Derek “Old School” Fournier of WhatTheBuc.net has his take on the final fan-viewable practice of Bucs training camp 2013.

Keyshawn Johnson served up a shot at Raheem Morris today while assessing Josh Freeman

What a surprise treat! Just as Joe was about to bang away on his keyboard after the final Bucs open practice of 2013 training camp, in walks Keyshawn Johnson, the former Bucs wide receiver and current BSPN analyst who regaled the Bucs pen and mic club with all sorts of stories about the Bucs, Chucky, Tuna Parcells, and more.

In a long discussion about Josh Freeman, Johnson seemed sympathetic and believes Freeman has the Bucs over a barrel. “Who are you going to get?” Johnson asked if the Bucs would wave goodbye to No. 5. “Who is coming out in the draft? Teddy Bridgewater? Aaron Murray?”

When Joe asked Johnson if Freeman was similar to Rams quarterback Sam Bradford, a first round quarterback who is on the cusp of being a top quarterback but hasn’t (yet) put his team on his back, Johnson had an interesting answer.

“Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, same type,” Johnson said. “But [Bradford] has gone through three coaching changes, right? He is on his third head coach. Freeman is on really his first.”

When Johnson was quickly corrected that Raheem Morris was the Bucs coach when Freeman was drafted, Johnson had a smirk on his face and a twinkle in his eye and nodded, “Really, first.”

Translation: Johnson thought very little of Morris.

There is no question Bucs coach Greg Schiano has been a bit disappointed in the training camp practices of defensive end Da’Quan Bowers. The Bucs have put a lot of eggs in their basket, banking on the former Clemson star to finally deliver on his pass rushing potential, which made him a second-round pick.

Due largely to a combination of injuries and a lack of playing time, Bowers has yet to develop into that fearsome presence the Bucs thought he would be. Schiano has not shied away from saying he was expecting more from Bowers as an every-play defensive end instead of the pass-rushing specialist he has been.

Bowers himself is a bit disappointed in his progress this summer, and he has no issue with the Bucs head honcho using all means to help Bowers get on track.

“I’m an unproven defensive end in this league; I felt like I needed the extra work,” Bowers said of playing a full first half Thursday night in the Bucs’ preseason opener. “I talked to Coach [Schiano] about it. He agreed, I agreed, so we came up with the plan.”

Prior to the game, Schiano noted players who need work will get plenty of work. Bowers proved it.

“Coach is a straightforward guy and I respect him,” Bowers said. “It’s like you said, he said he wanted more out of me, so it’s my job to come out here and give him more, give him all that I have until I don’t have any more.

“There are a lot of improvements to be made, a lot of work to do before we go to New England, but, you know, it’s got to be done and I’ll get it done.”

Schiano said after practice that Bowers needs more work and must improve, but he believes Bowers has the talent to overcome.

“Well, Da’Quan has what we refer to as heavy hands, he’s strong,” Schiano said. “So, when he puts his hands on you, you feel it. When he plays with good pad level and does that, he’s a force. But when he doesn’t, he’s not a force. I don’t know if you can put your finger on one single thing. I think it’s just practicing being a consistent player.

“If he responded differently [to Schiano’s ways], he wouldn’t get any more playing time, and that’s what he wants. So if he didn’t want that, he might respond differently. But it’s certainly not anything personal, we both want the same thing; he wants the same thing; he wants to be an every-down player, and we need an every-down defensive end. We’re just trying to get there.”

Joe only hopes Bowers can turn the corner, unless Steven Means and/or William Gholston break through to be studs. Otherwise, the crying about the Bucs not signing John Abraham will go unabated until next year’s draft.

Greg Schiano gave undrafted rookie cornerback Rashaan Melvin quite an endorsement today

One happy story from Bucs training camp has been rookie CB Rashaan Melvin. He’s got first-  or second-round-pick size and athleticism but went undrafted out of Northern Illinois.

The Bucs have been high on him for a long time and he’s lived up to their hopes in practice. But the first preseason game was another story. The picture above showed a TD catch that should have been made, and Melvin struggled on special teams, per Joe’s scouting, and he just wasn’t the same player seen at One Buc Palace.

