Amid increasingly positive rumors that the asinine lockout may be over with in a matter of a few weeks — Joe will see it when he believes it — there is still a dearth of news from NFL camps.

So to fill the void, NFL writers from the four-letter network have decided to create lists of top 10 players in various positions. Football blogger Pat Yasinskas was also involved.

So when it came to choosing the top left tackles in the game, Bucs left tackle Donald Penn found his name on the list and came in tied for No. 8 with Marcus McNeill of San Diego.

The longest shot. Somewhere, former Tampa Bay general manager Bruce Allen and coach Jon Gruden are smiling at Penn’s name appearing on this list. It’s true, they headed the regime that signed Penn as a free agent in 2007 after he was cut by Minnesota in 2006. Then again, they were also the ones who signed Luke Petitgout, and Penn only got a chance to play because Petitgout turned out to be washed up. I used to subscribe to the theory that you needed to use a first-round pick to get a good left tackle. But Penn has shown that’s not necessary. In his case, he simply made the most of his shot at playing time and turned it into a $48 million contract as training camp started last year.

Well, actually the guy smiling the most is Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik, for it was Penn who caught Dominik’s eye and it was Dominik who pushed for Chucky and Bruce Almighty to sign Penn.

Lord only knows what kind of turnstile would have been signed by Chucky or Bruce Almighty as a free agent if left to their own devices.

The Bucs pass rush last year was gruesome. In most games, there was no pass rush, gruesome or not.

Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik knew this and tried to rectify the abyss by drafting both Adrian Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers with his first two picks.

If not for his injured knee, Bowers would have been long gone by the time the Bucs picked in the first round much less been sitting there for the taking in the second round.

Despite the bum knee, Dominik told Dan Parr of ProFootballWeekly.com during the draft that Bowers would not require additional surgery.

Dominik is so confident in the health of Bowers that Parr writes the Bucs expects Bowers to start at left end when games begin this fall… if they begin.

After a long fall in the draft, DE Da’Quan Bowers was taken by the Bucs in the second round with the 51st overall pick. This, for a player who was once considered a top-five pick, and a potential No. 1 overall choice. Bowers’ stock plummeted because of concerns about his surgically repaired knee and long-term durability. Teams had strong reservations about him, but GM Mark Dominik told PFW after the draft that the Bucs do not believe he needs any more surgery on the knee in the short term and also said the Bucs will be flexible with his practice time to limit wear and tear. The team is counting on Bowers to be the starting left end, and its defense will be much more formidable if he and fellow DE Adrian Clayborn, the team’s first-round pick, energize a pass rush that was one of the league’s least productive in 2010.

So let’s presume Parr’s information is accurate and Bowers starts at left end. Who goes? Are Tim Crowder’s days numbered? What of Alex Magee who is rumored to be a favorite of both Dominik and Bucs coach Raheem Morris?

Or will the Bucs simply wash their hands of the Kyle Moore experiment?

The official endorsements of Aqib Talib’s return to the Bucs keep racking up. This time, it’s the most important player voice chiming in: Josh Freeman.

Freeman shared his love and respect for Talib in a chat with Woody Cummings of The Tampa Tribune.

“He’s been coming out and he looks great; he’s in great shape, and he’s in great spirits,’’ Freeman said of Talib, who faces a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon stemming from an incident he was involved in earlier in the offseason in Texas.

“Obviously our prayers are with him with what he’s going through right now,’’ Freeman added. “ But he’s a hell of a football player so we hope to have him back and hope everything works out for him.

“But as for how he looks, he’s run some (passing) routes for us on offense, he’s played some defense for us and he’s really just been Aqib, that high-energy guy we all know.’’

Talib has another court date scheduled in Dallas County court this week, which means a deal could be struck at that time or the case will progress toward Talib entering a plea in the somewhat flimsy aggravated assault with a deadly weapon case against him.

