OK Bucs fans, this was weird wasn’t it? Watching football at noon only to have a late afternoon Bucs kickoff?

Today the Bucs travel to Denver to face perhaps their toughest test of the season, the Broncos. Yes, Joe has made much of the fact the Bucs have the worst pass defense in the NFL, and Peyton Manning is on fire for the Broncos.

Joe’s a borderline mathematical illiterate but Joe can sure add two-plus-two and he doesn’t like the sum of this addition.

Feel free to discuss the game in this thread. As always, thanks for visiting Joe today and you know he will plenty of commentary about the game moments after the final gun.

Week 13

Bucs at Broncos

Kickoff: 4:05 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 136.

Weather: Per AccuWeather.com, the Bucs absolutely lucked out. Normally in the weeks leading up to Christmas, Colorado can easily be the site of a blizzard and bone-chilling weather. Not today. How about a game played under mostly sunny skies with a kickoff temperature of 66? The skies should remain clear throughout the game with the temperature only dipping slightly by game’s end to 63. That’s just about perfect football weather.

Odds: Per Sportsbook.com, Bucs +7.5

Outlook: On paper, this simply looks nightmarish. The Bucs have the worst pass defense in the NFL. Every time the Bucs play a decent quarterback, said signal-caller goes through the Bucs secondary like Bill Sherman did Georgia. Peyton Manning’s little brother Eli deep fried the Bucs secondary — which included the immortal Aqib Talib at the time — for over 500 yards! With Peyton Manning playing nearly as well as he has ever played, Joe just cannot fathom how the Bucs don’t get torched today. well, the more Joe thinks about it, there’s a way to handle this and it is simply fundamental football: Run the ball. Sure, Denver has a strong defense, but if the Bucs can get Muscle Hamster Doug Martin running on his wheel, it will keep Manning on the sidelines listening to Outlaw Country on SiriusXM. Time of possession will simply be critical for the Bucs today.

Know the enemy: Here are some quotes from Denver coach John Fox and Manning on the Bucs. Fox (on Bucs now using backups as starters in the secondary): It’s next man up. We all go through it. We have nine guys on IR as well, six were starters to start the season. The next guy has to step up and learn with the opportunity. That’s what you do. (On the Bucs poor pass defense): Sometimes people on the outside make too much of statistics. I think the only important statistic is in the “W” and “L” column. I know Greg’s team is 6-5 and whooped up on everybody in our division. I think they are a good football team. (On Doug Martin): He’s a guy we definitely liked as far as our evaluation. He has had a tremendous season thus far. That is attributed to a lot of people. The Bucs lost two good linemen and the fact they have been able to replace them is impressive. Each game as its own personality and a lot of that is matchups and [the Bucs] running game is definitely on our radar. (On Josh Freeman:) I thought he was as bright of a young talent as there was in the league. I didn’t get a chance to see [the Bucs] a year ago but across the board there were struggles. What I see on tape this year I remember very well from two years ago. I know I have great respect for him and I think everyone in our building watching him on tape feels the same way. (On Freeman’s weapons:) It starts at quarterback and I have great respect for him. You then plug in a rookie running back like Doug Martin and a physical guy like Vincent Jackson who we know very well and Mike Williams on the other side, those are pretty good ingredients to cook up a nice meal. They are doing a good job in mixing the run and the pass and are plus-one in the turnover margin. So those turnovers, usually results in points one way or the other and you combine that… we are third in the league in points scored and they are fourth in the league in ports scored so it should be a good matchup. And we are pretty familiar with Dallas [Clark] as well.