Greg Schiano talked about Melvin today and the head coach’s confidence wasn’t shaken.

“Solid. not as outstanding as he’s played at times in practice,” Schiano said when asked to assess Melvin’s play against the Ravens. “I have confidence that he will play at the level he did out there [at practice]. Because he was going against Vincent [Jackson] and Mike [Williams}. I mean it wasn’t like he was going against the down-the-line guys. He was going against the best and performing well. I think he just, the second shot will be real good for him. … He’s too good a player not to be fine.”

Man, that’s some high praise for an undrafted rookie.

Melvin is all but a lock for the roster, though not a lock for playing time. Yesterday, Schiano offered strong praise for veteran Michael Adams — without being asked. Danny Gorrer also was a standout Thursday, picking off Joe Flacco, and Leonard Johnson, Darrelle Revis and Johnthan Banks are ahead of Melvin on the depth chart.

Today was the last day of training camp for Bucs fans could watch the Pewter Pirates in person. A fair number turned out and here are some highlights:

* Pretty pass from JF5 to VJax on a crossing pattern Right. On. The. Hands.

* JF5 on a rollout on the numbers to Eric Page. Freeman is electric early.

* Mike Williams nearly comes up with diving catch from Mike Glennon.

* A sight Bucs fans do not want to see: Dan Orlovsky working with first-team offense.

* Doug Martin tries to run up middle but is rejected like a flimsy dollar bill from a vending machine by Mason Foster.

* Brian Leonard muscles up middle for a big gain. Schiano loves it.

* Leonard with another big run.

* Pleasant breeze in the shaded bleachers but it feels like the surface of the sun out there. Bucs (seemingly) getting longer water breaks.

* Freeman to VJax over middle short who turns play into big gain.

* Derek Hagan big catch along left sideline and later Tiquan Underwood catches bomb over the middle. Both passes from Glennon.

* Freeman perfect pass on go route to VJax. Getting redundant. 🙂

* Steven Means rushes Freeman and picked him off. Just reached up and grabbed pass like pulling a box of cereal off the top shelf.

* “Red Zone play!”

* Martin from Freeman immediately wrapped up by Mason Foster.

* GMC would have had sack of JF5. Had to pull up. Dreaded green jersey.

* Cody Grimm with a pick on JF5 off a tipped pass. Good pressure from left by William Gholston.

* Michael Smith short pass to left from Orlovsky belted by Keith Tandy.

* JF5 with a laser down left sideline for Mike Williams. All kinds of time, but remember, cannot hit the quarterback.

* Lotta hollering going on from coaches.

* Aaannnddd… here comes the fake crowd noise.

* Rashaan Melvin good coverage on VJax preventing him from making a play on ball along right sideline.

* Glennon steps up into pocket and rifles pass off hands of Tim Wright.

* Freeman threads needle along left sideline to VJax.

Regular readers here know Joe wasn’t big on the Bucs trading LeGarrette Blount for the NFL equivalent of a Subway Footlong and a bag of chips. That wasn’t because Blount deserved to take carries away from Doug Martin, hardly, but because Blount is a very talented football player and was a valuable backup earning peanuts.

Blount was dealt to New England, where he introduced himself to Patriots fans last night with a two-touchdown, 101-yard performance on 11 carries, including a highlight-reel run that you don’t see every day [video here]. (No. Joe’s not stalking Blount, merely keeping tabs on early Bucs regular-season opponents.)

Down in New Orleans, former Buccaneer Man and current Bucs basher Preston Parker caught the Saints’ only two touchdowns of the night, as he looks to rebound from being cut by Schiano last September.

In the Jets-Lions game in Detroit, DJ Toes On The Line caught two balls for the Jets, including a 24-yarder from Mark Sanchez, something the Bucs likely will see tried quite often on opening day in Gotham.

Of course, one of the most watched Bucs newcomers this season is cornerback Johnthan Banks. The rookie out of Mississippi State isn’t the object of attention just because he’s a rookie. No, the second-round pick likely will be starting and playing opposite of star cornerback Darrelle Revis.

