Update: The luxury bus is staying for the postgame concert on Sunday. We’ve had many sellouts this season, so don’t wait too long.

The sometimes sizzling, sometimes fizzling Rays are back home this weekend, which means it’s time to have more fun going to Rays games and save money.

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You get to ride in style — with beer and food in hand — and get dropped off right at the gate!!

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Don’t flush your gas and parking money down the toilet. More than 750 fans have enjoyed the Tour. Get on board!

There will be plenty of external heat on Gerald McCoy from the opening whistle this season as he tries to live up to his draft-day status and whopping paycheck in his third year.

However, the inside-One-Buc pressure on McCoy already is on, so he told Jeff Darlington of The Man Channel, aka NFL Network. The video link is here. McCoy was asked to give his take on Bucs defensive front seven coach Bryan Cox and revealed that Cox is zeroing in.

“He’s been on me as of late a lot about my pass rush,” McCoy said. “Because he said I have all the tools necessary, just need to fine tune them.”

Interestingly, in a Buccaneers.com video in recent days, one could see a scene of Greg Schiano talking to McCoy about hand-work becoming more instinctive, “Bing, bang, boom,” Schiano said.

Joe, like every other Bucs fan and his coaches, is yearning to see McCoy open his tool box and start hammering away with his finely tuned instruments — week in and week out.

OK folks, buckle up. It’s a steamy Friday afternoon and Joe is thirsty. This makes Joe cranky.

There’s another thing that makes Joe irritable: That’s Bucs offensive coaches last year slandering running back LeGarrette Blount.

Now Joe is funny about coaches. Joe’s a big coaches kind of guy. Dates back to the respect and relationship Joe had with his old football coach, a guy that played for John Madden, Tom Landry, Gene Stallings and Lou Holtz (not bad, huh?).

To Joe, coaches are teachers. Good coaches dedicated to their craft, like teachers, will go above and beyond the call of duty to exhaust every possible way to help you improve. In some respects, it’s called “responsibility.”

Last year, Bucs offensive coaches leaked all sorts of awful things about Blount, some of which Joe does not deny were true, for example, not being punctual for meetings and perhaps not knowing the playbook as well as others (neither did Kellen Winslow, by the way).

One fallacy that was whispered about Blount was that he couldn’t catch passes out of the backfield. Joe thought this was strange in that Joe saw Blount with his own eyes catch balls in training camp, and then there was a 29-yard reception against one of the NFL’s top defenses, San Francisco.

Well, yesterday at One Buc Palace following the end of minicamp, new Bucs coach Greg Schiano slammed the door on this nonsense that Blount can’t catch when asked about Blount’s pass-catching ability.

“I thought he did a pretty good job,” Schiano said of Blount catching balls in minicamp. “Just watching what I saw here and on tape, does he have good hands? I think his hands are fine. I don’t know how that will translate into our game plan but he can catch the football and that is a plus.”

Simply put, Blount was misused if not unused last year by a staff that didn’t know how to use him, didn’t know how to coach him up, and as a result leaked all sorts of foul things about him in a desperate, shameless attempt to save their own hides.

Consider, this is the offensive coaching staff that called for Blount, who averaged five yards a carry in 2010, to touch the ball five times in a season-opening loss to the Lions. FIVE!

Why, Blount was so terrible of a pass catcher, he caught two less passes (15) than Frank Gore of the 49ers (17). Strange, to Joe’s knowledge, there was no angst from Jim Harbaugh’s staff nor outrage from Niners fans that Gore seemingly can’t catch the ball out of the backfield.

As for Blount being late to meetings or allegedly not knowing the playbook, Joe has a couple of stories from two of greatest coaches in American sport.

If anyone during this current downtime of the NFL calendar wants a good book to read, Joe suggests Season on the Brink, a riveting inside look at Bob Knight in his heyday coaching the Indiana Hoosiers.

