A bounce back season by Josh Freeman would prove the Bucs were the most improved team in the NFL offseason.

The unofficial “dead period” in the NFL calendar, from the end of the final minicamp to the start of training camp, offers time for reflection on each team, much like spring training does baseball.

How have teams improved or taken steps back? This question was posed to a bevy of NFL.com writers recently and Daniel Jeremiah, a former NFL scout who is best known for his thoughtful NFL takes on Twitter under the moniker of @MoveTheSticks, believes the Bucs were the most improved team over the past few months.

The one team that has improved the most this offseason is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After a disastrous 2011 season, they have made several impactful moves to improve their squad.

First of all, they hired a very discipline-oriented head coach in Greg Schiano. Then they were extremely aggressive in free agency, bringing in premier players like WR Vincent Jackson and OG Carl Nicks. Finally, they hit a home run in April’s draft. Safety Mark Barron and RB Doug Martin are both instant-impact players who will provide upgrades on both sides of the ball.

The NFC South is one of the NFL’s toughest divisions, but the Bucs are now in position to compete for a playoff spot.

Are the Bucs an improved team? Joe has no doubt. It doesn’t take a whole lot to improve on a woeful 4-12 debacle.

Are the Bucs improved enough to make a run at a playoff berth? Whew, Joe’s not so sure about that. Aside from possibly the NFC North, no division is tougher than the top-heavy NFC South (please spare Joe about the annually overrated and horribly over-hyped NFC East).

For the Bucs to make the playoffs, the team will likely have to leapfrog Carolina with an improved defense, an already stout running attack, and Cam Newton, who appears to be a total stud of a quarterback.

For the Bucs to improve enough to play in January, the defense has to be strong and quarterback Josh Freeman must somehow reverse his awful 22-interception season last year.

Marcellus Wiley, Herm Edwards, Eric Mangini and Gulf High School’s Sara Walsh discuss the lay of the land in the NFC South in this BSPN video.

The leader of the New Schiano Order is obsessed with fundamentals, details and everything else he can control. And Greg Schiano is proud to lead in this fashion.

Control what you can control, Schiano says, and staying on top of those details gives you an edge. But Schiano is a realist. Speaking on Mad Dog Radio on SiriusXM last week, the Bucs head coach was quick to say he’s learned through his long college coaching career how to delegate and trust the people in his organization and he’s not a micromanager the way many might imagine.

But his obsession with fundamentals on the field is clear to all, even Bucs icon Ronde Barber who’s seen more than most since he was drafted in 1997. Woody Cummings, of The Tampa Tribune, documented Barber’s perspective and checked in with John Lynch, who recalled Monte Kiffin pressing daily fundamentals.

“Everybody talks about fundamentals, but [Schiano] hammers it,” CB Ronde Barber said. “We get fundamentals every day. He’s definitely a teacher and that’s a good thing. He takes that coach moniker to a whole other level.”

… The constant attention to fundamentals can be annoying.

Former Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin ran a daily cone drill to remind players of their gap assignments that one-time Bucs S John Lynch described as “tedious.” Lynch also described the drill as invaluable because it produced muscle memories that kicked in naturally on game days.

Joe hopes the Bucs’ defense can craft some of this muscle memory in time for opening day. Instinctive tackling, guys in gaps, and great hand technique at the line of scrimmage would be glorious to watch. Joe has almost forgotten what that looks like.

Definitely click on through to learn more and/or shop online at Ed Morse Brandon Auto Mall. Joe bought his pre-owned Ford at Ed Morse and had a fantastic experience. Not a peep of trouble with the vehicle in 16 months. You’ll be amazed by the selection, price and service at Ed Morse.

Joe was so disgusted by the play of the Bucs defense last year he doesn’t know where to start. During the grotesque 10-game losing streak to close the season, Joe didn’t know whether to chug Jack Daniels or Mylanta the defense played so horribly.

The key culprit was the play of the linebackers. Sure, Mason Foster racked up tackles (not like he didn’t have any chances to rack up tackles). Foster was playing out of position, had zero offseason and, if that wasn’t enough, he was saddled with the important responsibility of calling defensive plays.

