A student of Vincent Jackson, Shepard shined with his first career catches today.

When one of today’s heroes, special teams ace/wide receiver Russell Shepard, made the Tampa Bay roster this season, it was no given.

Joe had a long chat with Shepard after he got the good news, and Shepard admitted he was on the bubble trying desperately to improve as a receiver while working to stay in the league after a good rookie special teams year for the New Schiano Order.

His perseverance as a receiver paid off today.

[read more]

The Bucs were in NFL hell 10 days ago. Shamed on national television and buried at the bottom of the standings and in most NFL team statistics.

Lovie Smith didn’t panic, and neither did his Buccaneers. [read more]

His first game out from the shadow of Jeff Tedford, Marcus Arroyo opened up the offense.

Offensive coordinators aren’t celebrated very often, not in Tampa anyway.

But Joe’s got to give it up to Game 1 (officially) of the Marcus Arroyo era, the first out from the shadow of Jeff Tedford. The man called a heck of a game today, showed some balls and opened up the offense. And winning quarterback Mike Glennon revealed that a late play installation led to the victory. [read more]

Winner!

Oh, it feels so damn good to have joined the Mike Glennon Mob seven days ago. How about No. 8!

Calm, poised, not always great, but money, big money when it counted today. Glennon busted off 245 second-half yards and two touchdowns to stun the Steelers at the buzzer with a TD toss to Vincent Jackson.

Joe is fired up.

It’s Glennon’s team now. He earned it.

Stick with Joe for so much more out of this stunning victory. Joe will be in the euphoric Bucs locker room.

There were 1,400+ comments in this thread last game. Join the fun.

Joe is typing this here post from Heinz Field, where the weather in the Steel City has been perfect. Joe sees only a few clouds on an otherwise sun-drenched downtown Pittsburgh.

As you have read prior, Joe has no blind hope for the Bucs today, which likely means we will all get a surprise. Bang it here for all your Bucs thoughts from today’s game. As always, you are welcome to e-mail links of illegal video streams of the game among yourselves but pasting them in a comment can and will get you banned.

Have fun, and as always, go Bucs!

There are surprises here, for sure.

The first is rookie wide receiver Robert Herron. It seems his swiss cheese hands have caught up to him in the eyes of Buccaneers coaches. [read more]

Game 4

Bucs at Steelers

Kickoff: 1 p.m. [read more]

Right move or wrong move?

It’s a Bucs road game this afternoon in Pittsburgh, and that means you can be confident Lovie Smith doesn’t want his offense on the field first.

It’s an intriguing philosophy that came to light shortly after the pre-Halloween horror show in Atlanta 10 days ago. [read more]

Has Joe been too harsh on Josh McCown?

Maybe. Or maybe not. That depends on how you interpret the words of Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl winning quarterback, Brad Johnson. [read more]

The pass defense of the Bucs has been Myron Lewis-bad through three weeks.

Damn, it is horrible to watch the Bucs’ pass defense. Pitiful, in fact. Don’t get Joe started on Mark Barron and tight ends. It is the whole lot of them.

Look, if a castaway like Derek Anderson can beat you; if a freaking walk-on at Southern Miss can beat you; if a stud quarterback like Matty Ice can slice you up like Edward Scissorhands, just imagine what a guy like Ben Roethlisberger can do? [read more]

Whether the Bucs like to admit it or not, the offense is now defined by Marcus Arroyo.

These are tough times for Bucs fans. Just look at the win-loss record. Sales of TUMS are up in the bay area, as is alcohol consumption.

So, what to make of what has been a miserable offense when Bucs fans were promised the “Dunkaneers?” Joe is wondering himself. [read more]

Bucs GM Jason Licht

Ahh, the Bucs life. Already talking draft in September. Not good.

But that’s what happens when you’re 0-3 and two of the “easy” home games against backup quarterbacks are in the rearview mirror. [read more]

Wow, Joe can’t remember the last time there were so many garbage college football games on a Saturday night. Duke at Miami looks like the “best” game. Woof.

Feel free to kvetch here about the Seminoles or the Bulls from earlier in the day. Bang it here.

Joe thinks one is better off just concentrating on drinking tonight.

How many points is Gerald McCoy’s return worth?

Atlanta torched the Bucs for eight touchdowns — eight — in less than three quarters last week. Joe even saw droves of Falcons fans leaving the Georgia Dome in the third quarter, apparently tired from all the celebrating at the Bucs’ expense.

The NFL Playbook video crew dove into Bucs Xs and Os and implies a Sunday return of Gerald McCoy could make a world of difference against Pittsburgh. [read more]

Lovie Smith substantially turned over the Tampa Bay roster since arriving in January. Just on offense alone, the turnover was Chucky-like.

The Bucs opened the season with seven new starters on offense. Yet the offense — or lack of an offense — has been truly offensive. But in some circles, despite all the new blood, there is a belief that Lovie still needs “his guys.” [read more]

Underwear football folly led a longtime Tampa Bay Buccaneers analyst to issue an apology to his readers yesterday.

This veteran of all things Bucs feels duped. [read more]

Each week, Joe brings you a map of where you can find local over-the-air-TV games on NFL football Sundays, specifically Bucs games, and the announcers for those games.

Well, as usual, unless you live in Florida or in a state near Pennsylvania, if not the Keystone State itself, Bucs fans will likely have to find a sports bar, or be content with their NFL Sunday Ticket. [read more]

Lovie reacts to Mike Tomlin

Early in the week, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin talked at length about the Bucs and said Lovie Smith is “energized” by an 0-3 start.

“Knowing Lovie Smith, I know he will be undeterred by the start. As a matter of fact, he is going to be energized by it.”

Well, Joe thought that was a strange word to use for any coach that begins a season 0-3. Joe can think of all sorts of words, but “energized” would not be one of them. It seemed strange to Lovie, too. [read more]

Coaches like to talk about how, if players do the little things right, bigger things will follow. And it is true.

Last week the Bucs turned the ball over. Those can be stopped. The Bucs had stupid penalties. Those can be stopped. Bad tackling? Freaking wrap up rather than going for a kill shot. Simple. [read more]

Gerald McCoy explains the Big Ben difference

Most of that movement in and out the pocket you see Ben Roethlisberger doing, it’s calculated and planned by the Steelers quarterback.

That’s the word from Tampa Bay manbeast defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, who served up a scouting report on Big Ben. [read more]