A reporter out in Detroit decided to pen a story today that essentially looks at how the Bucs have eight wins but aren’t that good.

What a fresh concept. Ugh.

Carlos Monarrez, of the Detroit Free Press, caught up with Lions players and head coach Jim Schwartz, who points toward the Bucs’ greatness in the turnover department.

“They’re plus-eight in turnovers, which is sixth in the league,” he said. “So, six teams will make the playoffs. If you want to say they’re playoff caliber in that, they are.

“They’ve done a good job of intercepting the football, and they’ve done a good job of taking care of it on offense. So that’s probably where it starts.”

Though not last week in Washington, the Bucs have been stellar at protecting the ball. And they should be salivating at the chance to intercept Drew Stanton, he of the off-target pass, and put some hats on rookie running back Jahvid Best.

Joe sincerely hopes LeGarrette Blount’s fumble last week didn’t scare Greg Olson too much.

OK. Enough already.

Joe’s all in favor of the Lingerie Football League, but put it where it belongs, in a giant mud pit off I-4 with bleachers all around and $1 drafts, $2 binoculars and $3 whipped cream bombs to toss on the field.

Joe applaudes “Old School,” of WhatTheBuc.net, for heading over to the local LFL media day to do some, ahem, serious interviews yesterday. But Joe sincerely hopes everyone realizes this football is nothing more than organized Jell-O wrestling at the Ice Palace.

In this interview below, we learn that this gorgeous Tampa Breeze player is proud to know all the positions, her teammates are amazing and things will be harder this season.

Gordita-friendly quarterback Josh Freeman sat down on the Buccaneers Radio Network last night to answer an unusually large number of fan questions.

Freeman was sent in all sorts of directions. Joe scribbled down some for you.

On why he wears No. 5, Freeman said he took No. 5 because he didn’t want to pay Luke McCown for No. 12.

On growing out his fro: “When I wear my helmet it feels so good.”

On the funniest thing he’s seen in the NFL: Freeman picked Donald Penn’s catch, run and first-down celebration last year in Philadelphia.

Freeman said Josh Johnson lining up at wide receiver in not a decoy. He said there are presnap reads where the Bucs would throw him the ball. Freeman said Johnson has good hands.

As for Sunday, Freeman said Detroit likes to press man coverage and look for the Bucs to go deep after that man-to-man coverage. (Joe sincerely hopes that doesn’t happen on second down of the first drive after LeGarrette Blount runs for six yards on first down.)

Freeman said he’s “a bit of a momma’s boy. I love my ma. I didn’t want to be too far away from her.” He said that was a  factor in him picking Kansas State despite having offers from “every conference.”

Back for his weekly trip to the end zone of the NFL universe, popular radio personality Adam Schein travels through football space and time outs. Consider yourself sucked in to the latest episode of Cosmic Schein!

Video: Cosmic Schein: Week 15

Chatty, injured center Jeff Faine took a break from discussing Josh Freeman’s Taco Bell obsession yesterday to chime in on a variety of other Bucs stuff.

Speaking on The Jeff Faine Show on 1010 AM, the Bucs captain warned that Raheem Morris’ loose leash on the team won’t last forever the way things are going.

“Guys are stabbing Raheem in the back,” Faine said, regarding Bucs’ off-the-field incidents.

Faine said Raheem gives the team “a lot of leeway” but “it’s going to come to a point where he’s not going to do that anymore.”

On manbeast defensive tackle Frank Okam, who is off the practice squad and will be wearing a helmet Sunday, Faine said the 6-5, 350-pounder is very strong. “I’ve seen him in the weight room repping over 500 pounds [on the bench press].”

Faine said Okam needs polish to his game but works hard.  Faine talked about how intensely the young d-lineman practice and that has made the offensive line better. Of Faine’s first practice back after a quad injury, “I was like, man, that was like playing in a real game.”

Regular readers of Joe know full well that Joe has BSPN blocked on his DirecTV Joe is so offended and revolted by the self-proclaimed worldwide leader.

Earlier this week, THE PESSIMIST had an emotional diatribe against BSPN and its dissing of the Bucs.

Now comes from from good guy Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times, via Twitter, that Donald Penn has finally had enough. The Bucs left tackle is nauseated with the servicing of Brett Favre and Tony Romo by BSPN at the expense of younger, more talented players such as Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman.

@HolderStephen: “I get mad we hear Brett Favre stubbed his toe & its breaking news.Josh Freeman playing his butt off and he gets no recognition. He’s one of the top QBs and has one of the top passer ratings and all we hear about is when Tony Romo’s coming back.”

