Contenders!

Today was a day we would find out if the Bucs were a pretender or a contender.

Folks, the Bucs are a contender. [read more]

V-Jax gets serious

Vincent Jackson made a few plays himself today, en route to 87 yards receiving on just three receptions.

But Jackson was quiet after the game and only seemed to want to talk about America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston. [read more]

Godsend!

Joe is sitting here at the Den of Depression press box staring out onto the empty bowl of the stadium — the grass hardly looks like a game was played just an hour ago — trying to put into words what Joe watched earlier in the afternoon. [read more]

Joe got a good look at Gerald McCoy’s injured hand today in the locker room. [read more]

(Photo courtesy of Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

How bout that depth on the Buccaneers’ defensive line!

Missing two starters today, Gerald McCoy and Jacquies Smith, Tampa Bay’s run defense was stout and the pass rush looked unchanged. [read more]

Give it up for the head coach of the Buccaneers.

Lovie Smith survived a gruesome 2-14 season and a complete embarrassment on opening day this year to earn a return in 2016. [read more]

How bout those Dropaneers!

Not even absent Gerald McCoy and costly butter hands by Mike Evans, Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Doug Martin can slow the Buccaneers’ revival under America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston. [read more]

Could second place really be the situation in three short hours?

Dive into the comments section and react all through today’s 1 o’clock game.

You can also chatter in the new JoeBucsFan Message Boards. It’s easy. If you haven’t already, just register, confirm the automatic email, and then sign in and play.

Have fun. Bad words and naughty posters will be filtered.

Go Bucs!

Starting right tackle Gosder Cherilus will join Gerald McCoy in street clothes.

Starting right tackle Gosder Cherilus takes a seat today, along with Gerald McCoy. [read more]

Game 12

Dixie Chicks (6-5) at Bucs (5-6)

Kickoff: 1 p.m. [read more]

Has Lovie’s bromance with CB Mike Jenkins come to an end?

The secondary of the Bucs, specifically the cornerbacks, struggled terribly after Johnthan Banks hurt his knee in a loss at Houston. [read more]

Smooth-talking Ronnie Lane of WDAE-AM 620 has his weekly sitdown with Joe talkin’ Bucs.

It is Joe’s weekly sitdown with smooth-talking Ronnie Lane of WDAE-AM 620. Joe knows you can’t live without it. [read more]

Austin Seferian-Jenkins (right) will play in his 12th career game today.

It’s 6 a.m. and Joe’s morning film study and oatmeal inhalation is interrupted by what seems to be impossible news. [read more]

Yes, Joe was on ESPN Tallahassee radio earlier this week talking Bucs with Jeff Cameron, he of “The Jeff Cameron Show.”

Joe has long been a fan of Cameron, a St. Pete native who puts together damned good radio. [read more]

Physically limited in practice Friday. National report emerges.

Updated: 5:45 a.m.: Well, Gerald McCoy was listed as “doubtful” on the Bucs’ injury report Friday, after having what GMC deemed a “small procedure” on his left hand. [read more]

V-Jax details rookie torture and huddle dancing

So much for Vincent Jackson being a robotic and rather stoic workaholic, a man whose military upbringing let him fit right in with Greg Schiano and have a Pro Bowl season in 2012. [read more]

You asked for it, you got it. It’s the TV map for tomorrow’s game between the Dixie Chicks and the Bucs, a 1 p.m. kickoff at the Den of Depression. [read more]

The Bucs will be flush with a pile of cash they have to spend

A fun March is coming to Tampa. [read more]

This can’t happen again

You want a good feel for Falcons football? When Atlanta comfortably marched up and down the field on the Bucs last month, Julio Jones caught 12 balls on 13 targets for 162 yards and a touchdown.

Their next busiest wide receiver caught two balls for 24 yards. [read more]

Stat geeks rate CB Sterling Moore best of the Bucs, but not that high.

Yes, regular readers understand Joe has serious reservations about the stat nerds over at Pro Football Focus.

Hey, if they want to do missed tackles and dropped passes, fine. When they start grading players is when the whole operation runs off the tracks. [read more]

Leading a turnaround.

Just looking at the top teams in third down conversion, Joe did a bit of a double-take. The Bucs are No. 10. [read more]

The Falcons sport the NFL’s fourth-ranked offense and ninth-ranked defense, yet they’re struggling mightily. [read more]