Bucs cornerback Darrelle Revis reflected on his first practice with the Bucs, and his first practice after ACL knee surgery. Though Revis was limited, he did do some coverage drills where wide receivers simply could not shake him. Also, Revis as well as wide receiver Mike Williams, were working with punt returners. Read into that what you wish. Audio courtesy of WDAE-AM 620.

Joe has been getting a lot of questions about this, thus the reason for this post.

“When are the Bucs going to put on pads for the first time,” Joe has been bombarded with. Well, Bucs coach Greg Schiano answered that question in his post-practice press conference this afternoon.

The pads go on under the lights this Saturday night during the Bucs practice at the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway. Not only will fans get fireworks and all sorts of other fan-friendly things (including breaks on some concession prices), the Bucs will hit for real for the first time this year.

Throw in a few Oklahoma drills and it should be a fun night.

* WR Derek Hagen armwrestles with Leonard Johnson for a bomb and Hagen flagged for interference.

* Guy shows up to a Bucs practice in full Giants regalia claiming he is only here to watch Darrelle Revis. Takes all kinds.

* Cops actually had to show up as Giants fan nearly provoked a fight. Imagine?

* Doug Martin showing lightning quick burst.

* Mike Glennon threads needle to Carlton Mitchell along left sideline against Rashaan Melvin.

* Josh Freeman overthrows David Douglas as the ball glances off of Douglas’ hands, into the waiting arms of Danny Gorrer, who races to the right for a pick-six.

* Mike Williams wearing red hightops.

* Bucs working on loose ball drills. Guys are curling up with the ball like a baby in a crib with a teddy bear.

* Offense is putting on a fireworks show in the middle of the day. After a dull morning, fans are pumped.

* First Tom Crabtree sighting. Can see why he is such a good blocker. Built like an anvil. Oh, he can catch too.

* Mike Williams diving one-handed catch over middle for about 30 yards against Danny Gorrer. Sometimes a cornerback is helpless no matter how good the coverage. Just. Like. That.

* Mike Glennon overthrows Michael Smith terribly over the middle. May be worst pass Glennon has thrown as a pro.

* Play-action fake to Doug Martin (fantastic fake by Martin as he acted like he fumbled the ball) and Tom Crabtree is so alone over the middle he was an orphan.

* Wide receiver Chris Owusu picking up where he left off in OTAs and minicamp. He may be a hard guy to turn loose.

* Tight end Nate Byham looks like a fire hydrant.

* Strongside linebacker Jonathan Casillas nearly bats down pass in left flat.

* Doug Martin catches pass along left sideline.

* Josh Freeman seemed to force a pass into a crowd over the middle but Vincent Jackson wrestles the ball away from defenders for the catch.

*Freeman throws long TD to tight end Zach Miller.

* Bucs wide receivers are really playing sharp.

* Now there’s a first: NFL Network’s Warren Sapp is interviewing Bucs coach Greg Schiano live on the sidelines in the middle of practice. Joe has never seen that before in an NFL setting.

* MYRON!!! Nine Lives Myron Lew got roasted terribly by Tiquan Underwood, and Nine Lives compounded his horrible play by drilling Underwood for a pass interference penalty. Good ole, Nine Lives Myron.

* Mike Williams just schooled Danny Gorrer on down and out to right — to fans’ delight.

* Darrelle Revis working on cornerback drills on the far field and wide receivers cannot shake him.

* Playing agasint the second team, running back Brian Leonard breaks loose up the middle.

* One fan here already in midseason form hollering at refs.

* Running back Brian Leonard is decked by Mason Foster. Next play Doug Martin big gain off right tackle.

* Middle linebacker Mason Foster flies in and had there been hitting he would have taken Doug Martin’s head off.

* Heard Bucs coach Greg Schiano barking on his bullhorn for the first time in training camp. Couldn’t make out what was said.

*Bryan Glazer had big, warm bear hugs for Shaun King and Warren Sapp. Sapp refers to Glazer as “Boss.”