Any corner playing on the other side of the field from Revis is going to be targeted. Banks’ inexperience, naturally, has Bucs fans wondering if he is up to the job.

In practice, he has been. But as wide receiver Chris Owusu, the star of training camp, showed Thursday night, the game is different under the lights with an opponent with a different colored-jersey.

In his day-after press conference, Schiano gave Banks a thumps-up in his debut as an NFL player.

“Well what I felt [Thursday] showed out on tape,” Schiano said. “It wasn’t too big for him, he challenged guys. You could see guys that are a little bit tentative out there at the corner, they’re going to give extra big cushion, they’re going to play with their eyes. The one thing that Johnthan keeps getting better at is he’s disciplining his eyes and that’s the hardest thing to do as a defensive back, is put your eyes where they’re supposed to be. If they’re supposed to be on the quarterback have them there, if they’re supposed to be on your man have them there and if you’re supposed to take them off your man at a certain time and put them on the quarterback. That sounds easy [but] it’s not when the guy is bearing down on you and there’s a crowd full of people waiting to see if you get beat.”

This is a good, first big step for Banks. But Joe is pretty sure Schiano will admit Banks isn’t a finished product. He must continue to improve.

It’s just a matter of weeks before Banks will be more popular for opposing quarterbacks than free beer and loose, forward women.

Bucs icon Ronde Barber was somewhat all over the place when it came to Josh Freeman, during his color analyst work on the Bucs-Crows preseason broadcast.

Barber gushed over Freeman’s skills, saying Freeman was a true MVP candidate before the Bucs’ collapse last season. Then, in nearly the same breath, Barber talked about how much he liked that the Bucs are “challenging Josh openly” to reach a star-quarterback level, and Barber referred to Mike Glennon as true “competition.” Yet Barber went on to say he believes Freeman will get a long-term contract from the Bucs because Freeman has the skills and work ethic to become great. However, Barber also raved about Glennon’s throwing skills and poise in just his first NFL action.

C’mon, Ronde. Tell it to us straight.

Joe’s not ragging on Barber here. The reality is that the state of Freeman is complex with many layers.

Glennon is real competition — for next year, in Joe’s opinion — when the Bucs will have to decide whether they want to pay Freeman around $18 million to $20 million a year to lead the team, or let Glennon take the reigns for $800,000 and use the salary cap money in other areas.

Loads of Bucs fans will watch the Bucs’ preseason loss to the Ravens for the first time tonight on WFLA-TV, Ch. 8.

While Joe only saw television replays in the press box of the real-life, Ravens-Bucs game, Joe did hear a snippet of TV audio on NFL.com. In that cut, color analyst Ronde Barber referenced the Bucs missing tackles and sloppy tackling.

Joe suspects that wasn’t the only time Barber offered that take during the broadcast.

Safety Keith Tandy and cornerback in danger Anthony Gaitor made it into Joe’s game notes for bad tackling. Cody Grimm got a negative tackle mark, as well, but at least in his case the tackle was made and he took the right angle. There are other offenders, including linebackers who look like they took block-shedding lessons from Barrett Ruud.

Tackling is something Joe will be studying during the tape-delayed broadcast. The New Schiano Order works daily on tackling and is a stickler for their methods. Remember, last year Gerald McCoy said the regime taught him how to tackle. Also, Mason Foster, a tackling machine in college and the rookie NFL tackle leader under Raheem Morris, has told Joe how much the New Schiano Order raised his tackling skills.

Those who aren’t tackling well will be in danger of getting cut.

As for those New Schiano Order tackling techniques, Johnthan Banks explains that it’s all about the “bite.”

Joe knows legions of Bucs fans are like Greg Schiano; they like to see, feel, hear and taste every last Buccaneer detail. So with the spirit of the crazies in mind, Joe brings you this video from Bucs beat woman Jenna Laine, who captured Peyton Hillis coming off the field after the Bucs-Crows game last night.

Hillis ran hard but ended up with knee injury. It’s “hyperextended,” so Laine Twittered this morning.

