Bucs fans who can’t go to the game Sunday, can’t take advantage of The Blackout Tour, there is hope.

The Bucs games will be streamed (legally) on NFL.com beginning at midnight.

Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of NFL.com decided to put on his Edward R. Murrow hat and had a nice piece of information that the NFL will repeat what it did last year, offering — for free! — blacked out games some 11 hours after kickoff.

Last year, with the threat of a high number of lockouts looming, the NFL modified its blackout policy. All blacked out games were available in the local markets on a tape-delayed basis, via NFL.com.

Starting at midnight, the blacked out games were available for 72 hours, with the exception of the three-or-so hours of Monday Night Football.

NFL spokesman Dan Masonson tells us that the league will apply the same approach in 2010. Thus, if our friends in Tampa can find a way to avoid all media for 11 hours after kickoff of the Bucs’ home game against the Browns, the Week One contest can be viewed on NFL.com as if from scratch.

There you have it. No need to monkey with some crappy Internet connection from Hong Kong streaming in a poor video quality of the game with many buffering delays. NFL.com will have the game available in sweet HD online.

JoeBucsFan.com analyst Bob Fox expects an ugly start for the post-McNabb era in Philly

Joe knows many of his readers love to bet on football games.

Now Joe is sure all of his readers fly to Las Vegas to wager legally, versus calling the guy whose phone number changes every week and repeats back to them things like, ‘So that’s a 50-timer on the Skins’ or ‘That’s a three-team tease – Bills, Saints, Niners.’

To please the gambling crowd, Joe has turned to superpicker Bob Fox. A writer for various sports publications over the years, Fox flashed his stellar picking skills back in 2008 on JoeBucsFan.com, when Joe had a contest here among local sports media personalities.

Fox will be here to give you a few games every week.

By BOB FOX
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Green Bay Packers 27,  Philadelphia Eagles 17
 
The Packers haven’t won a NFL game in Philadelphia since a couple of weeks after the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. That’s a LONG time. There is also the memory of the 4th-and-26 playoff game in Philly a few years ago, when QB Donovan McNabb brought back the Eagles in miraculous fashion. That was yet another NFC Championship game when a late Brett Favre interception was the difference between winning and losing. The Packers’ offense is almost unstoppable right now, but the Eagles will try and slow down QB Aaron Rodgers and company with heavy blitzing pressure. The Packers’ defense was ranked No. 2 overall in the NFL last year, but struggled against high octane passing offenses. The Eagles can pass pretty well with QB Kevin Kolb, but I see the Packers forcing a mistake or two into the willing arms of someone like 2009 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Charles Woodson. I see the Packers ending their 48-year curse in the City of Brotherly Love this weekend.

New Orleans Saints 27,  Minnesota Vikings 13
 
The 2010 NFL season begins with a game that pits the two teams that met for the NFC Championship last year, also in New Orleans and at the Superdome. QB Brett Favre of the Vikings was hit hard and often during the game last year by the Saints defense, badly spraining his ankle, severely bruising his thigh and having a couple of gashes on his forehead. Favre also threw two interceptions in the game, including the one that took away any chance of the Vikings winning in regulation, as the Vikes were near field goal range then, before losing in OT. Even without the likes of S Darren Sharper (who is on the PUP list), expect the Saints to give Favre another dose of what worked last January. I expect the physical Vikings defense to try and do the same against QB Drew Brees of the Saints. However, Brees has more healthy offensive weapons than Favre now (minus WR Sidney Rice for instance), and I expect the Saints to get behind their boisterous home crowd and beat the Vikes somewhat convincingly.
 
Cleveland Browns 16,  Tampa Bay Bucs 13
 
This was a game that a lot of Bucs fans figured to be a victory when the schedule was first announced in April. However, QB Josh Freeman has had very limited practice after breaking the tip of his thumb in the second preseason game. The Bucs expected Freeman to be ready for the opener vs. the Browns, but that looks ominous right now. Speaking of QBs, Bucs killer Jake Delhomme is now the QB of the Browns, and has looked very good this preseason, after looking horrendous in 2009 as the starting QB of the Carolina Panthers. I expect this game to be close, so QB play will be very important. Bottom line, based on the what I have seen (and not seen at QB), I have to side with the Browns this Sunday in a close game. 
  