* There is actually a guy out here wearing a Browns Peyton Hillis jersey.

* Not sure what to make of this but Darrelle Revis and Mike Williams are in a group fielding punts.

* Days away from induction into Canton, Warren Sapp, working for NFL Network, takes his seat at set along practice field and fans erupt.

*Gary Gibson went down early in practice holding his knee but didn’t miss much time and was back with the first team.

One of three quarterbacks to lead the Bucs to the NFL Championship game, Shaun King studied Josh Freeman at Bucs training camp today and explained in Xs and Os detail what went wrong during an appearance on the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620.

King’s assessment? Freeman “looks extremely rusty. … ball placement, which I think is one of his biggest weaknesses, has been a problem today.” King also goes much deeper into the Xs and Os of Freeman’s throwing and approach to practice. Very interesting stuff — whether you’re a Freeman fan or not.

Joe gets there a loads of Bucs fans all excited about what running back Peyton Hillis could bring as a complement to Doug Martin.

Joe’s not in that camp of giddy dreamers. Hillis has a long road to even making the Bucs’ 53-man roster, let alone the final 46 on game days. He’ll have to prove he can protect the ball — a problem through his career — and be a great teammate per New Schiano Order rules.

As for what sent Hillis from the top of the NFL three seasons ago into a freefall that landed him out of favor in Cleveland quickly and as a backup in Kansas City, Hillis said that’s a bad time and a fading-fast memory.

“You know what, if I can be completely honest with you, I’d just say I don’t know,” Hillis said today, after being asked how he explains what went wrong with his career.. “Does it feel like a million years ago or just yesterday, you know, sometimes it feels like forever ago and you really don’t remember what happened. That’s the way I kind of look at it now. I’ve been on a couple of teams since, and it just feels like it’s been forever ago.

Hopefully, Hillis can recapture his glory days. But Joe also has learned that Hillis might have an even tougher road to making the Bucs roster. He did not play special teams in Kansas City last season, and not doing that here will cut his odds.

Late in today’s opening practice at One Buc Palace, cornerback Danny Gorrer snatched a Josh Freeman somewhat-lazy-looking pass out of the air. Interception!

Gorrer is a guy the New Schiano Order has  high hopes for. And while he’s no superstar and cost the Bucs a win against the Eagles last year, Gorrer feels he’s on the rise. It’s easy to forget Gorrer joined the Bucs in midseason and was still learning the defense, a tough order for a young player.

“By getting here Week 8, I kind of didn’t know the system and the scheme and whatever, and I was thrown into the fire to do what I do,”  Gorrer said. “Finishing strong with [Leonard Johnson] like I think we did, and showing coaches they can depend on us. It’s time to step up, from the first day of camp.”

Joe’s not here to pretend Gorrer is a Pro Bowler, but Greg Schiano is a secondary coach at heart. That’s his background, and the Bucs have scouted Gorrer and believe he can be productive. He just turned 27 and has managed to survive to his fifth season, including two in Baltimore.

Another player to watch in the hopefully improved Bucs secondary.

With Roy Miller gone, the guy pegged to replace him, rookie defensive tackle Akeem Spence, is the resident strongman in the Bucs’ locker room.

But Spence is no ordinary human fire hydrant. This guy’s stronger than strong.

Joe asked Gerald McCoy to give his early impressions of Spence, who McCoy surely will be attached to in various ways. McCoy called Spence a “perfectionist” and very similar to himself in the way Spence approaches the game.

But McCoy most wanted to talk about Spence’s feats of strength in the weight room. They’ve driven McCoy to the point of embarrassment.

“He’s a worker. First off, he’s a mini-Hercules,” McCoy said. “This dude, you know, I’ve never been the strongest guy but my strength went up this offseason. So I’m in there lifting and this guy’s lifting two racks down.   I almost left the weight room, just because I didn’t want to keep watching him. My heavy weight, he was like warming up.   I was like, ‘this is not even fair.’ He’s ridiculously strong. He’s a hard worker on the field. He’s similar to me when it comes to making mistakes. He despises making mistakes. So that’s what I love about him. He’s a perfectionist.”