Knight had a player named Steve Eyl, who in Knight’s system was a good player in that he did so many little things right, and was a part-time starter for Knight’s last NCAA championship in 1987 (led by lethal-shooting Steve Alford). But Eyl’s Achilles was shooting. He was terrible.

Knight exhausted all measures in trying to get Eyl to shoot better. Not wanting to give up on Eyl, Knight would bring in friends of his, such as John Havlicek, to work with Eyl. When this produced limited results, Knight would bring in PGA Tour pros to work with Eyl as Knight believed a shooting stroke in basketball was no different than a golf swing.

Also, when Knight hired graduate assistant coaches, one of their responsibilities was to actually pick up and chauffeur players to practice. If a player was late, not only would the player pay, but so too would the grad assistants. It was their job to find a way, any way, to see to it the players were at practice on time.

Did Olson really go out of his way to try to help Blount? Joe has his doubts.

Then there is a story Joe heard Bill Parcells speak of. When he was a young college assistant, Parcells thought he was clear to a player about a specific assignment and when the player blew that assignment on the very first play, Parcells totally lost control and railed at the player when Parcell’s head coach pulled him aside and told Parcells, “Well coach, you obviously weren’t clear enough with the young man.”

Did Olson do his best to help Blount learn every nuance of the playbook fully? Did he even go so far as to perhaps hire a tutor to help Blount learn the playbook, if indeed he did not know the plays?

Again, Joe has his doubts. If Olson was truly more concerned about winning than just giving orders, he would have taken a page out of Knight and Parcells’ book of coaching and done his best to ensure Blount was on time and knew his playbook, therefore helping the team win, not just whine and shrug shoulders and point fingers.

Lastly — and no one has been able to give Joe a clear answer on this — if Blount was this much of an albatross to the team, then why the hell was he on the active roster? If he was on the active roster, then use him. If he didn’t know the playbook, he shouldn’t have been active.

Joe’s looking forward to seeing what coaches who are motivated to help players can get out of Blount.

To those new to JoeBucsFan.com, or those among the legions of readers that only come around here once in a while, Joe must advise you that this website does not sleep. It’s a 24/7 Bucs-obsessed operation that does not take a day off, does not go on vacation, and takes great pride in working perhaps its hardest to serve you during the alleged down time in the NFL — now through about July 25.

The point it is you can come here daily to get your Bucs fix. Joe already has fun stuff planned for later today and this weekend.

Joe thanks you for your patronage.

Looking back on the now completed Bucs offseason, after minicamp ended yesterday with Donald Penn showing off his punt-catching skills, it was nothing if not interesting.

Where does Joe start? The hiring of Greg Schiano, the free agent frenzy from Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik? The wheeling and dealing during the first two days of the draft? The selection of safety Mark Barron and running back Muscle Hamster Doug Martin? The trade of Kellen Winslow?

Whew. Joe cannot remember such an active Bucs offseason.

Almost lost in the shuffle is the re-signing of veteran graybeard Ronde Barber.

Now Barber has been playing safety and both Schiano and Dominik have noted that Barber will play safety, but do not turn the page on Barber’s cornerback days. In this NFL Network video, Barber explains that he has multiple positions to play and cannot be pigeonholed.

On a similar note, last night on “Total Access” on the NFL Network (Joe likes to call it “the Man Channel” because real men have and enjoy the NFL Network), former Bucs great Warren Sapp called Barber “a gambler” for his play at cornerback (not an original read on Barber’s play) and Sapp jokingly — through the camera — told Barber that if he gambles at safety like he does at corner, Barber could put himself in trouble.

“You can’t gamble at safety,” Sapp said, suggesting Barber may have a learning curve by flipping to safety.

The human armoire, Carl Nicks, the Bucs’ new manbeast All-Pro left guard, was darn happy the first mandatory minicamp of the New Schiano Order ended yesterday.

Nicks shared his pleasure — and fatigue — with multimedia czar J.P. Peterson, host of Happy Hour with J.P. on 1010 AM yesterday.

