Giants icon Phil Simms and Bill Cowher are convinced “Tampa Bay does not throw the ball well.” Both give their takes on the Bucs-Giants game Sunday in this Showtime Inside the NFL video.

Giants offensive lineman David Diehl claims that Big Blue’s first round draft pick, running back crying David Wilson, is now out of headmaster Tom Coughlin’s doghouse and will get plenty of touches against the Bucs as explained in this SNY video.

Earlier this week, Joe brought an excerpt of Bucs coach Greg Schiano’s appearance on “The Blitz,” with co-hosts Adam Schein and Rich Gannon, heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio. Well, today, Joe has the rest of the interview, word-for-word.

Adam Schein: Rich, right now live on the line, as promised, the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, friend of the radio program, Greg Schiano. Coach, Adam Schein and Rich Gannon. Congratulations on your first win in the National Football League.

Greg Schiano: Thanks fellas I appreciate that.

Rich Gannon: Well coach, you gather all of your information through the offseason program and the preseason, but you never know just quite how a team is going to respond until you get them out there Week 1. My guess is you are pretty pleased what you saw from your football team on Sunday.

Schiano: Well it was, you are exactly right; you are going through those things and even in preseason and going into that first game you are not sure what you are going to see. I was happy we got the win and more importantly, we made a ton of mistakes but we were able to teach from the win column. That is always good.

Schein: Greg, take us through that if you can in terms of the mistakes. As a coach, I don’t want to say that makes you smile because you want to come as close to pitching a perfect game as possible. But if you make mistakes [and] you still win the game, you can’t get too high on the team, [they are] coachable moments as a staff. Take us through what you want to clean up from Week 1 to Week 2.

Schiano: Well Adam, we really, everywhere I have coached, you enjoy the win because they are pretty darned hard to come by. And then when you get in the next day, OK, you put the reality cap back on and it is never as good as you felt when you win and it’s never as bad as you felt when you lost. We had a lot of communication things and, just first-game mistakes. The one positive though is that we were pretty good in the first half and played penalty-free football, held onto the football. I think those two things give you a chance in any game.

Gannon: You think of shutting out a team like Carolina in the first half. Coach, they had 49 offensive plays. The thing that was so surprising to me was I know the game, how it unfolded, I know you are not involved with calling plays from their side, but did you get the sense they didn’t try to push the envelope running the football? You guys had trouble with the run game a year ago but you look at this game, you just dominated, you never let them get going rushing the football. They had 10 yards rushing all day. I guess that is something you prided yourself in throughout the preseason.

Schiano: Well it is, but not just me it’s the players. They prided themselves in that. They believed that if you can do that, you have a chance. Stopping the run makes a team one-dimensional and when that happens, like I said, it gives you a chance and it gives you a chance to get some interceptions.

Schein: I told you before that I was really impressed with Doug Martin; I told you that after the draft. Thought he was perfect for you guys. You know, I don’t even care about his stats and the stats were fine. I was impressed with the hard-earned yards, the tough yards, the yards at the end of the game to control it, to ice it. Tell me what stood out in terms of Doug Martin over the weekend.

Schiano: I think you described it. There were no easy yards with that linebacker corps. I mean he was getting hit and was blowing some people forward. Every yard counts. When you get hit for three but you pull them for four and then it ends up a second-and-six instead of a second-and-seven. And the thing that Doug has done a good job with is when someone makes a mistake and someone does flash in the backfield, Doug can get 12 or 13 when it is second-and-nine. Those are huge differences when you are calling a game on offense.

Gannon: What about Ronde Barber coach. What an incredible game. He gets a sack and gets an interception in his 200th start. Just talk about the transition that he has made going from corner to safety alongside your rookie Mark Barron.

Schiano: I am thrilled for Ronde and thrilled for our team. I am glad he came back. When we first arrived, we wondered if he was going to continue playing. Then he was great when I approached him with a position change. At that point in your career do you really want to be doing that? He has been awesome. He is really good on the field, both in practices and in games, really good in the meeting rooms, teaching our players what it means to be a true professional and he has a flair for the dramatic, right? In his 200th straight game he starts, he makes those kinds of plays and really played well.

Schein: Such a great player, such a great leader for you guys. How about Josh Freeman. How did he play Coach and how did he grade out when you watched the film?

