Back for his weekly trip to the end zone of the NFL universe, popular sports radio personality Adam Schein travels through football space and time outs. Check out what Schein says about the Bucs this week. Consider yourself sucked in to the latest episode of Cosmic Schein!

One thing the Bucs’ organization does have left to play for this season would be national perception heading into next year.

Why should fans give a crap about that? Well, that’s what TV networks obsess about to determine the 2012 slate of televised games.

The allegedly upstart, surging Bucs got two precious home night games this season. Not coincidentally, those games sold out. Without a turnaround of biblical proportions through the final three games of this season, the nationally irrelevant Bucs are going to be shut out of primetime in 2012. That likely means a full slate of blackouts and more fan apathy out of the gate.

Don’t think that would happen? Back when Chucky patrolled the sidelines, the NFL punished the Bucs and their 5-11 record in 2004 and scheduled the 2005 Bucs with a full slate of 1 o’clock home games.

This year, the Bucs sold the “home” game in England to fans, in part, explaining the excitement and importance of showcasing the Bucs before a bigger-than-usual TV audience that the England game would pull. Joe’s had face-to-face conversations with high-ranking Bucs officials, and it’s clear they crave getting the team broad exposure. So Joe wonders how that could affect Team Glazer’s decision-making when it comes to a decision on Raheem Morris. Hiring a big-name coach, for example, could be enough to get the Bucs a primetime game or two next season, even if they don’t win another game this season.

As for the Bucs’ actual schedule in 2012, Tim Tebow and the Broncos are on the docket and might be the Bucs’ best hope of a night game. With the many billions the networks are shelling out now annually to air games, Joe suspects the Broncos will get more night games than any team in NFL history.

Joe has been a Bucs fan ever since watching Doug Williams and Jimmie Giles and Batman Wood from his boyhood home amid the Illinois cornfields.

Though Joe has only been a resident of the Tampa Bay area since the 1990’s, Joe has never, ever, seen anything in this area like the current state of the Bucs and the outrage of the Bucs fanbase.

Since the seal-clubbing at the hands of the Jags (on a short week for the Jags no less), yes, the same Jags that were alley-beaten last night by the Falcons like they were some Division I-AA team, the unrest among Bucs fans has risen each day that embattled Bucs coach Raheem Morris remains in power.

Turn on local sports radio shows and it is a non-stop din of wailing from Bucs fans — if not the hosts themselves — who seem to be one step away from storming One Buc Palace in rebellion and who refuse to buy a ticket next year if Morris is retained.

Joe suspects that if Dallass jumps out to a big lead Saturday night, after Bucs fans have had all day to lubricate themselves, it could be the ugliest scene ever witnessed at the football stadium on Dale Mabry Highway.

Seemingly, each day a new ugly rumor surfaces, whether it is a perceived leak from the inside that Morris covets troubled cornerback Aqib Talib too much, to a crazy story that Morris would have been jettisoned Monday if the Bucs had enough coaches on staff to take over his duties.

Interestingly, all the while Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik has been strangely quiet. Yes, Dominik is still around, Joe saw him with his own eyes prior to the beat down by Carolina.

Tampa Tribune humorist Martin Fennelly has noticed this too. He believes Dominik is laying low for one of two reasons if not both: he’s distancing himself from Morris, or Dominik himself, despite just signing a four-year contract extension, is concerned about his own job security.

You can almost feel the separation right now between the coach and GM, friends or no. It’s nothing new. I mean, does anyone recall Rich McKay resigning over Tony Dungy’s dismissal?

Yes, the Talib thing always worried us. It’s the smoking gun in so many ways, because it spoke to Raheem having favorites, or double standards. It was cool at 10-6, but it was always lurking, always.

I’ll bet Dominik thought and worried about that, too. But a lot of the decisions he was in on, team building that he was behind, have also conspired against Raheem and in their own way have helped doom the head coach.

Let’s not get carried away. Doom the head coach? Was Morris doomed when the Bucs jumped out to a 4-2 record this season with wins over NFC South rivals New Orleans and Atlanta? Was Morris doomed when the Bucs won 10 games last year?

Did Dominik conspire to knife Morris in the back when Dominik helped sign/acquire/secure a franchise quarterback, a veteran offensive line with two Pro Bowlers among the ranks, one of the better tight ends in the game and a running back who averages over four yards a carry?

