In an intriguing and possibly telling move, and one that surely has shaken up every Bucs receiver fighting for a job, the Bucs were awarded WR Jordan Shipley off waivers today.

Shipley had a gruesome knee injury last September while playing for the Bengals. In 2010, his rookie season, the former University of Texas star caught 54 balls. The Bengals released him on Aug. 17.

Joe’s concluding a few things from this move, Shipley is likely healthy. Shipley will play on Friday night. And the Bucs aren’t pleased with some of the guys in their receiving corps listed below: 

Vincent Jackson
Mike Williams
Arrelious Benn
Preston Parker
Tiquan Underwood
Sammie Stroughter
Jordan Shipley
Ed Gant 

With all the hot seats in that receivers room, Greg Schiano might have to adjust the thermostat to meet team standards.

No. 99, the QB Killa, is on the prowl pimping his new book, Sapp Attack. And Sapp landed on WDAE-AM 620 this morning to talk to the Ron and Ian Show but the conversation quickly turned to Gerald McCoy.

Sapp was asked for a scouting report on McCoy, and it wasn’t pretty.

“Looks like somebody that’s thinking,” Sapp said of McCoy. ” Looks like somebody that’s thinking through, you know, where they want to go. The biggest thing I told him this year. He’s gotta get that damn blocker off. He’s gotta shed him. You gotta shed him and go put your horns on people.”

Sapp went on to say “I don’t see his push-pull or his violence.”

You can listen to Sapp’s entire take below. As usual, he’s extraordinarily entertaining.

Sapp says he’s a fan of Michael Bennett and Adrian Clayborn. And he shares more about McCoy, who he says needs to “wake up.” Interestingly, he also says Brian Price didn’t like McCoy. Sapp also explains why Greg Schiano’s fitness test was a wonderful thing to toughen up the Bucs. Great stuff.

Don’t forget that Joe gets after it on the Rays, as well. Joe’s joined at the hip with the famous RaysIndex.com. If you like the Rays, it’s a site you must be addicted to. Click below.

Greg Schiano was quick to heap praise on No. 90 today

It seems the leader of the New Schiano Order is smitten with Roy Miller.

This is somewhat amazing to Joe. It represents quite a turnaround for Miller, who was front and center within the Bucs’ heinous defensive line play the past three seasons.

“As our base down noseguard, he’s made for what we want him to do. He’s very strong. He’s explosive. He’s quick,” Schiano said today of Miller. “I’ve been pleased with Roy our first two games. A mature guy. He’s a grown man that we need. We need some of that maturity out there. Like I said, I’ve been pleased.”

Joe’s pulling for Miller. It’s pretty obvious he’s going to be the starting nose guard. But Joe’s really going to have to see the Bucs stop the run and record sacks before he becomes a Miller believer.

Bucs fans gasped at the sight of starting running back LeGarrette Blount writhing in pain Friday on the middle of the field at the stadium on Dale Mabry Highway, with Bucs medical staff working on his knee.

After the game, it was revealed that Blount “only” hurt his groin. He was walking about on the sidelines and the Bucs locker room with no wrap of any sort on his knee.

NowBucs fans that gasped at Blount getting hurt are breathing a major sigh of relief as Blount was back at practice and told Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune that he was more scared Friday night than hurt.

Blount said the hit that knocked him out of Friday’s game in the second quarter put a scare into him because he took a similar hit a year ago during the regular season that caused more damage than the one he took Friday.

“It scared me a lot, really but I was fortunate enough not to get the same injury as last year,” said Blount, who missed two games with a leg injury in 2011. “The groin was the only part that got hurt this time, so I feel good about it and I felt good today.”

Greg Schiano told the Bucs pen and mic club after practice that Blount “was not limited” in practice.

Had Blount been lost for any period of time, it really would have put a dent into Schiano’s plans to use a two-headed monster in a power running game. After Blount and rookie Doug Martin, the Bucs’ top two backs are fellow rookies Michael Smith and little-used Mossis Madu.

Without Blount, the Bucs running backs are greener than the grass the players play on as far as NFL experience.

When the Bucs last had a great offense, the second half of the 2010 season, Jeremy Zuttah was the starting center for eight games, filling in for injured Jeff Faine.

And last season, Zuttah moved over from guard to make his only start of the season at center when the Bucs punished the Saints behind Earnest Graham rushing for 109 yards and Josh Freeman throwing for 303. It was the Bucs’ last win.