Talk about being thrown into the fire.

Getting little help from either side of Foster, or from up front, Joe cannot think of a worse linebacker corps in the NFL in 2011.

That seems to be changing under the New Schiano Order, which places signifcant emphasis on stopping the run, something the Bucs haven’t done for years. Sure, it’s awfully early, training camp is six weeks away, and for the handful of practices the Bucs have had, they have been in underwear. It’s nearly impossible to gauge how linebackers are playing when contact is disallowed, but by the judgement of Bucs defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan, rookie linebacker Lavonte David is already shining, as Stephen Holder of the Tampa Bay Times documents.

David is progressing and living up to the high expectations. Billed as a sideline-to-sideline playmaker with elite coverage skills, David has shown some of those traits.

“If you were just playing five-on-five backyard tackle, I’d bet he’d make a ton of tackles, and that’s what we’re counting on him doing out here.” defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan said. “He’s got to learn all the intricacies of the defense and coverage, but he’s instinctive. I’ll bet he makes 10 tackles in the first preseason game. Not to put any pressure on him.

“He is a talent and I expect him to be a playmaker. … I anticipate him having an excellent year.”

This gets Joe so fired up he could start downing beers… on a Sunday morning, no less.

Joe is enamoured with David. Joe watched quite a few Nebraska games last year and astute readers will recall Joe waxing about the Bucs acquiring David before the 2011 season was completed.

The Bucs sorely missed a linebacker who pursued from bench to bench.

Father’s Day is here and don’t forget about the new Hooters on Clearwater Beach with its glorious rooftop bar/dining area. Also, all Original Hooters locations are offering the fabulous deal below. Don’t take dad to some stuffy place where he can’t watch the Rays and is left yearning for fun.

There are, of course, pros and cons to the Bucs changing the coaching staff after ending last season on a grotesque 10-game losing streak.

The con is that for this year with Mike Sullivan, Freeman has this third offensive coordinator in four seasons. This is not good for a young quarterback, just ask Jason Campbell and Alex Smith.

But the pros to this move, aside from the obvious, are that different sets of eyes will be working with Freeman, trying to fix whatever ailed him in his 22-interception season in 2011.

Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan and quarterback Ron Turner (Ron Turner?) have jumped in the pool head-first to try to right Freeman, so reports the Associated Press.

”At times, perhaps Josh may have been trying to do a little bit too much. I think he’s a very competitive young man,” Sullivan said. ”He’s a very talented player, and coach Turner’s done a phenomenal job with him this spring honing in on some specific fundamentals and some of his mechanics.

”We’ve talked about decision-making and the importance of it within our scheme. … The bottom line is we can’t score if we don’t have the football,” Sullivan said. ”I know that’s an over simplification, but more games are lost than are won because people are giving away opportunities.”

Bucs fans will hear a lot about “decision-making” in the coming weeks. Consider that phrase code for “not forcing a ball to a narcissistic me-first tight end who is always demanding the ball despite three defenders  draped all over his back.”

That option has been eliminated.

Joe can already hear the saliva dripping from the legions of armchair football geniuses. Oh, 2012 is going to be one hell of a season.

In a move that will forever change coverage of the NFL, as well as fan engagement, the league is making available “Coaches Film” to fans for every single play via the NFL.com Game Rewind package. The cost is only $70 a season.

Simply put, every average bozo who likes to break down film off the TV feed has only been getting the chance to really see about 20 percent of the action. Now everyone who forks over the cash will be able to see just about everything: overhead looks, end zone feeds, etc.

Joe is very excited. Anything that gets fans more engaged and lets Joe dive deeper into the Bucs is a great thing. What will be most interesting to Joe is how various media types react. The NFL is so damn popular that Joe’s not sure how beat writers/talk show hosts are going to be able to get by with merely watching games live or simply staying up to speed via old school TV.

In an effort to be thankful for the little things in life, Joe’s pleased that this technology wasn’t available to Bucs fans during the grotesque 10-game losing streak.