Welcome to Joe’s nightmare Donald. Well, it was Joe’s nightmare.

Since Joe blocked BSPN (Joe does watch the network’s coverage of college football which, Joe has to give the devil his due, is the gold standard for sports coverage) Joe can honestly say he is more informed than he has ever been, and much less stressed as well.

It just amazes Joe that the Soviet Disney mice have so brainwashed innocent Americans that far too many believe if they don’t watch or read BSPN, they are not sports fans.

That simply cannot be further from the truth.

Libre’ vivir!

No Super Bowl for you Bucs fan, says Pat Kirwan.

The NFL.com and Sirius NFL Radio guru, also a maven for CBSSports.com and a former player personnel executive, says Tampa Bay has too many injuries to be a postseason factor.

Kirwan’s been a fan of the Bucs’ operation all season, but he thinks their train is going nowhere.

“I don’t think they have enough bodies to get to the playoff finish line, but I think they have enough bodies to get past Detroit,” Kirwan said yesterday on 770 AM in Fort Myers.

“Josh Freeman can break contain and make plays outside the pocket. … They’ve got two beautiful young receivers [Benn and Williams] so they can play pitch and catch with those two guys, and they still have enough running backs. … The injuries in my mind will eliminate them in my mind from making the playoffs or ever doing anything in the playoffs. But they’ll beat Detroit by a touchdown at home.”

Of course, the Bucs are decimated on defense, but Joe knows they’ve got enough to beat heinous road teams Detroit and Seattle and get to 10-5. And at that point, there’s no reason why the season of miracles can’t snatch one more in New Orleans in Week 17.

The fantasy scenario then takes the Bucs to the house of the putrid NFC West winner, a game the Bucs would be favored to win. And then Team Dream would march to Atlanta for another crack at the Falcons.

If that actually happens, Joe might expect Rachel Watson to really knock on his door, not just show up above on his blog.

There’s no question that former Bucs great defensive tackle and current NFL Network analyst Warren Sapp can be blunt.

But in an explosive interview with 790 the Ticket in Miami yesterday, Sapp claims that Chucky called the University of Miami to say he was interesting in coaching.

Soon thereafter, Canes coach Randy Shannon was fired but Chucky never took the bait after meeting with Canes officials.

Now we all know here in the Tampa Bay area that Chucky not only wasn’t that great of a person, but he simply couldn’t be trusted. To this day John Lynch winces when Chucky’s name is mentioned and the two have a frosty relationship, to be kind.

Sapp has said on a few occasions how Chucky told Sapp in a phone conversation that Chucky would re-sign Sapp and Chucky told Sapp he had to go but would call right back.

As Sapp is known to say, “I’m still waiting for that call.”

It’s difficult to believe that Sapp would concoct such a story out of thin air. Consider he played for the Canes so it’s likely he has some inside sources down there.

If Chucky actually saw to it that a school removed a coach so he could get the job, only to back out, there shouldn’t be a college much less an NFL team that should give Chucky the time of day. That’s beyond the pale!

So perhaps the secret to Josh Freeman’s feats of strengths that move linemen off the goal line and win games for the Bucs has been revealed.

Freeman is powered by the fart-inducing man food at Taco Bell.

Speaking today on The Jeff Faine Show on 1010 AM, Bucs center Jeff Faine said Freeman “eats Taco Bell five nights a week.” Faine went on to relay a story that Freeman said Taco Bell needs to start compensating him.

“If I did that I’d be whooping Donald Penn’s butt on the scale,” Faine said. “That’s the next thing [Freeman] will work on is his diet.”

Joe can only imagine how big Freeman’s drive-thru bill is after a game. “That’ll be $24.50, Mr. Freeman. Would you like 47 packs of hot sauce with that?”

To continue on the food front, Faine went on to heap massive praise on Arrelious Benn, who Faine said likely has to diet just to not get too big for a wide receiver. Faine said workout warrior Benn, listed at 6-2, 220, already is beast to tackle and could easily handle another 20 pounds on his frame.

Sporting a fresh professional haircut that removed his girly golden locks — perhaps for a March job interview? — Barrett Ruud accepted a fancy award today at One Buc Palace for his great work on and off the field.

Raheem Morris presented him with a fancy silver helmet for making the USA All-Fundamentals Team and said some kind words for the man who patrols the middle of the Bucs defense and no doubt strikes fear in the hearts of opponents.

Raheem praised Ruud’s “form tackling” and “the way he absolutely controls our defense. He’s an extension of me out on the field.”

The head coach went on to talk about the men who he expects to stuff the run in front of Ruud against the Lions on Sunday: tackles Al Woods, recently promoted Frank Okam and Roy Miller.