Nicks was asked to compare Greg Schiano and his former head coach, NFL pariah Sean Payton. This question flummoxed Nicks a bit and he explained that Payton is “meticulous” like Schiano but what he’s seen of the on-field world of Schiano “is kind of foreign in the NFL.” Peyton is a more traditional NFL coach, Nicks said, in terms of how practice is run.

“But it will help us,” Nicks said of Schiano’s drills and order.

Interestingly, Nicks said he believes the Bucs offense can be “one of the best in the NFL.” He also went out of his way to mention Mike Williams and Vincent Jackson, and Nicks said he’s long been aware of LeGarrette Blount’s talent, and he said Doug Martin is a do-it-all back who is a “faster version of Pierre Thomas.”

Joe was pleased to hear that scouting report from Nicks, who last week — before minicamp — said he doesn’t pay much attention to rookies.

Joe’ not going to get greedy. If Martin can give the Bucs what Thomas has given the Saints when he’s healthy, then that would be a fabulous complement to Blount.

Joe’s pal Dave Wirth over at WTSP-TV, Ch. 10 got an exclusive sit-down with Josh Freeman at his football camp last weekend. Interestingly, without being asked for names, Freeman volunteered that Vincent Jackson, Mike Williams and Preston Parker have been “dominiating, dominating, OTAs.”

There’s more good stuff in here, some of which Joe will touch on soon.

Gerald McCoy was the key cog in the Bucs’ defense last season, so said Ronde Barber a couple of months ago. And, as Bucs fans know too well, McCoy tore his bicep while reaching during Game 6 of the 2011 season and the Bucs’ defense then went on a historically ugly tear enroute to a 10-game losing streak.

Raheem Morris took to the radio airwaves the day after McCoy’s injury and blasted his defensive tackle’s “Pop Warner” arm tackle.

Speaking out yesterday about life in the New Schiano Order, McCoy fired back at critiques of his fundamentals, so recorded Woody Cummings of The Tampa Tribune.

McCoy, the No. 3 overall draft pick in 2010, has no plans to change his tackling technique. It was blamed in part for last season’s injury, which occurred when McCoy reached his arm out to slow Saints running back Chris Ivory.

“I think that was all interpreted wrong, me reaching out to make a tackle,” McCoy said. “Most people don’t realize that as a D-lineman, it’s rare when you just come freely like a linebacker does, so you reach out to get a hand on him just to slow him down so your guys can come up, and that’s all I was doing.”

“The last time, our new Pro Bowl guard Carl Nicks was pulling on the play (for the Saints) and I threw him past and there’s the running back. So, I’m either going to jump out of the way or try to slow him down, and I tried to slow him down. Well, I don’t think I slowed him down that much. But I don’t have to change my technique.”

That’s interesting. So who’s right? McCoy or Raheem.

McCoy continued:

A series of tackling drills coach Greg Schiano instituted should help McCoy avoid additional injuries, McCoy said, because it helps him become a more technically sound tackler.

“Coach Schiano has us doing (that) tackling circuit before every practice and I’ve never done anything like that, so it’s teaching me how to tackle,” McCoy said. “I was just playing football before, but him putting us through that tackling circuit, it’s really helping us get better.”

Well, McCoy saying Greg Schiano’s drills are “teaching me how to tackle” was probably a poor choice of words.

Regardless, the play of McCoy is a massive piece of the puzzle if the Bucs are to sniff a winning record in 2012. “The Dini” must stay healthy and produce. He has no more biceps to surgically repair, no more tackling technique to master, and no more excuses.

Joe can see it now: Bucs fans are already taking sides.

There is the LeGarrette Blount faction that believes his talents were grossly misused by the previous offensive coaches, who did their best to slander the man in a desperate attempt to save their jobs.

