February 12th, 2015

No deer for young Dirk
Well, it sure looks as if new Bucs offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter has thrown around his weight during the handful of days he has been on the coaching staff.
If Koetter told Lovie he could salvage turnover-prone Josh McCown, don’t you think McCown would still be on the Bucs roster?
As Joe’s old football coach used to say, “You damned right.” [read more]
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February 12th, 2015

Joe thought it was an absolute bombshell when he learned the Bucs ripped up the contract of turnover-prone quarterback Josh McCown and waved him goodbye yesterday. Stunning because Joe thought Lovie Smith would keep McCown as a bridge of sorts for a rookie QB, whether it was Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota.
That premise blew up in smoke. That is why Joe was sort of shocked, not that McCown’s turrible play didn’t deserve getting kicked to the streets. [read more]
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February 12th, 2015
Not long after landing the Buccaneers general manager job, Jason Licht said one big thing he learned during his years under Bill Belicheat in New England is to be unafraid to move on from a player that underperformed; accept the loss and never look back. [read more]
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February 12th, 2015
Remember when Joe talked to former Bucs starting linebacker Jonathan Casillas during Super Bowl week, and Casillas talked about how Mike Glennon definitely should be the Bucs’ quarterback of the future?
Well, Casillas had more to say about inner thoughts of the Bucs’ locker room. [read more]
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February 11th, 2015

Without Josh McCown soiling the Tampa Bay roster any longer, Mike Glennon’s NFL stock just shot up fast. [read more]
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February 11th, 2015
Good riddance to arguably the worst starting quarterback in Buccaneers history.
Sorry. Josh McCown is a nice guy, but this is football. Unlike McCown, Joe’s not shedding a tear tonight. [read more]
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February 11th, 2015

Starting quarterback Josh McCown was released this afternoon by the Bucs.
The Bucs have released starting quarterback Josh McCown.
In a stunning move, the Bucs waved goodbye to turnover-prone Josh McCown today, the club announced this afternoon. Joe will let Buccaneers.com editor Scott Smith offer the details. [read more]
Posted in Recent Posts | 196 Comments »
February 11th, 2015

The Bucs became so painful to watch last year, even if Joe was working the game, he was tested. It was bad football, which is expected from a 2-14 team.
Joe can only imagine how awful it was for fans seeking enjoyment. [read more]
Posted in Recent Posts | 35 Comments »
February 11th, 2015

No. 78 likely will be on the market when the free agency dinner bell rings in 27 days
Joe’s not in the fairy dust crowd that believes magic dust and fresh air will transform the play of Evan Dietrich-Smith, Logan Mankins and Anthony Collins, and make Demar Doston a good starting NFL left tackle. [read more]
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February 11th, 2015
It’s the time of year when hot NFL prospects pay big bucks for private coaching and head to places like IMG Academy in Bradenton to spend every waking hour tuning up their bodies. [read more]
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February 11th, 2015
Could Lovie Smith get fired after the 2015 season?
Lots of Bucs fans and analysts think the answer to that question is, “Absolutely.” [read more]
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February 11th, 2015
The popular belief of how Team Glazer and the Bucs handle the draft is that Team Glazer simply delegates authority to employees and trusts them to run the draft. And if everything goes as the football operations plans, then Team Glazer toasts the weekend’s efforts with a glass of champagne and begins worrying about training camp. [read more]
Posted in Recent Posts | 32 Comments »
February 11th, 2015
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]
Posted in Recent Posts | 184 Comments »
February 11th, 2015

Rick Stroud paints a different picture of the feelings inside One Buc Palace
Yesterday, Bucs fans were sent into a full-blown panic when the creator, curator and overall guru of Pro Football Talk, the great Mike Florio, suggested there is rancor within the walls of One Buc Palace regarding what to do with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 draft.
One sect, Florio believes, wants to trade down, and the other wants a quarterback at No. 1. [read more]
Posted in Recent Posts | 62 Comments »
February 11th, 2015

Could the Bucs pass on a quarterback (dear, God!) in the draft and turn to brittle Rams QB Sam Bradford?
The suggestion yesterday from the creator, curator and overall guru of Pro Football Talk, the great Mike Florio, that the Bucs braintrust is split over trading down or drafting Jameis Winston nearly sent Joe into a bottle-nursing, fetal-curling, deep, dark depression.
Just thinking the Bucs would pass on two potential franchise quarterbacks again this spring made Joe nearly nauseous.
Combined with passing on four potential signal-callers last year, when that is clearly the biggest hole on the roster, well, that would be simply irresponsible. [read more]
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February 10th, 2015
It’s February, but the “JoeBucsFan Hour” with the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig of WDAE-AM 620, is still in midseason form.
There were a few screaming matches this evening. [read more]
Posted in Recent Posts | 6 Comments »
February 10th, 2015

Evan Dietrich-Smith was in the center of an unsolved mystery
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. [read more]
Posted in Recent Posts | 16 Comments »
February 10th, 2015

Is safety Hawk Goldson worth his salary?
Joe still shakes his head thinking about how Lovie Smith professed his love in training camp for twice-cut cornerback Mike Jenkins, despite fellow healthy corner Johnthan Banks clearly showing as much if not more skill.
Despite Jenkins missing virtually all of training camp and preseason to an injury, Lovie was adamant Jenkins would be his starter opposite Alterraun Verner. [read more]
Posted in Recent Posts | 27 Comments »
February 10th, 2015

Since the acid reflux-inducing 2014 season ended, Joe has been able to talk to several scouts and a few NFL front office types. Of course, Joe asked the question, in a roundabout way, the only question that matters to Bucs fans.
(No, not Rachel Watson or Tricia Cusmano.) [read more]
Posted in Recent Posts | 137 Comments »
February 10th, 2015

Bucs OC Dirk Koetter explains his three-point offensive philosophy.
New Bucs offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter has only been on the job a handful of weeks. Naturally, being the insider multimedia maven Scott Smith is (hey, his office is inside One Buc Palace), he coerced Koetter to cough up insight into his offensive goals.
Koetter described his Holy Trinity of offensive football. [read more]
Posted in Recent Posts | 29 Comments »