Despite unsourced claims by the St. Pete Times to the contrary, Joe is certain the only thing that would prevent Talib’s return to the Bucs is being found guilty of a felony. In Joe’s opinion, that’s about as likely as the Bucs signing Tiki Barber.

The word has been sent by the unquestioned Bucs leader: It matters not if you once owned a haberdashery or are embroiled in a legal matter for your very own freedom or are trying to sample every eatery in Hillsborough County or simply are hiding behind your agent.

If you claim to be a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a three-day minicamp is mandatory.

Both Victoria Lim of Bright House Sports Network and Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune have put the word out: Josh Freeman is demanding anyone expecting to be on the Bucs roster this fall is expected, no, required to be in attendance for a three-day minicamp, replete with two-a-days, run by Freeman himself.

It seems the Bucs third-year quarterback is doing his best to prepare the Bucs for the upcoming season, despite the asinine NFL lockout. Hence, all hands on deck later this month or Freeman will consider missing players AWOL.

“I don’t know about some of the free agents and rookies, but we’re hoping to have about 45 guys there,” Freeman said Monday. “We’re going to try to get everybody in and go over some scheme stuff and even install some stuff.

“I held on to some of my playbooks from the (regular) season and we’re putting together scripts and everything and just trying to get things back to normal as much as possible.”

Damn, what the hell is not to like about Josh Freeman? He keeps this up, and Joe may have to make room among his lust for Rachel Watson and his mancrush Albert Pujols.

Joe just cannot say enough good things about what Freeman is trying to accomplish in this trying NFL time.

Given plenty of free time thanks to this asinine lockout, Matt Williamson of Scouts, Inc. is doing quite a bit of research, specifically on the NFC South of late.

In ranking the most underrated players in the NFC South, Williamson chose a Bucs linebacker. No, not Barrett Ruud. Rather, Williamson thinks the most overlooked player on the Bucs roster is Quincy Black, who Williamson raves about.

Quincy Black, linebacker: Black is up for free agency, as is MLB Barrett Ruud, so the Bucs used a third-round pick on Mason Foster. Foster could conceivably play any of the three linebacker spots in Tampa Bay’s defense, but I see his best fit in the middle. I think the Buccaneers agree with me and will do everything possible to keep Black, even though he isn’t as well known as Ruud. That would be the wise move, because Black is an up-and-comer who has exceptional range and playmaking skills. He does everything well and never should come off the field. Black is the perfect fit in this defense and could be poised to excel behind Tampa’s young and ultra-talented defensive line. If there is a choice to be made between Black and Ruud, the answer is a very simple one: Black.

Maybe Joe falls in the category of the Barrett Ruud haters. Joe really hasn’t seen Black do anything that would make Joe believe the Bucs will break the bank for him. Largely, in Joe’s eyes, Black more often than not is invisible.

From what Joe has learned from astute football minds, Ruud is the most valuable linebacker the Bucs currently have. But Joe’s a consistency kinda guy. So of course Joe would hope Black returns.

More importantly, Joe hopes Black returns and becomes more of a force.

Esteemed Bucs beat writer Woody Cummings, of TBO.com and The Tampa Tribune, brings more good NFL labor news in the form of an overheard conversation between Bryan Glazer and a longtime Bucs fan at a funeral last week.

(Talk about having an ear to the ground.)

Glazer brought positive vibes to the lockout front. Here’s a snippet, but Joe suggests you read the whole report:

“So relax,’’ Glazer said. “For the next seven weeks, just turn on some music, put on your headphones and relax. Football will be back. Don’t worry. Football will be back.’’

Encouraging words indeed. And they came just before a report broke suggesting the two sides in the NFL labor impasse had actually made enough progress in negotiations to possibly close on a deal within the next couple weeks.

Now Joe’s really getting excited, especially on the heels of oatmeal-gorging, popcorn-shoveling Peter King’s words earlier.

How freaking cool would it be to have free agency open on, say July 5. Not that the Bucs will do anything terribly exciting, but if the salary cap returns, it’s going to get wildly interesting in a hurry around these parts.

Coffee.

Donut.