Ohio State Buckeyes 27,  Miami Hurricanes 20
 
There are a number of great college football games this weekend, including FSU at Oklahoma, Penn State at Alabama and this one, a game between the participants of the 2002 national championship game. Ohio State is ranked No. 2, while Miami is ranked No. 12. The Buckeyes are led by QB Terrelle Pryor, who can make things happen with his arm or his legs and is a Heisman candidate. Things should be hopping at the Horseshoe in Columbus, but a road game has never bothered the ‘Canes.  Miami got a flavor for the Big Ten when they played Wisconsin in the Champs Sports Bowl last year, and were physically beaten down in a 20-14 loss. The Canes are led by QB Jacory Harris. If Harris can play within himself and not force things, the Canes have a chance to upset the Buckeyes.  However, I see Pryor having the better game at QB, and the Buckeyes will make most of the 100,000 plus fans at the game very happy in an Ohio State win.

If you were yearning for a refresher course on what the Bucs are trying to do with their football team, Raheem Morris explained that in part today when speaking to a Cleveland reporter via conference call.

Joe transcribed the defensive mastermind/head coach’s answer to a media member who essentially asked Morris what he sees in this year’s Browns.

“They’re very similar to what we’re trying to do, as well. They’re in the stage that we’re in, building a lasting contender, getting young players to come in here and develop them, coach them with their guys, coach them with their talent, and have all those guys coming in and form that family unity that we seek and everybody seeks that’s coming from where we come from as far as the turnaround,” Morris said.

Joe much preferred the head coach’s violence and victories talking points last year. This “lasting contender” and “family” chatter sounds more suited to a college softball team.

Joe had trouble typing this headline with a straight face.

Sorry, but Joe doesn’t really believe the spirit of Josh Freeman’s comments today when he spoke of sitting out today’s practice with his busted thumb bandaged as all part of “the plan” leading up to opening day, so Woody Cummings of TBO.com documented.

Freeman, who has been nursing a fractured right thumb (throwing hand) sustained early in the Bucs’ second preseason game on Aug. 21, returned to the practice for the first time Tuesday. On Wednesday, he stood with the quarterbacks during the pre-practice warm up with his right thumb bandaged and without pads.

The decision not to practice on Wednesday was predetermined, Freeman said.

“I’m good,” Freeman said. “It’s part of the plan; no setbacks. It’s part of the plan. It’s called a plan because it’s put in place before something happens. So it’s a plan.”

Now Joe’s not calling Freeman a liar. This all comes down to how one defines plan.

Joe is quite sure that the plan always called for Freeman to sit out if he had trouble with his still-mending thumb. So in Joe’s mind, this is an awful sign yet still part of the Bucs’ plan.

Apparently Ronde Barber thinks Aqib Talib shouldn’t have been suspended and fined for his unprovoked attack on a defenseless citizen, so Barber told Rick Stroud of the St. Pete Times today.

Joe is flabbergasted that Barber is so out of touch.

How could anyone even argue that passenger Talib pouncing on his cab driver cruising down the highway at top speed is not worthy of the punishment Talib received from the NFL: a hefty fine and a one game suspension, which will be served on Sunday.

Sure, one could argue the timing of the suspension was unfair. Yes, the NFL and the Bucs should have made it happen last season. But don’t tell Joe the punishment was unjust.

Maybe Barber isn’t up to speed on what actually happened? But Joe can’t believe that. Barber’s way too smart and aware for that.

Say Barber orders a pizza tonight and decides to shove the Papa John’s guy off his porch for no reason after paying the bill. Would Barber think that he shouldn’t have to miss a game and pay a fine?

Joe suspects that when Talib’s case file is made public record, and statements from taxi passengers Angelo Crowell and Torrie Cox are revealed, Barber will change is attitude.

If you can’t go to Sunday’s blacked out Bucs-Browns game, you can watch it in style with Joe.

Click on The Blackout Tour logo to get your ticket and transportation to watch the Bucs’ home-opener at Lee Roy Selmon’s in Fort Myers, complete with a plate of free wings and a free beer.

The Bucs should make the blackout official on Thursday, but thus luxury bus trip will be sold out by by then.

In the event of a miracle, and the game is NOT blacked out, your tickets are 100 percent refundable.

With the Bucs four days from the season-opener and an injured Josh Freeman expecting to start despite a bum thumb on his throwing hand, Bucs fans can be expected to be a bit nervous.

But eyebrows were raised at One Buc Palace this afternoon when Freeman was spotted on the sidelines at practice with his thumb wrapped, so reports Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune via the TBO Bucs Twitter feed.

Josh Freeman is not practicing today. His thumb is wrapped up and he is watching QB drills.

Not good when one of the few winnable games on the Bucs’ schedule is the season opener against the bungling Browns.

Periodically, Joe misses the forest because the trees get in the way. That’s the case with the Browns.

