No. 5 fired back last night (see below) after someone dropped a No. 2 on his reputation, via a leak of Freeman’s substance abuse/medical status with the NFL to Chris Mortensen of BSPN.

Per Freeman’s statement, he voluntarily entered the basic “Stage 1” of the NFL substance abuse program more than year ago after changing ADHD meds and has never failed one league drug test, including 46 league-supervised tests since he entered the program.

Freeman says those tests were “for every drug and banned substance imaginable. I agreed to allow such testing to be done at my workplace (team facility) because I spend all of my time there and I have nothing whatsoever to hide or be embarrassed about.”

Joe thinks it’s very weak that BSPN, with a clear communication avenue to reach Freeman or his agent, didn’t include any comment (or no comment) in their story last night from the Freeman camp, driving Freeman to release his own statement.

Given that Freeman was drug tested routinely at One Buc Palace, it was widely known around the building and surely the results were part of the evaluation of Freeman entering this season, when the New Schiano Order determined Freeman was the best man to lead the franchise. So Joe can’t give Greg Schiano any kind of pass, as if Freeman had a new problem that just emerged.

So who would leak this confidential information? Why?

Joe can speculate like anyone else. Perhaps it was orchestrated by Freeman’s own camp, eager to quash growing rumors that Freeman has a serious problem with recreational drugs? Perhaps it was a team interested in Freeman that’s trying to drive down his trade value? Perhaps it’s a Schiano hater eager to inject more turmoil into the Bucs organization? Maybe Mortensen just cashed in a big favor with a mole at the NFL office to break the story?

Regardless, Freeman is likely to not fade away anytime soon as he tries to fix/clarify his image in the public eye. And the Bucs, since it’s not “high school football,” will keep him around while they try to trade him.

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

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

Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman issued a statement concerning news this evening of his entering the Stage 1 NFL drug program.

(Tip o’ hat to ProFootballTalk.com)

“Let me be very clear. I have NEVER tested positive for any illegal drugs or related substances. Further, I have agreed to take, and have PASSED 46 NFL-regulated drug tests over the last year and a half.

“Since the confidentiality of my medical status has been publicly violated, I am choosing to address this matter so that grossly erroneous assumptions about me do not persist. Like millions of Americans, I have ADHD and I have been prescribed and permitted to take medication to treat this condition for the entirety of my NFL career. Well over a year ago, I took a different medication for the same condition (Ritalin rather than Adderall) , and to assure everyone that the error was a one-time mistake, I agreed to be voluntarily tested in the “NFL Program”. Since that time, I have taken and passed all 46 drug tests I’ve been given, which test for every drug and banned substance imaginable. I agreed to allow such testing to be done at my workplace (team facility) because I spend all of my time there and I have nothing whatsoever to hide or be embarrassed about.

“Unfortunately, it appears that some people who may have noticed the testing at my workplace have made hurtful and incorrect assumptions and chosen to disseminate inaccurate and very disturbing information. It is a shame that when times have gotten tough, people have chosen to attack the character of others, rather than supporting each other. I remain dedicated and focused to being the best quarterback I can be and to help a team win a championship.”

Per ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman has entered a drug program. When this happened is unclear.

The program is not listed as a rehab program, but a drug program (you can play with the semantics). Specifically, the program is called a “stage one.” More information from Mortensen:

Freeman has not had any incidents that have placed him in jeopardy of suspension, such as a positive test of a banned street-drug substance, sources said. Thus, Freeman is in relatively good standing under the program, sources added.

Freeman’s stage one status also would not necessarily mean he has tested positive for a banned substance even though he has been subject to random or reasonable cause testing, as deemed necessary by the medical director who oversees the program. A player can be placed in stage one for a variety of reasons, including behavioral causes. The medical director determines the length of stage one status.

There are three stages to the substance abuse program that contain a variety of corrective measures, including random testing, treatment, fines and suspensions.

Also, per Mortensen, Freeman has obtained permission to use an unknown prescription that is otherwise on the NFL’s banned substance list.

Mike Florio, of NBC Sports and ProFootballTalk.com, goes a little deeper to explain that a missed drug test (oversleeping again?) could have landed Freeman in the program.

It means that Freeman has done something — either a failed drug test, a missed test, or some other violation of the substance-abuse policy — to land in the lowest level of the program

Florio also reports the NFL players association is an uproar regarding this leak of Freeman’s status to Mortensen. All things drug related are considered highly confidential by the league. For example, the media wasn’t told why Aqib Talib and Eric Wright were suspended in any official capacity by the NFL or the Buccaneers. Fans were left to take the letdown cornerbacks’ word for it.

In today’s world of Roger Goodell’s powder puff NFL, hard-hits are not just frowned upon, but they can break a man’s bank account.

