Joe’s trying to remember a worse day for Josh Freeman, and he can’t, short of the last game of the horrible 2011 season.

Freeman couldn’t find open receivers, couldn’t get rid of the ball, threw too often to receivers who were defended, rarely stretched the field.

When there were open receivers, Freeman couldn’t quite get the ball to the receivers, and in some cases, that’s being polite.

In a play-by-play summary on NFL.com, even professionals in the press box seemed to guess who was covering some Bucs receivers they were so wide open.

As Joe stated earlier, Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan did Freeman no favors today. Here is a guy gifted with wheels. Did SUllivan call for a play for Freeman to roll out, dodge the heat from the Cowboys’ pass pressure and perhaps make a play with his feet? No!

Oh, Mr. Sullivan, you seem like a swell guy, but running Doug Martin up the middle each and every first down is beginning to become tiresome. Just a hunch, but NFL defenses can figure out this pattern too.

Hat tip to Twitter follower @BennyCL for the graphic.

Once a upon a time, Josh Freeman consistently made plays with his legs. He extended plays. He was dangerous, like Tony Romo, Ben Roethlisburger and other quarterbacks that feel the game and deliver the magic that defines an elite quarterback, and Freeman was the No. 2 rushing quarterback in the NFL in 2010.

Nowadays, Freeman looks more like Brian Griese. And Freeman plays like he’s got too much coaching swirling around in his head. It’s as if Freeman’s instincts are in hiding.

Today, Freeman was almost as bad as his offensive coordinator.

There are no more excuses for Freeman.

Decent quarterback play would have won today’s game for the Bucs. It’s not acceptable for a fourth-year quarterback with 40+ starts.

The Bucs are going nowhere fast if Freeman can’t become an above average quarterback.

It appears the time has come for Bucs cornerback Myron Lewis to begin a search for a real estate agent.

The third-year Bucs cornerback has largely been invisible in his NFL career, largely because he is oft-injured. When there is a Lewis sighting, it is often cringe-worthy. He is far more apt to get torched like a welding arc than he is to make a productive play.

Then there was his little stunt today. Late in the game when the Bucs defense was putting forth a heroic effort to keep the Bucs in the game, down by a touchdown, the Bucs force a punt.

On the punt return, Lewis tried to play tough guy and was flagged for unnecessary roughness. In other words, Lewis was a fool.

It was a grossly immature, head-up-your-caboose penality, as if there is a neccesary penalty.

When Lewis came to the bench, FOX TV cameras caught Bucs coach Greg Schiano having choice words with Lewis. It didn’t take much imagination to figure out what one of Schiano’s words were.

Simply put, Joe can’t see how Lewis is still on the roster when Schiano has gotten rid of players who at least are somewhat productive when they take the field. Preston Parker springs to mind; at least he was a threat on offense. Lewis is a threat all right: a threat to the Bucs’ progress.

What does it say that an undrafted free agent (Leonard Johnson) and a guy off the street (Brandon MacDonald) are as high or higher on the depth chart than Lewis?

Joe is trying to recall any play Lewis has made in his three NFL seasons that benefited the Bucs. Despite being of sober mind, Joe’s mind is failing.

First, let Joe say that the replacement refs really looked like garbage today in Dallas. It’s no exaggeration to say this was a horribly called game.

And this mess that Roger Goodell has treated fans to cost the Bucs a touchdown today — and possibly the game.

Michael Bennett sacked Tony Romo cleanly in the third quarter with the Bucs trailing 10-7. Romo fumbled and Eric Wright scooped up the ball and ran 30 yards or so into the end zone. Touchdown. Right?

Nope.

The clueless zebras senselessly believed Romo was in the grasp or already down. It was reversed on a challenge, but rules state the Bucs can’t be awarded advancement of the ball on the reversal.

Of course, as was the case nearly all game, the Bucs did nothing with the turnover, went backwards, in fact, and punted.

And while Joe’s on the officials, what did Myron Lewis do to deserve a key personal foul in the fourth quarter on punt return team?