Joe laughed when Browns head honcho Mike Holmgren decided to go after Jake Delhomme as the man to pull the Browns up from the depths of Lake Erie.

But per an article from Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Delhomme has been lethal against the Bucs.

During Morris’ time with the Bucs, Jake Delhomme, the new Browns’ starting quarterback, developed a reputation for beating Tampa Bay while with division rival Carolina. Delhomme won nine of 11 meetings.

“He’s the Raheem Morris killer,” Morris said at NFL owners meetings in March. “He’s broken my heart in a couple different situations at the end of games.”

Delhomme’s familiarity with Tampa’s defense gives the Browns another advantage. Or, as Morris put it this week in Tampa, Fla., “You got to know that he knows that you know that he knows.”

This completely slipped Joe’s mind: That Delhomme, stiff though he may be, somehow became Terry Bradshaw when facing the Bucs.

This is unsettling to Joe.

[Hat tip Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune.]

Pat Kirwan and Jason Horowitz of CBSSports.com discuss the fortunes of teams in the NFC South in 2010. Yes, Kirwan professes his love for Josh Freeman, but what of the Bucs? Watch and find out.

The Bucs have elected their captains for the 2010 season.

No surprise on who was picked. One of the two defensive captains is the lone holdover from the Bucs glorious Super Bowl season, Ronde Barber. Also Joining Barber representing the defense will be Barrett Ruud.

Offensive captains are center Jeff Faine and quarterback Josh Freeman.

Andrew Economos will represent the special teams.

Just an update on tickets/blackout. Though it is not official, numerous reports suggest ample seats remain for the Bucs season opener Sunday against the Browns.

If the game is a sellout, it will be announced Thursday afternoon as the deadline is 72 hours prior to kickoff.

The fact that LeGarrette Blount found himself on the Bucs roster is really no surprise, which somewhere, makes Joe’s good friend Justin Pawlowski of WDAE-AM 620 smile.

Seems the Blount was on the Bucs’ radar prior to the draft and he was brought in to One Buc Palace for a sit down with Bucs executives, so reports good guy Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times.

“They trusted me when I told them it wasn’t going to happen again,” he said.

I think we all know what “it” is.

Blount was honest about his situation. He readily admits that he believes his violent post-game punch of a Boise State player last season while at Oregon is the reason he wasn’t drafted. He didn’t blame anyone for his predicament (like the media, for instance), which is a sign that he is willing to shoulder the blame. He’s more concerned about what lies ahead.

Look, Joe doesn’t hold it against him for punching that Boise State lineman. He was clearly provoked and no one knows what was said. If it was vile — which Joe fears it was — the guy deserved to get drilled.

Now here’s the key element: Blount is a bruising-type of running back. Do the Bucs really need that? They have Earnest Graham and Cadillac Williams, both plodders themselves. Perhaps it would have been better for the Bucs to grab a fleet-footed scatback?

Banking on Bucs rookie defensive tackle Gerald McCoy to play like a veteran this season is a bit much.

As one might imagine, lots of writers are coming out with their season predictions (caution: writers are not handicappers. Big difference). Don Banks is no different.

The SI.com columnist and former Bucs beat writer puts finger to keyboard and bangs out his results of crystal ball-gazing and he has what he believes will be the 2010 season for the Bucs.

Last place: Tampa Bay (5-11)

I’m liking most of the green shoots that are showing in Tampa Bay, but this is one of those seasons where the improvement won’t translate into a big jump in the standings. If the Bucs get some breaks and maximize their upset opportunities, maybe they squeak past Carolina for third place. But that’s as good as it’ll get. A solid first full year as a starter would represent 2010 success for quarterback Josh Freeman.

Joe believes this is a pretty fair assessment: five wins.

As Joe has written too many times, the Bucs are banking on rookies to shine at positions that historically rookies struggle in. So to expect the rookies to play like veterans is a bit unrealistic.

The Bucs are building for the future. 2010 is the present.

Dumped by the Bucs over the weekend, it seems former Pro Bowl returner Clifton Smith will land on his feet in Green Bay.

Smith popped a message earlier today to his fans, via Twitter.

Green bay here I come!!!

Of course, this could mean that Smith had a sudden hankering for cheese or overweight women. However, Joe suspects he’s heading there to join a Super Bowl contender.

If his fragile melon can handle the punishment, Joe expects Smith will continue to have great success in the return game.

Update 11:01 p.m.: The Palm Beach Post, and other South Florida media, is reporting Smith will workout for the Dolphins on Wednesday.

Some players guarantee victories. It seems Bucs defensive end Stylez White guarantees sacks, so Twittered Tampa Tribune NFL scribe eye-RAH! Kaufman today.