Peyton Manning (on Ronde Barber): Ronde, talk about a true — he’s a battler, he’s a grinder he’s playing well and pretty impressive to see a guy playing that well in his 16th year out there — I like seeing guys out there older than me. It’s good to see. What Ronde is doing is pretty impressive as well. (On the Bucs defense:) I think it is important to look at tape. Statistics can be misleading. I tell you what I see: I see a defense that has been dominant in the run and a lot of turnovers. You can also see how their offense takes those turnovers into touchdowns. Giving up yards is one thing but [forcing] turnovers and holding teams to field goals in the red zone, I don’t give a whole lot of credit to statistics. I go by what I see on film. They are playing fast and playing hard and forcing turnovers. (On the Bucs defensive line:) The Bucs do a good job of getting up the field, penetrate, it will be a good challenge for our offensive line.

Broncos manbeast Von Miller.

The Bucs have their collective hands full today and it isn’t just a porous secondary trying to find a way to defend perhaps the game’s greatest quarterback playing at an elite level.

Easy to overlook in the hand-wringing over trying to stop Payton Manning is the Broncos defense, led by freak outside linebacker Von Miller.

The second-year stud out of Texas A&M is an absolute terror for opposing offenses as he can line up at outside linebacker in a three-man front or as a defensive end in a four-man front.

Trust Joe, Miller was a big topic in the Bucs locker room earlier this week as was Manning.

“He can do everything, man,” said offensive tackle Donald Penn. “He can play linebacker, he can [play] d-end, he could probably play safety and maybe score a touchdown at running back if he wanted to. He is a good athlete, he’s a specimen man, he’s a special player.”

“He’s just a great pass rusher,” fellow offensive tackle Demar Dotson concurred. “He’s one of the best in the league if not the best. He’s a very good speed guy. We have to get up on them and come up with a game plan to stop these guys and we’ve got to get the job done.”

So how do the Bucs stop this one-man gang? Run the ball, so says fullback D.J. Ware?

[The run game is] “very important. We try to win in all aspects of the game but time of possession is important,” Ware said. “If we get the ground game going, it will help us establish third-and-shorts and we can convert those much easier than third-and-longs and the longer we control the ball, the longer we keep Peyton Manning on the sidelines with his hat on.

“That’s a big thing for us right now. Peyton is no doubt one of the greatest to ever play this game. He can shred the defense. Keep him off the field.”

Dotson also is looking forward to getting Doug Martin into gear, because he believes it will help keep Von Miller and Company off of Josh Freeman.

“It’s going to be big time getting the run game going,” Dotson said. “They have some dynamic pass rushers so we have to slow them down. if we get the running game going, that will be big time.”

Penn, too, would love to see Martin go nuts on the Broncos just like he did against the Vikings and Raiders.

“The running game is very important when you look at it from the aspect of we took a step back last week and we want to take two steps forward this week,” Penn said. “But it is going to be tough, They have a great run a great run defense there. This is going to be a tough match-up, something we have to focus on and get back on track.”

But, like any game, breaking Martin loose means taking care of business up front.

“They are an extremely talented group,” Ware said. “They can get after you whether it is a three-down lineman or a two-down lineman. Those guys fly to the ball, including the corners and the safeties. we have to make sure we are on top of our gameplan and if show us a certain look, make sure we go to another play and make sure it is the right play and I think josh will do a good job in doing that. Coach Sullivan has a nice gameplan for these guys and we need to stay focused.”

The timid pass rush of late by the Bucs demonstrates just how much the team misses injured right defensive end Adrian Clayborn.

Earlier this week, Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune dropped a phone call to talk all things Bucs with “The Fabulous Sports Babe,” heard on WHFS-FM 98.7. During part of the interview, “The Fabulous Sports Babe” acted like any Bucs fan, fearing the worst for Sunday, with one of the greatest quarterbacks to every take a snap lining up opposite one of the worst Bucs cornerbacks crew in memory, maybe in franchise history.

It doesn’t take a wizard to figure out Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning will try to light up the scoreboard by roasting the Bucs through the air.

“The Fabulous Sports Babe:” What about the defense, [Peyton Manning] is used to throwing and throwing and [the Bucs] have defensive backs that sound like me. They are not very good. So what does that say? He will be throwing it and they will be trying to defend it.

