Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe loves when Carlson fires away. Carlson is often seen as a football color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company,America’s Best Quarterback. Plus, he’s a really cool dude.

Greg Schiano certainly marches to the beat of his own drum and it is clear that Buccaneers’ players are marching right along with him and the results are quite impressive.

Although I was against the kneelgate fiasco against the New York Giants, maybe, just maybe, it was a significant piece in helping to establish the personality of Schiano’s football team, a hard-scrabble group that will play hard each and every down, even when the game is all but over.

Schiano came into a team early this year much like Tony Dungy did in the 1990’s, with much the same gameplan for turning the team around. A tough defense and a conservative, run-first offense were the keys to success. 

Dungy was successful building his stellar defense, but fought against improving his low-scoring offense with coordinators Mike Shula, Les Steckel and Clyde Christiansen. They all ultimately failed to beat the Eagles in the playoffs in successive years and it led to Dungy’s dismissal.

What seems to separate Schiano from Dungy, not only in their significant differences in personal demeanor, but is his willingness to embrace a more wide-open offense that has produced record-breaking numbers recently.

Dungy was able to win a Super Bowl when he took his defensive philosophy to the big-strike offense run by Peyton Manning. Schiano is ahead of Dungy’s curve by allowing Mike Sullivan to evolve quickly from the ultra-conservative concepts of the first month of the season to one of the more exciting big-play offenses in the entire league.

Tomorrow, the San Diego Chargers come to town with the multiple Super Bowl winning offensive coordinator (Dallas Cowboys) Norv Turner as head coach. I gained a lot of respect for Turner as a rookie QB with the Los Angeles Rams, when he was their wide receivers coach. He was learning his offensive strategies well from Ernie Zampese at the time, but now the Bucs have one of his best weapons in Vincent Jackson, who I am sure would like to impress his former coach and team with another stand-out game of big plays!

Veteran Ch. 10 sportscaster Dave Wirth says if the Bucs can survive the smoke from Ahmad Black, and not have their secondary smoked, then they should be in good shape Sunday. Check out Dave’s weekly somewhat wiseguy take below, exclusive for JoeBucsFan.com readers.

What a fantastic event on Saturday from the Ed Morse Truck Team at Ed Morse Auto Plaza in Port Richey!

And they’re not just about trucks. This is where Joe bought his pre-owned Ford 21 months ago. Not a problem since!

There are a lot of things fans could call Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers. Thin-skinned, prickly, obnoxious are a few that come to mind.

But also terms like stud, rocket-armed and gutsy are equally accurate.

How about “elusive?” Well, that word wouldn’t jump right out at Joe. Rivers always reminded Joe of a classic throw-back, statue of a quarterback with no wheels.

That’s not an accurate description of Rivers, so a few Bucs defenders told Joe. In fact, the word “elusive” was thrown out more than a few times.

“He is sneaky elusive,” Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said. “He can slip you. I’m not saying he can scramble. There is a difference between being able to scramble and being elusive. He can slip you and make the throws.”

Bucs linebacker Quincy Black agreed with GMC.

“He can buy time in the pocket,” Black said. “That’s what elite quarterbacks do, they find a way to be elusive.”

Fellow Bucs linebacker Mason Foster was a bit more descriptive in how Rivers, not fleet of foot, avoids the pass rush.

“He buys time by sliding to his left or fight to avoid rushes and get ball to athletic playmakers,” Foster said.

Given how the Bucs pass rush isn’t scaring anyone outside of Bucs fans this season, Bucs defenders know they have a large task at hand in trying to stop Rivers.

“Last time he came down here he lit us up,” Black said of the 2008 Bucs home game that almost knocked the Bucs out of playoff contention. In that 41-24 loss to the Chargers, Rivers tossed four touchdowns, two in the fourth quarter.

“We are always working to get better, each and every week,” Foster said of the porous pass defense. “That is one of the main points we focus on.”

At least for one Sunday, GMC won’t be a fan of Rivers.

“I am actually a fan of his throwing style,” GMC said. “It looks cool.”

Joe just wants to call attention to a cool ESPN.com feature on Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan that posted today.

