It’s easy to say what Greg Schiano did yesterday after the Bucs-Saints debacle, that Adam Hayward shoving and taunting assistant coach Bryan Cox before television cameras was a heat-of-the-moment case between friends that is now closed and behind the club.

Well, Joe doesn’t buy that, as Joe thinks committing a violent act against a coach — no matter how minor — is serious business. In fact, Joe thinks Hayward’s deed should merit an extreme punishment, especialy since it violated two of three Greg Schiano tenets: trust and belief. So the third tenet, accountability, needs to be delivered in a big way.

Joe believes Roger Goodell, who’s been known to be a Schiano-like micromanager when it comes to discipline across the NFL, is likely to get involved in Hayward’s case — either issuing a punishment or behind the scenes.

The more Joe thinks about what Hayward did, the more Joe can’t imagine it just gets swept under the rug. That can’t happen.

Yesterday, Joe barked about the baloney of “miscommunication” between Josh Freeman and his receivers in Week 15 of the season.

And today, former Bucs tight end Anthony Becht went on a long rant on WDAE-AM 620 about how miscommunication is not an excuse in December after all the work Freeman has put in with Vincent Jackson and other receivers this year.

Becht described work he put in with numerous quarterbacks in his long career — and with more complex playbooks than Mike Sullivan’s — and offered that Freeman’s attention to detail and work ethic along with his receivers’ may not be as good as advertised.

“If I’m going to point a finger at a receiver, well, maybe I didn’t do enough during the week to make sure we’re on the same page. He’s the chief,” Becht said of Freeman.

“It’s on both of them,” Bechts said, referring to Freeman and receivers. “You gotta put in the time the night before.”

Dave Moore joined Becht, his former teammate, on the air and Moore said he couldn’t say whether Freeman and his receivers are putting in the work the night before a game and taking their film study to extreme levels that he used to with Becht meeting Chucky’s demands.

In what might give Bucs fans hope, Moore said Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, a guy Moore worked with when he played for the Buffalo Bills, had similar communication issues early on in Eli Manning’s career.

Joe wondered aloud yesterday, based on quotes from various former Bucs players, whether the New Schiano Order and it’s “toes on the line” mantra would wear off once the Bucs are losing.

Well, it sure seems like it is. The Bucs have lost four in a row. Quarterback Josh Freeman has regressed terribly by the week over the past month and is below Blaine Gabbert standards, if you can imagine.

Then, during the 2011-like blowout shutout loss to the reeling Saints, linebacker Adam Hayward lost it and prompted a physical altercation with front-seven coach Bryan Cox, which in Joe’s eyes is totally unacceptable on the sidelines. Unacceptable as in Hayward should find work for another team next season.

It gets worse. An unnamed Bucs player apparently went off on the Bucs coaching staff to the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, Mike Florio.

“Can we send these coaches back to college?” one player privately said after the game.

Well, Joe has a major issue with this. First, please explain how your babysitter drinking buddy NFL coach did last year? How’s Jim Harbaugh doing? Or Pete Carroll?

This is just a loser mentality, no other way to put it.

Just do your job or ask for a release/trade Mr. NFL player (who is so upstanding, upfront, brave and honorable he declined to be identifed).

Joe’s going to guess there will be another purge of players this offseason, guys who want to go MMA on the sideline with coaches and dudes who whine about “college coaches” yet grossly tanked games for an alleged NFL coach.

Freelance football writer Dory LeBlanc attended the Bucs-Saints game as a credentialed media member for Joe. Her quotes are used in this post.

Joe wonders whether Bucs players realize how much is at stake in these last two games. A good showing in both, with at least one win, should be enough to bring a night home game back to Tampa in 2013, which means a national showcase for the community and at least one locally televised home game.

But if the Bucs keep tanking, Joe’s confident TV executives will pass on the Bucs, like they did after the heinous 10-game losing streak of 2011.

There’s also the hope and pride legions of fans on the line, most who are/were really on board with the New Schiano Order. You can’t feed a fan base back-to-back collapses and not lose a load of people. Joe knows fans would reveal scant Bucs pride during what would be a torturous, long offseason if the Bucs lose out.