The leader of the New Schiano Order has watched the game film from last night’s preseason loss to the Ravens and offered insight to media this afternoon.

The highlights:

*Schiano offered clear praise for running back Brian Leonard, saying the Bucs need him to backup Doug Martin.

* “I thought he was solid,” Schiano said of Josh Freeman.

* Lavonte David drew high praise. Schiano said he picked up where he left off in 2012.

* Rookie cornerback Johnthan Banks also got love. “Banks did some good things, made some rookie mistakes,” Schiano said. “There was some stuff to build on there.” Schiano went on to say Banks’ biggest area of improvement is “disciplining his eyes.”

* Schiano confirmed that Chris Owusu has a sprained ankle and there’s no timetable for his return.

* On Da’Quan Bowers, “Some good, not so good. We’re going to get there. He’s going to get there.”

* Veteran cornerback Mike Adams, likely a lock to make the roster, was praised for his tackling by Schiano without a question about Adams from the media. “[Adams] threw his body in there. I had seen that on his Arizona tape,” Schiano said.

Selected in the second round of the 2007 NFL Draft to backup/complement Steven Jackson in St. Louis, Bucs running back Brian Leonard then moved to the Bengals in 2009, when Cedric Benson began his first of three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.

One could make a case that Leonard never had much of a shot to get carries. But Greg Schiano talked earlier this summer about how Leonard’s low mileage on his body, but plenty of experience, is a good thing. Leonard is fresh after four years as a third-down back in Cincinnati. And Schiano, who coached Leonard at Rutgers, trusts him.

Leonard showed Bucs fans last night that he’s got some spark to his game. Leonard had a punishing, extra-effort short yardage gain, one that would have made one of Leonard’s boyhood heroes, Mike Alstott, proud. Also, Leonard showed versatility in blocking and out of the backfield. He finished with six carries for 23 yards, including a 13-yard gain.

If nothing else, Leonard looks to be a major upgrade to D.J. Ware, last season’s third-down back.

Listen to Leonard below, audio via WDAE-AM 620 and the Buccaneers Radio Network.

Joe’s partners at WDAE-AM 620 invited Joe on the Ron and Ian show this morning to offer up rapid-fire takes on all kinds of stuff out of last night’s Ravens-Bucs game. Full audio below.

The Bucs snatched up wide receiver Kevin Ogletree in free agency to be their No. 3 receiver, or at least give Tiquan Underwood a lot of competition. To date, Ogletree has landed the job while Underwood has been hurt and largely invisible.

Again last night, Ogletree looked the part against the Ravens. He broke free when Josh Freeman left the pocket during the Bucs’ second drive with the first-team offense. It was a 3rd-and-7 play, and Ogletree caught Freeman’s pass for 22 yards.

“Kevin made some plays,” Schiano said. “You know, Kev’s trying to learn offense. He’s trying to, you know, become part of this football team, find his spot, his niche on the team. And I think it’s happening. You know that’s what the preseason, OTAs, training camp is all about, the chemistry of your team coming together. And I see Kevin fitting in well with our guys.”

Ogletree said he hopes Bucs fans saw a player who loves football.

“I wanted to play the whole game. That’s what I was ready for; that’s what I was geared up for,” Ogletree told Joe. “Hopefully, [fans] see that I love the game. I’m trying to prove to everyone that I’m dependable, just trying to gain trust of my teammates and my coaches and, you know, my peers that I can make the plays when we need them. We got a lot of guys that can make plays around here, just to be consistent and to gain that trust is big.”

Ogletree led the Bucs with five catches for 65 yards. He’s also the hands-down leader for the No. 3 receiver job.

Joe’s not sure anyone has a chance to unseat Ogletree, unless, perhaps, he goes all Owusu in one of the next two preseason games.

Yeah, it was tough to watch that game last night (you can watch it tonight on WFLA-TV, Channel 8 at 7:30 p.m.) and look at the final score and not come away with flu-like symptoms.

But really, the Bucs’ first teams did pretty well against the Super Bowl champs. Don’t try to tell Bucs safety Dashon Goldson the Bucs were not getting the job done early.

