Bucs defensive end Michael Bennett has thus far in training camp and preseason games looked strong.

Yes, Joe knows, it’s just preseason. But if his play is a precursor to the 2012 season, it’s both good and bad for the Bucs and rock star general manager Mark Dominik.

Bennett’s play has also caught the eye of numbers guy Khaled Elsayed of ProFootballFocus.com.

We keep singing his praises and won’t stop if Michael Bennett keeps showing up like he did against the Patriots. He isn’t the most explosive pass rusher but he keeps finding a way of beating linemen from the DLE spot or as a tackle in nickel. A contract year is always a good time to perform and it appears he knows this.

Uh, oh: the dreaded contract year. That’s good for the Bucs because Bennett will be motivated, but then again it’s not good for the Bucs. As Joe pointed out last night, the Bucs have the fifth-highest payroll in the NFL but little depth to speak of.

If Bennett has a monster year, it will be dicey to keep him as Dominik has to keep cash stashed in the Team Glazer cookie jar to prepare for a new Josh Freeman contract as well. Quality young pass rushers are always paid handsomely in free agency.

Former starting safety Cody Grimm, a man who played well in 2010 and 2011 but has proven as fragile as Gerald McCoy, was out on the field in Washington last night logging long minutes with the soon-to-be bouncers, Arena League stars, movers and grad students.

That wasn’t a great sign for Grimm.

But would the Bucs actually cut Grimm and go into the season with Keith Tandy and Ahmad Black backing up Mark Barron and Ronde Barber?

That would mean they’d have four safeties who have never started a game in the NFL at the position, which would have to be some sort of modern NFL record.

Grimm did some good things Wednesday but hardly had a great game. He made a couple of touchdown-saving tackles, which opened the door for Bucs icon and TV color analyst John Lynch to declare he believes the Bucs have to keep Grimm because they need his experience off the bench. Lynch also said Ronde Barber told him Grimm is leaner and quicker than in past seasons.

It’s hard for Joe to disagree. Perhaps the Bucs will keep five safeties? Regardless, Joe’s not seeing Larry Asante in the final equation.

It’ll be damn interesting to see whether Tiquan Underwood makes the Bucs’ final roster after cuts are made on or before Friday.

Clearly, Mike Williams, Vincent Jackson, Preston Parker and Arrelious Benn are locks. Parker got the night off tonight with the starters, and rockstar general manager Mark Dominik said Benn will practice next week.

That’s four receivers, and the Bucs need at least one more to start the season.

Underwood has been the model New Schiano Order citizen. He battled and succeeded daily in practice. He earned his reps. He produced. Tonight, he had six catches for 82 yards. Yes, Joe realizes Underwood should have done better in preventing a Redskins interception and/or make a play on that pass.

But a guy like Underwood almost has to make the cut. Schiano has talked over and over again about how players will not be handed jobs, an attitude that carries much more weight for bottom-of-the-roster guys.

The only thing working against Underwood is his lack of experience and versatility, versus Sammie Stroughter and Jordan Shipley.

It’s going to be a grueling wait for the guy with the standout do.

The words were still hanging in the air about the Redskins cutting popular tight end Chris Cooley when Joe began getting e-mails and Twitter messages about the Bucs going after Cooley.

Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik was asked about Cooley point blank during Dominik’s fourth quarter appearance on the Bucs broadcast on WTSP-TV this evening. In short, Dominik all but threw cold water on the possibility of Cooley coming to Tampa Bay.

Dominik told how he often calls agents of just-released players to find out what said player wants to do and if any other teams are interested in signing the player.

At that point, Dominik, while he admitted calling Cooley’s agent, all but said it is unlikely he will ever be wearing a Bucs uniform.

Thus, Bucs fans will miss out on Joe constantly posting photos of Cooley’s wife, a former Redskins cheerleader.

Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik appeared on tonight’s Bucs-Redskins broadcast through much of the fourth quarter and talked about all sorts of things on WTSP-TV, Channel 10

When pressed about the status of injured wide receiver Arrelious Benn, Dominik gushed that there is much progress with Benn’s condition. In fact, Dominik said Benn will practice next week and went so far as to suggest Benn may be a game-time decision for the Bucs season-opener at home against Carolina.

Yes, Benn will be practicing, but Joe has to wonder just how effective Benn can be missing virtually all of training camp and preseason. In the NFL, the passing game is largely built on timing. Just what timing has Benn been able to build with quarterback Josh Freeman in a brand new offense?

It’s a bit troubling knowing the Bucs will have roughly the fifth-highest payroll in the NFL this season, yet the team has serious depth issues on the offensive and defensive lines, as well as other areas.

That’s just an unhealthy combination.