Hope.

Joe can’t resist injecting optimism into this bright Monday morning.  

Joe doesn’t write about the details and developments of the asinine NFL lockout — no sense in boring everyone to tears — but Joe does follow the situation very closely.

Sports Illustrated football scribe Peter King, a man with piles of great sources, is spewing lots of optimism today about the end of the lockout in his Monday Morning Quarterback column on SI.com. Aside from referencing progress in meetings and various other stuff, King lays out a loss of $700 million if preseason games are cancelled. .

There are 11 nationally televised preseason games, beginning with the St. Louis-Chicago Hall of Fame Game on Aug. 7 on NBC. Each game has 60 ad buys, 30 seconds apiece. That’s 660 spots. Altogether, the preseason generates around $700 million in TV, gate and ancillary revenue. The reason this matters is if preseason games are gone, there’s going to be less 2011 money to share with players. The owners won’t like that, and the players won’t like it when the owners cut their offer once that money’s out the window.

Therefore, each side knows it’s to their advantage — both for getting players in shape as well as keeping the finances from plummeting — to make sure the preseason goes on as scheduled.

I said in SI the other day my over-under for a deal is July 4. I might say July 10 now, but I still think chances are better there will be a deal than there won’t — and that deal will come within a month.

Joe’s deciding to be giddy today, though aware this could turn out disappointing.

But $700 million smells like solid motivation to Joe.

Joe’s a Pat Kirwan kinda guy. Whether listening to him with co-host Tim Ryan heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio or reading his work on NFL.com, Joe stops what he is doing and pays attention.

(Joe decided to drop some cash this weekend and buy Kirwan’s book “Take Your Eye Off The Ball.” Joe was hooked by the time he finished page three of the introduction. It’s that good. Really good Father’s Day present. In the third chapter, Joe learned Kirwan was once an advance scout for the Bucs.)

Joe knows that Kirwan hates lists. Once in a while, a caller will ask Kirwan to list the best players at a position and Kirwan will explain why he hates lists.

But Kirwan likes groups. Joe heard Kirwan state this a month or so ago but he finally got around to putting fingertips to keyboard and detail his top groups of NFL quarterbacks.

Kirwan has Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman in Group C.

3. Josh Freeman, Buccaneers: A rising star who reminds me of a young Warren Moon. Cool under pressure with a big arm. He led his team to 10 wins in his first full season as a starter.

Kirwan has Freeman in the same group as Sam Bradford, Joe Flacco, Carson Palmer and Matt Schaub.

Personally, Joe finds Palmer to be way overrated. It’s been years since Palmer was a legitimate threat at quarterback. Schaub? Eh.

On the bright side, Freeman is rated by Kirwan higher than Jay Cutler and Mark Sanchez but lower than Tony Romo and Michael Vick.

What does this tell Joe? If Freeman would date Carrie Underwood and Jessica Simpson and marry a hottie blonde sports reporter, it will increase his quarterbacking reputation.

Joe was geeked as anyone that LeGarrette Blount busted onto the scene last year and literally made the offense blow up. One could argue Blount was the Bucs’ MVP.

But Matt Williamson of Scouts, Inc. is not moved. Even with Blount blowing up opposing defenses, Williamson is of the mind the Bucs have the worst set of running backs in the NFC South.

But here is what I think of Blount. I see what everyone else sees in him in that he obviously has tremendous size and power, and also has nimble enough feet to make people miss and even jump over defenders in space. He is impressive. But I also see a wildly inconsistent player, which I will admit is not a huge red flag or uncommon for a rookie at any position. But I would like to see him run with aggression on every carry. He did run for over 1,000 yards in just 13 games. But Blount is also a liability in all phases of the passing game and can help his team only on early downs.

There is very little behind Blount to get overly excited about and I fully expect the Bucs to be players in the free-agent running back market — most likely shopping for a good receiving threat out of the backfield.

Kareem Huggins has some of those third-down back type of traits. But he appeared in only three games last season and ended up on injured reserve. Despite a very impressive preseason, Huggins has just four career NFL carries. Counting on him might be unwise.

