“But I thought you’d yell at me if I called my own play.”

On the Bucs’ opening drive, Tampa Bay was flagged for consecutive delay of game penalties following a timeout. Joe was in stunned disbelief.

But then Josh Freeman was sacked and the Bucs were flagged for consecutive false start penalties before punting. Also unthinkable.

Former Bucs guard Ian Beckles went wild this morning on Freeman for the delay of game calls. “Put your head in the huddle and call a play,” Beckles said on the Ron and Ian show on WDAE-AM 620.

Beckles continued: “I’m putting it on Greg Schiano. They were not ready to play football. … They were not prepared for a full-speed football game.”

How could one argue with Beckles’ points? It can’t be done.

Yes, Lavonte David Sabbied the game away, but it was bad football like the exchange above that cost the Bucs repeatedly.

The New Schiano Order was not ready. And they’re all about readiness. Joe can’t help but be very concerned. This is the NFLs biggest coaching and advisory staff with established veteran players throughout the offense.

The sun had yet to rise over Tampa Bay when Joe typed this, but Joe already can hear the sports radio meltdown underway. Last night, postgame call-in tirades were seemingly orchestrated by the Mike Glennon Mob, but the daggers this morning are coming after Greg Schiano for the Bucs’ sloppiness and uninspired offense.

Yes, the loss to the Jets was one of the most heinous in team history. No question. However, if the Bucs beat the Saints at home Sunday, then the Bucs — literally — will sit alone atop the NFC South if you factor in tiebreaker considerations. The Falcons lost in New Orleans yesterday, and the Panthers in Seattle. And Atlanta and Carolina don’t play each other next week.

So there you have it. Keep calm. Keep perspective. Don’t let angst destroy your Monday.

A win on Sunday and the Bucs get complete redemption and Bucs fans will celebrate a division leader.

Joe’s going to try something new for the 2013 season, and maybe beyond. It’s sort of a morning stream of consciousness about the game yesterday, what Joe will write today, and what to look for in the future, along with random non-Bucs thoughts, as well.

Here goes:

The Lavonte David brainfart: Joe is shocked so many Bucs fans, for reasons unknown and somewhat twisted, refuse to acknowledge David’s grossly stupid error, giving the Jets a chance to kick a game-winning field goal, which Nick Folk drilled.

Donald Penn was not on the field at the time of the act. Neither was Josh Freeman. Nor Doug Martin, not even Michael Clayton, Jr. Kevin Ogletree.

David was. David opened the door for the Jets, begging the zebras to throw a flag by placing his hands on the NFL’s version of a porcelain doll, a quarterback, in this case the Jets Geno Smith. The referees, under direct orders of NFL honchos to protect quarterbacks to silly degrees, were only happy to oblige.

Stop with the “but if David pulls up, Smith could have run up field.” Good! Even more reason to not touch him. IF Smith tries to turn up field, the clock runs out and the game is over. Bucs win. Smith had to run out of bounds to kill the clock or the game would have been over at that point. If he throws an incomplete pass before running out of bounds, the game is over.

Joe cannot find a reasonable mind to suggest David didn’t cost the Bucs a win. It was that ignorant of a play, that critical of a play at the game’s most crucial moment. His action directly led to the game-winning play. It sure as heck wasn’t Luke Stocker who got flagged.

Sure, David wasn’t the only guy who got a penalty on defense. So too did Dashon Goldson and Mark Barron. Joe got Twitters during the game gloating over Goldson’s hits, no matter they cost the Bucs 15 yards. Yeah, Joe likes good hitting, but Joe always thought the object of the defense was to get off the field, not to produce NFL Films highlights.

It galled Joe that Goldson — who Joe really likes — was celebrating like he won Lotto while a flag lay on the ground.

Look, you can whine and cry about how the NFL is now flag football and Joe doesn’t disagree. But rules are rules, and until the competition committee changes the rules, if you don’t follow them, there will be consequences, in yesterday’s case, that consequence was a loss.