There have been plenty of workout warriors in the NFL, and being strong doesn’t make you a great player, or even a good one.

Joe’s more excited to hear McCoy’s impressions of Spence’s attitude and work ethic. Perfectionists often thrive in the NFL.

Good guy and football junkie Charles Davis of the NFL Network and FOX Sports dropped by to chat on the “Ron and Ian Show” on WDAE-AM 620 to discuss Mike Williams’ new contract and his outlook for the Bucs.

Davis thinks the Bucs have weapons that few other teams can match, even in the NFC South.

“I think the potential is there to give a lot of people a lot of problems. I think that it’s part of an answer that everyone has to have when you play in the NFC South.”

To hear Davis’ full remarks, click the red button below.

Yesterday, Joe brought word via Woody Cummings of The Tampa Tribune that Carl Nicks’ big toe, the same toe that ended his season due to turf toe and required surgery, was “heavily bandaged” when he reported for training camp at One Buc Palace yesterday.

Well, just before Joe left for the Clear Channel studios empire to chew the fat with Joe’s good friend, “The Big Dog,” Steve Duemig of WDAE-AM 620, Joe learned the bandage on Nicks’ toe is a misnomer. Rather, the bandage was on Nicks’ toe for what was termed “precautionary measures.”

So Nicks is good to go as the Bucs start making their way onto a wet field under gloomy, overcast skies at One Buc Palace. If something looms odd with Nicks, monitor Joe’s Twitter feed and he will have updates on all sights and sounds of training camp.

First, it was the Tampa Bay Times last year taking all kinds of unsourced shots at Donald Penn’s weight control, or lack thereof. Joe suggests that if you run into Penn at the mall, you don’t ask him about the infamous rubber shirt.

Then, the colorful fellows at Pewter Report took a questionable shot at Penn’s work ethic two months ago, one that got Penn furious.

It seems that Penn is having the last belly jiggle, as he looks to build on his streak of 96 consecutive starts.

NFL Network cranked out a feature that highlighted Penn’s workout regimen and his quest to reach a new level of fitness — 320 pounds on his 6-5 frame.

As the once undrafted Penn says in the video, “I worked too hard to get here. I ain’t about to give it up.”

In Joe’s eyes, there may not be a better offensive line coach in football — NFL or college — than Bucs offensive line coach Bob Bostad. What he did last year in his first season with the Bucs dealing with injuries and guys getting benched and playing out of position was no less than remarkable.

Wednesday, Bostad took a few moments out of his busy day to talk about how he dealt with all the obstacles last year, how he feels about this year’s unit, and how he was instrumental in the Bucs acquiring former first round pick Gabe Carimi from the Bears, a man he coached at Wisconsin.

Joe senses Bucs fans are geeked for the season to start, and not because they are suffering from wagering withdrawal symptoms or are fantasy league addicts or just plain football junkies.

No, there is something in the air and it’s not just the scent from the perfume of curvy Rachel Watson. It’s the smell of pending victory (no, not napalm). With a revamped secondary, a healthy offensive line and Pro Bowlers sprinkled throughout the roster, there is real reason for Bucs fans to be excited after a lost decade of frustration.

But hold up! The great eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune admits the Bucs are an improved team but is still troubled by a lack of a pass rush, so he told “The Fabulous Sports Babe” on WHFS-FM 98.7.

“There are still a couple of areas of concern. To me, [Josh] Freeman is obvious. Pass rush, pass rush. [Darrelle] Revis helps a lot. Revis is the best. He’s the best at what he does. Nobody disputes that and I think he’s going to be healthy.