So considering Zuttah’s unique versatility over four seasons and his success at center, the Bucs paid Zuttah this offseason and locked him up as their starting center for typical starting-center money. But ESPN.com NFC South blogger Pat Yaskinskas thinks the Bucs took a huge gamble on Zuttah.

Yasinskas seemed spooked by Zuttah’s rough game Friday.

Jeremy Zuttah, center, Buccaneers. The team made a big leap of faith when it signed Zuttah to a large contract, shifted him to center and ushered Jeff Faine out the door. Coach Greg Schiano had Zuttah at Rutgers and has faith in him. But that faith will be tested quickly if Zuttah doesn’t play better than he did Friday night against the Titans. Zuttah was fine in the opener and a young guy at a new position should show improvement every week. 

Joe finds Yasinskas’ take to be way off base.

Zuttah earned his contract like most players do, by proving himself at the position, and by proving durable and hard-working. Yeah, Zuttah wasn’t sharp on Friday, but neither was anyone else on the Bucs’ O-line.

When Joe watched the Bucs offense and second-string defense struggle mightily against Tennessee, Joe’s first thought was that this was a good thing in the long run.

Why? Because it sets up the New Schiano Order to really crack the whip this week, return hard to the basics and drive home more discipline and focus to the players. The reality is it’s just harder to do that successfully after a game performance is strong.

Speaking on WDAE-AM 620 Sunday, former Bucs tight end Anthony Becht fell into the same camp as Joe. Becht feels good about the timing of the Bucs’ bad loss.

“Going into that second preseason game, trying to amp it up and build on what you did last week [in Miami] when you saw success and had a little bit of that in front of you, you wanted to come out a little stronger in the second game. You kind of look at it and take it with a grain of salt, but I think it’s good with Coach Schiano that he gets a game like this early in the preseason, so now he can really press the buttons a little more,” Becht said.

Becht went on to explain that the Bucs have had a tough training camp and, essentially, the poor results Friday allows that beneficial atmosphere to continue and ramp up successfully for another week, verus the Bucs possibly falling into a “cruising” mentality if they had dominated a meaningless preseason game.

Keep your foot on the pedal, Schiano. (Becht’s entire interview is below.)

Joe senses a level of panic building among Bucs fans after the lackluster loss to the Titans in the second preseason game of the year.

The defense, fans bark, is a throwback to November 2011, a frightening thought indeed. But lost is the fact that the Bucs defense started the game with three, three-and-outs, which pleased Bucs coach Greg Schiano.

Joe had a fan Twitter him just today, thinking quarterback Josh Freeman will be no better than his 22-interception season last year because said fan thought Freeman telegraphed a couple of passes Friday night.

In short, as Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said after Friday’s game, it’s preseason.

“We can fix it, we can fix it,” GMC said. “We just have to get it on tape and get on the grind. Not saying we haven’t been, but this is preseason and this is where you make your mistakes and make your corrections so on Sept. 9 we have those things behind us.”

Exactly the point. Rarely if ever is a team going to show its hand in a preseason game. Often, players are asked to work on very specific moves that may expose them.

There’s no reason to panic over Friday’s game. If this play continues into October, then perhaps.

E.J. Biggers raised an eyebrow this offseason when he talked about how the New Schiano Order is helping him know better about where to be on the football field versus his 2011 coaching staff.

Interestingly, Ahmad Black, the Bucs’ defensive star Friday with an interception followed by a quality return, also said there’s more focus this year on reponsibility in the secondary.

Buccaneers Radio Network locker room show host TJ Rives asked Black what’s new and different for defensive backs under the New Schiano Order.

“He’s basically, you know, he’s pressing us to make sure we know our defense and know our reponsibilities and to do our job like we always stress,” Black said.

It’s repeated comments like these that give Joe hope for the defense in 2012. They reinforce Joe’s belief that poor coaching and leadership, rather than a lack of talent, led the Bucs to a historically ugly defense.

Bucs Pro Bowl guard Davin Joseph checked in after the Bucs-Titans loss with the Buccaneers Radio Network on WDAE-AM 620. Among several takes in the interview below, Joseph explained of the offense, “We were just a little bit timid.”

Two fair catches were part of Preston Parker’s quiet night Friday.

