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The other play that cost the Bucs in the one-point loss to the Jets on Sunday, the needless safety, was a ball snapped by Jeremy Zuttah when Josh Freeman was looking toward Mike Williams.

Speaking on The Josh Freeman Show last night on WDAE-AM 620, Freeman explained that the Bucs were, in fact, in a silent snap count situation, one in which left guard Gabe Carimi was charged with tapping Zuttah to snap the ball when Williams was at a certain point in his pre-snap motion.

Well, Freeman needed to change things to avoid a delay of game penalty and then lineman communication got screwed up when Davin Joseph tried to help.

“We break the huddle and everybody’s getting lined up and as we get set, you know, the clock is winding down, so I’m trying to get Mike [Williams] to instead of doing his extended motion to just pop across. Right as I get his attention, I think Davin [Joseph] thinks I’m trying to say something to Zuttah. So he taps Zuttah trying to get Zuttah to turn around and try and see what I have to say,” Freeman said.

“So Zuttah viewed it as Davin looked back [and got the snap signal].”

Then of course, Zuttah snapped the ball that said past Freeman into the end zone.

“It was really the perfect storm,” Freeman said.  

Joe enjoyed the insight into how things can go so very wrong in a matter of two seconds.

Interestingly, Freeman’s potential touchdown-saving kick of the ball out of the back of the end zone was something he was schooled on. (So no Freeman-to-Manchester-United jokes.) 

During 2012 training camp, Freeman said, former QB coach Ron Turner would work the quarterbacks on bad-snap, back-of-the-end-zone situations.

Walking up Eighth Avenue Saturday with Times Square in the background.

As promised, Joe is recounting his weekend trip to cover the Bucs in New Jersey, and spending a couple of days in The Big Apple.

After bouncing from train to train and having but three hours sleep the previous evening, Joe didn’t get to his New Jersey hotel until 5 p.m. Friday. Joe figured (wrongly) it was too late to go — as the northeast types say — “into the city.” So Joe decided to take a nap. Next thing Joe knows it is 9:45 p.m. and Joe had to settle for late-night fine suburban Italian dining at Bensi’s in Hasbrouck Heights.

The next day, Joe took a bus into the city (it was a straight shot from Joe’s hotel, only took about 40 minutes and was the cleanest mass transit bus Joe had ever seen). Joe was dropped off at the Port Authority, and when you walk up the two flights of stairs inside (think of a dark Tyrone Square shopping mall with a train/bus depot beneath it) and then walk outside, you are right in the middle of Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street, plopped down amid thousands of people, many in a hurry to who knows where?

It’s like being dropped off in the center of the universe. Joe did a very Floridian thing that day. He walked around Times Square a couple of times and, after having his No. 3 sandwich in the world, a pastrami at Carnegie Deli, found a sports bar, Tonic. So Joe sat there the rest of the beautiful afternoon (the weather over the weekend in New York couldn’t be beat) watching college football and throwing a few back.

(On the way to get his sandwich up Seventh Ave., in Times Square, where every national media outlet has a bureau, there were protesters of a potential Syrian military strike by the U.S. caged off by the NYPD. Most of the protesters were middle eastern types, save for five or six who were 70-year old hippies).

Joe’s No. 3 sandwich in the world: pastrami at Carnegie Deli.

At Tonic, just about every decent-sized college was represented by fans in the bar. Even a Noles fan and a Gators fan were there, though roughly 20 feet apart. It had to be the quietest sports bar Joe had ever been in. Dead silent, save for periodic hollering from said Gators fan.

Every screen but one had college football on. The lone non-college football screen had the U.S. Open on (which is huge in New York). To the credit of the New Yorkers, only about a half-dozen were transfixed by tennis; the rest of the patrons were locked in on college football.

The two-story sports bar was packed but not crowded, if that makes sense. The top floor was virtually wall-to-wall Ohio State fans. The place is also an Oklahoma bar and Mississippi State bar, apparently, but Joe found scant Sooners fans (but about a dozen Bulldogs fans).

On the way back to the Port Authority while walking through Times Square, there were scantily-clad lasses selling something (cosmetic or perfumes or something) and Joe had to do a double-take. This lovely brunette Joe thought was wearing a bikini was actually body-painted. As in no clothes. Don’t see that too often in Pinellas County.