How exactly is it Dominik’s fault that the offense has been a trainwreck these last seven games and could only muster 14 points against the putrid Jags?

How did Dominik undercut Morris when he drafted a pair of solid rookie defensive ends, one of which has already been the best defensive end the Bucs have had in years?

Now if one wants to finger Dominik for the signing of Quincy Black, that’s fair if not accurate. No question that was a deal gone very wrong (except for Black’s portfolio, or course).

But the fact that Dominik is laying low does have the appearance that the front office is letting Morris twist in the wind while each day Morris has to answer questions about alleged clashes he has had with the administration or answer questions about his job status.

Sometimes, silence is deafening.

Listening to Ronde Barber’s one-hour chat this week on the Buccaneers Radio Network, Joe couldn’t help but think that Barber is a lot more of a vocal leader than fans are often led to believe.

Barber shared how stepped forward to counsel Blount following his costly fumbles against the lowly Jaguars on Sunday.

“Fundamentally strong players know how to protect the football. It’s just Football 101. I remember when I was telling LeGarrette, actually, because he was really down after the game saying, ‘my fault. my fault.’ All this stuff. I was like, ‘Hey man. My brother went through the same deal. There was a two-year stretch there where he led the NFL in fumbles, you know. And he was a dynamic runner, he was exciting to watch. He was half [the Giants’] offense it seemed like. But he couldn’t hold on to the football, man. And he made it a priority one offseason and he didn’t fumble after that. You know, he made it a priority.’

“We all know how [Tiki Barber] changed his running style. And he changed the way he carried the ball. He changed the way how he protected the ball — because it was important to him. And if we’re going to go forward and get better as a football team, all of us need to learn how to protect the football better. And that from Josh [Freeman] all the way down to the last guy on defense who may or may not ever touch a football.”

Barber also shared other mentoring examples. Interestingly, Tuesday night during The Donald Penn Show, Penn was asked about Barber’s leadership and Penn said Barber leads by example, making it clear that Barber isn’t very vocal. Of course, it could be that Barber picks his spots and isn’t one to mingle with the offensive line in that way.

Regardless, Joe found Barber’s message to Blount interesting, and one can only hope Barber can orchestrate an offseason ball-security lesson or two for Blount by his twin brother.

Word is Tiki isn’t too busy these day.

The glorious NFL Network, in advance of its nationally televised game between Dallass and the Bucs Saturday night in prime time, decided to turn its klieg lights on the Bucs and in particular, embattled Bucs coach Raheem Morris.

With the John Clayton rumors of Morris’ near-demise Monday buzzing across Tampa Bay, Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times offered his takes to the NFL Network on what is wrong with the Bucs, and more.

Stroud stated that Morris is “grasping at straws” and that the team has not been the same since it left for London with a 4-2 record. He also uttered the headline quote above and explained.

Also, Stroud notes that despite an ugly seven-game losing streak including a curb-stomping by Carolina and a seal-clubbing at the hands of the woeful Jags, Morris still has a chance to save his job.

Raheem Morris calls the chatter for his head and critcism of his team “gray matter.”

Well, reports of the head coach’s near beheading on Monday just made it to NFL.com. That’s some painful, prominent gray matter.

In addition to BSPN’s John Clayton’s skewering report that Raheem would have been fired Monday if the Bucs had enough coaches left after his ousting, NFL.com and NFL Network insider Jason LaCanfora is now guaging the temeperature of Raheem’s hot seat.

NFL Network insider Jason La Canfora reported that Morris is under review and in danger of being fired. He will have to win at least one game to have a chance to retain his job, according to league sources, who said that coaching staff changes in the mail regardless, particularly on the offensive side.

Joe wonders whether there will be a response about these reports from One Buc Palace  (No, Joe hasn’t asked for one.) One might classify the silence as more gray matter for Raheem.

Ronde Barber speaks out

Bucs icon Ronde Barber stood tall defending his head coach and friend Raheem Morris on Monday night, offering a firm salute to the Raheem way and the head coach’s leadership.

Speaking on the Buccaneers Radio Network, Barber scoffed at the swirling criticism of the head coach and that players at One Buc Palace aren’t committed to Raheem and his core beliefs.