Well, Joe thinks Williamson is nitpicking on Blount, but the rest of his argument holds water.

To many Bucs fans ire, Joe wrote early and often last offseason that the Bucs rushing attack was impotent. Joe loves Earnest Graham and Cadillac Williams to ,but as fulltime starters sharing the backfield they certainly weren’t getting the job done.

If anything, the emergence of Blount has shown that Cadillac is most effective and valuable at this point in his career coming off the bench as a third-down, change-of-pace kind of guy.

It was not a coincidence that when Blount starting running like crazy, the entire offense for the Bucs blew up because suddenly defenses had to concern themselves with the run, whereas before, they just worried about the pass and dared the Bucs to run.

Big financial publications and various Euro sports sites are abuzz this morning regarding a credible English newspaper’s report that claims Team Glazer is preparing to take Manchester United public for (drumroll) a $2.8 billion valuation.

The report claims Team Glazer has done some diligence with the Hong Kong stock exchange.

So what does Team Glazer’s kickball team have to do with the Bucs? Take your pick: probably nothing, possibly a lot, or you couldn’t care less.

Regardless, Joe hopes Team Glazer takes the team public. They’d be flush with more cash, which surely can’t hurt the Bucs, and Joe could buy some shares just to say Team Glazer reports to him — a shareholder.

And speaking of kickball, the beloved football shrine of the Bucs was invaded by 27,000+ kickball lovers last night. These fans paid top dollar for a chance to see the house that Brooks built desecrated by diving Panamanian sissies playing the wrong sport on a field stripped of its rightful football lines.

To make matters worse, the Panamanian sissies beat and disgraced the United States team, whose fans littered the C.I.T.S. field with smokebombs throughout the game.

Yes, Joe was there, humiliated for his country, his Bucs, and by the college kid sitting behind Joe who vomited bile and Bud Light on Joe’s back.

Joe can’t wait for real football season.

Everyone’s favorite right tackle, James Lee, fed hundreds of people Saturday and held a free football camp for hundreds of kids in his old stomping grounds of Belle Glade, the tough streets of Muck City, as its known in sugar country.

Now Joe’s already talked to Lee and wrote about Lee’s great charitable work with his foundation and Muck City Fest, but hey, yesterday was the annual James Lee Day in Belle Glade, which Joe thinks is pretty damn cool.

The local media in South Florida was all over Lee and many of his NFL and Bucs buddies working with kids. Here’s a quote from WPTV-Ch.5.

“It’s very important that the kids get out and they see what I’ve done, what I can do and that it’s possible for them,” [Lee] said.

Lee’s teammates and friends in the NFL were happy to lend a hand.

“We all grew up in the same type of environment, the same type of neighborhoods and we made it out,” explained Buccaneers player Elbert Mack, “and the sky is the limit for them.”

Joe applauds all this great community work by various Bucs.

In the throes of this asinine lockout, news is slow for both the NFL and the Bucs. So ProFootballWeekly.com put together a power ranking for NFL coaches.

In the magazine’s 2011 rankings, it has Bucs coach Raheem Morris right in the middle of the pack at No. 16.

16. Raheem Morris — Young gun slowly climbing the ladder with confidence.

Initially, Joe was taken aback by this, mainly because of some of the coaches ranked just ahead and behind Raheem. The Bucs third-year head coach is rated just again of always angry Marvin Lewis. Yeah, Lewis had two playoff teams but he has as many playoff wins as Joe.

Just ahead of Raheem is Norv Turner. Yeah, Turner has had playoff teams but he rarely seems to get the most of his talent and Turner has had damned talented teams.

But if one looks at the coaches rated above Raheem, it seems like a fair ranking.

Call Joe a sucker, but Joe’s a compulsive Bucs junkie that actually paid $12 to read a story about Doug Williams and Raheem Morris yesterday.

