Joe was surprised as a bean counter when Bucs general manager Mark Dominik not only let go of Kardashian-chasing running back Derrick Ward, but also wide receiver Michael Clayton.

Why? Because, in short, Dominik took a bath with their contracts/signing bonuses.

But could it be the two were dismissed for reasons other than lack of production? That seems to be the inference from a quote by safety Tanard Jackson, unearthed by eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.

The Buccaneers swallowed hard on the brink of a new season and went with their gut instead of their wallet. And by releasing running back Derrick Ward and wide receiver Michael Clayton, Tampa Bay’s brain trust gained respect from those left behind.

“That meant a lot,” safety Tanard Jackson said. “We’re all men in here and we know this is a cutthroat business. They were true to their word in making those decisions and we got a sense of what direction they wanted to go – that’s to create the best winning environment possible. And that’s a credit to the guys upstairs.”

Well, that doesn’t exactly seem that Jackson was crying crocodile tears over Clayton and Ward’s departure.

Now let Joe be blunt: Joe has never, ever heard anything negative about Clayton and his relationship with his teammates. Every encounter Joe had with Clayton was nothing less than pleasant; he couldn’t have been nicer.

Did Clayton get emotional at times and have a quote or two he wished he could take back? Of course, and he quickly apologized.

Clayton also seemed to take pride in working with younger players, helping them get their feet wet in the NFL.

Ward is a different story. By all accounts, Ward was not a pleasant fellow. He was often short if not surly with members of the fourth estate, and as we all know seemed to blame everyone but himself for his shortcomings, most notably playing on a baseball infield that never seemed to hinder Ricky Williams or Ronnie Brown.

Ward also seemed to mope and pout a lot.

Not to ascribe any motives, just judging by the two high-salaried players who were let go, and their personalities, Joe’s going to guess Bucs players weren’t that broken up with Ward finding employment elsewhere.

The Bucs’ defensive mastermind/head coach was very pleased the way the manbeasts along his offensive line protected Josh Freeman on Sunday.

Speaking on the Buccaneers Radio Network on WDAE-AM Monday, Raheem Morris wasn’t asked about pass blocking by host and noted Twitterer TJ Rives, but the head coach felt the need to interject  some love for his O-line.

“Usually these guys, the only time you notice them is when something goes wrong, your breakdown in protection, it’s something obvious that we can all see with the naked eye where it goes wrong. But the protection, blocking wise, as far as the offensive line yesterday was outstanding,” Morris said. “They had three sacks, but two of them were not the fault of the offensive line. You know, whether we missed a hot throw, or whether we got held on a route and it wasn’t called so [Freeman] had to hold the ball in his hand.

“But protection, knowing who to block and where to go, you want to talk about being on the same page; those guys were great.”

Joe’s glad to hear how great the O-line looked on film in pass protection.

But it makes Joe wonder just how bad they looked on run blocking since the Bucs are considering replacing left guard Keydrick Vincent with Jeremy Zuttah.

As Joe and just about any Bucs fan who got to watch the game knows, it was a pleasant surprise the way the Bucs’ run defense manned up in the second half and controlled the Browns.

Quite possibly the worst area on the Bucs’ roster last year was the interior defensive front. Whether that has been solved with rookies Gerald McCoy and Brian Price, well, a lot will be learned this Sunday.

It seems Tampa Tribune Bucs beat writer eye-RAH! Kaufman is of the same mind. He believes how the Bucs defense handles the rugged rushing attack of Carolina will be a robust early test.

Despite tightening up against the run in Sunday’s season-opening victory against Cleveland, Tampa Bay’s revamped defensive line faces a far different challenge heading to Charlotte, where the Panthers come off a 31-18 road loss to the Giants.

Carolina’s ground attack has embarrassed Tampa Bay in each of the past three meetings, averaging 241 yards per game. The barrage began on a Monday night in December, 2008, when the Bucs and Panthers met on national TV in a matchup of 9-3 clubs vying for NFC South supremacy.

The Panthers ran for 299 yards that evening, triggering a shocking 4-game slide that ultimately cost Coach Jon Gruden and GM Bruce Allen their jobs.

How cool would it be if the Bucs were able to stuff the Panthers on their own turn in their own stadium? Yes, a lot of will be learned this weekend. Joe hopes it’s not a flunked pop quiz.

