There is a very real possibility that Sunday could be Ronde Barber’s last game in a Bucs uniform.

If that comes true, Dixie chicks coach Mike Smith hopes Barber has one more game left in the tank: the Pro Bowl.

Smith, talking to the Tampa Bay pen and mic club via conference call, lauded Barber as one of the best defensive backs ever to snap on a chin strap and believed Barber’s play at safety this year warrants a Pro Bowl selection.

“I think Ronde is very deserving of Pro Bowl status.” Smith said. “He is a guy that has not only done it this year but he has done it for a long time. He is one of the most efficient defensive backs – doesn’t matter where you play him, corner, nickel, safety, dime – he can do it all.

“I know the past couple of weeks he has gotten back into his nickel role a little bit more because of the situation there in regards to injuries. He has a great knack for the football and understands the game about as any DB who has ever played it.”

Joe just hopes Barber, if he does hang up his cleats, does so with a win.

As hacked off as Barber was when the Bucs lost to the Eagles — and trust Joe, he has never seen Barber that upset — the thing that pained Joe most wasn’t so much the loss but the pain on Barber’s face when he realized the Bucs blew a chance at a postseason appearance.

Bucs cornerback Eric Wright, fresh off his four-game suspension for popping Adderall, faced the Tampa Bay pen and mic club this afternoon and, perhaps knowing this could be his last week with the team, expressed remorse for being caught violating the NFL’s banned-substance policy.

“I apologize to the team, the organization and the Glazer family,” Wright said. “It hurt me a lot to let the team down. It’s just an unfortunate situation. I’m looking forward to moving forward.”

Then Wright was peppered with questions about his future with the Bucs. The fact he was popped for Adderall voided the second year of guaranteed cash by the Bucs, per reports. So in effect, the Bucs could cut Wright after the season and not owe him any money.

“Until someone tells me otherwise, I am a Tampa Bay Buccaneer,” Wright said. “I say that with a lot of pride. It is an honor to put on that jersey.”

Wright also explained that the root cause for his suspension was that a letter of exemption to use Adderall that was to be sent to the NFL for approval was never filed.

Wright wouldn’t elaborate further.

“It was extremely difficult being at home, being away from my teammates and my coaches,” Wright said. “You work all offseason and preseason to get to this point and have to sit down and sit out for four games; It really hurt. The situation is that it is over and I served my four-game suspension and I am back with my team.”

For those of the belief that the Bucs didn’t miss Wright’s services, consider the Bucs haven’t won a game since he was suspended.

In an unrelated matter, Wright, who was slowed by a gimpy Achilles injury before he was suspended, admitted he is feeling closer to 100 percent than he was before his suspension.

“I feel a lot better,” Wright said. “I still have to finish the week of practice.”

Yeah, Joe hates the Falcons, aka Dixie Chicks, but Joe really enjoyed this exchange with Atlanta media and Falcons QB Matt Ryan today. … Makes you wonder how Ryan would have handled a guy like Kellen Winslow last year. Here it is below, via AJC.com.

Q: You always talk about how you have a lot of weapons around you in this offense. How do you command the huddle? Because I’m sure you get a lot of ‘Hey, I was open.’

A: That’s not greeted with a good response, usually. (Laughs). I let them know how I feel about certain things. But I think it comes down to trust. I think it comes down to not feeding me some (expletive), basically. Don’t feed me that when you come to the sideline (because) we will be able to see it on film. Also, at the same time there is the right time and a certain place for those kind of things. I think we’ve all done a good job of, ‘All right, I’m not going to badmouth you or anything like that but there is a time and a place for doing those kind of things.’ I think everybody has a good feel for that.

The leader of the New Schiano Order did not flinch this afternoon when asked whether he wants Ronde Barber back for the 2013 season.

Greg Schiano praised Barber’s transition to safety and said Barber’s return was up to No. 20. Pressed further, Schiano made he it clear that he wants Barber on his football team next year and called Barber “the fabric of this organization.”

Schiano said Barber’s focused, game-by-game preparation is much like the head coach’s, so the topic of Barber’s return is not something he feels comfortable talking to Barber about until after the season ends.

Assuming Barber doesn’t get injured Sunday, as he did on the final game of 2011, Joe suspects Barber will make a quick decision.

Will the Falcons rest their starters against the Bucs on Sunday?