Which brings Joe to coaching. David, Barron and to a lesser degree, Mason Foster, defiantly noted in the locker room that this is how the Bucs play defense. Well, someone better tell defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan that the NFL has changed rules, and unless the Bucs decide to follow those same rules, he can and should expect flags, which very well could cost the Bucs another game, or maybe more.

This is undisciplined football, and Joe is shocked that a discipline guy like Greg Schiano would allow this defiance to NFL rules.. Someone needs to teach these guys the new rules. In some circles, that’s called coaching.

Yes, Joe loves physical football. The Steelers-Raiders street brawls in the 1970s were awesome. But we don’t live in 1975 any longer. To ignore the changes the NFL has made in the game is akin to passing a cop on the highway going 90 mph and then after getting pulled over, whining to the officer about how you hate a 65 mph limit.

Doug Martin’s beating: Joe’s all for sticking to a gameplan but geez, about the only run Martin had was late in the game when it appeared Freeman read a run blitz and audibled with Martin running right at the blitzer for a big gain.

No, Freeman was not Joe Montana yesterday, but that slant from the left with Vincent Jackson was open all day long and produced many big plays. Joe would have rather seen Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan call that play time and again as opposing to running Martin into a wall.

Taking the foot off the throat: The Bucs, up 14-5, had the Jets on the ropes and had the ball in the first half. You go up 17-5 or 21-5, and force a rookie quarterback to play that kind of catch-up football, well, the game is all but in the bag. As we all know, the Bucs not just took their feet off the Jets’ throats, they helped them up, dusted them off, offered them a sandwich, and bought them a cold beer.

Cut the head off the snake when you get a chance! Don’t let it slither away only to bite you later.

No discipline: Joe was shocked by how sloppy, lethargic and undisciplined the Bucs played yesterday.

Joe used to go diving off the Pinellas County shoreline at a place called “The Barges.” Shipwrecks have been there for decades, yet some of the pieces of those ships weren’t even close to being as rusty as the Bucs looked on offense early. Wow, was there any guess Freeman had fewer snaps in preseason than the number of beers Joe guzzles in a weekend? Add to that dropped passes, two timeouts, and a delay of game penalty on three consecutive plays. Throw in all the silly defensive penalties and it makes Joe wonder where the Bucs’ heads were?

Schiano is a disciplinarian and he runs a tight ship and rigid practices. He had to be out of his mind. After six weeks of practices, training camp, preseason games and for the Bucs to come out and play like a bad high school team, well, Joe’s guessing Schiano was eating a steady diet of Tums last night.

DJ Toes on the Line: How galling was it that Kellen Winslow, Sgt. Winslow, who couldn’t handle Schiano’s tough guy ways, and quit on Bill Belicheat, was talking about playing disciplined football in his Jets’ win? Winslow had a critical touchdown late in the first half and that had to be unsettling for “DJ Toes on the Line” to be preaching discipline in his first game against the Bucs since being dumped by the current Bucs regime.

Return of Darrelle Revis: If there was one positive, it was the play of Revis. Yes, Revis Island sure looked like old Revis. Sure, it was against a rookie QB. But it was damned good to see Revis deny the Jets a few passes.

Revis will surely be tested by Drew Brees in six days.

Ugly near future: Oh, the next two quarterbacks to test Revis and the Bucs? Tom Brady and Brees. Yikes. If the Bucs let a rookie quarterback beat them, what can two future Hall of Famers do? Oh, and so much for the Saints not having any defense, holding Matty Ice and the Dixie Chicks to 17 points.

Quarterbacks: Bucs franchise quarterback Josh Freeman didn’t do a whole lot to muzzle the Mike Glennon Mob.

He nearly bailed the Bucs out by marching the Bucs to a go-ahead field goal with 34 seconds left. Joe sure wishes Freeman could play a full game the way he plays most fourth quarters.

Rookie quarterbacks E.J. Manuel damn near knocked off Bill Belicheat and, of course, we all saw Smith beat the Bucs. Meanwhile, Josh Freeman’s record in road contests the past 16 games is a woeful 4-12.

