Newspapers constantly make calls on whether to quote a subject verbatim or to clean up grammar, as well as to pick and choose comments to make a story flow smoothly and keep it from becoming about somebody’s communication skills.

It happens every day, especially with professional athletes and coaches.

Locally, the mainstream outlets did that routinely with Raheem Morris, the loquacious and vivacious former Bucs coach. But Joe typically quoted Raheem without cleanup because Joe had endless space on the Interwebs to celebrate a good Raheem ramble, plus Joe often found Raheem’s unique style of communicating and bizarre storytelling and nicknames entertaining and wanted to share that with readers.

But Joe saw the cover of Wednesday’s Tampa Bay Times sports section and felt the newspaper made a sinister choice to target LeGarrette Blount by highlighting his bad grammar in red in what’s known as a pull quote. See below. (You can double-click the image to enlarge it.)

Don’t get Joe wrong. Blount said what he said and there’s nothing wrong with quoting him. But the bold highlight of the poor grammar here is a questionable choice considering Blount expressed the exact same words correctly in the part of the quote you don’t see above. Here’s what appeared in the actual story:

“I think nobody can affect my carries but me,” Blount said. “They drafted him because we needed him. But at the end of the day, we’re both going to play. Don’t nobody affect my carries but me, not what he does, not what anybody else does, just how I practice and how fast I get the offense down pat and everything like that. That’s the only thing that will affect my carries.”

So essentially, the Times editors who designed and approved the sports page cover had three choices — take the quote from Blount that made sense, take the one that made him sound like an uneducated boob, or display both together as it was in the story.

The Times’ call was to make Blount look like a boob.

Joe’s readers can reach their own conclusions. But there’s no denying that Blount is being repeatedly targeted by local and national media. This is the third incident this week. As Joe’s written before, a sociology professor somewhere could put together quite a study of the negative media vibes around a young, productive and exciting player.

Joe openly wonders what Tampa Bay Times resident media ethicist and social activist Eric Deggans would have to say on this matter. Just a hunch, we will never know.

It seems like every year Bucs fans grasp onto the hopes of a player that has at best limited odds of making the team.

Just by listening to Bucs fans periodically pine for wide receiver Ed Gant, Joe’s pretty sure he is this year’s Kareem Huggins, an extreme bubble guy.

Good guy Mark Cook of PewterReport.com recently held a live chat where he was peppered with a question about Gant making the Bucs.

tward369
Last preseason, wide receiver Ed Gant showed signs of having some promising talent. Yet, we did not see him on the field last season. In your opinion, what are the odds of him getting playing time this season, and why?

Mark Cook
Ed Gant is very intriguing. He has great size and has a totally different body type than any other Buccaneers receiver. He also has really good speed. I thought he looked really good Tuesday, but he is still raw and has a disadvantage to guys like Stroughter and Parker for that reason. I believe if he improves a few things, like footwork in his routes, and can grasp the playbook, then he has a real shot to make the roster this year.

Joe’s not so sure Gant will make the Bucs, though Dezmon Briscoe, who was the Bucs’ No. 5 receiver last year, has done just about everything to make the Bucs cut him, short of dropping a steamy No. 2 on Greg Schiano’s office carpet. So there could be an opening.

Then again the Bucs did go out and sign Vincent Jackson, so one would believe every receiver has dropped down a notch meaning Sammie Stroughter is right now the No. 5 receiver behind Jackson, Mike Williams, Arrelious Benn and Preston Parker.

When the Bucs had their OTAs this week, there were three absentees:

Kellen Winslow, who normally is allergic to OTAs.

Dezmon Briscoe, for reasons unknown, but he finds the time to retweet messages on Twitter from women who drool over his posterior.

Brian Price, who was too sick to practice.

Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune found out what made Price sick, and not only was Joe sick reading about this, but Bucs fans need to back off the guy for not practicing this week.

Price was so shaken and distraught over his sister being killed in a traffic accident, he found himself in a local hospital.

The toll so far includes a degree of mental and physical exhaustion that resulted in a hospital stay here in Tampa that began on Monday and didn’t end until late Thursday, Price’s agent said.

“He was ready to go with the OTAs (organized team activities) starting up on Tuesday, but between a complete lack of sleep and all that he has been dealing with from this loss, he just couldn’t do it,” Charles Price said.

“You never want to use the term ‘physical exhaustion,’ but there’s really no other way to describe it. He was dehydrated and after dealing with so much, his body just shut down on him.”

From Cummings’ article, his older sister was like a second mother. Price grew up in the rough neighborhoods of Los Angeles and lost two brothers to gang violence. Price worked himself out of these miserable conditions and went to UCLA and got a degree.