Longtime Redskins general manager Charley Casserly, now an analyst on NFL Network, talks about why he believes the Falcons will not and should not go easy on the Bucs, via the WDAE-AM 620 audio below. Casserly gives a historical perspective on the final-game approach when your team has clinched home field through the playoffs as the Falcons have.

Casserly also weighs in on Josh Freeman and lauds Greg Schiano and Mark Dominik for their work this season.

So what’s rockstar general manager Mark Dominik and his staff up to during the final two weeks of the season?

First, every last Buccaneers scout is at bowl games, not NFL games, Dominik said Sunday on the Buccaneers Radio Network. That’s surely a by-product of being elminated from the playoffs.

Also, the Bucs are dialed in on the film of potential free agents they like and have identified as potential targets, in order to see how they perform through the final two games. Dominik said extra attention is paid to players that are out of the playoff hunt. Dominik said it’s key to study whether a player can rise above his team’s situation “to find out how important football is to him.”

Of course, it’s safe to assume the Bucs also are heavily self-scouting their own team to see whose effort might have fallen off in December. 

The Bucs have lots of decisions to make on soon-to-be free agents, such as Roy Miller, Michael Bennett, E.J. Biggers, Dallas Clark, LeGarrette Blount and more.

Former Bucs guard Ian Beckles hears the pitchforks sharpening for Josh Freeman, and Beckles says that’s understandable but somewhat misguided.

Speaking on his morning show on WDAE-AM 620 today, Beckles says the Bucs’ pass rush consistently has been the worst in the NFL this year (30th with 25 sacks) and deserves fans’ ire. Beckles says some of that is coaching but defensive captain Gerald McCoy is the core of the problem.

“McCoy had three good games early and he beat up the Eagles lousy right guard,” Beckles said. “I’m going to have everybody tell me McCoy is good when he only shows up for four weeks? Our leaders have to have attitude. He has to be hitting the quarterback. Our leader has to make plays.”

Beckles said, yes, it matters that McCoy is earning boatload of cash.

On the coaching front, Beckles said Rams linebacker James Laurinaitis’ comments about tells in the Bucs offense is further evidence that the Bucs offense is “vanilla and predictable.” Beckles also went on a rampage about the Bucs passing on 3rd-and-1 Sunday late in the third quarter on the Rams’ 5 yard line and trailing 28-13. And then following that up with a failed quarterback sneak. Beckles says Greg Schiano has no right to call his Bucs a physical smashmouth team, just like Raheem Morris used to claim.

Among other darts tossed around the roster, Beckles claims Dallas Clark has been a bust. “I haven’t seen him catch a pass all year without someone draped all over him. He’s lost a step or two,” Beckles said.

Freeman deserves another season but no fan can claim Freeman is improving, Beckles said.

Joe knows it is the popular, trendy thing as 2012 comes to a close to pile on embattled Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman, he of the eight interceptions in his last two games.

But don’t count on Mike Martz to jump on the anti-Freeman bandwagon.

Joe had a chance to chat briefly with Martz, a former Super Bowl coach and current FOX NFL analyst, just prior to the Bucs game with the Rams Sunday.

In short, Martz is a big Freeman supporter.

“I think he is a terrific player. I don’t see any flaws in Josh. They have to get better around him. They have had problems in the offensive line, they have basically lost three linemen and they don’t have the depth at wide receiver that they need. Those are things they will address in the offseason.

“They’ve got the right guy. They just need to build around him. If someone wants to criticize [Freeman], they are wrong. He is playing at a high level and they just have to get better around him.”

Now this is interesting to Joe. When Martz made the comment about lack of depth at wide receiver, Joe thought Martz was talking about Tiquan Underwood. Now Joe did not hear audio of the Bucs’ broadcast Sunday, but from reading various comments on this site, Martz was critical of Bucs wide receiver Mike Williams. Could it be that Martz if of the mind that Williams shouldn’t be a starter, too?

Look, Martz transformed a grocery store clerk into a potential Hall of Fame quarterback. He is no Brian Billick. The guy knows quarterbacks.

If Martz is to be believed, Freeman does not have enough toys.

Joe is starting to wonder how much if any Josh Freeman has improved over last year after reading a nugget from the numberscrunchers at ProFootballFocus.com.

Joe thought it was interesting earlier this year that Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik noted in his first interview with Greg Schiano, the very first words were to Dominik and Team Glazer was that Freeman is forcing the ball “too much to the tight end,” meaning Kellen Winslow, Jr.