Then, there are the Blount haters, who swallowed former Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson’s words whole, about how Blount was liable for just about every ill in the world from drought in the Midwest to the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

So for those who are of the mind that there is tension between Blount and Martin, think again, so Martin told Joe after minicamp at One Buc Palace today.

In fact, the two are bros, Martin said, and the running backs as a whole are bonding like a family. When Joe asked Martin if he had developed any relationship with Blount yet, Martin didn’t hold back.

“Oh yeah, of course! We are awesome,” Martin said. “He’s a funny guy both on and off the field.”

(No, Martin wasn’t doing a Joe Pesci act. In fact, Martin confessed he has never seen “Goodfellas.”)

In fact, Martin enjoys Blount’s sense of humor, which he said will come out in meeting rooms to needle fellow running backs from time to time.

“We crack a few jokes. We have a lot of characters [among the running backs].”

Rather than there being friction between the two in their quest for touches, Martin said that he and Blount are good for each other. Martin motivates Blount to be the best he can be and Martin said Blount motives him to be his best self.

And the winner is the Bucs.

“You are competing with everybody,” Martin said. “All it will do is make everybody better. Competition is better for all of us.”

There are huge expectations for the Bucs’ passing game after the team signed free agent stud wide receiver Vincent Jackson this winter.

Jackson politely dismisses any talk that he’s something of a savior, or even better than his wide receiver teammates by admitting in many ways he’s just like a rookie because, along with every other Bucs players, the team is adjusting to the New Schiano Order.

Despite this, Jackson is trying to be a big brother to Mike Williams, Arrelious Benn and other young Bucs receivers. Jackson is actively trying to take a leadership role with the wide receiver unit and helping out when he can, confessing he must learn the new system first before he can impart much wisdom to his receiving brethren.

“It’s a new system, we were all on the same page coming in here, but as guys, we are helping each other,” Jackson said after the final day of minicamp at One Buc Palace. “They are sharing tips with me, there are things I can improve on. Some of these young guys, there are some things they have not been fundamentally coached on. We are going to be disciplined. Technique is everything in this league.

“We want to be one of the best receiving corps in this league. I think with the years under my belt and the things I have accomplished, [younger receivers] look up to me. I’m not a real in-your-face kind of leader but I lead by example. I come to work every day, I take good notes and I think they see that.”

Mike Williams admits that Jackson has pushed him to study more tape than he normally would.

“Getting off the field, you watch a little film and then you go home,” Williams said. “That’s not Vincent. You get off the field and watch a little bit of film, he makes you watch a little bit more. Then you think you have a little bit more film done, and he makes you watch a little bit more.

“He makes you watch yourself and watch what defenders are doing to you. That is kind of what I learned from him: You have to keep evaluating yourself and evaluating other players too.”

It was a very abbreviated final day of minicamp practice at One Buc Palace today, thanks to Donald Penn’s punt returning ability.

OK, the not so svelte Pro Bowl left tackle didn’t actually return a punt. But he did catch a punt, with zero warning from the new Bucs coach.

The reward? Practice, and minicamp, was over.

Not even Penn knew why he was chosen for such an honor, learning of his task roughly an hour into practice.

“I guess because I’m always talking,” Penn joked.

It was a welcome relief to the Bucs players who celebrated as if they received word Rachel Watson was now single and free beer was on tap.

It was sort of a reward by Schiano who praised the Bucs for an intense minicamp, which was seconded by Penn himself. Schiano “wanted the intensity level to be this high,” Penn said, raising his right hand. “And it stayed there.”

As for catching the punt from a Jugs gun, Penn was confident he would catch it, and bragged the result would have been the same if Michael Koenen was punting instead.

Years ago, teenage Joe attended a basketball clinic that had a particularly frenetic high-energy coach. Joe remembers this guy because said coach screamed in Joe’s face to make an example out of him. Joe can still feel the spit hitting his face and hear the words, “Why am I working harder than you?”