Somewhere, Woody Hayes is rolling in his grave! And Bill Cowher is rolling his eyes.

Joe mocks and snickers when he sees NFL teams using indoor practice facilities, basically mini-versions of the Fruitdome. Why does Joe laugh? Because big, bad NFL players can’t practice in the elements?

Hayes used to love having practices in the rain because he said it gave his team a chance to learn how to play with a wet ball. Cowher used to say it gave his teams advantages they couldn’t hope to otherwise prepare for.

So Joe finds it interesting that good guy Stephen Holder, of the St. Petersburg Times, believes the Bucs are wishing they had an indoor facility when he noted the Bucs again this week will practice at the Fruitdome.

Last week, the Bucs made a last-minute change to their practice schedule and held a practice at the Trop in an effort to give players a break from rigorous practices in the sun at One Buc Place.

Whether this becomes a regular occurrence or not remains to be seen. But all this does certainly underscore how the Bucs could definitely take advantage of an indoor practice bubble like many teams around the league use.

Eh, unless there’s a lightning storm, practice outside! Football is played in the elements so why not practice in the elements?

Go to the game! If you can’t, join in the fun on The Blackout Tour.

Some Bucs fans, and one brave Browns fan, chat before heading on the Blackout Tour bus to watch the Bucs-Browns game at Lee Roy Selmon's in Fort Myers. Click the photo to get your tickets for the Bucs-Steelers Blackout Tour. 100 percent refundable if the game is televised in Tampa.

In an effort to reinforce the left side of the offensive line to try to protect franchise quarterback Josh Freeman, the Bucs signed to their practice squad perhaps the best pass-blocking guard in college football last year, Brandon Carter.

The man who likes to paint his face like Halloween each game, Carter, playing for Texas Tech, never allowed a sack to manbeast Ndamukong Suh or his new teammate, Gerald McCoy, while playing for the Red Raiders, so reports good guy Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times.

Texas Tech is in the Big XII conference along with Nebraska (Suh) and Oklahoma (McCoy). Carter was first-team All-Big XII last season and was recently released from the Saints practice squad.

In an exclusive interview with Joe this spring, Carter told Joe the Bucs flew him to Tampa to work him out and to pick his brain about who the Bucs should draft, McCoy or Suh.

Bucs general manager “Mark Dominik, the very last question was, he asks me, ‘So, you played against two of the best defensive tackles in the country. If you were drafting, who would you pick, Suh or McCoy?’” Carter said.

Carter answered Dominik’s question, but he wouldn’t tip off Joe what the answer was.

“That’s just between me and him,” Carter said. “I don’t want anyone to have any hurt feelings out there. One of those guys might be a teammate next year.”

Also in the same interview, Carter told Joe that Bucs offensive line coach Pete Mangurian told him “there were three things they like in an offensive lineman: tough, smart and love to play football. They said they can tell from the film I fit all three.”

To make room for Talib the Bucs released defensive end Erik Lorig. To create an opening on the practice squad for Carter, the Bucs cut loose punter Brent Bowden.

Derek “Old School” Fournier of WhatTheBuc.net is frustrated that Bucs fans are griping about a win. So frustrated is Derek that he’s about to turn purple like a Martian. He explains why Bucs fans should be raising glasses over what happened in the second half of Sunday’s win against the Browns.

For the past 11 months or so, Joe’s been proud to bring you former Bucs defensive end Steve White’s weekly Bull Rush column, which was filled with fascinating Xs and Os. Joe learned a helluva lot, as did most readers.

So it saddens Joe to let you know that Mr. White officially is moving on from JoeBucsFan.com.

No, this change is not the result of bad blood by any means. Steve just plans to focus his great Bucs analysis on his own blog, and consider some new opportunities. So Bucs fans aren’t going to lose out.

Joe can’t thank Steve enough.

Joe loves Raheem Morris’ confidence with his young, improving defense. On the offensive side, well, that’s another story.

Pressed again yesterday at his news conference to explain how he riled up his defense at halftime to help inspire them to shutout the Browns for the final 30 minutes, Raheem explained he told them nothing special at all. 

“I told them to go do what they practiced,” said Morris, emphasizing that he didn’t expect the media to believe him.