Hits that were legal only a few short months ago, and not all that long ago were accepted, coached up and encouraged, are grave penalties.

Guys like Ronnie Lott and John Lynch wouldn’t be able to play in today’s NFL.

Sadly, one player who plays football the way it was meant to be played, Bucs safety Dashon Goldson, has had to learn the hard, expensive way that touch football, not football, is the desired goal by Goodell.

Yesterday in the loss to the Desert Rats, Goldson blasted Jaron Brown along the right sideline. It was an awesome hit but Joe knew it would be trouble. Joe reasoned that Goldson, who was nearly suspended earlier this season and was able to get out of it through mediation, was going to pay a heavy price if not be suspended because it appeared he was hitting helmet-to-helmet.

Not so, says Goldson. He was just trying to knock Brown out of bounds. Fortunately, per Anwar Richardson of Yahoo! Sports, the NFL agreed with Goldson. No suspension.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Dashon Goldson was fined twice for his overaggressive play this season, and many NFL observers believed he would be suspended after delivering a hit to Arizona Cardinals receiver Jaron Brown this past Sunday.

Goldson received a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty after a hit late in the fourth quarter. It appeared Goldson was trying to knock Brown out-of-bounds without a helmet-to-helmet contact. Apparently, the NFL agrees.

Joe has been conditioned to know that if a defender goes high, a yellow hankie will fly.

This is the thing about Bucs commander Greg Schiano Joe has a hard time wrapping his head around. Schiano is a discipline kind of guy. But why can’t he teach his defenders to hit the way Goodell wants hits to be made?

Schiano is probably, like many fans, appalled at what the NFL has become. But rules are rules and until those rules are changed, not following them could lead to (more) losses.

Abiding by the rules, no matter how much you may disagree with them, is called “discipline.”

“You coulda fooled me, Greg, with that blow up the kneeldown stunt today.”

Here’s the latest from the leader of the New Schiano Order at his afternoon news conference at One Buc Palace.

Schiano talks about further depletion at tight end with an injury to Nate Byham and the slow recovery of Tom Crabtree.

Schiano also made it clear that a decision to get Josh Freeman off the team isn’t simple. “It’s not just, this is not high school football,” Schiano said. “There’s salaries and contracts and those things involved.”

The head coach said Freeman will do all the things Bucs do as long as he’s on the team. Schiano referred talks of trading or releasing Freeman to rockstar general manager Mark Dominik.

Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik has been a GM that has put the NFLs extended trading deadline to use, and it seems Dominik’s phone could be ringing off the hook like never before.

The Bucs are toast — in September — and they’re loaded with talent. The trading deadline is Week 8 of the regular season and the Bucs have a lot they could peddle to position themselves with more options in 2014.

Sadly, there is no happy spin for the Bucs future as of today. The team is looking at rebuilding a horrid offense this offseason, despite it being ranked ninth in the NFL last year.

One talking point swirling around New England sports radio this month was the Bucs going in the tank quickly this season and Bill Belicheat prying Vincent Jackson from Tampa Bay to give the Patriots the deep threat they need to make a legitimate Super Bowl run. The thinking was that Jackson turns 31 in January and his guaranteed cash from the Bucs runs out after this season. The Bucs might not want to pay him $10 million next season if they don’t have to.

Of potential trade scenarios, Joe believes Jackson could make the most sense on paper, especially if the Bucs can get one of New England’s young receivers and a maybe a third round pick in return. While Jackson is an excellent player, he’s not playing great, and the Bucs could use that freed-up money to buy a younger receiver and (gasp) a tight end.

Joe doubts the Bucs would move an offensive lineman without an amazing offer on the table, but Joe surely could see another team willing to gamble on reviving DaQuan Bowers’ career, or perhaps the Bucs decide they don’t want to bid for free-agent-to-be Dekoda Watson and find a contending team aching for linebacker help.

The Xs and Os voice of reason of Bucs analysis, Dave Moore, breaks down the Bucs in the WDAE-AM 620 audio below. Interestingly, Moore stepped outside of his typical nuts and bolts chalk talk to explain that the Bucs’ offensive line is showing up weak.

“That’s an attitude thing,” Moore said.

The former tight end and current Buccaneers Radio Network analyst went on to talk about how the teamwork along the line has unraveled and they were thoroughly dominated in the second half by Arizona.

Moore also talked about his personal experiences on pre-Dungy Bucs teams that played with a losing mentality. He likens this Bucs team to those days.

On the upside, Moore liked much of what he saw from Mike Glennon and said Glennon didn’t miss any glaring opportunities downfield. Vincent Jackson, Moore said, needed to be more precise in his route running.