Schiano: I think Josh did exactly what we needed for him to do for us to win. He took care of the football, he managed the clock well. He did all the things in the run game that we needed him to do. Those are the things that the fans generally don’t understand is, he will get you in and out of the correct run play or you know, using the cadence the right way. I was pleased that Josh had a complete performance. You look at the stat line and go, ‘Well, that’s OK.’ He really played winning football and for me, at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.

Gannon: Coach, for me, the big challenge for coaches like yourself with young players and a young football team, is their ability to handle success and turn the page and change the focus onto the next opponent which you know will be a heck of a challenge for your football team going up to New York to face the Giants. Any sense as to how the team, as you watched them on Monday come in on Tuesday, is this a team that is mature enough to handle some success and get right back on the gridiron and on the practice field and do the type of work that it will take to repeat this week?

Schiano: Well I think so, but we will find out in [three] days or so. I think they approach things the right way. They know how we are. Just as I said earlier, [a win] is enjoyed for a few hours and then the reality strikes when you throw that tape up. We are very honest with our guys; I told them from the beginning that we are not going to sugarcoat it. We will let you know where we are and where I think our coaches do a real good job of is, giving them what we believe to be the formula of winning success that week. I think it changes each week. I think your opponent’s strengths and weakness as compared to yours, will adjust and hopefully after a good day of game-planning we will have a clearer picture. But you hit it on the head; this is a great challenge going up to New York to play the defending super bowl champs. I think that will get everyone’s attention.

Gannon: Coach, difficult to lose good players, you lost Davin Joseph to an ugly injury. How did Ted Larsen fare at the right guard position on Sunday?

Schiano: I thought Ted really battled. I thought he did some good things. Everybody makes mistakes, you know that. But you hit it on the head. Losing Davin Joseph was a huge loss to our football team. Not only on the field but in the locker room and from a leadership standpoint. I am anxious, he has had his surgery and is in the early stages of rehab, but pretty soon here, I think he will be able to be around the building a lot more and be around the line a lot more because he has vowed to do everything he can in the role he is in now to help us win.

Schein: Mike Williams is an interesting guy for you guys Coach. I think the presence of Vincent Jackson will help him. You know, Mike has been through a lot on the collegiate level and on the professional level. Flashing brilliance at times, other times his work ethic on the field or his off-field issues have been questioned, you know, clean slate I am sure with you. What have you seen in terms of offseason practice, preseason and then in-game over the weekend over Mike Williams?

Schiano: I have seen a guy who is committed to being the best he can be, I really have. He has bought in hook, line and sinker and has worked his tail off. His receivers coach, PJ Fleck, said he busts his hump every day in practice. I am excited. With Vincent on the other side and when we get Arrelious Benn back healthy again and we have Preston parker, we have some guys that will allow mike — last year he was having the coverage rolled to him and he was getting doubled. Now he was getting some one-on-one coverage which is great.

Gannon: Greg always a challenge coming out of the preseason, players coming together to play special teams not having played together and rookies out there. Tell me about how your special teams performed.

Schiano: You know, we were boom or bust. Had a great blocked punt which was a huge momentum regainer so to speak. Things weren’t going as well as it had gone in the first half and we were able to block a punt and then score which made it a two-possession game. I thought that was great. We could have done better in some other areas, so that has been a real focus. Special teams are getting a lot of attention down here. Especially from the head coach. A little disappointed but we will improve. I think what we need to do is get some guys healthy and get them plugged into their normal positions and let them build some cumulative repetitions.

Schein: Anything special for you going back to Jersey Sunday after spending so many years with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights?

Schiano: Well, it is home and I grew up in the shadow of that place. Certainly I will have a lot of familiarity. But as you know when you go home you have to get a lot of tickets ready.

Schein: Coach as always, great stuff. Congratulations on that good looking win against the Panthers and best of luck against the Giants; we will talk to you again real soon.

Not a bad vertical leap for the biggest man on the field[/caption]

Those who watched the Bucs-Panthers broadcast heard FOX analyst Mike Martz and his play-bay-play cohort say that the human armoire, Bucs guard Carl Nicks, weighs 380 pounds — 380 pounds!

This seemed like a bloated figure to Joe, even if Nicks is a manbeast and clearly exceeds the 349 pounds he’s listed as on the Bucs roster.