Check the post below this one if you haven’t experienced the “Real Sh*t” venting by former Bucs TE Kellen Winslow, Jr. that Joe posted late last night. Winslow, while completely relaxed and thoughtful, essentially said he couldn’t stand the New Schiano Order because the coach is too serious and Winslow couldn’t joke around and have a good time at practice. (This from the guy who can’t participate fully and/or regularly in most practices.)

Therefore Winslow passed on OTA practices and made it known he was disinterested in being a Buccaneer. What a teammate!

This has many thoughts swirling in Joe’s head:

1. With an attitude like that, what kind of cancer at any point was Winslow for workaholic Josh Freeman?
2. Given the baggage Winslow brought to Tampa Bay, did Mark Dominik err in trading away a second round pick for him? Previously, Joe made the argument that Winslow wasn’t a bad deal because he was a key figure/target in Freeman’s development. That’s still true, but Winslow may have had more downside than previously thought.
3. How many other current Buccaneers can’t stand the New Schiano Order?
4. As Jeff Darlington astutely wrote recently on NFL.com, Schiano’s demanding ways mean players will have to see results relatively quickly or there could be a mutiny or they could no longer buy in. What might the timing/threshold of that be?
5. Clearly, Schiano did Winslow a favor by not commenting to media on Winslow’s departure. Schiano took heat from on that from many scribes, but he might have built some serious trust points among the Bucs who knew of Winslow’s attitude/deal. And now everyBuccaneer knows Winslow was too much of a mental midget to handle life under the New Schiano Order.

Any Bucs fan who thought Kellen Winslow and Greg Schiano were going to get along swimmingly was treated to a rude awakening when Winslow suddenly was traded to Seattle after he didn’t show up to an OTA session this spring.

Now Winslow has confirmed what most Bus fans thought: he blew off OTAs purposely because he quickly developed a hatred for Schiano and his strict ways.

Speaking on Michael Robinson’s “Real Rob Report,” Winslow blasted Schiano for his attention to detail. Fueled by his still lingering anger over the Bucs jettisoning Raheem Morris and not wanting to cooperate with Schiano, Winslow explained he decided his days with the Bucs were done, so reports Will Brinson of CBSSports.com.

“Real [bleep?] Schiano came over there, uh, [bleeping?] ‘TOES ON THE LINE! TOES ON THE LINE!’ Blowing the whistle. You can’t laugh. You can’t joke around. So I decided not to go to OTAs,” Winslow said. “You know they got my man Ra [Raheem Morris] up out of there, and I was loyal to him. Woulda take a bullet for that dude. So I had to roll, man.”

Asked by Robinson what “was so cool about” Raheem Morris, Winslow said he’s a “player’s coach,” not a “company coach” and that the Bucs “fired the wrong dude.”

“The cool thing about Rah is, Rah could be here talking to us right now,” Winslow said. “He wasn’t a company coach. He was a player’s coach. I mean, just everything about him man. He was real. You could talk to him face-to-face, real man-to-man. They fired the wrong dude up there.”

Joe calls bullspit on this. Joe saw plenty of laughing and hooting and hollering Thursday when Schiano had Donald Penn catch a pass to end practice.

Look, the Bucs lost 10 games in a row last year to close the season, many grotesquely so. There shouldn’t be any laughing after that crap! Joe guessing in Winslow’s eyes that meant more of the same kind of practices.

Or is Winslow upset because Schiano probably was going to force him to practice, which he skated on with Morris, fairly, to protect his gimpy knees?

Joe wishes Winslow the best in Seattle. Maybe Pete Carroll won’t mind if Winslow runs a wrong route in the 17th week of the season blowing up a teammate in the process.

Below is the video of Winslow’s tirade. Fast-forward to the 4:21 mark.

Update: The luxury bus is staying for the postgame concert on Sunday. We’ve had many sellouts this season, so don’t wait too long.

The sometimes sizzling, sometimes fizzling Rays are back home this weekend, which means it’s time to have more fun going to Rays games and save money.