“We have talked about communication being vital out here, especially in the secondary and on the defense,” Goldson said. “We’re doing a good job of lining up and playing a sound defense and swarming to the ball.”

Preseason, especially the first game of preseason, is more about what you did or didn’t do, Goldson noted, than who your opponent was.

“The significance I feel is that you get to go out there and put everything you learned during the offseason and during training camp into practice against another team,” Goldson said. “In training camp you go against each other so much, it’s good to go against another team and another mindset of football players. It’s a chance to showcase what you’ve gained so far. But we’re still in training camp, so there’s still a lot of work to do.”

There is still a lot to do. The team the Bucs put on the field last night won’t be near the same team the Bucs have when the final 53-man roster is set in a month. Then there’s the three Pro Bowlers who never suited up last night: Davin Joseph, Carl Nicks and Darrelle Revis (who nonetheless was wearing a sharp suit in the Bucs locker room after the game).

No, the Bucs aren’t bent out of shape over what happened last night, and neither is Joe.

Joe’s good friends at WDAE-AM 620 have all sorts of Bucs audio from last night’s loss to the Crows to open the postseason. Some of the players interviewed were:

Defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, backup quarterback Mike Glennon, cornerback Danny Gorrer, running back Brian Leonard, wide receiver Kevin Ogletree, linebacker Jonathan Casillas, safety Dashon Goldson, offensive lineman Jeremy Zuttah and linebacker Dekoda Watson.

Audio courtesy of the Buccaneers Radio Network and WDAE-AM 620.

The leader of the New Schiano Order was composed and relaxed following the Bucs’ beating at the hands of the Baltimore Crows last night. However, Schiano was displeased by turnovers and lousy ball security, saying that sloppiness is always a violation of the New Schiano Order. “Programatically” poor, Schiano called it.

Schiano explains in this audio, courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Radio Network via 620 WDAE. The head coach also dives into what he liked about Josh Freeman, Mike Glennon, Kevin Ogletree, Johnthan Banks, and more.

There were not many good things to take away from this ugly Bucs loss to the Super Bowl champion Crows Thursday night, but one good thing was the play of Bucs cornerback Danny Gorrer.

A mere hours after Nine Lives Myron Lewis was (finally) dropped off at Tampa International Airport with a one-way ticket in his clutches, Gorrer showed why Lewis had (finally) run out of lives with the Bucs.

Gorrer had two passes defended, a tackle and an interception, showing that, yes, the Bucs do have some decent depth in the secondary.

Gorrer also was hurt slightly in the game, but it didn’t appear major. Joe spoke with Gorrer after the game and he was evasive and vague about his injury, not even going NHL on Joe with the troublesome “upper- and/or lower-body-injury” tag.

“It’s nothing too serious,” Gorrer said of whatever ailed him. “I will definetly be ready, hopefully, for New England. It’s preseason. We all want to be ready for Week One.”

As for his interception when Crows quarterback Joe Flacco tried to thread a needle between Leonard Johnson and Gorrer, it gave Gorrer a leg up in his wager with Johnson.

“We have a bet on who has the most picks and I am one up on him now,” Gorrer said. “I am looking forward to eating good off of him.”

The Bucs have a lot riding on Da’Quan Bowers this season. Defensive end depth isn’t the Bucs’ strength, and Greg Schiano has clearly stated he needs Bowers to become an every-down, relentless beast.

And to drive Bowers to new heights, Schiano has seemingly lost all concern about Bowers getting injured. In last night’s preseason beating at the hands of the Ravens, Bowers played the entire first half, a chunk of it through a driving rain storm, and Bowers played a new position for a while, replacing Gerald McCoy at the 3-technique tackle.

“This is my first transition to the inside. I haven’t quite got the grasp of yet. I’ve definitely have to get some 1-on-1 work with Gerald at it. We’ll see how it goes,” Bowers told Joe. “I didn’t know [how much I’d play tonight.] But you know it’s a work day. So I came ready to work, whether I was going to play 10 snaps or play 40 snaps. I just came in with the mindset to work and get better.

“I needed it. I was definitely happy that I got the extra work. I wasn’t happy with the performance overall.”