Bucs wide receivers coach P.J. Fleck at practice, Joe can’t help but think of that hoops coach. Fleck maintains such a passionate intensity that Joe can’t imagine any Bucs wideouts slacking off — and getting away with it.

Joe tried to take you into Fleck’s wild world last week, and cool guy Bucs beat writer Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger offered a Fleck nugget yesterday.

One of the coaches who have a high-amount of energy is receivers coach P.J. Fleck. He’s verbal on every individual receiver and there’s no mistaking his stance on an issue.

Take Wednesday, after receiver Preston Parker ran this drill particularly well, this is what Fleck said, “I love it! I love it! I got a man crush on (Parker).”

It’s that kind of energy that is infectious toward a young team.

As Joe wrote yesterday, Parker is getting an awful lot of love this offseason, from Greg Schiano to Josh Freeman to a new contract to becoming Fleck’s man crush. Frankly, it seems Parker has matured, so a new Buccaneers.com feature story details, and he’s responding to Fleck’s style.

Joe’s hardly sold on Parker as a return man, but he seems on track for big numbers in 2012, especially if Vincent Jackson is stretching the field and demanding a lot of attention.

The ol’ ball coach, Raheem Morris, was back at the podium yesterday at Redskins minicamp and dished out 13+ minutes of fast-talking fun for the D.C. media. Here’s the video.

Raheem stopped just short of calling a D.C. reporter a mental midget when asked whether learning the 3-4 defense in Washington was a good career move.

“I never looked at it that way. I’m the very best,” Raheem said of the “mentally weak” question. “I was the best last year when I got fired. I’m going to continue to feel that way.”

Among other topics, Raheem talks about trash-talking in practice to get a competitive environment (something Greg Schiano surely would disagree with), building a culture, underwear, how he’s advised the D.C. offensive staff on developing rookie quarterback RGII based on his experience with Josh Freeman, and more.

He also compared London Fletcher’s leadership to Barrett Ruud’s.

Interestingly, the Washington Post noted that Raheem’s style can be an acquired taste.

Earlier, offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan joked that Morris can get under his skin with his constant trash talk during practice. Morris said he was glad to hear it and intended to “pump up the juice a little bit during training camp.”

“To create that competitive environment, it’s like playing pickup basketball sometimes and you talk a little trash,” said Morris. “Go out there and have fun, while still getting the job done.”

 Joe doesn’t expect Raheem, as a position coach, to do many more news conferences. But Joe will be listening when he does. These things are just too much fun.

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Joe’s still amazed by how back in April many Bucs fans seemed willing to throw Donald Penn off the team in favor of future first-round pick Matt Kalil.

Penn has started 76 consecutive games, been a relatively consistent top performer, and he only turned 29 six weeks ago and was voted into the Top-100 of 2012 by his NFL brothers. But for some fans, Penn’s weight and a few bad games last year were enough to toss him overboard. Thankfully, rockstar general manager Mark Dominik and Greg Schiano are of sound mind.

What should be interesting and exciting to all Bucs fans is the way Penn looks in this new Scott Smith video on Buccaneers.com. The video focuses on the offensive line, and there are two good looks of Penn at different angles, and he appears significantly leaner than in past seasons.

Of course, Penn could go on a canoli, pizza and beer spree in the six-week break before training camp, but Joe would be surprised if that happened. Davin Joseph told Joe yesterday about how the team’s strength and conditioning standards were ramped up significantly under the New Schiano Order, and Schiano mentioned a fitness test that must be passed when players return in July.

While Schiano called the impending conditioning exam “fair,” Joe suspects it’s a bit more demanding than past years’. So look for Penn to maintain his leaner look for a while.

Much was made when Greg Schiano was hired that the great Bill Belichick (often referred to here as Bill Belicheat) was a mentor to Schiano and had a hand in him getting the Bucs job. 