Has Freeman broken that habit? Read between the lines of a break down of Freeman by Khaled Elsayed.

Frail Freeman

So how about that 2009 class of quarterbacks? When the Bucs were winning we weren’t among those buying into the Josh Freeman (-3.2) hype. With the running game struggling to get going and the team forced to play catch up, his flaws have been all too visible.

His decision making is at times ponderous, his accuracy erratic and his chemistry with Mike Williams suggesting something of a turbulent relationship. He threw the ball over 10 yards in the air on 22 occasions yet completed just six of these passes. It was as if he came into the game saying he was going to attack two rookie cornerbacks despite what the coverage was like. His 55.6% completion percentage flattered him and he finds himself in a position where next year is a truly massive year for him.

So, adding two-and-two together, is Freeman now forcing balls to Williams? Notice that, per ProFootballFocus, three of Freeman’s picks were targeted for Williams.

Well, Winslow may be gone, but is Freeman still locked in on certain receivers? Notice Rams middle linebacker James Laurinaitis said the Bucs were tipping off plays.

Is there a way teams have figured out when Freeman is targeting Williams, thus accounting for Freeman’s ugly spike in interceptions?

Anthony Becht makes a bold case for No. 5

Former Bucs tight end and current Buccaneers Radio Network analyst Anthony Becht said in no uncertain terms yesterday that the Bucs should try to extend Josh Freeman’s contract this offseason.

“The body of work shows he’s a guy we have to keep,” Becht told J.P. Peterson on WDAE-AM 620.

Becht explained that he worked with plenty of quarterbacks in a career that spanned 11 seasons and five teams, and Bucs fans should understand that they could do a lot worse than Freeman.

Becht said the Bucs should offer Freeman second-tier quarterback money.

“If he doesn’t take it, then great. Go prove yourself,” Becht said.

Yesterday morning, Joe floated the idea of it being a wise move for the Bucs to try and extend Freeman’s contract now, a way to buy in cheap and give Freeman incentives without tying up big money. If Freeman were to bite (no guarantee of that), there’s also the added value that Freeman could become a potential trade asset down the road.

Joe, though, must disagree with Becht about the “body of work.” Joe sees Freeman as a quarterback who has regressed from being a winner in 2010, to a guy who falters when the pressure is on. Freeman is now 0-7 over the past two Decembers and 23-32 as a starter, after having a losing record in college.

Freeman is young enough to turn it around. But some guys just aren’t winners. It’s the ultimate intangible in every sport.

The great folks at Hooters Calendar, and you really must visit HootersCalendar.com, are playing Santa today and have given Joe some 2013 Hooters Calendars to give away.

Joe can attest that the calendars are extraordinary! They also make for fantastic gifts if you overlooked a buddy for Christmas. Or you can buy trading cards and other cool stuff.

If you want a chance to win, e-mail joe@joebucsfan.com with the subject line “Hooters Calendar,” and Joe will notify winners tonight.

The biggest question the last few days in the Tampa Bay area isn’t Rachel Watson asking Joe what present he is giving her for Christmas. No, the question is, “What has happened to Josh Freeman?”

After being one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL through much of the first three months of the season, Freeman is in a full-blown tailspin, now one of the worst, especially after throwing eight interceptions in the last two games.

It seems perhaps there is a reason, as there always is in football. It seems the Bucs are tipping off their plays.

Good guy Joe Smith ventured into the Rams locker room after the Bucs loss to the Rams and talked to highly underrated Rams middle linebacker Son of Animal, James Laurinaitis, who all but said the Bucs are tipping off plays, so Smith reports in the Tampa Bay Times.

“We just felt like coaches do a phenomenal job of getting us prepared,” Laurinaitis said. “We felt like we had a good beat on these guys going into the game, and what they were trying to do. They had some tells. So we’ve got to credit the coaches and credit the guys for studying hard.

“There are a lot of tells you can get from teams week to week, this team a little more so. You just know when certain guys are in the game, you think more run. If other guys, think more pass. And they broke some tells. That always happens, teams self-scout, they do tendency breakers. But when they come back to the core of who they are, they go back to those tendencies.”

Well now, the cat is out of the bag. If teams know what they hell you are going to run, of course defenses are more apt to not just shut you down, but pick off passes.

So if the Rams coaches know this, it’s not unreasonable to think so too do the Saints coaches, the Eagles, the Dixie Chicks.

