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.

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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.

Now Joe knows the Bucs’ offensive line, in particular the right side of the line, hasn’t been the best this season, even after two weeks.

Thus far, the two incumbent starters are missing. Right guard Davin Joseph is out due to an injury, and right tackle Jeremy Trueblood is out, basically, because backup Demar Dotson has outplayed him.

The thinktank ProFootballFocus.com, via BSPNChicago’s Michael C. Wright, suggests that the Bucs’ offensive line may be turning into a giant turnstile.

@mikecwright: According to Pro Football Focus, Cutler has been under pressure on 44.4% of dropbacks. That’s 2nd-most in NFL (Josh Freeman No. 1 at 44.8)

Of course, Joe doesn’t care about bratty Jay Cutler. But Joe does indeed care about Josh Freeman.

Now Joe learned in high school that people can twist numbers any way they want to prove a point. This is done daily in politics. It’s also why Joe has acid reflux the way baseball has been hijacked by the unadulterated gibberish of the spreadsheeters. Why, there are actually sober minds who will try to convince you that Karlos Pena is a productive hitter, if you can imagine.

Joe’s getting at a few things: Is it really the offensive line’s fault that Freeman is under so much heat when dropping back to pass, or is Freeman holding onto the ball too long?

Or, could it be that the Panthers and Giants were playing damned good pass defense, thus, forcing Freeman to hold onto the ball longer than most quarterbacks in order for a receiver to get open?

Either way, this issue bears watching over the coming weeks.

The leader of the New Schiano Order cleared up his kick and punt return picture after practice at One Buc Palace today.

Asked if wide receiver Jordan Shipley was his top punt returner now that Sammie Stroughter is lost for the season, Greg Schiano said the following:

“Is he the guy? Good chance he’ll be the guy,” Schiano said. “You know, there’s other guys who do it on the team. But I’m thinking he’ll probably be the first one out there. Yeah.”

Schiano was more direct in referring to Arrelious Benn as his top returner. Earlier this week, Schiano cited Benn’s ability to be unaffected by arm tackles as something that excites him.

Interestingly, today Schiano mentioned Shipley and Underwood as guys who also return kicks. It seems Michael Smith is off the coach’s special teams radar right now.

Since Joe launched this here site on the Interwebs over four years ago, he has railed constantly for what Joe firmly believes to his very core about one of the great injustices done to local sports fans when Out House Networks, and it’s evildoer overseer Time Warner Cable, held sports fans hostage, denying them the greatest TV network available, the NFL Network, while shoving unadulterated tripe down subscribers’ throats like a “news” channel preoccupied with swingsets in the Brandon city park, cats stuck in trees and yard sales, regurgitated every hour on the hour, not to mention weather updates every 10 minutes (“What’s the temperature outside? Same as it was nine minutes ago.”) along with countless insipid shopping channels, a New York news station and LOGO of all things.

Well, those who have chosen — and yes, if you still have Out House Networks, that is your choice, you chose to live in an Out House when your signed your contract/lease — to remain in a television penitentiary while free-loving men across the land like Joe enjoy the NFL Network daily, it appears your days of captivity are numbered.

Per Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg News, the NFL and Time Warner have agreed in principal to carry both the NFL Network and the Red Zone Channel.

This means Out House Networks will also have the same programming.

The National Football League reached agreement with Time Warner (TWC) Cable Inc. to carry the league-owned NFL Network and RedZone Channel, a person with direct knowledge of the situation said.

The multiyear accord may be announced later today, according to the person, who was granted anonymity because the contract hasn’t been signed. New York-based Time Warner, the second-largest U.S. cable company with about 12 million subscribers, had been the only major cable provider without the NFL Network. It isn’t known when the channels will appear on Time Warner systems, the person said.

So there you have it. No one in the Tampa Bay area will have an excuse not to watch the NFL Network.

Joe thinks it is wholly appropriate to quote General Douglas MacArthur from his speech to the residents of the Phillipines when American troops landed on Leyte Beach to liberate the country from the boot of Japanese military oppression.

“The hour of your redemption is here. Your patriots have demonstrated an unswerving and resolute devotion to the principles of freedom that challenges the best that is written on the pages of human history. I now call upon your supreme effort that the enemy may know from the temper of an aroused and outraged people within that he has a force there to contend with no less violent than is the force committed from without.”

Oh, and once the NFL Network actually appears on Out House Networks, Joe will no longer refer to that outfit as “Out House.”

Joe’s crusade on behalf of countless innocents will have been won.

Sammie Stroughter’s fourth season, and likely last season, in a Bucs uniform ends with him on injured reserve.

The Bucs started 2012 with Preston Parker as their punt returner, Michael Smith as kickoff returner and Sammie Stroughter as their backup at those positions.

Now all three of those guys are pretty much afterthoughts in the Bucs’ return game.

The Bucs placed Stroughter on injured reserve today with some sort of foot issue and signed speedster receiver/returner rookie Chris Owusu, who was on the Chargers’ practice squad. Owusu is a freakish athlete who wowed at the combine, but his draft stock plummeted after he had three concussions, per SFGate.com

Owusu’s 40-yard dash time (4.36 seconds) matched the fastest by a wide receiver. His broad jump (10 feet, 9 inches) ranked second among wideouts, and his vertical jump (40.5 inches) was third.

Despite those eye-popping figures, much of the predraft conversation surrounding Owusu concerns another number: three. That’s how many concussions Owusu had in a 13-month span during the latter part of his Stanford career. Owusu had two concussions in three weeks during his senior season and missed Stanford’s final four games.

With Greg Schiano expressing his confidence and excitement in Arrelious Benn as a kickoff returner, and the additions of Shipley and Owusu, Joe believes Smith’s stock has dropped considerably. Joe woudn’t be shocked if Smith is released. LeGarrette Blount can barely get on the field, and Smith is behind him and D.J. Ware.

As for the new receivers, Tiquan Underwood, Owusu and Shipley, they’re an interesting mix with plenty of speed. But at the end of the day, Joe doesn’t see them getting much work unless Benn, Mike Williams or Vincent Jackson are injured.

Seeing Cadillac Williams in a Rams uniform last season was awkward. It also was a bit frustrating considering unemployed Kregg Lumpkin was wearing Bucs colors.

Both are now unemployed, but Cadillac told the Ron and Ian Show today that he feels great and wants to tote the rock again in the NFL.

“Still hoping maybe I get that call here,” Cadillac said.

Interestingly, Cadillac, now 30, said when he wasn’t re-signed as a free agent by the Bucs he didn’t have any sort of good-bye chat with the team. “I actually didn’t even talk to Raheem or the organization. It was just one of those things. They just wanted to move on.”

On the New Schiano Order, Cadillac said he likes what he sees from the head coach.

Joe wishes Cadillac well. There may never have been a tougher and more inspirational Buccaneer. Multiple gruesome injuries couldn’t crush his love and spirit to play the game.