Entering the 2014 season, there were only two — just two — NFC teams with uncertain quarterback situations, Tampa Bay and Minnesota, who kick off at 1 o’clock today at the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway.

The Vikings opted to draft rookie Teddy Bridgewater in the first round, a pick Joe believes was wise. The Bucs signed a career journeyman quarterback with a losing record to start because they didn’t like their 2013 rookie QB enough. [read more]

We need to get our new general manager in here, but just as a general rule, you know there’s a reason why there is a salary cap.  And we want to use all of our resources to get as many good football players in here. It’s kind of as simple as that. … We want to be right up; we don’t want to have a lot of money in reserves. No one does. I mean you want to use money to get as many good football players. And it takes money to get good football players in here. So that’s our approach. — Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Lovie Smith, January 2014 [read more]

“The Road Warrior,” WTSP-TV traffic reporter Holley Sinn, has tips on how to get to the Bucs game quicker.

Driving to a Bucs game can be a major pain in the posterior. Just getting late to a tailgate is enough to ruin your day.

Leave it to WTSP-TV, Ch. 10 traffic reporter, “The Road Warrior,” Holley Sinn to help. She knows all the tricks to get you past the congestion and to your tailgate (or the game) quicker. Life is not made to be stuck in traffic. [read more]

Joe was up early this morning, not nursing anything but some bug that zapped him of appetite the past few days. So Joe did a double-take when he learned of news the Bucs and good guy Gerald McCoy came to terms on the richest contract for a defensive tackle in NFL history.

Joe is happy for GMC. There isn’t a better dude in that Bucs locker room. And anytime an NFL player can hit the lottery like this, more power to him. [read more]

So the Bucs return to host the Vikings in Week Eight after a bye. Joe expects a lot of Vikings fans in the stands at the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway because that is just how things are.

One reason for not going to the game is why fight all the hassle for a dreadful 1-5 team? Until proven otherwise, the Bucs are dreadful, sorry. [read more]

If Doug Martin plans to remain a Bucs starter, then he might want to have a good game Sunday.

No one thinks more of Doug Martin than Joe. Good dude. What’s not to like about him? Well, that is, before this season.

Martin has been nothing like during his rookie season this year. He just isn’t getting the job done. This season isn’t Martin’s year, for whatever reason. [read more]

The Bucs and Gerald McCoy have agreed to a new contract.

In the cat-and-mouse game between Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy to see who would sign first, it was the Bucs who blinked. Per various sources, McCoy and the Bucs agreed to terms on a new pact. [read more]

“Mobile” or not, a quarterback must know how to read a defense and use his legs once in a while to pick up a few yards, either to move the chains or to keep a defense honest by taking what’s given.

Mike Glennon isn’t doing that. [read more]

The one thing you cannot call Bucs starting quarterback Mike Glennon is mobile. Oh, he’s not a total totem pole. He can move a little bit in the pocket.

But moving the pocket for Glennon? That’s different. But that is just what Emory Hunt of “Football Gameplan” suggests the Bucs should do. [read more]

What’s more chill than Dashon “Hawk” Goldson sitting down with Ronnie Lane every Thursday evening on the Buccaneers Radio Network?

Joe knows of no more mellow vibe on the airwaves. It also can be revealing. [read more]

Here’s little known Bucs history for you. It was former Rays manager Joe Maddon who was the reason Raheem Morris went public with his famous “Race to 10” slogan back in 2010.

Frankly, that mentality-before-reality approach worked for Raheem that season. [read more]

A BSPN scribe believes the Bucs are just what Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater needs.

Joe knows this will wake up Bucs fans this morning, if they haven’t yet had their morning ration of caffeine. It sure got Joe’s attention and it isn’t even 7 a.m.

A BSPN scribe who covers the Vikings, a cat by the name of Ben Goessling, typed a piece in which he states the Vikings will win Sunday by two scores, mostly because the Vikings are used to close games against far superior opponents. [read more]

Lavonte David and Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater were high school teammates.

Long before players come to the NFL, they were high school players (with rare exceptions). That includes Lavonte David and Teddy Bridgewater.

The outside linebacker and the rookie quarterback for the Vikings actually played high school football together down at Miami Northwestern. It was there, David said today, it was clear Bridgewater would play on football’s highest levels. [read more]

Joe always laughs when he reads fans all bent out of shape because Lovie Smith never gets bent out of shape.

It’s like some feel if a coach isn’t going all Jim Leavitt, acting like the madman he is, somehow a coach isn’t doing a good enough job.

Joe finds this all hogwash of the first order. It seems Vincent Jackson believes the same thing. [read more]

Many Bucs fans are expecting a win Sunday, but few are expecting a great football game against the struggling Vikings.

Yes, both teams have issues. But what do the Bucs need to look good? [read more]

Mr. Derrick Brooks mostly talked about Florida State football and other non-Bucs pigskin matters on his radio show this week.

But the Bucs icon also shared interesting bye-week thoughts. [read more]

The ESPN statistical gremlins are buzzing about data inside the horrid Vikings passing game, and the dreadful Buccaneers pass defense.

It’s a clash of the have-nots. [read more]

It’s about time those “Dunkaneers” get the ball aired out to them more often. Let these big-bodied Bucs go all Chocolate Thunder on the Vikings cornerbacks.

After all, the Bucs paid handsomely for Vincent Jackson, Mike Evans and Austin Seferian-Jenkins, and the Vikings have issues in their secondary. [read more]

Too much has been made about how Leslie Frazier’s knowledge of some Vikings personnel might be able to help the Bucs. Rarely will something like that materialize into a true positive.

However, left tackle Anthony Collins’ intimate knowledge of the Mike Zimmer defense the Vikings employ, that’s more worthwhile. [read more]

Interestingly, Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer, the former Cincinnati defensive coordinator, dropped a lot of cash on DE Everson Griffen, now in his first season as a full-time starter, rather than sign his former protege, Michael Johnson.

When Bucs fans decide to partially fill the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway Sunday, they should expect to see a pass rush. No, not from the Bucs! Just what have the Bucs done this year that you would actually expect them to harass Teddy Bridgewater, even with a porous offnesive line? [read more]