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?

So long, Bowden.

Today the Bucs cut wide receiver Reggie Brown, who was acquired for a 2011 sixth-round pick, and punter Brent Bowden, this year’s sixth-round selection.

Publicly, the Bucs had high hopes for Bowden, who was pretty good overall in Bucs camp, but he dropped some big-time clunkers in the preseason and didn’t seem to have a ton of leg strength.

Australian rules football transfer rookie Chris Bryan impressed with the Packers but didn’t get the job and was cut by Green Bay before the Bucs snagged him today.

Of course, Brown, presumably was brought to Tampa to be a veteran presence as a No. 4 or No. 5 receiver.

Joe respects Mark Dominik for not being afraid to pull the trigger on moves he thinks are in the Bucs’ best interest (within the no expensive free agents plan), even if it means admitting failure on a couple of acquisitions.

But in a deep draft like this year’s, and the Bucs building through the draft, the Bowden pick is a major miss.

Loading up on what Joe has said for months is a mediocre running attack, the Bucs decided today to pick up the services of notorious LeGarrette Blount.

That’s the word from Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune as he Twittered the news.

Bucs had signed running back RB LeGarrette Blount and released WR Reggie Brown.

A talented back but with a lot of baggage, Blount is more famously known for sucker-punching a Boise State player after losing to the Broncos last season, and then stupidly challenging Boise State fans to a fight and had to be held back from charging the stands.

Now Joe has zero idea what was said to Blount to make him react the way he did but Blount was clearly provoked as evidenced by Boise State coach Chris Petersen’s reaction to the guy Blount clocked. Joe’s not piling on for punching the guy. It very likely was justified.

What was not justified was how Blount went wilding after the incident. It cost him the majority of his senior season and quite a few bucks in the  NFL draft.

Last year Joe promised Kellen Winslow that he’d stop calling him “Sgt. Winslow,” and Joe has honored that.

Winslow didn’t like Joe’s the backhanded reference to his famous “I’m a fuc*’n soldier” rant to the media during his college days. And Winslow looked Joe in the face and asked him to cut that out.

Joe obliged, and Joe’s promise became a national story on The Jim Rome Show and other major media outlets.

However, it seems Winslow’s head coach didn’t get the memo.

Raheem Morris called Winslow a soldier today (obviously intentionally) during his news conference. The Bucs’ defensive mastermind/head coach was responding to a reporter asking him whether Winslow would have extra motivation going against his old team on Sunday, the Cleveland Browns.

“You know, I don’t want to BS you, so I won’t. But I’m sure he does have some fuel. I’m sure he has something hidden away. He has some article stowed away somewhere, or something that was said negative about this young man,” Morris said. “And, you know, but that’s what gets him going. That’s who Kellen is. You know, he’s a soldier. He goes out. He prepares. He practices. He plays. He loves the games. He’ll use anything for motivation, because that’s the kind of guy he is. He gets motivated to come practice against my defense every day.”

For those unfamiliar with Winslow’s famous soldier comment, below is what the Bucs’ head coach is referring to. It’s a classic.

For anyone who went to a preseason game at the CITS or drove by the CITS in recent weeks, it’s easy to see the players the Bucs were trying to market to fans.

Giant banners, or posters if you will, hung outside the stadium displaying the top Bucs fans would want to shell their hard-earned dollars for to see.

One of those banners displayed Clifton “Peanut” Smith who was cut this weekend.

Uh, oh.

Have no fear though! The marketing gurus at One Buc Palace have come up with a solution: Sammie Stroughter will replace Smith, so writes good guy Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times.

It will be a banner season for Bucs receiver Sammie Stroughter.

The image of the second-year pro from Oregon State will replace the one in the southeast corner of Raymond James Stadium of running back Clifton Smith, who was released Sunday.

While Stroughter is likely to start at receiver and is a rising player for the Bucs, his resume includes just 31 receptions for 334 yards and one touchdown.

A solid choice if Joe may say so.  Stroughter is the kind of guy Bucs fans can wrap their arms around. He battled through depression in college so severe it nearly wreck his college playing days (and thus, his professional future). Taken in the seventh round last year, Stroughter was the steal of the Bucs’ draft.

Smart move, Bucs.

