With the regular season here, the popular “JoeBucsFan.com hour” kicks up a notch as Joe joins the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig of WDAE-AM 620, every Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Joe dove deep this evening on a variety of subjects. [read more]

Bucs C Evan Dietrich-Smith discusses the Sunday debacle

The new Bucs sure seemed like the old Bucs Sunday, at least for three quarters. Horrible quarterback play. Zero pressure on the quarterback. Inconsistent blocking on offense.

For Bucs center Evan Dietrich-Smith, the offensive line needs only to look in the mirror, but it will get better. [read more]

Last Sunday, Solomon Patton was one of the very few bright spots on the field for the Bucs in a debacle loss to the Stinking Panthers. He averaged 26 yards a kick return fielding only two.

A day before, he had no idea he would even play. [read more]

Nothing quite like film study to get Joe aroused. It’s not cheerleader arousal, but still fun nonetheless.

Remember that big catch and run by rookie tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins on the Bucs’ opening offensive series Sunday? [read more]

About 100 days ago, Lovie Smith sized up Steven Means as “that prototype guy” while talking about defensive ends for his system.

Now, Means is a former Buccaneer. [read more]

The loss of Michael Bennett got a new twist today

Letting beastly young defensive end Michael Bennett walk away to Seattle after a nine-sack season in 2012, a season in which Bennett also was dominant against the run, is one of the more puzzling moves/non-moves in Tampa Bay Buccaneers history.

And this morning, former Bucs rockstar general manager Mark Dominik made it sound like that critical call wasn’t his decision. [read more]

Left guard Garrett Gilkey weighed in on his new team and first performance, and drew Lovie Smith accolades.

New Bucs All-Pro guard Logan Mankins went down with a knee injury Sunday, and Joe’s going to guess most Tampa Bay fans have no idea who replaced him.

The fact is second-year man Garrett Gilkey, who arrived in Tampa last week after being among the Browns’ final cuts, did a solid job against the mighty Panthers defensive line, especially in pass protection. [read more]

Yes, it was just the first game of the season. Yes, it was a loss. No, the season is not over. But Bucs quarterback Josh McCown made such a lasting impression, and not a good one, that it may take a few weeks of solid play (and a few sick packs) for Bucs fans to forget what they witnessed.

McCown’s reckless disregard for ball security not only cost the Bucs the game, but scared the hell out of Joe that an 11-year NFL vet would have the same discipline as a scared high school sophomore. [read more]

Andrew Astleford of Fox Sports Florida believes the honeymoon for Bucs coach Lovie Smith is over after Sunday’s debacle.

Is Lovie’s honeymoon over? Joe doesn’t think so, but what we witnessed for three quarters Sunday was the equivalent of walking in on your new bride in a compromising position with the hotel concierge.

Man, Bucs fans were some kind of livid Sunday. And Monday. And likely today. Joe hasn’t seen this kind of September vitriol in a while toward the home Pewter Pirates. [read more]

Lovie Smith weighed in on his radio show

Lovie Smith has called Doug Martin his bell cow back.

But with the game on the line Sunday, the Bucs with the ball and driving for the winning score, it was Bobby Rainey on the field. [read more]

Was Josh McCown just feeling things out in Game 1?

Yes, Joe has calmed down somewhat from watching Josh McCown pretend to be a high school sophomore, the way he panicked under pressure and was so irresponsible with the football.

His rank careless Garo Yepremian impersonations led to Carolina picks, which directly led to two Stinking Panthers touchdowns.

And that, boys and girls, was your ballgame. [read more]

The Bucs’ special teams coach explains why rookie Solomon Patton is the man in the punt return game

Returner Solomon Patton getting called up from the practice squad to return punts against the Panthers wasn’t just a one-time thing.

The Bucs are extraordinarily high on him and believe Patton is already raising the play of those around him. [read more]

Adam Schein

Popular sports radio personality Adam Schein couldn’t believe his eyes Sunday. The host of “Schein on Sports,” heard exclusively on “Mad Dog Radio,” part of the family of sports channels on SiriusXM Radio, was monitoring the Stinking Panthers-Bucs game Sunday and thought for sure his guy Josh McCown would make journeyman/Browns castoff Derek Anderson pay for stepping onto the field of the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway.

As the game unfolded, Schein, who has a weekly column on NFL.com, was rocked when he saw how the Stinking Panthers chain-whipped the Bucs for three full quarters. [read more]

Lovie Smith found a bright spot on the stat sheet yesterday.

Man, he might have had to scan that thing a couple of times. [read more]

Good news from One Buc Palace moments ago, Lovie Smith said offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford was back at work today “full-time” and fulfilling his duties. [read more]

Among the nuggets coming out of Lovie Smith’s news conference today is that big-money defensive end Michael Johnson was injured early in the loss to the Panthers.

“Michael Johnson hurt his ankle about the third play of the game, rolled it,” Lovie said, as part of discussing how his defensive line wasn’t good enough. [read more]

Anthony Collins and the Bucs offensive line wasn’t as horrible as many Bucs fans want to believe. Even former Bucs TE Anthony Becht agrees.

Joe took all sorts of heat from fans who trashed Joe for suggesting the offensive line didn’t play that bad — it didn’t play great, no doubt. It wasn’t like the offensive line was the reason the Bucs lost.

In fact, a guy who knows something about blocking, former Bucs tight end Anthony Becht, part of the Buccaneers Radio Network and a columnist for Buccaneers.com, saw positives as well. He didn’t think the offensive line was that horrible, but certainly needs work. [read more]

Gerald McCoy weighs in on the defensive struggles

Gerald McCoy had heavy praise for the blocking schemes and performance of the Carolina Panthers yesterday.

Jiminy Christmas! The more Joe listens to Buccaneers talking, the more Joe is believing the unthinkable, that Mike Shula outcoached Lovie Smith. [read more]

As he is wont to do, pedestrian-bumping, olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball box score-reading, NPR-listening, filthy-hotel-staying, fight-instigating, barista-training Peter King, of theMMQB.com and NBC Sports fame, did his drive-by visit to training camp at One Buc Palace this summer.

He was so charmed by many of the Bucs, including suits, coaches and players, he came away convinced Tampa Bay was going to be one of the great turnaround stories of the season, that Lovie Smith would sprinkle his pixie dust on the team and it would turn into a playoff contender. [read more]

Greg Olsen made it look too easy against Tampa Bay yesterday. Why?

Ahh, an Achilles heal of Lovie Smith’s old school Tampa-2 defense, a smart tight end combined with a decent running game.

Former Bucs tight end Dave Moore has seen it before. [read more]

TampaBay.com Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud, who doubles as a morning show host on WDAE-AM 620, got to the stadium on Dale Mabry Highway early yesterday and talked to healing offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford.

This morning, Stroud shared good news and bad on the radio. [read more]