And while that doesn’t seem like a big deal, those two fair catches were key bounce-back steps for Parker, who had fumbled away a punt in the preseason opener and committed a senseless personal foul.

“You can’t dwell on it other than to correct it,” Parker said. “We’ve been working on my technique. It was just something that happened in Miami. Stuff happens and you have to go and correct it the next time you get a chance. I was going out there to make sure I caught the ball securely [against Tennessee]. I had the fair catches, so I just made sure I caught them.”

Parker’s an interesting study. The guy was a stellar third-down receiver last season, one of the very best in the NFL, but he’s less-aggressive and much less sure-handed as a returner.

Though Joe’s unsure why, it seems the Bucs are set on Parker being their No. 1 returner. 

In 2011, Parker finished ranked 35th in the NFL in yards per kick return (10 or more attempts). Sammie Stroughter was 14th.

Parker also was one of the worst punt returners in the NFL in 2011. He led the league in fumbles on punt returns with six, and Parker ranked 23rd in yards per return among those with 10 or more opportunities. And Parker only had three punt returns of 20 yards or more and never “broke” one.

It feels to Joe like the Bucs are forcing the issue with Parker in the return game. This leads Joe to conclude that the prospects for Stroughter making the team aren’t strong.

Ted Larsen still draws on lessons learned in Patriots training camp

While it’s hardly sexy to talk about reserve offensive linemen, these guys are critical. To Raheem Morris’ and former offensive line coach Pete Mangurian’s credit, then 2010 backups James Lee, Derek Hardman, Jeremy Zuttah and Ted Larsen miraculously led the Bucs’ offense to its best showing in ages during the second half of that season.

The Keydrick Vincent Experience had gone sour. And Jeremy Trueblood, Jeff Faine and Davin Joseph all went down with injuries, yet the Bucs proved deep at O-line.

As for Bucs’ depth in 2012, Greg Schiano took to the Buccaneers Radio Network pregame show airwaves Friday and went out of his way to praise Larsen, a name we haven’t heard much of this season, which is always a good thing for an O-lineman.

“Ted Larsen is really a guy I think is a solid performer there,” Schiano said of his offensive line depth.

Larsen told Joe he’s working on tapping his experience and maturity and increased strength.

“I’ve got to be that sixth man, that guard, center, and tackle if need be. Just working toward being that guy you can plug in anywhere,” Larsen said. “It’s my third year, and I’m kind of one of the older guys with the second line and I’ve had the benefit of a lot of experience to tap and impart.”

Larsen was a sixth-round pick of the Patriots in 2010. He was cut by New England right before that season started and was signed by the Bucs. Larsen said he and the Bucs should benefit from their upcoming practices with the Patriots. He still has friends in the Pats organization and great respect for Bill Belichick.

“[Belichick] does a great job getting guys prepared. And I draw on that knowledge as much as I can, even now two years later,” Larsen said.

From Joe’s vantage point, it seems the Bucs’s final cuts will not include Larsen, Demar Dotson and veteran free agent pickup Jamon Meredith, who has been seen with the second unit at various positions.

Boy oh boy, was Mark Barron right.

Last week he told Joe, in so many words, that Bucs fans who have come out to training camp haven’t seen the true Mark Barron and wouldn’t until he played his first game.

In Joe’s mind, it was a helluva debut.

The Bucs drafted Barron to be a physical, lay-the-wood safety and Barron showed just that. Barron showed how he has lighting-quick speed. Once, when firing in a scrum to close a game and drop a ball carrier, Barron for a brief moment looked to Joe like John Lynch with closing speed, which brought a smile to Barron’s face.

“John Lynch with wheels, huh?” Barron laughed. “I came out and made a few plays, came out and got a feel for the game. I think it was good to get that in-game experience.”

Barron was held out of the preseason opener at Miami with a bum toe. So Friday was his first chance to play under the lights in an NFL uniform.

“No, I didn’t have butterflies, but I was a little anxious I guess,” Barron said. “I enjoyed it. I feel that getting that experience was good for me.”

Barron didn’t think there was any undo pressure put on him by Greg Schiano or Bucs management but he is well aware of the standards the team has for him.

“They are not putting pressure on me but of course there are certain things they expect of me,” Barron said. “So I have I have that in mind to do those things.”

Things like filling gaps, being physical and punishing opponents.