Bowers recorded one tackle and one assist. And Joe’s going to say he also had a reception — a message from Schiano that he needs to grind through and transition into a tough guy who can play every snap.

When the Bucs had their first teamers on the field Thursday night, sans Davin Joseph, sans Carl Nicks, sans Darrelle Revis, the Bucs didn’t fare so badly against the Super Bowl champs, the Crows of Baltimore.

But when the Bucs put their reserves in, well, yikes. It was simply ugly. There were a few exceptions, however. One was the play of reserve strongside linebacker Jonathan Casillas. A free agent by way of New Orleans,Casillas was a one-man gang during one series.

On first down, late in the second quarter with the Crows having the ball at the Bucs-26, Casillas stopped Crows running back Damien Berry for no-gain. On second down, Casillas stopped Berry again, this time for a one-yard gain. On third down, Crows quarterback Tyrod Taylor tried to hit Berry to the left side and Casillas broke up the pass with a physical hit.

In short, Casillas stopped the Crows’ drive by himself.

“I was out there just doing my job,” Casillas said. “I was just in the right spot in the right time and when my number is called, I try to make the play.

“I feel great here man, good group of linebackers, good atmosphere, great group of guys around me. I am happy to be here but the score didn’t indicate that. We will learn. We will watch the film and correct the mistakes.

“When I watch the film I know there will be mistakes but it is preseason.”

If there is one thing Joe can say, he agrees with Casillas. Preseason is a time for learning. If you get your hat handed to you the way the Super Bowl champs did to the Bucs tonight, no harm, no foul. You learn from your mistakes and go on.

The Bucs are still undefeated in the 2013 regular season. If Casillas can play in the regular season like he did tonight, then the Bucs will certainly have depth at strongside linebacker.

The Bucs’ leading tackler tonight was Johnthan Banks. But it wasn’t just about Banks’ five tackles. He was physical and a sure tackler.

The New Schiano Order teaches tackling daily. Last year, Gerald McCoy talked about how the regime taught him how to tackle. Mason Foster recently told Joe about how much he’s learned about tackling from Greg Schiano. And tonight after the Bucs’ loss to the Crows in Tampa, Banks told Joe about how the New Schiano Order is transforming him.

“They changed my whole style of tackling,” Banks said. “Everything is about the ball. Bite the ball. Bite the ball. So, I mean, it worked tonight. I’ll continue to do what they say. Whatever they ask me to do, I’m going to do. Bite the ball and be physical through the tackle. Don’t let the tackle come to you; you go to the tackle.

Banks said he was nervous entering his first pro game, but Banks qualified that by saying he’s nervous before every game. NFL action. was a bit of an eye-opener.

“It was fast. I can say that,” Banks said. “It was fun to get just back competing against somebody else. I’m tired of hitting Mike [Williams] and Vincent [Jackson] every day.”

Did Bucs fans see your best tonight, Johnthan?

“Nowhere close to the best of me. I’m just shaking the cobwebs out,” he said.

Now when Joe learned earlier this year that Bucs coach Greg Schiano hired Dave Wannstedt as his special teams coach, it surely raised an eyebrow.

Wannstedt, since 1986, has been a defensive coordinator or a head coach on the NFL and college levels. Joe thought it was strange Schiano hired a guy who hasn’t coached special teams since perhaps he was a grad assistant at Pitt in the late 1970s.

Joe even thought that Wannstedt was going to be given some additional responsibilities, which Schiano denied to Joe at the NFL Combine last winter.

Thursday night in his debut as a special teams coach, the Bucs’ special teams were anything but special. Dropped returns, fumbles, blown coverages, you name it. Kicker Derek Dimke saved a would-be kickoff return for a touchdown by the Crows when he he had a one-handed tackle on Bobby Rainey, which was flagged for a horsecollar. Hey, any penalty beats giving up six points.

Granted, this was the first game, a preseason game. Many players on special teams will be teaching history come September. Some players were playing special teams maybe for the first time since high school.

While the players were likely new and rusty to their responsibilities, perhaps so too was their assistant coach, Wannstedt.