NFC South Blogger Pat Yasinskas got to cozy up to Sullivan and chat about his days at West Point and as a young Army officer. The entire piece offers good insight into Sullivan, as the Bucs prepare to host the Chargers and numerous military appreciation happenings at the game Sunday, which is Veterans Day.

Sullivan’s not sure if all the lessons he learned in the military are the reason he quickly climbed the ladder through the college ranks and on to the NFL, where he quickly is developing a reputation as one of the league’s best young offensive coordinators. But Sullivan, 45, knows his background didn’t hurt.

“I know that I’ve relied upon it heavily, and that it steers and directs how I approach things and how I try to be very disciplined and also maintain a level head when things are going crazy,” Sullivan said. “I learned that early on in Ranger school, when I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off and a Ranger said, ‘Hey, you’re trying to do well, but you’re nervous. You’ve got to just settle down here and keep a cool head.’ When you keep a cool head, the people around you will keep a cool head.”

As Joe wrote yesterday, if Sullivan’s stunning success as Bucs offensive coordinator continues, his background will make him a hot head coaching candidate this offseason. And a national feature like this only adds to the potential hype.

“Buccaneers 28, Chargers 24,” predicts former NFL coach and front office executive Pat Kirwan, who is now a host on NFL Radio and an analyst on CBSSports.com.

Kirwan and Kevin Corke of CBS break down the game in this video. Kirwan says the combination of the “2-high safety looks” teams are using to stop Vincent Jackson and Mike Williams, plus explosive Doug Martin, makes it a brutal task to handle the Bucs.

Bucs stud wide receiver Mike Williams chats below with Erik Kuselias on “Pro Football Talk on NBC Sports Network.” Among the many subjects discussed was that rookies, in particular Bucs running back Doug Martin, do not get to choose their nicknames. Williams said like it or not, Martin is the “Muscle Hamster.”

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Joe touched on the realities and myths of the proverbial “rookie wall” the other day, but regardless of how the rookie wall translates in today’s NFL, Josh Freeman doesn’t believe it will affect Doug Martin.

Freeman all but said ride No. 22 like the workhorse he is, during The Josh Freeman Show last night on WDAE-AM 620.

 “There’s no question we’re going to play the people that we feel, I mean, the way Doug’s playing right now you can’t take him out. I don’t think Doug’s going to hit a wall,” Freeman said.

As Joe wrote previously, Joe expects the Bucs to ride Martin but completely shut him down if they lock up a playoff spot or get eliminated from the chase. The confidence and production the offense is getting from this guy is just too valuable to mess with now.

Doug Martin’s got 174 touches this season and no fumbles. It’s a standout stat, but the reason behind it is what impresses Chargers defensive coordinator John Pagano.

Pagano chimed in this week on the Bucs rookie and said Martin’s ball security is impeccable.

“When he gets up, even handing the ball to the officials, it’s always high and tight,” [Pagano] said.

Be sure to watch Martin, the coach said, “if you ever want to see a guy who really takes care of the football every time he runs through the line of scrimmage.”

Joe didn’t scount Martin at Boise State, but the bite-the-football, high-and-tight fundamentals of ball security are a never-ending staple of every New Schiano Order practice — for every player.

It’s paying off.

How would you like to cruise the tropics in style? And why not do it with former Buccaneers, NFL greats and other sports celebrities?

ESPN AT SEA has awesome “Big Game” cruises out of Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale in 2013. That’s right you can watch soak up your Super Bowl experience on in style.

Mingle with NFL greats and renowned soccer stars, cruise cheerleaders and more. Click below to learn all about the parties, and the discount for JoeBucsFan.com readers on these fantastic Royal Caribbean ships.

Joe simply doesn’t get the hate Bucs fans hurl at hometown guy Shaun King, one of only three quarterbacks to lead the Bucs to an NFC championship game.

One would think, the way fans embrace Leonard Johnson and (until recently) Ahmad Black, that King would be something of a hero.

The way fans treat King is akin to a hitting a pinata. Just mention King’s name and fans freak out.

Joe simply doesn’t understand the fear and loathing directed King’s way.

King, a former local radio host who is now a popular TV personality with NBC Sports Network and a FOX college football analyst, called in for his weekly appearance on the “Ron and Ian Show” heard on WDAE-AM 620 and was pimping out the Bucs offense and, in particular, Bucs offensive line coach Bob Bostad.