Joe knows that Andy Reid is a good coach despite how half the town of Philadelphia wants to burn his house down. The Bucs’ woes on offense began against the dreadful Eagles. It’s not unreasonable to suggest that Reid and his staff figured out the tendencies and then, so too did other teams.

Yes, it is Christmas. Joe hopes you have a wonderful holiday and Santa brought all the gifts you expected to see under the tree this morning.

Just about every day is Christmas for Joe as he is lucky enough to be able to write about the Bucs on a daily basis. Without readers like you, this site wouldn’t exist and Joe is grateful for your patronage. Thank you, and Merry Christmas.

Detained by overzealous ICE authorities for not carrying proper documents and worked over by underhanded FBI agents as if he was a common terrorist, Santa Claus has been delayed while on his annual rounds delivering presents tonight. Dragged off to CTU, Claus now faces an unwelcome if not unexpected visit from the notorious Jack Bauer.

Though Gerald McCoy came close, Rams quarterback Sam Bradford was not sacked yesterday, snapping a 30-game streak in which Bradford was sacked.

Yes, Joe knows the Bucs’ pass defense is a sieve like few teams have ever had in NFL history. It turns Joe’s stomach sometimes just watching what passes as pass defense.

Of course, the secondary has been getting scant help from the defensive front line. Ever since Adrian Clayborn got hurt, Gerald McCoy has been getting double- and triple-teamed.

Michael Bennett has been getting decent pressure but not Sunday. And Da’Quan Bowers still isn’t playing 100 percent.

It was bad enough Josh Freeman threw four picks Sunday, a nasty little habit he has developed. To add to the misery, the Bucs helped the Rams break a streak of 30 games in which Rams quarterback Sam Bradford was put on the ground, writes Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Entering the game, Rams quarterback Sam Bradford had been sacked in 30 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the NFL. But it ended Sunday.

He wasn’t sacked, even though the Rams were minus arguably their best offensive lineman in right guard Harvey Dahl, who’s out for the year because of a torn biceps. The offensive linemen discussed ending the streak through last week.

“It was something that we wanted to do for him — see how we could win a game with him being totally upright the whole time,” left tackle Rodger Saffold said. “And it worked. So maybe we should do it more often.”

If the Bucs’ pass defense is going to improve next year, the Bucs must get a better pass rush. This is perplexing to Joe, the Bucs have so much money already tied up on the defensive line, but the results aren’t what Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik had hoped for.

If there is a bright spot to Freeman’s struggles, it is every time he has a bad game, that means Michael Bennett’s chances of re-upping with the Bucs improves.

“You see this, Mark? They never would have understood that in July.”

In what was a somewhat random comment this afternoon, the leader of the New Schiano Order praised the football IQ of his team.

They’re “umpteen times more football smart than they were five months ago,” Schiano said.

Joe was pleased to hear that, but it’s also a bit scary. If the players are so wise and savvy, then what’s going wrong?

Is it coaching? Is it confidence? These smart Bucs are quite healthy by December NFL standards, so it can’t be that.

The leader of the New Schiano Order said suspended Eric Wright will rejoin the Bucs in preparation for Sunday’s season finale in Atlanta.

Speaking to media this afternoon, Greg Schiano said he was confident Wright would be in good aerobic condition but his “football shape” was unclear.

Bucs players were given the day off today and return to the practice field Wednesday. Wright was strugging with an Achilles injury before serving his four-game suspension for substance abuse, allegedly for Adderral.

Wright has Twittered out pictures of himself training in recent days, and he advised fans of his much needed spa and dining weekend while the Bucs were getting clobbered in New Orleans.

After leading the Bucs in rushing last week against the Saints, LeGarrette Blount didn’t get a carry yesterday. But he did march onto the field in the first half and promptly missed a block  on Rams safety Quintin Mikell.

That led to Josh Freeman getting clobbered from his blind side and a fumble. (See photo)

Blount stayed in the game and made a good block on the next play and wasn’t heard from again.

Whiffing on blocks on your quarterback’s blind side can’t happen, but Joe still views Blount as an unused weapon.

It’ll be interesting to see what kind of restricted free agent tender the Bucs slap on Blount when the season’s over. Clearly, the New Schiano Order doesn’t believe the NFL is a two-back league, so Joe can’t see a reason why the organization wouldn’t want Blount back next season. He’s an inexpensive luxury to warm the bench.