Fabulous, confident response from the head coach. It sounded very Dungyesque to Joe, who remembers the Dungy years when “execution” was always the word of the day.

Raheem went on to explain that his young defense needs to step up its communication at all costs.

“When you got a veteran team, it’s ok to be a little more subtle with some of your calls, because you know Derrick Brooks can communicate with [Greg] Spires through eye contact or a simple nod,” Morris said. “Right now, I’m not real sure of my young little babies I got right now. So I want them to be loud and don’t keep it a secret. I don’t care if Cleveland knows. I want to make sure we know. It’s more about us.”

Joe wonders how many more games the Bucs defense can win, in addition to the “W” it brought home on Sunday.

Much has been made about Josh Freeman’s bum thumb. Some are trying to make too much into his fender bender Friday, Joe believes.

If that isn’t enough, Freeman got bounced around a bit in the Bucs come-from-behind win against Cleveland Sunday. A lot of Bucs fans, who somehow believe the Bucs have Barry Sanders, Gayle Sayers and Larry Czonka in the backfield, are quick to point fingers at the offensive line for not keeping Freeman’s jersey clean.

Not so fast, says Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson. Speaking to Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune, Olson suggests Freeman may have to look in the mirror a little on some of the plays he got punished.

Olson blamed Freeman for the three sacks, saying he failed to get rid of the ball in time on a couple of occasions and failed to hit a hot read on a blitz on another, and said he was mostly pleased with the play of the line.

There’s an old saying in football for quarterbacks: “Live to throw another play.” Not only can an incompletion save yards, it will save a quarterback’s body, too.

Frustrated Bucs fans who were upset the Bucs were not on TV this past Sunday — that is those who didn’t take advantage of The Blackout Tour — have a kindred spirit in Micheal Spurlock.

It seems “run Micheal run” and others on the Bucs are determined to get home games on TV, and not with the help of Steelers fans. They have silently taken the blackouts as a personal affront, that people believe rebuilding means losing, and their goal is to treat Bucs fans to more games on TV, so writes Tom Balog of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

”We kind of got a thing of our own, ’ The Bottom to the Top,’ ” Spurlock said. “Everybody thinks we’re at the bottom of this league, ‘yeah, it’s going to take them three or four years to really rebuild.’

”Everybody (on the team) is kind of holding that on their shoulder, (we) kind of keep saying to ourselves, so when we go out there, we have to show people,” Spurlock said. “We have to help fill these stands and you know, get Bucs fans back into the stadium. We want TV games and we are going to be the reason that we help get that back.”

That’s great that the Bucs have this kind of mentality, this kind of drive, this kind of fire. It warms Joe’s heart to read that.

But, of course, talk is cheap. If the Bucs are able to win at Carolina and somehow upend the Steelers a week from Sunday, Joe suspects ticket sales will be on the rise.

During the preseason there were times when Stylez G. White was invisible, nowhere to be found on the playing field.

White, in so many words, said he’d be there when the regular season would roll around. Bucs coach Raheem Morris, perhaps not so playfully, referred to White as his Allen Iverson, a non-basketball association star known to disdain practice.

Well, as Joe has noted previously, White showed up Sunday. Big time. But maybe lost in the scrum of posts was just how well While elevated his game.

White’s superior play was not lost on eye-RAH! Kaufman, of the Tampa Tribune, who documented just how good White was in the second half.

Surrounded by Tampa Bay’s hungry youngsters, veteran defensive end Stylez G. White took on a Pro Bowler Sunday and didn’t back down in the trenches.

White won his share of the second-half battles as the Buccaneers limited Cleveland to only four first downs after intermission in a 17-14 comeback victory.

Second-year pro Roy Miller and rookie tackles Gerald McCoy and Brian Price filled the inside run gaps while young ends Kyle Moore and Tim Crowder combined with White to apply a steady edge rush against Browns quarterback Jake Delhomme.

White led the Bucs’ defensive line with five tackles. All while playing against Thomas, one of the best left tackles in the game. This is significant to Joe.

If White can do this against Thomas, he should be able to do this against lesser linemen. And the more havoc White can create, the more heat will be taken off rookies Gerald McCoy and Brian Price.