Twittering madly today, St. Pete Times beat writer Rick Stroud is saying the Bucs’ front office expects a television blackout for Sunday’s home opener against the Browns.

Bucs expect Sunday’s season opener at RJS vs. the Browns to be blacked out.

Anwar Richardson, of The Tampa Tribune, is delivering the same bad news.

As host of The Blackout Tour, Joe surely isn’t surprised. However, Joe has heard legions of sports radio callers doubting that an opening day blackout would really happen, and Joe’s read those same comments here.

Joe feels bad for the scores of fans, especially kids, who can’t attend a game but love to watch their beloved Bucs on television. They’re screwed. But they’ll survive, just as Joe did growing up on blacked out games and listening to the radio and making the occasional trip to the stadium.

For those who can’t get to Sunday’s opener, Joe’s still got tickets left on The Blackout Tour buses heading for Lee Roy Selmon’s in Fort Myers, where the game will be shown live. Check it out.

You’ve all read THE PESSIMIST, who spews his Bucs-related anger like no other. But Joe also wants you to get to know THE OPTIMIST. 

THE OPTIMIST is Nick Houllis, a Bucs fan and an accomplished writer whose steadfast allegiance to the team goes back to the 1970s. Houllis is the founder, creator and guru of BucStop.com, a place Joe goes to get lost in time via Houllis’ stunning video collection.

THE OPTIMIST will shine that positive light in your eyes. Some will love it. Some won’t.

WANTED: 30,000 bandwagon fans needed to fill seats at Raymond James Stadium on Sundays. Must be willing to wear current Buccaneers garb and put a few stickers on your cars when the team is 6-3.

No joke, that is exactly what we need Bucs fans. Of course, I’m talking to the real Bucs fans out there, the ones who cheer on the Bucs even when they are 3-13 — even if you haven’t heard of too many of our players, yet. 

No one knew who Derrick Brooks, John Lynch or Ronde Barber was in 1997, they called our defense the no-name defense in that year’s Detroit playoff game, because they were no name at the time.

Well, Raymond James Stadium, much like its predecessor Tampa Stadium (I refuse to ever call it Houlihans) is suffering from a case of the empties. Yes, the economy has something to do with it, and so does the fact this team is starting over and coming off a bad losing season.

But we have seen this before in Tampa, and there is a reason why; we don’t have 12 million fans to pull from, we have a small percentage of that, so it’s reasonably safe to assume there are only about 30,000 die hard Tampa Bay Buccaneer fans who are willing to go to every game out there. There always has been, and probably always will be.

Go back to the late 1980s and early 1990’s during the last recession; NFL teams were having trouble with attendance then, too. But while some cities like Baltimore (1983), Houston, and St. Louis (Cardinals) were putting sometimes less than 10,000 in the stands, our Bucs were always showing an attendance of about 30k.

Why? Well, because that is how many Bucs fans there are in this area that will go to the games each week. So what do we need?

Bandwagon Fans!

Bring ‘em on! I don’t hate ‘em anymore! Put your brand new pewter decals on your car (Right over the faded marks of where you took them off back in 2003). Won’t bother me a bit.  Talk about the big name Bucs players from the old days that got away, like Thomas Jones. I’ll know you mean Steve Young.

It’s all good, because I will at least be able to watch my four Bucs games on my HD TV without having to resort to a 420×280 pixel screen on my computer in BS definition (Below Standard) to enjoy my beloved team that I have rooted for on Sundays for 31 seasons now!

I just don’t like to go to every single game, just like the 40,000 people who were represented by empty seats in the final preseason game against Jacksonville. I don’t want to pay to watch Josh Johnson and Rudy Carpenter.

I also don’t want to pay for my sunburn during early and mid-September games, when I can lay out in my yard and scorch for free! SPF15 should be a running play, not an item that should legally be required to be handed out to fans to prevent cancer!

No, Im not bitter, I’m over that. I don’t care if you’ve been rooting for the Bucs since the old days of Chris Simms while I’ve been cheering the Bucs on since they lost a chance at a perfect 6-0 record by losing to his father’s first start. Doesn’t bother me a bit. Just fill that stadium up please; as long as they are wearing pewter, red, or even orange, I won’t care anymore.