In fact, King said the way the Bucs offensive line played in its first game without All-Pro Carl Nicks validates his premise from before the season that Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik should have unloaded the Team Glazer Brinks truck (Joe saw said truck with his own eyes Wednesday at One Buc Palace) not on Nicks, but on cornerbacks Brandon Carr or Courtland Finnegan.

“They are rolling on offense. I need to make a point that when we signed Carl Nicks, I was not in favor of using those resources on him,” King said. “Ian, you can attest to this, when you have an offensive line coach [like Bob Bostad], you don’t need five pristine pennies, you just got to have a group that plays like a nickel. If you have an offensive line coach and they know what they are doing, you don’t need to have $140 million tied up in three players [on the offensive line} in Nicks, Joseph and Donald Penn. That is why i wish they would have used those resources in getting an elite corner that was available in free agency in Courtland Finnegan or Brandon Carr. You don’t have to have three Pro Bowlers on your offensive line to be efficient and effective as an offensive unit. And this is no way a knock on Carl Nicks because he is as good as advertised.”

That is a very interesting point by King. The offensive line is heavily weighted financially, which given Josh Freeman’s soon to be new contract, leaves little wiggle room for defensive additions.

Oh, and King later raved about Dominik fleecing Bill Belicheat for a fourth-round pick in return for a guy who the Bucs were not going to bring back next year, troubled cornerback Aqib Talib.

To hear the full interview with King, simply click on the little arrow below.

Gerald McCoy loves Bucs fans. He adores them, almost as much as Chucky loves, well, everbody not named Clayton or Glazer.

McCoy heard the anguish and wild commentary of Bucs fans earlier this season, when the Bucs were losing painfully, in tight games they could have won.

And McCoy says he loved every minute of it, so he explained on the Buccaneers Radio Network last night on WDAE-AM 620.

“I think, you know, people panicked a little too early. But fans, that’s what we expect. You know, they’re fans. They’re fans. They’re concerned about their team,” McCoy said. “And honestly, if you’re hearing me say this, I appreciate it. I appreciate the panic because it means you care. But that’s where I step in or the team steps in and let’s you guys know, ‘relax.’ You know, relax, it’s a long season. And we can’t panic. We’re not allowed to. We have to stay the course, keep doing what we’re doing until things start to pan out and work the way, you know, we know they can work.”

McCoy went on to say the early games of this season were just “growin’ pains” and the team is now “really tickin'” and “clickin’.”

Joe was pleased to hear that McCoy understands what being a fan is all about.

McCoy must be enjoying anchoring the NFL’s best run defense, a nice middle finger to all his “fans” that were convinced he was a horrendous football player a few months ago.

You want to piss off Greg Schiano? Either mess with the thermostats, fumble the football, or allow a blocked field goal.

Today at One Buc Palace, Schiano said he’s “very perturbed” by special teams failures this season, specifically two fouls for roughing the kicker (Adam Hayward against Oakland and, Joe presumes, Dekoda Watson against Dallas), and the Raiders’ blocked field goal last weekend.

“I don’t gloss over it. I’ll tell you that. I’m very perturbed by some of the things in the kicking game that have happened that shouldn’t happen,” Schiano said. “There’s no reason for a blocked field goal. I don’t care how great an effort Oakland made. That does not happen, and it did.”

Joe’s notes say the blocked field goal primarily was Jeremy Trueblood’s fault, as Lamarr Houston busted through between Jeremy Zuttah and Trueblood. (Here’s the video.) Trueblood got stood up at the line of scrimmage awfully fast. It’ll be interesting to see if he’s still in that role come Sunday.

Watching Doug Martin go all Gayle Sayers on the Raiders last Sunday was really something to be behold.

Joe cannot ever remember watching a running back destroy an NFL defense like that since O.J. Simpson as a kid during his history-setting 1973 season.

(Yes, Joe witnessed from the second row Ottis Anderson nearly hit 200 yards in his NFL debut against Dallass, but this wasn’t even close to what Martin did in Oakland last week.)

