Joe isn’t about to tell you how to think or what to do. But in between beers, grilling and the beach, Joe just asks that you remember why you have the day off today. And, if you can, raise a glass at 3 p.m. to remember those who can never share a drink with you.

Joe’s dad was a naval officer in World War II, serving in the Pacific on an aircraft carrier sunk by a kamikaze pilot, so Joe was brought up to learn the value of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so Joe could ridicule the horrid tackling of Sabby the Goat without fear of being thrown in a slave labor camp, forced to eat maggot-infested rice while being “re-educated” or flogged in public.

If it wasn’t for people who gave their all for our country, Joe (and the rest of us) might be forced to watch kickball on Sunday afternoons. Remember, Japan during World War II banned baseball because it was too American.

Imagine what Axis nations, or those savages that behead people, would do to football if given the opportunity?

Regular readers of JoeBucsFan.com know Joe often will confront the comments of his colleagues and respectfully, and sometimes not so respectfully, disagree.

This is one of those times.

Joe knows his mature colleagues can take it and hold no grudges. And Joe always welcomes his media brethren to blast his opinions. It’s all in the name of good service to the fans.

This brings Joe to the wild take from Stephen Holder of the Tampa Bay Times in today’s edition. Holder tells readers to be sure that Greg Schiano is one of the most powerful coaches in the NFL.

We must assume Schiano’s apparent autonomy was granted by the Glazers when the owners hired him. It also changes significantly the role of GM Mark Dominik, who often had the final say on matters with fired coach Raheem Morris. Now his role seems more of an executor than a decision-maker.

Again, not good or bad, just different.

The Bucs’ model is not typical. Even coaches with the stature of the Giants’ Tom Coughlin, the Packers’ Mike McCarthy and the Chargers’ Norv Turner share the decision-making with general managers.

You can click through above to read Holder’s thin thesis. Frankly, Joe sees no evidence that rockstar general manager Mark Dominik has been iced out of the decision-making process as Holder says we must assume has happened.

Schiano is a more powerful organizational voice than McCarthy, Turner or Coughlin? Sorry, Joe can’t believe Team Glazer would be so reckless to grant Schiano autonomy given his lack of experience at the professional level. That would have been completely foolish.

Certainly Schiano is a powerful voice at One Buc Palace, along with Dominik, Team Glazer and Butch Davis, in his somewhat mysterious role. Joe knows Schiano needs a level of authority to enforce the New Schiano Order, but Joe believes Holder took his assumption in this case way too far.

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Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan worked the last eight seasons with the Giants under notoriously militant head coach Tom Coughlin.

So it’s safe to assume Sullivan has a world of respect for Coughlin and knows how he operates.

Interestingly, without being asked to compare, Sullivan likened Greg Schiano, leader of the New Schiano Order, to his former boss during an interview yesterday on SiriusXM NFL Radio.

“Coach Schiano is in many ways similar to Coach Coughlin, from the standpoint of very, very organized and detailed and things like discipline and structure and organization being at a premium,” Sullivan said. “I think he’s very bright. And I think he’s someone that has brought a concept of family.

“You know everyone can say that word [family]. They can throw it around, they can be cliched, we all know there’s certainly the business side that goes along the lines with the NFL. But the thought that while we’re there, while we’re in the building, every member of that football team, all the coaches, having that type of common bond and that mindset, I think that there’s an amount of passion that he brings to the table that will make sure we’re do things the right way, in terms of how he wants it done and yet be open to feedback and suggestion on what’s the best possible way to get things done.

“I think what a lot of folks can expect is just to see a team that’s going to be very disciplined and that’s going to be really focused on the type of preparation it takes to be at their best. And use the elements and use the heat to our advantage.”

A former Army Ranger, Army coach and Army defensive back, Sullivan was no stranger to discipline before he reached Coughlin’s staff. And now he sees the same level of order with the Bucs.

Of course, nobody knows whether discipline will equal wins (and nobody knows if Sullivan can call plays), but Joe suspects the Bucs will at least stop the bleeding on heinous 10 game losing streak and look like a football team again. Wouldn’t that be nice?

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Hey Mike Sullivan. What are you seeing on film from Josh Freeman and how are you specifically going to get No. 5 back on track?