Joe crossed paths with “Woody” on 42nd Street.

Just to play it safe, Joe didn’t want to get hammered in the city and then try to stumble back to his hotel in Jersey. That’s begging for a disaster. While heading back to the Port Authority for the ride back, of all things on the corner of Eighth Ave. and 43rd St. is a craft brewery named “Heartland Brewery.” Yeah, when Joe thinks of the heartland, he thinks of the Port Authority at Times Square.

Joe can confirm after rigorous research the “Cornhusker Lager” is much, much better than Bo Pelini’s defense. Cool thing about this place is, you can relax, have a pint of cold craft beer, and feel the floor shake as the trains rumble in and out of the Port Authority.

Joe’s perch at MetLife Stadium Sunday for the Bucs-Jets game.

Sunday was the Bucs-Jets game, which has been well-documented. Joe had to take a cab (Cadillac actually) there. $35 getting there and here is where the cabbie/thieves come in. Joe had to wait for a cab after the game n an empty lot. This is some four hours after the game. Joe was told by the dispatcher it would be about 45 minutes at least for a cab. Welp. Either wait or sleep at the stadium.

Roughly 10 minutes later, a car drives by, a cabbie but not like the one who dropped Joe off, more of a car service, Cadillac/Town Car type. The driver had no idea where Joe’s hotel was and his GPS wasn’t working. Four or five times the driver asked Joe where to turn and Joe replied, “You’re the driver. I live in Florida.” The guy twice had to ask pedestrians for directions. smh

Then when Joe is dropped off the thief wanted $55 claiming it was fair. And Joe had to do all the work! Joe gave him his money because, if not for him, Joe could have been sitting in an empty parking lot for hours waiting on a ride. Better to get thieved than stranded.

The scene just outside the main entrance/exit at Union Square East.

So Monday comes and Joe heads back to the city. Joe just roamed around checking things out on foot, like the public library, various parks. Nothing spectacular though Joe thought it was amusing that the closer you got to Park Ave, the less and less riffraff you saw on the sidewalks.

Joe wanted to go up in the Empire State Building, but like last year at the Freedom Tower, you not only got airport strip-searched, you must pay to gain access. Huh, uh. Joe doesn’t mind paying or getting airport strip-searched, but Joe sure as hell isn’t going to pay ($37) to get airport strip-searched. Naturally, Joe found a bar and a couple of cold pints to pass away the disappointment.

Joe wanted to dine at a place that Tampa Tribune humorist Martin Fennelly has been begging him to try for years, “John’s of 12th Street.” Fennelly described it as “it looks like the place where Sollozzo was offed.”

To get there, Joe took a subway to Union Square East. Little did Joe know that this is the very heart of the east coast liberal establishment, the East Village/NYU area of the city. When Joe climbed out from the subway, the air was thick with the stench of tobacco (the legal kind). There were all sorts of protesters for this or that and there was even a pretty good-sized farmer’s market going on.

Walking north on Fourth Avenue just a few blocks from Union Square East, Joe thought (if you blow the photo up) that was the Freedom Tower in the background. But Googles Maps suggests that is not accurate. Maybe veteran New York types know the name of that building. It was pretty cool-looking, sort of blueish with the afternoon sun shining off of it.

Joe walked from there to John’s. Ordered lasagna. Now this place, Johns’, has been around over a century. It was featured, Joe learned, on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” yet it is neither a diner nor a drive-in nor a dive. Joe was expecting dynamite food. For starters, he was given stale bread and frozen butter. WTH! A two-bit bar in Clinton County, Ill. wouldn’t pull that stunt.

Later, his lasagna was runny and overloaded with tomato sauce, buried. Joe sampled it and rather than being from John’s of 12th Street, Joe thought it was Stouffers of Publix. Joe was PO’ed. All that work (and money) to get there and it was worse than Midwestern bar grub. He literally didn’t want to take another bite. He was furious and took to Twitter. Joe’s had (much) better Italian meals on St. Pete Beach. Joe almost paid and walked out. He had no desire to continue eating. But, hell, may as well choke it down.