Joe isn’t the only person who has noticed that defrocked Bucs franchise quarterback Josh Freeman, with his recent spoiled brat routine, has all but killed any chance the Bucs have of granting his wishes to be traded.

Someone else who sees Freeman all but killing his NFL future by acting like a child is olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball box score-reading Peter King, of theMMQB.com and SI.com, who scorched Freeman for turning into (?) a first-class punk.

King stated the Bucs should cleanse themselves of this stinkbomb by cutting him. Right now. Before the sun sets tonight.

5. I think the Bucs need to cut Josh Freeman. Today.

6. I think these things are always tricky. You don’t want to be giving in to players who are trying to shoot their way out of your franchise. But the Bucs are in a delicate time. They’re in a poisonous relationship with Freeman. They owe him $6.4 million, guaranteed, for the final three months of a lost season, and every day he spends on campus with the team is an ugly one. It’d be one thing if there was a team out there dying to trade for him. I was in touch with the Jags and Browns on Sunday about their prospective interest. Each has more than $17 million in salary cap money to spend now if they choose, and could afford to take on a new Freeman contract. (It’s assumed he’d try to go somewhere and get a new contract, because he’s due to be a free agent after the season, and it seems stupid to trade something of substance for Freeman just as a three-month rental if he’d hit the market after the season.) Each team told me the same thing: No interest. The Bucs should give Greg Schiano a chance to save his job and save the 2013 season, and the only way to do that is to cut Freeman loose now.

7. I think it’s too late now, but Freeman should have stood his ground, worked his way back to the job and showed future employers he can fight back from adversity. What he looks like now, to the other 31 teams in the league, is a guy who had trouble with a coaching staff, played poorly, overslept for the team photo (if that’s a true story) and started whining when he got yanked. What team is going to pay good money for a 53 percent passer (since the start of 2012) who goes renegade on a team when times are tough?

This is what Phil Simms said recently. The best thing Freeman could have done is to work his arse off so much, that Bucs commander Greg Schiano would have had to re-insert him into the starting lineup. Instead, Freeman decided to act like a petulant child. Whoever is advising him should be sued. Joe never, ever thought Freeman to be anything but a good guy. Actions, however, speak louder than words.

Teams want their quarterbacks not just to be a team leader, but to be team guys, good teammates. The stunts Freeman has pulled the past week or so has been anything but a leader or a team guy. They have been childish, selfish, punkish.

Just what NFL team, just what NFL coach is going to trust Freeman now? Factor in how he melted down in games, how he allegedly wasn’t preparing properly for games, blew off/slept through a team photo, missed team meetings/functions and them goes four-year old girl like the past few days, a coach would have to be drunk to trust Freeman.

Freeman not being elected captain sure sticks out like a sore thumb now, doesn’t it. Sort of speaks volumes.

If you were an NFL coach who was desperate. Of all the first-round flameouts available between Vince Young, Matt Leinart, Brady Quinn, Brandon Weeden and Freeman, who would you trust?

Weeden just got benched for Brian Hoyer of all people. Anyone see or notice him pitching a hissy fit like Freeman?

Young’s shirtless appearances in night clubs and his wandering for hours driving around Nashville pale in comparison to Freeman’s immature, insolent, insubordinate antics.

Every week, the Bucs’ No. 3 wide receiver looks like an amateur. He had another drop yesterday and doesn’t seem to know where the chains are.

It’s not just Joe who bangs his head against the wall at the thought of Kevin Ogletree.

This morning, former Bucs guard Ian Beckles, co-host of Ron and Ian on WDAE-AM 620, took a break from insisting Greg Schiano won’t last the season to express disgust of Ogletree’s awareness.

“How many times does this guy run a route a yard short?” That’s not coaching. That’s you,” Beckles said.

Beckles explained that every receiver is coached to be aware of the first-down markers so it’s just Ogletree not being a smart football player.

Joe’s also not a big fan of how Ogletree doesn’t have much fight in him for a first down when he does catch a ball in front of the sticks. There’s no dive, no reach, little fight in the legs.

Joe thinks of the great efforts Preston Parker turned in on third down during the dreadful 2011 season, and that looks like Hall of Fame game film compared to Ogletree. The regression is everywhere on the Bucs offense.

One Buc Palace is a mess right now, and who knows when it will get cleaned up.

How bad is it? Yesterday, depending on who you believe, defrocked franchise quarterback Josh Freeman agreed/was asked/ordered off the sidelines with his teammates and sent to a luxury suite to watch the game (Joe scanned the luxury suites with his binoculars at one point during the game and there are several empty suites at the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway).