That was the question posed to the Bucs’ offensive coordinator when he took to the SiriusXM NFL Radio airwaves this afternoon.

Interestingly Sullivan’s first specific referenced was Freeman’s mechanics, something former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson has pounded the drum about for years as an analyst on these here pages. Carlson has often said anyone in the know can detect Freeman’s poor mechanics from still images.

“I think when you take a look at some of the things we were able to assess on film, and some of the specifics, it could be some mechanics,” Sullivan said. “It could be some certain things that would affect the accuracy. Ultimately, though a lot it is the decisions sometimes that are made. We don’t know necessrily what was going into the decision, why the decision was made. But when you take a step back and objectively look at tape and then you analyze why the ball went where it did, and you kind of hear an explanation as far as [Freeman’s] justification for that then you can start the education process about how we want to do things and when an incompletion is not only OK, it’s a good thing, when a sack is not only OK, it’s a good thing. I mean it’s all about protecting the football and making those smart decisions.”

Joe was pleased to hear this stuff from Sullivan, versus the “push the reset button” line Greg Schiano and rockstar general manager Mark Dominik have used publicly when talking about the approach to getting Freeman back to 2010 form.

Fixing Freeman is hands down the most important task for the New Schiano World Order. If Freeman’s on the field moving well and throwing four times more touchdowns than picks like he did in 2010, it’ll be darn hard for the Bucs to come up with a losing record.

The headline above essentially is a question Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski pondered during his afternoon show on WQYK-AM 1010 yesterday. So Joe thought he’d take a moment to answer it.

For Joe, many in the media already have begun turning on Schiano, or at least are setting the stage for how they’ll turn on him.

Take Tom Jones’ recent column about Schiano in the Tampa Bay Times. He’s tossing around adjectives like “neurotic” and “dogmatic” when describing the head coach. Jones is concerned that Schiano isn’t equipped to manage professional players and that players will turn on him because he has no “pedigree.”

Former Buccaneer Ian Beckles, whose morning show on WDAE-AM 620 comes on after Jones’ new slot, (setting up as a daily beat-down of the Bucs) has been vocal that Schiano’s act is unlikely to play with veterans and he won’t be able to handle them long term if he doesn’t adjust. That’s a bad combination, says Beckles, because Schiano soon will realize he needs veterans to win.

Popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging Peter King of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports fame, joined in the action Tuesday calling Schiano a “control freak,” seemingly reaching big time by referencing an anonymous Rutgers source that claimed Schiano was once fixated on thermostat settings in meetings.

Keep in mind these three examples were all churned out this week.

None of this surprises Joe, and Joe expects Schiano to feel extreme heat early and often this season if the Bucs aren’t winning.

The fact is the NFL wants every detail and opinion overblown and under a microscope. That drives interest and passion and ratings, which leads to media and fans turning on coaches and players far earlier than they did 10 or 15 years ago.  Just look at NFL.com, which takes on a more TMZ feel every day.  

Everybody loves a good coaching “hot seat” breakdown, and it’s only a matter of time before a coach appears on those lists before he even coaches a game. Especially a guy like Schiano, who has a lot of talent at his disposal and doesn’t have the greatest college record on his resume. 

The year of discontent for former Bucs great Warren Sapp continues with news this morning that Sapp will no longer be a regular panelist on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL,” so reports Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.

We’re told Showtime has decided to drop former UM and NFL star Warren Sapp from Inside the NFL. The network confirmed that to us. The other cast members – James Brown, Phil Simms, Cris Collinsworth – are expected back. NFL Network hasn’t said whether it will renew Sapp’s contract this summer. Sapp drew criticism for accusing Jeremy Shockey of telling the league about the Saints’ bounty program – a claim that Shockey and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell have denied.

The past few months haven’t been so pleasant for Sapp. First, there was his fingering of Jeremy Shockey as the Saints’ snitch, but Shockey turned out not to be the whistleblower in the Saints scandal.

Then there was the realization that Sapp squandered all of his tens of millions of dollars when he filed for bankruptcy.

Add to that, Sapp, who has yet to re-up his contract with NFL Network that expires in August, is starring in a YouTube-only TV reality series where he portrays a judge.