Once Joe pried away the sausage and the pasta and the cheese from the overwhelming tomato sauce, it was quite good. The sausage was very good. The cheese also. The pasta, as good as Joe has had.

But then came dessert! Tiramisu. OMG! This blew Joe’s socks off. It was exceptional. By far the best Joe has ever had. Absolutely five-star stuff. There has only been maybe a half-dozen times Joe has eaten something that was exquisite, so good. Joe dropped his fork/spoon on his plate, leaned back and savored the moment. This tiramisu was one of those times. If there is a better tiramisu in the world, Joe has not eaten it.

John’s of 12th Street someday will get a second chance from Joe. The tiramisu all but demands a second trip.

As Joe has pointed out, the day after Week 1 slate of Sunday NFL games each September is what Joe refers to as “Overreaction Monday.” Fans of losing teams pull their hair out.

But the way the Bucs played so sloppy agasint the Jets, Bucs fans have never been this crazed this early in the season. Seriously, Joe knows a respected TV producer locally, a sane, reasoned man, who now believes the Bucs could start the season 0-7.

That’s how wild fans are right now, up in arms. Still, the hardhest critique Joe has read or heard came from respected NFL scribe Mike Freeman, who now types for Bleacher Report. Freeman, who made his bones as a beat writer for the Jags years ago and recently worked for CBS Sports, is starting to believe that no NFL team is more morbid than the Bucs.

He gave his Week One grade for the Bucs — an “F.”

I thought the Raiders were the least talented team in the NFL. It might be the Buccaneers. They are disgustingly bad, and I think it’s only a matter of time before there is a revolt in that locker room against the head coach.

Wow! Least talented in the NFL? Consider the Bucs have the likes of Doug Martin, Vincent Jackson, Mike Williams, Darrelle Revis, Dashon Goldson, Lavonte David and Gerald McCoy on the roster.

If Freeman truly believes this, then he must believe the Bucs’ roster must really be low-rent. Jimminy Christmas!

Joe has read scores of missives ragging on the Bucs from the team’s fans, but none have come close to the damning three sentences Freeman wrote about the Bucs.

“This Joe” just got back from New York and Sopranosland and he will have a non-football report of his eventful time in the Big Apple and Garden State.

Sunday and Monday, Joe was inundated with questions about an alleged shouting match Bucs left tackle Donald Penn had on the sidelines during the ugly loss Sunday to the Jets. This is why Joe loves his readers (and why many believe the TV at-home experience is better than the in-stadium experience), who tipped Joe off to this incident.

Joe did not see it, as he was actually watching the game from the press area at the New Jersey Swamplands. But Joe asked Penn about this. Not to worry, Penn said, he was just trying to fire up his teammates in a critical time of the game.

“I was telling them if we get one more opportunity, we better make the most of it,” Penn said. “Put the rest of the game behind us and go fresh from there. I’m an angry vet. I consider myself a leader. So I was out there trying to lead.”

Penn had told the Buccaneers Radio network about the same time he spoke with Joe that the loss “devastated” him.

Tight end Tom Crabtree got hurt lining up as a fullback in preseason. Against the Jets, tight end Nate Byham proved he can’t play fullback. And it’s obvious the New Schiano Order doesn’t think Peyton Hillis can play the position effectively.

Also, there’s no word on when starting fullback Erik Lorig can return to action after injuring his calf in July.

Today, the Bucs re-signed veteran fullback Spencer Larsen, who was cut from the Bucs midway through the preseason. He was on the Patriots last year and spent years in Denver. Rookie defensive tackle Chris Jones was waived.

It’ll be interesting to see if Larsen gets a shot Sunday.

Joe is often ridiculed when he mentions the “Mike Glennon Mob,” as if the Mob is somehow part of Joe’s imagination. Joe’s not in the mob, but one would have to have his head in the sand (or worse) to believe there isn’t a faction of Bucs fans that want Josh Freeman to hold a clipboard.

Hell, the first caller to The Greg Schiano Show last night on the Buccaneers Radio Network was a vocal member of the mob.

