A common perception of the Bucs defense is that defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan, under the watchful gaze of Bucs commander Greg Schiano, has all-world cornerback Darrelle Revis playing much more zone coverage than man-to-man.

This is not completely accurate (or inaccurate). Revis has played zone, true. But some fans, for whatever reason, are under the misguided notion that Revis is playing more zone than man coverage.

It seems Sheridan is tiring of this perception and wants to help Bucs fans out. In fact, he’s even open-minded to getting fans’ suggestions to better the Bucs defense. Sheridan, during his weekly press conference this afternoon at One Buc Palace, invited fans to sit in with defensive assistants to craft a gameplan.

When asked about fans’ perception that Revis is playing mostly man, Sheridan flashed an ear-to-ear grin and said:

“What are they chirping about? Tell me what they are chirping.

“What I invite them to do is, join us. I get here about 5:20 a.m. every single morning. And they are more than welcome to hang around until 11 p.m. for the first four nights of the week and they can help us put the whole gameplan together.

“We have all the free Cokes you would want in the building. And we’ll be happy to take their suggestions on how we could better use Darrelle. Trust me when I tell you we painstakingly game plan how to best use all our personnel. Not just Darrelle.

“But I appreciate the chirping.”

The smile never left Sheridan’s face when he invited public input. His remarks can be found here at the 4:20 mark.

Joe has to give Sheridan a lot of props. Many thin-skinned coaches would have blown up. Sheridan was good-natured and had some fun.

At least someone isn’t wound too tight at One Buc Palace during these dark days for the franchise.

It’s the JoeBucsFan.com weekly podcast with the smooth-toned broadcast wizard, Ronnie Lane of WDAE-AM 620 and the Buccaneers Radio Network.

The NFL is tougher on the body than Olympic Track & Field. Today, it was learned Bucs returner/receiver Jeff Demps had groin surgery after getting injured against the Eagles.

This is unfortunate, considering the Bucs hoped to methodically add packages with Demps to the offense. The threat of Demps’ speed, if not his talent with the ball, was a plus that was just being realized.

Joe wishes Demps well. One would think Eric Page would re-claim the kickoff return role.

Yes, all teams have injuries, but the Bucs are racking up a stunning number this season.

TBO’s Patrick Welter and Tampa Tribune humorist Martin Fennelly discuss the grim outlook for the Bucs in this TBO.com video.

Former Bucs QB Shaun King, now with NBC Sports, breaks down the Bucs’ new gunslinger.

Count former Bucs quarterback Shaun King as a guy on the Mike Glennon bandwagon. (Joe will have to ask King personally if he’s a member of the popular Mike Glennon Mob.)

King, one of three QBs to lead the Bucs to the NFC title game, was his usual candid self on the Ron and Ian show on WDAE-AM 620 this morning. King evaluated Glennon and said Glennon is nearly playing up to his personal potential.

“He’s played fine. He’s thrown to the open guy. He’s done things a young quarterback has done late in games by making mistakes. But he’s shown some positive signs.  I just don’t know if he’s ever going to be a franchise quarterback. But I mean I’m not upset with the way he’s played. He’s kind of what Greg Schiano wants. He wants a guy that’s just going to go back and throw the checkdown and hit the open guy. But it’s tough to score points in this league like that. You know, if you can’t create chunk plays on offense, and the one area he’s really struggled is throwing the ball down the field, if you can’t create chunk plays in the league it’s tough to score. You know, it’s just tough to get the football and take 11, 12 plays every time to go score points. 

“But as far as how I’d grade Mike Glennon, he’d probably get a “B” from me. In a really tough situation, in all that turmoil and dysfunction, he’s come in and the game hasn’t looked bigger than him. He’s looked confident. But again, I think he’s a young quarterback that has limited potential in the first place.”

King went on to say Glennon is “more polished” than Josh Freeman when it comes to fundamentals. That’s evidence, King explained, of how the Bucs bungled the development of Freeman since he arrived in Tampa as a raw, franchise-QB-caliber talent.

Joe must agree with King’s takes above. Glennon has done well — for him — through two games. Glennon, though, has huge tests in his near future, with hitting the road to hostile domes (Altanta and Seattle) and the bright lights of primetime football against the Panthers’ third-ranked defense. His performances will be telling. (Enjoy King’s full interview below. )

Minus Julio Jones, Roddy White and Steven Jackson, the 1-4 Falcons are a beatable bunch on Sunday. Heck, former Bucs QB Shaun King even predicted a Bucs win. (Joe will have more on that later.)

