Breathe easy, Bucs fans. The blown groin on rookie manbeast wide receiver Mike Evans is going to be OK. [read more]

Warren Sapp danced far away from his prior anti-Glennon rant

Man, Bucs icon Warren Sapp has done one massive about face.

Back at Super Bowl Media Day, Sapp and Joe sat at a round banquet table talking Bucs and Sapp was adamant, table-pounding emphatic, that Mike Glennon was not the right quarterback for Lovie Smith and the Buccaneers. [read more]

Bucs fans love national love of their team. They adore it, even more than they love Lovie Smith today.

The often unemotional Tampa Bay head coach dished out his lovin’ yesterday. And who got this warm public. affectionate embrace? [read more]

Let’s not forget that sports is entertainment and straight-shooting communicators really make everything more fun and exciting.

So Joe really must commend Bucs general manager Jason Licht. [read more]

Is Bucs starter Mike Glennon commanding the huddle? [read more]

If the Buccaneers are going to win a lot more games, they absolutely have to fix their pass defense.

Tampa Bay is giving up the booty faster and more furiously than the groupie hotties that follow Bucs players around South Tampa bars. [read more]

The fine art of jersey pulling was taken to a new height yesterday in Pittsburgh, courtesy of the expertise of Bucs left tackle Anthony Collins.

After strong performances against Greg Hardy and Robert Quinn, Collins has had a couple of games that won’t make his highlight reel. [read more]

Every NFC South team not named “Tampa Bay” got smoked yesterday. Not just beaten, but beaten soundly.

Yes, Joe was watching as the chants of “Ted-dy, Ted-dy, Ted-dy” filled the Vikings’ home field against the roasted Falcons. [read more]

Vincent Jackson hauls in the game-winning touchdown yesterday. Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.

A long look at the Bucs yesterday, today, and what to expect tomorrow and beyond.

PITTSBURGH – So Joe is sitting in his downtown hotel room in the Steel City as Sunday night creeps into Monday morning. The only people awake are cops, bums, hotel workers and, yes. Joe.

As a cabbie told Joe as he left Heinz Field, the site of the stunning Bucs upset win over the Steelers, when the home team loses, the locals go into a depression that turns into either hibernation or violence, depending on the importance of said loss. [read more]

Justin Pawlowski, of Scout.com, is irked Lovie Smith did not give Mike Glennon a fair shot at competing for the starting quarterback role. Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.

Yes, after seeing Tampa Bay hand-picked quarterback Josh McCown fumble (more to the point: intercept) his way through three losses, it became clear the Bucs were going nowhere with McCown at quarterback. [read more]

Being a new general in the Mike Glennon Mob doesn’t mean Joe isn’t realistic about Glennon.

No. 8 was stout and poised today in the second half, but the game hardly displayed Glennon’s best. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe not. [read more]

The Bucs have yet to figure out how to cover a tight end this year, evidenced by how Heath Miller ran wild on them today.

Look, Joe is as giddy as the next Bucs fan about this great come-from-behind win at Pittsburgh. Against that team and in that stadium, man, the Steelers rarely lose those type of games.

But the Bucs handed it to them. Did so with defense (mostly) and opportune offense. The one area that damned near killed the Bucs today has been a thorn in their defense all season. [read more]

Louis Murphy’s clutch 41-yard catch on the Bucs’ final drive set up Vincent Jackson’s game-winning touchdown. Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.

It sure seemed like Louis Murphy’s days with the Bucs were done. Not long after hurting his back in the final game of the preseason, the St. Pete native was released in the final cut.

Last week, the Bucs re-signed Murphy cutting loose Chris Owusu. Murphy sure seemed like a guy who was out of football for nearly a month when he dropped a sure touchdown from Mike Glennon and, early today, generally played like crap. [read more]

A sweet open field tackle by Alterraun Verner was one reason the Bucs held Le’Veon Bell to a scant 63 yards. Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.

Entering today’s game against the Steelers, much focus spotlighted the atrocious pass defense of the Bucs. More on that later. However, today, the Bucs’ rush defense came up huge.

The Steelers had two solid running backs in Le’Veon Bell and LeGarrette Blount. Bell was averaging 5.3 yards a carry while Blount was 7.8. It wasn’t like these two guys were running against cottage cheese. Last week, the two both had 100-yard rushing games against one of the better defenses(?) in the NFL, the Stinking Panthers’. [read more]

Bad news? (Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

The glorious sweetness of today’s stunning victory in Pittsburgh was indeed a little soured by the loss of wide receiver Mike Evans to what looked like a serious groin pull. (Fingers crossed on him not needing surgery.)

Finally. Finally! The Bucs targeted their big rookie deep, and Evans showed the baby soft hands and the savage in-air awareness that helped make Johnny Football a household name. [read more]

Gerald McCoy blasts Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger for one of the Bucs’ five sacks today. Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com

The Bucs’ locker room was jubilant after the game, as one can imagine.

Coming from behind after playing lousy football against a team like the Steelers in their own crib, well, that doesn’t happen too often. And the players knew it. They knew what mountain they had just climbed.

One could point to Mike Glennon for engineering the last-minute rally. One could point to Michael Johnson who finally showed up and got a pair of sacks on Ben Roethlisberger. [read more]

Michael Johnson chases down Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger for one of his two sacks today. Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.

Joe had been dogging Bucs defensive end Michael Johnson because the Bucs put a nice chuck of Team Glazer cash in his lap to do one thing and one thing only: pressure the quarterback.

Until this afternoon, the only thing Johnson had pressured is the pen to sign his checks. [read more]

A student of Vincent Jackson, Shepard shined with his first career catches today.

When one of today’s heroes, special teams ace/wide receiver Russell Shepard, made the Tampa Bay roster this season, it was no given.

Joe had a long chat with Shepard after he got the good news, and Shepard admitted he was on the bubble trying desperately to improve as a receiver while working to stay in the league after a good rookie special teams year for the New Schiano Order.

His perseverance as a receiver paid off today.

[read more]

The Bucs were in NFL hell 10 days ago. Shamed on national television and buried at the bottom of the standings and in most NFL team statistics.

Lovie Smith didn’t panic, and neither did his Buccaneers. [read more]

His first game out from the shadow of Jeff Tedford, Marcus Arroyo opened up the offense.

Offensive coordinators aren’t celebrated very often, not in Tampa anyway.

But Joe’s got to give it up to Game 1 (officially) of the Marcus Arroyo era, the first out from the shadow of Jeff Tedford. The man called a heck of a game today, showed some balls and opened up the offense. And winning quarterback Mike Glennon revealed that a late play installation led to the victory. [read more]

Winner!

Oh, it feels so damn good to have joined the Mike Glennon Mob seven days ago. How about No. 8!

Calm, poised, not always great, but money, big money when it counted today. Glennon busted off 245 second-half yards and two touchdowns to stun the Steelers at the buzzer with a TD toss to Vincent Jackson.

Joe is fired up.

It’s Glennon’s team now. He earned it.

Stick with Joe for so much more out of this stunning victory. Joe will be in the euphoric Bucs locker room.