Belichick’s son played for Schiano at Rutgers and the word was that Team Glazer consulted with Belichick — and got a glowing reference — before Schiano was hired. Then popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging Peter King of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports fame wrote that Belichick and Schiano were seen together regularly at the NFL owners meetings this spring.

Well, it seems that Belichick is still advising the leader of the New Schiano Order. Schiano himself said as much today on the Evan & Phillips In The Morning show, part of Mad Dog Radio on SiriusXM.

Schiano was asked to talk about Belichick’s impact on him.

“[Belichick’s] been a big help to me,” Schiano said. “Not only before I got here, helped me be a better coach at Rutgers, but then when I was considering the Bucs job and later on taking the job. He’s been a good guy to bounce ideas. Certainly we’re competitors now, there’s only 32 of us in this league, but you know wherever it doesn’t affect the competitive balance he’s been real helpful to me.”

Joe’s not going to get too excited about the Belichick-Schiano relationship, but it should be a huge positive to help Schiano get quickly through whatever learning curves he encounters.

Raheem Morris had his regular chats with Mike Tomlin, and while Raheem was hardly a model of success, the guidance Raheem got regularly from Tomlin and the Rays’ Joe Maddon likely helped him mature fast enough to field a 10-6 team that got a ton out of its rookies.

Underwear and helmets football returned to One Buc Palace today in Day 2 of manadatory minicamp for the New Schiano Order. Joe watched about 90 percent of the action and here are some impressions:

*Yesterday Joe wrote that Josh Freeman wasn’t impressive. Today was more of the same with Freeman displaying some shaky accuracy. That’s not to say Freeman didn’t make good throws and a couple of great ones, but if Freeman and fans are to hold him to a “franchise quarterback” status, then the standard must be high. Of course, it’s not always clear whether off-target throws are the fault of Freeman or the route-runner — the Bucs are learning a new playbook — however Freeman’s reaction after a play often is an indicator.

Today, Freeman was picked off over the middle at the start of 11-on-11 drills by Mark Barron. It was off play-action. He also overthrew a wide-open Tiquan Underwood on a deep ball in the end zone, among other off-target throws.

Some highlights were a great back shoulder touchdown throw from Freeman to Vincent Jackson against Myron Lewis in what look like tight coverage. Freeman also zipped a short TD pass to Jackson in the back of the end zone with Quincy Black covering. This one got Greg Schiano particular excited and he ran over to high-five Jackson. (No arm bar or chest bump). Schiano is hardly one to cheer on every caught ball, and this play for some reason really jacked him up.

*Myron Lewis looks healthy and surely looks like he belongs in the talent department. Of course, staying healthy has always been a major challenge for Lewis.

*Tiquan Underwood, the former Patriots wide receiver and Rutgers alum, definitely stood out today. At one point, he didn’t work on the “second-team” field when the Bucs split up the squad, and he made numerous catches and was open behind Aqib Talib when Freeman overthrew him in the end zone. (see above). Clearly he helped his chances of making the roster today.

*Dezmon Briscoe surely doesn’t look as sharp as he did when he was a standout in training camp last season. He had one drop today in limited balls thrown his way.

*Doug Martin looks very precise and fluid in his route-running.

*Schiano spent a lot of hands-on time with the punt team and punt defense, specifically extra teaching on defending a fake punt. Schiano is often praised by players for being a true teacher, and that was on display there. The punt team (not punt defense) had some issues on Tuesday and Schiano seemed pleased with today’s action and improvement.

*Pretty much every receiver had a drop today that Joe saw, including what might have been the first of the year for Vincent Jackson. Benn dropped one in the end zone and Sammie Stroughter had a miss at the goal line that left him visibly furious with himself.

*At one point Joe thought Mossis Madu was speedster rookie Michael Smith. That’s saying something for Madu’s burst and quickness.

*Rookie cornerback Leonard Johnson seems to lack some speed and appeared a little frustrated with himself in coverage.