Sure, the Bucs have been belted with injuries to Amobi Okoye, Da’Quan Bowers, Gary Gibson, Davin Joseph and much more, but many current second-teamers looked awful tonight.

The Jamon Meredith experiment at right guard couldn’t have gone worse tonight. Joe had high hopes after rockstar general manager Mark Dominik praised Meredith on the Buccaneers Radio Network pregame show, but Meredith wasn’t up to the task.

Will Bucs fans have to watch Myron Lewis ever again?

There’s no Insurance Graham in the backfield, either, giving veteran depth at fullback and running back. And Joe wasn’t impressed with the linebacker play tonight, though Adam Hayward definitely was up to the task last week.

Joe’s damn curious to see what Dominik and Greg Schiano pluck off the waiver wire this week. As Joe’s written previously, Ronde Barber has praised Schiano’s sense of urgency when it comes to winning in 2012. Joe expects that urgency to be evident in the next few days.

All the Bucs’ starters got the night off, as expected, but it was a rather putrid performance by their backups.

No. 3 QB Brett Ratliff deserves combat pay for the five sacks and overall beating he took. The Bucs had nothing in the ground game and the offensive line was darn ugly.

Thankfully, it didn’t count.

Joe will have much more through the night.

OK boys and girls, here is the weekly open thread for your Bucs game, this time closing the preseason at Washington. Have at it!

As always, do not paste links of pirated video feeds. You may, however, e-mail links among yourselves.

Have fun!

Preseason Week 4

Bucs at Redskins

Kickoff: 7 p.m.

TV: WTSP Channel 10. The game also will air on the NFL Network at 3 p.m.

Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM, 103.5 and WDAE-AM, 620); SiriusXM Channel 134.

Weather: Per AccuWeather.com, expect clear skies throughout the evening with a temperature of 77 at kickoff with the temperature dropping gradually to 72 at game’s end. There will be virtually no wind.

Odds: Per Sportsbook.com, Bucs +4.

Outlook: Preseason is a tedious time for football fans. It’s games that do not count and glorified practices; a giant tease. The worst tease is the final week of preseason, tonight for the Bucs, where camp meat (future truck drivers, high school teachers, bartenders and insurance claims adjusters) play the bulk of the game. All but a handful of players who will see action tonight will be on the Bucs roster come this weekend. There are still a few things for Bucs fans to watch before they fall asleep. Who will burst the bubble? Will Leonard Johnson be able to beat out Myron Lewis? Will Cody Grimm beat out Larry Asante and keep a job? Will Mossis Madu be able to hang on to the roster? How about Sammie Stroughter? Mistakes tonight very could mean a ticket out of town Friday. Everything will be magnified for those clawing for NFL checks next week, and beyond.

Many Bucs fans have been bellowing for a return of Jeff Faine to help the Bucs fill the void left by Davin Joseph, but that’s not happening.

The former Bucs captain and players union man Faine is a new center for the Bengals, Associated Press reported this afternoon.

Cincinnati lost starting center Kyle Cook and Chucky’s brother, Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden, will hand the ball to Faine, who had been training in the Orlando area. It’s quite a stroke of fortune for Faine, who goes from his couch, albeit surely a luxurious one, to a key role for a playoff team.

Joe wishes Faine well.

Raheem Morris hears about how his Buccaneers were undisciplined and the former head coach laughs.

That’s just one big funny misrepresentation of the Raheem era, so he told Rick Stroud on WDAE-AM 620 today.

Rick Stroud: Talk about just that criticism about whether or not you were able to instill discipline on what, at that time, the three years you had it, was the youngest team in the league.

Raheem Morris: First of all, we won 10 games [in 2010], we were a very disciplined team. We won a bunch of games in two-minute when you have to be disciplined. You got to do all the right things, things have to be executed exactly the right way in order to win those tight games and those close ones, which we did. You know, last year we weren’t able to accomplish those things, so you’re undisciplined. You know I kind of laugh about the rumors and I kind of laugh about the things that happen now because whenever you get fired, whenever you move on to the next guy, it’s always because of discipline. They said the same thing about Belichick. They said the same thing about Mike Shanahan in Denver. They said the same thing about most of those guys in our profession. And you can’t look at it like that. It’s just kind of the same story that’s going to be written every single time a guy gets fired, and that’s just what happens.

Joe finds Raheem’s line of thinking curious at best. The two Bucs coaches hired and fired before Raheem, Chucky and Father Dungy, were never accused of running an undisciplined program. So Raheem’s thought process of “every single time a guy gets fired” it’s about discipline makes no sense.

Raheem just doesn’t seem to get that a disciplined football team never would have performed the way the Bucs did over the final 10 games of 2012.