Mason Foster strong: Though he started slow (who didn’t?) with poor pass defense, Bucs middle linebacker Mason Foster had a helluva game and a sack that forced a fumble. Great stuff.

VJax: He played outstanding football. If half the team played as well as Vincent Jackson, then a win would have been in the bag. Man, where would the Bucs be without this guy?

Mike Williams: He gave Bucs fans a major scare when he cramped up in the first half, but he returned to be productive again. The Bucs offense was so lethargic at points during the game that the best thing about the offense was Williams’ fire engine red shoes.

Lousy stunts: Once in the second half, on a pass play, the Bucs called a silly stunt where Gerald McCoy looped way, way, way to his left. The stunt was so far out to the left that GMC effectively took himself out of the play. He may as well have sat on the bench and taken a break.

When your best defensive lineman is takeb out of a play due to a stunt, Joe wonders just how effective these things can actually be?

NFL thoughts:

Panthers: The Stinking Panthers served notice they are no pushover. Facing a playoff team last year in Seattle, the Panthers held Seattle to 12 points — four field goals! Think it is safe to say the Panthers defense is for real?

Bears: Bratty Jay Cutler threw two touchdowns in the Bears win over the Bengals. This is a team to look out for. The Bears launched Lovie Smith after winning 10 games last year, in part, to light a fire under Cutler.

If the Bucs are going to make the playoffs (quit laughing, there are 15 more games to play), then add the Bears to the Wild Card chase.

Dolphins: They clobbered the hapless Brownies and Joe is thinking Ryan Tannehill could be a top-level quarterback when all is said and done this season. Joe’s not ready to call the Fish a playoff team, but watch out for Tannehill.

Lions: Matt Stafford threw a pair of touchdowns in a win against the Vikings, a playoff team last season. Joe doesn’t know why people rag on Stafford. When healthy, he is a fine quarterback. He’s done something Freeman has never done: get his team to the postseason.

Colts: Andrew Luck wasn’t spectacular, but he picked up where he left off with a pair of touchdowns in a win over the worthless Raiders. New offensive coordinator? No problem.

Chiefs: Joe’s not jumping on the “Andy Reid is God” bandwagon, yet. The Jags are putrid. Totally and completely putrid. Joe’s not sure they could have a winning record in the CFL.

Titans: Like the Chiefs, it was more their opponent’s struggles than anything the Titans did right. People rag on Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik’s efforts to build a defensive line, but what about the Steelers and their offensive line? The Men of Steel have drafted and signed several offensive linemen the past three years and still Mike Tomlin cant’t put together a line that can block a stiff breeze. Injuries are part of the equation, but still.

49ers: Really solid outing against the Packers in a rematch of two playoff teams. Sure, the Packers got hosed over a bad math call by the zebras. Joe has a hunch these two old rivals will face each other again in January.

Rams: Joe’s not sure this is significant or not. Just how good are the Cardinals? But as the old saying in the NFL, a win is a win. Sam Bradford nearly had 300 yards passing. Wonder if he has turned the corner?

Cowgirls: Joe only has three words: Crying David Wilson (remember how Dominik stole Doug Martin from the Giants by trading up ahead of New York?).

Non-NFL thoughts:

1) Wonder if Georgiafan is still crying over Mark Richt after the Bulldogs throttled South Carolina? Speaking of the Cocks, Joe always thinks it’s cool when assistant coaches get into a fight during the game.

2) People rooting for Johnny Football’s demise mightwant to settle down. He is actually playing better than he was last year, albeit against cupcakes. Bama in five days is anything but a cupcake.

3) How does Mack Brown have a job? No coach — none! — gets less out of his recruits than Mack Brown. The good taxpayers of the Lone Star State are paying this guy $5 million a year for this schlap? Unless somehow he gets Texas to totally turn things around, it’s hard to see how Brown returns to Austin next fall. What will be funny is watching all those oil barons rustle up spare change to make a run at Nick Saban for a cool $8 million a year.

4) Have the Rays finally stopped their freefall? Hopefully. Man, what a choke job the Rays are in the middle of. They were in first place; now they are fighting for their wild card lives.