Apparently at practice today, White talked about hitting a big sack number.

Ira: Bucs DE Stylez G. White is promising his first double-digit sack season. He starts off in difficult style facing Browns LT Joe Thomas.

White is entering is first NFL season as a starter. He only grabbed that role here after Gaines Adams was traded last season. Joe has long written that White would be poised to hit 10 sacks this season, since he’s grabbed 19 1/2 sacks over the last three seasons in limited action, and now he’s starter in what is a contract year for him.

That said. Joe got a laugh out of the sacks promise. You don’t see/hear that every day.

So what happened in preseason, Stylez? Joe knows the answer. Those game are just practice.

In this TampaBay.com video, St. Pete Times beat writer Rick Stroud reveals his chat with Mark Dominik about the running back position, and Stroud says cutting Derrick Ward was a “business decision.”

How could Stroud say such a thing? Everyone knows Joel Glazer said “money will never be an issue” when building the Buccaneers. Does Stroud not believe him?

Stroud and good guy comrade Stephen Holder also talk about Josh Freeman’s thumb.

After drafting Josh Freeman, the Bucs’ quotable head coach said he was “married” to Freeman for better or worse.

It was an analogy that sparked twisted man-boy love takes from perverse Bucs fans trolling on fan websites. And, of course, a photo emerged to illustrated the nuptials. (Look to your right.)

Now it comes out that Raheem Morris is no fan of this obviously computer-enhanced image, and he says he took steps to make sure it dies a quick cyberspace death.

The Bucs’ defensive mastermind/head coach made this clear to the Bucs’ beat writers during a news conference on Friday. The coach was asked how bonded he is to his draft class and how he feels about them.

Here’s his verbatim response:

“The last two draft classes I am extremely pleased with. You know, that was myself and Mark Dominik’s two draft classes. And you gotta be extremely happy or overwhelmed with the production and the amount of contribution they’ve been able to give to the football team,” Morris said. “Just the last two classes. You can go across the board and maybe some guys didn’t develop as fast as others, but for the most part you’ve seen everything you’ve seen on college tape, and you’ve seen it translate over to our game and what we do in the National Football League.

“I’m not going to used the term “married” anymore because I don’t want anymore website pictures of me with a dress on. So I told myself I wouldn’t use that anymore. And [Bucs new media chief Jonathan] Grella … Grella was here for two days that’s the first thing he wanted to talk about, me with this marriage outfit. I was thinking, ‘Grella, I was just using an analogy out there.’

“But you gotta be extremely pleased with everyone’s been able to do from the top to the bottom of the draft class.”

Sorry, Coach. Joe forgot about the photo until you reminded the world. Just a tip, if you want something to go away, don’t talk about it.

As many Bucs fans are now dealing with the imminent agony of Sunday’s game being blacked out off local television, there is strong hope that the Steelers-Bucs home game on Sept. 26 will be sold out and be on TV.

The theory is the Steelers have a huge national following, and those fans will buy tickets here and push the game over the top to a sellout. 

Joe’s found a story in today’s Buffalo News that offers real hope that this scenario will play out. The piece explains that the Bills have lost a load of season ticket holders, but have already sold out two games, one against Pittsburgh in November.

The Bills announced that 43,925 season tickets have been sold for the coming season. It’s the fifth-highest total since 1995, but 11,383 fewer than 2009 when they topped the 55,000 mark in back-to-back years for the first time in franchise history. The Bills sold 56,011 season tickets in 2008. They have reached 50,000 seven times in their 37 years at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

The 20.5-percent decline this year may be due to a couple of factors.

One is the departure of wide receiver and reality television star Terrell Owens, whose celebrity status made the Bills a huge draw. Secondly, the Bills increased their ticket prices this year for the first time since 2008. The average ticket price this year is $59.19, up from $51.24 in 2009.

Joe finds it interesting the Bills raised ticket prices but, per Forbes, the average Buccaneers ticket price is about 20 percent higher than in Buffalo.

Maybe Bucs tickets are just too expensive for the Tampa Bay region?

(Shameless end-of-story plug for Joe’s Blackout Tour. Check it out. Limited tickets left to watch Sunday’s game on TV.)

Of course, Joe hears this often from his loyal readers: “Why can’t the Bucs win the NFC South? Look at what Atlanta did!”

Joe tries to live in reality, so he doesn’t subscribe to this theory. But it seems Steve Wyche, of NFL.com, just might. In a recent chat on the site, he cited the Bucs as a sleeper team.

Paul, Virginia
Hey Steve, how do you believe Josh Freeman can have a great turn around in his second year like Peyton Manning did in 99?