Joe’s met these Mob members. Joe gets email from these people. Mob members call sports radio daily. There’s even an offshoot of the Mob forming that thinks Greg Schiano should go to Glennon now because he doesn’t trust Freeman and that distrust will never lead to a championship.

For those who still think Joe’s imagining the Mob’s existence, ESPN is taking on the Mob mentality.

NFC South writer Pat Yasinskas felt compelled to write about the Bucs hypothetically going 0-4 and making a move to Glennon after the bye in Week 5.

When a team starts off badly, one of the first things that often happens is a change at quarterback. And it often happens coming off the bye week, so the new guy can get some work with the first team. 

I don’t think the Bucs really want to throw rookie Mike Glennon out there, but they might not have much choice if this hypothetical plays out as a worst-case scenario. A benching would almost certainly mark the end of Freeman’s tenure with the Bucs. Plus, coach Greg Schiano would be on the hot seat if the season is spinning out of control and he could buy some time by going with Glennon and seeing some improvement. 

Has the world gone mad?

The Bucs aren’t going to throw in the towel on the season in Week 5. Glennon proved nothing in preseason to make one think he’s ready to thrive. Geez, the Bucs even felt the need to keep a third quarterback, Dan Orlovsky, with Freeman and Glennon both healthy.

These are crazy times for Bucs fans. If the Bucs win Sunday, they literally will be in first place in the NFC South when all tiebreakers are factored in. If they lose, well, a Bill Cowher Mob might start forming.

Former Bucs TE Anthony Becht says the Bucs’ loss was not on Josh Freeman

Daggers are flying at offensive line coach Bob Bostad and his line in the WDAE-AM 620 interview below with former Bucs tight end Anthony Becht, now part of the Buccaneers Radio Network.

“They all played bad across the board,” Becht said of the Bucs’ O-line.

Becht went on to say Gabe Carimi is a “liability in the pass protection” but the entire line was suspect, and Becht expects them to be royally chewed out this week.

One guy Becht won’t wag a finger at is Josh Freeman. Becht pointed out that Freeman opened the game sharp at 6-for-8 for 65 yards. Becht liked throws Freeman made, especially on 3rd-and-long early in the second half.

“I don’t know what people want from Josh Freeeman,” Becht said in frustration. “When you got pressures and protection errors up front and you can’t run the ball, there’s going to be an issue.” (You can hear Becht’s complete and passionate defense of Freeman below.)

Leonard Johnson’s holding penalty late in the game led to the Jets kicking a then-go ahead field goal.

Yes, Lavonte David will have to do something spectacular (win a Super Bowl?) for the football world to forget his egregious mistake of helping the zebras throw a flag to give the Jets a last gasp chance to win a game, which is exactly what happened Sunday.

He wasn’t the only one. Bucs cornerback Leonard Johnson had a bad mistake too, but not nearly as terrible as David’s.

The Jets’ second-to-last possession ended in a field goal giving Gang Green a brief lead, the Bucs defense got off the field successfully, but no, there was a yellow hanky on the field. It was because Johnson was whistled for holding. First down Jets, drive alive.

When Joe asked Johnson after the game if he felt the call was unjust, Johnson pleaded a loss of memory.

“I don’t know what call you are talking about,” Johnson said. “I honestly can’t remember. I honestly can’t remember.”

Well, Joe guesses in a good way, that should be applauded. Aren’t cornerbacks taught to have a short memory?

Yes, Johnson’s penalty was bad, but at least it didn’t cost the Bucs the game. Hopefully, the Bucs someday, with David playing a huge role, get to the Super Bowl so David’s play can be forgotten like Johnson forgot his penalty.

Joe has to applaud David, Johnson and the rest of the Bucs. After such a stomach-turning loss, each and every one was available to speak of the loss, like Buccaneer Men; they didn’t duck and hide in a training room.

So what’s dogging your computer and making your hard drive slower than a Bucs defensive end getting to the quarterback? 

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They hit. They sacked. They intimidated. They swarmed. They forced turnovers. They only allowed 16 points.

Yes, the Bucs’ defense was effective Sunday but it wasn’t enough for a win.

Who knew the Bucs offense would take a dump to open the game, give the Jets a safety, and have no “flow,” as Greg Schiano called it.