If the stench of the angst between Bucs commander Greg Schiano and Freeman isn’t strong enough for you, there is also the odor of an 0-4 record and a really smelly streak of 1-9 for the Bucs in their last 10 games, which is starting to remind people of the feces of the Raheem Morris Era. He was jettisoned after losing 10 in a row.

At least with Schiano, this season, the Bucs (sans the loss to New England) are not getting their doors blown off like the Bucs were with Morris, if that makes readers feel better.

Joe is starting to wonder if Freeman is trying to get Schiano run? Aside from his subpar performance this season in his first three starts, he did leave the field with the lead in the first two games. One reason he was benched was that he was late or outright missed team meetings/functions.

But now it is becoming ridiculous with Freeman’s running to BSPN despite strict orders not to, and not heeding his team’s wishes to talk to the local pen and mic club.

Not sure what type of (dumb) advice Freeman is getting but he is doing one hell of a job making himself virtually unsignable. At best, his actions are making him look like a petulant child. Just what team is going to sign a guy – at quarterback, no less – who, when things don’t go his way, starts blowing off team meetings and becoming such a distraction he is almost told to go home. Did Vince Young pull stunts like this? Matt Leinart? Brady Quinn?

Just who the hell is going to trade (or sign next season) a quarterback proven to meltdown under pressure who, when things don’t go his way, does his best to behave like a four-year old missing a second bowl of ice cream from mommy?

Some team leader this guy is. Some team guy Freeman must be, the way he is shatting in the middle of the Bucs’ locker room like this. Think his teammates are happy trying to defend him the way he is being a massive distraction?

But this also brings up another point. If Freeman is acting this way, then is he just one of many others who have tuned out Schiano? Has Schiano lost the locker room?

Joe doesn’t think so, yet. The Bucs have lost three games by a total of six points. That isn’t a sign of a team that has packed it in.

Schiano, if people don’t know this yet, likes to run a tight, controlled ship. Freeman’s feet stomping and crying have become a distraction like he probably never imagined or has ever experienced. And what has now become a giant boil on the rear end of Schiano won’t go away until Freeman himself goes away.

It has gotten to the point where Joe would not be shocked if Freeman is suspended for his behavior, deemed detrimental to the team, or told to stay home or is simply cut.

In the meantime, Freeman has likely cost himself thousands if not millions of dollars in future earnings.

He said/she said: So Josh Freeman’s agent now says Greg Schiano lied about Freeman being told to go sit in the corner, eerr, go sit in a luxury box and stay off the sidelines yesterday? Schiano said in his postgame press conference that it was a mutual decision between him and Freeman.

Until Freeman quits playing Helen Keller with the local pen and mic club, the same group that defended him and his shaky performances for far too long, we will never really know the true answer to this story. But Joe can understand why Schiano asked/ordered the way Freeman has been throwing childish tantrums.

Freeman active/inactive: Schiano said he will take it on a weekly basis whether Freeman will be active or inactive for future games.

Now for this, Joe wags a finger at Schiano. Who really believes Freeman will ever wear a Bucs game jersey on the sidelines again? After the stunts he has pulled, Freeman is done. The only weekly decision Schiano will make about Freeman is to remember to write Freeman’s name on the inactive list. Freeman, barring something unforeseen (like Schiano being fired midseason), will never be seen in a Bucs uniform on gamedays again.

Telegraphs: Yesterday, Patrick Peterson noted he got his picks, one which turned the game and his second sealed the win for the Desert Rats, because rookie quarterback Mike Glennon was telegraphing passes. Just like a rookie, you know?

This is why Joe thinks it is laughable when fans cry about “play-calling,” which is sort of an empty crutch. Let’s see, you have one of the best running backs in the NFL, two road graders in Donald Penn and Carl Nicks on the left side, and a rookie quarterback of a third round pick making his first NFL start, and you want to not run the ball and pass, say 30 times? Really?

Um, this just in: Passing is what lost the game for the Bucs (see above). Did Martin have his best game yesterday? No. But to not use arguably your best player, one of the best in the NFL, and put the ball into the hands of a green as grass rookie, well, that’s why some people are paid to coach football and others are meant to stick to PlayStation.

Kevin Ogletree and Josh Freeman: So, if one is to believe Schiano, Freeman was benched because of performance. Joe gets that. Understands that. Hey coach, if you see it that way, fine. You are the coach. That’s why you are paid the big bucks.

So if Freeman was benched due to a lack of performance – which Joe isn’t against, mind you — then exactly why is Kevin Ogletree ever stepping on the field? He is arguably the worst player on the Bucs right now. He cannot catch a cold. He may be responsible for a loss because his drops have led to drives stalling.

If Freeman isn’t playing because he stunk the joint up, per Schiano, then there is no rational reason why Ogletree is on the field.