Offer valid while supplies of losses last.

THE PESSIMIST is a diehard Bucs fan whose negative writings appear occasionally on JoeBucsFan.com. His views surely do not necessarily reflect those of Joe. However, Joe sure gets a kick out of them.

Spin the Bucs waiving Clifton Smith however you want. But the Bucs just cut a great returner they can’t replace.

Nice move by the personel czar. Way to improve the team. That’s going to sell a pile of tickets.

Smith was successful in 2008, and successful in 2009. Micheal Spurlock is a nice story and a great talent, but the same special teams coach, Rich Bisaccia, let the guy go after being the Bucs kick returner for half a season in 2007 — and nobody picked him up.

THE PESSIMIST just has to put it out there that this 27-year-old Spurlock guy is not Smith. Not even in the same league.

Spurlock the receiver has no career catches, so please don’t start telling me the Bucs need this guy in their receiving corps. If they do, then just shoot THE PESSIMIST now.

It was a crappy move.

It wasn’t a real surprise that Clifton “Peanut” Smith was cut loose by the Bucs today when the pewter pirates signed a couple of unheralded players off the waiver wire, one being a running back.

Smith, though a former Pro Bowl returner, was on thin ice due to his illness and his habit of putting the ball on the ground.

Courageously, Smith galloped with gout this preseason, but it was his past that caught up with him (fumbles).

With the return of (run) Michael (run) Spurlock, the return ability of Sammie Stroughter and the emergence of Preston Parker, Smith was expendable.

Had Smith been able to take care of the ball better, he may have had a lot more touches as a running back, and thus secured a job. That didn’t happen and now Smith is looking for work.

Joe hopes Peanut finds a new job. He’s a good guy and a talented guy. He just needs to find a way, some way, to hold onto the ball.

The Tampa Tribune’s version of James Kilpatrick and Shana Alexander, Anwar Richardson and Woody Cummings, discuss how Earnest Graham will do this season in the latest TBO Bucs vlog.

But that’s not all. The duo also discuss the joys of board games including Candyland, Monopoly and Life.

Joe’s going to go out on a sturdy, low-hanging limb and suggest with the exception of Kareem Huggins, the running back position will be the weakest unit on the Bucs this season.

St. Petersburg Times beat writer Rick Stroud took a break from deleting Tweets breaking new ground on Twitter to touch base with now former Bucs wide receiver Michael Clayton last night.

In short, Clayton seemed in good spirits, though not happy. Bucs general manager Mark Dominik, per the quotes cobbled together from Stroud, seemed more meloncholy than Clayton.

Tampa Bay ended the relationship with its enigmatic receiver by releasing Clayton, whom they will pay not to play this season.

It was the closest thing to an admission by general manager Mark Dominik that the organization made a mistake last year in signing Clayton to a five-year, $26 million extension with $10 million guaranteed, including $3 million for 2010.

“I hate to characterize a person as a mistake,” Dominik said. “I will say this: Some of the people I have the most respect for in the National Football League are the people that make the decisions for the right reasons for their organization. I’ve always kind of followed that mind-set… “

Stroud went on to point out that Clayton had fallen so out of favor with the Bucs, that in theory he would have been the No. 8 receiver since the Bucs kept seven after the final roster cut.

Dominik noted Clayton took the news well. Of course he would. It’s not like he’s not going to get a salary this year. Joe’s not suggesting Clayton is happy but if the guy has cash coming in whether he plays or not, that will temper the emotions of losing a gig.

With seven wide receivers now on the Bucs, Saturday’s question of the day for Mark Dominik was, how many of these guys might actually make the 45-man, gameday roster?

Dominik, per his news conference video on Buccaneers.com, glowed about the great special teams value of rookie Preston Parker and then was hit with a question about veteran newcomer Reggie Brown’s chances of making an impact.

Dominik hardly was fired up about the guy he traded for this spring.

Reporter question: Reggie Brown doesn’t play a lot of special teams, if any. …What role would have on gameday?