“I could have played a little faster in my opinion, but that all comes with experience and knowledge with what you are doing,” Barron said. “Once I get more game experience, I will be able to play faster.”

Schiano also dropped a tune that brought Joe back to 1996

The New Schiano Order watched film of last night’s Bucs-Titans game and came away yearning for more thump on both sides of the ball.

Greg Schiano said today that his players need to force themselves to battle through fatigue, which was a factor in the team’s questionable attention to fundamentals last night.

“We didn’t play physically enough on either side,” Schiano said. “You know, if you could say [we were physical] anywhere it would be the early part of the defense, but after that I didn’t think we played as physical as even we did the week before. So we need to get back to work and make sure that pad level and intensity and those things, and then more precise – aiming points, footwork, those kinds of things.

“Why? As a head coach you say, ‘Why is that happening?’ Some of it’s fatigue. No doubt. That’ll get better because we’ll get’em feeling better. But the execution part, you know, you gotta be able to fight through that and execute.”

That all sounds great. But this is the kind of situation that will test the mettle of the New Schiano Order. Can Schiano lead, develop and draw greatness out of a professional team?

Joe knows it will take time. However, the New Schiano Order is operating with extreme urgency, so said Ronde Barber this week.

Schiano also talked about how players need to trust their coaching, which was something former members of the 1996 Bucs have said was a theme during the early days of the Father Dungy regime. Dungyball started 1-8 before things turned around that season.

Joe’s wonders whether fans in 2012 would have less patience for a woeful start than they did in ’96.

Last night after the ugly loss to the Titans, Bucs coach Greg Schiano and running back LeGarrette Blount downplayed what looked to be a major leg injury to Blount late in the first half.

Blount layed on the ground, writhing in pain for some time but walked off — with help — and in the second half was spotted pacing the sidelines in full pads, though limping.

Joe even noticed in the locker room that Blount was not wearing any type of wrap around his left knee, which initially looked to be where the injury occurred.

The injury was deemed a groin injury and today when meeting the Tampa Bay pen and mic club at One Buc Palace, Schiano again stressed how Blount’s injury isn’t major.

“I don’t know how long [Blount will be out] but I don’t think it is going to be serious,” Schiano said. “Will [Blount only miss] this week? I don’t know but I don’t think it will an extended period of time.”

This is big news for the Bucs. Schiano has made no secret that he wants the Bucs’ offense to be a two-headed running back monster, pound the ball early and often, the anti-Greg Olson.

If Blount was unavailable, the Bucs top two running backs would be rookies, Doug Martin and Michael Smith — a backup his senior year at Utah State — with largely unproven yet talented Mossis Madu as your No. 3 back.

Joe’s going to guess that Blount will be shut down for the next two weeks of preseason and that Michael Smith will get some extended work with the first team offense.

Joe would love to see what that guy can do behind the blocking of Carl Nicks or Davin Joseph.

If you couldn’t find defensive tackles Amobi Okoye and Gary Gibson last night, it wasn’t you. Neither played against Tennessee.

This is troubling to any astute Bucs observer. Both of those veterans were brought in to shore up the depth up the gut of the Bucs defense, and that was before Brian Price was sent packing for late-round draft pick. But Okoye and Gibson are nursing injuries. Okoye practiced this week, but Joe’s unsure about Gibson.

What makes things worse is that the Bucs didn’t play well up front last night, and Greg Schiano detailed his displeasure.

“Misfits, missed tackling, and not attacking the line of scrimmage. You know, too much hovering as a defensive front,” Schiano said. “That was something that we talked about, an area of improvement. So it’s disappointing that we didn’t. But we got to go back to work and we’ll get it right. We’re going to play run defense. We will do that.”

Joe liked that Schiano line, “We’re going to play run defense.”

Thank you, Coach. Please, please, make that dream come true.

Looking at preseason attendance of Bucs games is the easiest way to get an idea of where Bucs season ticket sales are. And that’s important if you’re trying to figure out how many TV blackouts Tampa Bay will suffer in 2012.

The reality is there aren’t a ton of tickets sold for most individual preseason games, so reported preseason attendance is reasonably close to the bottom line season ticket number.

In 2011, the Bucs drew 49,313 for their preseason opener against New England, one of the few teams whose fans will by significant numbers tickets in Tampa. For the next 2011 preseason game against Miami, the Bucs reported 44,732.