*Watching Dallas Clark practice, Joe feels like he’s watching a fundamentals video — and it’s not of the guy in those videos who shows what not to do.

*Preston Parker clearly is getting a lot of love from the coaching staff. Twice today there were plays when Parker was not the one who caught the ball but he was the one getting loud vocal praise, presumably for his route running. Interesting that today the Bucs Twittered that Parker had an average “of 7.7 yards after catch in 2011 was 2nd among all NFL WRs.”

*Practice ended on a nice pass breakup by Anthony Gaitor covering Vincent Jackson.

The Bucs are back at it tomorrow for the third and final day of mandatory minicamp. Stick with Joe tonight and through the week for more.

Update: The luxury bus is staying for the postgame concert on June 17. We’ve had many sellouts this season, so don’t wait too long.

The sizzling Rays are back home next weekend, which means it’s time to have more fun going to Rays games and save money.

Get your butt on the No Excuses Tour chauffeured luxury bus to Tropicana Field, courtesy of Paradise Worldwide Transportation and Lee Roy Selmon’s.

You get to ride in style — with beer and food in hand — and get dropped off right at the gate!!

Click on through to grab a seat, and get all the details at NoExcusesTour.com.

Don’t flush your gas and parking money down the toilet. More than 750 fans have enjoyed the Tour. Get on board!

Last year during the asinine lockout, Davin Joseph talked about enjoying the opportunity to do Yoga in the offseason and other alternative training.

He even went so far to call the lockout “a blessing” last year because of the time it gave him to improve his body and work on more conditioning detais. And Joseph returned to the Pro Bowl as the Bucs’ lone representative after the 2011 season.

Today, Joseph explained that he still searches for time for personal workouts, but he’s been very busy training with the Bucs because “the standard of our conditioning has been lifted” above those of previous regimes.

“You don’t have much free time this offseason as you did last offseason, so of  course you went to be here first,” Joseph said. “Our first priority is to be here, and that’s my first priority. Anytime I can get a workout in outside of here I will. Most of the time we’re up here working pretty hard. I think we’re more power lifting this year. I think that’s been a major change, more power lifting, more conditioning, and so that’s been the major change of coaches [and we still have] the traditional lifts that every strength and conditioning coach is going to do. But the standard of our conditioning has been lifted. We’re really expected to be in tip-top shape by the first day, unlike other years.”

Joe finds the raising of the conditioning bar under the New Schiano Order very intriguing, especially with Joseph having played for Chucky and Raheem Morris. Even Ronde Barber today talked about how he hasn’t pumped this much iron in years.

This can only help. Raheem talked about wanting to be violent, but the Bucs were soft in many ways, and now fans know the standards have been raised. The Bucs may not deliver a winning season, but Joe suspects they’ll be far more physical.

Those looking for a glimpse into the what the defense of the New Schiano Order might look like will be pleased to hear the words of cornerback  safetyRonde Barber.

“He’s definitely an aggressive playcaller,” Barber said after practice today, comparing the 2012 defense to his past experiences.

“I get a chance to be an impact player in this defense, and I’m looking forward to that.”

Often coming across laid back, Barber definitely gave off an excited vibe today. “I haven’t lifted [weights] like I’ve lifted now since seven, eight years ago,” he said, referring to the intensity of the New Schiano Order.

Barber went on to call Mark Barron “a stud” so far but acknowledged that opening day is when Barron really will prove himself.

Greg Schiano might have given a glimpse into what his roster and or gameday/roster might look like come final cuts in early September.

Talking yesterday about various position battles, Schiano referenced having eight defensive linemen ready when the whistle blows.

“Who’s going to be our guys that go and show up on gameday, those eight guys ready to go. We want to be able to roll eight guys,” Schiano said of his defensive line. “Linebacker, great competition. Secondary, we have some good defensive backs. At the end of the day we’re probably going to have to end up letting go a defensive back that can play in this league. That’s always tough. But that’s a good problem to have, I guess.”