5) The Redbirds and Reds had sweeps over the weekend and the National League Central is a true three-team race. Is there a more overrated manager than Cardinals Mike Matheny? He is brutal. Just exactly how can he justify trotting out Amy Lynn every five days and expect people to pay their hard-earned cash to watch such tripe?

6) Sorry folks, the USA has zero business in Syria. Joe can understand carpet bombing the place for using gas, but in no uncertain terms should an American serviceman step foot on that poisoned soil.

It’s time for America to stop being the world’s cop. With so many Americans needing jobs, healthcare, etc., there is no rational reason to invest billions of Benjamins over there.

7) Joe likes the blonde edict of Fox Sports 1.

8) Joe saw Fox Sports sideline princess Erin Andrews covort with eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune Sunday. Man, she is skinny!

9) Joe will have more on this later this week, but he will recount his trip to the Big Apple and Sopranosland. In short, his stories will include a lost cabbie/thief, body painting, Cornhusker Beer in Times Square and the Gettysburg Address.

10) Joe is so tired, he doesn’t even want a cold beer.

Greg Schiano didn’t like his offense today.

“I think the flow of our offense, we had no flow. It was choppy at best,” Schiano said, via the Buccaneers Radio Network audio below. “Some individuals made some good plays, but we just never got on a roll.”

Too many penalties on both sides of the ball — 13 total — were “unexcusable,” Schiano said. “That’s not going to be who we are going forward, but it cost us today.”

Joe can’t disagree. Joe’s already dropped a load of blame on Mike Sullivan. But Joe’s not sure how this gets fixed so fast. And Joe doesn’t know how a team drilled on details comes out sloppy and high schoolish?  Schiano needed weeks to right the ship last season, ending a five-game losing streak in grand fashion in Atlanta to close the season. (Hear the full audio below, via 620wdae.com.)

There are few players Joe likes more than Bucs linebacker Lavonte David. He will be in Pro Bowls. He will have a wonderful career in the NFL. But there is no way anyone can justify — or deny — his complete brain-dead play of a late hit on Jets quarterback Geno Smith that allowed the Jets to kick a game-winning field goal to open the 2013 season.

David, being the stand up guy he is, talked to Joe and maybe a dozen other reporters after the game about the play in question.

[Jets quarterback Geno Smith] just made a good play,” David said. “Nah, they just called the flag, I guess they thought I hit him out of bounds.“

David, who was in tears over the play and the outcome it forced, was nearly inconsolable on the sidelines but defensive line coach Bryan Cox and his teammates rushed to prop him up.

Players and coaches told David “’just keep your head up.’ Guys around here are very supportive. That’s what you need to be a great team. One play doesn’t make you.”

The Bucs were called for several personal fouls on defense for either late hits or what referees determined were hits on defenseless players, or hits to the head. David, maybe unaware the NFL has rules against such hits, noted this is the way the Bucs play.

“That’s the way our defense is, play aggressive, just play physical,” David said. “You are going to get called those calls. You may not feel like that’s the right call but you can’t do anything about it. That’s the way it is. We are aggressive and that’s what makes it great.”

Yes, there are things you can do about it. Do what most teams in the NFL do. They adjust to the rules of the game, whether they like the rules or not.

Roger Goodell isn’t going to order a stable of referees to call a different game just because the Bucs are playing.

It’s hard for any Bucs fan to not think the sky is falling tonight, after the Bucs delivered one of the ugliest losses in team history — to the hands of the sorry New York Jets and rookie QB Geno Smith.

However, all is not lost. Don’t head for the Skyway yet.

Darrelle Revis made his long awaited return and he played quite a bit, about two-thirds of the of the Bucs’ snaps on defense. He looked good. He broke up passes. The Jets tested him early and often, and Revis was up to the task. He’ll get better, stronger and more confident.

Revis, of course, will be a lot busier against the Saints next Sunday, when the Bucs will have to generate more pass rush.