Good guy Stephen Holder discusses how bad Josh Freeman’s thumb was last week and Freean’s recent car accident. Joe heard of the accident before he saw Holder this St. Petersburg Times video, and the comparisons to Tom Brady and his accident last week are a terribly weak reach. Come on, now.

With Aqib Talib coming off suspension this week that means someone has to go. Who that may be is anyone’s guess.

Monday, good guy Stephen Holder surmised that it appears wide receiver and special teams ace Mo Stovall is being iced out. Writing for the St. Petersburg Times, Holder deduced that despite what the Bucs say publicly, Stovall seems to be a man without a position.

The Bucs appear to have their top three receivers in place: Mike Williams, Sammie Stroughter and Micheal Spurlock. Of course, Stovall is an accomplished special teams player, but notice that Arrelious Benn is also a receiver who is playing an integral role in the kicking game, thereby making it harder to justify activating Stovall.

It doesn’t appear automatic that Stovall is going to have a role. I don’t know that he’s in danger of being cut because, as a veteran, his salary is essentially guaranteed after Week 1. So such a move wouldn’t make financial sense.

But how and when to use Stovall is going to be something the Bucs continue to assess. Apparently they’re having these issues elsewhere, too, which isn’t a bad thing.

Well, it didn’t make financial sense to cut Derrick Ward or Michael Clayton either, but the Bucs did just that.

Now here’s something to chew on: Joe has no idea if the following player will be cut, but Joe is hearing whispers that Bucs coaches are getting frustrated with defensive end Michael Bennett. Apparently, Bennett, with raw skills, is not a fundamentally sound player. His two preseason sacks came about despite Bennett not being in proper position, Joe heard, which has irritated Bucs coaches.

Whether Bennett is cut is shear speculation, but it’s something to think about, along with Stovall’s status, when Talib is activated.

Now Joe took relentless frequent beatings from so many commenters on this website for often defending left guard Jeremy Zuttah’s ability and work ethic over his tenure with the Bucs.

And Joe stated it was a mistake to not have him starting in 2010.

In his defense and praise of Zuttah, Joe was quite a lone ranger among Bucs beat writers and pundits. Joe was unhappy that the colorful Pewter fellows all but threw Zuttah under the bus, and Joe constantly pointed out that there was nothing tangible out there from any named Buccaneers source saying why new left guard Keydrick Vincent, 32, was better than the Zuttah.

Joe made the points that if the two of them are of similar talent, then 24-year-old Zuttah should start based on the Bucs’ stated rebuilding plan, and that continuity was critical on the line and Zuttah had an advantage in that area.

So it is with a twinkle in his eye that Joe brings news today that the Bucs seem to be close to giving up on Keydrick Vincent as their starting left guard — after one game,  and a third preseason game in which the Bucs couldn’t run the ball at all with their first team.

Rick Stroud, of the St. Pete Times, delivers the news, explaining there’s been strong interior debate about Zuttah and Vincent in the bowels of One Buc Palace for a while.

Offensive coordinator Greg Olson confirmed today something we heard whispers about more than a week ago:

That the Bucs are still up in the air when it comes to keeping left guard Keydrick Vincent in the lineup on a full-time basis.

Olson said the left guard spot was among the topics in the coaches’ morning meeting today, and that the staff is considering using a rotation with Vincent and Jeremy Zuttah, the 2009 starter at the position.

Joe suggests you read Stroud’s whole story.

Of course, Joe was hoping Vincent, after he was named starter, would be the physical run blocker the Bucs coveted. But Joe hasn’t seen it, and the pocket was not consistently sound yesterday for Josh Freeman.

Vincent was a great pickup by Mark Dominik, but he should be a backup.

Former Bucs DE Steve White

By STEVE WHITE
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Buccaneers defensive end Steve White (1996-2001) is a devoted student of the game. He’s even authored a coaching guide and coached D-linemen at the University of South Florida. And his Passing on the Game blog is fun stuff. After all those years breaking down film with former defensive line coach Rod Marinelli and the other architects and legends of the Bucs’ defense, White shares his knowledge with JoeBucsFan.com readers in his must-read Bull Rush column. 

Today, White goes deep into analyzing all things defensive line out the Bucs-Browns opening day win for Tampa Bay. 

Joe advises you to grab a cold beverage, tell the boss you’re taking a break and enjoy. There is nothing comparable on the Bucs (or any team) anywhere.

