Team Glazer made feeding big-bellied, beer-soaked Bucs fans a priority this year.

Second-rate dogs and boring burgers are as buried as Josh Freeman jerseys.

[read more]

Bucs fans read deep into their team’s woes and highs out of the preseason opener in Jacksonville. And observers of the Dolphins, the Bucs opponent tonight at 7:30 p.m., did the same thing.

Last week, the revamped Falcons offensive line and Matty Ice absolutely abused Miami. [read more]

Artist Jeff Tedford will not be painting his canvas tonight

You didn’t really think the Bucs’ offensive line was playing for real in the preseason opener last week. That was all part of a great hoax perpetrated by Lovie Smith and Jeff Tedford.

The mysteriousness of the Tampa Bay offense will be a plus when it faces the nasty Carolina defense on opening day. So why not kick the mystery up a notch? [read more]

There are lots of new faces in the Bucs receiving corps, and a chunk of them will stick on the roster.

Yes, the Bucs have holes to fill after Tiquan Underwood didn’t get a return invitation and blade-in-the-thigh, mattress-in-the-yard Mike Williams was shuffled to Buffalo. [read more]

It would be nice if the Bucs offensive line could keep Miami defenders off QB Josh McCown.

As Joe has stated before, he hates preseason football. Joe watches Bucs preseason games, of course, because it is his job. You won’t catch Joe watching one play of preseason another team. Preseason football, well, it’s garbage.

So Joe understands how many Bucs fans, giddy after a too-long offseason, giddy after all the teasing practice stories, sat down all fired up on the couch to watch the first glimpse of the remodeled Bucs… only to end up searching for a poisoning remedy after much of the Bucs front line morphed into turnstiles. [read more]

Austin Seferian-Jenkins could be in a rotation with two other tight ends to start for the Bucs. Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.

If the Bucs have one loaded position it is tight end. Outside of running back, no other position is as deep.

There is Tim Wright, who came from nowhere last year as a rookie to become one of the better tight ends in the NFL. Then there is rookie Austin Seferian-Jenkins, who is a monster. He may not be ready (yet) to start, but as a receiver, he is a matchup nightmare. [read more]

Injured and now lost rookie running back Charles Sims was drafted for a reason. He was going to play. His sweet hands and versatile style were going to be key cogs in the Jeff Tedford machine.

That’s why the Bucs drafted Sims so high, investing a third-round pick, which was a stout price in a league that has devalued running backs greatly. [read more]

Ouch!

The Bucs have suffered their first serious injury of the preseason (not counting wounds inflicted by watching the offensive line last week). [read more]

Preseason is approached differently in Miami

Lovie Smith has spoken recently about how he doesn’t really bother with game planning and blitzing and strategy in his first two preseason games.

Game 3 of the preseason is the one Lovie treats as a dress rehearsal for the regular season. But that’s not necessarily the model across the NFL. [read more]

Former Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik selects his ultimate 53-man roster.

Joe knows fantasy football is all the rage. He gets it, but it’s just not Joe’s cup of tea. Joe’s more into the real football, and there are plenty of games on the tube for Joe to watch and DVR.

As Joe has always said, Joe’s fantasy has nothing to do with football and everything to do with Rachel Watson.

So from what Joe knows about fantasy football (he dabbled in it years and years and years ago), the funnest part is the draft where you get to drink beer and cuss and throw things at people who draft a player you wanted. [read more]

A Charles Sims injury update.

Yesterday at the final Bucs practice of training camp, a jarring sight could be seen just before the lighting alarms went off to delay practice. It was highly-touted running back Charles Sims watching from the sidelines in a walking boot.

After practice, Bucs coach Lovie Smith was rather vague about what was wrong with Sims, saying only the following: [read more]

There seems to be a little fear factor happening at One Buc Palace.

And it adds to the mounting evidence that life under Lovie Smith may be tougher than it was under former Commander Greg Schiano. [read more]

The national freakout about the Tampa Bay offensive line has been heard loud and clear by Gerald McCoy. And No. 93 doesn’t agree with the message.

McCoy issued a firm retort to the mass fear surrounding the Bucs’ offensive line play. [read more]

Lovie Smith keeps praising safety Dashon “Hawk” Goldson for being an extremely intelligent football player.

But why does Lovie think Goldson is so smart, given that he’s never seen Goldson play as a Buccaneer outside of a little Tampa Bay practice time? [read more]

If Da’Quan Bowers can turn things around, the Bucs could turn a weakness into a strength.

Joe cannot begin to imagine the dozens of Bucs fans who were tossed from bars all throughout the Tampa Bay area for winging beer bottles at HDTV screens after watching opposing quarterbacks have enough time to write book reports, all while Bucs defensive linemen were dancing “Ring Around the Rosie” with the Bill Sheridan Stunts.

It was maddening to witness this nonsense week after week. No wonder guys like Warren Sapp and Steve White nearly lost their minds watching this display. [read more]

Bucs WR Robert Herron closed training camp on an upswing and could be in the mix as a slot receiver.

No one really knows what the Jeff Tedford offense will look like when the regular season starts. Of course, the pessimists say without decent guard play, the Tedford offense will look much like the first quarter last week at Jacksonville when Josh McCown was running for his life on each and every play.

A word that has been tossed around a lot is “versatile.” That may come into play with who could play at the slot receiver position. [read more]

Gerald McCoy explains one way Lovie Smith one-ups Greg Schiano

“The ball is the program.”

Damn, Joe heard Greg Schiano say that repeatedly. The man was obsessed with protecting the football and generating turnovers. Consider not a single Tampa Bay wide receiver caught a ball and fumbled it in 2012.

But Gerald McCoy says Lovie Smith is in another league when it comes to forcing turnovers. [read more]

Rookie RB Charles Sims has an ankle injury and Lovie Smith said he will not play for the “immediate future.”

In training camp, NFL team officials do not have to be specific about injuries, nor is there a weekly injury report like during the regular season. What Joe does know is running back Charles Sims will not play Saturday against the Dolphins.

Sims was seen in a boot at the beginning of practice his afternoon. [read more]

Earlier this week, Tampa Bay starting quarterback Josh McCown appeared on “Schein on Sports,” heard exclusively on “Mad Dog Radio,” part of the family of sports channels found on SiriusXM Radio, where he was asked by host Adam Schein who would start on the offensive line.

McCown rattled off the obvious names but when it came to the guards, McCown simply punted and said, in so many words, it is up to offensive line caoch George Warhop. [read more]