Joe has made no secret of how appalled he was by the slander of LeGarrette Blount by the former Bucs coaching staff, throwing him under the bus and blaming him for virtually everything short of syphilis and Iran building a nuclear reactor in an effort to save their own hides.

So the Bucs go out and draft Muscle Hamster, Doug Martin in the first round, a savvy move by Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik.

Not only has the addition of Martin lighted a fire under Blount, which is not a bad thing, there already is debate who may start come September, Blount or Hamster.

It seems Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune has an idea and offered his keen insight into this in a TBO Bucs Q&A.

Q: Who do you think will start Day One at running back? I think it should be LeGarrette Blount, he has shown flashes of being great and fits Schiano’s physical mentality. Don’t get me wrong, Doug Martin will get a lot of touches as well. At this point in time LeGarrette is just the better back.

Andrew Athans, Arnold, Md.

A: I don’t disagree with what you say about Blount, but I think Martin will be the starter. He’s more versatile than Blount and doesn’t have the problems holding on to the ball that Blount does. Martin can break tackles, too, and he has the speed to break free for a home run. He’ll likely get the chance to be the starter out of the chute but it’s nice to have a starting-caliber player like Blount in reserve, who can finish games and punish tired defenses.

— Woody Cummings

There is no winner or loser in this situation. Joe could see Martin starting for no other reason than the investment the Bucs will have in him, but let’s remember, Martin has yet to carry a football in a game, much less practice, where defenders are wearing pads.

Blount or Martin, Joe can’t see the Bucs going wrong either way.

There’s no doubt at least a few players drafted in the top-10 overall last month will become notorious busts in their respective cities. That’s the just the crapshoot of the NFL Draft.

But after only a few weeks of practice Greg Schiano already is brimming with confidence, telling a group of fans this week that he knows the Bucs made a “good decision” after seeing Mark Barron practice for a while.

Schiano’s comments were part of a fan video recorded at One Buc Palace this week during a tour. Now Joe usually steers clear of these Too Hot For TV covert recordings, but Joe was able to verify its authenticity after it was first referenced on BucsNation.com.

“Every video I put on, Mark Barron dominated competition. Whether it was a lower level opponent, whether it was Penn State whether it was a Southest Conference foe, every single game you felt his presence in a big way. Having coached defensive football for a lot of years, I don’t care what level you’re going and transcending to, when you dominate the level you’re playing at, it usually happens at the next level,” Schiano said. “Then throw on top of that, that Mark Barron was a two-time captain, voted captain by his teammates twice at the Unversity of Alabama, who has won two of the last four national championships. That to me, I was sold. I was sold, and our organization. And I can tell you after working with him for a few short weeks here, we made a good decision.”

Joe’s as hopeful about Barron as the next guy, and it feels good that the head coach isn’t hedging already or talking about Barron “figuring out” the NFL. The Bucs absolutely cannot afford for Barron to be anything less than very good.

New Bucs tight end Dallas Clark had serious options in the free agent market, so he told Doug Gottlieb of BSPN Radio this week.

In fact, Clark said it was no quick decision to come to the Bucs with offers from the Chiefs, and Bill Belicheat, on the table.

“All three very, very good organizations. I had a feeling that when I was going to make the decision it was just going to be easy and it was going to be clear cut. But man, when you have these three teams involved and these three organizations, it was extremely hard,” Clark said. “You know, it took me a few days, but at the end of the day it just felt right down here in Tampa.”

Now Joe has no clue which team offered Clark the most money. Perhaps it was the Bucs? Or perhaps Clark saw Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez on the Patriots’ roster and wasn’t confident he’d get off the New England bench? Or maybe Clark was mesmerized by the New Schiano World Order?

Clark did gush about the Bucs coaching staff and said he hoped Josh Freeman would lead him to a great season (versus the other way around, Clark also cited the Bucs being “full of talent” as a reason he chose Tampa.

“The whole vibe was really an exciting aspect of coming here,” Clark said. (Joe suspects the “vibe” took on new meaning when the Bucs whispered to him that Kellen Winslow would be sent packing.)

Regardless, the Bucs won the services of Clark, and Joe’s comforted by the fact Clark was in high demand.

In jersey news, Clark mentioned that he officially has snatched his favorite No. 44 from Erik Lorig for an undisclosed arrangement.