There’s no way the Bucs can get away with blitzing Drew Brees like they did Smith today. But if Revis can revive his proverbial island, and Dashon Goldson and Darrelle Revis can continue to hit and intimidate, Joe’s confident the Bucs’ defense will be alright this season. It’s the offense Joe’s most worried about.

Yes, it was an ugly, brutal loss for the Bucs. A stinging loss. But Joe’s good friends at WDAE-AM 620 and the Buccaneers Radio Network have all sorts of audio from the primary players in today’s game, as well as Bucs coach Greg Schiano.

Included in the audio clips are wide receiver Mike Williams, linebacker Mason Foster, safety Mark Barron, cornerback Leonard Johnson, linebacker Lavonte David, defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, safety Dashon Goldson, linebacker Dekoda Watson, offensive tackle Donald Penn and quarterback Josh Freeman.

In addition, there are press conferences from Freeman and from Schiano, as well as Schiano’s one-on-one interview with the Buccaneers Radio Network.

All audio courtesy of Joe’s trusty recorder, WDAE-AM 620, and the Buccaneers Radio Network.

Every Bucs fan’s favorite tight end, Sgt. Winslow, who bristled at Bucs coach Greg Schiano’s New Schiano Order, and who quit on Bill Belicheat last year, caught a late first half touchdown against the Bucs today and was gloating in the win against his former team.

“It was huge,” Winslow said. “I’ve been in this type of situation many times and never managed to pull it out. This is what the hard work is put in for. It always seems to come down to six points or two minutes left in the game so we were prepared for it.

“It feels really good. I was real emotional before the game and I had to control myself. But it felt real good and I’m glad we came out with a win. It’s all about situational football. When you play situational football, you practice it and execute it on Sunday. It becomes easier.”

Joe is getting inundated by Bucs fans who are crying that Lavonte David is not at fault for handing the Jets the upset win. Instead, they claim David did the right thing by shoving Jets quarterback Geno Smith out of bounds, drawing a late-hit penalty, which gave the Jets a chance to kick a game-winning field goal.

Joe is covering the game in New Jersey and was just chatting with good guy Peter Schrager of FoxSports.com, who told Joe to watch the replay of the play in question because Gerald McCoy understood the circumstance and pulled up on the play.

Indeed. In this NFL.com video, at the 2:30 mark, you can see that GMC clearly had an angle on Smith as the Jets quarterback was headed out of bounds to kill the clock, and GMC pulled up on the play as to avoid getting flagged for a personal foul, which is exactly what happened to David.

The difference was GMC used his head on the play.

One reason the Bucs jettisoned Raheem Morris and brought in commander Greg Schiano was to bring discipline to the team. To bring order to what was considered a circus.

If Joe didn’t know any better, then Joe would have thought Raheem Morris was back with the club.

Penalties, dropped balls, boneheaded plays, guys not knowing situations, slow starts. Good grief, it was as if a high school team was playing at the Meadowlands today.

Yes, of course, the worst example was Lavonte David’s personal foul on a play he didn’t need to make, and one he shouldn’t have made, pushing Jets quarterback Geno Smith.

There were others. Leonard Johnson’s blatant holding penalty kept a Jets drive alive, which ended in a field goal.

Oh, and then there was Kevin Ogletree’s drop of a very catchable pass along the left sidelines, plus 13 penalties in all.

Two timeouts and a delay of game on three consecutive plays in the first half? Really? A high school coach would have had a conniption over such a stunt.

Stop with the helmet communication malfunction. You don’t think Schiano and the Bucs don’t practice for such things? There’s a reason the Bucs daily practice with fake crowd noise that is so loud you cannot hear yourself think much less what others are saying.

Joe thinks it’s pretty obvious that at least the first team offense needed just a few more snaps than what it received this summer. That Bucs offense, especially in the first half, looked rustier than a German U-Boat shipwreck off the Cayman Islands.

Last year, Greg Schiano set up his Buccaneers for a late-fourth-quarter punt against the Eagles. Why? Because rather than put the game in the hands of Josh Freeman and Vincent Jackson, for example, Schiano preferred to let his porous secondary match up against rookie Nick Foles.

The Bucs lost.