Now he’s trying to battle back from a freak injury to further better his life.

It still blows Joe’s mind that with so many Bucs players loafing and taking advantage of Raheem Morris last year, that Morris chose Price of all people to run out of the stadium in the middle of a game like some high school kid.

Learning of Price’s sister’s death, Joe has even more reasons to pull for the guy to dominate this season.

Literally as Joe walked into his modest abode at 2:17 eastern daylight time, Joe’s Droid Razr Maxx went off with an alert from the Bucs that free agent kicker Connor Barth has been signed.

Joe will let the release from the Bucs explain the details.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced today that they have signed K Connor Barth, the team’s franchise player, to a four-year contract.

“For the Bucs organization, [General Manager] Mark Dominik, Coach [Greg] Schiano and everyone to believe in me, to know that I’ll be their kicker for the next four years, is awesome,” said Barth. “It’s just an amazing opportunity and I want to continue to perform like I have and live up to their expectations. I want to thank everyone – the fans, everybody, the team behind me – and I’m looking forward to getting back on the field.”

There. Some Bucs fans long nightmare is complete. One of the few weapons that consistently came through for the Bucs is now in the fold for four more seasons.

Reportedly, the deal is worth some $13.2 million with $4-mil guaranteed. Not bad for a guy who logs, at best, 15 plays a game.

Joe knows the following isn’t exactly breaking news but Joe also knows how fans get totally geeked by it.

The few practices Joe has been able to peek at under the New Schiano Order reveal a glaring difference from years past. Not only are simple fundamentals drilled into players’ heads — from the play of last year, a much-needed method — but there is zero wasted time. No goofing around.

The players almost practice as if it’s a perpetual two-minute drill and the clock is running down with no timeouts.

In this NFL Network video, good guy Jeff Darlington, reporting from One Buc Palace Tuesday, called the practices under the New Schiano Order “militant-like.”

That’s sort of what Joe called them Tuesday as well, only with different words.

Joe and other Bucs fans heard over and over again in recent years how the Bucs didn’t really need veteran receivers around Mike Williams and Arrelious Benn because “vibing‘” former receivers coach Eric Yarber would fill the role of mentor.

Maybe Yarber was a great coach. Maybe he wasn’t.

But now the Bucs have hard-working veteran manbeast Vincent Jackson, and newly bearded Mike Williams (worst beard Joe’s seen in a while) is singing his praises, via Buccaneers.com.

He is refining his route-running and becoming more adept at reading coverages, and that process has been made quite a bit easier by the knowledgeable presence of Jackson.

 “We get advice from each other but mostly from him,” said Williams of the Bucs’ receiving corps.  “He’s going out there and showing us what he’s seen throughout his long career, his 1,000-yard seasons and his Pro Bowl seasons.  He’s letting us know what we’re going to see.  We’re trying to work together as a group to compete.

“Basically [he says] to keep working on my game.  Don’t ever think you’ve mastered it; keep on working on it.  If you catch a pass 1,000 times, he wants you to catch it 1,005.  Just keep working on my game is basically what I’ve learned from him.”

You can look at Williams’ beard in this video, the latest official Bucs offering from the well-coiffed Scott Smith, and see Williams honing his craft with the high-energy P.J. Fleck.

Joe might need a new laptop just to keep track of all the LeGarrette Blount bashing — subtle and not-so-subtle — in the media.

The latest to take out the imaginary seal club was former Bucs guard Ian Beckles (1990-1996), while co-hosting The Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620 yesterday.

Beckles was appauled by Blount’s rather benign comment in The Tampa Tribune that implied Blount is more motivated than ever after the Bucs drafted Doug Martin.

“Them drafting a running back might be what I needed to become an every-down back,” Blount said.

These were venomous words for Beckles.

“If he needs competition to take his crap seriously, what good is he?” Beckles bellowed.

 Beckles then wondered aloud why reporters are even quoting Blount since he hasn’t earned that kind of respect.

Beckles went on to say that Blount has so many shortcomings and offered a brief scouting report. “What makes him a bad short-yardage back makes him a bad running back,” Beckles said, referring to Blount’s running style and Blount allegedly not doing much without big holes to work in.

As Joe’s written before, Joe has never seen a young, exciting, productive player get pummelled so much — in any sport. Joe thinks some sociology professor should dive into studying the Blount phenomenon.

The Man Channel, aka NFL Network, zeroed in on the Bucs last night. For those who missed it, or are held hostage by a cable TV provider more concerned about new sandboxes in Safety Harbor than NFL fans, here’s the link to the segment.