“That’s completely, that’s an outsider trying to indict somebody on the inside type of mentality,” Barber said. “You know, Raheem’s the kind of guy that players on this team, really, are the kind of guys that will do anything that Raheem asks them to do. And they’ve done it. He’s made subtle changes. He’s done little things and tried to create an air of discipline in our locker room. And guys have been alright with it. They all understand what’s going on.

“There’s no disconnect between the players and our coaches. That’s completely shortsighted and just the wrong argument. There’s other reasons for us losing football games. It has nothing to do with how our head coach coaches this football team. You know, I’d love to sit here and throw them out at you, but it would sound like a bunch of excuses and explanations, and that’s just not what we do. What we do best is exactly what Raheem talks about, ‘Deal with it. Move on. Next opportunity up, which is this week against Dallas, and try to find a way to win that game. I love that attitude. And I think guys in the locker room, you know, respect that attitude.”

Joe admires Barber’s commitment and surely his knowledge and experience can’t be questioned. That written, Joe wanted to bang his head against the wall when Barber said Raheem “tried to create an air of discipline in our locker room.” What the hell does that mean? Tried? Telling choice of verbs to be sure.

As for players doing what Raheem asks them to do, Raheem himself has said his message isn’t getting through and the team hasn’t responded.

Again, Joe admires Barber’s loyalty and respects his observations and experience, but Joe’s not seeing the proof of what he’s talking about. If Joe’s wrong, the Bucs are going to play some inspired football over these last few games.

BSPN's John Clayton has had some curious things to say about embattled Bucs coach Raheem Morris lately.

Now Joe is aware that embattled Bucs coach Raheem Morris is still in the head coaching chair at One Buc Palace, and as far as anyone knows, he could still be at the helm when OTAs roll around next spring.

So it may be jumping the gun to predict who will next coach the Bucs because there is no vacancy. That hasn’t stopped “The Professor,” John Clayton of BSPN. In a question-and-answer format on the four-letter’s website, Clayton believes the next Bucs coach will be an offensive coach.

Q: Regarding the Bucs, I’m wondering about their coaching situation. Raheem Morris has one year left on his contract. He needs assistants to fix the defense but no one will come for a one-year stint with a lame-duck coach. So what should the Bucs do?

Eric in Paris

A: The way it’s going, I don’t know whether Morris will make it to the end of the regular season. The team looks lost. I think the Buccaneers will look for an offensive coach, then try to fix the defense with a veteran coordinator. I’m wondering whether former Green Bay Packers coach Mike Sherman would be in the mix. The next coach in Tampa needs to be a disciplinarian. Because the Bucs have a great, young quarterback (Josh Freeman), it would be nice to have an offensive-minded head coach.

Not sure how many people noticed this last night, but Clayton, while appearing on BSPN’s “The Insiders,” suggested Morris was going to be fired Monday but was spared the guillotine because without a head coach and a defensive coordinator, the Bucs wouldn’t have enough coaches.

With the Bucs seemingly imploding from within, with the wolves at the door of One Buc Place, drooling, wanting red meat and that meat is the carcass of Bucs coach Raheem Morris, the embattled Bucs leader knows at least one person has his back.

Joe’s good friend Justin Pawlowski of WDAE-AM 620 fired off a missive on his Facebook page from One Buc Palace today where Bucs tight end Kellen Winslow came out swinging in defense of the only Bucs coach he has known.

Bucs TE Kellen Winslow said today that losing Raheem would “ruin the Buccaneers.”

Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune had more to offer from Winslow.

“Rah is the heart and soul of this team. If something were to happen to him our hearts (would) be broken. We’re playing for him.”

Winslow reiterated a point many of his teammates made in recent weeks, saying the problems such as turnovers and penalties that have plagued the Bucs this season “are not (Morris’) fault.”

Winslow’s a veteran and he should know as much as anyone that the NFL stands for “Not for long” if you are not winning, and the Bucs aren’t just not winning, but are getting chain-whipped by garbage teams.

If the Bucs were just losing close games to decent teams, that’s a different story. But getting rolled up on for 41 points by a putrid team that hasn’t scored more than 20 points in the previous 12 games is a perfect way to have your head coach jettisoned at season’s end.

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The Bucs are losing. The Bucs are out of the playoff hunt. Shouldn’t the Bucs be playing for the future and intensely looking at their youngest players to see what they’ve got, especially in positions where starters are underperforming?

