Jon Anik and Cris Carter break down the Bucs win over the Panthers in this BSPN video. Carter doesn’t think the Bucs are an elite team… yet. He explains why. Tell Joe what you think of Carter’s analysis.

Joe wrote yesterday how Bucs wide receiver Arrelious Benn is busting out to become a real weapon for quarterback Josh Freeman.

Well, it seems Benn hasn’t just caught Joe’s eye. It seems Peter King, finished wolfing down spaghetti, chili and hot dogs recently, also noticed how Benn is becoming a force, and mentioned the Bucs rookie in his “Monday Morning Quarterback” column, a true must-read for NFL fans.

Arrelious Benn, stuck in Mike Williams’ rookie shadow, with a good catch, move and stretch for a touchdown against the Panthers.

That’s two touchdowns in each of the last two games for Benn. Joe will take that kind of production any day.

As Joe told a member of the Bucs press corps yesterday, there are only three channels he listens to on his Sirius satellite subscription: Sirius NFL Radio, Rivals Radio and of course, the King of All Media, Howard Stern.

Virtually all day long, Joe flips between those three channels. On Sirius NFL Radio, when Bob Papa and Peter King co-host “The Opening Drive,” Joe’s locked in.

Apparently, the Bucs have not been before Sunday. Rather than listening to The Opening Drive yesterday, Joe saw it. The Bucs opening drive that is.

For the first time all season, the Bucs scored a touchdown on their first possession, documents good guy Stephen Holder of the St. Pete Times.

All you need to know about the manner in which the Bucs have started games this season is that they did not have an opening-drive touchdown before Sunday. The best they managed was a field goal on their first possession against the Steelers in September — a drive that started at the Pittsburgh 31 after an interception by CB Aqib Talib. Otherwise, the Bucs have been painfully slow in starting games this season — until putting together a 47-yard touchdown drive Sunday for an early 7-0 lead, setting the tone for the rest of the day.

This is absolutely unbelievable to Joe. We are into the second half of the season and the Bucs are through nine games and Sunday was the first time all season the Bucs scored a touchdown to open the game?

This is simply stunning to Joe. Stunning. Have opposing defenses figured out Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson that well or is Olson not putting that much emphasis into the Bucs first drive of each game (which Joe cannot fathom is the case)?

Joe sits at his computer on this sunny Monday morning stunned by learning this, as if Joe just received a “Dear Joe” letter from Rachel Watson.

Since the Arizona game, Joe has noticed one thing: the Bucs have weapons.

Joe has noticed that because offensive coordinator Greg Olson has enabled a chapter or two of his playbook. As a result, the Bucs offense has jump-started, writes eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.

“He’s doing a great job with his play-calling,” tight end John Gilmore said about Olson following Sunday’s 31-16 triumph against the Panthers. “There’s still some things we need to tighten up, but we’ve got defenses off balance right now.”After averaging 5.0 yards per offensive snap in their first six games, the Bucs have improved their productivity markedly in the past three weeks, averaging 6.8 yards as Olson opened up the attack.

In Joe’s eyes this needs to continue. As Joe has written before, the Bucs defense is simply undependable and there’s no way of fixing it now. Jack Lambert of Reggie White not walking through the front doors of One Buc Palace.

If the Bucs are to reach that “Race to 10” and perhaps a playoff berth, it’s going to have to win shootouts. The Bucs clearly have the horses to do just that.

There was Babe Ruth’s called shot. There was Deion Sanders’ called shot (Joe knows a guy who was on the field for Clemson on that very play).

Now add Cadillac Williams to the list.

With the Bucs looking to finish off the Panthers late in the game yesterday, Williams told the Bucs offensive huddle he would score if he got the ball, reports Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.

So what happened? Williams got his touch and rambled in from 45 yards out. Ballgame.

“And he pretty much called his shot there,” said tight end John Gilmore, who got the offense rolling by catching the first of quarterback Josh Freeman’s 24 passes and covering 29 yards with it to set up the Bucs’ first score.

“We were in the huddle there and we called the play and Cadillac just said, ‘You guys get out of my way because I’m going to score on this.’ And that’s exactly what he did. That was absolutely Babe Ruth-like.”If the Bucs have a Babe Ruth in their midst, it’s Freeman. He’s their home run hitter and he hit one Sunday, throwing 20 yards down the middle of the field against a blitz to hook up with Winslow on his late first-half touchdown.”