Harry Douglas, Kevin Cone and Drew Davis are the Falcons’ top available receivers.

Who?

The Atlanta Journal Constitution penned a little story about these guys and how the Falcons were studying a trade for Hakeem Nicks this week.

The trio has no touchdowns and 17 catches this season, 16 by Douglas, who’s actually been with the Falcons for five years and has caught 138 balls. However, 29-year-old Douglas should be no match for Darrelle Revis.

In theory, that leaves Tony Gonzalez has the Falcons’ top threat. Joe would love to see Mark Barron have a game Sunday worthy of the 7th overall pick. Barron, in part, was drafted to lockdown elite tight ends.

America’s storied NFL insider, Peter King of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports, took a break from olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïvete and baseball box score-reading to talk all things Greg Schiano and the Bucs on WDAE-AM 620 this morning.

King delivered a strong message: giving up on Greg Schiano would be a mistake.

King painted Schiano as an extremely smart, superior football man and relayed a discussion of Schiano’s smarts he had with a Rams executive. “It would be a shame if he only had two years to build an NFL team.

As for Schiano’s chances of survival, King wouldn’t put a 2013 win total on it. “I depends how it ends,” said King, who believes Team Glazer will have an easy decision if the Bucs stop playing hard.

Joe doesn’t buy that Schiano is the super genius King describes. Not that Schiano is stupid, but Joe’s not seeing where Schiano is, say, smarter than half the coaches in the NFL.

You can catch the entire King interview below. He dives deep into all things Josh Freeman and how history will view Schiano in that drama. 

One thing that worried Bucs fans about starting Mike Glennon and benching (and later booting off the team) defrocked franchise quarterback Josh Freeman was that Glennon is about as mobile as a telephone pole.

With the Bucs’ offensive line struggling, Glennon, who Joe jokes is so immobile that teammates have to brush the pidgeon droppings off his shoulders, would get creamed in the backfield.

Well, Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan thinks Glennon has some sneaky moves.

“I didn’t think he was a total statue, as maybe some others did, but he’s shown a mobility,” Sullivan said Wednesday at One Buc Palace. “The thing that we’ve seen in practice, and I think we’ve started to see in games is his ability to throw well on the move as well. Extending the play, a third-and-13 or-14 and he scrambles, that was tremendous and that’s a great dimension but I think you hit the nail on the head. He moves better than I thought and I think that the thing I had seen in some of those plays that I alluded to, as far as looking at him in college and saw through all of our practices and have seen in all of the games is his ability to throw on the move.

“He’s got very good accuracy. We’re not going to turn into a read-option team, but there is a mobility that he has, newsflash. At this point, whatever we can take, whatever can get some points on the board.”

Joe just wishes those points on the board would happen more frequently in the second half, but maybe Joe is just greedy.

It’s good to know Glennon can move a little bit. Sullivan started to hit on something there. Dropback quarterbacks aren’t necessarily immobile. Dan Marino, for example, couldn’t run to save his life but he did have nimble feet and was able to move in the pocket well to buy himself more time.

Showing an ability to dodge traffic to allow a receiver to spring open could be a key to determining if Glennon will get a chance to be the Bucs starting quarterback next fall.

Hottie Allie LaForce and CBS Radio’s Doug Gottlieb, co-hosts of LeadOff, seen weeknights on the CBS Sports Network, discuss the job security of Bucs commander Greg Schiano.

Joe’s not a big stats geek, but some are telling and worth noting.

In a Q&A for the Falcons’ official website, Tampa Tribune scribe eye-RAH! Kaufman noted that the Bucs are 1-20 over the past few seasons when they don’t rush for 100 yards as a team. That’s a pretty striking number.

Joe dug a little deeper and, perhaps more telling, the Bucs are 6-3 under the New Schiano Order when they do rush for 100 yards. 

The Bucs have invested a stunning number of millions on their offensive line. It’s one of the highest paid and most experienced O-lines in the game, but they haven’t played well, “inconsistent” Greg Schiano called the O-line yesterday.

Interestingly, Derrick Brooks, speaking on his Tampa-2 show on WDAE-AM 620 yesterday, said he’s confident his film study has shown the Bucs are running more zone blocking this season. Brooks speculated this could be having a minor negative impact on the rushing attack.

