The Bucs are sitting with $6 million to $8 million in unused salary cap cash for 2014, depending on what source you reference.

That goes against the Lovie Smith philosophy of spend every nickel, but Joe was hoping the excess green would be used to restructure Gerald McCoy’s contract this summer. (more…)

OK, so the Bucs host the Stinking Panthers at 4:25 p.m., tomorrow, eastern time. If you live in the southeastern United States, you have a chance to watch the game free via broadcast television.

Below in the purple-shaded areas are where Bucs fans can watch the game on their local FOX, over-the-air affiliate. Chris Myers and Ronde Barber are the announcers.

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It’s been a while, six long seasons of meaningless Januarys.

A couple more big media names have hopped on the Buccaneers bandwagon.

It’s playoffs for Tampa Bay, they say. (more…)

For some reason, Bucs fans take great comfort in the Panthers, and their 26th-ranked passing attack last year, losing the meat of their receiving corps, 35-year-old Steve Smith, Brandon LaFell and Ted Ginn, Jr.

Who knew LaFell and Ginn were stars? Joe must have missed the memo. (more…)

“You need to have attempts as much as anything,” says Lovie Smith.

Lovie Smith wants to pound the rock. Fans can pretend all they want that the Bucs’ defense-first head coach wants to play a new, high-flying brand of what he calls “Buc ball,” but Joe isn’t buying it. Not yet.

Lovie emerged happy with his first team after the preseason “dress rehearsal” in Buffalo. Those 17 first-half carries had Lovie pumped up. (more…)

The reason the “Custodian of Canton,” eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune, is in high demand to be interviewed on both local and national sports radio shows is that he is both entertaining and informative. He brings the heat, sometimes with brutal honesty.

This week, Kaufman began his weekly Wednesday appearances that will last through the Super Bowl with the one and only Chris “Mad Dog” Russo on the channel that bears his name, “Mad Dog Radio,” part of the family of sports channels heard exclusively on SiriusXM Radio. (more…)

Excitement is in the air, and the source is not the scent of perfume from Bucs cheerleaders. No, football is here! Damn, it’s been so long.

So what can Bucs fans expect when the Pewter Pirates take the field at the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway Sunday? Well, longtime WTSP-TV, Channel 10 sports anchor Dave Wirth has an idea. (more…)

Buccaneers Radio Network analyst and former TE Anthony Becht believes Gerald McCoy will have plenty of reasons to smile Sunday afternoon. Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.

While Stinking Panthers quarterback Cam Newton practiced, and threw passes, today in Charlotte, he is listed as questionable for Sunday’s season opener with the Bucs at the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway. That’s because he has messed up ribs.

Injured ribs are one of the most painful injuries a player can have. First, coughing or sneezing provokes a new world of pain, much less running around and throwing a football. There is a chance Newton won’t run much. Aside from just the pain of running, getting blasted after the run could put Newton out of the game. (more…)

Tampa Bay linebacker and special teams ace Dane Fletcher spent years with new Bucs All-World guard Logan Mankins in New England. Today, he opened up about Mankins and his new mentor from afar: former Bears great and Lovie Smith disciple Brian Urlacher. (more…)

The Bucs are banged up and several won’t play on Sunday.

Tampa Bay’s official injury report was issued this afternoon. (more…)

Joe’s got an update on the absent offensive coordinator

Lovie Smith advised media today not to read deep into Jeff Tedford being at practice today.

If there were an injury report for offensive coordinators, Tedford would have been “limited.” (more…)

Peter King of theMMQB.com has deemed the Stinking Panthers-Bucs game the game of the week.

Usually, unless it involves Matty Ice and the Dixie Chicks or Drew Brees and the Saints, higher-ups in the NFL fourth estate don’t refer to any NFC South game as a “Game of the Week.” Part of that has to do with teams’ success and part of that has to do with TV market size.

The Bucs do not reside in a large TV market (not small, but not large) and, of course, the team has stunk for so long that Joe doesn’t know what a clean scent near a football field smells like any longer. (more…)

Stinking Panthers QB Cam Newton has resumed throwing today.

Bucs fans, when hearing of the ribs injury to Stinking Panthers quarterback Cam Newton and him subsequently missing practice time this week, were giddy. No, they didn’t want Newton to be maimed, they just wanted Newton not to play Sunday against the Bucs.

Besides, Derek Anderson facing the Bucs defense is about as close to a sure win as one can get. But news from Charlotte may dampen these same fans’ Friday. (more…)

Thanks to tablets and laptops, Bucs OC Jeff Tedford is doing as much as he can for not being at One Buc Palace.

Of course, the Bucs are treating the Jeff Tedford medical situation like Enigma. Joe understands the Bucs, even if they wanted to discuss Tedford’s recent bout of bad health, might be handcuffed by federal HIPPA privacy laws.

What Joe finds uncomfortable is the Bucs’ public spin on the issue that it isn’t affecting the team in any way. That just cannot be. There is just no way that losing your coordinator in the days leading up to the start of the regular season is anything but a problem. (more…)

Last year against Carolina, Greg Schiano preached “contain, contain, contain,” but the Bucs failed miserably. Newton got the edges and more and ran free.

Former Jets personnel man and linebackers coach under Monte Kiffin, the esteemed Pat Kirwan, says he’s gone to the film room on Lavonte David and believes David can not only contain Newton on Sunday but confuse the Panthers with his versatility in all phases of linebacker play. (more…)

Bucs godfather Derrick Brooks likes the recent Tampa Bay trade for Pro Bowl guard Logan Mankins, whose arrival instantly turned the Bucs’ offensive line from a horror show into a riveting drama.

In fact, Brooks explained that he got a very Keenan McCardell vibe from the whole transaction. (more…)

One reason Joe isn’t quite sold on Bucs left tackle Anthony Collins is his abbreviated resumé. Joe means abbreviated in that Collins has never been a full-time starter and the most starts he’s had in a season is seven.

Joe is pretty lousy at math without a calculator but even Joe can piece together that Collins has never started half a season in the NFL. (more…)

Leslie Frazier isn’t buying injury reports about Stinking Panthers QB Cam Newton.

Yes, yesterday Stinking Panthers quarterback Cam Newton was limited (again) in practice due to his cracked ribs. Speaking to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Newton admitted he is not (yet) locked in to start Sunday’s season opener against the Bucs in the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway.

It seems Bucs defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier has smelled a rouse before in football and he’s not biting on the bait. (more…)

Vincent Jackson wasn’t talking about any kind of learning curve for the Bucs’ first-round draft pick today. (more…)