That is, unless, there is a double standard set by the coaching staff.

Stop with the player-of-the-hour suggestions: Joe gets this a lot on Twitter. “Hey, why don’t the Bucs pick up [players’ name I recognize]?” Stop it. Stop it now. The Bucs, if they weren’t last week after going 0-3, are out of the playoffs. The season is done, finished. Kaput.

In Joe’s eyes, once you are out of the playoffs, there really is no reason to win games. Better to really stink out loud and position yourself with a good slot for next spring’s draft then to fruitlessly try to get to, say, .500 only to have a middle-of-the-pack draft position. What’s the point? That’s almost as empty as foreplay.

The Bucs offensive line: There isn’t a guy on the Bucs offensive line Joe doesn’t like. All way cool guys. Joe thought this unit was the strength of the team. But a combination of age and health may be undermining the unit.

While Nicks was doing a good job blocking, Martin didn’t have much if any room at all to run. Part of this was the Desert Rats all but dared Glennon to throw the ball and packed it in to stop Martin. Just about everyone expected this to happen.

But perhaps, Joe is starting to think, the Bucs offensive line is, well, not as great as we want to think it is. Maybe this line is just average?

Three-ring circus: Joe has never seen this much of a circus circling around the Bucs. First, Freeman being disposed as a captain, then the players-only meeting before the season, then it was Darrelle Revis allegedly unappy with the defense, then it was Freeman’s benching, then his tantrums, then Schiano suddenly went – as the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, the great Mike Florio put it – all Col. Nathan Jessup on the pen and mic club last Friday, and all the rumors floating about the Bucs, this is just insane.

Joe has never seen anything like this before. Every day is another leak/rumor/story/wives tale. To be honest, Joe doesn’t see this dying down any time soon unless the Bucs start winning. There sure must be a boatload of people who want to bring Schiano and Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik down the way there’s a new story each day being leaked about the Bucs. Man.

Turning it around: Schiano professed confidence that his team will turn it around the Bucs who are now spiraling the drain. Of course he would say this. Anyone expect Schiano to say, “You know, things have gotten so out of hand, I really expect us to push the Lions for the 0-16 record.”

If the Bucs cannot turn things around on the Desert Rats, one of the NFL’s dregs, just when can the turnaround happen?

Road signs: Again, Team Glazer has never jettisoned a coach before said coach has worked three full seasons. But the smell of Schiano’s reign ending prematurely is in the air. A team loaded with Pro Bowl talent can’t win; an offense that is impotent; a Raheem Morris-like losing streak; a circus that would shame Ringling Bros. All point to a regime change.

Joe’s not saying Team Glazer will break its self-imposed edict of a coaching change before three years have passed, but in some ways, this team is worse than when Morris was around (the circus atmosphere and daily leaks/stories floated for example).

Around the NFL

Seahawks: Man, this team may just be the best in the NFL. Joe believes they could really give Bill Belicheat a run for his money. Beating Houston on the road is impressive. Well, it helps when Matt Schaub throws a terrible pass late that is picked.

Lions: The Lions are a dangerous team. Yeah, Joe knows Bucs fans mock them, largely due to Matthew Stafford, but this team has a boatload of talent and if they were ever pulled together with some discipline they could make waves.

Of course, bratty Jay Cutler returned to being bratty Jay Cutler yesterday and did his best to help the Lions’ cause. (FYI, the Bucs will very likely be in the market for a quarterback and Cutler could be a free agent.)

Browns: So the Brownies, after blowing up their team in a race to draft Teddy Bridgewater, have won two games thanks to the play of journeyman Brian Hoyer. Really, Brian Hoyer? And the Bucs saddled themselves with Dan Orlovsky as a backup?

Chiefs: The juggernaut known as the Kansas City Chiefs continue to roll. Go ahead and mock Alex Smith if you wish, but Andy Reid has his playing perfect for that offense.

Also, feel free to mock Scott Pioli if you wish. That team was largely stocked by Pioli’s draft picks. Pioli was miserable managing a team –incited an insurrection in the Chiefs’ front office — and couldn’t pick a coach. But he knew what the hell he was doing with the draft.

Colts: What would you expect? They played the Jags, a team so putrid they are embarrassing the football staff at Florida International. Oh, and Gus Bradley said he is sticking with Blaine Gabbert at quarterback the rest of the season. Now there’s a man that knows how to make a run at the top pick in the draft!

Bills: Unlike the Bucs, the Bills have a college coach who seems to know how to win games. Get a lead and hang on. Doug Marrone is also doing this with a rookie quarterback and a solid running back. So why can’t the same success happen in Tampa Bay?