Terrible day for the zebrasa. It’s bad enough the Bucs offense was dreaful. To have a TD stolen is disgusting.

Wasn’t it last week that Greg Schiano boasted about how his Bucs fight to the finish?

Joe calls “Baloney!” to use Schiano’s word. Down 16-7 with just over two minutes left, the anemic Bucs ran Doug Martin up the middle on first down. Then they ran him again on 3rd-and-10 on the same possession. That is NOT fighting. That’s playing scared in anyone’s book wasting precious seconds.

If Mike Sullivan doesn’t know how the New Schiano Order is supposed to operate, then cut him.

Sullivan has a hell of a lot of explaining to do. He was miserable today. Josh Freeman was almost worse. What a horrendous time for the worst performance by Freeman in a long time — 10-for-28 for 110 yards. That’s totally unacceptable from a highly paid offense.

The Bucs’ defense was mighty and stout. They deserve all the praise one could heap upon them. Gerald McCoy and Michael Bennett were game-changers. Mason Foster made plays. The Bucs were buzzing behind the line of scrimmage and swarming. The defense had a touchdown stolen from them by the zebras.

It’s another tough Sunday afternoon to be a Bucs fan.

Joe will have much more through the afternoon and night.

How bad were the Bucs today? Veteran sports columnist Gary Shelton compares what the Bucs offense was today to ghastly memories of horrid teams past in this Tampa Bay Times video.

OK boys and girls, here’s your weekly playpen to hash things bout during a Bucs game. As always, please behave and while you cannot post links to pirated feeds of games, you may e-mail them among yourselves. Joe hopes you enjoy the game.

Week 3

Bucs at Cowboys

Kickoff: 1 p.m.

TV: Locally, WTVT-TV Channel 13, DirecTV Channel 705.

Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM, 103.5 and WDAE-AM, 620); SiriusXM Channel 125.

Weather: Per AccuWeather.com, the Bucs will feel at home in the Dallas area. While the game will be played in Jerry’s World, a soulless dome, the weather outside will be steamy with a kickoff temperature of 93 and it will only get toastier. The Dallas region should be full of sunshine, though.

Odds: Per Sportsbook.com, Bucs +8.

Outlook: OK, so the Bucs have been nothing less than a sieve when it comes to pass defense the first two games of the year. Cam Newton and Eli Manning have thrown for over 800 yards total on the Bucs secondary. That’s 400 yards a game, which is simply inexcusable in order to sustain any type of winning streak. But it gets worse: Today, Tony Romo stands on the other line of scrimmage. The Bucs have been little more than a blonde starlet for Romo, the pride of Eastern Illinois University. Dating back to Chucky, Romo has thrown 11 touchdowns against the Bucs without an interception — not one! Unless Bucs coach Greg Schiano has changed things up drastically, Joe doesn’t expect much of a different outcome in trying to contain Romo. So the Bucs will have to likely play Schiano-football: Ram the ball down the Cowboys’ throats and control the ball. Romo can’t burn you if he doesn’t have the ball. Play keep-away.

Joe’s not really getting why Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud would call Greg Schiano and his Buccaneers “bullies,” like he did today in a piece penned for the Tampa Bay Times.

Frankly, it’s almost ludicrous. And it makes Joe seriously question whether Stroud knows the meaning of the word, “bully.”

Who exactly are the Bucs bullying? They barely laid a hand on Eli Manning in 51 pass attempts. And the players don’t break on-field rules or get fined, like the fist-throwing, cheap-shotting Giants did last weekend. Hell, the Bucs’ most bone-crushing and intimidating offensive threat sits on the bench.

Simply attempting to play physical football on every snap — like many other clubs around league — doesn’t make you a bully. It makes you a football team.

Stroud also seems confused why Schiano accommodated media requets for interviews this week on the heels of the world famous kneel-down-buster play.

But it continued with Schiano’s unapologetic stance that he was all too accommodating to repeat in one-on-one interviews last week on ESPN, the NFL Network and NBC Sports.

Regardless of where you come down on the debate over the kneel-down play — and many respected former players and coaches sided with Schiano — he didn’t want to let the issue pass without taking full advantage of it.