You can listen to the entire interview below.

“Hey, Dom, if you gave me Peppers instead of Stylez, I’d still be vibin’ in Tampa.”

The man at the helm during the Bucs’ heinous, historic 10-game losing streak last season, Raheem Morris, said today he put fingers to keypad when the Bucs exploded in free agency and grabbed Vincent Jackson, Carl Nicks and Eric Wright soon after the bell rang on spending season in March.

Raheem joined WDAE-AM 620 this morning to explain that while he’s focused on his new job and moving forward with his career, he couldn’t help but needle rockstar general manager Mark Dominik, a man Raheem called “one of my friends forever.”

“I sent him a nice text that I won’t be able to say over the phone,” Raheem said.

The Bucs had among the lowest payrolls in the NFL when Raheem was head coach.

“I gave [Dominik] some nice choice words,” Morris told the Tampa Bay Times in a story published today.”But he was great about it. He laughed. He said he knew he was going to get this phone message.”

Raheem went on today to talk  about how he scoffs at comments from those who say he ran an undisciplined program.

Joe will bring more from the interview later.

“Jimminy Christmas! You ladies smell a lot better than Mike Tirico. I’ll give you that.”

The most famous former Hooters employee likely never to have worn a bra is reconnecting with his ex-employer.

Soon you’ll be seeing Jon Gruden pitching wings, beer and good times for the famous 430-plus-location chain, reports Nation’s Restaurant News.

JoeBucsFan.com has confirmed that Gruden will be seen in a variety of Hooters advertisements, including an Internet campaign on this website.

Gruden worked at Hooters on Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa during his college days.

“I was good at shaking the wings and shucking the oysters. If you’re good, you can shuck two or three dozen in an hour. . . You want to make sure the batter is evenly distributed. You don’t want to bruise the bird,” Gruden told the St. Pete Times in 2003.

It’s unclear whether Gruden quit that job or was fired with three years left on his kitchen-boy contract.

Joe doesn’t get how Chucky will attract more football fans to Hooters than, say, a gorgeous Hooters girl, but it’ll be fun to see how he attacks his new gig.

Joe’s not one to care deeply about the bottom of the Bucs’ roster, but that doesn’t mean Joe isn’t paying attention.

And one thing that intrigues Joe is the tight end/fullback situation.

At tight end, the Bucs have injury-prone and mysterious-malady-plagued Luke Stocker, along with Dallas Clark, who has missed 15 games over the last two seasons. So Joe’s not sure the Bucs would be or should be satisfied keeping only one additional tight end. Zach Pianalto and rookies Danny Noble and Drake Dunsmore are the other TEs on the roster now.

Combine that with the Bucs’ situation at fullback, which is starter Erik Lorig, plus Robert Hughes and Cody Johnson, who have no NFL regular season experience, and there’s hardly much depth at these positions. There’s no Insurance Graham to fall back on.

So how do the Bucs proceed? Joe suspects the Bucs might lean toward a fourth tight end that also can take snaps at fullback, and then cut Hughes and hope he’s available for practice-squad duty.  

Of course, how these bubble guys perform on special teams will be key. And that’s something Joe will be watching tomorrow night.

It’s back!

Click on through below to learn more about the best deal in Tampa Bay sports.

Greg Schiano explained that LeGarrette Blount lost his position battle on film

Today the leader of the New Schiano Order explained the reaction of LeGarrette Blount to being named the Bucs’ No. 2 running back.

Greg Schiano said the film didn’t lie and Blount’s a team-first guy who has a chance to reclaim his starting role.

“[Blount’s] disappointed, but he’s been great. I mean, he’s about this team. He’s about us winning,” Schiano said.

“When you watch the tape, and LeGarrette’s a smart guy, and he watches the tape, he sees that he got outperformed,” Schiano said. “But it doesn’t mean that that’s it. As I told him, ‘That could go the other way if you outperform [Martin].’ We don’t hand jobs and sign them over, you know, it’s always competition around here, continual.”

Joe was most intrigued by Schiano’s line, “We don’t hand jobs and sign them over.” It’ll be interesting to analyze how that might apply to the Bucs’ final roster.

Joe apologizes at the mere mention of his name, but the lesson of Sean Mayhem shouldn’t be forgotten.

The 2009 season was extraordinarily painful, and one major lowlight was the turnstile imitation turned in by backup center Sean Mayhan, aka Sean Mayhem.

The A-gap often looked like the Selmon Expressway when Mayhem was in the game. 

Jeff Faine missed four starts and Mayhem was historically awful and was released in October of that year and never heard from again in the NFL at the ripe old age of 29. 