Invoking the name of former NFL quarterback Todd Marinovich usually brings out ugly thoughts.

A quarterback who was brought up by an out of control father, who tried his best and largely succeeded to raise a young boy and to build him from a toddler into an NFL quarterback, young Marinovich suffered terrible side effects. He was all but drummed out of the league for using a Woodstock-like grocery list of drugs including amphetamines, cocaine and, lastly, marijuana.

Even more startling, Marinovich, while still in the NFL, began dropping LSD thinking it would not show up on NFL drug tests, which may have been why his final NFL passes resembled Blaine Gabbert’s.

One lesser known milestone for Marinovich was that he set a rookie record with the Raiders for passes attempted in his first two NFL games at 99.

Guess who is No. 2 on the list? That would be Bucs quarterback Mike Glennon with 86. Want more fun facts? Glennon’s 50 completions in his first two games is the most by a rookie in his first two games since Cam Newton came into the league in 2011.

Impressive? Yes. Concerning? Yes.

Joe’s not sure why the Bucs are calling for a green-as-grass rookie to be launching the ball so often. At least with Newton, when he was a rookie, and to a lesser degree RoboQuarterback, they were expected to play. Newton was the opening day starter.

Until Bucs defrocked franchise quarterback Josh Freeman melted down, there was little expectation of Glennon (except from the Mike Glennon Mob), barring injury to Freeman.

Of course, one reason the Bucs have Glennon airing it out so much is that the Bucs may realize they are not getting much of a push from their offensive line, thus rendering Pro Bowl running back Doug Martin ineffective.

The face of the Buccaneers, rookie QB Mike Glennon, had his weekly media session today and shared all kinds of thoughts, from growing with fellow rookie Tim Wright to learning the detailed Bucs offense.

Joe asked Glennon to expound on the loving bonding he and Greg Schiano have been engaging in on the sidelines. Glennon explained that Schiano always ribs him about how he should have gone to Rutgers, and Glennon countered Sunday during the Eagles game, following a couple of big scrambles, that he should have gone to Oregon.

Joe’s got the full audio below, via 620wdae.com. Enjoy.

In each of the past two Bucs games, Mike Glennon put a handoff in the gut of Doug Martin and the ball was fumbled.

Given how the New Schiano Order stresses ball security, these were high crimes against the regime.

Joe asked Mike Sullivan about the problem today, and the offensive coordinator explained that the issue was addressed in a big way.

“That is so basic and so fundamental and so inexcusable,” is how Sullivan described the fumbles. He went on to say sometimes ball security work takes a back seat on a Wednesday when the new plays for the week are installed. But not today.

Sullivan said it was a “major point of emphasis” at practice, specifically the “specific tracks on any given play” of the QB and running back approaching a handoff.

Joe hopes the Bucs can rectify this fast. Communication and comfort levels get tougher on the road, especially in a dome like where the Bucs will head Sunday in Atlanta.

What happens when you put Tampa Bay sports radio icon Steve Duemig and Joe in the same studio to talk all things Bucs for an hour?

Find out at 5 p.m. on WDAE-AM 620. The Wednesday “JoeBucsFan Hour” rolls on. You don’t want to miss this. And now Joe follows an hour of Duemig and Bucs icon Derrick Brooks talking all things football at 4 p.m. It’s must-listen radio for football fans!

Former Bucs franchise quarterback and current Minnesota Vikings starting quarterback Josh Freeman had a few brief words for the Vikings’ pen and mic club and, apparently, he just cannot turn the page on the Bucs, tossing out a not-so-veiled reference to Bucs commander Greg Schiano.

Twittering from the land of a thousand lakes, Tom Pelissero of USA Today jotted down a few of Freeman’s thoughts this afternoon.

@TomPelissero: Freeman also emphasized the #Vikings org has people committed to being “quality human beings” and “they do things the right way around here”

OK, so Josh had his (handsomely-paid) feelings hurt by the big, bad coach in Tampa. You know, Josh, Joe is just going to guess that if you didn’t one-hop so many passes to running backs, if you didn’t mistake so many opposing cornerbacks for teammates, if you didn’t force so many passes to DJ Toes on the Line, and, you know, won a few games, that the big bad coach wouldn’t have been such a bully to you all along. In fact, he would have given you a hug and made sure you had cookies and warm milk before you went to bed each night. Chocolate chip cookies, in fact.

This just demonstrates what Freeman’s detractors have stated all along, that Freeman still has some growing up to do.

