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An annual Bucs training camp highlight for Joe is when Warren Sapp comes bouncing in, like he did a couple of weeks ago. You don’t have to see the Hall of Fame defensive tackle to know he’s there: you hear him.
Sapp is hardly a vague person. Ask him a direct question, you get a direct answer. Loudly. Confidently. Sometimes, spiced with colorful profanities. [read more]
Bucs fans are “this close” to hitting the panic button over the state of the offensive (keyword) guards, and it is only Aug. 13. Man, Joe doesn’t know what Tampa Bay fans will do if the line collapses Saturday against Miami anything close to the way it impersonated turnstiles last week at Jacksonville.
The hyperventilating over the offensive line has even taken Joe aback. Wow. It is as if fans will storm the pirate ship Saturday in order to jump off it. [read more]
Will Eric Page — and/or those around him — force Lovie’s hand?
Following the Bucs’ competition at punt returner, Joe gets the distinct impression Lovie Smith doesn’t want Eric Page winning the job. But Lovie’s problem is he must find someone better, and that just hasn’t happened.
Consider that Lovie made it very clear twice that he doesn’t have warm feelings about the position. The first time came in May when the head coach called punt returner “an area of concern.” [read more]
It goes hand-in-hand with training camp. Folks breaking down the good and analyzing the bad. It is as traditional as roasting summer sun and the sweat-soaked uniforms of the Bucs.
There is much to like about the Bucs this season. The defense should be stout with an expected improvement in the pass rush. The team may never have been this loaded with so many talented receivers. The Bucs are an easy five-deep at running back, each likely could start for another squad. [read more]
“Keep grinding, my son.”
Joe’s written countless times how gosh darn lucky the Bucs are to have Mike Glennon on the roster.
The man is a good backup quarterback. He played very well for a third-round rookie last year.
Tampa Bay Times writers have their edge detectors up
Preaching patience to media in various ways yesterday, something he did earlier this week, Lovie Smith now has multiple media types wondering whether the head coach is edgy and/or grumpy, or just being a little playful. [read more]
Twice over the past week, Bucs general manager Jason Licht has talked about how his role is “to serve the head coach.”
Licht used those specific words on the Buccaneers Radio Network and on SiriusXM NFL Radio. [read more]
Bucs LB Lavonte David talks takeaways.
It was a funny scene yesterday. Josh McCown dropped back and noticed wide receiver Chris Owusu breaking loose on a crossing pattern from the right to the left side. As Owusu neared the sideline, he shook linebacker Lavonte David loose and got behind him.
Trouble for McCown (and Owusu) was that David read the pass perfectly and was in position for a pick. [read more]
Kudos to Bucs backup defenders, cornerback Deveron Carr and linebacker Dane Fletcher, for picking off former starting QB Mike Glennon in practice yesterday.
Hey, interceptions happen, but these were on consecutive plays in 7-on-7 work. [read more]
Will the Olympian be gifted a coveted roster spot?
Joe sees various media types issuing 53-man, final-roster predictions for your beloved Buccaneers. And they all include speedster running back Jeff Demps.
Even former Bucs DE Steve White, who was a coaching assistant on Lovie Smith’s staff this spring, says he believes the Bucs will keep Demps and work him into the offense consistently. [read more]
Josh McCown stated on SiriusXM Radio he doesn’t know who will start at either guard position come Sept. 7.
Every day at Bucs practice, Joe and other members of the Tampa Bay pen and mic club are looking for and asking seemingly the same things: “What guards are starting with the first team?” and “Is Da’Quan Bowers practicing today?”
(Column intermission: Bowers missed his second consecutive day Tuesday with what Bucs coach Lovie Smith considered an upper leg/groin issue). [read more]
Twice this evening, and during previous news conferences, Lovie Smith has emphasized that safety Dashon “Hawk” Goldson is a smart football player.
He’s also called Goldson the type of guy who’s an extra coach on the staff. [read more]
RT Demar Dotson was anything but smiles when he spoke of the level of Bucs offensive line play Friday
Joe is confident many Bucs fans share in Demar Dotson’s disgust. Bucs fans watched the offensive line last Friday and wanted to hurl.
Dotson, the lone member of the Bucs’ offensive line who played reasonably well, watched the film more than any Tampa Bay fan and left that experience searching for Scope because he had such a bad taste in his mouth. [read more]
Ahh, the spirit of liberation, aka Greg Schiano leaving One Buc Palace and holing up in his South Tampa home.
It’s a such a freeing feeling it even evokes new words for the English language. [read more]
Good not good enough for Bucs DE Adrian Clayborn.
Bucs fans have actually consulted professionals while trying to cope with their depression after seeing the Bucs’ offensive line act like matadors, waving a red flag and having defenders chase quarterback Josh McCown around like Joe does Rachel Watson in his dreams.
The difference is, the opposing defenders catch their prey. [read more]
Joe apologizes about the quality of this photo as he took it with his phone camera. S Mark Barron, right, is about to level RB Doug Martin in perhaps the hardest hit of training camp.
It was an eventful day at training camp. First, Bucs “Legends” were here; dozens of Bucs alumni were invited for VIP treatment by Team Glazer and the Bucs. The list included such notables as Shaun King, Ian Beckles, Michael Clayton, Reidel Anthony, Stylez White, Chidi Ahanotou and Steve Young (not the quarterback, but the offensive tackle).
Below are interesting happenings on the field for the final padded practice of training camp 2014: [read more]
Nothing quite like a sweet Bucs Vine in the evening.
Don’t know what a Vine is? Well, Joe can help. [read more]
This week’s shift on the Buccaneers’ work-in-progress offensive line — Jamon Meredith to the bench, Oneil Cousins from right guard to left, and Jace Daniels into the starting RG role — is hardly anything that resembles a firm change. [read more]
Austin Seferian-Jenkins
As a former 21-year-old, and a guy who’s been around all kinds of young adults through the years, Joe can safely say Bucs rookie tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins is one of the most polished 21-year-old speakers he’s encountered.
The kid really has a gift. Since his arrival after the draft, Seferian-Jenkins has been extraordinarily poised around media. The man is ready for a political career. [read more]
Lovie Smith applauded the news of a 2014 season free of home TV blackouts.
Not long ago during the Chucky regime, when the Bucs had more trouble selling a ticket than warm beer on a hot Sunday afternoon, fans not buying Bucs tickets was a growing trend. Empty seats at the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway were common.
The Tampa Bay blackout era began during the Raheem Morris days and, in retrospect, that was a blessing for Bucs fans. [read more]
Bucs brass is hoping no-name guard Jace Daniels can be the next Donald Penn
Once upon a time, when the free agency bell rang in 2007, Tampa Bay shelled out big cash for a left tackle named Luke Petitgout, three years, $15.5 million.
Petitgout was coming off a broken leg with the Giants and had chronic back problems, but Chucky didn’t care. Petitgout was going to save his freakin’ O-line and keep Jeff Garcia from an early retirement into the comforting bosom of his renowned wife. [read more]