Joe bets Stroud would also be on Schiano’s ass if he didn’t accept the interview requests from the NFL’s cherished television partners. He’d probably even drop the P word on Schiano. There’s no pleasing some in the media.

Regardless, Joe hopes the Bucs do become bullies of the NFL. But Joe knows the Bucs are miles away from filling those shoes, if they even aspire to.

Five years ago, if Joe approached Demar Dotson when he was a senior at Southern Miss and explained he would win a starting gig on the offensive line of an NFL team someday and face the Cowboys in his first game after securing the position, Dotson likely would begin checking what Joe’s drink was spiked with.

In 2007, Dotson was finishing his fourth year of playing hoops at Southern Miss. He wasn’t much of a shooter, Dotson confesses, but he could sure block out. It would be an attribute that would pay off for him big time down the road.

Dotson had used up all his basketball eligibility and, per NCAA rules, he could play another sport one more year while he finished college. Thinking his athletic career was at an end, Golden Eagles football coaches talked him into playing football for the 2008 season.

Dotson had never played one snap of organized football in his life prior to the 2008 season. Dotson played six games that year and stared his final collegiate football game against SMU.

Now after a promising preseason and after incumbent right tackle Jeremy Trueblood under-performed and was dinged up, Dotson started last week at New Jersey and played so well, Bucs coach Greg Schiano named Dotson the Bucs fulltime starter at right tackle Tuesday.

“It is a privilege and an honor to have the job,” Dotson told Joe earlier this week, but I have to continue to work hard each day to get better. That is my main goal. It’s an opportunity. My effort doesn’t change now that I am a starter, just continue to work hard as I always did.”

It is one of the most unlikely stories in the NFL.

This is not lost on Bucs center Jeremy Zuttah.

“Dot has always been a great athlete,” Zuttah said. “Now, he’s focused on being a football player. In the past couple of years, he has been relying on athletic ability, just straight athletic ability. Now that he is starting to focus, the sky is the limit. He is getting better every day.”

The journey hasn’t always been easy for Dotson, which he readily admits.

“It has been a tough road,” Dotson said. “I never played the game before, never played the position before. It’s been a tough journey. I have a whole lot more to learn. Just keep grinding and do what my coaches tell me to do and prepare each day to come out here and work.

Given Dotson’s young age and his still limited experience in the game, Joe smiles at thinking what Dotson may be able to be should he stay healthy. Perhaps what Bucs fans have seen thus far is just scratching the surface.

As Zuttah pointed out, sky is the limit.

Joe really loves this video below, a tight shot of Greg Schiano and Tom Coughlin during their infamous confrontation last week.

Unfortunately, bleeps are used but lip-reading is available. Joe loves the “baloney” line Schiano drops on Coughlin, as well as the firm grip the Bucs head coach has on Coughlin’s arm. Veteran Tampa Bay sports media guy JP Peterson apparently corralled the video from his former comrades at WFLA-TV and used it as part of a post on TampaBaySportsCentral.com that compares Greg Schiano’s kneel-down play to the Rays’ famous preseason dustup with the New York Yankees in 2008.

The leader of the New Schiano Order continued his national kneel-down tour late Friday with Mike Florio of NBC Sports. Check out the video below.

Schiano also talks about the fastest way to lose to the Cowboys.

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

The Cowboys allowed a blocked punt last week against Seattle. Dallass now expects the Bucs to attempt a repeat of that feat Sunday.

One of the coolest plays of the early season for the Bucs was Aqib Talib, playing special teams, flying in and nailing a crucial blocked punt against the Carolina Panthers.

It was an early shot across the bow by the New Schiano Order: The Bucs will come after you not just defensively, but on special teams as well.

Jason Garrett saw the play. And the Cowboys coach apparently has heeded the Bucs warning.

Last week against Seattle, Cowboys punter Chris Jones had a punt blocked. Cowboys coaches have noted that his blocked punt is an invitation for the Bucs to bring the house, so writes Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

“I guess I’ve kind of been warned of that,” Jones said. “I guess everybody has. I don’t think we should have our main focus on that. I think if everybody does their job, everything’s going to be fine.”