So Joe was encouraged to hear D.J. Ware insist his teammates care about the big picture and didn’t just give the it’s-on-to-the-Rams-season speech.

“These last two games are very important for us. We’ve got to go out there and show our next two opponents what we are all about. We’ve got a lot to prove and we are going to have to do that to finish the season strong. We have a lot of pride here in this locker room and now we have to prove it on the field,” Ware said.

Ronde Barber talked more about pride and responsibility.

“You don’t expect this to happen but it did,” Barber said. “But looking ahead we have two games left to play and every game we play is important. You sign up for 16 games every year and you have to play 16. And we are going to go out there and play hard because tomorrow is not promised to anyone.”

Joe really wants to see what the Bucs are made of these next two games. It’s scary, but literally, they can lose a majority of what was accomplished this season with continued poor play. Joe will join the ranks of the devastated if that happens.

Josh Freeman says his mechanics are not an issue

Josh Freeman disagreed with an assessment that his mechanics aren’t what they were a month ago, during a chat with media following the brutal beat down in New Orleans yesterday.

“From a physical-mechanics, throwing-the-ball standpoint, I feel like I’m as good as I’ve ever been,” Freeman said.

Ok, well, Joe can’t argue with how Freeman “feels.” However, Joe would not stomach an earlier comment Freeman made about what he considers the most important element to repairing the Bucs offense.

Asked how critical a factor falling into 3rd-and-long situations has been in this recent offensive freefall, Freeman said, “First and second down, you know, that’s the key to this whole thing.”

Sorry, but Joe can’t accept that for a second.

Freeman threw four interceptions yesterday, and not one had to do with down and distance, and every ball was tossed into the red zone. They came on the following downs, 2nd-and-10, 3rd-and-14, 1st-and-10 and 1st-and-10. Plus, the 3rd-and-14 pick was nowhere near Vincent Jackson and was immediately after Freeman missed Mike Williams in the end zone on second down.

“The key to this whole thing,” to use Freeman’s words, is Freeman himself. He’s simply letting down his team with bad throws, bad decisions and failing in his leadership role when he’s most needed.

Joe’s really not sure what Freeman’s mindset is at this point. He looks shellshocked on the field, and some of his takes to the media reflect that.

It is “toes up” time as veteran columnist Gary Shelton has strong words for the Bucs after their fourth straight loss in this Tampa Bay Times video.

Fans saw the ugly, embarrassing sight of linebacker Adam Hayward restrained on the Bucs sideline after getting into a heated, finger-pointing, pushy, arm-waving spat with Bucs’ front-7 defensive coach Bryan Cox today in New Orleans.

Hayward stayed in the game, but this was not a typical coach-player disagreement. Here’s the video.

Greg Schiano acknowledged the faceoff and closed the incident to media after the game.

“I’m not happy about it, but I do know that it’s been resolved. I think you chalk it up to heat of the moment. Guys are very passionate. Adam is a passionate player. Coach Cox is a passionate coach. I know they’re very close. And they’re, I think, more of a family spat in a frustrating time than, you know, anything that I’m deeply concerned about,” Schiano said. “I know they’ve already smoothed that over. But again, it’s not what a football team that I’m the head coach of I want to see. So certainly it’s been addressed, and it will be addressed and we’ll move forward from it. But it need not happen again.” 

Joe gets the passion, but Latrell Spreewell  Hayward is a Bucs leader and a true veteran. You can’t have guys in that role going after coaches under any circumstances. It’s beyond unacceptable.

Joe needs two hands to count the former NFL players, including Derrick Brooks, Booger McFarland and Shaun King, that months ago made it very clear that Greg Schiano’s micromanaging, heavy-handed approach needed to be accompanied by early winning and sustained improvement.

If not, they said, Schiano’s dictatorial style absolutely would wear thin relatively quickly, mutinous thoughts would permeate the Bucs locker room, and play would spiral downhill.

Now Joe’s not saying the Bucs have quit on Schiano and collectively are doubting their leader, but it’s likely that at least some Bucs — and possibly man — aren’t “buying in” like they were a few weeks ago. Maybe that’s just part of the process; Schiano learning which players are weak and which can thrive and battle when December stress rolls around.

Joe’s not concerned right now about a mutiny. But the question must be asked and the situation examined.