Vikings: Matt Cassel beat the Steelers. Matt Cassell! Man, how the Steelers have sunk to a new low. If you are getting beat by Mr. Turnover Matt Cassell.

Titans: Has Jake Locker finally turned the corner? The Titans quarterback, who fans were beginning to label as a bust, may have had his best day as a pro, tossing three touchdowns in three quarters before suffering a hip injury.

There is some talent on that team. The only thing missing was quarterback play. Now, it appears, the Titans may have the missing piece.

Redskins: Joe isn’t doing cartwheels over the Redskins finally winning a game. They beat the Raiders after all, an AFC West punching bag. That team is putrid.

Broncos: The Broncos are rolling and Peyton Manning is being Peyton Manning. But Manning always plays well in the regular season. His kryptonite is the playoffs. It’s not January yet.

Chargers: Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates went nuts yesterday. When those two are having a good game, the Chargers are as dangerous as just about any team. Just out of curiosity, Joe checked and Rivers has two years left on his current contract.

Patriots: Joe snickers whenever he hears Bucs fans try to defend Freeman by saying he was victimized by drops. What quarterback hasn’t, including Tom Brady, who has garbage receivers, yet he somehow finds a way to win and win big. That’s what Hall of Famers and studs do. They don’t curl up in a fetal position and suck their thumb when a receiver drops a pass or two.

Non-football thoughts:

1. Joe saw a gross sight Friday. He walked into a store, and there was a Christmas display. It was depressing. Why do retailers assault us with Christmas – in friggin’ September!!! – so early? It is appalling. Joe will not visit that store again until January.

If a place puts up a Christmas display in September, why the hell even take it down in January? Just keep it up the whole damned year.

Only way to stop this nonsense is to refuse to buy anything from said stores that ambush innocent customers like this.

2. Typical Rays. Always have to do things the hard way. Had a chance to clinch a wild card this weekend. Now they are in a tiebreaker with Texas where the Rangers have activated a known roid user. Great.

3. Yet another Cardinals playoff berth. Joe isn’t feeling confidence in the Redbirds without RBI machine Allen Craig. If overrated Mike Matheny has either Amy Lynn or Jake Westbrook starting in any postseason game, then he needs to be drug tested.

4. Joe doesn’t give a damn if he is mocked for the following because Joe believes it to be true. Joe swears the other No. 5 in Florida, Jameis Winston, looks more polished as a freshman than Josh Freeman did as a fifth-year pro. If this Winston doesn’t get hurt, he will be something special. Well, he already is.

5. The cracker who called an Atlanta radio station and started bawling on the air because he wanted Mark Richt fired (after the first game!) but couldn’t figure out who should replace him, Joe wonders where that idiot is now after Georgia beat LSU Saturday in one of the funniest games Joe has watched in some time. People that stupid should be sterilized for the sake of the human race.

6. Joe is from Big Ten country and he is a Big Ten honk but that is just some wretched football up there. What the hell has happened to a once proud conference? Purdue got totally waxed by a MAC school this week. The same program that gave us Len Dawson, Bob Griese, Mike Alstott and Drew Brees gets blown out of the stadium by Northern Illinois. The coaching staff there should be happy they are still employed.

7. Johnny Football is one sick dude. He put on another show this weekend, pulling a rabbit out of his hat, dodging a blitzing linebacker, rolling left and firing a bullet in a crowd for a touchdown, threading the needle. That guy is worth the price of a ticket alone.

8. Despite what Al Golden says, Joe thinks the Canes are back. Will be very interesting to see what they do when they travel to Florida State (and it’s overrated defense) later this year.

9. Maryland is undefeated? The Turtles! Somewhere, Norman Chad is raising a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

10. Joe has a feeling if the House GOP somehow wins the fight to delay or defund ObamaCare (the latter, doubtful), voters will be so outraged the GOP will lose the House in 2014. Pick a different fight, fellas.

There was no parting of the red sea yesterday for Doug Martin. He ran hard, but he’s only human.

The sad thing is Joe (and surely loads of other Bucs fans) saw how terribly the run wasn’t working, largely because everyone and their brother knew it was coming.

Joe even saw the Bucs trot out fullbacks Spencer Larsen and Erik Lorig together, in power sets with one lined up as a tight end. You might as well put the play call up on the JumboTron. The Bucs set out to run the ball even when the opposition knew it was coming, and they failed over and over and over again.

Martin averaged less than two yards a carry.

This was just bad coaching. It wasn’t your offensive line’s day. They were bad. So adjust. There were no adjustments, just stubbornness.

If Mike Glennon really gave the Bucs a better chance to win than Josh Freeman, then somebody should have opened up the offense at halftime. Mix in some more swing passes and other basic stuff.