There’s some fun stuff in the video, including cuts from yesterday’s practice. Highlights include a very fiesty (for no pads) trenches battle between Davin Joseph and Gerald McCoy, plus Arrellious Benn, Sammie Stroughter and (gasp!) LeGarrette Blount catching passes.

The video concludes with analysis by Marshall Faulk and an aghast Warren Sapp, who says the Bucs will not “contend” in 2012. Sapp seems unsure how the Bucs will rectify a historically ugly defense so quickly.

Update 1:54 p.m. NFL.com has changed the headline that prompted this story. Joe is pleased by the response.

Sniffing around NFL.com this morning, Joe found the following headline on the NFL.com home page: “Buccaneers RB LeGarrette Blount Is Delusional.”

It’s on a post from Gregg Rosenthal, who likely didn’t write the headline, though there’s a reasonable chance he did.

Now one could make a case that calling someone “delusional” is an acceptable insult, though one could argue that it crosses a line into questioning one’s mental state and mental health. (Feel free to grab a dictionary). But regardless, Joe finds this kind of headline commentary on the home page of Blount’s employer, the NFL, completely unacceptable.

Team Glazer helps fund this drivel? Somebody at One Buc Palace needs to make a phone call.

In the new media world sports leagues deliver their own commentary and craft their own media in an effort to drive revenue and interest in their respective league. But when is it out of bounds for a league to start insulting its own players? Joe thinks this slam at Blount is a great example of something inappropriate.

Joe hopes Blount, purely on principle, finds an attorney and sues the NFL for libel and finds an employment lawyer to come after the league, or maybe the precious players union can have Blount’s back.

Joe suspects some lawyer somewhere could make a reasonable case that the NFL is acting maliciously against Blount and subsequently affecting his career potential.

Now Joe’s all in favor of free speech, but there’s some serious gray area when your employer is torching you personally on the company website.

In this Tampa Bay Times video, Bucs beat writers Stephen Holder and Rick Stroud break down Day 1 of the latest OTA session.

Last week when Bucs defensive end Da’Quan Bowers blew out his Achilles tendon in his right leg, which appears to be a season-ending injury it was a bad hit for the depth of a yet unproven Bucs defensive line.

New Bucs coach referred to Bowers’ injury as “a great loss.”

That, however, didn’t put Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik into panic mode. Dominik said yesterday at the Bucs OTA that he is willing to see how his current troops hold up before he does anything rash in trying to replace the void left by Bowers’ injury, so documents cool cat Scott Purks of CBSSports.com.

“Right now, I think we’re trying to evaluate these men that we have here for a little bit before we feel like we have to [look for a free agent replacement].”

This is the smart thing to do. As Pat Kirwan said yesterday on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Dominik can always workout free agent defensive ends at One Buc Palace and tell their agents to not sign a deal anywhere before they call Dominik. 

Though word out of Gotham suggests stud, versatile Giants defensive lineman Osi Umenyiora can be had for a third round pick, and while Joe would love to have him on the Bucs roster, Umenyiora is in his contract year, is barking for big money, and has a gimpy knee.

So a trade for Umenyiora would likely mean little more than a rent-a-player. Let’s see how George Johnson pans out before Dominik has to push the panic button.

It’s still possible that the Bucs could survive a season without Bowers.

To hear Tim Ryan talk about free agent veteran defensive end Andre Carter, who racked up 10 sacks and a Pro Bowl invitation last year with Bill Belicheat, Carter is the ideal Buccaneer Man for the New Schiano World Order in Tampa.

Ryan told a panic-stricken Bucs fan caller on SiriusXM NFL Radio on Monday, “You’d love Andre Carter. He’s the first guy on the field, last one off. There’d be nobody in better condition or more ready to go than Andre Carter.”

Ryan, a former Bears defensive tackle, said Carter is the first name he’d seek to replace DaQuan Bowers if he were rockstar general manager Mark Dominik.

At 33 years old and coming off a quadriceps injury that limited him to 14 games, Carter hardly fits the Bucs’ yungry mold. However, Greg Schiano mentor Bill Belicheat embraced the guy, the Bucs were last in the NFL in sacks in 2011, and George Johnson seems to be the alternative.

The way Ryan talks about Carter’s work ethic, it would seem hard for the Bucs to go wrong signing him to a one-year deal. They can always cut him.

Nothing earthshaking in this TampaBay.com video from practice today at One Buc Palace, but you’ll love it if you crave anything related to Bucs football. What struck Joe about the video is Jeremy Zuttah wearing a long sleeved shirt under his jersey. The dude either didn’t catch the weather report, or he’s putting himself through some serious heat training.