Way cool story but perhaps the Bucs have found the right way to use Cadillac other than blocking. There was a two-play sequence early in the game when the Panthers had a clean shot at Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman’s blind side but at the last moment on both plays, Williams picked up the rush and kept Freeman’s jersey clean and ribs intact.

Maybe Williams can again become the closer for the Bucs?

Veteran columnist Gary Shelton talks about how the Bucs are winning ugly but the offense is starting to gel well enough that maybe the Bucs are good enough to “buy a ticket” in this St. Petersburg Times video.

You want ’em, you got ’em. Bucs highlights courtesy of the good people of the NFL Network.

Arrelious Benn dives to the pylon for the Bucs first score.

LeGarratte Blount goes airborne to score.

Josh Freeman to Kellen Winslow for a crazy touchdown pass.

Cadillac Williams ices the win with a 45-yard run.

Gerald McCoy forces a fumble.

Jimmy Clausen gets stuffed like a turducken.

A whole bunch of Bucs highlights in one video.

A series of Freeman highlights.

Raheem Morris and Freeman in their postgame news conferences.

A string of Blount highlights.

John Gilmore comes through with a rare big play.

Bucs force a fumble.

The Bucs get a sack!

Blount with a big run.

Mike Williams and Freeman hook up.

It didn’t take long for the Bucs to hit the scoreboard today and it came from a receiver who is starting to blow up.

Arrelious Benn got off to a slow start to his NFL career because he was learning a whole new offense, a whole new scheme. Going from one of those junk spread-option offenses (an offshoot of high school gimmicky run-and-shoot things) too many colleges use because of inferior coaching, Benn pretty much had to learn how to speak Latin coming from Illinois.

Now that he’s comfortable and having a chance to play more due to Sammie Stroughter’s bum foot, Benn is really starting to shine which has Joe almost as geeked as cold, wet Rachel Watson seeking warmth and comfort from Joe.

Right now Benn looks almost as good as his fellow rookie wide out Mike Williams which is saying quite a bit. Seeing Benn lunge for the pylon to put the Bucs up 6-0 got Joe so fired up he could have gladly coughed up cash for an $8 CITS beer.

Dude can block. Dude can catch. Dude can ball.

Yet another toy for Josh Freeman to play with. Friends, if the Bucs could find a defense, this could very well be a scary, scary good team.

Sleep on that tonight with a buzz from the many beers you have thrown down today instead of pining for a Bucs cheerleader to nuzzle up to.

Josh Freeman.

Mike Williams.

Kellen Winslow.

Arrelious Benn.

Sammie Stroughter.

LeGarrette Blount.

Michael Spurlock.

What do those names mean? To Joe, those names mean weapons. Weapons like a Bucs offense may have never seen before.

Folks, this team has a chance to be explosive, and they have been. They exploded against Arizona. They exploded against Atlanta and they exploded against today. Josh Freeman is like an ADD-afflicted kid turned loose in a candy store after chugging two Mountain Dews, with the options he has to chose from.

This offense could drive opposing defenses batty. That’s just what the Bucs will need if they are to reach the magical “Race to 10.”

The defense is, well, suspect. They can’t stop a strong breeze on the ground. They get limited to zero pressure on the quarterback. Guess what? We are now entering the 11th week of the season. Jack Lambert and Reggie White are not walking through the front doors of One Buc Palace. No one off the street is going to be much better if any better.

The Bucs are going to have to win with what they have. That means offense. Let the offense breathe Greg Olson. Let ‘er rip. The only way the Bucs can make the playoffs is to play pinball football: burn up the scoreboard.

It can be done with the aforementioned weapons. 

Joe admits his head is spinning right now with the Bucs at 6-3, so it’s hard for Joe to collect his thoughts about Tampa Bay’s defense.

However, Joe knows it stinks and it’s probably not going to improve by leaps and bounds over the last seven games. Joe held out feint hope that the Bucs’ D would clamp down and squeeze the undermanned Panthers at home, but that fantasy didn’t exactly play out.

Yet the total package of this year’s Bucs is surely good enough to beat Seattle and Detroit at home, as well as San Francisco on the road.

Plus maybe steal a win in Washington or against division rivals Atlanta or New Orleans.

10-6?

What a wacky season that could even turn into a playoff berth, and maybe even a winnable playoff game at the house of the NFC West winner. Long way to go, of course, and Joe isn’t counting chickens.