Last night, the Titans-Bucs game had a reported attendance of 45,633. Frankly, Joe was hoping for a bigger number, which would have offered a little more hope that blackouts will end in 2012.

Bucs officials said months ago that there were spikes in ticket sales following major changes this offseason and free agent acquisitions, but last night’s attendance tells Joe it wasn’t any kind of crazy increase.

The Bucs need to sell about 42,500 non-premium seats per game to avoid a home television blackout under the new 85 percent rule in the NFL. How many of the 15,000 or so club seats and suite seats are actually sold per game is the key mystery. Add that unknown figure to the 42,500 and you have the magic number to get a home game televised.

Joe’s really hoping Bucs fans come through on opening day to get the Bucs-Pantheres game on TV for the greater fan base.

Joe took a Paradise Worldwide Transportation executive SUV to the Bucs-Dolphins game in Miami last week. The chauffeur was a Bucs fan, and Joe asked him what he does when a game is blacked out. His answer? “Cry.”

Now the Bucs’ defense played sloppy ball last night. “Extremely sloppy” was how Eric Wright described the Bucs’ defensive peformance after the game to Joe.

But as Joe steps away from the game a bit, Joe sees a silver lining in that the first-team Bucs defense had three 3-and-outs in their first three series.

First, Michael Bennett and Adrian Clayborn stuffed Chris Johnson for no gain up the gut on 3rd-and-1. Then Ahmad Black had his big interception. And on the third series, Jake Locker threw on first down, which was defended well by Aqib Talib, and the Bucs got off the field after a five-yard run and another incompletion.

“We had three, 3-and-outs early, which is excellent. That’s hard to do in this league,” Wright said. “We felt pretty good, but they got a long drive on us and that type of stuff happens. We’ve got to clean up our mistakes and make sure it doesn’t happen that often.”

Yeah, Locker hadn’t started a game since college, but at least that sharp start to the defense is something to hold on to after a 30-7 drubbing.

Perhaps Joe is missing something, but Joe can’t fathom the rationale behind the Bucs punting on the opening drive tonight at 4th-and-1 from their 41 yard line.

What was the point?

Greg Schiano talks about being a physical football team and one that will have the power and will to run when everyone knows its coming. What a great chance it was to get closer to that goal. Of course, the Bucs could have thrown the ball, or worked on drawing the Titans offsides and then taken the delay of game, if Tennessee didn’t bite.

Joe just doesn’t get passing on a situation that could have showcased the team’s new identity.

What was gained? An extra rep for the punt cover team?

This Bucs offense needs to build confidence. That punt was all but meaningless.

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In his postgame press conference, Bucs coach Greg Schiano stated that the ugly injury to LeGarrette Blount was a groin injury, not a knee injury.

It was a grotesque injury while Blount was trying to carry a couple of would-be tacklers when he was drilled and felled by what appeared to be a shot to his left knee.

Blount writhed in pain for several minutes on the ground and gingerly walked off the field, with the aid of Bucs trainers.

As halftime ended, the video feed of the Bucs broadcast of WTSP-TV showed Blount pacing up and down the sidelines with his full pads on sans helmet, limping, but walking.

This is very good news for Bucs fans as there is no secret Schiano wanted to use Blount and rookie Doug Martin as a two-headed monster in the backfield.

Look for Blount to likely be shelved for a week or two so his groin recovers properly in an effort to get him ready for the season opener.

Blount spoke to the local pen and mic club and while he admitted he was in pain on the field, he downplayed the seriousness of the injury, stating he would be evaluated Saturday,

Joe can confirm that Blount’s knee was not in any type of a wrap in the locker room.

When the leader of the New Schiano Order sprinted off the field at halftime, somehow a brave member of the Bucs media relations staff was able to corral him for a few questions and, not surprisingly, Schiano was not pleased with the Bucs play in the first half.

“I don’t think we protected very well,” Schiano said of the pass blocking.

Schiano had harsher words for the defense. When asked if the Bucs had improved tackling, Schiano said, “Some guys [yes], others no. It really was a half of missed opportunity. We had some chances to make some plays that weren’t tough plays and we didn’t make them.”

Something tells Joe the Bucs players are going to have a penance to pay this week in practice for the slop that was displayed on the field of the stadium on Dale Mabry Highway.