Someone who goes by the perfect moniker of “FantasyDouche” decided to put Martin’s performance this season into NFL historical context.

Let’s just say Martin is walking among impressive fellow running backs.

Although it is a very small sample size (there’s a real, geeky, calculator crowd phrase for you), said “FantasyDouche” claims Martin’s numbers compare with the following running backs, all studs: Arian Foster, LaDainian Tomlinson, Edgerrin James, Ricky Williams, Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson, Clinton Portis, Larry Johnson and Deuce McAllister.

In short, Martin’s yards per carry are ahead of all of the aforementioned sans Chris Johnson, Portis, Larry Johnson and McAllister.

It’s really neat if not chilling to look at those stats and see the names and numbers compared to Martin’s.

Ironically, the slogan chosen by the Buccaneers for advertisements of Sunday’s Bucs-Chargers game is “Unplug The Chargers.” And that will be the case for legions of local Bucs fans, as this game is blacked out from local television.

Blah, blah, blah, Bucs fans didn’t buy 85 percent of the “non-premium” seats available at Raymond James Stadium. The presence of just about zero Chargers fans in the Tampa Bay area didn’t help, but Joe’s not going to run through the endless reasons/excuses tickets aren’t selling. It’s old news.

One reason/excuse is out the window, however. Nobody can call this Bucs offense, or this Bucs team, boring.

A quick look at Ticketmaster.com reveals $30 seats (including fees) are available.

How would you like to cruise the tropics in style? And why not do it with former Buccaneers, NFL greats and other sports celebrities?

ESPN AT SEA has awesom “Big Game” cruises out of Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale in 2013. That’s right you can watch soak up your Super Bowl experience on the in grand fashion.

Mingle with NFL greats and renowned soccer star, cruise cheerleaders and more. Click below to learn all about the parties, and the discount for JoeBucsFan.com readers on these fantastic Royal Caribbean ships.

There’s been no bad-mouthing of Vincent Jackson from his former teammates in San Diego.

And, interestingly, the cornerback slated to cover Jackson on Sunday is leading the love coming out of the West Coast, via the San Diego Union-Tribune. Longtime Chargers veteran CB Quentin Jammer refers to Jackson as a superstar.

While Rivers won’t have to cover Jackson, left cornerback Quentin Jammer will, and he knows what awaits.

“He’s one of the top five wide receivers in this game,” Jammer said. “It’s going to be a challenge, but at the same time, it’s always a challenge you look forward to because of his ability to make plays. Like I said, I’d rank him right there in the top five receivers of this game. It’s going to be matchup that I’m sure he’s looking forward to.”

Joe recommends clicking through and getting more background on Jackson’s time in San Diego.

The Chargers cornerbacks are not a strength. If the Bucs’ makeshift offensive line can hold off the Chargers’ strong D-line, then Joe suspects the Bucs will be keeping the scoreboard operator busy again.

A funny thing happened along the way to the 2012 season. Suddenly, players drafted by Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik began playing like studs.

Why, it was just a few months ago that some Bucs fans wanted to hang Dominik — not just in effigy. Gerald McCoy, the unruly crowd claimed, was a bust. So too was Mason Foster. Roy Miller was a nothing more than a backup. And Josh Freeman was a bust, too. And Mike Williams. The list goes on.

Almost overnight (and not coincidentally with a new, well-respected coaching staff), GMC became the stud player everyone expected, Foster is making a serious bid to have pineapple in his belly in February, Freeman suddenly throwing like an elite quarterback, Williams doing his best Lynn Swann impersonations. Miller has become a rock on the defensive line.

That’s not to mention that three rookies (the Muscle Hamster himself, Doug Martin, Mark Barron and Lavonte David) look to be the cornerstones of the franchise for perhaps the next decade.

Now the naysayers don’t know what to say. It sure looks like Dominik had a clue to what he was doing, no?

Peter King agrees. The cricket-watching, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, craft beer-chugging, Marriott-sleeping, scone-loathing NFL columnist for Sports Illustrated suggests Dominik may very well be the NFL executive of the year.

@SI_PeterKing: So many good candidates for exec of year: Schneider, Grigson, Rick Smith, Dimitroff, Emery.

@SameOleZ: Mark Dominik also?