It sure as hell feels a lot better writing this column after a season opening win!

The Buccaneers went out there and put the hammer to the Browns on our home field to start the season off right. There were definitely some mistakes made, and we are going to have to make quite a few corrections before the next game, but a win is a win dammit. And after suffering through last season every Bucs fan should be walking around with their chest pushed out a little.

The defensive line was particularly instrumental in this win. On a hot muggy day, and with only seven guys suited up, they brought the heat to Jake Delhomme.

While they didn’t get any sacks, they put so many hits on him that by the end of the game he was limping around like the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Before I get to the individual breakdowns, let me give some general thoughts about the performance both positive and negative.

On the positive side the defense as a whole and the defensive line in particular swarmed to the ball yesterday. Few things get me more hyped that seeing four or five or six guys tackling the ball carrier at the same time. Several times yesterday I jumped up out of my seat I was so fired up from watching groups of Buccaneers putting the wood to the Browns’ ball carriers (along with a few instances of friendly fire, lol). We have to keep that going for the rest of the season if we want to really be considered a great defense.

The defense also came home with three turnovers, two of which the defensive line had a hand in. On both of the interceptions Delhomme threw there was a defensive lineman in his face applying pressure. And as the saying goes, pressure bursts pipes. In addition we had a defensive lineman force a fumble that unfortunately we didn’t recover.

That’s what you call Buc Ball!

Another thing I noted was that on at least 20 plays, excluding the final series when we went prevent, the Bucs ran some version of a 3-man defensive line.

Sometimes we had four defensive linemen in the game and stood one up in a 3-4 look. Other times we just went with three linemen in the game period. A few other times we had a four-man line, but it appeared that one, and in one case two interior linemen, spied the quarterback instead of rushing.

Now it’s no secret that I’m the opposite of a fan of a three-man rush. I think it makes it too hard to put pressure on the quarterback and the tradeoff in coverage, which is generally negligible, doesn’t justify it. Thankfully, many times we blitzed out of a three-man look or at the least sent Quincy Black as a fourth rusher.

I would still say the results were mixed, though. Black simply is not a guy who rushes offensive tackles well. He’s much better blitzing when you can get him matched up on a running back. But I will say that several times the defensive line did find a way to get get pressure while only rushing three. And that to me was damned impressive.

Another thing of note is that we showed a “Big” defensive line at times. There were only four guys in the game but McCoy was at defensive end with Roy Miller and Ryan Sims inside and Kyle Moore at the other end. I don’t know if it was something special just for the Browns, since they seemed to like to go with a lot of two tight end formations, or what. But at the least it will give the rest of our opponents something else to have to worry about.

And finally I will again attempt to send some kind of subliminal message to the Buccaneers coaches and or defensive linemen, plus in this case Quincy Black, about how to run a TEX game. …The outside rusher on a TEX game should move closer and read this closely.

THE LATER YOU GO INSIDE THE BETTER!

It doesn’t help anybody when the outside rusher goes early. What happens is that the offensive tackle can stop his kick step and sit on the defensive tackle who is trying to get to his back and the guard who was initially blocking the defensive tackle can now come off to the outside rusher — now looping inside — and easily block them before they can even make a move. Worse yet, the earlier the outside rusher loops inside, the more ground they have to give to try to get around the guard.

Now if the outside rusher runs upfield, then the tackle keeps kicking back to pass block him, which allows the defensive tackle to get to his back and now the guard is so vested in blocking the defensive tackle he may not even notice the looper coming inside. And because everyone is now deeper instead of having to give ground, the outside rusher can basically plant off their outside foot and run a straight line inside to the quarterback.

Why the guys at One Buc still haven’t figured this out really and truly escapes me. Especially when that pass rush game can be so effective and productive.

Ok, I’m going to try to let that be my last time talking about it, but it really and truly drives me nuts every time I see them running it wrong.

As for the individual breakdowns:

Stylez G. White: Stylez had a very productive day. By my count he had four solo tackles, two assisted tackles, three pressures and two hits on the quarterback. In actuality, he was even more productive than his stats would suggest because one of those hits on Delhomme injured him in the first half. It was on the same play where Delhomme threw the momentum-turning interception to Ronde Barber that got us in position to score a touchdown before the half and cut the Browns’ lead to 4.