“The pass rush to me, they are going on faith a little bit with [Da’Quan] Bowers. [Adrian] Clayborn is good but he’s not Simeon Rice. [Gerald] McCoy had five sacks and a Pro Bowl season. The nose tackle is a negligible factor in the pass rush. And they don’t blitz a lot, at least not effectively. Every year we say [the Bucs need a] pass rush and they get 25 sacks. It’s not good enough. Will Revis help that? Yeah, he will help a little bit. But Johnthan Banks is unproven. As bad as that secondary was last year, they need more than Darrelle Revis.”

Joe knows this is a little water under the bridge, but even though Bucs sack leader Michael Bennett was damaged goods, for the cheap price of retaining him another year and all the space on the salary cap, why not take a chance he could fight through injuries again and provide 10 sacks?

Joe knows Bowers would have been a top-five pick had he not had a bum knee at the time of his draft, but Joe agrees with Kaufman that the team is putting a lot of eggs in Bowers’ basket. While talented, he struggles to stay healthy and hasn’t exactly made people forget Reggie White yet.

Joe likes Bowers a lot. So too do Bucs coaches. But can he provide double-digit sacks this season? The key to the Bucs’ defense may very well fall at his feet.

New Bucs quarterbacks coach John McNulty talks to Joe about being reunited with his old coaching comrade Greg Schiano, what may have been the reason for Josh Freeman’s troubles last year and the outlook he has on both Freeman and the Bucs offense for the 2013 season in this WDAE-AM 620 audio.

The electronic sports media czar of the Tampa Bay area, J.P. Peterson of WDAE-AM 620, has a video wrap-up of today’s events as the Bucs reported to One Buc Palace for training camp as can be found on his website, TampaBaySportsCentral.com.

Joe goes very deep on all things Bucs cornerbacks and more with the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig, in the audio segment below.

Joe hit the WDAE-AM 620 airwaves (also 95.3 FM) earlier to kick off the “JoeBucsFan Hour” with Duemig, now every Wednesday at 5 p.m.

Enjoy.

Joe hit the WDAE-AM 620 airwaves (also 95.3 FM) earlier to kick off the “JoeBucsFan Hour” with the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig.

Joe and Duemig will attack all things Bucs every Wednesday at 5 p.m. The first half of the audio is below. Joe will post Part II later. Enjoy.

Bucs fans attending the first training camp practice tomorrow might want to watch the guys fielding punts during special teams drills. One of them will be the Bucs’ newest eight-figure earner, Mike Williams.

Joe had a chance to talk about all things special teams with new special teams coach Dave Wannstedt today, and Wannstedt said Williams will be in the mix in the “wide open” punt returner competition.

Last season, and during the Raheem Morris administration, Joe saw Williams practicing as a punt returner, but it was very limited work.

Williams has the good hands necessary to be successful. Whether he can be dangerous is unknown. Williams did not return punts at Syracuse.

There’s also another Buccaneer who was once a hell of a punt returner, but the New Schiano Order will never give him a shot. See the Darrelle Revis video below.

What happens when you put Tampa Bay sports radio icon Steve Duemig and Joe in the same studio to talk all things Bucs for an hour?

Find out at 5 p.m. on WDAE-AM 620. The new, weekly “JoeBucsFan Hour” kicks off this evening. You don’t want to miss this.

Bucs Pro Bowl defensive tackle Gerald McCoy talks about married life, his favorite summer movies, his chats with Warren Sapp and how he thinks the Bucs are on the cusp of defensive greatness in this audio of his press conference today from One Buc Palace, courtesy of WDAE-AM 620.

Donald Penn is but one of three Pro Bowlers opposing defenses will have to tangle with when facing the Bucs’ offensive line.

Some people point to Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan and others as being the best Bucs assistants last season. Joe, for one points to former defensive front seven coach (currently pass rush coach) Bryan Cox.

But it would be hard-pressed to determine how any Bucs assistant did a better job than Bucs offensive line coach Bob Bostad.

Think about it: When was the last time an NFL offensive line coach lost two Pro Bowl players to injury, had a third starter benched and pretty much was shuffling the deck (aside from left tackle Donald Penn), plugging guys into holes and positions to try to find the best mix, and still have an above average offensive line?

