams. The Bucs had a legitimate scoring threat in the making.

The Bucs had driven deep in Rams territory with just over 12 minutes to go and on fourth down at the Rams-7, the Bucs went for broke, needing seven points.

From a shotgun, Freeman checked down to Doug Martin who was well-covered but caught the ball and managed to get three yards, far short of six points.

Why?

 Why in the world are you throwing to a guy who has nearly zero chance of scoring? More important, Joe cannot fathom why a play was called where every blanketty-blank receiver wasn’t in the end zone.

You needed more than a catch, you needed six to stay alive!

No, Freeman shouldn’t have checked down to an option that had minimal chance of scoring. Worse, Freeman was sort of hung out to dry by not having all receivers in a position to score a touchdown with a ball, not tackled short.

The freefall of Josh Freeman is out of control. No Bucs fan can deny it.

Yeah, fans can blame today’s slippery feet of Mike Williams all they want, but Freeman has turned into an inconsistent, turnover machine over the past five games. Speaking on 98.7 FM this morning, former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson talked about how Freeman has revived the “deer-in-the-headlights look” he sported early this season. And today’s debacle against the Rams brought much more of the same.

Fans have been debating for days about whether the Bucs should press on with Freeman as their starting quarterback. But Joe’s not interested fans’ take right now.

Joe wants to know what’s in Greg Schiano’s head.

Schiano is not married to Freeman. And if the head coach, who called himself a “win-now coach” last week, starts to doubt Freeman, then Joe would not be shocked if Schiano looks to make a bold move at the position.

In fact, Schiano said on his radio show this month that things would change significantly if he ever reached the point where he wasn’t confident in Freeman.

Considering what a stickler for ball security Schiano is, Joe can’t imagine that Schiano’s confidence in Freeman isn’t eroding quickly. What that will mean to a “win-now coach” is a mystery?

Ronde Barber and the Bucs defense may have had their best game of the season.

Say what you will about the Bucs today — and Joe believes it is safe to assume fans will have an inordinate amount to say — the Bucs defense came to play.

Saddled with Josh Freeman throwing four picks (for those scoring at home — Joe is jealous — that’s eight interceptions in the last two games for the Bucs’ first pick in the 2009 draft), the defense may have played its best game of the season.

And when the Bucs needed the defense most, it turned in a performance that likely left Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks and John Lynch nodding their heads in approval.

On six consecutive drives in the second half, the Bucs defense forced the Rams to punt.

And the offense didn’t do squat with the opportunities.

Joe knows Freeman will get killed in the comments on this very website and will be crucified on sports radio likely until draft chatter starts heating up in April. Joe just wishes people would also give the defense the props it deserved today.

Yes, the Bucs lost their fifth in a row. You can’t hang that on the defense.

Once upon a time — actually seven afternoons ago — the leader of the New Schiano Order boldly told media, “I’ve been here before” and “I know what to do” about fixing the Bucs’ losing streak.

Well, Coach Schiano, you didn’t know what to do.

Your team didn’t respond.

Your team lost its fifth consecutive game and third straight at home.

Your team was punched in the face by an average Rams club.

Chucky lost four straight in December 2008 and got fired with years remaining on his contract. Raheem Morris failed completely a year ago and got canned.

Joe’s not saying Schiano is on a hot seat, but the Bucs are no longer responding. They’ve taken a huge step backward since halftime in Denver.

Before today’s dump against St. Louis, Rams coach Jeff Fisher told the Buccaneers Radio Network that snapping a losing streak like the Bucs’ is really about preparation during the week, not about performance on Sunday.

Joe suspects Schiano believed the same thing when he said, “I know what to do.” But the problem is Schiano didn’t deliver.

Now what, Coach?

The Bucs have lost five straight.

Josh Freeman is 23-32 as a starter.

The New Schiano Order has lost so much of what it accomplished earlier this season.

Joe doesn’t want to hear the “culture change” chatter and all that Schiano has done. The Bucs are playing dreadful football when it matters most. There’s no home field advantage. There’s little in the tank right now. Opposing coaches have caught up to the Bucs.

On the other side of the football, the Rams and their new regime have won four out of five games playing a lot of young players and not much in their receiving corps. It was immortal tight end Lance Kendricks’ turn to torch the Bucs pass defense and have a career day.

The Rams are yungry. The Bucs are just ugly.