There’s no doubt in Joe’s mind Schiano will turn up the heat in these last couple of weeks like Bucs players have never seen before.

“We’ll see what kind of fight is in this team, and in this coaching staff and in this organization,” Schiano said on the Buccaneers Radio Network after the game.

Hopefully, the Bucs will respond.

Joe hopes to have something a bit more detailed by tomorrow night about Mark Barron, but on paper Barron came to play big time today.

With the success of fellow rookies Doug Martin and Lavonte David, some Bucs fans are thinking Barron is a bust because he hasn’t shined like two guys who ought to be in the Pro Bowl.

To that, Joe says, balderdash!

Barron led the Bucs with 10 tackles today, eight of them solo tackles. He also tied for the Bucs’ lead in passes defended with one. And of course, Barron dropped rib-rattling hits on Saints players, which Joe dearly loves.

Has Barron made people forget John Lynch yet? No, but he still played a good game today.

“Yes, sir. Yes, sir. As you wish, sir. We’ll kill that one.”

Yes, Joe busted a remote control when the Bucs opted to cover Saints super tight end Jimmy Graham today with backup defensive end Aaron Morgan on a third-down play in the first quarter.

What the hell was that? Of course, Graham got free and caught a first-down pass.

To close his Wednesday news conference, defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan was asked about Morgan and said his speciality is that of a straight-ahead, speed pass rusher. That’s his game.

So what was Sheridan tyring to do with Morgan on Graham? That’s like Joe trying to outmuscle Carl Nicks en route to a buffet line.

Did Sheridan think he would fool Drew Brees? It’s that kind of decision-making that drives Joe nuts. There was no sound logic to it.

The leader of the New Schiano Order, Greg Schiano, took a break from dealing with college football and NBA fans in the locker room to discuss the nauseating shutout loss to the Saints on the Bucs radio network.

Schiano made no excuses and pulled no punches calling the loss “unacceptable.”

“We went on the road in a division game and did just what we cannot do. There were not any big errors, we just didn’t play well on defense at times. There were no busts, nothing glaring, just got outdone today.

“With the turnovers and these things, that is unacceptable. We can get it fixed. We know what to do. It is frustrating and I know it is frustrating for our fans.

“Drew Brees, hey he is a first ballot Hall of Famer. He will get his passes. He is elite.

On Josh Freeman’s terrible day: [Interceptions] severely impacted the game but is it just Josh Freeman? No. He doesn’t block. He doesn’t run routes. When we lose it is a group effort. And we didn’t coach as well as we needed to.”

Was it “miscommunication” that caused this potential touchdown pass to sail over Mike Williams’ reach?

Joe has heard it during the game and now afterwards on the Bucs postgame show. Josh Freeman is having miscommunications with the receivers.

BALONEY! (Joe wants to use a stronger word).

What week is this in the NFL season, Week 15? And the quarterback and the receivers are not on the same page? That is completely and totally unacceptable!

For this excuse to be used on a professional in the midst of the team’s 14th game is outrageous and tells Joe there is something very wrong in the team’s passing game aside from Josh Freeman’s ugly statistics.

Given the fact there are two Pro Bowlers and one damned-good No. 2 receiver within the receiving corps, Joe’s going to make a wild guess that Dallas Clark and Vincent Jackson are not the ones with the miscommunication issues.

A high school quarterback would be ridiculed for miscommunication issues late in the season, so should an NFL quarterback, much less high school wide receivers.

Following the Raheem-era-like shutout beating absorbed by the Bucs today in New Orleans, Buccaneers Radio Network analyst and former Bucs tight end Anthony Becht said fans witnessed another episode of the lack of coverage skills in the Bucs secondary.

Frankly, Joe thinks the key word there is “skills.”

The Bucs are just so outclassed at cornerback, it’s impossible to even be upset with the corners themselves, other than me-first Eric Wright.

Joe must wonder why the Bucs have been so insistent that Ronde Barber remain at safety when Ahmad Black is better at his position than the Bucs’ cornerbacks are at theirs. While Barber doesn’t have the speed he once did, Joe knows Barber’s better than what the Bucs are trotting out there right now.