Wednesday, Nicks hopped on the digital scale in the middle of the Bucs locker room, stepped off and did a Popeye-like flex of his biceps before letting out a manly yell at Joe standing nearby.

Joe asked Nicks, “what’s the number?” and Nicks said, “I’ll never tell.”

So Joe proceeded to tell Nicks what the FOX team said about his weight. Nicks seemed a bit annoyed by the commentary and asked who the announcers were. Joe filled him in, and Nicks seemed eager for a second to tell Joe his real weight, and then Nicks told Joe he didn’t believe the announcers really said that. Joe told Nicks to watch the tape, and Nicks laughed.

So how much does Nicks weigh? It remains a mystery. Joe just hopes it’s too much, combined with too much strength, for the Giants defensive line to handle.

Jill Arrington — remember her? — and good guy Peter Schrager discuss why the Bucs may have a tiny edge over the Giants this week in this FoxSports.com video.

New York-New Jersey scribes detail how Schiano hasn’t changed

One cool thing Joe enjoys is reading the papers that cover the next Bucs’ opponent each week. Given the fact the Bucs are facing a team from the largest media center in the western hemisphere, there is no shortage of Bucs-Giants related content.

Since Bucs coach Greg Schiano coached, basically, the college football program that represents the greater New York metropolitan area, as the sport is down the totem pole of sports attention there, guys who knew Schiano or covered Schiano are here in the Tampa Bay area now to write stories on the former Rutgers leader.

So it’s an interesting perspective Joe is getting from the likes of Steve Politi of the Newark Star-Ledger, the favorite newspaper of Tony Soprano (played by Rutgers alum James Gandolfini) who explains that Schiano didn’t leave for the NFL, but Rutgers joined the NFL.

Was this really an NFL training complex in South Florida? Or was this another football practice in Piscataway?

Greg Schiano, it turns out, didn’t leave Rutgers. He brought it with him, and the similarities are so overpowering you don’t know where to begin. The same chant — “one-two-three family!” — to break the huddle before practice. The same locker room clock counting down the seconds to the next game. The same manic attention to detail, including setting the temperatures in the meeting rooms to 68.5 degrees. Some of the same people, even — 11 of them, to be exact, from the players to the trainers to the assistant coaches to the front-office staff.

Even the same corny catch phrases. Ronde Barber, an NFL veteran of 16 seasons, went on his radio show and preached about how each game was its own season and that this week was the Giants season, sounding so much like his new coach it was like he was reading a script.

This just speaks to Joe about the man that Schiano is. He learned from coaches like Joe Paterno and Bill Belicheat, among others, what it takes to win, and he isn’t deviating from what has worked for him in the past.

Schiano is a man of character and it’s cool that he hasn’t changed his ways just because he’s in the big leagues now.

The Bucs offensive line is thin, thanks to the season-ending injury to Pro Bowl right guard Davin Joseph suffered in the preseason.

But word comes out of One Buc Palace that his linemate on the right side, tackle Jeremy Trueblood, is not practicing, per WDAE-AM 620 Bucs beat reporter Tom Krasniqi.

@TKras: #Bucs RT Jeremy Trueblood riding the bike today and not taking part in team drills…His left leg was wrapped

This is not good news in the least. Is Trueblood the best right tackle in the league? No. But there is a reason he is starting.

Now, it’s very possible that the Bucs could be facing the most fierce defensive front line with backups starting at both right guard and right tackle.

This is not something the Bucs want nor need.

UPDATE: Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger reports that not only does Trueblood have a sleeve on his leg, he was limping.

One of the cool things — and there were many for Joe — about the Bucs’ win against Carolina last week was how rookie running back Doug Martin, in his first NFL game, ran for 95 yards on 24 carries, nearly four yards a carry, against perhaps the best linebacker unit in the NFL.

These were not easy yards, these were rugged yards, bruising yards, yards that Martin felt for a couple of days after the win.

Consider popular sports personality Adam Schein impressed. Schein, in addition to his duties at SiriusXM NFL Radio, CBS Sports Network and SNY, also finds the time to type a weekly column for NFL.com and believes Muscle Hamster will give the Super Bowl champs fits Sunday.