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There will be plenty of external heat on Gerald McCoy from the opening whistle this season as he tries to live up to his draft-day status and whopping paycheck in his third year.

However, the inside-One-Buc pressure on McCoy already is on, so he told Jeff Darlington of The Man Channel, aka NFL Network. The video link is here. McCoy was asked to give his take on Bucs defensive front seven coach Bryan Cox and revealed that Cox is zeroing in.

“He’s been on me as of late a lot about my pass rush,” McCoy said. “Because he said I have all the tools necessary, just need to fine tune them.”

Interestingly, in a Buccaneers.com video in recent days, one could see a scene of Greg Schiano talking to McCoy about hand-work becoming more instinctive, “Bing, bang, boom,” Schiano said.

Joe, like every other Bucs fan and his coaches, is yearning to see McCoy open his tool box and start hammering away with his finely tuned instruments — week in and week out.

OK folks, buckle up. It’s a steamy Friday afternoon and Joe is thirsty. This makes Joe cranky.

There’s another thing that makes Joe irritable: That’s Bucs offensive coaches last year slandering running back LeGarrette Blount.

Now Joe is funny about coaches. Joe’s a big coaches kind of guy. Dates back to the respect and relationship Joe had with his old football coach, a guy that played for John Madden, Tom Landry, Gene Stallings and Lou Holtz (not bad, huh?).

To Joe, coaches are teachers. Good coaches dedicated to their craft, like teachers, will go above and beyond the call of duty to exhaust every possible way to help you improve. In some respects, it’s called “responsibility.”

Last year, Bucs offensive coaches leaked all sorts of awful things about Blount, some of which Joe does not deny were true, for example, not being punctual for meetings and perhaps not knowing the playbook as well as others (neither did Kellen Winslow, by the way).

One fallacy that was whispered about Blount was that he couldn’t catch passes out of the backfield. Joe thought this was strange in that Joe saw Blount with his own eyes catch balls in training camp, and then there was a 29-yard reception against one of the NFL’s top defenses, San Francisco.

Well, yesterday at One Buc Palace following the end of minicamp, new Bucs coach Greg Schiano slammed the door on this nonsense that Blount can’t catch when asked about Blount’s pass-catching ability.

“I thought he did a pretty good job,” Schiano said of Blount catching balls in minicamp. “Just watching what I saw here and on tape, does he have good hands? I think his hands are fine. I don’t know how that will translate into our game plan but he can catch the football and that is a plus.”

Simply put, Blount was misused if not unused last year by a staff that didn’t know how to use him, didn’t know how to coach him up, and as a result leaked all sorts of foul things about him in a desperate, shameless attempt to save their own hides.

Consider, this is the offensive coaching staff that called for Blount, who averaged five yards a carry in 2010, to touch the ball five times in a season-opening loss to the Lions. FIVE!

Why, Blount was so terrible of a pass catcher, he caught two less passes (15) than Frank Gore of the 49ers (17). Strange, to Joe’s knowledge, there was no angst from Jim Harbaugh’s staff nor outrage from Niners fans that Gore seemingly can’t catch the ball out of the backfield.

As for Blount being late to meetings or allegedly not knowing the playbook, Joe has a couple of stories from two of greatest coaches in American sport.

If anyone during this current downtime of the NFL calendar wants a good book to read, Joe suggests Season on the Brink, a riveting inside look at Bob Knight in his heyday coaching the Indiana Hoosiers.

Knight had a player named Steve Eyl, who in Knight’s system was a good player in that he did so many little things right, and was a part-time starter for Knight’s last NCAA championship in 1987 (led by lethal-shooting Steve Alford). But Eyl’s Achilles was shooting. He was terrible.

Knight exhausted all measures in trying to get Eyl to shoot better. Not wanting to give up on Eyl, Knight would bring in friends of his, such as John Havlicek, to work with Eyl. When this produced limited results, Knight would bring in PGA Tour pros to work with Eyl as Knight believed a shooting stroke in basketball was no different than a golf swing.