Week 1 of the NFL season is in the books, and the Bucs have the 12th-ranked defense based on yards allowed, the common leaguewide grading. The secondary is ranked 12th, and the run defense is 20th, helped in large part to the Bucs gifting Geno Smith 10 yards near the end of the game.

Yes, the Bucs played the lowly Jets, but the players executed defensively. That offers hope against Drew Brees this weekend.

The Bucs have more than 700,000 followers on social media, yet the team did nothing yesterday to tell those fans about the season kickoffs of The Greg Schiano Show and The Doug Martin Show on WDAE-AM 620/95.3 FM last night.

For Joe, this is an inexcusable oversight, especially when the team is battling so hard to sell tickets and a potential TV blackout looms for Sunday’s home-opener.

Schiano and Martin are two faces of the franchise. They’re “Buccaneer Men.” They speak well, and if Joe were a member of Team Glazer, Joe would want every possible local sports fan to hear Schiano and Martin represent the Buccaneers on the radio.

Joe’s passionate about this kind of stuff because Joe wants to see the Bucs thrive, and this was a missed opportunity. Perhaps the resignation of the Bucs’ Chief of Marketing on Monday had something to do with the oversight. Regardless, that shouldn’t ever happen.

Schiano carried himself well on the air in the face of callers expressing their outrage over the loss at the Meadowlands.

Schiano raved about his defense and special teams. It was very clear that Schiano is completely jazzed about what the future holds on the defensive side of the ball.

Special teams were excellent in “all six phases” in Dave Wannstedt’s debut as coordinator, Schiano said. And Joe agrees. Wannstedt had his unit ready and prepared in hostile territory, and the punting and kicking was standout. Eric Page also did some good things in the return game.

Joe saw the Bucs blitz Jets rookie QB Geno Smith over and over and over again on Sunday. But the Bucs didn’t bring the heat on Smith on what turned out to be the final play of the Jets offense. (Here’s the video.)

The Bucs sent a three-man rush with Lavonte David behind them spying Smith. Why? Only Bill Sheridan and Greg Schiano can answer that.

What the Bucs did do was grant Smith’s dying wish. USA Today talked to Jets guard Willie Colon, who said Smith was poised before the final drive and said he only needed the heat off him to be successful.

They were also out of timeouts.

As Smith trotted onto the field with these circumstances at the end of the first regular-season game of his NFL career, the Jets rookie quarterback issued a directive to veteran guard Willie Colon.

“Just give me some extra time,” he demanded.

“I got you,” Colon shot back.

“He didn’t caught up in the moment,” Colon offered.

Where were you when he said it? Who else was there? Did he say anything else?

“It’s not a movie,” Colon countered, a bit exasperated. “This was not Rudy or Remember The Titans.”

It’s just ironic that the Bucs entered the Jets game with a plan to pressure the rookie QB relentlessly but abandoned the plan on the Jets’ final offensive play.

David did not contain Smith, and the QB scampered 10 yards to the sideline before David’s now famous personal foul. But even without the 15-yard penalty, the Jets have a shot at a 63-yard field goal, plus enough time (15 seconds) for another play to the sidelines to get more yardage.

Smith needs to not only send a thank you note to David but to the Bucs’ defensive playcaller, as well.

Former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton, otherwise known as “Boomer and Carton” of WFAN-AM in New York, discuss the Bucs-Jets game in this MSG video.

A thing Joe loved about the New Schiano Order that was instilled when Bucs commander Greg Schiano was hired by Team Glazer was a sense or order and discipline was restored; players were held accountable for their actions.

That’s why the terribly undisciplined play of the Bucs Sunday in the ghastly loss to the Jets was so jarring, and apparently jarring for 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 Peter King of theMMQB.com and SI.com, who called out the Bucs for their terribly sloppy play in succinct, yet stinging terms.

The Bucs’ composure—13 penalties, 102 yards. Atrocious.

Yes it was atrocious. Joe still can’t believe a Schiano-led team would play like a bunch of kids in a backyard. Just what in the world were the Bucs practicing since July?

The game against the Saints will be telling. Can the Bucs suddenly regain their composure in a handful of days to do battle  Drew Brees successfully?