The New Schiano Order was quickly established at One Buc Palace this morning for the Bucs’ first OTA practice after the draft. It was a stark, stunning contrast from practices of the past few years.

Rigid. Detailed. No wasted time. Players moved with a sense of urgency. Fundamentals were not just stressed, but demanded and polished in drills.

• “Avoid contact. Be smart. Do it the right way. To be the best you have to be your best right now,” Schiano bellowed. Joe’s guessing Ric Flair is smiling somewhere.
• It was very much like a college atmosphere. Lot of clapping from all the players during drills. Lot of yelling too, almost like a boot camp. Lot of enthusiasm.
• “Attitude, attitude!” Schiano yells as practice drills begin. Then, a player Joe couldn’t make out felt the wrath of the New Schiano Order for not completing a drill to its fullest extent.
• It’s not just the players who are expected to sprint between drills and stations. So too is Schiano. He watches practice at one field, then bolts to another field for a better view.
• What appeared to be the first team defense in a scrimmage of sorts against the first team offense, first round pick Mark Barron was out there, to no one’s surprise. Aqib Talib and Ronde Barber were the corners and Ahmad Black as the remaining safety.
• How much of a stickler to fundaments is Schiano? He had his players go through a tackling drill that Joe performed (daily) in high school. Four dummies were spread out in a line to represent holes a running back would run through. A ballcarrier would run paralell to the dummies as would a defender. The runner would go through each hole and the defender, with shoulders squared to the line of scrimmage, would wrap-hit the runner properly, wrapping his arms round the runner like Joe would Rachel Watson in a sweaty, heavy-breathing intimate moment. Then the two would disengage and run to the next hole and repeat the tackle/wrap-up. The way the Bucs horribly whiffed on tackling last year, this drill is sorely needed.
• Defenders weren’t the only ones who had to endure a high school fundamental drill. Offensive linemen had to run drills through a cage of an apparatus that kept the linemen low to the ground. If they raised up too quick, they got a rude if not jarring awakening.
• Running backs were not immune to the fundamental drills. Catching passes from quarterbacks, they too had to square their shoulders to the ball, then take off, biting the football.
• Joe’s not sure what wide receiver Sammie Stroughter did wrong in one pass play but Joe’s pretty sure the priests at nearby Jesuit High School could hear Schiano yelling from their classrooms, “Use your arm, Sammie!”
• Joe still is shaken at the sight of LeGarrette Blount catching so many passes. Why, Greg Olson had so many convinced Blount had the hands of a Helen Keller. Oh, and Blount was biting the football.
• Seventh round pick, running back Michael Smith, got some reps in with the first team and, man, the dude has some quick feet.
• There’s the Bucs version of the Packers sweep and Moises Madu scoots for a nice gain to the left.
• George Johnson was getting a lot of work at left defensive end.
• In one offensive line drill, pass blocking dummies were placed between each lineman’s feet so that on his first three or four steps backpedaling, he couldn’t step on a dummy. This was to improve footwork.
• Remember the touchdown catch Mike Williams made in his first NFL game against the Browns at home in the 2010 opener? He duplicated that same circus catch this morning for a touchdown.

[Clarification: Just to be clear, in Joe’s description of the tackling drill above, at no point is the runner put on the ground. Once the defender wraps up properly, the two combatants disengage. It’s almost like a walk-through exercise.]

There were several things that caught Joe’s eye today at the Bucs’ OTA open to the local Tampa Bay chapter of the pen and mic club.

Bucs running back LeGarrette Blount was catching passes out of the backfield. Several in fact.

Quick, someone alert Greg Olson!

Joe didn’t see Blount drop one pass, but Joe cannot confirm he didn’t drop any.

Blount, who should have been the bellcow of the Bucs last season but was jerked around in several ways, including a grand total of five carries — FIVE! — in the season opener against Detroit and seemingly shoved aside for the world renown Benn’d-around play.

Blount said he knew the Bucs were going to bring in a running back in the offseason and welcomes the competition now coming from first round pick Doug Martin (who was held out of practice today with a tweaked hamstring, so said Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik) and speedy Michael Smith.

“I feel I am still [the No. 1 back] until someone takes it away from me,” said a slimmed-down Blount. “Nobody can effect how many carries I get than me.”

Joe thinks the competition — and an offensive coaching staff with a clue — will get the most out of Blount.

In his rookie year, trying to prove himself against veteran and fan-favorite Cadillac Williams, Blount shined.

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The Bucs are practicing today in the May swelter at One Buc Palace and Kellen Winslow, Jr. is not on the field and not attending the first day of the latest optional OTA session.