He also was good in coverage several times and he was running to the ball all over the field. He had one of the more physical plays when he took on a pulling guard and stuffed him in the hole and still was athletic enough to come off the block and make a very physical tackle on the running back. I know in the past people have questioned Stylez’s ability to play the run, but he was lights out yesterday. Banner day all around.

Gerald McCoy: It’s hard not to get excited about this kid. I keep trying to talk myself out of building up too many expectations for the rookie, but when you see him playing like a seasoned vet, it’s hard not to. By my count he had a tackle for loss, another solo tackle and an assisted tackle with two pressures and two hits on the quarterback. He also drew a holding penalty against the Browns because of his penetration. And he played all over the line.

In addition to his regular undertackle duties, he lined up at nose tackle and both defensive end spots at times in both four-man and three man-lines. And none of it seemed to be too much for him.

He still has to work on his technique when it comes to slip blocks, and he needs to work on penetrating more when he has a line stunt that calls for him to go inside to the next gap. But for that to be his first real NFL action, the guy showed me a lot. Now it’s a matter of consistency. He has to be able to do it next week and every week after as well. If he can do that he’s going to be special, that’s for sure.

Roy Miller: I thought Roy had a very steady game. I had him with one solo and two assisted tackles. He anchored down well when facing double teams. He also showed a lot of hustle getting to the ball. He didn’t get that many opportunities to rush the passer but he did have at least one really good rush.

On the flip side he got hit with a WHAM block on that long run by the Browns’ Jerome Harrison. A WHAM block is when they trap one of the defensive tackles, usually with a tight end who goes in motion before the snap. Ideally you want to get underneath that block and make the ball spill. Failing that you at least want to take it on strong so the hole doesn’t open up really wide. They kind of caught Roy slipping, however, and he was upfield too much to be a factor on the play.

In my opinion, Roy should consider tilting a little bit more in his stance when he is lined up on the center. It seems like he is just a little too squared to the line of scrimmage. And in that case he is giving the center and onside guard too much surface to hit when they block him. Also, it will help him to get more push upfield when they try to have the center reach-block him to his outside shoulder. That’s just my suggestion, though. Overall, he did a very good job.

Kyle Moore: Moore had a decent game as well. He was another guy who didn’t play a lot of snaps because we went so much 3-man line, but while he was in he was productive. I had him with three solo tackles and a couple of good rushes. One thing I will caution him on is getting too far behind a quarterback on a pass rush. One time when he was lined up on the right side he was at least five yards deeper than Delhomme in his pass rush. The defense is playing with 10 at that point and there is nothing you can do from back there.

Tim Crowder: Even though he was a backup, Crowder was all over the field. He had a forced fumble, he broke up a pass to the tight end, he had a couple of pressures, a hit on the quarterback and he even forced a holding penalty on an offensive tackle after a really good bull rush flushed Delhomme from the pocket. He almost had another outstanding play, but he barely missed the running back for a tackle for a loss from the backside on a trap play. If he keeps playing like that I have a feeling he will see his playing time increase.

Brian Price: Price showed some of the skills that compelled the Bucs to draft him at the beginning of the 2nd round of this year’s draft. He was lightning quick off the ball and he showed really good quickness pass rushing through some double teams. In fact, he was the guy, rushing from the nose position, that flashed in front of Delhomme on the interception he threw to E.J. Biggers. He also added two tackles, including one on a running play where he split a double team. He looked like he has finally gotten his legs back under him and I look forward to seeing more of him next week.

Ryan Sims: Sims played mostly nose tackle which is where I think he is most comfortable anyway. He didn’t have a terribly productive day but he did hold the point well versus double teams for the most part, and he got a tackle showing good hustle running down the field to get to the ball carrier.

In closing, there’s one more thing I will address. The Bucs chose to dress only seven defensive linemen yesterday. It ended up working out ok, but I have to wonder if that’s why we went to a three-man rush so many times.

It’s really hard to for me to understand how not having Michael Bennett, probably the second best pass rushing defensive end on the roster, active helped us yesterday. I know that special teams make a difference and that we were facing one of the most dangerous return men in the NFL yesterday in Joshua Cribbs.