Joe has a difficult time believing just weeks ago, the Bucs were riding high with six wins in 10 games, on the cusp of a playoff push.

The last five weeks, the Bucs sunk deeper and deeper in the pool to the point they are circling the drain. This happens when your quarterback of the future seems to be auditioning to become the quarterback of past.

This is not lost on Tampa Tribune humorist Martin Fennelly, who sees a dire team that wandered off the field at the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway after losing to the Rams yesterday.

See any growth lately?

I don’t.

Despite nearing the end of his fourth season, quarterback Josh Freeman is dissolving before our very eyes. He had an incredibly deceiving 372 yards passing yards on Sunday. He also threw four more interceptions, for eight in two weeks, or as many as he had in his first 13 games this season.

His head is full of mush. Maybe the Bucs should lock him up with a contract while the price is right. How does five years, $100,000 a year sound? Suddenly, No. 5 is a project again, the priority worry.

What is a rock star general manager Mark Dominik supposed to do? Here he and the team’s brass thought they had their quarterback for the next decade.

Do they? Surely doubt has crept into the minds of the movers and shakers at One Buc Palace.

Joe knows it is Christmastime but Freeman played like he was Santa Claus at All Children’s Hospital with all the gifts he gave to the Rams (same amount he gave to the Saints the previous week).

For a no-tolerance-for-turnovers kinda guy like Bucs coach Greg Schiano, these must be trying times.

Greg Schiano quit on the first half with three timeouts in his pocket and 24 seconds left, trailing 14-6 with a 2nd-and-3 on the Bucs’ 27 yard line yesterday.

The leader of the New Schiano Order, who claimed last week that his team needs to learn how to win, threw in the towel on a chance to drive for a score. Yes, this is the same head coach who blows up offensive linemen on a kneel-down play because his team’s allegedly will always fight to the finish. Yes, this is the same head coach who repeatedly claims he’s got an outstanding field goal kicker.

So what did your team learn from quitting on the first half, Coach Schiano?

Joe learned that the head coach has no confidence in his quarterback to make a couple of plays with timeouts to burn. Every other team in the NFC South in that situation takes another shot or two. But Schiano looked at his franchise quarterback and his win-now, high-paid offense and decided to run for the locker room serenaded by a chorus of boos.

Joe could do without that kind of “culture change.”

How fitting it was that the Rams scored a back-breaking touchdown on the next play from scrimmage.

Look, Joe knows Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman has few friends this Christmas Eve after throwing eight picks in the past two games and melting down more and more each week right when the Bucs needed him most.

Joe had a chance to walk on the field of the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway just as the final seconds were ticking off to the ugly loss to the Rams. There were two images that struck Joe the most.

1) Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik looked like a beaten man. Normally affable and walking with a smile if not perfect posture, Dominik walked to the Bucs locker room slumped over, head down as if he had just been put through a wringer.

2) Fans’ reaction to Freeman: There were untold dozens of fans in the stands as the game ended. Unlike last year at this time when the crowd was livid if not vile at the entire Bucs team. This was different. When various Bucs players walked off the field, fans clapped for them, asked for an autograph, a towel, a wristband, et al. But when Freeman appeared, that mood quickly switched to hostile, angry. Joe heard someone yell “Freeman!” and a loud chorus of boos erupted along with fans shouting all sorts of foul things to the Bucs quarterback. It was stunning to Joe.

This town, by and large, has turned on Freeman in just a handful of days and turned on him big time.

But while Dominik looked drained and Freeman was mercilessly heckled, this is the perfect time for those two to come together in their moment of need.

Yes, this is the perfect opportunity to sign Freeman to an extention.

Right now the Bucs have massive leverage on Freeman the way he has folded in recent weeks. Currently, he has little bargaining power with Dominik.

The Bucs’ front office leader could try to re-up Freeman to a very team-friendly contract, loaded with incentive-based clauses, where if Freeman cannot turn the corner, the Bucs could wash their hands of him with limited financial repercussions.

If Freeman is able to right his ship, with a heavily-laced incentive-based contract, he makes out good and positions himself for a massive pay increase in, say, 2015, and the Bucs get to keep their quarterback.

It buys both parties time. It’s a win-win.

Joe knows Dominik doesn’t want to let Freeman walk. He is linked to Freeman as that was his first — and primary — draft pick.

It’s the smart thing to do for the Bucs, both short-term and perhaps long-term. Re-sign Freeman in the coming weeks.