Also, when Knight hired graduate assistant coaches, one of their responsibilities was to actually pick up and chauffeur players to practice. If a player was late, not only would the player pay, but so too would the grad assistants. It was their job to find a way, any way, to see to it the players were at practice on time.

Did Olson really go out of his way to try to help Blount? Joe has his doubts.

Then there is a story Joe heard Bill Parcells speak of. When he was a young college assistant, Parcells thought he was clear to a player about a specific assignment and when the player blew that assignment on the very first play, Parcells totally lost control and railed at the player when Parcell’s head coach pulled him aside and told Parcells, “Well coach, you obviously weren’t clear enough with the young man.”

Did Olson do his best to help Blount learn every nuance of the playbook fully? Did he even go so far as to perhaps hire a tutor to help Blount learn the playbook, if indeed he did not know the plays?

Again, Joe has his doubts. If Olson was truly more concerned about winning than just giving orders, he would have taken a page out of Knight and Parcells’ book of coaching and done his best to ensure Blount was on time and knew his playbook, therefore helping the team win, not just whine and shrug shoulders and point fingers.

Lastly — and no one has been able to give Joe a clear answer on this — if Blount was this much of an albatross to the team, then why the hell was he on the active roster? If he was on the active roster, then use him. If he didn’t know the playbook, he shouldn’t have been active.

Joe’s looking forward to seeing what coaches who are motivated to help players can get out of Blount.

To those new to JoeBucsFan.com, or those among the legions of readers that only come around here once in a while, Joe must advise you that this website does not sleep. It’s a 24/7 Bucs-obsessed operation that does not take a day off, does not go on vacation, and takes great pride in working perhaps its hardest to serve you during the alleged down time in the NFL — now through about July 25.

The point it is you can come here daily to get your Bucs fix. Joe already has fun stuff planned for later today and this weekend.

Joe thanks you for your patronage.

Looking back on the now completed Bucs offseason, after minicamp ended yesterday with Donald Penn showing off his punt-catching skills, it was nothing if not interesting.

Where does Joe start? The hiring of Greg Schiano, the free agent frenzy from Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik? The wheeling and dealing during the first two days of the draft? The selection of safety Mark Barron and running back Muscle Hamster Doug Martin? The trade of Kellen Winslow?

Whew. Joe cannot remember such an active Bucs offseason.

Almost lost in the shuffle is the re-signing of veteran graybeard Ronde Barber.

Now Barber has been playing safety and both Schiano and Dominik have noted that Barber will play safety, but do not turn the page on Barber’s cornerback days. In this NFL Network video, Barber explains that he has multiple positions to play and cannot be pigeonholed.

On a similar note, last night on “Total Access” on the NFL Network (Joe likes to call it “the Man Channel” because real men have and enjoy the NFL Network), former Bucs great Warren Sapp called Barber “a gambler” for his play at cornerback (not an original read on Barber’s play) and Sapp jokingly — through the camera — told Barber that if he gambles at safety like he does at corner, Barber could put himself in trouble.

“You can’t gamble at safety,” Sapp said, suggesting Barber may have a learning curve by flipping to safety.

The human armoire, Carl Nicks, the Bucs’ new manbeast All-Pro left guard, was darn happy the first mandatory minicamp of the New Schiano Order ended yesterday.

Nicks shared his pleasure — and fatigue — with multimedia czar J.P. Peterson, host of Happy Hour with J.P. on 1010 AM yesterday.

Nicks was asked to compare Greg Schiano and his former head coach, NFL pariah Sean Payton. This question flummoxed Nicks a bit and he explained that Payton is “meticulous” like Schiano but what he’s seen of the on-field world of Schiano “is kind of foreign in the NFL.” Peyton is a more traditional NFL coach, Nicks said, in terms of how practice is run.

“But it will help us,” Nicks said of Schiano’s drills and order.

Interestingly, Nicks said he believes the Bucs offense can be “one of the best in the NFL.” He also went out of his way to mention Mike Williams and Vincent Jackson, and Nicks said he’s long been aware of LeGarrette Blount’s talent, and he said Doug Martin is a do-it-all back who is a “faster version of Pierre Thomas.”