Today, the Bucs got a huge third-down play from Vincent Jackson. With 1:06 remaining against the Jets, the Bucs had momentum and a first down at the Jets’ 26 yard line trailing 15-14.

Did Greg Schiano go for the jugular? Did he go back to one of his elite receivers for a shot in the end zone to put away the game? Did he throw for another first down to get in position to tick the clock down to nothing for a final field goal?

Nope.

Schiano ran three times, played it safe, and Rian Lindell kicked a 37-yard field goal to give the Bucs the lead with :34 seconds remaining.

Jets win.

Joe knows fans can second guess Schiano all day long. There’s no right answer. But Schiano does trend very conservative, and he doesn’t seem to trust his offense. Today it didn’t work. 

Joe just came from the Bucs locker room and will have quotes later, including some from Bucs stud linebacker Lavonte David.

The second-year man out of Nebraska had a memorable game. Too memorable in fact. David had three tackles, five assists and two tackles for a loss. He was all over the field. But it was his pursuit of Jets rookie quarterback Geno Smith that will be remembered for years.

Smith was flushed out of the pocket on a desperation play with the Bucs up by two points and the clock ticking down to zero. Smith just got out of bounds at midfield to kill the clock and give the Jets one last glimmer of hope.

But in pursuing Smith, who stepped out of bounds, David shoved Smith in the back. Given how the NFL and referees are just looking to throw a flag on someone coughing on a quarterback, David’s shove, while harmless, was just enough for a zebra to grab his yellow hankie and toss it in the air.

Personal foul on David. That’s a 15-yard penalty. What would have been fourth down and a forced Hail Mary (or a 60+yard field goal attempt) was now a first down on the Bucs-30 yard line.

And of course, the ensuing 48-yard field goal by Nick Folk was good and the Bucs had victory grabbed from their hands.

Look, Joe loves David. He’s one of Joe’s favorite players. But you just do not, cannot, allow a referee a chance to throw a flag in that situation. Smith was out of bounds. There was no need to even try to tackle him. He had to run out of bounds to kill the clock or the game was lost (or won by the Bucs).

It simply was a brain-dead, stupid penalty. There really is no way to sugarcoat how bad that was.

David is a fantastic player. But each and every Buccaneer must know and understand the circumstances at every given down, especially when the clock is ticking down.

David may have won some games for the Bucs last year as a rookie. He likely will win some games for the Bucs in the future. But today, he blew a game.

Joe really doesn’t get what Mike Sullivan was doing out there today.

Everybody and their brother knew what the Jets were going to bring defensively, and it was as if the Bucs weren’t ready for it.

Huh?

Doug Martin was pounded and pounded in the running game and did nothing, 24 carries for 65 yards. He caught two balls for negative yardage. Rockstar general manager spoke numerous times this preseason about the depth and talent in the Bucs’ running backs corps, yet Martin was the only guy to get a carry.

Was there nothing that Sullivan could dial up with two-back sets to create some uncertainty for the Jets’ defense? There were no carries for Brian Leonard and Peyton Hillis. Tight end Nate Byham started at fullback and it’s obvious he can’t run block well.

The Bucs didn’t set up much play-action, trickery was absent, and shots downfield were limited. The Bucs got nothing from the tight end position, and Kevin Ogletree (no catches) was a Michael Clayton clone again, minus the blocking.

Sullivan was outcoached today. It happens, but it really shouldn’t look like this after an entire offseason to prepare.

Yes, preseason games are just meaningless practice. But today the Bucs’ offense played the way it practiced.

Disgraceful!

Joe doesn’t know how else to describe this sloppy, ugly Bucs loss to the Jets this afternoon.

Jimminy Christmas! Geno Smith outplayed Josh Freeman! Think about that. The Jets won this game, despite their rookie QB making all kinds of mistakes.

Greg Schiano has to shoulder a lot of blame with his staff seemingly unprepared for a helmet microphone malfunction early in the game. Teams are schooled to switch to hand signals and other old school tactics, but Freeman looked lost when those difficulties arose.