Multimedia good guy Rock Riley lugged himself and a BayNews9 videographer up to New Jersey this week to get to know Eric LeGrand, the former Rutgers defensive tackle who was left largely paralyzed after an on-field injury.

Greg Schiano and the Bucs signed LeGrand a few weeks ago in what became a heart-warming national story.

LeGrand has made great physical strides through intense rehabilitation. In the video linked here, you’ll see some of what LeGrand deals with in rehab. The kid has an extraordnary attitude. It’s amazing when he talks of how what he’s going through was “an easy transition” after being a football player for a hard-driving coach.  (Caution: Beware of LeGrand’s horrible singing.)

One of the most blessed men in American history, former Bucs quarterback and Chucky punching bag Jeff Garcia, reminisced a bit about the Bucs today during the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620.

The last Bucs quarterback to lead the team to a playoff game, Garcia looked back fondly remembering Bucs fans embracing him and his family. But Garcia also expressed regret for how Chucky rested key players in December 2007 after the Bucs jumped out to a 9-5 record and clinched the NFC South title.

Per Garcia, it cost the Bucs dearly.

“[In 2007,] we didn’t finish our season strong. We started to rest players because we had clinched the division so early. Next thing you know we’re somewhat limping into the playoffs instead of playing our best football. That’s one thing at that level, you can’t afford to shut things down,” Garcia said. “You can’t afford to tell your body to take a break. Because once you start to take a break, as you well know Ian [Beckles], playing the game yourself, you’re body just automatically starts to shut down. It can’t get to that high level that it needs to be [when] you maintain that consistent level throughout the season.”

Surely Bucs fans remember how many disagreed with Chucky’s decision to give the Bucs an extended rest before the Wild Card round of the playoffs, where they lost 24-14 to the Giants, who went on to win the Super Bowl. Luke McCown got lots of playing time those final two games, and workhorse Earnest Graham was among many key players shut down as the Bucs lost two straight to close the season.

Of course, the next season Chucky and the Bucs whiffed on four consecutive chances to lock down a playoff berth. Nobody can — or should — take those 9-7’s away from Chucky, but clearly he had lost his fastball as a big-game coach. It seems Chucky realizes this as well, as he refuses to return to the NFL.

One a lighter note, Garcia said he and his lovely wife, the legendary Carmella Garcia, now have four young children and are living in San Diego. Garcia is working as an advisor with the new USFL and said he has a new company that will represent NFL players.

Joe’s not a big salary numbers geek, but Joe knows many fans go bananas about that kind of chatter. So here goes.

ESPN blogger Pat Yasinskas accessed the coveted Disney data and spit out a take on the Bucs salary cap considerations and how Kellen Winslow’s trade might have had, in part, money behind the move.

But the Bucs spent big in free agency this year and next year’s going to be a different story. The cap isn’t expected to be much more than $120 million in 2013. Prior to the Winslow deal, the Bucs already had $117.4 million committed toward next year’s draft. By trading Winslow, the Bucs erased his $5.6 million cap figure for 2013, so that drops them down to $111.8 for the moment. But that’s going to change quickly. First-round draft picks Mark Barron and Doug Martin will sign contracts that will take up several million dollars of cap space next year. And the overall view of Tampa Bay’s cap situation could change dramatically after the 2012 season because some of the young players could trigger escalator clauses and it’s possible the team could look to extend the contracts of quarterback Josh Freeman and some others between now and next offseason.

Joe’s not on board with the logic that Winslow’s ouster was about money. And despite Yasinskas’ further writings, Joe doesn’t believe the Bucs have any real salary cap concerns entering 2013. The Bucs have some big contracts, like Quincy Black’s and Jeremy Trueblood’s, that are very likely to be history.

Yesterday afternoon, Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy dropped a phone call to talk to co-hosts of the widely popular, footballholic show “Movin’ the Chains,” Pat Kirwan and Tim Ryan, heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio. GMC spoke on a wide variety of subjects from the New Schiano Order to Brian Price to Aqib Talib. GMC also, when given the chance, gave a less-than ringing endorsement of former Bucs coach Raheem Morris but lauded his position coach Keith Millard.