While Raheem praised Michael Bennett’s fill-in role for injured Gerald McCoy on Sunday in Washington, Raheem made it clear that Bennett is a defensive end and just “a changeup guy” at defensive tackle. Raheem essentially said Bennett is not a guy suited to handle double teams.

Raheem called Woods “very productive” during his time this season.

Regarding Okam, Raheem was given a set-up question to sing his praises but said simply that the 6-5, 350-pound Okam will get a shot to shine. Having watched Raheem talk about players, Joe suspects not much is expected from Okam, a third-year pro.

Of course, most of the guys that the Bucs haven’t rated too highly have surprised and performed well this year.

Joe’s tossing and turning thinking about the Lions running for 190 yards against a motivated Green Bay defense last week. Joe’s not sure his stomach can handle another Jim Bates special.

UPDATE: Saturday at 12:59 p.m. – You can still get your tickets! Treat yourself!

In the spirit of the holiday season, Joe has decided to buy everyone on The Blackout Tour this Sunday an additional TWO draft beers.

Whoa! Way to go Joe!

So now you can take the roundtrip Paradise Worldwide Transportation luxury bus to watch the blacked out Bucs game in Fort Myers at Lee Roy Selmon’s and get THREE free beers total and a free plate of delicious wings.

But the best part is watching the Bucs game in glorious HD and hanging out with other Bucs fans.

If you can’t get to the stadium to watch the blacked out game, get on board The Blackout Tour. Click below to buy your tickets or visit BlackoutTour.com.

Joe’s good friend, “The Big Dog,” Steve Duemig of WDAE-AM 620 is taking some well-deserved, hard-earned time off for Christmas. Pinch-hitting for him is another of Joe’s close friends, “The Commish,” Justin Pawlowski, the sometimes Saturday host of the critically acclaimed “Blitz.” Justin will field your calls from 3-6 p.m. and you just know Justin will talk Bucs and perhaps, the name “Barrett Ruud” might be heard?

The Lions haven’t had back-to-back wins in three years.

They’ve lost 26 straight on the road.

But in this excellent Grand Rapids Free Press video, two Detroit talking heads go deep into the Lions, and one explains why this is the week the Lions turn the corner. The other explains why the Lions won’t score a touchdown against the Bucs.

Ndamukong Suh hasn't made the Lions a winner. Nobody's that strong.

Joe’s getting worn out by those who say the Lions are a dangerous team.

Reality says the Lions have lost 26 consecutive road games — 26! —  have no starting quarterback and are at the end of another lost season. But they did beat a team with a winning record last week, tripping up the Packers 7-3.

Lions head coach Jim Schwartz admitted it was ugly but praised his defense and running game, per quotes the Detroit Free Press snatched from his radio show.

On beating the Packers, 7-3: “The object’s not to play pretty, the object’s really not even to play good. The object’s to win. We’ve played well at times this year and haven’t won, so we’ll take any way we can get a win. I think overlooked in the fact that our offense didn’t play well until the fourth quarter and really didn’t get any momentum going was the fact that our defense kept us in the game. And that includes when Aaron Rodgers was in there basically the entire first half. Our defense had shut them out, and we couldn’t have sort of stuck with it on offense and continued to run the ball – we ran the ball for 190 yards – we couldn’t have done that if our defense had given up two or three quick scores to Aaron Rodgers.”

Joe, of course, is fearful that the Bucs find a way to turn Jahvid Best into Barry Sanders and Maurice Morris into Mercury Morris.

Outside of that, it would be a major upset if the Lions win this game. And, to rub salt in the wound, BSPN surely would make a massive deal out of Detroit breaking the streak.

Yes, it’s Thursday. Yes, it’s the gorgeous Jenny Dell. Hard to believe but Jenny, a former UMass cheerleader, won’t be gracing Joe’s site but for two more times until next September. Enjoy Jenny and her statistical rubbish while she lasts in this BSPN video.

"Jimminy Christmas, Raheem. You're saying I won ugly. You're out of your freakin' skull. That was the best @#$%'n Super Bowl team of the decade. I put Brad Johnson in the @#$%'n Pro Bowl. You give me Josh Freeman and you think I'd win ugly? If I'm so ugly, then why don't you throw out my damn playbook already and get off my damn coaching tree."

Some things are sacred among Bucs fans. One would be the memories of the 2002 Super Bowl season.

These great moments are tattooed on the brains of legions of Bucs faithful. Joe’s getting chills.