Steve Wyche, NFL.com
If there is a team that might be flying way under the radar, it’s Tampa Bay. I’m not sure Freeman can have that type of turnaround because he still hangs on to the ball a little too long, but he’s gotten a lot better. That O-line is pretty good and with Mike Williams added to Kellen Winslow, he’s got some targets. The Bucs have some talent on both sides of the ball. If they can harness things and have some early success to build confidence, they might surprise.

If the Bucs are to have a surprise turnaround season this year, beating the Steelers will be critical.

Joe’s not so sure Josh Freeman and his bum thumb might be ready for Dick LeBeau’s crazy blitzes and Tazmanian Devil Troy Polamalu flying all over the field. That’s going to be a tall order.

Listening and reading various pundits on the Bucs, meaning people who are insiders yet don’t make the decisions at One Buc Palace, the sophists seem to be in agreement that for the Bucs to have a successful 2010, and for coach Raheem Morris to return for a third season, the Bucs must get out to a fast start.

But one of these insiders isn’t so sure a fast start will allow Raheem Morris to return in 2011… or whenever the NFL plays its next season.

Last Friday afternoon while appearing on “Happy Hour With J.P.” with local sports media czar J.P. Petersen on WQYK-AM 1010, St. Petersburg Times Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud suggested a fast start this season followed by a collapse may doom Raheem’s job security with the Bucs.

“I think six wins, doubling the win total from last year, is good progress and that’s what they are looking for. But let’s say they start off 3-1 and then only win three more games, then I think you are looking for a new head coach.”

Joe could actually see such a scenario unfold. If the Bucs jump out to a 3-1 record, all of a sudden there are unrealistic expectations in a season where no one but the most diehard fan is expecting a winning season.

Finishing a season 1-11 would no doubt get people within the walls of One Buc Palace whispering about Raheem’s return.

For those of you who mock Joe for not being a total and complete cheerleader for the Bucs, watch and listen to Peter King’s sage advice in this Sports Illustrated video. He makes Joe sound like Marlena Aref.

On the dawn of each  NFL season, cool cat Maoist Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports ranks all NFL owners, much like his colleagues do players and teams. It definitely gets a lot of attention in NFL circles.

Not long ago, Silver had Team Glazer among the top of NFL owners. No longer. This year Silver has Team Glazer slotted at No. 19.

In June, after the BBC reported that the family had amassed debts of nearly $1.5 billion, the Glazers issued a sharp denial that they were financially compromised and rejected the notion that they had borrowed from the Bucs to help cope with their financial situation. Perhaps not, but to other owners, the eye in the sky doesn’t lie. “Anyone who has a lot of debt, be it a company or individual, is heavily leveraged in this economy,” the NFC owner says. “They’re deep into real estate [via the family-owned First Allied Corp.] and it’s killing them, and their market that has been especially brutalized.” Still, Man U is a major cash cow, and the Glazers aren’t stupid. Some owners believe they’re simply laying low in anticipation of a probable work-stoppage and will resume their aggressive spending of years past once there’s a new CBA and the young team is in position to be more competitive.

Bingo! While Team Glazer is in debt with their English kickball team — only a forensic accountant would know for sure — the damned thing is a license to print money.

Joe finds it amusing that Pittsburgh general manager Kevin Colbert has stated the Rooneys aren’t going to spend wild because they fear painting themselves into a corner when the new CBA (and salary cap)  is agreed upon, and the man is lauded as a sage.

But when Bucs general manager Mark Dominik essentially says the same thing, the commoners are ready to break out the pitchforks.

Strange.

When Michael Clayton was cut by the Bucs this weekend, intrepid Sarasota Herald-Tribune reporter Tom Balog tracked Clayton down for his reaction.

Clayton will forever be remembered by Bucs fans for passes he couldn’t get a handle on. Yet Clayton, per Balog, claimed his numerous drops were not “a factor at all” in his release.

The dropped balls were not mentioned to Clayton, by head coach Raheem Morris or general manager Mark Dominik, face-to-face, when they told him of his fate, he said.

”I don’t think it was a factor at all,” Clayton told the Herald-Tribune on Saturday. “People like to bring up dropped passes and stuff like that. But at the same time, I didn’t have a lot of opportunities to make up for those opportunities that I missed out on.”

Look, Joe has stated several times before he thinks Clayton is a stand-up guy. But he’s not perfect and this is one of those times.

Perhaps, just perhaps, Clayton didn’t get chances to make up for missed opportunities is that coaches lost faith that he could make up for those missed opportunities?