Woody Cummings: Yeah, you are right. It’s a horrible situation for the Bucs. You are going against a Hall of Fame quarterback who is clearly on top of his game and he is going up against a bunch of kids and I think it will be an issue for them. But here’s what they have to do: They have to rush the passer better they have to find a way to make Peyton Manning uncomfortable which is not easy to do became he gets rid of the ball so early. But if you are going to help that secondary, you have to get some pass rush and we haven’t seen enough of that really. I think we are starting to recognize how important Adrian Clayborn was to this team. I think Gerald McCoy is doing his part and he is facing two blockers every time. It’s hard to beat those guys. Michael Bennett has done is part but on the other side, Daniel Te’o-Nesheim has had some splash plays here and there but not enough, certainly not what Adrian Clayborn would have done. They are waiting for Da’Quan Bowers to get the feel back, get healthy. He is getting there, he is getting healthier every week but it will probably be the end of the season before he is fully in football shape. It is a tough deal for them, no doubt about it. They have to rush the passer better and cover better and maybe hope that Peyton Manning has an off day and if that all comes together, they have a chance. If not, they will be in some trouble.

Joe thinks Cummings hit on several points. Joe remembers asking GMC two weeks after Clayborn went down if he had noticed different blocking schemes by opponents to double- if not triple-team him in Clayborn’s absence. GMC didn’t want to answer the question, as admitting to this all but makes him look like he is searching for an excuse, but after beating around the bush for a while, GMC nodded “yes” to Joe that teams were going after him more, sans Clayborn to worry about.

If the Bucs are going to put heat on Manning, Bennett has to show up like he has most of the season. He was virtually invisible last week against the Dixie Chicks.

Going after Manning is virtually impossible unless the Bucs bring blitzes on just about every play because Manning will be in a three-step drop. Combined with his quick release, that’s nearly an impossible task to get Manning on the ground, regardless of how slow he is.

Joe’s of the mind that Manning can’t hurt you if he is standing on the sidelines wearing a cap and sipping Gatorade. So this should be a big day tomorrow for Doug Martin.

More Martin = less Manning, which means better chance to win.

The Bucs are in a pinch. They can realistically afford to lose one more game if they plan on playing after New Year’s Day. An upset would be a glorious step.

Trey Wingo, Marcellus Wiley and Jerry Rice give their best predictions on how the Bucs will fare against the Broncos in this ESPN video.

Line up with three wide receivers, force Denver into nickel coverage, and then run at the nickel.

That’s what former superstar receiver Sterling Sharpe says the Bucs need to do against Denver’s sometimes porous run defense in order to let Doug Martin put a resounding December “stamp on his rookie of the year performance,” and set up explosive plays off play-action.

In this NFL Network “playbook” segment, Sharpe lays out on film why he believes the Bucs will be beat the Broncos.

On the flip side, cohorts Brian Baldinger and Ronde Barber hater Donovan McNabb explain why Peyton Manning will carve up the Bucs and why the Broncos’ defensive line is so deep.

First and foremost, Joe wants to see the Bucs start fast, as they’ve done literally all season and preseason. That’ll give them confidence in the tough conditions at Mile High, and allow the running game Sharpe talks about to develop. 

There is a reason this guy has been unemployed for about a month and that the worst team in the NFL washed their hands of him.

In the past three weeks, Joe’s not sure a day has gone by that someone on this here corner of the interwebs or on Twitter has asked Joe about the Bucs signing unemployed cornerback Stanford Routt.

Nevermind that he has been on the streets for weeks; nevermind the worst team in the NFL jettisoned Routt.

Routt’s popularity (?) with Bucs fans is akin to the notorious Toe Nash and the Rays.

Apparently, Woody Cummings is being pestered by the Routt crowd as well. He touched upon why Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik is not picking up near-household names and instead is going after neverbeens.