Yes, Joe forked over the cash to the esteemed Ruston Daily Leader, a newspaper covering the area around Grambling State University, in order to read a feature behind the cloak of paid content. The story seemed to promise revealing and exciting news of Raheem’s participation at Williams’ charity event in the area last weekend.

Well, it wasn’t that exciting. However, during a speech at the Horseshoe Casino in Bossier City, Raheem did compare Josh Freeman to Williams, and Raheem offered a new spin on the “stats are for losers” mentality.

“Josh is much like Doug was when he played for Tampa Bay and in the NFL,” Morris said. “He’s a tough competitor and a great leader who believes that, no matter what, his team is capable of winning.

“That’s the type of quarterback you want leading your team.”

A former defensive back at Hofstra, where he later served as a graduate assistant and secondary coach, Morris is hopeful of the Bucs continuing their “I believe” attitude this season.

“I want our goals to be really more about how we look at things mentally than statistically,” he said.

Joe thinks it great that Raheem headed on up to the middle of nowhere Louisiana to help Williams’ charitable foundation. And Williams heaped high praise on Raheem’s altruism in a recent Shreveport Times story.

In this video from the charity golf tournament associated with the weekend festivities, Bucs fans can catch a look a Raheem’s golf swing and putting style, plus hear Richard Dent give his take on whether Doug Williams should be a Hall of Famer.

The NFL, with its billions and a massive legal team, can’t stop unlawful streaming of games on the Internet, so Joe thought it funny when the NFL instituted lockout rules that seemingly forbid team staff from communicating with players.

Yeah, right. Coaches aren’t going to be constantly texting or calling key players, especially those with 2011 contracts. Totally unrealistic.

In Joe’s opinion, there’s way too much at stake to have all these ultra competitive head coaches, at least half with crappy job security, simply waiting around for the lockout to end while they know iconic Bill Belicheat is crafting new ways to brazenly break rules.

What coach worth a damn isn’t going to stay connected with his team in some way?

During a great interview Wednesday with Steve Duemig on WDAE-AM 620, Raheem Morris said he talks to LeGarrette Blount, Sammie Stroughter and Dezmon Briscoe “all the time.” Possibly that was just a figure of speech, but it didn’t sound that way.

Here’s the verbatim transcription below: Raheem responded to a caller showering many Bucs with love for their influence on South Tampa youth athletes.

Caller: … LeGarrette Blount throws the football around right in the neighborhood. Right there by the little Lake {inaudible} football field. All the kids at the middle school come bragging about him.

Raheem Morris cuts off caller: You probably don’t realize who else is over there. You got Sammie Stroughter, Legarrette Blount, [Dezmon] Briscoe. They all go over there. They tell me about it all the time.

Steve Duemig: Do they live in the area in the offseason?

Raheem: Yes, they live right over by Jefferson [High School].

Caller: So they’re right over there. They’re making such a strong [impact with the kids]. …Those guys [and other Buccaneers] come out and put a lot of time into those boys.

Raheem: Hey listen. I talk to them all the time. I talk to those guys all the time. [Raheem then changes subject to address an earlier question.]

Joe will let readers make the call on Raheem’s comments. Frankly, Joe hopes Raheem is in constant contact with his key players. It’ll be damn hard to get caught — unless he keeps making similar public comments — and it’s probably worth the potential punishment.

Adam Schein expects Bucs fans to take over the streets of Tampa if Team Glazer raises ticket prices.

As part of his damage control in an attempt to cleanse his hands of the very mess he helped create and front, NFL strongman Roger Goodell has been holding conference calls with individual NFL team season ticket holders. Earlier this week, it was Bucs season ticket holders’ turn.

During this dog and pony show, Goodell let it be known that the lockout he orchestrated was to help the fans, to keep ticket prices stagnant if not lowered and, in so many words, blamed the players for $8 beers.

Goodell made no secret that if the NFL was to win this labor war, the result would be keeping costs for fans down.

Joe’s pretty certain that Team Glazer did not have advance knowledge of Goodell’s thoughts.