But A), I have seen Bennett on special teams in the preseason and he seemed to do a pretty good job. And B), I just do not believe that all three safeties that did not play a down of defense yesterday were absolutely necessary for special teams. Especially when one of those guys got a penalty and almost got a stupid personal foul after there was a fumble on another occasion.

It worked out ok yesterday mainly because we won. But there is going to come a time when we have to rush four guys and get pressure on the quarterback all day long, especially in the home heat.

Quincy Black is a very talented linebacker but he is not going to beat an offensive tackle on a pass rush very many times, if at all. So I hope they work the numbers out better in the future because I can’t see dressing seven defensive linemen working for very long this season.

It’s been about 23 hours since kickoff, and Joe’s emotions are still running wild. There is nothing to compare to opening day of the NFL season after such a long hiatus. Hope is always alive, and when the good guys win, it’s a lasting rush.

First place!!

As Joe munches his sandwich, he’s trying to take a bird’s eye view of the Bucs. And despite all the great storylines and game situations to dissect, Joe’s brain keeps going back to the franchise quarterback, Josh Freeman.

Yesterday’s game was an extraordinarily gutty performance by Freeman coming off a significant injury and scant time with his receivers in preseason. The kid showed the toughness he needs to be the commanding leader the Bucs must have on that side of the ball.

The defense is far ahead of the offense, comparitively, but the Bucs just seem to be in wonderfully good hands with Freeman, whose legs should carry the offense a long way, as well.

Sure, he struggled. He admittedly had problems with the thumb, but he made a perfect, game-winning throw and looked poised beyond his years. And all that with a collapsing pocket, a subpar running game, newbie receivers and a new injury in his head. 

There are plenty to go around, but Freeman gets a game ball from Joe, as well as a copy of the JoeBucsFan.com home game.

Last week when Josh Freeman missed a practice, watching from the sidelines with his injured thumb wrapped, Joe wasn’t the only one that had alarm bells go off in his head.

Many of Joe’s readers scoffed, suggesting this was a devious ploy to fool the ever-so-sharp Eric Mangini into thinking Josh Johnson may start and that Freeman was, in fact, good-to-go.

Joe dismissed this notion immediately as something a two-bit high school coach wouldn’t lower himself to.

Seems Joe’s inclination was accurate. Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times Twittered today that Freeman in fact had a setback from taking snaps in practice last week.

Bucs QB Josh Freeman did not test his broken thumb until Sunday after taking snaps earlier in the week aggravated the injury with swelling.

Joe knows fans want to believe NFL coaches are a bunch of Jack Bauer wannabes, skilled in the art of espionage, but this type of stuff generally faded away in high schools in the 1970s. Not even the Manginis of the world are fooled by such a low-rent trick.

Speaking at his news conference moments ago, the Bucs’ head coach talked more about how pleased he was with Gerald McCoy and the Bucs’ pass rush.

Asked about the Bucs’ pass rush needing to get more pressure off the edge, Raheem Morris was almost taken back. Like he wanted to say, “MORE PRESSURE?” in his best Jim Mora, Sr. impression.

The head coach praised Quincy Black, Tim Crowder and called out Stylez White for having one of his best games as a Buccaneer.

“White’s production on the day was awesome,” Morris said. “One of his better games since he’s been here. …Those guys forced some bad situations.”

Joe will let former Bucs defensive end Steve White give his assessment of the D-line in his popular, unrivaled Bull Rush column, which should be on these here pages today or tomorrow.

Joe thought Crowder and Stylez created lots of havoc, even if they didn’t rack up sack numbers. While Joe was surprised to see Michael Bennett inactive, the Bucs didn’t miss him.

Every hardcore Bucs fan has heard Raheem Morris deliver his one-liner philosophies.

• Be your best self.
• Be true to your core beliefs.
• Be violent.
• Establishing men is about taking off your underwear and putting your face on people.

So Joe’s wondering who replaced Morris with a sissy when the Bucs had the ball with 39 seconds left, a 4th-and-1 situation on the Browns 5 yard line leading 17-14?

After a timeout, the Bucs came out and showed they have no identity and no confidence in their goal line offense. Josh Freeman dropped back to pass, looked to his right, didn’t like his chances and took a six-yard sack.

Where were the core beliefs? Where was all of Raheem’s desire to be like the Giants, Steelers and all the other violent teams he loves?