Q: There are two players that are free agents that could come into Tampa and help our team make a playoff push. Why not go out and sign former Chiefs’ CB Stanford Routt? I would have rather had him covering Falcons’ receiver Roddy White than Danny Gorrer. What about former Falcons’ defensive end Ray Edwards to come in and help our horrible pass rush? Those are two quality players the Bucs should at least work out.

— Andrew Athans, Arnold, Md.

A: Routt has been out there for a couple of weeks now and no one has touched him. There must be something we don’t know about him that is causing everyone to lay off. As for Edwards, he’s a player the Bucs had some interest in during free agency last year. He put a rather high price tag on himself, but other than that I don’t see why he can’t help.

— Woody Cummings

In short, Bucs fans, in desperate throws of darts at the wall, are looking for someone, anyone who can help out a beleaguered secondary. Those darts usually are of players whose names fans recognize, and for no other good reason.

There are no magic bullets to help out this secondary. As Bucs legend Derrick Brooks would say, “It is what it is” for the remainder of the season, with the exception of Anthony Gaitor being activated soon.

If the worst team in the NFL — with a general manager and a coach fighting for their careers — didn’t think Routt can help save themselves from working at Costco, and Dominik doesn’t think he can help, the fact that 30 other NFL general managers also believe Routt isn’t worth their time, then Joe will rest comfortably with the fact that Routt is off the Bucs roster.

Tomorrow the Bucs will fly to Denver’s Mile High Stadium — or whatever name is slapped on it these days — and will play Sunday in the famed suffocating altitude that’s been known to consume those that aren’t physically or mentally prepared.

But Greg Schiano isn’t concerned about such things.

In fact, the leader of the New Schiano Order said today that the level of oxygen in the Colorado air will not fatigue any Buccaneers quicker than usual as long as they’ve loaded up on water.

Huh?

“I’ll bring it up [to players] because the facts [about altitude adjustment] are actually favorable. We get in and we get out and, you know, you’re fine. As long as you hydrate, you’re fine,” Schiano said. “Now if you’re going to spend an extended period of time there, and your body then gets acclimated, there’s a whole medical thing that occurs then, that’s a different story. Hydration is the key, though.”

Joe never heard of such a thing, and Joe heard Gerald McCoy talk earlier this week on the Buccaneers Radio Network about how Colorado altitude affected him in college.

“My first time being up there and playing a game, you know, when I got off the bus I was struggling,” McCoy said of a college game in Colorado. “So [against the Broncos], definitley out of all the games we’ve played up to this point, our rotation has to be key. You can’t try to be Superman in this game. … If you’re tired, come out.”

Joe also heard Brian Billick on radio this week talking about how he counseled players not to freak out when they got tired in Denver pregame warmups. Joe also talked to former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson, who played all his college home games at altitude, and Carlson said he’d seen guys affected by it and also heard all kinds of altitude guidance from coaches, none of which seemed to be worthwhile.

So what’s the reality in all this?

Joe turned to renowned altitude guru Dr. Robert Roach, director of the Altitude Research Center at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He’s a big shot in the field of high altitude medicine and physiology, and exercise performance.  

Roach said Schiano is on the money when it comes to hydration. The dry air in Denver, especially versus Tampa, is the issue. The human body is designed to fully humidify the air we breathe by the time it reaches our lungs, Roach explained, so to do that at Mile High players need to suck that water out of their circulation. If it’s not replaced with enough oral fluids, dehydration will happen.

But Roach referenced one issue that Schiano likely can’t prepare for — bad sleep.

Roach said the No. 1 complaint of people coming to Denver altitude is disturbed sleep caused by a chemical shift in the brain that is struggling to adjust to the low oxygen level.

Of course, a lousy night sleep can lead to fatigue.

Roach also referenced that the mere “idea” of visitors concerned about altitude can play to the Broncos’ benefit. And Bucs icon John Lynch, a former Broncos Pro Bowler, said on WDAE-AM 620 this week that signs all over Mile High stadium referencing the altitude are there to get in the heads of visitors.