So it was interesting to Joe when former Bucs guard Ian Beckles lobbied on the WDAE-AM 620 airwaves today for the Bucs to move Jeremy Zuttah over to right guard and let Ted Larsen, the current backup center, take the Bucs’ center gig full-time.

“You can hide a center; and you can lose a game at guard,” Beckles said, explaining a center takes on fewer double-teams than a guard.”

Beckles said Zuttah can keep his line-call duties at right guard, a move he said wouldn’t break new ground in the NFL. And Beckles said he considers Larsen solid and serviceable.

Joe’s unsure about this. The Bucs proved in 2009 that a lousy center can be exploited and exposed.

Regardless, Joe would like to see Larsen and Derek Hardman slug it out at right guard unless rockstar general manager Mark Dominik can find a can’t-miss dude to replace Davin Joseph. Hardman and Larsen are both in their third seasons and were successful as starters in 2010. One of them should have what it takes to play some decent football.

In his weekly offering to Joe, good guy Dave Wirth, sports director at WTSP-TV Channel 10, which just happens to be one of Joe’s proud media partners, offers his insight into the Bucs’ final preseason game Wednesday at Washington. (Remember, the live game broadcast starts at 7 p.m.)

Joe’s drooling at the thought of watching the Rays tonight while enjoying this amazing deal at Hooters on 4th St. in St. Pete, and at the Tyrone Square Hooters in St. Pete.

What a great way to feast and watch baseball! Don’t miss it! Click here to get the exact locations.

The mercurial NFL analyst Adam Schein, of SiriusXM NFL Radio and FOXSports.com, has pulled the ol’ switcheroo when it comes to his prediction for the 2012 Bucs.

Shame on you, Schein.

On his radio show, Schein said the Bucs “will win 9 or 10 games,” but in his new prediction for NFL.com, Schein claims the Bucs are a 7-9 team.

Disgraceful flip-flopping. 

Joe finds it impossible to believe Schein puts that much stock in Davin Joseph’s injury, and it’s unclear whether Schein even submitted his prediction to NFL.com after Joseph blew out his knee.

Feel free to discuss this with Shein today during his SiriusXM NFL Radio show with co-host Rich Gannon. “The Blitz” starts at 11 a.m.; the studio line is (877) NFL- KICK.

The moment it was learned that Bucs right guard Davin Joseph suffered an ugly knee injury, Joe was peppered with the following question:

Can the Bucs sign Jeff Faine?

Well, the answer to that question is obviously, sure they could sign Faine.

The more accurate answer is, No. The former Bucs center, whose agent is currently dabbling with the Bengals, has been unemployed since Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik sent Faine packing earlier this spring.

In other words, the Bucs (and it seems, most of the NFL), have turned turned the page on Faine.

The reason why Bucs fans were curious about Faine is his return would allow center Jeremy Zuttah to shift to right guard, a position he played in 2008 when Joseph was dinged up, and Zuttah played admirably.

Though Joe is of the mind Zuttah isn’t going to be moved to right guard, there’s a belief by some that Zuttah very well could move to right guard, so writes Dave Scheiber of FoxSportsFlorida.com.

Might the Bucs look outside the organization for reinforcements?

“I think we have the answer internally already,” Schiano said. “That’s why we’ve been trying to build depth at all the positions. But we always look outside. That’s a constant. If there’s somebody we think fits our mold, then we’ll try to do what we can to get him.”

In a possible scenario that Schiano didn’t rule out, Scheiber believes there is a chance that Ted Larsen, who replaced Joseph last week, could be moved to center, which would allow Zuttah to slide to his right to fill Joseph’s void.

The players thrown on the street yesterday by NFL teams to cut down rosters to 75 were largely camp meat, bartenders, truck drivers, insurance claims adjusters.

By Friday, teams have to get down to their 53-man, regular-season rosters. There will be quite a few talented guards and centers looking for work. Joe won’t be shocked if Dominik brings in a few to kick the tires on as the offensive line is juggled to find the right mix for the season opener against Carolina.

Hmmm, there was one significant change to the depth chart released tonight.

Joe’s not naive enough to believe that the New Schiano Order makes uncalculated moves.

Every detail has a meaning.

So it’s worth noting that the new depth chart released by the Bucs this evening in advance of Wednesday’s Bucs-Redskins game shows Doug Martin as the starting running back. The three previous depth charts issued by the Bucs all had LeGarrette Blount as the No. 1 RB.

Joe sees no other significant changes to the depth chart other than those that reflect players waived today and Ted Larsen stepping up for injured Davin Joseph.

Of course, the cut-and-paste job at running back could be a Schiano move to confuse the Carolina Panthers or send a message to Blount. Regardless, Joe expects Blount will get his chance to run over Luke Kuechly on opening day.