Tim Ryan: Brutal year for the Bucs at 4-12.  He’s going to accept the Pop Warner Youth Inspiration Award in Orlando this weekend, here’s the third-year defensive tackle of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, here’s Gerald McCoy. Hey Gerald, How are you doing?

Gerald McCoy: What’s up brother, hanging in there brother, grinding like I am always doing.

Ryan: Sounds like you are tired, sounds like you are back on scholarship.

GMC: Man, we have a few things going on, a little bit different, yeah; you have to bear with me.

Pat Kirwan: Tell me about your new coach. Sounds like we should start there. Is he pushing you guys? And I would like to get a reaction to the locker room to Kellen being shown the door.

GMC: As far as coach, discipline. That is one of the things he is drilling in our heads. Have to have discipline; we have to learn how to be professionals. We have a young team which is still learning how to win and lose. There are ways to do both. You have to learn how to win and keep your poise and learn how to lose and keep your poise and be able to bounce back. He is teaching us how to be professionals and bring discipline back and get to where we need to be.  As far as Kellen, great teammate and greet player, but we wish him the best and that is why they say it is a business. Business is business. We have to move on and take the next step to where we want to be.

Ryan: Gerald, go back to last year for a second and it ended early with an injury to you, again. But, I remember the story last year going into training camp, youngry and young and hungry and all of that stuff and then the fall off during the last several games during the course of the season, I know the excitement was sky high coming off a 10-win season the year before. Yes, you had some significant injuries. Talk about 2011 before we move on. What happened?

GMC: One of those things like I mentioned earlier. We had to learn how to win. You had a bunch of first- and second-year guys who had gone on to a 10-win season and miss the playoffs by a few points. Had a lot of guys who had success early in their careers. Inexperience meant we didn’t know you could do the same things to win. Warren Sapp told me, he said, ‘Young fella, listen: If you are going to be successful in this league, you can’t do the same thing year in and year out. You have to do some things different.’ Given our experience, we didn’t know that. So we tried to do the same things as players and our inexperience showed on the field. Inexperience and lack of discipline.

Ryan: How is your health now.

GMC: Oh, I’m good. I’m participating in everything, 100 percent, workouts and practice. I’m back and ready to go.

Ryan: What did you learn last year? I know you were excited to play for Keith Millard, he was teaching you things and you were ready for  a break out year and then you had the injury. What did you learn from him that you will take with you for the rest of your career?

GMC:  Oh, man. Coach Millard, he was the best. I took in everything I could while I could. I studied and studied and studied everything he showed me. I will always remember it and will always keep it with me, the things he showed me. We have a great new coach in Randy Melvin, and, you know, taking it all in and putting it all together.

Kirwan: Let’s talk technique a little bit. You have a new coach come in and he may want to change your technique, change your stance, tweak a little bit, maybe lean some more some way. How difficult is it to change your technique when you have been doing things a long time through high school and college and now in the pros. If they start tweaking things, it can be difficult to do what they want.

GMC: Yeah, it is difficult. But that is the thing with being a professional. I have had three different d-line coaches in three years so I am learning something new every year. You just try to take it all in and be a professional. That is what Coach Schiano is teaching us now. To be professionals. The best defensemen are the ones in the Pro Bowl year in and year out so I am just trying to learn to be one of those guys.

Ryan: We know that Coach Schiano is a defensive guy and you bring in Bill Sheridan as the defensive coordinator. Schematically — just on the surface, you don’t have to get into it — still a four-man front? Still a shade player on the offensive guard? Penetrate right into the B-gap? How are they going to use you?

GMC:  Yeah. They drafted me to do what it is I do. They are going to use me in that exact way and that is to penetrate and wreak havoc in the backfield. The defense is a four-man front and that is exactly how they are going to use me. Just taking it one step at a time. Same ole, same ole, wreak havoc in the backfield. Just as I’ve always done.

Ryan: How much is big Carl Nicks going to help out the interior of your offensive line?

GMC: That dude is a monster. I’m going to go on record and just say that. Everybody wants to quote different things, you can just go ahead and quote that one. Carl Nicks is a monster. Put a guy with that kind of talent next to a Donald Penn who is a Pro Bowler and you have Davin Joseph on the other side who is a Pro Bowler, you can’t beat that. You have to love it in practice because if you go against those guys day in and day out it can’t do anything but make you better and if you aren’t getting better, then that’s your fault because they are bringing it enough to make you work. I love having him on the team, I love it.