Former Bucs defensive end Steve White (1996-2001) thinks that absolutely should be the case, so he detailed with Derek “Old School” Fournier on Two-Hand Touch on WQYK-AM 1010 last night. You can listen to the whole show here.

Here’s a tough-talk snippet on the Bucs’ safeties.

“You gotta see what your younger safeties can do. Sean Jones, hey, we gotta see if there’s somebody better than him on our roster right now. Because if there’s not, we’re still going to need to find an upgrade for that guy, in my opinion,” White said. “And I love Tanard Jackson as a bawl hawk, but this guy has got to re-learn how to tackle. I wouldn’t be opposed to having him share time, too, until he gets some fire in his belly again to start wrapping people up. And he used to be a very good tackler. But now, most of the time, when he’s going for the big hits, he’s not even attempting to wrap guys up. And he’s a guy who kind of has escaped a lot of criticism around here. But week in and week out he’s missing a lot of tackles.

“And then, of course, the big play he gives up [in Jacksonville] trying to jump a short route in Cover 3, you just can’t do that in that situation when we hadn’t given [Jacksonville] anything all this time and then you let Mercedes Lewis run them almost all the way down to the goal line because you tried to be greedy.”

White’s most scathing review of the show came for Kregg Lumpkin. “There’s nothing about the guy that says he deserves scrimmage reps on any NFL team,” White said.

Joe’s all for emptying the bench in the appropriate spots. However, that’s a lot tougher reality to implement when there’s a seven-game losing streak in place and the head coach is battling to retain his job. Joe can’t blame Raheem Morris for playing the guys he thinks give him the best chance at a W.

Joe’s loyal readers know he’s no fan of anonymous sources and rumors. Why if Joe were, Joe could fill these pages with all the dirt he has heard and seen. (Perhaps Joe will write a book one day when he hangs up his keyboard.)

That brings Joe to NFL writer Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports, who seemingly last checked in with the Bucs when he was hot on the trail of Aqib Talib and assured his readers that his trusted sources knew Talib would be suspended four games to start this season, punishment for allegedly shooting at a fleeing criminal in Texas.

Of course, the suspension never happened. But that hasn’t made Cole check out of the rumor business.

Last night he served up “a team source” telling him that rockstar general manager Mark Dominik wanted to cut Aqib Talib before the 2011 season but Raheem Morris talked him out of it during the lockout. And Cole found a mystery Bucs player to all but say Talib is a cancer.

“Wrong message,” a Bucs player said this week. “Raheem believes he can get through to anybody and he can, to an extent. Guys do listen to him. But sometimes they have to see that you’re going to back it up … [Talib] is a huge talent, but you have to know there are certain guys who are impossible to get through to.”

Again, Joe wouldn’t bet on Cole being accurate. This is the same Bucs management that gave Tanard Jackson an early contract extention and embraced, and asked fans to embrace, Jerramy Stevens. Plus they signed Albert Haynesworth. They’re very much about giving guys lots of chances. But it’s hardly a stretch to think that Morris lobbied hard to the higher-ups for Talib as the team considered the cornerback’s future this past offseason.

As for a potential double-standard of discipline for Talib, Joe really doesn’t find this to be a big deal. Surely it didn’t stop the Bucs from tackling and hustling and executing in 2010. Joe suspects nearly all the Bucs have witnessed preferential treatment on previous teams. That’s life. You deal with it.

Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik is embroiled in a clash of cultures with the fantasy football crowd.

As Joe wrote earlier this week, he has never, ever, seen the Bucs fanbase this united since Chucky hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy aloft in victory.

The problem is, the fanbase is seemingly united almost to a disturbing level in donating funds to embattled Bucs coach Raheem Morris for a one-way bus ticket out of town for Christmas.

Never has Joe heard a fanbase howl in unison, or write angrily on this very site, that if Morris returns as Bucs coach next year, given the tailspin that has crashed the team to Earth, said fans will not step foot into the stadium on Dale Mabry Highway, nor buy tickets.

It’s brutal out there, folks.

But just because Morris may be jettisoned by Team Glazer, that doesn’t mean Team Glazer nor Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik are throwing the towel in on their philosophy of building through the draft, so Woody Cummings writes in a Bucs TBO Q&A.