Buc the trend

Coach Greg Schiano has changed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers culture less than a season after the team quit on Raheem Morris. A key part of Tampa’s future, and the win over the Carolina Panthers, was the hard running style of Doug Martin. Appearing on SiriusXM Blitz, Schiano gushed that Martin “pulls people forward. If we have (to go 3 yards), he pulls for 4. If there’s a breakdown up front, he gets to the line of scrimmage.” The Giants couldn’t stop the Cowboys’ DeMarco Murray in Week 1. Martin will be a handful for them on Sunday.

This will be the key element in game. The Giants have no running game to speak of. If the Bucs defense can stop the Carolina rushing game (10 yards — 10!), the Bucs should be able to contain the Giants’ running backs.

If Martin can get going against a beastly Giants defensive front, this will keep the ball out of the hands of two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning.

It’s classic keepaway football and right up Greg Schiano’s alley: take care of the ball and eat up the clock.

Have an issue with this? Call Schein and discuss the subject with him on the air at 1-877-NFL-KICK.

Bucs defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan says Eli Manning is so good reading defenses before the snap it will neutralize the Bucs’ knowledge of the Giants offense.

There’s all kinds of chatter — and more is coming — about how the Bucs’ defense will have some sort of edge after learning the ins and outs of Eli Manning and the Giants offense from offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan, who spent last season as Manning’s QB coach.

Bucs defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan, however, thinks Eli Manning will overcome any edge pre-snap.

“I know there might be some perception that there’s a distinct advantage from a knowledge standpoint that we might have because Mike’s here, and just coming from that offense, but they do such an outstanding job, or Eli does in particular, of checking plays at the line of scrimmage. So unless you’re able to really confuse them with different looks, you know, he’s going to get them out of bad plays and put them into good plays,” Sheridan said. “So, yeah, there’s some familiarity with what they do, again, we base our plans off the film anyway, but Eli’s probably as good as anybody in the NFL as far as getting the clock down and really making you show what you’re going to do and then [him calling] the best play.”

Sheridan is likely 100 percent on the money. However, Joe and Bucs fans can remember back to how the Bucs’ secondary was seemingly two steps ahead of the Raiders and Jerry Rice in the Super Bowl, and how so much of that was related to Chucky’s intimate knowledge of the Raiders’ offense and Rich Gannon.

This is Sullivan’s week to show he can do the same.

Bucs great Ronde Barber recently dared to enter “The Jungle,” better known as popular national sports radio host Jim Rome’s lair. Barber talked about his 200th consecutive start and about new Bucs coach Greg Schiano.

There may be few people you know that are bigger college football fans than Joe. Why, it’s not uncommon for Joe to inhale 12 hours of football on a Saturday (and untold beers).

It’s not uncommon for Joe to go to a watering hole with two giant HDTVs in front of him, and Joe’s Google Nexus 7 tablet on the bar streaming a game so Joe can watch three games at once.

Shoot, Joe’s such a college football whackjob, he’s even caught himself watching Hawaii games in the small hours of a Sunday morning.

Often, Joe looks forward to watching college football on Thursday nights, partly because it is a harbinger of a long work week near its end. However, given the choice of a Big Least game and a powerful matchup between two iconic NFL rivals, Chicago at Green Bay, it’s a no-brainer for Joe.

Ice up the beers and watch the battle of the Midwest.

Greg Schiano, however, is not in the same boat. If he does watch any of the Rutgers-South Florida game played at the stadium on Dale Mabry Highway tonight, Schiano boasted he will be cheering for the Scarlet Knights, not hometown South Florida, as noted by Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times.

@gregauman: Amazed folks in Tampa are surprised/offended Greg Schiano is pulling for Rutgers tonight vs. USF. Spent 11 years there. Deep personal ties. To have any expectation for him to actively cheer against Rutgers is to say you have no understanding of who Schiano is.

Exactly! It is not like Schiano is trying to Pearl Harbor Skip Holtz and his program. Schiano has deep, personal relationships with probably every player on the roster for Rutgers.

Schiano isn’t a fraud like Bobby Petrino, he’s a standup guy. Had Team Glazer not come calling, it’s highly probable that Schiano himself would be coaching Rutgers tonight.

To unload on Schiano for sticking up for his former players, players he considers extended family, is highly myopic if not narrow-minded.

Joe finds it comical how some of his media brethren get worked up when Greg Schiano won’t offer every last ounce of detail about a player’s health.

It’s as if these media types can’t imagine a scenario in which a sound diagnosis is not available on demand. Meanwhile, recent Bucs history with post-surgery Chris Simms, pre-surgery Brian Price and Arron Sears are just a few examples of situations that needed extended time to diagnose. 