Kirwan: A lot of new faces on that roster. It’s only your third year as you have pointed out. As you look at that roster today, Carl Nicks, Vincent Jackson, Dallas Clark, Doug Martin, Amobi Okoye. There are a lot of guys who are new. How does it feel? How long does it take to build a football team where everyone gets to know everybody?

GMC: It is great but coach is taking the steps so that we know everybody. Have guys introduce themselves have guys speak to say what it is they expect from the team. Just different things so we get to learn the new personalities of all the new players and for the new players to learn us. I have been around for three years. So coach is taking necessary steps to learn each other so we can go out and function on the field.

Ryan: I feel bad about your defensive line teammate Brian Price and all the things he has been through in his life, growing up with the loss of some siblings and the catastrophic injury he suffered getting into pro football and now losing his sister, talk a little about Brian Price.

GMC:  Whoa, for a guy like Brian Price, to be able to function the way he does and to play the game the way he does, it’s really surprising for all he has went through. But “BP” as we call him, he’s a tough guy and always finds a way to fight back and to show up. I am sure he will continue to do the same things. Life is a rollercoaster. So many twists and turns, upside-downs, twists, all that types of things,  that is what life is. He takes it better than anyone I have seen. Applause goes to him.

Kirwan: Tell us the status of Aqib Talib.

GMC:  I support him 100 percent and I believe Aqib is handing all of his situations like a true professional. I love having him on my team and having him out there on the field.

Kirwan: Last question for me and it’s a bit sensitive. Do you, personally, feel bad what happened to your former coach last year, Raheem.

GMC:  (Period of dead air) Well, ah, you know, you never want to see, um, anybody lose a job at any moment. I have had teammates that were released and teammates being cut and all the coaching staff got released last year. You never want to see anybody, you know, be released. So of course that’s not something you ever want to see. Um but business is business and moves have to be made. Ah, when people do have families, hey, I’m a family guy to so it’s not just a coach, it’s anybody. You hate to see them lose a job or take a pay cut or anything of that sort. I feel for them because they have families to support. That’s anybody. But you have to understand about being a professional, being in a professional league, business moves have to be made and if we want to get to where we want to be, certain moves had to be made and we just have to understand that.

Joe’s got about 49 percent of the vote, but could really use more cushion. Thanks to everyone for their support.

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Joe was hoping the NFL owners would have bumped the trade deadline beyond the extension to Week 8 approved yesterday. Previously it was at Week 6, and Joe would have loved to see a Week 12 deadline to really drive more wheeling and dealing among teams. It would have been great for the league.

Specifically, Joe was keeping an eye on the owners’ ruling on the trade deadline because of Aqib Talib.

If the Bucs are having a subpar 2012 season but Talib is thriving, then Joe figures Talib will be a prime candidate to be traded.

The reason is Talib’s contract is up after 2012. Joe can’t imagine the Bucs paying Talib the big free-agent contract he’ll be seeking because Talib is such a hard guy to trust on and off the field. Sure, if Talib lights up the league in 2012, the Bucs could always drop the franchise tag on him for $10 million or so, but Joe thinks there are better odds of Carmella Garcia inviting Joe for an intimate hot tub session.

So in Joe’s mind, Talib is the perfect guy to dump before a trade deadline when some team with a pressing need desires a big-time talent with short-term risk.

There likely would be a greater chance of that going down under a later trade deadline, but the move to Week 8 definitely ups the odds of midseason departure for No. 25.

Some Bucs fans are still scratching their heads over the Bucs quickly unloading lightning rod tight end Kellen Winslow. Even Peter King was distracted from kvetching about scones to call out Bucs coach Greg Schiano for being a control freak for making such a move.

Alan Dell is of a different mind. The Bradenton Herald columnist believed Winslow was only a good player in Winslow’s mind and that K2 was grossly overrated.

Winslow’s ego shielded him from reality.