(Joe’s not saying Team Glazer will raise ticket prices after the lockout. But it’s pretty brazen of Goodell to try to tell his employers what they can and cannot charge for admission, concessions and parking by filling paying customers heads with absurd expectations.)

When news of Goodell’s statements reached the inbox of popular radio personality Adam Schein, he took to his SiriusXM NFL Radio microphone Thursday with nothing less than outrage at Goodell.

In short, Schein was appalled that Goodell would pander to Bucs fans in a gutless attempt to have Bucs fans ignore the blood on Goodell’s hands and try to con Bucs fans into believing a win for the owners in this asinine lockout means a less expensive experience for fans at The CITS.

Schein also, correctly, believed Goodell painted his employers, Team Glazer, into a no-win corner. With a horrid inflation looming on the horizon since the feds will very shortly quit printing money (which means, hello inflation and higher interest rates), it’s not at all difficult to believe operating costs for Team Glazer will go up. It simply stands to reason.

If Team Glazer, say, raises the price of parking by a mere dollar, it goes against what Goodell pandered to Bucs fans and makes Team Glazer to look like the second coming of Lucifer.

“Many Bucs fans — whether it be right, wrong or indifferent — don’t trust the Glazer family,” Schein said. If, after what Goodell said, Team Glazer raises ticket prices after an owners victory in the labor impasse, “there will be unrest in Tampa Bay.”

Joe knows if this happens there will be gnashing of teeth, cursing at bartenders and the haters of sports radio shows will be fired up with new and ample ammunition.

All because a puppet of a commissioner has no shame.

Joe didn’t have a chance to listen in on NFL chieftain Roger Goodell’s conference chat with Bucs season ticket holders yesterday because Joe was bouncing all over Pinellas County in his real job and away from a computer.

But Joe did monitor Twitter on his blackberry, as Joe is wont to do when away from his home PC (Joe is irritated at Blackberry at the moment because a forced “upgrade” has removed column views on his web browser, leaving Internet access on the device virtually useless), and noticed Derek Fournier of WhatTheBuc.net was Twittering while listening to Goodell and seemed generally depressed at what he heard.

Update from the call with the Commissioner: Absolutely nothing new. #FansScrewed

Now Joe clearly didn’t know what Goodell was going to say, but Joe knew what Goodell wasn’t going to say: He wasn’t going to tip his hand in any way about negotiations with the NFLPA.

Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune was monitoring the conference call and Joe found it interesting that Goodell seems to generally be concerned that fans are turned off by TV blackouts, as Bucs fans are all too aware of.

Though he offered no promise of imminent change, Goodell said he was on the side of those hoping to see the rule amended in a way that will make it easier for teams to sell out games and lift local TV blackouts.

“We need to continue to look at it and make modifications, whether they be in some of our policies with regard to discounting of tickets or comp tickets (or other options),” Goodell said. “We’ll continue to do that in a way that I think is responsive to the economic conditions that our fans are going through.”

Joe is firmly of the belief that technology is passing the NFL by and it’s a battle the NFL will be hard-pressed to win.

People love their HDTVs and with a DVR, gives fans the control to watch a replay a number of times. As a friend of Joe’s years ago said about watching games at home vs. going to The CITS: “I can get just as drunk at home and if I give away a couple of beers, I can have someone sit next to me and scream and jump up and block my view.”

Hopefully, part of the new upgrades at The CITS is a Bud Zone-like watering hole inside the stadium much like at the Gator Bowl (or whateverthehell the stadium in Jacksonville is called these days).

But more to the point about blackouts and sellouts, Joe absolutely believes that soon, once the NFL deems a Bucs game a blackout, DirecTV customers with NFL Sunday Ticket will, for say $75 a game, be able to watch a blacked out home Bucs home game.

Joe hopes some fan was able to ask Goodell if his way cute wife talks naughty at home as she did on her job?

“YouTube me!”

"Did you hear the one about the newspaper making us out to be greedy bastards?"