That brings Joe to LeGarrette Blount, who was tackled on the field Sunday, then got up, and after doing some bizzare leg movements, fell to the turf and clutched his knee while flexing it repeatedly at the same time. Blount didn’t return to the game but literally ran out of the locker room.

Greg Schiano essentially said a few different ways on Sunday and Monday that Blount needed more time to be evaluated and his condition was unclear at that time. Then Stephen Holder, of the Tampa Bay Times, digested that and took to Twitter on Tuesday to take a shot at Schiano and call shenanigans.

@HolderStephen – Schiano won’t like me saying this, but oh well. He’s extremely evasive when talking about neurological issues. Makes one wonder about this

It’s seems Holder just coudn’t fathom the possibility that Blount truly needed more medical testing, and as it turns out the team sent Blount to North Carolina to see a specialist. Gee, whaddya know. Schiano wasn’t being evasive, just honest, and responsible by not speculating about a guy’s health.

A: Well, I think it starts with trusting each other, that everything is on the up and up and there’s no shenanigans. Belief in what we’re doing, I think that’s huge. Holding each other accountable. Those aren’t football X and O things, those are core values that I think as an organization allow you to do all the X and O things and strength and conditioning things, and film study, and community relations; all the things that go into being an NFL football team. Without core values, I don’t know if you can do any of that successfully.

Joe thought the “no shenanigans” line was so appropriate in light of the Blount situation. It would have been shenanigans if Schiano had, in fact, elaborated on Blount’s medical condition without knowing all the facs.

Giants defensive lineman Chris Canty speaks openly about why the Giants stunk against the Cowboys to open the season, how the Giants can right their wrongs and how they are preparing for the Bucs this week in this SNY video.

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Giants tight end Martellus Bennett is the brother of Bucs defensive end Michael Bennett.

Usually when Joe thinks of brothers and the Giants and Bucs are concerned, naturally Joe thinks of Ronde Barber and his twin brother Tiki. But there’s another pair, largely overlooked.

When the Bucs hit the New Jersey Swamplands Sunday, Bucs defensive end Michael Bennett will square off against his brother, Martellus Bennett, a Giants tight end.

Sometimes, the two brothers are so tight, this can create an uncomfortable moment as Martellus found out, told by Ralph Vacchiano and Ebenezer Samuel of the New York Daily News.

There was a moment last December, when the Dallas Cowboys visited Tampa Bay, that Martellus Bennett forgot which team he was on. When his brother, Bucs defensive end Michael Bennett, sacked Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, he got caught up in being a fan.

“I was on the sidelines and I was like, ‘Yeah! Good sack! Good sack!’” Martellus recalled on Wednesday. “Then I turned around (and yelled) ‘Somebody block that MF-er, man, what y’all doing out there?!’ ”

Now Joe is OK with Martellus if he secretly cheers while Eli Manning lay prone to the turf Sunday.

To Joe, an unsung bright spot in a dark, dark season last year was Michael Bennett, and it seems his play has continued if not improved so far in 2012. That’s good news for Bennett and probably bad news for the Bucs (in the long run) as this is a contract year for Bennett and pass rushers are paid handsomely.

On Sunday, Joe just has a hunch that chasing down Manning will be a tad easier than trying to corral Cam Newton.

Ahmad Bradshaw and the Giants rushing attack were impotent against the Cowboys to open the season

In what Paul Schwartz of the New York Post calls “the time-honored dance of the beaten,” the Giants claim they can correct their rushing woes, which led to an opening-game loss to the Cowboys.

But panic seems to be setting in in Gotham, Schwartz writes. The Giants haven’t been able to run the ball consistently for a season, and now facing the sudden new rush defense kings of the NFL, the Bucs, Big Blue followers are worried that an 0-2 start may mean no Super Bowl title repeat in the Big Apple.

The caution flag goes up with the rushing attack, as the only background information is of the indicting variety. The Giants of 2011 were first in the hearts of their fans and last in the league in run offense and, until otherwise, not much has changed. Even the 82 yards gained against the Cowboys comes with a disclaimer that should read, “Caution, objects under this stat column are not as acceptable as they appear.’’ The Giants were swarmed up front and the 33-yard run Ahmad Bradshaw ripped off in the fourth quarter came with the Cowboys leading 24-10 and more than willing to trade yards on the ground for time off the clock.