The Bucs were outcoached today — badly– and sloppy penalties killed them. Isn’t Schiano a details guy?

Speaking of lost, the Bucs’ offensive line was manhandled. Remember how much cash that unit is being paid? Offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan was not creative at all.

Kevin Ogletree again did his Michael Clayton impression with the game on the line, but was bailed out by the genius of Vincent Jackson, who was a monster with nine receptions and 154 yards.

Yeah, it’s one game, one loss, but a very telling loss. Bucs fans had every reason to expect a better performance against a bad football team. Disgraceful.

So the Bucs begin their 2013 season wearing home red jerseys and pewter pants in the warmth of MetLife Stadium in the New Jersey Swamplands.

Joe is up here in Jersey and some puffy clouds have invaded the otherwise pristine day, the day of Darrelle Revis’ debut with the Bucs.

As Joe touched on before, there are so many questions about the Bucs that have gone unawnswered that should at least in part be answered today.

Feel free to discuss the game here. As always, you may not post a URL of an illegally streamed broadcast of the game, but you may e-mail the link among yourselves. Posting said illegal link will get you run from the premises.

Have fun. Welcome to Week One. Football, glorious football.

No big surprises on today’s inactive list for the Bucs’ 2013 opener against the Jets.

Injuries/illness have sidelined TE Tom Crabtree (ankle),  G Carl Nicks (MRSA/Foot), CB Rashaan Melvin (hamstring), FB Erik Lorig (calf), and rookie defensive linemen William Gholston and Chris Jones will join third quarterback Dan Orlovsky on the sidelines.

For those looking for former captain of the inactive list Michael Smith, he’s out for the year on injured reserve.

Game 1

Bucs at Jets

Kickoff: 1 p.m.

TV: WTVT-TV, Channel 13 locally. Outside the Tampa Bay area, DirecTV Channel 713.

Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM 103.5, and WDAE-AM 620); SiriusXM Channel 139.

Weather: Per Accuweather.com, the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area has been experiencing weather kissed by the gods recently. Today should be no different. Expect a temperature of 77 degrees at kickoff under crystal clear skies and humidity at 45 percent. Towards the end of the game the temperature should rise to 83.

Odds: Per FootballLocks.com, Bucs -3.5.

Outlook: Joe doesn’t know where to begin. There are so, so many question marks with the Bucs that were not even remotely answered in the preseason. Can Darrelle Revis play? Can the Bucs get heat on the quarterback? Has the Bucs secondary improved? Has Josh Freeman improved? How or will the Bucs get any production from tight end? Can Davin Joseph return to form? This is why many Bucs fans have so much doubt. How can fans wrap their arms around a team with confidence when there are still so many issues unanswered?

But here is what Joe knows: The Jets start a second-round draft pick at quarterback. That alone should be the difference in the game. If Joe were Bucs commander Greg Schiano, he would throw just about every exotic look at Geno Smith that Schiano can concoct while he lies awake in the middle of the night. The more Smith is confused, the more he is likely to run (well hello, Lavonte David) and get confused and panic and throw into a crowd.

To Joe, look no further than this. If the Bucs cannot handle a rookie quarterback making his first start, then there are massive issues on the Bucs roster.

It really doesn’t (shouldn’t?) matter what Doug Martin, Mike Williams, Vincent Jackson and/or Freeman do. It is what the Bucs defense does against Smith. It really isn’t any more complex than that.

UPDATE: Inactives for the Bucs are Dan Orlovsky, QB; Rashaan Melvin, CB; Erik Lorig, FB; Carl Nicks, OG; Tom Crabtree, TE; William Gholston, DE; Chris Jones, DE.

Beat writer eye-RAH! Kaufman has high expectations

Tampa Bay’s “Custodian of Canton,” the outspoken veteran scribe eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune, is bullish on the Bucs.

Kaufman has studied and studied and studied the NFC and Bucs relentlessly, and he joins Jon Gruden in predicting the Bucs will win the NFC South.