Joe knows after (if not before) the 13-10 loss to the Desert Rats, legions of Bucs fans came out of the woodwork to demand the ousting of Bucs commander Greg Schiano, if not his entire coaching staff.

Well, the fans are not alone. In a scathing column on the Bucs coaches typed prior to yesterday’s game, PewterReport.com chieftan Scott Reynolds skinned Schiano, quarterbacks coach John McNulty, receivers coach John Garrett and offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan.

Reynolds even includes a quote from McNulty prior to training camp (one Joe shared back then, too) saying his job is not to correct a quarterback’s mechanics. No wonder Freeman played so awful!

But Reynolds saves his biggest assault for the Bucs commander. Reynolds writes in no uncertain terms that if the Bucs lose (again) in their first game out of the bye week to the Eagles, that Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik needs to fire Schiano.

Not only would the Bucs be 0-5 this year, they would be 1-10 in the last 11 games under Schiano dating back to last year. That’s absolutely ludicrous for a team with as much talent as Tampa Bay has, and coaching – and the disconnect between Schiano and the players – would be to blame.

If Tampa Bay starts the season 0-5 Schiano needs to be fired in-season and replaced with Dave Wannstedt in October as the interim head coach. In my eyes Glennon shouldn’t be used as an excuse to buy more time for Schiano if the team whimpers to a 1-10 record in the last 11 games. Enough time. Too many losses.

At 0-5, it’s time for general manager Mark Dominik to show some guts, end the ridiculous media circus and constant distractions in Tampa Bay and fire Schiano, or have the Glazers admit their mistake and move on in 2014 to pursue Bill Cowher or a head coaching candidate that actually has had success in the NFL

Has Schiano done a good job? Well, with the offense, no way. A lack of coaching has hurt less than poor personnel decisions (Kevin Ogletree). Defensively, he has done a fine job (does anyone remember how pathetic the Bucs defense was in the last year of the embarrassing Raheem Morris regime?).

At the end of the day, though, it is all about wins and losses and losing 10 of 11 games is certainly encroaching into Morris territory (he lost 10 straight and was shown the door, rightfully so).

The thing is, does Dominik wield that kind of power? Notice he and Schiano went to Team Glazer to have them sign off on defrocking Freeman of his franchise quarterback title. If Dominik had to do that, then one would think he certainly would have to get Team Glazer to sign off on a coaching change in midseason, something Team Glazer has never done.

Never has Team Glazer jettisoned a coach before said coach had three full seasons wearing a whistle around his neck. Schiano is currently in his second year.

Joe is not saying it won’t happen, but history suggests Schiano won’t get fired in October.

Hell, the way Joe looks at it, if you are going to lose, lose big and lock in a decent draft position. No sense in finishing close to .500 and drafting in the middle of the pack.

Bucs defrocked franchise quarterback Josh Freeman was ordered to sit in a suite rather than be with his teammates on the sidelines, Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer reported Sunday morning.

In his postgame press conference after another ugly loss, this time to the Desert Rats sending the team to 0-4, Bucs commander Greg Schiano claimed having Freeman sit in a suite was a “mutual decision” reached by both parties, Schiano and Freeman.

Per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Freeman’s agent has a different version of how the events transpired.

But Freeman’s agent, Erik Burkhardt, said Schiano’s claim was a ‘Lie. Obviously,” in a text to the Tampa Bay Times.

See, this is one reason Freeman needs to grow up and instead of running from reporters and running to BSPN against the direct orders of the Bucs, just answer a few simple questions.

There is controversy swirling over this team like Joe has never, ever seen before. It’s something different every day and now the former franchise quarterback and head coach are in a he-said; she-said match.

Freeman can help end the drama and accusations and leaks by answering a few simple questions. Or does he enjoy watching the team implode?

Yes, Josh Freeman had to watch the ugly loss to the Desert Rats from a suite (before he bolted from the stadium as if his house was on fire). He was ordered, per Jay Glazer of Fox Sports, to stay off the sideline.

Bucs commander Greg Schiano claims that is inaccurate, that Freeman and Schiano mutually agreed for him to stay off the sidelines due to the circus of the past week, part of which was reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. He claimed Freeman missed “more than one” team function/meeting this week.

As for Freeman’s future with the team in the immediate weeks after the bye, specifically if he will be active in games following the bye, here is what Schiano had to say:

“I have no idea. We’ll see. We’ll take it game-by-game just like we do all the other inactives.”

Again, if there was a chance Freeman would be active, Joe is confident Schiano would have said, “Yes.” He did not.

If anyone doesn’t believe Freeman has taken his final snap from center as a Bucs quarterback, Joe has swampland to sell you in Arizona.