The Buccaneers on Sunday represent the league’s top-rated run defense, a Week 1 designation based on the 10 — yes, that’s correct, 10 — rushing yards they allowed to the Panthers. Sure, Jonathan Stewart did not play and, no doubt, the Panthers gave up even trying to run it with only 13 attempts all game in their 16-10 loss. But still. When DeAngelo Williams gets the ball six times and comes away with minus-one yards of production, it’s worth noting. Ten yards is nearly nothing, or, as Bucs safety Ahmad Black told Tampa reporters, “Ten yards rushing … that’s Pop Warner.’’

“They had a great game defensively against a very good Carolina team that usually puts up a lot of yards rushing,” Giants guard Kevin Boothe said. “That’s impressive. I think that definitely raises eyebrows around the league.’’

It’s not just scribes and fans of the Giants that are worried. Giants headmaster Tom Coughlin admitted as much in his conference call with Bucs beat writers today.

“Any time you don’t have success you have concenrns,” Coughlin said. “We need to move people off the ball.”

One can see where this is going. The Giants’ front line is not moving defenders, the rushing game is stagnant, and the Giants will be facing what could be a strong rush defense by the Bucs led by Gerald McCoy, who Coughlin lauded as a budding NFL star.

“He’s very explosive,” Coughlin said of GMC. “He does a nice job rushing the passer and plays the run hard.”

Joe can see where this is headed: The game will break down to Eli Manning’s arm vs. Doug Martin’s legs. And since Joe is in a good mood, here is an oldie but a goodie song to send you into the evening.

The guy with the Bucs’ only touchdown grab this season is feeling pretty darn good. His head coach just told a national audience about his work ethic, and Sunday’s win against Carolina revealed that success should come easier for him this season. Joe talked to Mike Williams about this stuff today.

JoeBucsFan.com: Speaking on SiriusXM NFL Radio this week, Coach Schiano raved about how you’ve been really busting your “hump” in practice and he’s impressed? What’s changed with how you’re working now?

Mike Williams: Nothing’s really changed. You can even ask the coaches from last year. That’s one thing that I really try and stress for myself, to bust myself down in practice, work as hard as I can. That’s how I feel. I’ve got to do that. It’s just the first time these coaches have seen me do it, so I take it as a compliment. I take it as that’s my job. I have to work as hard as I can in practice to actually keep a spot and help this team win.

Joe: I know you have played a lot of basketball in past offseasons. Did you do anything different to prepare for this season?

Williams: Same thing. I play a lot of basketball. I stay in shape and try to be in my best shape for the start of camp. I did the same thing, played basketball and came to camp.

Joe: Coach also mentioned how he could tell already how you didn’t get the coverages rolled your way like last year and how excited he is for what you can do going forward? Did you feel a difference against Carolina with Vincent Jackson getting more attention?

Mike Williams: Oh, yeah. We got a lot of cover 4 coverages and he got the two-high coverages on his side a lot of the time in passing situations. So it felt a lot different. It felt good, too.

Update, 4:34 p.m.: The official injury report says Blount has a neck injury.

Update, 7:00 p.m.:  The Tampa Bay Times is reporting Blount is cleared to play and will practice tomorrow.

Greg Schiano dumped cold water on various theories surrounding LeGarrette Blount’s attitude and work ethic.

Schiano said at his news conference that Blount has been a “good” worker. “There haven’t been any problems with LeGarrette,” Schiano said. “He’s a team guy.”

Schiano also said Blount’s medical issues being explored are simply the result of team doctors looking for answers. Blount was scheduled for MRI tests today.

“When things don’t add up, you keep digging,” Schiano said.

The link between the Super Bowl champion Giants and the Bucs doesn’t just start with the assistant coaches the Bucs hired from the Giants in the offseason, nor Eli Manning’s budding friendship with Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman.

No, the link goes back to when Tom Coughlin was coaching the Jags and Schiano was looking to NFL pastures when he was a secondary coach at Penn State.

“I interviewed Greg one time when I was at Jacksonville and he went to Chicago,” Coughlin told the Tampa Bay pen and mic club via teleconference this afternoon. “I have followed [Schiano’s] career from a distance and was very much aware of his presence at Rutgers and on occasion visited with Greg. I think highly of him.”