Joe was pleased to hear that scouting report from Nicks, who last week — before minicamp — said he doesn’t pay much attention to rookies.

Joe’ not going to get greedy. If Martin can give the Bucs what Thomas has given the Saints when he’s healthy, then that would be a fabulous complement to Blount.

Joe’s pal Dave Wirth over at WTSP-TV, Ch. 10 got an exclusive sit-down with Josh Freeman at his football camp last weekend. Interestingly, without being asked for names, Freeman volunteered that Vincent Jackson, Mike Williams and Preston Parker have been “dominiating, dominating, OTAs.”

There’s more good stuff in here, some of which Joe will touch on soon.

Gerald McCoy was the key cog in the Bucs’ defense last season, so said Ronde Barber a couple of months ago. And, as Bucs fans know too well, McCoy tore his bicep while reaching during Game 6 of the 2011 season and the Bucs’ defense then went on a historically ugly tear enroute to a 10-game losing streak.

Raheem Morris took to the radio airwaves the day after McCoy’s injury and blasted his defensive tackle’s “Pop Warner” arm tackle.

Speaking out yesterday about life in the New Schiano Order, McCoy fired back at critiques of his fundamentals, so recorded Woody Cummings of The Tampa Tribune.

McCoy, the No. 3 overall draft pick in 2010, has no plans to change his tackling technique. It was blamed in part for last season’s injury, which occurred when McCoy reached his arm out to slow Saints running back Chris Ivory.

“I think that was all interpreted wrong, me reaching out to make a tackle,” McCoy said. “Most people don’t realize that as a D-lineman, it’s rare when you just come freely like a linebacker does, so you reach out to get a hand on him just to slow him down so your guys can come up, and that’s all I was doing.”

“The last time, our new Pro Bowl guard Carl Nicks was pulling on the play (for the Saints) and I threw him past and there’s the running back. So, I’m either going to jump out of the way or try to slow him down, and I tried to slow him down. Well, I don’t think I slowed him down that much. But I don’t have to change my technique.”

That’s interesting. So who’s right? McCoy or Raheem.

McCoy continued:

A series of tackling drills coach Greg Schiano instituted should help McCoy avoid additional injuries, McCoy said, because it helps him become a more technically sound tackler.

“Coach Schiano has us doing (that) tackling circuit before every practice and I’ve never done anything like that, so it’s teaching me how to tackle,” McCoy said. “I was just playing football before, but him putting us through that tackling circuit, it’s really helping us get better.”

Well, McCoy saying Greg Schiano’s drills are “teaching me how to tackle” was probably a poor choice of words.

Regardless, the play of McCoy is a massive piece of the puzzle if the Bucs are to sniff a winning record in 2012. “The Dini” must stay healthy and produce. He has no more biceps to surgically repair, no more tackling technique to master, and no more excuses.

Joe can see it now: Bucs fans are already taking sides.

There is the LeGarrette Blount faction that believes his talents were grossly misused by the previous offensive coaches, who did their best to slander the man in a desperate attempt to save their jobs.

Then, there are the Blount haters, who swallowed former Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson’s words whole, about how Blount was liable for just about every ill in the world from drought in the Midwest to the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

So for those who are of the mind that there is tension between Blount and Martin, think again, so Martin told Joe after minicamp at One Buc Palace today.

In fact, the two are bros, Martin said, and the running backs as a whole are bonding like a family. When Joe asked Martin if he had developed any relationship with Blount yet, Martin didn’t hold back.

“Oh yeah, of course! We are awesome,” Martin said. “He’s a funny guy both on and off the field.”

(No, Martin wasn’t doing a Joe Pesci act. In fact, Martin confessed he has never seen “Goodfellas.”)

In fact, Martin enjoys Blount’s sense of humor, which he said will come out in meeting rooms to needle fellow running backs from time to time.

“We crack a few jokes. We have a lot of characters [among the running backs].”

Rather than there being friction between the two in their quest for touches, Martin said that he and Blount are good for each other. Martin motivates Blount to be the best he can be and Martin said Blount motives him to be his best self.