Joe’s feeling the need here to set the record straight on a bizarre analysis of the recently announced Raymond James Stadium improvements posted by Stephen Holder of the St. Pete Times. 

Holder implies that children are being denied educational opportunities and important public services won’t get the best possible attention because Team Glazer is getting revamped luxury suites and a fancy scoreboard from taxpayers. Ohh, the children. Ohhh, the BS.

The problem for many, however, is two-fold: First, taxpayers will fund the project, with tourism taxes that could otherwise support schools or essential services being tapped. Second, approximately half of the expenditures will be made in the luxury suite sections, a place Joe Six Pack never ventures.

In this day and age of heightened scrutiny over the spending of public funds, this sort of thing isn’t going to go over well.
But what this does, more than anything, is underscore what a sweetheart deal Bucs ownership got when RJS was built. With owner Malcolm Glazer entertaining moving the team after purchasing it in 1995, nervous voters in 1996 approved a referendum to build the stadium Glazer said was necessary for the team to remain in Tampa.

First, tourist taxes really can’t used for public schools or sewers (No, they’re not the same thing). Despite what Holder writes, there are laws that prevent such things. The money is earmarked for tourist-related stuff, including the stadium improvements.

Second, Holder seems to forget/not realize that only about 10 percent of the voter-approved sales tax– over its 30-year life — will go to pay off the stadium. The remaning billions was for all kinds of community services.

Holder says about the new improvements, “it’s not going to over well?” Joe really had to laugh at that.

Joe suspects nobody is going to mind that a tourist tax, as in non-local taxpayers, funds improvements to the Bucs home that should bring the area the 2015 Super Bowl, which would be its third in 14 years.

Joe’s a media guy, but that doesn’t mean he gets what they’re all thinking sometimes.

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s JoeBucsFan TV.

In this Emmy award winning cut from the JoeBucsFan studios, NFL.com blogger/Bucs beat writer Jenna Laine sits down with Joe to serve up her take on everyone’s favorite cabbie-slugging, helmet-wielding cornerback.

Clarification: This video was taped prior to Talib’s indictment.

The crazy stat geeks at FootballOutsiders.com have tallied up tackles and attempted tackles for 2010, and Ronde Barber checks in with 14 broken tackles against him, meaning he wasn’t wrapping up.

Barber’s 14, and his 17.5 percent broken-tackle rate, puts him among the worst in the league.

Now Joe knows these stat geeks over analyze everything. But some of their stuff is interesting, if not worthwhile, such as this data. …Gasp, Barrett Ruud shows up as a very sure tackler.

Joe also is posting this to feed Ronde Barber’s paranoia about media people thinking he’s a bad football player. It seems to help his greatness, so how could Joe pass?

The asinine lockout orchestrated by NFL hatchetman Roger Goodell has damaged the game in ways that cannot yet be calculated.

But there is one element that has caused irreparable damage to players and Bucs coach Raheem Morris discussed this yesterday when he sat down with Joe’s good friend, “The Big Dog,” Steve Duemig, live from the Chris Thomas studio of WDAE-AM 620.

While many NFL pundits believe rookies, specifically potentially rookie free agents, will have their growth stunted by the absence of OTAs and what looks to be an abbreviated training camp, Raheem suggested to the WDAE listening audience it is second-year players who will have their development delayed.

“It’s a second-year player [that is hurt by the lockout],” Morris said. “Once [a rookie] has it figured out, he has a chance to come here and get better and get a general understanding of what we want. E.J. Biggers came in and cleaned up his footwork [in the offseason] Josh Freeman improved.

“You make your biggest jump from your first year to your second year. [Not having the players come in because of the lockout], that’s where you really get hurt.”

This is a very interesting perspective from Raheem and makes a great deal of sense. This is also depressing for Joe. The Bucs had a wonderful crop of rookies last year. If Raheem is accurate, and there is no reason to suggest it’s not accurate, it may not be until 2012 until the current second-year Bucs players are able to make the jump to strong NFL veterans.