The Bucs have a veteran offensive line and veteran running backs. They brought in Keydrick Vincent to move a pile. Heck, they even have a giant of a quarterback who could hammer into the line for a yard. 

Instead of taking their underwear off, Greg Olson and Raheem decided to put a skirt on.

A team better than the Browns could have made them pay dearly.

Yesterday wasn’t just a season-opening game for Bucs tight end Kellen Winslow. It was also a chance to give a little payback to a team he once played for, a team that drafted him and a team Winslow has quite a bit of mixed emotions about.

Winslow wanted the Bucs to win yesterday badly. So much so he carried a Bucs flag in pregame ceremonies and waved it in front of the Browns bench. He had four catches for 32 yards and nearly made a sick catch where he skied over Browns defenders and looked as if he was picking apples, only to lose the ball when he hit the ground.

After the game, Winslow didn’t deny he was fired up to win, as reported by the Associated Press.

“I have nothing against the players,” the seventh-year pro said. “This is our job. So, when you get traded or demoted or anything like that, it’s personal. So, you want to get some revenge and you want to play as well as you can.”

Winslow spent five at times tumultuous seasons with the Browns. He had a pair of 80-catch seasons and made the Pro Bowl once in Cleveland, but couldn’t shake a perception that he was a troublesome presence.

“We didn’t win very much over there. When I got traded, it felt very personal. I’m in a better situation now with a coach like Raheem Morris.”

Joe could even see how Winslow was emotional on the field just by his play. Joe’s not suggesting anything to the contrary here, but Joe would love for someone to hypnotize Winslow into thinking he is playing the Browns each week.

Joe has made no secret about how much he respects and enjoys reading Peter King of Sports Illustrated. Ugly Monday mornings are slightly tolerable thanks to his weekly Monday Morning Quarterback columns.

Not all Bucs fans agree and not even Joe agrees with everything King writes. So Joe understands how Bucs fans erupted at King when the long-time NFL reporter predicted the Bucs would win a grand total of two games this year.

Already, the coffee-slurping King is issuing a mea culpa, largely because of the play of Bucs wide receiver Mike Williams yesterday.

I think I was wrong about a lot of things in my predictions, as usual, and one of those might have been picking Tampa Bay to win two games. I like what I saw out of Mike Williams Sunday. The fourth-round rookie from Syracuse is an athletic, physical receiver who looks to have tremendous confidence in himself.

Joe wrote this yesterday but it bears repeating: Williams circus catch for a touchdown was the best catch by a Bucs receiver since Joe Jurevicius made a volleyball catch against Philadelphia when the Bucs opened the NFL season on Monday Night Football as defending Super Bowl champions.

Meanwhile, here’s a cool video on what makes King’s Monday Morning Quarterback so popular.

Raheem Morris and his defense knew Jake Delhomme too well.

While many national pundits, as well as Browns bossman Mike Holmgren, were trying to talk up Jake Delhomme as the next savior in Cleveland, the Bucs knew that he could be fraudy quarterback.

Despite his 9-2 record against the Bucs entering yesterday’s game, the Bucs just knew him too well and that is what led to the Browns’ downfall, writes former Bucs beat writer and current Sports Illustrated columnist Don Banks.

That was a very ill-advised sidearm interception thrown by Browns quarterback Jake Delhomme in the first half at Tampa Bay, the kind of brain cramp that led to him relocating to Cleveland in the first place during the offseason. The good folks in Carolina have seen that kind of dubious decision-making out of Delhomme before, and Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber read Delhomme like a book, from cover to cover, before returning the pick 65 yards to the Browns’ 3.

The turnover-plagued Delhomme wound up throwing two interceptions in Cleveland’s 17-14 loss at Tampa Bay, a game the Browns once seemed comfortably in command of, at 14-3. Not a good development for Mike Holmgren’s rebuilding program in Cleveland. If the Browns can’t defeat the Bucs, who can they be expected to handle? And if Delhomme keeps throwing two picks a game, my prediction of Seneca Wallace as the team’s starting QB by October has a great shot of coming true.

While BSPN was waxing poetic about Josh Freeman winning the game, Joe sides with Banks. It was the Bucs’ defense that stymied the Brownies after they jumped out to 14-3 lead in the second quarter.