@SI_PeterKing: Definitely. Should have included him. Done a great job crafting 53-man roster, as has Grigson.

Peter King and friend.

See what happens when good players meet good coaching? Freeman now has legitimate quarterback coaching. GMC and Foster, among others, are playing up to their abilities?

People mocked Joe for his defense of Dominik over the past couple of years. Again, when talent meets intelligent coaching, the results are something to behold.

For Joe, a giant surprise this season has been Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan. The guy is a first-time coordinator and new to calling plays, yet he’s already led the crafting of a powerful offense from scratch and successfully made significant adjustments to his game-planning since opening day.

Sullivan also has to get some credit for Josh Freeman’s renaissance, and his unit’s stats speak for themselves.

Throw in the fact Sullivan is a West Point grad and Army veteran, and has worked for two of the most militant head coaches in the NFL, Greg Schiano and Tom Coughlin, and Joe’s pretty confident Sullivan is going to be a somewhat hot head coaching candidate this offseason if the Bucs offense doesn’t nosedive over the next eight weeks.

Add to that the reality that most teams seeking a head coach also need to develop a quarterback, and Joe suspects Sullivan, from his time with Freeman and Eli Manning, can talk that talk very well in an interview.

Yeah, there’s half a season to play, plenty of time for Sullivan to channel Greg Olson, but the potential loss of Sullivan is real and something Joe’s going monitor. It would be a dreadful loss, assuming the Bucs offense keeps performing. But Joe’s just not seeing how Sullivan won’t land on teams’ radars.

You really don’t want to miss this. Joe had so much fun with the Kilt girls during Thursday Night Football, it was remarkable.

The way the Bucs ended last season and hiring a new, untested coach from the college ranks, Joe wasn’t so sure Ronde Barber wouldn’tblow the whistle on an incredible career.

But with a little cajoling over dinner with Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik and new Bucs coach Greg Schiano, Barber not only decided to return, but to move to safety, which seems to be a common move for aging cornerbacks starting with Ronnie Lott and continuing with Rod Woodson and Charles Woodson.

The move, and playing with young studs like Mark Barron, Mason Foster and Lavonte David, seems to have reborn Barber.

The numbers geeks at ProFootballFocus have noticed this too and are exalting in their reviews of Old Man Ronde.

Reports of his demise…

Last season Ronde Barber looked for all the world like a player that needed to retire. He was missing tackles for fun, and looking badly out of his depth at corner against the league’s best receivers. This season the move to safety seems to have revived him, and his +3.2 grade represents a season best. Barber was thrown at four times [against Oakland], broke up two passes and allowed just 19 yards on three catches.

Now Joe has gone on record disputing ProFootballFocus’s statistics on missed tackles. Joe sure as hell didn’t see so many from Barber.

But Joe does agree it seems like Barber is totally energized. That’s a good thing. And yes, Barber someday deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Greg Schiano spoke of Lequan Lewis’ elite athleticism

In the case of cornerback LeQuan Lewis, it seems the Bucs have taken a flier on a flier.

A little research on Lewis reveals he clocked a 4.29 40-yard-dash time during his college days, and put up sub 4.4 times before going undrafted out of Arizona State in 2011.

Lewis replaced veteran, Schiano-praised cornerback Brandon McDonald on the roster yesterday.

And today the leader of the New Schiano Order made it clear that Lewis, who sniffed a few game paychecks with the Cowboys last season, is all about potential.

“He’s got some skills that if he can peform with those skills within our scheme, he can be a good player,” Greg Schiano said of Lewis. “You don’t know until you do it. You know, so it’s going to be, there’s going to be a little bit of, you know we’ll give him some and see how he does, and if he does well you give him some more. But he can, you talk about being able to run, jump, hit — he can do that stuff as well as anybody. We just got to bring him along and teach him our scheme. Hopefully he’ll do it well in games.”

Joe sees the dump of McDonald and flier on Lewis as the Bucs recognizing that they had no cornerbacks with elite athletic ability. You can’t teach speed and leaping ability, and apparently it’s worth a shot to see if Lewis can run with Julio Jones perform.

This will be an interesting experiment, likely/hopefully no more dangerous than a Myron Lewis sighting.