Mark Dominik: Reggie’s going to have to have a good week of practice to get a hat on. Because I do believe, and I think Coach Morris has the same philosophy, Coach Olson buys into it with Coach Bisaccia, that you’ve got to play special teams to play. Or you’ve got to be, you know, one of the three receivers that are going to go out there every down. So that’s where Reggie’s really got to come on, and see if he can get a hat on every week. That’s going to be up to him every week to see if he can.

Joe doesn’t expect to see much of Brown. Ultimately, the Bucs have to have Arrelious Benn playing football. The guy’s the No. 39 overall pick in the deepest draft of the century. And surely they will want him ready after Thursday’s breakout preseason game.

Brown is definitely the odd man out on opening day, assuming Maurice Stovall is healthy.

Basketball player turned offensive tackle Demar Dotson, a potential Hall of Famer per Jeff Faine, is sadly done for the 2010 season.

He had filled in a bit at tight end last year and was emerging as a blocking icon and Donald Penn’s backup.

Mark Dominik spoke to the media late Saturday and broke the news of Dotson landing on injured reserve. It seems Dotson hurt his knee, but Dominik was unclear about the injury.

“Thankfully for Demar, it’s not an ACL. It’s nothing that’s going to sit there and take eight to 10 months to rehab,” Dominik said. “It’s really more of a three-to-four month type of injury. He had to have a little surgery.”

Welcome to your 2010 Buccaneers.

The Bucs have made their final cuts, and here’s who got the ax, per TBO.com. 

*  CB Brandon Anderson
* S Vince Anderson
* RB Carlos Brown
* WR Michael Clayton
* C Jonathan Compas (waived/injured)
* G Marc Dile
* T Xavier Fulton
* DE George Johnson
* TE Jeron Mastrud
* LB Rico McCoy
* DT Dre Moore
* DT Carlton Powell
* TE Ryan Purvis
* C Donovan Raiola
* CB Derrick Roberson
* LB Lee Robinson
* DE James Ruffin
* QB Jevan Snead
* FB Rendrick Taylor
* CB Trae Williams

Joe’s really excited for Micheal Spurlock, who really earned his spot, although there might not be much work for him.

Joe is stunned the Bucs are going to carry seven wide receivers, including rookies Arrelious Benn, Mike Williams and Preston Parker, plus Reggie Brown, Maurice Stovall and Sammie Stroughter.

Goodness, there’s only one football!

Corey Lynch also was rewarded, and the Bucs are hanging on to five safeties, including Sabby Piscitelli, Tanard Jackson, Cody Grimm and Sean Jones.

Offensive tackle Xavier Fulton, the Bucs’ fifth round pick in 2009, who looked bad last preseason and was sidelined last year because of injury, is no longer a Buccaneer.

He was rather invisible this summer and is now the first stain on Mark Dominik’s apparently strong draft record. Sort of a step toward evening the stains on the general manager’s free agent ledger.

Joe wishes Fulton well.

The buzz over at TBO.com is that strong safety Sabby Piscitelli will not be angling for a new job.

It seems he survived taking shots at his head coach.

Woody Cummings reports that The Tampa Tribune beat team is hearing Piscitelli has made the cut. Of course, Joe will update you here when there’s official word.

This is bad news for bubble guys like Preston Parker and Corey Lynch.

Whenever a bubble veteran dodges the bullet, that bullet generally finds a target of a young bubble player or a rookie free agent. Hence, why Joe fears Lynch and Parker may be looking for work in the next few hours.

Per NFL.com, the Bucs are required to trim the roster to 53 players (plus suspended Talib) as of 6 p.m.

Perhaps this is a function of Rudy Carpenter being a favorite of the head coach, as well as playing well against Houston on Thursday. Or maybe Josh Freeman is a more a question mark than thought.

Regardless, Carpenter is on the final 53-man roster, so reports Woody Cummings, of The Tampa Tribune.

Joe likes Carpenter. Good, eager kid.

Joe had a nice chat with him last year after he made the Bucs roster when Byron Leftwich came down with a phantom elbow injury that no MSM member ever asked him about.

As we wait to learn of the other victims, as the Bucs trim their roster to the mandated 53 by 6 p.m. tonight, Derek “Old School” Fournier, of WhatTheBuc.net, critiques the Bucs’ final preseason game against the Texans. 

It’s not a real shock that the Bucs cut Michael Clayton this afternoon, though it did surprise Joe.