NFC SOUTH: Bucs

No team has repeated as division champion and this year will continue the pattern. The Falcons won a lot of close games last year and have major question marks in the trenches that will undermine all that firepower. The Saints haven’t done much to improve the league’s most porous defense and Carolina needs more weapons around QB Cam Newton. The Bucs have the talent to post double-digit wins and reward a fan base looking for a reason to believe.

Joe, based on chats with Kaufman, knows he sees the Bucs’ eight Pro Bowlers 30 and younger, plus emerging studs like Mike Williams and Lavonte David, and first-round talents like Josh Freeman and Adrian Clayborn, and the second year of the New Schiano Order with a huge, experienced coaching staff. There’s just too much talent for the Bucs to fizzle, Kaufman believes.

The bar is set high for many Bucs fans. Kaufman is hardly shocking the world here with this prediction. (If you missed it, you can read Joe’s season prediction here.)

Let the games begin.

Barring something incredibly unforeseen overnight (Joe is typing this at 1 a.m. Sunday), Joe would be shocked if All-Pro guard Carl Nicks takes the field for the Bucs today against the Jets.

Nicks, as we all know, is dealing with a nasty turf toe that he said he will have to deal with the rest of his life. Then throw in a bout of MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant infection, and Joe just cannot believe Nicks would be in football shape to take any snaps under any circumstances.

Nicks did not take any snaps in practice this week, but Bucs commander Greg Schiano took part in a bit of (futile) gamesmanship Friday discussing who may play left guard when the NFL season kicks off this afternoon.

“[Carimi has] the most reps [at left guard],” Schiano said. “There are others guys that could [start at left guard]. So we’ll kind of play that one by ear, still. I want to meet with the staff today and make a – we said at the beginning of the week that we would make a final decision on Friday. I want to watch the tape from today and have a good discussion about that, because plenty of guys got good reps at that left guard spot, but he got the most so that’s where we’re leaning. We just want to see and make sure.”

Again, Joe just cannot take Schiano seriously when he even attempts to float the notion Nicks may play. That’s virtually impossible, especially since he hasn’t practiced. The thing with Carimi though, in preseason and training camp, he has blocked on running plays pretty well. On pass plays, not so well.

This will be something to monitor today, how well the pass protection is for Bucs franchise quarterback Josh Freeman’s blind side.

The NFL Network Playbook crew took a deep Xs and Os look at today’s Jets-Bucs matchup. Video here. It’s their usual great stuff.

Among other things, they outline how Jets rookie QB Geno Smith struggled mightily against various blitzes in preseason. The consensus is that Greg Schiano will dial up all kinds of blitz looks — more variety than volume — the kind Smith never saw at West Virginia.

Joe can’t disagree. And Joe also expects the Bucs’ run blitzes to come all day long to force passing downs on young Smith.

It’s going to be a very busy day for Jets tight end DJ Toes One The Line Kellen Winslow and whatever cornerback the Bucs put opposite Darrelle Revis.

The Bucs revealed tonight that starting fullback Erik Lorig continues to battle his calf injury and didn’t make the trip to New Jersey for the season-opener against the Jets.

Lorig’s been battling the injury for more than a month. He was limited in practice this week, but apparently didn’t improve enough.

As Joe wrote earlier this week, Lorig’s situation presents a huge opportunity for Peyton Hillis. Brian Leonard and rookie Mike James are not fullbacks. Even though Leonard played there in college, he’s dropped significant weight since then and isn’t expected to do anything more than backup Doug Martin and serve as a third-down back intermittently.

New readers are always coming to Joe’s Bucs-obsessed home on the Internet. So Joe just wants to give a heads-up on what to expect tomorrow and on game days.

First off, Joe will continue churning out all kinds of stuff tonight and tomorrow morning, but look for Joe’s game-chat thread to appear shortly before kickoff of the Bucs-Jets game. That’s a fun place for fans to go back and forth during the game.

After the final whistle, no media outlet in the free world will deliver more Bucs content than Joe.

You’ll get plenty from the Bucs locker room — yes, Joe is in Jersey for the game — along with all kinds of analysis from Joe and other media from various sources, including the Buccaneers Radio Network and more. Go Bucs!