Greg Schiano has said repeatedly how he wants to get the best players on the field, but that seems to not be ringing true given the situation in the defensive backfield.

What the hell got into Adam Hayward?

Unless you were listening to the game or were away from the TV or perhaps in New Orleans (Joe apologizes), TV viewers were shown a near fist-fight between linebacker Adam Hayward and front seven coach Bryan Cox.

Hayward, for reasons unknown, went after Cox on the sideline screaming at him and then shoving him. Immediately, Cox began wagging his finger right in Hayward’s face as if to say, “You don’t want to screw with me, back off dude.” Then Hayward went after Cox physically and the two had to be seperated.

Welp, backup linebackers don’t often get to rough up a coach, especially when the player’s fellow defenders can’t stop a cool Brees breeze, coughing up 42 points in a shutout loss.

Cox may have done the best work of any of the Bucs assistants. The front seven, despite being ravaged by injuries, is pretty damned good, especially since most of the players started on one of the dregs of NFL defenses last year.

If Hayward wants to be employed come February, he may want to have a passionate apology to both Cox and Greg Schiano in front of all his teammates in the locker room.

First, let Joe get this out of the way: Josh Freeman will be your Bucs starting quarterback for the rest of the year and, barring injury, in 2013.

But the way Freeman has freefalled the past four weeks, seemingly growing worse by the week, Joe is beginning to wonder if the Bucs will just wash their hands of Freeman after his contract expires after the 2013 season. If Freeman plays next year like the past four weeks, it will be awfully hard to justify the Bucs re-signing him.

As of this typing, only two quarterbacks who have started this season, John Skelton and Chad Henne, have worse pass-completion percentages than Freeman who is at 54.7 percent, No. 34 in the NFL.

Here are some of the quarterbacks who have better accuracy than Freeman this season: Christian Ponder, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Carson Palmer, Kevin Kolb, Nick Foles, Michael Vick, Blaine Gabbert, Cam Newton, Matt Cassel, Jake Locker, Ryan Tannehill, Mark Sanchez.

Joe remembers when former Bucs quarterback Shaun King, one of only three quarterbacks to lead the Bucs to an NFL Championship game, suggested Freeman needs to see a shrink, and Bucs fans howled in outrage.

Joe remembers popular sports radio personality Adam Schein state he trusted Ponder more than Freeman, and again Bucs fans screamed in protest.

Looks like King and Schein may be onto something, huh?

And, don’t even suggest Dan Orlovsky should start. Only those who never watched Orlovsky (or are blind drunk on Jack Daniels) would think such nonsense.

Right now Joe has to wonder if Freeman is approaching Jason Campbell territory, where Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik just lets Freeman walk after his contract expires?

Last week Joe thought Freeman could be a serviceable quarterback, but not one to trust to win games. Joe’s reevaluating that thought after Freeman’s pathetic four-pick, 26-of-47 loss against one of the worst defenses in the NFL. Freeman didn’t put one point on the board and threw two picks in the red zone when the game was still in doubt.

Freeman is currently 23-31 as a starter.

Joe is hoping that with a full offseason to work with Freeman, perhaps Mike Sullivan can find the magic bullet. Joe is very confident that, barring a direct order from Team Glazer, the Bucs are not nor will not be shopping for a quarterback before 2014.

Freeman has all the toys in the world an NFL quarterback could desire. He has all the tangibles a team would want from a quarterback. The job simply is not getting done.

The Bucs were in the playoff hunt and Freeman’s lousy games the past month knocked them out. That is not acceptable from a starting quarterback.

It’s pretty clear though that Freeman’s career will hang in the balance next year. It’s do or die for Freeman. In 2013.

Who knew the Raheem Morris look would return for Christmas? Joe thought that was out of style. But it’s back.

The now third-place Bucs got absolutely dominated by the shabby Saints on both sides of the ball today.

For the second week in a row — and only the second time this season — the Bucs came out completely flat.  That can’t be a coincidence. And keep in mind the Bucs should have been in a playoff mindset having been mathematically alive entering the game.

 Josh Freeman looked 2011  lost. (That’s no coincidence).  The secondary was roasted at will, as expected. And to complete the Raheem flashback, the Bucs were gutted by the Saints running game. There was even finger pointing on the Bucs’ sidelines.