With the Cowboys having allowed two blocks in 18 games, the Bucs smell blood.

As they should. The way the Bucs have been ripped apart through the air, Greg Schiano should stop at nothing in order to keep the ball out of Tony Romo’s hands, and that includes going all out on special teams.

Former NFL coach and personnel executive Pat Kirwan, a host on SiriusXM NFL Radio and a CBS-TV analyst, goes deep into the Bucs and Cowboys in this CBS Sports video.

Kirwan talks about the Bucs eventually ditching the “Alex Smith” plan for Josh Freeman, and about his belief that Greg Schiano was hypocritical last weekend, among many other topics. Kirwan expects the Cowboys to throw, throw and throw some more on Sunday.  Click below to enjoy.

The way the Bucs secondary was sliced to shreds last week by Eli Manning, one would think opposing coaches would be salivating at the chance to throw at the Bucs, given the fact they are allowing an average of more than 400 passing yards a game.

Either Cowboys coach Jason Garrett was yanking peoples’ chains earlier in the week, or he believes the passing yards allowed by the Bucs is a statistical anomaly.

“Yeah, the Giants game got a little wild, but [the Bucs defense] did a lot of good things in that game.” Garrett said to the Tampa Bay pen and mic club. “I think they are a very good defense, active up front, quick, good players, fast, explosive. Their linebacker can run and the cornerbacks can cover. Tonde [Barber] has made a nice transition [to safety] and Mark Barron, we knew a lot about coming out of Alabama.

“They are really good on all three levels.”

But Garratt has Tony Romo at quarterback, who has lit up the Bucs worse than what Manning did last week. Romo, dating back to the Chucky years, has tossed 11 touchdowns against the Bucs.

Garrett seemed to wave that number off as well.

“I don’t like to make a huge generalization,” Garrett said of any pattern Romo may have against the Bucs. “There are so many different players and coaches on both teams. There’s a new regime down in Tampa. We are worried about that right now. The past will have little bearing on what happens this week.”

Well, if the Bucs don’t shore up that porous pass defense — and over 800 yards given up in two games is no less than porous — the Bucs better be prepared for a shootout.

Joe isn’t sure if Josh Freeman can win a passing shootout with Romo.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: RSS

Four-time Pro Bowl quarterback Boomer Esiason, now a very opinionated New York sports radio host and CBS NFL analyst, sat down Friday with the Gary and The Commish show on 98.7 FM to talk all things NFL and Bucs.

Boomer’s intelligent, informative and engaging, as always. He explains why the rigid Schiano environment and plethora of weapons at One Buc Palace is the right mix for Josh Freeman. Click below to listen.

Veteran Ch. 10 sportscaster Dave Wirth serves up his weekly game preview for JoeBucsFan.com readers. Among other topics, Wirth wonders about the impact of the kneel-down controversy and talks about Tony Romo’s success against Tampa Bay. “He’s carved them up before.”

The war is over.

Joe’s four-year long crusade to right an outrageous wrong has come to an end now that Bright House Networks, along with Time Warner Cable, have finally seen good reason and decided to treat the area’s football fans with respect and capitulated, giving football fans the greatest channel known to man, the NFL Network.

Per Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times, the NFL Network will debut on Bright House Networks cable outfit no later than Thursday, and could be available as early as Sunday.

The NFL and Time Warner, which handles negotiations for Bright House, reached a deal Friday after what was, essentially, a nine-year standoff since the network first launched in 2003.

The network will appear on digital channel 183 and in HD on 1145 and there will be no extra charge to Bright House subscribers, according to Bright House spokesman Joe Durkin.

Finally, after nine tedious, torturous years, the battle has been won. Joe applauds the good people of Bright House — Joe never, ever had an issue with those who worked there, only the suits who made the decisions — for finally righting this terrible wrong.

Again, the war is over. Joe has ceased hostilities with Bright House Networks. Joe — and all TV viewers — have won.