If the Bucs are as undisciplined this Sunday, it’s going to be a long, long afternoon.

Captain Davin Joseph goes deep into the Bucs’ communication troubles in hostile territory at the Meadowlands yesterday, via the WDAE-AM 620 audio below.

Unfortunately, Joseph explains in detail that the Bucs didn’t prepare well enough for noise. Keep in mind the first-half safety, a signaling foul-up between Jeremy Zuttah and Josh Freeman, cost the Bucs dearly in the one-point loss.

“There were a lot of things that were happening in training camp and in practice that kind of caught up with us. It kind of opened all of our eyes really. And so we’ve got to fix it. We’re going to take this week and really work on our communication even though we’re home. And just really working hard at being able to communicate in the noise, being that in our own division we play at New Orleans, at Carolina, at Atlanta, and it’s really loud so we have to be able to communicate in the noise. I don’t think we did enough to be ready for [the noise] and that’s what I mean by it caught up with us. Our focuses were on the cadence and we needed to be able to go silent count. We weren’t focusing on that very much so it kind of caught up with us.”

On the upside, Joseph says his body feels great — Joseph missed last season with a blown knee — and he’s fired up about the Bucs’ “hard-hitting” defense “that’s going to win us a championship.” (Click the button below.)

Greg Schiano met the media today, and highlights included the head coach saying multiple times that the Bucs were big, impressive hitters on defense and he doesn’t want to change much of that.

“I want us flying around the way we flew around yesterday because that was as hard a hitting Bucs defense that’s been around here in a long time.” Schiano went on to say the Bucs would keep watching “strike zone” videos to try and avoid personal fouls for rough hits.

Schiano also praised the kicking game and special teams, and the overall greatness of Lavonte David.

Of course, the head coach also was unhappy about his team’s sloppy offense and penalties, saying the Bucs were “very prepared” but perhaps “too excited to play together.” (You can catch the full audio below, via 620wdae.com.)

The heat under Greg Schiano has reached unprecedented levels.

Surely the most powerful and influential blow torch belongs to the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig, of WDAE-AM 620. Duemig delivered a scathing indictment of Schiano’s coaching during his opening monologue moments ago.

Duemig has seen and heard enough from the head coach. “This guy will not make it through the season, nor should he. Go back to college,” Duemig said of Schiano. (You can hear the entire audio below.)

Duemig’s take is significant. He’s got a top-rated show. Team Glazer said when it fired Chucky that fan opinion weighed heavily in that surprise move.

Of course, Schiano can extinguish the fire under him in six days, if he can lead the Bucs to victory over the Saints.

A New Jersey columnist says Greg Schiano is producing familiar results

They know Greg Schiano pretty darn well in central New Jersey, where the Star-Ledger covers Rutgers like a glove and treated Schiano moving on the Bucs like a president leaving office.

Schiano is respected in Jersey, but columnist Steve Politi reminds fans today that Schiano did yesterday what he often did at Rutgers: drop a dud performance at a critical time.

Things change fast in the NFL, but it must be hard for Rutgers fans not to have flashbacks. Every time Rutgers seemed on the verge of something, there was always a loss like this. The loss to Cincinnati in 2006 comes to mind, the awful performance after the thrilling win over Louisville. So does the start to the 2007 season, when Rutgers was supposed to build on that breakthrough year.

So does the ugly one in Connecticut, just before Schiano left town, when the Scarlet Knights had a chance to clinch a share of their first league title and played like they had the weight of the world on their shoulders.

This was always the knock on Schiano, the college coach: He was exactly the man you wanted in that job except for those pesky three hours on game day. That he spent five minutes with Eric LeGrand and his family after the way that game ended speaks to the other side.

Yes, winning big games — and titles — was a big knock on Schiano in college, but Joe wiped Schiano’s slate clean when he got to the Bucs.

However, Joe wrote many times that a huge X-factor for this Bucs season would be Schiano’s ability to prove himself as a strong NFL game coach. That wasn’t evident last season. And on top of that, Schiano would need to be able to outcoach Mike Smith and Sean Payton to rule the NFC South.

Joe’s still waiting for evidence to call Schiano a great gameday leader.