The Bucs aren’t good on third down, and have a bunch of no-name, no-experience guys lining up. And Joe expects offenses to continue playing away from the strengths of their opportunistic secondary.

Stopping the run against a good team seems about as likely as Joe shaving the Bucs cheerleaders before a big game.

Winning this season really is going to be all about No. 5 and the Bucs’ offense.

Sure, the defense will have its moments. Hopefully, they come at just the right times.

In recent games, Bucs tight end Kellen Winslow has been seen, but his name has not been heard from the lips of Gene Deckerhoff much. This past week, chatter from One Buc Palace seemed to infer that the Bucs were going to get K2 involved in the offense a bit more.

Boy, that wasn’t misinformation.

Winslow may have had his best game of the season since the Bucs first played Carolina in September. He had six catches for 65 yards but two in particular came in the second quarter.

Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman looked like he was forcing a pass to Winslow when the Bucs veteran had Panther defenders draped on his back. Luckily, the Panthers got called for interference.

In nearly a repeat of that pass, Freeman found Winslow in the end zone sandwiched between two defenders. Somehow, Winslow fought through the interference and still caught the ball for a 20-yard score.

Joe is starting to get concerned. Concerned for opposing defenses. With LeGarrette Blount opening up the running game and Arrelious Benn now showing why he was a high draft pick, if Winslow gets hot, that just means defenders will have to play more honest, meaning more single coverage for everyone.

That my friends is a good thing.

Despite attempts by some sports radio talking heads who are trying to whip Bucs fans into a frenzy, stopping just short of calling Bucs rookie defensive tackle Gerald McCoy the next late Gaines Adams, the big fella from Oklahoma is slowly, steadily getting better.

GMC has no one to play next to him, unlike another certain rookie defensive tackle from the Big XII. GMC has no help coming from the ends. Some former Bucs believe GMC is getting no help from his position coach.

GMC showed how he is making progress today by being disruptive. He had five tackles today. Five tackles for a loss. Two passes deflected. Forced a fumble.

Still, no sacks. But GMC made his presence felt. He was bothersome for the Panthers and fellow rookie quarterback Jimmy Clausen.

When someone is disruptive, that enables others to make plays.

GMC’s coming along, slowly but surely. So calm down haters.

Perhaps not visible on the Internet on TV were Cadillac Williams’ two great ass-saving blitz pickups in the second quarter that spared Josh Freeman shots to the ribs.

Joe noticed.

And, as Joe’s written many times before, that’s why Cadillac has the trust of coaches and will get plenty of carries and snaps this season, despite the presence of a pulverizing weapon in LeGarrette Blount.

But it wasn’t all blitz pickups and checkdowns for Caddy today in the 31-16 win against lowly Carolina.

Clearly in on the Bucs’ late scoring drive for his ability to protect the ball — and Freeman — Caddy ripped off a nice 15-yard run off a third-down screen pass. (Great awareness of the very early throw by Freeman).

Then Caddy, flashing some great sustained speed, busted a 45-yard touchdown run on a delayed draw to ice the game for the Bucs.

The Bucs had waited nearly nine games to get Caddy off, and now they have.

Amazingly, Caddy might be getting stronger as the season wears on, despite his two overhauled knees.

If the Bucs can get even 3.7 yards a carry the rest of the way from Cadillac, that’ll go a long way toward them scoring a winning record.

Joe loves listening to legendary Bucs play-by-play man Gene Deckerhoff whether Joe’s at the game, on the couch, the next day — anytime.

Among his many talents, Deckerhoff pulls off being a total homer announcer with incredible style and grace.

Well, Deckerhoff got the blood pressure up when LeGarrette Blount ripped apart the Panthers during the Bucs’ third posession of the game.

Blount for 12. Blount for 24. Blount for 3. Blount for 17. Bount for 17 again for the acrobatic touchdown pictured above.

“Roar Buccaneers fans, roar. No. 27’s delivering the mail. …Put on the Superman cape!” Deckerhoff screamed.

Of course, Blount found his kryptonite with a critical fumble two possessions later, and the Panthers clearly game-planned pretty well to stuff him in the second half.

But the kid is a load, and Joe is incredibly impressed considering he’s still new to the offense and went undrafted.