Has anyone heard Christian Ponder whine and complain and cry and bellyache and demand to be released or traded? Joe hasn’t.

Then again, Joe would be content with life too if he came home to Samantha Steele each night.

Offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan spent his first Buccaneers game coaching and calling plays from the press box area Sunday against the Eagles.

Was he banished upstairs by Greg Schiano? Not at all. Sullivan said today it was his idea to get back to the bird’s-eye view.

Sullivan was asked about the move at his weekly news conference this afternoon, and Sullivan stressed that he spent “two years in Jacksonville and then eight years with the [New York] Giants, I was always in the press box.”

Sullivan was clear the move upstairs was his idea discussed during the bye week, and it was beneficial and will continue.

“I know from all those years being up in the press box there’s a perspective and a vantage point that you get that I felt would be beneficial,” Sullivan said. “So I just switched with John McNulty, who is the quarterbacks coach. So he’s now on the field and I was just relaying the calls in to him. And so it’s something that gives an added vantage point that I think is helpful from the standpoint of not seeing at ground level but having that bird’s eye view so to speak.”

This really struck Joe as odd.

Why did Sullivan make this move 21 games (plus eight preseason games) into his Buccaneers career? Was he not permitted to call plays from upstairs previously by Schiano? Did Sullivan feel Josh Freeman needed 1-on-1, face-to-face coddling but Mike Glennon doesn’t?

Hopefully, this will help the Bucs’ bottom line on gamedays. Something has to take this offense out of the NFL cellar.

A seemingly physically subdued Bucs commander Greg Schiano took to the podium this afternoon for his daily press conference and was mostly barraged with questions about injured players sidelined and those expected to resume playing after being banged up.

Then, there was a question about Team Glazer. Schiano was asked if he has spoken with Team Glazer recently, since the Bucs are mired in spiral of losing 10 of their last 11 games and are still looking for their first win of the 2013 campaign.

Yes, Schiano said, he has spoken with Team Glazer. Quite a bit in fact. But that’s when Schiano slammed the door shut on the question or any possible follow-up when he said with a stern, direct, clear and firm voice, “We talk often. But what we talk about is confidential. But we talk often.”

So apparently, Team Glazer is talking. To probably their most high-profile employee.

Bad news/good news at One Buc Palace today. All-Pro guard Carl Nicks, whose bum toe/MRSA-infected foot, had surgery in the last 24 hours after seeking an out-of-town medical opinion on the MRSA re-infection that kept him out of Sunday’s game against the Eagles.

However, there is good news, a well placed Bucs source told Joe. Nicks’ condition isn’t that bad and he’s expected to return to action next month.

As Joe wrote earlier, the Bucs practiced with Jeremy Zuttah and left guard for a stretch of practice today, with Ted Larsen at center and Gabe Carimi at guard. Greg Schiano said Davin Joseph is day-to-day after taking a knock on his good knee against the Eagles.

Given the not-yet-100-percent knee of Davin Joseph and the lingering turf toe/MRSA of Carl Nicks, the Bucs’ offensive line, for yet another season, is in chaos.

It appears there may be more shuffling of the offensive line based on the peek of practice Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune was offered this morning, so he documented on Twitter.

‏@RCummingsTBO: Could there be yet another changing of the guards in Tampa. J. Zuttah was at LG, G. Carimi at RG with Ted Larsen at C in practice today

While a move of Zuttah to left guard is not a bad deal; Zuttah may be best as a left guard. Moving Larsen to center troubles Joe. Yeah, he’s a local guy, but whenever he plays, Joe gets nervous and starts pacing his house looking for a bottle.

Joe’s of the belief that in the draft next May, it may be time for Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik to start stocking up on offensive linemen, something he’s never done in the draft.

Longtime 49ers offensive lineman Randy Cross, a three-time All-Pro and three-time Super Bowl winner, now calls Falcons games and is part of the national media.

Cross dove into all things Bucs-Falcons on the Ron and Ian show this morning on WDAE-AM 620 and he doesn’t like what he sees in Bucs land.

There’s a “severe disconnect between [Greg Schiano] and professional athletes,” said Cross, who’s also described the New Schiano Order as “total dysfunction.”

The good news is Cross says the Falcons have been very vulnerable to edge rushes and have not generated much pass rush themselves, putting “an undue amount of stress and fatigue on a relatively young defensive backfield.” Enjoy the full Cross interview below, via 620wdae.com.