Desert Rats corner Patrick Peterson with one of his two picks today.

With the Bucs leading 10-3 late in the fourth quarter star Desert Rats cornerback Patrick Peterson picked off Bucs rookie quarterback Mike Glennon to set up a short touchdown pass from Carson Palmer to Larry Fitzgerald to tie the game at 10-10.

The play was something Peterson said he had been expecting all day and his patience paid off when Glennon gave him his turkey dinner complete with trimmings all on a silver platter, Peterson said.

“I thought we did a great job of not letting them out and defense being smart, keeping our eyes on our keys, making sure we know what routes and things they wanted to do off the things – the way they lined up,” Peterson said.”We saw that route almost every day of the week this week and it finally paid off. The quarterback, he was telegraphing the throw, he was looking at Vincent [Jackson] pretty much the whole time and I undercut the route and made a huge interception for this Arizona Cardinal team to help that momentum shift for us to go out and get the W.

“You work hard, really hard, on that route [on his first interception] all week and it finally paid off. I had my eyes in the backfield for a little bit so I saw the quarterback looking my way. He’s a young quarterback, so he’s going to telegraph his throws and once Vincent [Jackson] made the break, I kind of undercut it and I became the receiver and made a play on the ball. “

Well, that is what happens when you start a rookie quarterback. He does rookie things, makes rookie mistakes.

Look, Joe understands why Bucs commander Greg Schiano benched now defrocked franchise quarterback Josh Freeman. But to overcome the mistakes a rookie like Glennon will make, the offense has to build a buffer, play well enough so they can overcome them.

The Bucs offense did not.

This is beginning to grate on Joe and he cannot let it eat up his insides any longer.

This week, Bucs commander Greg Schiano claimed he benched franchise quarterback Josh Freeman for poor performance. Schiano said it was performance-based. Nothing else mattered, Schiano said. No outside influences. Just performance.

Freeman wasn’t performing, in his eyes, so he benched him.

OK, fine. That’s reasonable and Joe understands it.

If one is to take Schiano’s side and understand that if you don’t perform, you are gone (like Freeman), then just how the hell is Kevin Ogletree still collecting a paycheck from Team Glazer?

This guy Ogletree is beginning to make Michael Clayton look like Fred Biletnikoff. He couldn’t catch a cold, this guy, Ogletree. He dropped two more passes today. He drops virtually everything. He has a rough time in the bathroom because he is always dropping the toilet paper. Shower? Forget about it! The soap is always on the floor.

Don’t ever get near this guy Ogletree in a buffet line! Unless you want to wear your dinner.

If Schiano truly does base players’ employment on performance, then there is no logical reason for Ogletree to still be on this roster. None!

Yes, that means you will have to find someone on the street to take his place. There has to be some history teacher or bartender out there who can catch and be taught how to run decent routes.

If Freeman is a dead man walking with the Bucs, how is Ogletree not as well?

Or is there a double standard on the team?

Just outside the Bucs locker room, right before the doors swung open to let the pen and mic club in, and just before defrocked franchise quarterback Josh Freeman tried to run for his life, a priest was spotted.

Joe thought it was fitting as it was time to perform last rites on the 2013 season.

For the handful of diehards who thought the Bucs could rally from beginning the season 0-3 — though recent history showed it was futile –Joe isn’t even going to do the research on a team turning things around after losing its first four games, with a rookie third round pick as your starting quarterback.

The 2013 season is toast. Done. Kaput. People are now fighting for their jobs. And for a draft position.

Joe was told by an otherwise sane and thoughtful producer at WTSP-TV, Channel 10 that he envisioned the Bucs starting the season at 0-7 if they lost to the Jets in New Jersey.

Sure enough, that prediction sounds reasonable, as gut-wrenching as that is to type.

The 2013 season is over. And it is still September.

Doug Martin was pounded to nowhere today. He might have had more negative-yardage runs against the Cardinals than he had all of last season.

Martin finished with 27 carries for 45 yards, a stunning stoning of one of the league’s top running backs. Martin also coughed up his third fumble of the season, one more than he had all last year, and his pass blocking continued to be suspect.

Carl Nicks looked good in run blocking, but the Bucs lost the battle in the trenches in a big way. And the playcalling and passing game did little to alleviate the successful Arizona focus on the run game.

“Inept, to say the least,” is how former Bucs tight end and current Buccaneers Radio Network analyst Anthony Becht described the offense. “Our offensive line needs to step up and play better. … I don’t think they answered the call.

“We didn’t learn anything about Glennon today. It just wasn’t good.”

Joe was most distressed by how the Bucs were outcoached again in the second half. Arizona made successful adjustments. The Bucs didn’t.