Bostad is about as quiet a guy as they come. About the only time one can see any hint of emotion from Bostad is when discussing his offensive line.

On paper, with Carl Nicks and Davin Joseph back healthy, and the addition of former first round pick Gabe Carimi, the Bucs potentially could have the best offensive line in the NFL.

“Yeah, definitely we all have those expectations that we can be a very productive unit up front. Excited just to get them into the room and to have them out there with the work and to plan with all the guys on board, we sure didn’t have the time to do that before,” Bostad told Joe today.

“That’s a good group. I think they all get along together. They gel. They don’t mind working hard. I am really excited about it.”

Now the key is to keep every player on the offensive line upright. With three Pro Bowlers (Penn, Nicks and Joseph), along with underrated Jeremy Zuttah, the Bucs could have a lethal ground game with that top notch unit paving roads for Pro Bowl running back Doug Martin.

Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman was on an NFL quarterback rollercoaster last year. While at times he played exceptional football, there were times — too many times — where it seemed he completed nearly as many passes to the opposition as his own teammates.

Sadly for Freeman, the ghastly nine picks in the final three games is what is fresh in Bucs fans’ memory banks. This is not the Josh Freeman to expect this season, Bucs quarterback coach John McNulty noted when he chatted with Joe today at One Buc Palace.

In fact, McNulty said Freeman’s struggles last season were, in a way, somewhat expected.

“I think as much as anything there is decision-making that goes along with the system. This one puts a lot on the quarterback. It takes some time to get comfortable running that offense. It is similar to when I was in Jacksonville with Mark Brunell. It took a couple of years to get rolling with it. [Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan] “Sully will tell you it took a couple of years with Eli [Manning with the Giants] and he started to roll with it,” McNulty said.

“It takes some time. He has been exposed to a lot of different systems. He has got a lot of knowledge about football but to apply it with all the different reads and everything, it takes some time. I thought that he was making great progress through [2012]. He has kind of continued through that vein through the spring and the past couple of days for the quarterback school. “

This is encouraging information to Joe. Yes, Sullivan worked with Tom Coughlin and Brunell in Jacksonville, and when Brunnell turned the corner, he was one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL and led the Jags to an AFC title game.

Eli Manning’s reversal of fortunes will go down in history and may very well get him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Now will Freeman lead the Bucs to an NFC title game or get two Super Bowl rings? Well, that’s a monster leap right now. But it is very encouraging that Sullivan has experience turning around quarterbacks.

Talk to any Bucs representative — a suit, a coach, a player — and they absolutely crow about the chance the Bucs have for a roadgrader of an offensive line with the return of Pro Bowlers Carl Nicks and David Joseph, starting guards who were felled last year with injuries.

Nicks barely made it to midseason with a nasty turf toe that Joe himself saw in the Bucs locker room and it was indeed gross. Joseph suffered an ugly knee injury in preseason.

But Woody Cummings of The Tampa Tribune, with his own eyes, got a peek at The Toe as players reported to One Buc Palace in the small hours of the morning today. Cummings cast a shadow on just how healthy Nicks may be..

@RCummingsTBO: Bucs LG Carl Nicks showed up for camp this morning with his left toe still heavily bandaged. He missed most of 2012 with that toe injury.

Doesn’t sound good, does it? The thing is, Joe has been doing his homework with trusted Bucs sources the past week or so and none of them suggested Nicks would not be ready to go for training camp.

Bucs coach Greg Schiano offered guarded words about Nicks, stating each player coming back from an injury will have a personally-crafted workout regime that may or may not include lining up for snaps starting tomorrow morning.

Schiano said that with veterans who have proven their mettle in NFL wars (Darrelle Revis, Joseph and Nicks), there is no need to throw them into the fire right away because their past merited a pass. The immediate No. 1 goal, Schiano said, is to ensure guys coming back from an injury are ready to take the field at the New Jersey Swamplands Week 1 against the Jets.

So let it be known, until further notice, this is the season of The Toe.