Q: We can put some of the blame on our coach and his staff not getting the players to play at a higher level. But I think the real blame is our owners who has show no commitment in building a winning team like they did in the pass. Not many coaches can win very many games with the level of talent on our team. The sad thing is it will take years to build this team.

Chris Pearson, Tampa

A: You’re right about one thing. It usually does take several years to build a winner the way the Bucs are going about it. I disagree about the owners, though. When the Glazers took over this team they rebuilt it the same way they are building it now – through the draft. When that team was ready to win they signed a couple of notable free agents and traded for a player or two and won a Super Bowl. My guess is they’ll do the same as soon as this team is ready to win. It’s just not there yet. In a year or two, maybe, but not now.

– Woody Cummings

The concept of building through the draft is one Joe applauds. The sad thing is, we live in a fantasy football/Madden/instant-gratification culture. This mentality of fire everyone, throw everyone in jail, castrate everyone  — NOW! — goes against the very grain of building through the draft.

It’s a clash of cultures, sort of like domestic beer-guzzling Joe at a polo match with the snotty wine crowd talking about their portfolios and their trips to the south of France.

The analogy is not unlike the quesiton of whether one should slow-cook and smoke ribs in the backyard that takes all weekend, or run to the nearest rib shack and be done with it?

At this point, the piece of meat being roasted over open coals is the hide of Morris by the Bucs populace.

It looks like Aqib Talib won’t be dancing, vibing and pumping up his teammates on the sidelines on Saturday night.

Injured Talib returned to practice today with his bum hamstring and Raheem Morris was impressed, with high hopes for Talib’s return to the field.

“He actually went out and did a lot. He went through a full battery of practice,” Raheem said.

Before popping his hamstring a few plays into the Bucs-Carolina game, Talib had played his best two games of the season.

It would be quite a shot in the arm for the Bucs to have Talib back on the field. They’ll need at least a few big plays on defense to be competitive Saturday against Dallas.

Speaking on Primetime on WHBO-AM 1040 yesterday, St. Pete Times Bucs beat writer Stephen Holder shared the vibe he got inside the Bucs locker room after Sunday’s sledgehammering by the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars.

He didn’t paint a pretty picture.

“That was one of the more dreadful locker room experiences I’ve had, ” Holder said. “I think they were shell shocked. I got the sense that guys were stunned, just as you were stunned watching it, they were stunned, you know. I think that was kind of what happened I think.

As that unfolded as it did [Sunday] in such quick fashion, I don’t think they reacted. They just kind of were shell shocked and were stunned and didn’t do anything about it. And so that’s what happens, it just kind of snowballed. Unless somebody decides to do something about it, that’s the kind of momentum you just can’t turn around unless you really fight back.”

For Joe, the saddest part about Sunday’s results were that the Bucs had halftime to regroup, shake off the demons, and get inspired by their leaders and coaches. But after that they still went out and got beating by the Jaguars 13-0 in the second half. Even two days later it’s hard to fathom.

When asked about Raheem Morris’ future Holder offered various takes, which you can hear by clicking through the link above. But in short, Holder’s not offering a case for Raheem.

“It’s difficult to make any kind of defense for Raheem Morris right now,” Holder said.

Last year Josh Freeman put up gaudy numbers that made Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik look like a genius. Freeman, in just his first full season as the Bucs signal-caller, became the comeback kid with his fourth quarter rallies and his eye-popping touchdown-to-interception radio.

But this season Freeman has crashed landed into the depths of Trent Dilfer-like numbers if not worse, harrowing as that is. Freeman leads the NFL in interceptions, more than Rex Grossman and Tavaris Jackson of all people, if you can imagine such a thing.

This had led Tampa Tribune humorist Martin Fennelly to wonder if Freeman really is the answer at quarterback for the Bucs.

It’s impossible to not give Josh Freeman high marks for toughness after Sunday in Jacksonville. But there’s no way around it being one of the worst losses in recent Bucs history, and his fingerprints were all over it along with his bad shoulder print.

So, where does he stand?

We’re at the point, near the end of his second full NFL season, when we’re beginning to wonder if this is the learning curve or a step back. It looks like the latter.

Joe would suggest both.

Look, this season is a lost season and the best thing to come out of it will be the Bucs’ first round draft pick in April (Mo Claiborne, please.) But Joe will take you to the not-so-way-back-machine.