Given the fact Bucs general manager Mark Dominik dished out a bunch of cash for Clayton last year, Joe was convinced the Bucs would hang on to the target of so much hatred from Bucs fans.

But after Dominik handed Kardashian-chasing running back Derrick Ward his walking papers, a player who also benefited from Dominik’s lavish spending last year, Joe saw the handwriting on the wall for Clayton.

Woody Cummings, of the Tampa Tribune, made the news official a few moments ago.

The former Tampa Bay first-round draft pick of the team was released Saturday as the Bucs trimmed their roster to the league-mandated 53-player limit.

“I’m no longer a Buc,’’ Clayton said in a text message to the Tribune.

Though Clayton expressed confidence he would remain with the team through the finl cutdown, the move came as little surprise. Clayton was coming off his worst season in the NFL and saw little or no playing time in the Bucs last two preseason games.

Joe is a bit sad to see Clayton go mainly because he’s a stand-up guy. The NFL is too littered with scumbags. Clayton is not among them.

Simply put, it comes down to what you do on the field. Clayton, after his stellar rookie season, didn’t do much. Receivers are paid to, you know, catch the ball. Clayton couldn’t. As Joe has written before, it doesn’t matter if a team has Anthony Munoz at wide receiver, a receiver is paid to catch first, block second. If you can’t do the first, it really shouldn’t matter how well a player can pull off the second.

In a way, it’s refreshing that Dominik is looking at results, not salaries, as to a player’s worth. With the exit of Clayton, there is no question who now is under the fans’ microscope as the most loathed player on the Bucs roster.

That would be one strong safety Sabby.

Time to step up, Sabby. Words right now are pretty pointless and empty. Blaming your coach for being set up won’t fly either.

Many Bucs fans mark Bucs-Panthers games this season as victories for the good guys.

Joe’s never really understood that. The Panthers won four out of their last five in 2009. Their defense allowed 13.8 points a game over the final half of the season. And Matt Moore is a guy on the rise with a savage running game in place.

Surely, the Bucs aren’t better than Carolina on paper.

Unpredictable NFC South scribe Pat Yasinskas, of BSPN.com, agrees. And he’s got Chucky backing him up, per the former head coach’s comments in a Monday Night Football conference call with the media.

“A sleeper team I like is the Carolina Panthers,’’ Gruden said. “I realize they’ve lost some good players, but they still have the best 1-2 running combination in football in (Jonathan) Stewart and (DeAngelo) Williams. I don’t ever see anybody score on these guys … They play hard, they play sound, they’re going to surprise some people.”

The NFC South is a very strong division, if the Bucs’ defensive mastermind/head coach gets the most out of his limited talent and youth-laden roster.

Leave it to former Bucs defensive end Steve White to make a bold yet reasoned prediction about the final Bucs roster, which will be named today.

White puts his manhood on the table and says Sabby Piscitelli will be looking for work tonight.

Before sitting down to write this up I kind of assumed Sabby Piscitelli was safe.  But then when I went back through the games last year for most of the year we only carried 3 safeties on the active roster.  I list Cody Grimm as making the roster because he is the primary backup to Tanard Jackson and has played well in the preseason.  And even with Grimm it was a toss up between he and Corey Lynch because of what Lynch brings on special teams and because he also played well this preseason.  Taking it all in I felt like the Bucs will probably carry both and just keep one less cornerback.  So even with them keeping one more safety than last year I still have Sabby being the odd man out. 

Now it may not play out that way but I thought long and hard about this and I have a hard time seeing it going another way.  I can’t see us carrying 5 safeties especially with Aqib Talib being suspended the first game.

Check out White’s blog for his complete call on the roster.

Factor in White’s sound logic above, and how the Bucs’ defensive mastermind/head coach glowed intensely about Corey Lynch during his Friday news conference, and Joe’s on board with White’s call.

Plus, throw in Sabby lashing out against his head coach after being demoted last week, and Mark Dominik proudly reminding Bucs fans during the Texans-Bucs preseason game broadcast that he plucked Corey Lynch from the Bengals’ practice squad last year, and today surely could spell the end for Sabby.

Joe can only hope the Browns pick up Sabby and put him in the starting lineup.