And the winner is the Bucs.

“You are competing with everybody,” Martin said. “All it will do is make everybody better. Competition is better for all of us.”

There are huge expectations for the Bucs’ passing game after the team signed free agent stud wide receiver Vincent Jackson this winter.

Jackson politely dismisses any talk that he’s something of a savior, or even better than his wide receiver teammates by admitting in many ways he’s just like a rookie because, along with every other Bucs players, the team is adjusting to the New Schiano Order.

Despite this, Jackson is trying to be a big brother to Mike Williams, Arrelious Benn and other young Bucs receivers. Jackson is actively trying to take a leadership role with the wide receiver unit and helping out when he can, confessing he must learn the new system first before he can impart much wisdom to his receiving brethren.

“It’s a new system, we were all on the same page coming in here, but as guys, we are helping each other,” Jackson said after the final day of minicamp at One Buc Palace. “They are sharing tips with me, there are things I can improve on. Some of these young guys, there are some things they have not been fundamentally coached on. We are going to be disciplined. Technique is everything in this league.

“We want to be one of the best receiving corps in this league. I think with the years under my belt and the things I have accomplished, [younger receivers] look up to me. I’m not a real in-your-face kind of leader but I lead by example. I come to work every day, I take good notes and I think they see that.”

Mike Williams admits that Jackson has pushed him to study more tape than he normally would.

“Getting off the field, you watch a little film and then you go home,” Williams said. “That’s not Vincent. You get off the field and watch a little bit of film, he makes you watch a little bit more. Then you think you have a little bit more film done, and he makes you watch a little bit more.

“He makes you watch yourself and watch what defenders are doing to you. That is kind of what I learned from him: You have to keep evaluating yourself and evaluating other players too.”

It was a very abbreviated final day of minicamp practice at One Buc Palace today, thanks to Donald Penn’s punt returning ability.

OK, the not so svelte Pro Bowl left tackle didn’t actually return a punt. But he did catch a punt, with zero warning from the new Bucs coach.

The reward? Practice, and minicamp, was over.

Not even Penn knew why he was chosen for such an honor, learning of his task roughly an hour into practice.

“I guess because I’m always talking,” Penn joked.

It was a welcome relief to the Bucs players who celebrated as if they received word Rachel Watson was now single and free beer was on tap.

It was sort of a reward by Schiano who praised the Bucs for an intense minicamp, which was seconded by Penn himself. Schiano “wanted the intensity level to be this high,” Penn said, raising his right hand. “And it stayed there.”

As for catching the punt from a Jugs gun, Penn was confident he would catch it, and bragged the result would have been the same if Michael Koenen was punting instead.

Years ago, teenage Joe attended a basketball clinic that had a particularly frenetic high-energy coach. Joe remembers this guy because said coach screamed in Joe’s face to make an example out of him. Joe can still feel the spit hitting his face and hear the words, “Why am I working harder than you?”

Bucs wide receivers coach P.J. Fleck at practice, Joe can’t help but think of that hoops coach. Fleck maintains such a passionate intensity that Joe can’t imagine any Bucs wideouts slacking off — and getting away with it.

Joe tried to take you into Fleck’s wild world last week, and cool guy Bucs beat writer Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger offered a Fleck nugget yesterday.

One of the coaches who have a high-amount of energy is receivers coach P.J. Fleck. He’s verbal on every individual receiver and there’s no mistaking his stance on an issue.

Take Wednesday, after receiver Preston Parker ran this drill particularly well, this is what Fleck said, “I love it! I love it! I got a man crush on (Parker).”

It’s that kind of energy that is infectious toward a young team.

As Joe wrote yesterday, Parker is getting an awful lot of love this offseason, from Greg Schiano to Josh Freeman to a new contract to becoming Fleck’s man crush. Frankly, it seems Parker has matured, so a new Buccaneers.com feature story details, and he’s responding to Fleck’s style.

Joe’s hardly sold on Parker as a return man, but he seems on track for big numbers in 2012, especially if Vincent Jackson is stretching the field and demanding a lot of attention.