Several times Joe noted that it’s very possible that thanks to the asinine lockout, coaches had little to do but study video, both of college prospects and of NFL foes. Joe is quite certain opposing defensive coordinators pored over video of Freeman and Mike Williams and Arrelious Benn to scheme ways to not just throw them off but shut them down.

The Bucs troika simply hasn’t been able to adjust yet.

The reigning Major League Baseball Manager of the Year, Merlot Joe Maddon, is a close friend of Raheem Morris.

The two head coaches have professed their love of each other publicly many times, and Joe even got to witness some of it as Joe was invited into Maddon’s 2011 birthday party in a cozy St. Pete Times luxury box.

Raheem has even gone so far as to call the unflappably positive Maddon a trusted mentor. Watching Raheem at his news grilling yesterday, Joe instantly thought Raheem looked very Maddonesque in the face of turmoil. No F-bombs this week. (Joe swears, Maddon could have a 10 yungry pit bulls charging him and would stay the course on whatever path he was on, completely confident the dogs would bypass him).

Ironically, Maddon was a guest on The Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620 yesterday and chimed in on Raheem and the Bucs. Maddon was preaching patience and revealed he was talking lockout excuse challenges with Raheem very recently.

“You’re talking about a young team, man. Young teams makes mistakes. I remember in 2006 and 2007 with the Rays, the Devil Rays at that time, it was no fun, man. But eventually you have a chance to flip the culture and then good things begin to happen. I mean, I hope people again don’t rush to judgement right here,” Maddon said.

“I even mentioned this to Rah the other night. The fact that the spring training was so short this year, or not even hardly existed at all the offseason program, that’s when a lot of your disciplinary or discipline kind of stuff comes into play, where you’re able to go over these kind of things and then here comes the preseason and you get a lot of this stuff in play. But when you’ve got young players that don’t have this time element that they need, you can see how some of the problems may occur. But listen I’m a big Rah fan. I’m here to tell you, man, this guy’s a great guy. And I know how hard he works, and he’s very, very bright.”

Joe appreciates Maddon’s take, and the lack of an offseason surely hurt the Bucs. However, Joe sees teams with new head coaches, new coordinators and new quarterbacks that have had great success, or at least have their teams now, in Week 15, heading in the right direction.

The Bucs, though, have been heading in the wrong direction for nearly half a season, something Maddon never experienced en route to a World Series in his third year managing the Rays.

Before Joe gets into this, Joe must reiterate what he has in years past, that Raheem Morris shows a lot of manhood to step on live radio for his weekly primetime coach’s show and take calls from fans each week. Few NFL coaches have the stomach for it.

Father Dungy did, even doing live remotes at local bars. Jon Gruden wanted no part of fans.

Sure, the Buccaneers Radio Network heavily screens callers, but it’s still tough duty and tough questions make it through.

A loving caller yesterday on WDAE-AM 620 asked Raheem about reaching his players so they’ll play to their potential. Raheem responded saying Bucs fans have a lot to look forward to and gave his team a new adjective, which added to the team’s special vocabularly.

Fan caller: … How do you motivate your team this week to come out and play 100 percent tough, physical, cerebral and matchup against Dallas and bring pride back to the Tampa Bay community? … I support you fully and I believe in you and I believe in our team. I just think we’re underachiveing and if we can just reach our players and make them come out to play physical, play tough, play up to their potential, I think we can give Dallas all they can handle. What say you coach?

Raheem Morris: I have to agree with you. You know, I don’t want to make Dallas out to be this monster that they’re not. They’re a good football team but they don’t [instill] any fear [in] my guys. So when you go play guys like this and go play teams that are good football teams, you want to go play them. And it’s about the motivation, and playing physical and being cerebral, and being tough, like you mentioned.

You know, our fans got a lot to look forward to. We’ve got a bunch of young guys that are angry, that are upset, and, you know, I guess you can call us yangry right now, you know, because we’re not in a position that we want to be in. So we gotta go take it out on somebody. It just so happens that Dallas is up next.

Later in The Raheem Morris Show, the head coach used the “yangry” term again.

Joe’s going to hold Raheem to the comment that Bucs fans “got a lot to look forward to.” Obviously, Raheem believes the Bucs can turn things around in a hurry and excite fans. Great. Let’s see it, coach.