That’s four consecutive losses now, and the Bucs officially have transformed into a bad football team. It pains Joe to type that out, but that’s reality. The New Schiano Order is losing a percentage of what it accomplished this season with each passing quarter.

Why are the Bucs no longer responding? Schiano must find answers and a fix before the season runs out, otherwise this will be the longest, ugliest offseason in recent memory. There’s no possible way to spin a six-game, season-closing slide as positive. None whatsoever.

OK boys and girls, time to watch the Bucs at the Saints. What will Greg Schiano do? Will he go all Doug Martin or try to go with inconsistent Josh Freeman? Will the “good Josh” or the “bad Josh” show up today?

How many yards will Drew Brees put up on the Bucs’ rancid pass defense, 500? How many touchdowns will Jimmy Graham rack up today?

Discuss this and the ups and downs of the game in this here thread.

This is still an important game for the Bucs. There is still a thin chance at a playoff spot, but not without a win in New Orleans.

If the Bucs lose, it’s time to start worrying about the draft.

The Michael Smith inactives list has been released by the Bucs through their official Twitter feed. Of course, Michael Smith leads the list (if you are not going to play this guy the whole year, let him go home for the holidays, huh? What a joke).

Here are the inactives for the Saints game today:

CB LeQuan Lewis

RB Michael Smith

LB Najee Goode

G Roger Allen

WR David Douglas

DT Corvey Irvin

DT Matthew Masifilo.

Saints inactives are CB Corey White, RB Chris Ivory, LB Scott Shanle, T Zach Strief, DT Tyrunn Walker, TE Michael Higgins and DE Turk McBride.

Week 15

Bucs at Saints

Kickoff: 1 p.m.

TV: WTVT-TV Channel 13. DirecTV Channel 713.

Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM, 103.5 and WDAE-AM, 620); SiriusXM Channel 84.

Weather: Per AccuWeather.com, though the Saints play in a soulless dome, the weather for tailgaiting outside the stadium should be OK. Temperatures will be in the low 70s under cloudy skies.

Odds: Per Sportsbook.com, Bucs +3.5

Outlook: The Saints are reeling of late, but then again the Bucs haven’t been playing very sharp. This game could go so many ways. What may be important to watch is just how the Bucs come out on offense. Joe is of the mind the Bucs need to run Doug Martin at the Saints time and time again. If Greg Schiano goes this way, it is because the Saints defense stinks or that Schiano is losing trust in Josh Freeman, who the last three weeks has struggled, including a terrible game last week in which he had no accuracy and “this Joe” is convinced the reason why Schiano ran the ball on a critical third down was that he didn’t trust Freeman and wanted to put the ball in the hands of his best chance to a get a first down: Martin. Of course, Drew Brees will torch the Bucs defensive backfield. IF the immortal Nick Foles can rack up 381 yards, it is frightening to think of what Brees can do. In short, feeding Martin is the way to go. The Saints can’t stop the run and by running the ball it keeps Brees on the sidelines.

Joe still has nightmares thinking of Malcolm Jenkins’ heroic chasedown of Vincent Jackson in the last meeting of the Saints and Bucs in Tampa.

Jackson getting dropped about 50 inches from the end zone after a 95-yard reception — here’s the video — led to the Bucs’ most heinous 4-and-out in recent years, yet another series fans can point to that eliminated the Bucs from legitimate playoff chatter.

The good news is the porous Saints secondary won’t have Jenkins today. He was placed on injured reserve Saturday, per the Times Picayune.

Jenkins started the previous 13 games for the Saints after being listed as out for Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jenkins ranked third on the Saints this season with 94 total tackles and had one interception, which turned into a 55-yard interception return for a touchdown against Oakland on Nov. 18.

In other Saints injury news, their starting right tackle, Zach Strief, is officially out with an ankle injury. The odds of Michael Bennett recording his 10th sack of the season and adding to his free agency bankroll allure just went up.

The Tampa Bay Times Bucs beat brothers, Rick Stroud and Stephen Holder, chatter in this video about the state of the Bucs. Stroud says he senses “real frustration” from Schiano and relays a nugget about Schiano stopping practice to demand focus and no talk of bowl games and the NBA.