The new starter?

So if Doug Martin is healthy on Thursday, will he return as Tampa Bay’s starting running back?

Listening to Lovie Smith on his radio show tonight, one might not think so. (more…)

Gerald McCoy has a broken hand. Joe knows this because McCoy talked about it last night.

Lovie Smith didn’t call McCoy’s hand broken this afternoon and hinted McCoy could play Thursday night in Atlanta. (more…)

It was a litany of chaos at the Bucs game yesterday, the loss to third-string never-been quarterback Austin Davis. The immortal Austin Davis.

Joe is sure fans were so upset by the second half, beer wasn’t enough and they began foraging for hard liquor. Understandable. (more…)

When Lovie Smith was hired, during the first couple of months when asked his Buccaneers roster, he often would add the qualifier, “But we are a 4-12 team,” as if to say the roster needs a serious upgrade.

The Bucs had a massive purge of players, namely on offense; they drafted nothing but offense. Bucs fans, thinking Lovie possessed a magic wand and that he drafted just offensive players, thought a turnaround and a new day of offensive football at the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway was here. (more…)

An ESPN celebrity had a disturbing Tweet

Joe shook his head, literally, when he read the Twitter. But Joe understood how Bucs fans feel. After Lovie Smith waved the white flag yesterday, Bucs fans are throwing in the towel on the season.

Don’t believe Joe? Take the Twitter message from Mel Kiper of BSPN. The NFL draft guru stated fans of a particular team on Florida’s west coast suddenly have a keen interest in the 2015 draft. (more…)

Joe disagrees with a former Buccaneer

Joe’s a big fan of former Bucs tight end Anthony Becht, who’s a busy man working for ESPN and the Buccaneers Radio Network, but Joe had to disagree with Becht this morning.

Speaking on WDAE-AM 620, Becht drew a line in the sand stating it’s outlandish to think Bucs coaches lost confidence Josh McCown yesterday. (more…)

Bucs corner Alterraun Verner weighs in

A couple of low-grade quarterbacks have racked up impressive numbers and two wins against the Bucs defense.

Bucs Pro Bowl cornerback Alterraun Verner, who was very sound yesterday against the Rams, knows what that means. (more…)

The numbers are clear; trust in Josh McCown was lacking.

Last week, Josh McCown was making junior varsity quarterback decisions against the Panthers and the Bucs paid dearly.

Yesterday, he made another one, perhaps the worst QB blunder of the season on 1st-and-goal. And guess what happened next? (more…)

With Michael Johnson nursing his ankle and Adrian Clayborn out for the year with a blown bicep, the Bucs rolled out William Gholston and Da’Quan Bowers as their starting defensive ends yesterday — and the results were predictable. (more…)

Lambs third-string slug quarterback Austin Davis warms up before he slices up the Bucs Sunday.

A long look at the Bucs yesterday, today, and what to expect tomorrow and beyond.

It is some 12 hours after the kick-in-the-groin loss the Bucs dropped to the St. Louis Lambs. A team that is just about as one-dimensional as they get. A team led by a third string quarterback. A team led by a quarterback who was making his first NFL start.

You gotta be s(p)itting me!?

Yes, Joe knows the Tampa Bay defense has been ravaged by injuries. The Bucs are beat up worse than a rented mule and the regular season is but nine days old. Even Dashon Goldson told Joe that it was difficult for the Bucs to find film to work with in preparing for Davis… BECAUSE HE HAD SO FEW SNAPS! (more…)

Humor Joe and take the names off the backs of the Bucs quarterbacks jerseys for a minute.

The veteran, No. 12, is a 35-year-old who has never started a full and successful NFL season. And he’s making dumb mistakes leading his 0-2 football team.

On the bench is a 24-year-old QB who Tampa Bay bosses insist is the “quarterback of the future.” (more…)

Joe’s not much of a TV guy, but Joe’s always happy to work with WTSP-TV, Ch. 10 sports anchor Chris Fischer.

Joe (one of the Joe’s) left the sad postgame locker room and got on the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway field after Sunday’s heinous loss to the Rams to talk all things Bucs.

Enjoy.

Right before the half, I didn’t want to put more points on the board. I didn’t feel like we could, only thing that could happen was something bad then.– Lovie Smith on why he didn’t run a play with 11 seconds left in the first half from the Buccaneers’ 40 yard line, despite multiple timeouts available. (more…)

Lovie Smith’s special teams coach and guru Kevin O’Dea has work to do

It was ugly out there today on special teams for the Bucs, one of the worst special teams performances in the post-Chucky era.

First, Major Wright choked and whiffed big time on a punt block of Michael Koenen. Joe’s got the video evidence. (more…)

Bucs LT Anthony Collins was so enraged about tonight’s loss, he was overcome with emotion in the locker room.

Joe came away impressed with one thing and one thing only tonight after the Bucs suffered a hammer-to-the-nads loss to a never-been third string quarterback and the Lambs.

For as PO’ed as you, you diehard Bucs fans are right now, and rightfully so, so too is left tackle Anthony Collins.

First off, Collins has lived up to high expectations. In two games for the Bucs, he had gone up against Greg Hardy and Robert Quinn, two of the best the NFL has to offer.

(more…)

It sure seems like the stench of the Buccaneers’ preseason is now a flowery fragrance.

Yes, the Tampa Bay offensive line isn’t the problem any longer. They even looked a tiny bit better than average today. (more…)

Man, Joe doesn’t know if he is angry, depressed or mournful over today’s kick-in-the-nuts loss to a never-been third string quarterback and a Cowardly Lion approach to scoring.

Look, the Bucs had a massive height advantage with their Dunkaneers receivers over the puny Lambs cornerbacks, yet for some reason on third downs, the Bucs would rather try to run sweeps at Robert Quinn. (more…)

Joe always thought playing on the road for Thursday Night Football is overblown in that coaches will often tell you there is not enough time to prepare.

The Bucs showed that is a wive’s tale two years ago when they traveled to Minnesota for a Thursday night match-up with the Vikings and just about blew the baggy roof off its foundation, boat-racing the Vikings. (more…)

It’s official, Gerald McCoy’s hand is broken and his return is unknown.

McCoy is frustrated. (more…)