Now Raheem Morris was a young man on that Super Bowl winnng staff. But it seems Raheem has forgotten just how dominant that team was.

Speaking on The Raheem Morris Show this week on WDAE-AM 620, Raheem talked about his 2010 Bucs winning ugly and divulged one of his memories of the ferocious 2002 squad.

“I was here in 2002, and I don’t remember ever having a pretty win. I think they all were ugly. You know, every single game we played up until the Philadelphia game out there [in the playoffs], they all were ugly. They were all grinders,” Raheem said. “We called it Buc Ball or Torture Ball, whichever one you prefer. They were all like that. We enjoy it [in 2010]. We play an exciting brand of football. If you come out and stadium and see, it’s dynamic.”

Now Joe nearly fell off his chair hearing this nonsense. First, Joe’s hoping Raheem isn’t comparing the two teams. Joe doesn’t think so. Joe’s memory recalls suffocating wins in 2002, when you felt the opposition had no prayer against the Bucs defense.

In fact, the 2002 Bucs won eight of their 12 regular season games by 14 points or more, then walloped San Francisco 31-6 in the playoffs before winning in Philly, the game Raheem referenced above. That’s hardly winning ugly every week.

Joe wonders if Chucky seethed while hearing Raheem’s comments on the air from his palatial Tampa estate.

It seems like “The Professor,” John Clayton of BSPN, one of the few guys Joe can stomach at the Disney outfit, might be losing his fastball.

In this video and the accompanying story, Clayton says that even if the Bucs get in the playoffs, they are not worthy of the honor because a better team like Green Bay, New York, Chicago or Philadelphia would be watching at home.

What a tool. So if the Bucs earn a playoff berth, they still don’t deserve it? Please.

And Mr. Clayton, it’s “Gerald” McCoy, not “Gerard.”

There are a lot of things to like about Arrelious Benn.

Dude is big.

Dude is fast.

Dude can catch.

Oh, and dude is one helluva nice guy.

Joe’s had the luxury of speaking with Benn a few times since he’s been drafted out of Illinois this past spring and every time Joe came away impressed with the guy. Doesn’t hurt that Benn — Joe enjoys typing “first and Benn” into Joe’s live chat whenever Benn gets a first down — is starting to blow up as a receiver.

Joe follows Benn on Twitter and came across this little nugget yesterday:

At children’s hospital in Tampa. Such a great thing to go visit the patients and spend time with them.

Well, actually it was All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, but Joe will let that minor detail slide.

The photo Joe used above was one Benn attached with his Twittering.

Of course, Benn wasn’t the only Bucs player there. You will notice Myron Lewis, Mike Williams and there was also a Brian Price sighting, among others! Hey, Price could have gone back to Los Angeles after being placed on injured reserve earlier this year, and instead stayed in the area.

Not only does this show not all the Bucs get in the headlines for the wrong reasons, but many of the Bucs selected by Mark Dominik appear to want to be part of the community.

Joe doesn’t think he has to detail just how a lot of sick kids’ days — maybe years — were made yesterday. Christmas time is for kids and Joe can’t imagine how much it must suck for a kid to be in the hospital this time of the year, especially if a kid has something terribly wrong

Nice gesture guys.

Josh Freeman tried to make a case today before the local media that Raheem Morris bears no responsibility for his players off-the-field screwups.

Nice try.

A good effort from the young quarterback, so documented Victoria Lim, of BHSN as well as Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune.

“We’ve got to stop screwing this guy over by getting in trouble off the field,” said quarterback Josh Freeman, referring to head coach Raheem Morris and criticism Morris faces in the wake of the third arrest this season by one of his players.

Freeman said Morris has done his job, leading the team to win games. What happens after practice, meetings and games, Freeman said is up to the player.

“When we get done football, Raheem – you can’t expect him to go by everybody’s house at a certain hour. We have to take a higher level of responsibility for ourselves from college.”

To Joe, this is like not putting any blame on a parent who doesn’t have all his youngsters in line.

Raheem’s youngsters don’t always behave. Whatever he’s doing isn’t working effectively.

A lost cause with this young roster? Maybe.

But the head coach still needs to fix it and still deserves some of the blame.

Joe is quite sure the discipline issue will be a negative mark on the head coach’s postseason evaluation from his bosses.

How could it not be?

After making Joe cringe last night while talking about watching his off-the-bone left bicep rolling up on his arm, Gerald McCoy offered some takes on the Bucs’ second half revival Sunday against the Redskins.

Speaking on the Buccaneers Radio Network on WDAE-AM 620, McCoy said manhood was a big factor in the Bucs transforming Skins running back Ryan Torain from the second coming of Terrell Davis to Cadillac Williams circa September.