Joe found himself fantasizing during the game about Rachel Watson the Bucs drafting a big time running back next year to pair with Blount.

"Look slimmed down big fella, these penalties are driving me insane. We're 6-3, but we got a helluva lot to shore up!"

It was hardly pretty with foolish penalties and some subpar special teams play, but there were plenty of great moments and the Bucs are now 6-3.

6-3! That’s right. 6-3!

Kellen Winslow flashed the superstar form the Bucs need. LeGarrette Blount took to the air again (imagine if he did that last week) and finished with 91 yards on 19 carries. The young receivers made plays, and Cadillac Williams showed he can block — and run! And Josh Freeman continues to look like an ever-maturing quarterback.

Another no-name running back put a hundred yards on the Bucs, and the defense needs to do better on third down, but they did enough against to beat arguably the worst team in the NFL without a fourth-quarter comeback.

Job well done.

Joe will have so much more through the afternoon and evening. Come back early and often.

Click the “Win Stuff” image below and you’ll find out how to win a free Aqib Talib jersey. This is so easy. Just do it.

Week 10
Panthers at Bucs
Kickoff: 1 p.m.
TV: Game is blacked out locally. Those outside the Tampa and Orlando TV markets can watch the game on DirecTV 710
Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM, 103.5 and WDAE-AM, 620); Sirius Channel 122.
Weather: Per AccuWeather.com, dynamite weather. Temperature at kickoff is expected to be 76 which will hold steady through the game. No clouds.
Odds: PerBodog.com, Bucs -7.
Outlook: This game scares Joe for some reason. First, division games are or at least should be close games. Second, the Panthers have nothing to lose, they can play loose. Third, yeah, Joe knows the Panthers are decimated at running back, down to their third string back. Anyone remember the last time a team came into the CITS with a backfield beat to a pulp, you know, the New Orleans Saints? How did that work out? Remember, the Bucs rush defense is awful. Joe’s is absolutely convinced the Bucs would give up 100 yards to Jim Brown and he’s 74-years old. But the way the Bucs offense has lit up the scoreboard of late, if the Bucs jump out to an early and explosive lead, it shouldn’t matter. If the Bucs jump out to a big lead, it will take the ball out of the Panthers’ running backs hands and force rookie Jimmy Clausen to throw. Joe likes the Bucs’ odds in that matchup.
Video: NFL Films previews the Panthers-Bucs game. … Brian Baldinger, Michael Lombardi and Solomon Wilcotts of the NFL Network highlight the Bucs passing game. … Anwar Richardson and Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune discuss why the Bucs can’t sack the quarterback. … Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times previews the Panthers-Bucs game.
Fun facts: The Bucs are 13-0 when Cadillac Williams gets at least 22 carries. … Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith generally torches the Bucs. He has six 100-yard receiving games when playing the Bucs. … Carolina’s Chris Gamble is second in Panthers history with 24 picks.

Gregg Rosenthal was more impressed by the Bucs losing to the Dixie Chicks last week than he was with any of the Bucs wins this year. He explains in this NBCSports.com video.

Some Panthers fan had the gall to put together a highlight reel of the Panthers beat down of the Bucs last year at the CITS replete with the assault on Clifton “Peanut” Smith. Also in the video are mistackles by Sabby too numerous to count. If this video can’t get a Bucs fan worked up for today’s game, Joe’s not sure what will.

Joe honestly never thought he’d write about troubled former Bucs offensive lineman Arron Sears again.

Joe was wrong.

Sears, who mysteriously disappeared from the Bucs due to what is believed to be a mental health disorder — the Bucs guarded the condition as if it was a stash of black market Russian nuclear warheads — was arrested in Tampa today described as “confused” and “wandering” the streets of Tampa, so reports Chad Cookler of WFTS-TV.

According to the Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office, Sears was very confused when he was found walking down the middle of the road in the 7900 block of Gunn Highway around 3 p.m.

Deputies planned to Baker Act him but found Tampa Police had an outstanding warrant on Sears stemming from a June incident, where he had been charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, a third class felony.

Per the report, Sears is behind held on $2,000 bond.

This is disturbing to Joe. First he beats up a cop, and now he’s roaming the streets of Tampa “confused.” This guy needs help.

The Panthers are awful this year and banged up. But Derek “Old School” Fournier of WhatTheBuc.net cautions Bucs fans that John Fox is a damned good coach and isn’t about to throw in the towel.