Of course, playing eight defensive linemen doesn’t mean one or two more aren’t on the roster but inactive.

Talking more about competition yesterday, Schiano said he was excited by the battles at wide receiver and running back but conceded that his starting offensive line is all but set. Joe had wondered whether free agent tackle/guard Javon Meredith, signed in March, would compete with Jeremy Trueblood, but that seems unlikely now.

Former Pro Bowl linebacker Bryan Cox, known for his versatility, intensity and all out insanity on the football field (Joe highly recommends the 1997 Sports Illustrated feature on Cox), as well as being a noted favorite player of legends Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick, is the Bucs’ new “defensive front seven” coach. Cox dove into NFL coaching in 2006, four years after his stellar career ended. His connection with Greg Schiano goes back to the Chicago Bears, when Cox was playing for Dave Wannstedt and Schiano was there as an assistant coach. Joe had a chance fire a few questions at Cox this week, and Cox was quite candid and considerate.

JoeBucsFan.com: Having been around legendary coaches like Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick, who Greg Schiano says is a mentor, what are the similarties with Schiano? Where do you see some parallels with Greg Schiano and those types of demanding leaders?

Bryan Cox: The biggest thing that I would say is that I feel like I played for three Hall of Fame guys in Coach Don Shula, Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick. All three of those guys are Hall of Fame guys. It’s a shame that Bill Parcells didn’t get there [during the 2012 Hall vote]. So when you talk about those three guys that I played for, they were different yet the same. Of course Belichick is a little bit more similar to Parcells because that’s who he grew up under. Shula was a man’s coach. So he let men be men and just laid the expectation out and let you go. Parcells and Belichick are more of, they want to oversee the process. They want to look at everything. And they want one word coming out of the organization, there’s one way to do things, this is how it is. I think Greg would be more on that line. I don’t like to compare people because everbody is different; nobody is the same. But I think when you look at Greg, you look at discipline, you look at a guy that has unbelievable passion, you look at a guy that understands the game of football, and he has a clear vision. And when you tie that together, that would be one of the bigger traits that the Don Shula’s, the Bill Belichick’s, the Bill Parcell’s had, they all knew what they wanted. They all had an exact vision of how they saw it going. And I think that’s the thing you’d say about Greg.

Joe: These Bucs players now, do they have any clue as to your background and your style of play?

Cox: The one thing I’ve learned as a young coach is that they don’t care who I was. Some of them know and some of them don’t have a clue about me, but the ones that know, they want to lean on my experience as a player a little bit and they usually give you the benefit of the doubt until you prove you don’t know what you’re talking about. And so that’s been the biggest thing in this process. The players that have an idea, or that have researched, that have Googled or YouTubed, they will come in and say, ‘Ok, I remember this. I’ll lean on you for this.’ And they may ask you more questions. They’re a little more comfortable. They trust you a little more until you prove you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Joe: Looking at film of the Bucs’ defense last year, would you say there’s one major area of improvement that needs to be stepped up?

Cox: I think it’s unfair for me to speak about last year having not been here.

Joe: But I’m just asking about what you saw.

Cox: I think it’s unfair because you don’t know what they’re being taught or what’s being said because you’re just watching film and you’re just looking at it. The thing that, you know, the thing that you would say in any situation when you come into it is, ‘Something obviously didn’t go well last year for this new staff to here in place. So let’s start from scratch, I’m not holding you to what occurred last year. I’ll make my own opinion to who you are as a player as we move forward.’ So that’s the biggest thing. I don’t try to put last year’s expectations or lack of expectations, or lack of whatever it was, on a player, just kind of move forward and say here’s what we’re going to do.

Joe: How is Bryan Cox the coach different from Bryan Cox the player?

Cox: The coach is different because I’m wiser and more experienced. I’m not as vocal. It’s not a physical thing; it’s a mental thing now. And that would be the difference between who I am in my old age and who I was in my young age.