Joe has often referred to the day after the first Sunday slate of NFL games each season as “Overreaction Monday.” Fans of winning teams believe their team will hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy aloft in victory in February. Fans of losing teams are convinced their team will pick first in next spring’s draft.

That’s part of what makes the NFL so great. Fans are so passionate.

The Bucs played a trainwreck of a football game yesterday. It was awful, but given it’s Week 1, Joe is trying to temper his disgust.

One very fed up person Pewter Report chieftain Scott Reynolds who, after watching the tripe the Bucs claimed was professional football, has seen enough to reach strong conclusions. He thinks he knows what ails the Bucs and it happens to be Bucs coach Greg Schiano and his staff.

I believed in the talent on the roster and the new talent that general manager Mark Dominik had acquired through free agency, such as free safety Dashon Goldson, through trades, like the one that acquired cornerback Darrelle Revis, and through the draft, where players like cornerback Johnthan Banks and defensive tackle Akeem Spence were found.

I believed that the bevy of talented players in Tampa Bay could flip the switch and turn off a dreadful, uninspiring preseason and turn on some Pro Bowl-caliber performances and beat up on a talent-void New York Jets team in Week 1. Some players, like wide receiver Vincent Jackson, who had seven catches for 154 yards in a stunning 18-17 loss at New York, did just that.

The thing is, I still believe in the Bucs players. But after watching an offense sputter, stall and struggle to generate just 17 points, witnessing a rookie quarterback do enough to prevail in his first NFL game against the revamped defense, and watching the Bucs record a whopping 13 penalties for 102 yards, I don’t have a lot of faith in Schiano and his coaching staff.

Reynolds went on to list what a circus the game was for the Bucs, from the communication issues to Josh Freeman struggles (yet again), to backup quarterback Mike Glennon taking precious preseason snaps away from Freeman to beating Doug Martin into a wall, to the offensive line acting like windmills, to the general lack of preparation, pathetically so.

Joe surely cannot argue with any of Reynolds points. Joe has already touched upon this but it bears repeating. It is galling for a disciplinarian like Schiano to have a team play so grossly undisciplined and unprepared yesterday.

The Bucs organization likes to brag that Schiano’s assistant coaches are good teachers. What exactly were they teaching this summer? It’s not like this collage of coaches needs to add to its ranks. How many assistants do the Bucs have now, 74?

Joe doesn’t think there is any doubt that starters should have played more in preseason. Maybe Schiano needs to re-evaluate just how his coaches are teaching. Whatever they did the past six weeks or so feels like a giant waste.

At least on this Overreaction Monday.

Just in case you forgot what it looked like, that was a Bucs pass rush yesterday. Hallejuah! Blitzes were effective, and there were even some good 1-on-1 efforts, see Lavonte David’s interceptions forced by Trevor Scott’s edge rush.

The Bucs threw all kinds of looks at Jets rookie QB Geno Smith. Not all the looks were pretty or effective, some stunts were downright bizarre. But the pressure was delivered, and it generated five sacks and turnovers. Mission accomplished. The formerly heinous secondary also held up.

But those five sacks aren’t today’s glory call, largely because of David’s end-of-game gaffe, as well as the Bucs’ failure after taking a 14-5 lead in the second quarter. The Bucs’ next five drives after that point came up empty, before their final field goal drive put them ahead 17-15.

There’s only so much the Bucs defense can do. The Jets defense is good, not great. When you have Pro Bowlers on offense like the Bucs do, and a QB that can make all the throws, you’re offense just can’t turn worthless and vanilla with a lead.

It’s an extremely emotional day for Bucs fans. The wound of the historically ugly loss to the Jets is fresh. And Joe can’t imagine there’s a more passionate fan out there than “Todd in Tampa,” who called the Ron and Ian show on WDAE-AM 620 this morning to express his thorough contempt for Bucs defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan.

Todd is livid that the Bucs didn’t come after Jets QB Geno Smith with the game on the line, and Todd is bitter that Greg Schiano and/or Mike Sullivan continues to take the ball out of Josh Freeman’s hands when they have a shot to go for the jugular.

Here’s the audio of Todd’s call. It’s an entertaining 40 seconds. Enjoy. And keep calm.