Feel free to vent and toss around blind speculation in the comments.

Joe can’t hang the guy unless it becomes habitual. He might have a great excuse completely acceptable to the New Schiano Order.

Also not seen on the practice fields of One Buc Palace were wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe and defensive tackle Brian Price

Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik just spoke with Joe and other media types at One Buc Palace and made it clear he isn’t yet counting out a DaQuan Bowers return during the 2012 season.

Bowers, for those out of the loop, blew out his Achilles and had surgery last week.

Dominik said the Bucs will assess the early stages of Bowers’ rehabilitation and craft their judgments later. “We’ll see,” the rockstar said.

Joe still can’t see a reason to play Bowers in 2012. A six-month recovery would be near miraculous, and that puts Bowers into mid-November. It just doesn’t seem to be worth the risk for a guy that won’t be coming back at 100 percent.

Update: At his late-morning news conference, Greg Schiano called Bowers “a great loss.”

Two months ago, Joe was the first in the media to acknowledge Josh Freeman’s significant weight loss.

Joe thought it was a great, noteworthy sign that Freeman was stepping up his dedication. Though Joe surely didn’t think dropping 20 pounds would make Freeman a more effective quarterback.

But that seems to be a prevailing take among national media types and fans. Rich Gannon, on Sirius NFL Radio, referenced “big things” happening in the division yesterday during a discussion about Drew Brees and cited Freeman’s weight loss as one of them. Daniel Jeremiah’s division-by-division quarterbacks breakdown on NFL.com also zeroes in on Freeman’s weight loss.

Did Joe miss something? How exactly is Freeman’s weight loss going to make him a better player?

Mark Dominik said Freeman initiated the weight-loss regimen to gain flexibility in his torso. That’s great, but flexibility, or supposed lack thereof, is hardly a critical factor. Look what Freeman did in 2010 at a higher weight. And it’s not like he’s ever been fat.

Joe just wants it clear that he doesn’t think much of this weight loss, nor would Joe raise an eybrow if Freeman puts on weight between now and training camp, or gains weight during the season, when it likely will be harder to maintain whatever conditioning regimen he has in place now.

Joe’s far more concerned about Mike Sullivan’s playcalling ability and Freeman’s weapons staying healthy.

When Gerald McCoy joined the Bucs as the No. 3 overall pick in 2010, Raheem Morris quickly had him bouncing all around the defensive line, playing inside and outside.

Raheem was widely criticized for slowing McCoy’s development and mis-using him, and in short time the Bucs’ former defensive mastermind relented and made McCoy his beloved 3-technique only.

Well, some experts are now of the mind that McCoy has the skills to play left defensive end and easily could slide over in a rotation and be the Bucs’ option as the third defensive end behind Michael Bennett and Adrian “Boydog” Clayborn.

The well respected former defensive tackle Tim Ryan and ex-linebackers coach Pat Kirwan, hosts of Movin’ The Chains on SiriusXM NFL Radio, said yesterday in a discussion about the Bucs’ potential options without DaQuan Bowers that McCoy could easily be effective at left defensive end in the Greg Schiano’s scheme.

The consensus was that with Amobi Okoye available, the occasional movement of McCoy from his tackle position could be beneficial.

Maybe the assessment is spot on, but Joe can’t buy in. Joe hasn’t seen many 300-pound ends, and McCoy hardly has honed outside pass-rush moves. It would be interesting to watch, though.

Though Joe isn’t exactly curled up in a fetal position over the season-long loss to Da’Quan Bowers due to a tear of his Achilles tendon last week, Joe understands how this will certainly hurt the Bucs.

(Yes, Joe knows Bowers could return late in the season, but why? There’s no reason to hold a roster spot for Bowers just for the final two or three games. And why rush him back when he could do more damage? That’s irresponsible.)

Though Bowers started the last few games of 2011, he was a part-time player exchanging possessions if not plays with Michael Bennett.

But the loss of Bowers may hurt the secondary more than the defensive line. That’s the thought from eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune, as he appeared with Tom Krasniqi on WHBO-AM 1040 recently to discuss Bowers’ injury.

Kaufman believes that with Bowers gone, the Bucs may have to blitz more, and that isn’t a good thing he added.

“You don’t want to blitz [with defensive backs]. They don’t have a sterling secondary. It’s not a lock-tight secondary yet. Blitzing is too much pressure on them. It’s not going to work with this group.”

But blitzing from linebackers, Kaufman said, is a different story. He is of the mind that the Bucs will work in special packages to take advantage of the pass rushing skills of Dakoda Watson and the speed of Lavonte David to put heat on the quarterback.