Before last night’s Super Bowl, Seahawks guard James Carpenter had started 40+ NFL games over his first four seasons.

So he’s got a feel for tough guys in the NFL trenches. [read more]

Joe’s been hammering barbecue-venue-challenged Logan Mankins lately.

The Bucs have a big decision ahead of them, whether to pay the declining veteran guard about $7 million next season. [read more]

Joe’s already fired up. There’s no doubt the Bucs will be shopping for bodies on March 10, when the free agency dinner bell rings that Tuesday afternoon.

The only real question is whether or not Tampa Bay will be discount shopping. “Value” is the buzz word from the Bucs’ front office.

As always, stick with Joe all month long for all kinds of angles on free agency. Joe’s already taken a look at Bengals guards Clint Boling and James Carpenter, among others.

New Bucs offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter

The Super Bowl is over and the New England Schianos were victorious, but Joe still has all kinds of Bucs-related goodies to share from his journey to Phoenix.

The latest comes from a four-time Pro Bowl quarterback who is a big fan of new Bucs offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter. [read more]

The “Custodian of Canton,” eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune, left, with Chris “Mad Dog” Russo from the SiriusXM stage at Radio Row in Phoenix.

On Thursday, Adam Schefter of BSPN floated the notion the Bucs were narrowing their quarterback search to Marcus Mariota of Oregon with the No. 1 overall pick.

That got the attention of the “Custodian of Canton,” eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune. [read more]

Looking at the downtown Phoenix skyline from inside the Phoenix Convention Center, the epicenter of Super Bowl activities.

Joe usually does this after he returns from a work trip, give a quick recap of his stay in a strange land. Joe’s notes from Phoenix continue the tradition. [read more]

Was the hiring of Mike Bajakian as Bucs QB coach a good hire?

One could argue the Bucs’ season went down the drain the day former offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford had a heart issue. That meant ill-suited quarterbacks coach Marcus Arroyo, who may have been over his head as a quarterback coach in the NFL given his zero experience in the league, was suddenly thrust into running the offense.

This flashes back to the Bucs’ recent hire of Mike Bajakian as quarterbacks coach, a guy with scant NFL experience but seemed to be an up-and-comer as a quarterbacks coach in college. [read more]

Ahh, nothing like watching a couple of great football teams. This won’t be a typical Bucs game this evening.

Joe’s got a hard time envisioning Seattle getting beat by the New England Schianos.

Joe doesn’t expect the Patriots to be able to run the ball effectively. However, Joe does expect big plays out of the Patriots defense, and they have what Tampa Bay doesn’t — a winner at quarterback.

Should be a fun one. Bang your comments all game long right here.

Al Michaels calls tonight’s Super Bowl

Among the heavy hitters Joe spoke with in his days in Phoenix lsst week was arguably the greatest broadcaster walking the face of the earth. That would be Al Michaels.

What hasn’t this guy called?

From the “Miracle on Ice” to World Series to college football and the NFL, Michaels’ resume is astounding. He could make a broadcast of a guy mowing his backyard sound exciting. [read more]

There goes Jorvorskie Lane

In many ways, Tampa Bay’s 2014 season was more bizarre than the MRSA-infected, quarterback-gone-mental, Fire-Schiano-billboards campaign of 2013.

There were plenty of real Bucs mysteries last year, and Joe’s revisiting the most interesting of the bunch over the next 30 days. [read more]

Tony Romo isn’t a Lovie Smith kind of guy

With two games remaining in the 2014 season, Lovie Smith made his famous proclamation, “True football fans can see we’re on the verge.”

He might have been the most confident 2-14 coach in history. (You can read the full quote via the link above). [read more]

The Bucs had a rotten time, for the most part, running the ball last year.

Yeah, Doug Martin was hurt early — so he told Joe after the season. And Bobby Rainey was benched, with some claiming he put the ball on the ground too much, despite not fumbling fumbled since September. [read more]

The great popularity of Joe’s summer countdown feature, Worst Buccaneers Of The Past 10 Years, has spawned a new offseason examination that kicks off tomorrow before the Super Bowl. [read more]

During the Super Bowl Media Day frenzy, Joe talked to Patriots guard Dan Connelly about Logan Mankins’ famous barbecues.

On radio, Joe has talked extensively about the nonsense of the Logan Mankins barbecue chatter but has yet to detail it here.

It was so infuriating that Joe couldn’t write about it without feeling the onset of a seizure. [read more]

You’re out of your mind if you don’t have a couple boxes of Shorty Burgers on hand for your Super Bowl party. Click here or below for a coupon.

Is Lovie listening?

Truly fantastic interview here that Bucs fans — new and old — will want to see. [read more]

Former Bucs DT Brian Price never recovered fully from a freak injury early in his rookie year.

It is often said, and Joe agrees, that it takes three seasons to fairly assess whether a draft class was any good.

However, in this microwave, DVR-rewind, drive-through age we live in, few want to wait three weeks much less three years for anything. [read more]

Derrick Brooks is putting on the pressure

Crab-legs-stealing, BB-gun-shooting, obscenity-hollering, Heisman-Trophy-winning, former national champion Jameis Winston, the pride of Florida State University, continues to look like a much better quarterback prospect than Mike Glennon and Josh McCown.

It’s Joe’s daily nugget on the Jameis Watch, celebrating the best quarterback to wear No. 5 ever in the state of Florida. [read more]

LeGarrette Blount talks to Joe at Super Bowl Media Day

LeGarrette Blount is a superstar these days, far removed from the days of Commander Schiano not knowing how to use him.

Now he’s the big, nasty, sometimes misbehaving running back on the AFC Champs playing for a Hall of Fame head coach. [read more]

So how will new Tampa Bay quarterbacks coach Mike Bajakian drill and guide the mind and body of Jameis Winston a shiny new Buccaneers rookie quarterback?

Joe’s got some insight. [read more]

Rodney Harrison of NBC Sports invoked the notorious Ryan Leaf in discussing the Bucs

Yes, Joe brought you the explosive words from Phoenix for Dashon Goldson, delivered by former Chargers and Patriots safety Rodney Harrison. It was blunt and it was passionate and it was not pretty.

But it wasn’t just Goldson that had Harrison’s attention. [read more]