He wasn’t one of the Bucs’ best players, and he didn’t get a ticket out of town because he wasn’t at an OTA. In Winslow you had a guy with a bum knee who didn’t like to practice or block and demanded the ball. This is not the kind of guy you want around all those young, impressionable receivers.

The Bucs got a conditional seventh-round pick for Winslow, which is about his worth these days.

Dell also goes on to point out how Winslow led all Bucs receivers in penalties with seven, many offensive pass interference, partly because he could no longer get separation like he once did.

Joe found a more telling stat from the football nerds at ProFootballFocus.com. Of Josh Freeman’s 22 interceptions last year, nine of the interceptions Winslow was the intended target.

That pretty much documents just how often Freeman was forcing passes to Winslow, mostly because Winslow demanded it.

Now Joe was hardly ecstatic when the Bucs signed Dallas Clark the other day. Sure, he might turn out to be a great find, but he’s also been hurt for much of the last two seasons and he’s about to turn 33.

Joe’s heard for a few years how older, banged up free agents with declining production are all but a waste of roster space, so perhaps this is why Joe is slow to catch on to the excitement surrounding Clark.

That written, Joe saw this video from Clark’s first practice on Buccaneers.com, and now Joe’s attitude is improving. Definitely check it out. It’ll get you fired up for the season.

Cool cat Donald Penn took a moment after OTA practice yesterday to talk to a gaggle of local pen and mic club members to discuss the Bucs, what he learned from the grotesque 10-game losing streak last season, and how Josh Freeman is handling a new offense with a new coaching staff.

On the collateral damage of the 10-game losing streak that resulted in Raheem Morris being jettisoned by the Bucs.

You have to move on, man. It’s your job. If there is one thing about Raheem Morris is that he taught me is that you have to understand there is a business side to everything. You have to look at it like that. It’s a business side. You have to move on. We are out here. We have great attendance. Guys are buying in. It’s looking up. I’m looking forward to the season.

Can he sense a change in the air among local Bucs fans with the New Schiano Order?

I think so. When I see people out it’s not like last year when they saw you and they looked down. Now they are chatting with me. So I think [excitement] is coming.

What are some differences with Schiano?

You will see when we converse on the field. I don’t want to give up any inside stuff about what he is doing. He is holding everybody accountable and himself accountable as much as he is holding the person next to himself accountable. That is one thing we are trying to do across the board: Everybody is accountable. No sugarcoating anything, no hiding anything. He wants everything up front. That’s the way I try to live. I try to treat people the way they want to be treated and that is what he is giving back to these young guys. Don’t half-ass something if you don’t want the other guy doing it half-assed. You have to be on top of your game and the other guy you have to make sure is on top of his game too. With a young team, that is something you need.

How is Josh Freeman adapting to the coaches?

I was in his ear today telling him, “You know you are still my favorite quarterback?” He is getting better. You have to understand, Josh has so much on his plate right now. He is learning so much; he is getting so much thrown at him. Out there on the offensive line, we are making the calls and trying to make his job easier. He has so much upon him right now — he is grasping it, he is doing a good job. Sometimes we have to tell him to calm down because he is getting overwhelmed because he wants everything to be perfect. But right now we are learning things, we are fixing things. Not everything is going to be perfect but he wants it to be perfect. We tell him, “Josh, slow down, we’ve got time, but we like the way you are working.”

Schiano has pulled him aside a couple of times, “Keep working hard, keep doing what you are doing but don’t get frustrated.” They are throwing a lot at him; they are throwing a lot at us.

We have to learn from last year. I don’t want that feeling again and none of the other guys want that. Josh handled it well. That’s what he needs to do. That makes him mature and makes him a better player and a better leader.

It’s still baffles Joe that Bill Belicheat had so much love for helmet-wielding, cabbie-slugging, Adderrall-popping, coach-cussing, referee-charging, pistol-friendly, granny-hassling, injury-prone Aqib Talib.

Jimminy Christmas! This new Boston Herald story even claims Talib turned down a long-term deal from the Patriots in favor of the one-year, $5.5 million contract he’s got now.

Talib drew a gaggle of reporters this week at Patriots practice and the video is below. Talib can’t remember what month it is and talks about conditioning and contracts like only he can. Yes, Joe’s salivating at the thought of Talib covering Vincent Jackson when the Bucs head to New England in September.