Where does Joe start with the hit piece Yahoo! Sports NFL writer Michael Silver fired at Greg Schiano today?

You can click above to read it, but essentially Silver makes a case with a pile of anonymous sources that Schiano wasn’t accommodating to NFL scouts at Rutgers, had the nerve to be unfriendly, and now Schiano has expanded the widespread dislike of himself in NFL circles after daring to break tradition on the Giants’ kneel-down Sunday.

Hmmm, funny how none of this surfaced until now and how none of these stand-up NFL executives, guys who surely would never work with Schiano, are too afraid of attaching their names to their hate.

Joe’s going to speak for Schiano here and say that the head coach couldn’t give a crap about these soft-bellied yes-men who don’t like him.

And why should he? Schiano plays by his core beliefs, and if those include a controlling, unfriendly leadership style, then so be it. This is pro football, not freakin’ middle school. 

Schiano would be the first to tell you he’s disinterested in popularity contests. Remember, this is the same man who took over the Rutgers head coaching job, arguably the worst program in the country, when he had other jobs available or could have returned to the NFL as an assistant.

Second, Joe must comment on one quote in the story specifically:

“[Schiano] tried so hard to be a hard ass and went out of his way to be rude. When you’d pass him in the hallway, you might say, ‘Good morning,’ and he’d look at you like you’re a [expletive] idiot. A guy like him doesn’t realize that probably half of us played the game at a really high level – it’s completely condescending. He would go out of his way to make you feel as uncomfortable as he could.”

Frankly, this is more a cultural New Jersey thing than anything else. Joe (this Joe anyway) grew up a handful of small towns away from Schiano and can attest that to this day, if you say “good morning” to someone out in public there (including store cashiers) most of the time they will look at you like you’re a “[expletive] idiot,” as referenced in the quote.

Is this a good thing? No. But it’s definitely part of the culture, and surely locals don’t walk around crying and holding grudges because a friendly hello was ignored.

Joe doubts Schiano was going out of his way to make people feel uncomfortable at Rutgers. He likely was just being himself. And there’s a distinct difference there.

Silver wants us desperately to believe Schiano is a bully, rather than a team-first guy driven to win games his way and completely disinterested in investing time in anything unrelated to his football team.

Joe can only assume Schiano didn’t respond the last time Silver greeted him.

Two years ago, Bucs running back LeGarrette Blount hurdled his way to being one of the best running backs in the NFL, averaging five yards a carry, a tremendous feat.

The following year, under the guidance of the next Don Coryell, Greg Olson, Blount was shelved while the Bucs went pass happy and crashed and burned in the process.

This season, after drafting running back Doug Martin, new Bucs coach Greg Schiano all but promised a two-headed monster of a running attack to punish opposing defenses into submission.

So far in the early weeks of the 2012 campaign, the running attack has been a lone-headed monster; Muscle Hamster, who is averaging 3.7 yards a carry.

After being shrouded in mystery and intrigue over what turned out to be a “stinger,” Blount only saw the field for a couple of plays in the Bucs collapse along the New Jersey Turnpike last Sunday.

This has led many Bucs fans to question what has happened to Blount, including peppering eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune about it.

Q: I thought LeGarrette Blount would be used in the second half of games this season to protect the lead. Tired defenses trying to tackle a fresh Blount will be a clock eater and a chain mover. Was he not heathly at New York or was that just a poor coaching decision not to play him?

A: Although he is only two years removed from a 1,000-yard season, it appears Blount is now an after thought in Mike Sullivan’s offense. He has three carries through two games, along with one reception. He is practicing every day, so health does not appear to be an issue.

~ eye-RAH! Kaufman, Tampa Tribune

“Afterthought” may be one way of looking at it. But Joe is starting to smell something different, say, “doghouse.”

This is a puzzle that Joe just finds striking: A guy goes from one of the top running backs in the league to rarely being used to being an ‘afterthought” two years later.

Joe has to be honest: He has never heard of Jennifer Martin nor “The Landry Hat” prior to this afternoon. But if a pretty girl is going to talk about the Bucs, Joe will happily post said video.