Both Schiano and Coughlin drink from the same football well. Coughlin, along with Bill Belicheat, were two main branches rooted to the Bill Parcells coaching tree. Schiano is a Belicheat disciple through and through.

So while the Bucs may have knowledge of the Giants’ inner-workings though Schiagno’s dealings with Coughlin and both Bucs coordinators having worked under Coughlin, so too does Coughlin know the Bucs.

“The entire [Bucs win over Carolina] was a positive relection of Greg and his values and what he has tried to instill on his team,” Coughlin said.

The man Bucs fans hope Gerald McCoy will toss around like a ragdoll Sunday, Eli Manning, took to the WFAN-AM New York sports radio airwaves yesterday and referenced multiple times how the Giants need to jack up their intensity for the Bucs.

Manning made it clear that the Super Bowl champs lost their edge in their home opener.

“It was a wakeup call, and we kind of got used to winning,” Manning said of the Giants’ opening-night loss to Dallas. “We got to get back to the way we worked late in the season last year. Just our intensity, the way we came out and practiced each week. And so it’s about getting into that rhythm, and hopefully we’ll get back into it this week.”

One could say the Bucs are catching the Giants at the wrong time, an angry, re-focused team desperate for a win at home. Or one could say the Bucs get the Giants at the just the right time. Tampa Bay is healthy and New York is still finding its footing and might have had their confidence shaken a bit in Week 1.

Regardless, Joe expects an extraordinarily physical football game Sunday, a great measuring stick for the New Schiano Order.

Those Gators are supposed to be pretty smart, and it seems Ahmad Black is perpetuating that perception.

Black has been glued to Ronde Barber for months, so Barber explained last night on Total Access on WDAE-AM 620.

“Every single workout I’ve done this offseason, I’ve done it with Ahmad Black,” Barber said. “So, you know, I’ve spent a bunch of time with him in these past couple of months. There’s a lot of things that I probably don’t even realize I’m doing that’s rubbing off on these [young players]. I hope that it is because that’s how it was for me. And whenever my mentoring days are over here, whenever that is, I hope some of what I’ve learned over my 15 years going 16 years in the league rubs off on them. And the position in general is better off, that’s how guys always presented it to me when I was young, that when they left part of them was still with me and it made me a better player. Hopefully it’s the same going forward with all the guys I’m working with now.”

Barber’s always been known as a mentor to his young mates in the Bucs secondary, but this interview and others done by Barber recently lead Joe to believe Barber has embraced the role more than ever before. This is such a good thing for Black, Mark Barron and others.

Below is the entire interview with Barber, who details his rehab from a severely broken arm and more. Barber also explains how Greg Schiano wanted to know if Barber could jump before he moved him to safety. Barber was a bit insulted and explained that he could dunk a basketball “if I could palm it.”

It’s starting to get weird about the Bucs and LeGarrette Blount.

Blount was taken out of the game Sunday after being injured in some way — he was tended to while lying on the ground — and never played again, though later coach Greg Schiano said he could have played, but added he didn’t know what was wrong with Blount (nevermind Schiano has direct access to team trainers).

To Joe’s untrained eye, it appeared Blount may have had a cramp.

After the game while in the bowels of the stadium on Dale Mabry Highway, Joe witnessed Blount running off the field and into the tunnel to the locker room at a brisk pace; he was the very first player off the field. Just a few brief moments later, Joe witnessed Blount sprinting out of the Bucs locker room and exiting the stadium, well before media was granted access to the Bucs locker room.

To Joe’s untrained eyes, Blount didn’t seem injured but it was very curious to Joe why Blount didn’t want to celebrate the upset win with his teammates on the field and why he was in such a mad rush to get out of the stadium. The fact he dodged media members makes Joe immediately wonder just what he is hiding?

Well, late this morning, Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik accounced via the Bucs official Twitter feed that Blount will have an MRI on his neck and back and a concussion has been ruled out by team officials.

@TBBuccaneers: Blount will get an MRI on his neck and his back. Dominik says player safety always comes first. … GM Mark Dominik says RB LeGarrette Blount will not be at practice today. Dominik says Blount definitely does NOT have a concussion.

Joe just smells something odd here. No, Joe’s not looking for conspiracies under rocks or trying to connect dots that are not there, but adding everything up, it just seems weird.