It’s like two different universes for Joe, the 2010 Bucs that lost a playoff-bid tiebreaker to the Packers, the eventual Super Bowl champions, and this season’s Bucs, which are abysmal.

Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports also can’t believe what the Bucs have become. But Silver is of the mind that Team Glazer is not “delusional,” therefore, embattled Bucs coach Raheem Morris will return for the 2012 season in his “Two Things I Cannot Comprehend.”

How the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, after a promising 2010 campaign, could get so atrocious, so fast. On Sunday the Bucs (4-9) had a 14-point lead against the Jaguars – and proceeded to give up 41 consecutive points to a terrible team that hadn’t scored more than 20 in a game all season. The first 28 of those points came during a seven-minute, 32-second flurry in the second quarter that featured four Bucs turnovers (they had seven for the day). Tampa Bay has now lost seven consecutive games, and the future of third-year coach Raheem Morris is very much in doubt. Morris has one year remaining on his contract after this season, meaning the franchise will likely extend or fire him, rather than letting him stay as a potential lame duck. I’m inclined to give Morris the benefit of the doubt given the impressive job he did in 2010 and the fact that the team’s owners, the Glazer brothers, have been among the league’s least-aggressive spenders the past several seasons. As of last month the Bucs were reportedly $25.1 million under the salary cap after having spent even less in 2010, an uncapped year because of the impending expiration of the collective bargaining agreement. Still, after efforts (or lack thereof) like Sunday’s, it will be tough to sell Morris’ return to an understandably mystified fan base. The Bucs look listless, aimless and anything but precise, a somewhat shocking development after the way young quarterback Josh Freeman’s leadership skills and late-game magic nearly pushed this team into the playoffs a year ago. Morris needs to have his team ready to play next Saturday against the Cowboys in Tampa and in season-closing road games at Carolina and Atlanta. The Glazers may be cheap – at least, as of late – but they’re not delusional.

To be honest, Joe doesn’t know what to guess at what Team Glazer will do with Morris.

As Joe told Child of Bucky, Preston Rudie of WTSP-TV yesterday, as many of Joe’s readers watched on Channel 10, prior to the Carolina game Joe was confident Morris would return. After the Carolina game Joe was not as confident. After the seal-clubbing at Jacksonville, Joe is even less confident of Morris’ return.

When Joe was a youngster, his kindergarten teacher taught him what letters of the alphabet are important.

In his Monday afternoon press conference today, Bucs coach Raheem Morris emphasized what letters are important to him.

“The only criticism I care about comes from people with names that end with G… the next, his name has to end with a D,” Morris said per Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.

In short, Morris responded to a question asking about the mounting firestorm that has hit the Tampa Bay area with the masses surrounding One Buc Palace with lit torches demanding Team Glazer jettison Morris in the midst of a grotesque seven-game tailspin, and counting.

Morris shrugged off the mobs with the long knives and his (alleged) soon demise, saying it is not writers and bloggers who sign his checks or critique his coaching, it is those with the G’s (Joel and Bryan Glazer) and D’s (Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik).

“None of that stuff matters,” Morris said. “We have to prepare to beat the Dallas Cowboys (this week), and we’re not going into the Dallas Cowboys game not to get fired. We’re going into the game to win, period.”

While Morris is correct, on face value, the NFL is not high school in that the masses in the long run very much do have a say, and that is ticket sales and luxury box sales and ad revenue from various sponsorships.

For a company willing to drop six figures or more on a product, that price plummets if said product is not popular with the masses.

The one way to calm down the mobs is for the Bucs to win. That hasn’t happened in this woebegone season since October and Christmas is a handful of days away.

So it comes back to the letter G as in G’s, in other words, bunches of Benjamins.

Rick Stroud: Just because a little adversity strikes, I don’t understand why, you know, why that team couldn’t right itself, stop the bleeding sort of speak. I think that the most alarming thing … . It amazes me. I’m sitting here thinking these guys were 4-2, having beaten New Orleans and Atlanta with essentially the same team. You lose Gerald McCoy and Cody Grimm; you replace one with Tanard Jackson. It doesn’t make sense that they’re performing at such a low level. Unfortunately, there’s going to be changes made.