“Just pride, man. Just pride. It’s just our defense saying, ‘Look, why does this one guy have 170, 180 yards in the first half on us?’ They said, ‘This has to stop now if we want to win this game.’ And that’s all it was,” McCoy said. “They went out there and they made those tackles. They made those fits and the things they needed to do. They did it.”

Of course, this is a recurring theme for the Bucs. Get abused on defense in the first half and come out at halftime and dominate.

Seems like it would be an easy fix, since obviously the ability is there. Perhaps they should this little pride chat before the game.

Joe sincerely hopes the Bucs don’t make the Lions ugly running game look like worldbeaters Sunday. Joe would feel very good about having the game in Drew Stanton’s hands.

Jay Glazer chats it up with Bucs running back LeGarrette Blount in this “After Party” video on FoxSports.com.

Video: After Party: LeGarrette Blount

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

Every road win in the NFL is difficult. A road win in bad weather is even more so. The Bucs survived in D.C. against a struggling Redskins team and notched another fourth-quarter comeback win and got their eighth overall. Simply surviving to win against a subpar team like Washington was just fine by me, especially with their recent close battles against good teams like the Ravens and Falcons.

Those two losses showed that they are competing at a higher level than in those bad losses earlier in the season. They also won Sunday while losing a couple more of their major contributors, this time it was Quincy Black and Gerald McCoy. 

Underutilized Weapon

I was happy to see the Sunday newspaper article that explained Raheem understands there is an entertainment aspect to the game and their offense, as they have implemented a few unique-looking plays over the weeks.

Greg Olson has rightly been given credit for coming up with some effective plays, but the people of Tampa Bay are scratching their heads over his short yardage play-calling (people that admit they know nothing about calling plays are stopping me on the street to ask what he is doing).

This week they went deep on their first third down of the game. Going into shotgun on 3rd-and-1 was curious enough in the bad weather (even though Freeman had a chance to throw a TD to Kellen Winslow after buying some extra time in the backfield and would have with a little better throw) and seems to make a statement that they don’t have much confidence in any of their running backs or offensive line in short yardage situations, as they went to shotgun again on their very next 3rd-and-1 situation.

The Bucs offense could become very entertaining and effective if they would implement Josh Johnson into the backfield as a receiver in motion behind the formation. 

Even though he won a Super Bowl here in Tampa while quarterbacking the Baltimore Ravens, I was never a big fan of Trent Dilfer under center. But, as an analyst, I think he is really good, perhaps the best on the network. Recently he was talking about Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles offense and how impressive it is by stretching defenses to defend absolutely every inch of the field. This, of course, is because of Vick’s dynamism and diversity.

I know I have beaten this drum before, but because I know who reads this column, I am going to keep beating it so that the Buccaneers offense will be included in Dilfer’s conversation of dynamic offenses around the NFL, because the potential is there! Josh Johnson must do more than run a decoy route once a game.  He needs touches.

Not by pulling Freeman out of the game, but by moving Johnson across the formation behind Freeman and taking a pitch at full speed, thus pulling linebackers out of position and creating bigger holes for Freeman to throw into and for Johnson’s passes or runs as well. It will also help the running game, even though Blount has helped it immensely.

Redskins Executed

I know Barrett Ruud is the current poster-boy for what is wrong with the defense, but I must come to his defense a bit. Against the Redskins, the Bucs defense was being gashed because of their alignment and the other team’s execution, not because Ruud wasn’t filling the holes well enough. On early downs, the Bucs were regularly lining up a cocked noseguard on the center and an end outside of the tackle, virtually giving away both the “A” and “B” gap, which Ruud cannot defend by himself. This is allowing a guard to get onto the linebackers down the field. 

The television announcers called it “zone” blocking, but there was a lot more going on there than just zone blocking, as the Redskins pulled, trapped, kicked out different defenders to open huge running lanes for Torain. If the Bucs continue to line up like they did Sunday, there will be a few more running backs with big days on the ground, even if the Bucs were able to get Ray Lewis to step into the middle linebacker spot.

Still Competing Off The Field

Eight wins with three to play is really a fabulous situation for this team.

Unfortunately the stadium will not be filled again this Sunday as a win will guarantee them a winning season and triple last season’s win total, but the Tampa Bay market has legitimate, multi-factor reasons for spending its time watching other NFL teams on home TV screens.

Fortunately, the Bucs recognize the need to increase the entertainment value of their ticket. Because they are competing for entertainment dollars, and in this market’s economy, those dollars are scarce or nonexistent for many and must be used wisely.