An SI.com scribe believes the additions of Lovie Smith and Josh McCown will propel the Bucs over the Dixie Chicks in the NFC South.

A lot of people talk about the Bucs being able to turn their fortunes around this year. Some point to the Bucs as being this year’s version of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Boy, Joe hopes not.

Yeah, it would be cool if the Bucs made the playoffs. But watch the Chiefs fall back to earth this season. That team lost a lot to free agency. [read more]

An ESPN scribe believes Bucs WR Mike Evans will have a big impact.

It seemed Lovie Smith was determined to overhaul the Bucs passing game when he took over, signing quarterback Josh McCown and jettisoning mattress-in-the-yard, blade-in-the-thigh wide receiver Mike Williams. It wasn’t too obvious the Bucs needed fresh blood in the NFL’s worst offense; that’s for sure.

Then Tampa Bay selected Mike Evans seventh overall and Bucs general manager Jason Licht quickly dubbed the receiving corps the “Dunkaneers,” before comparing Evans to Godzilla in rookie camp. Joe doffed his cap to Licht’s pop culture awareness, as that same week the movie “Godzilla” debuted in theaters. [read more]

Just 10 Sundays from today is the opening real-football show of the Lovie Smith regime, the season-opener at home against the Carolina Panthers.

Joe is salivating, and Joe is also smiling when he thinks of the gutted and revamped Panthers wide receiver corps. [read more]

Can Bucs QB Josh McCown continue to make NFL history in Tampa Bay?

There is still a number of Bucs fans who simply cannot accept that Tampa Bay went out and signed journeyman Josh McCown to lead the Bucs to (hopefully) an end of their 11-year drought. Damn, 11 friggin’ years since the Bucs won a playoff game.

Joe classifies these people as “Josh McCown Deniers.” Many are also radical members of the the Mike Glennon Mob. In some ways, Joe can understand their angst. [read more]

Kickers sometimes can be strange dudes. They remind Joe of relief pitchers in baseball. Odd. Strange. Different. Weird.

Thus, it doesn’t surprise Joe one bit that a kicker will use a unique method to stay in shape. It stands to reason; a kicker really only needs a strong leg. Stamina is really no issue. So why work out like the rest of your teammates? [read more]

Enjoy this excellent interview of Bucs second-year defensive end Will Gholston, the manbeast, 6-foot-7, 275-pounder who became a starter late last season.

The video is from late February, but it’s timeless. Gholston talks about his transition to the college game, various aspects of his career, and how a bizarre rule kept him from wearing a Speedo in public. [read more]

The Bucs’ mysterious Jeff Tedford offense aroused stats guru Kyle Wachtel and drove him to perform research and craft spreadsheets for FootballGuys.com.

Wachtel dug up all kinds of data and Joe must commend him. This was some telling stuff. [read more]

Might Will Gholston’s versatility work against him?

When the Bucs were playing underwear football this spring, Bucs fans got excited. Joe understands. When NFL teams gather, fans, starved for football, lap up any morsel of action they can find.

Problem is, it is underwear football.

Joe got plenty of questions asking about play of safeties and linebackers, and how the defensive line was rushing the quarterback. [read more]

Sage NFL coaches, and even new ones, know much of their success comes down to quarterback play.

The Rex Grossman types just aren’t good enough any longer in the modern NFL. Questionable QBs don’t land in Super Bowls nowadays. [read more]

The esteemed man who predicts the Bucs are headed to the Super Bowl this year also says Tampa Bay’s defense has critical learning to master first.

Speaking recently on 99.3 FM in Fort Myers, glory days Bucs secondary coach Herm Edwards was passionate about how his friend Lovie Smith will run the old-school, Tampa-2 defense but can’t run it well if his teaching isn’t absorbed quickly. [read more]

Sports Illustrated claims Lovie’s offseason is an “amazing story.”

Most changes come with the shiny optimism of newness and the clouds of doubt. Such is the case with new Bucs coach Lovie Smith.

Will Lovie be able to turn the Bucs around and make them Super Bowl contenders, or will the team mirror Lovie’s Bears with a defense-first, frustrating-plodding-offense style? [read more]

Every good team has one or two players, or perhaps more, who surprise fans and play truly great football. It happens to every good team every year.

Take when the Bucs won their Super Bowl. Wide receiver Joe Jurevicius was a No. 3 receiver. But down the stretch, Jurevicius played like a No. 1 receiver. Who will ever forget his big time catch-and-run against the Beagles in the NFC championship game that set up the Bucs’ first touchdown? [read more]

SI.com believes Bucs DE Adrian Clayborn has “something to prove.”

Boy, a lot of players have something to prove on this Bucs squad. Where does Joe start?

There is defensive end Da’Quan Bowers, there is quarterback Josh McCown, there is left tackle Anthony Collins, there is running back Doug Martin. You could go up and down the roster and find guys with something to prove.

Chris Burke of SI.com believes Bucs fans need to look no further than the defensive line. [read more]

Don’t think starting quarterback Josh McCown is the pulse and absolute leader of the Buccaneers?

Well, you Mike Glennon Mobsters (and you know who you are) might want to hear these words of a Tampa Bay linebacker. [read more]

Bucs superstar Gerald McCoy has very firm opinions when it comes to quarterbacks.

And one of the more interesting ones was delivered this offseason via an NFL.com podcast. [read more]

Gerald McCoy speaks out

The NFL Network celebration of Gerald McCoy last night included McCoy himself, talking about changes at One Buc Palace and explaining why he didn’t vote for himself too high on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2014.

McCoy ranked 28th on the list and was the highest-rated defensive tackle in the league. [read more]

Bucs WR Mike Evans is one of five major weapons the Bucs added to what was a limp passing attack.

Joe saw an awful passing game last year. Yes, Mike Glennon was a rookie, but geez, Joe has seen equally green rookies forced into the starting lineup perform better than what the Bucs had for a passing game last year. Shoot, Bruce Gradkowski led a higher rated aerial attack.

The thing that stumped Joe so much was that the Bucs had one of the better wide receivers in the game and a surprisingly good rookie tight end, yet still smelled worse than a Midwestern hog farm. [read more]

NFL players voted McCoy the best defensive tackle in the league

Little-Mermaid-loving, quarterback-hunting, charity-focused Gerald McCoy was delivered a huge honor by his NFL brethren this evening. McCoy was voted the 28th best player in the league by his fellow NFL Players.

The news broke tonight on NFL Network. [read more]

One thing stands out quickly when you talk to manbeast, 6-foot-6, Bucs rookie tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins: This is one mature, eloquent 21-year-old. [read more]

Talk defense with Lovie Smith and the Bucs head coach will express how he wants every last one of his players running to football all out, from the defensive line on back.

Lovie wants speed and an intense commitment to chase and hunt the football, no matter your size and position. [read more]

Bowers is not happy about recent media reports

Exasperated rumbles rippled through Tampa sports bars and all the way to NFL.com after Tampa Tribune beat scribe Roy Cummings delivered word from Bucs defensive line coach Joe Cullen saying Da’Quan Bowers was out of shape early this month.

Bowers has now weighed in on the uproar. He’s not pleased with the media. [read more]

Joe is confident the Bucs want WR Robert Herron to establish himself as the long-term No. 3 receiver.

Bucs general manager Jason Licht often talks about the “Dunkaneers,” the possibility of Vincent Jackson, Mike Evans, Tim Wright and Austin Seferian-Jenkins, all 6-foot-4 or taller, going up and grabbing footballs as if they are alley-oop passes at the rim on the hardwood.

But what about that all important third receiver? Most very successful teams have a reliable third receiver. Who could that guy be? [read more]