Dan Sileo: Rick, why are you afraid to use the word, ‘They quit? (yes, Joe knows that’s two words)

Stroud: I don’t think they quit. I don’t think they have any character, Dan. I mean, I think they’re out there competing, but I think what you find out about your football team is not in good times. You know, everbody’s a winner in good times. You know, you’re 10-6, you know, there’s lots of love to go around. It’s when adversity strikes. And it’s in a season and in a game. And they haven’t been able to respond to it …

You can hear all of Stroud’s interview here.

Joe has no explanation for the Bucs’ lack of resiliency and their emotional weakness. It was the exact opposite last season when the Bucs displayed loads of character and were comeback kids thriving in late-game adversity.

Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger believes Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik should absorb his share of blame for how the Bucs season has deteriorated into the abyss.

The wolves are foaming at the mouth and are surrounding One Buc Palace.

Sharks are in the water with the scent of blood thick as they circle One Buc Palace like a boat adrift off the coast of North Carolina.

Joe has never, ever seen the Bucs fan base this irate, this outraged at a Bucs head coach. It’s bad.

Sure, there was a good chunk — maybe half, maybe a bit more — who clamored for Father Dungy to hang it up after a second consecutive no-touchdown performance against the Eagles in the playoffs.

Sure, there were some Bucs fans — mainly the Dungyphiles — who disliked Chucky and wanted him gone.

But at neither time did the vast majority of Bucs fans become hysterical and want a coach fired STAT as the Bucs fandom is with Morris.

Joe vividly remembers how the late great Chris Thomas, the Great GOB himself, used to preach how there was little “unity in the community.” The only time he saw unity was when the Bucs won the Super Bowl.

Well Chris, there is unity in the community again and not in a good way this time. It’s getting ugly out there.

But don’t count dapper Rick Brown among the angry masses. The Bucs beat writer for the Lakeland Ledger saw the debacle in Jacksonville yesterday first-hand and is firm in the belief that firing Morris would be unfair.

Rather, Brown is of the mind that the torches and pitchforks should be used on Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik and not Morris.

And yes, it was easy to fall for the Kool-Aid when Morris said his team’s goal was to win the division. Heck, that’s every team’s goal. But it wasn’t a reality. This team was just too young and when adversity hit, it had too few leaders to snap the squad out of it.

That is on the general manager, who a year earlier said this would be deepest free agent class but the only move he made was to acquire a punter.

Knowing how he knew how deep the free agent market was makes me believe he didn’t have any option.

While Joe is a firm believer that building through the draft is the way to build a powerhouse — too many instances throughout NFL history to think that philosophy is hogwash — Joe is starting to warm to the belief that the lack more veterans was damning to the Bucs and may have Pearl Harbored Dominik’s good works before seeing the fruit of his labor blossom.

There is ample evidence by Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks of how much Hardy Nickerson helped them grow. Joe knows many Bucs fans would rather have punched Barrett Ruud than to see him wearing the Bucs uniform again, but you don’t think that porous linebacker corps could have used his 100+ tackles, even if they were seven yards downfield? At least he was making tackles.

Look at the impact Ruud has made on rookie Colin McCarthy. Ruud personally took McCarthy under his wing and coached him up.

Who was Mason Foster supposed to lean on for help, Quincy Black? Heaven help us all.

Even Da’Quan Bowers told Joe two weeks ago how much Albert Haynesworth has helped in his development and before Haynesworth came to Tampa Bay, not one person on the face of the Earth would ever have dared to suggest such a thing.

Joe gets that Dominik emulates the Packers and the Steelers and how those teams stay at arm’s length from free agents and build through the draft. And those teams have rookies that step in and play solid football right away each year.

The thing is, the Packers and Steelers have many vets to help those rookies out.

The Bucs really don’t.

"How bout them Chiefs, Olie"

The proud Hunt family, owners of the historic Kansas City Chiefs, fired head coach Todd Haley today.

In what sure are eery coincidences, Haley was a first-time head coach in his third season, coming off a 10-6 season in 2010 that followed a 3-13 campaign in 2009. Sound familiar?

Haley also was a top Coach of the Year candidate in 2010 and had his 2011 team at 5-8. Sound familiar?

As part of the brief official Chiefs statement, team CEO Clark Hunt said of his team, “We have not made meaningful progress.”

Joe thought that quote had a nice ring to it. Perhaps Team Glazer might want to snag that one-liner in case they need it one day.