McCoy said the Bucs’ mentality is critical.

“I mean if you go in there expecting not to be able to breathe, you might not be able to breathe,” McCoy said. “But if you go in there with the right mindset, and have the mindset of ‘I don’t care what the altitude is like,’ then it’s not going to play a factor in whether I execute an assignment to the best of my abilities, or whether I read my keys.”

Regardless of whether the effects of altitude are real or imagined, or somewhere in between, Joe’s confident at least some of the Bucs will be affected. That’s an advantage for the Broncos.

Here is where Bucs fans can watch the Bucs-Broncos game on their local FOX affiliates. The yellow-shaded areas will televise the Bucs-Broncos broadcast. It appears all of Florida sans Panama City will get the Bucs-Broncos game. Map courtesy of the506.com.

Some interesting stuff in this CBS Sports Bucs-Broncos breakdown by former NFL coach and front office executve Pat Kirwan.

Kirwan talks about how the Broncos will go no-huddle to start the game in order to avoid slow starts that have plagued them.

Also, Kirwan thinks the Bucs’ ground game won’t be dominant, thanks to the successful return of linebacker D.J. Williams, and the Bucs will struggle against the Broncos’ pass rush.

Kirwan’s prediction, however, might surprise you.

Perhaps the football gods do want the Bucs in the playoffs?

Joe just took a peek at the weather forecast in Denver for Sunday’s game against the Broncos, and the kickoff temperature is expected to be about 62 degrees under sunny skies and insignificant wind, with a high of 64 projected for the afternoon.

That’s darn near a miracle forecast for the Bucs.

Of course, those also are great playing conditions for the Broncos’ aerial attack.

As Joe wrote several weeks ago, and took criticism for it, Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan is all but certain to be in the mix when teams start interviewing potential head coaches for 2013, assuming a few things: Sullivan is interested, and the Bucs don’t implode or go deep in the playoffs. The latter would prevent Sullivan from interviewing until the Bucs are eliminated.

It just makes too much sense given Sullivan’s military-officer background, rings and success with the Giants, and now credit for crafting a new offense and reviving a quarterback with the Bucs.

Now does Joe think Sullivan would make a good head coach? Well, that’s not relevant, nor is Joe thinking about it. What’s important is that the Bucs could lose him at the rate Sullivan’s career is progressing.

Tampa Tribune beat writer eye-RAH! Kaufman penned a sharp feature on Sullivan today, including info. on Sullivan’s daunting Army Ranger training and an endorsement from Falcons head coach Mike Smith.

That wouldn’t surprise Falcons coach Mike Smith, who worked with Sullivan in 2003 on Jack Del Rio’s staff in Jacksonville.

“Mike’s one of the most intelligent guys I know, and he’s got an unbelievable work ethic,” Smith said. “He’s got West Point connections, and you can’t say enough about a guy who spent time there. He did a great job with Eli in New York and he’s got a great mind in terms of how to attack people.”

It’ll be interesting to see what the buzz is when head coaches around the NFL start dropping like flies in a few weeks. If Sullivan is interested in being a team commander, his agent should have no problem drumming up interest — real or hyped.

Veteran sports anchor Dave Wirth comes out and fesses up: He doesn’t think the Bucs can stop Peyton Manning. The key, Wirth says, is slowing him down. Wirth explains how the Bucs may be able to do that in this WTSP-TV video.

The way Lavonte David and the Bucs play the run, and play ole defense against the pass, no wonder teams are giving up on the run playing the Bucs.

Like Joe learned in high school, just about anyone can reinforce a premise with a statistic, twisted or otherwise.

Yes, the Bucs are tough against the run. Tops in the NFL in rushing defense in fact. But Jeff Legwold of the Denver Post believes this statistic to be misleading.

He cites (yes, more stats) to show that teams having given up knocking themselves out trying to run on the Bucs, and instead have gone after the Bucs’ glaring weakness: stopping the pass.

The Buccaneers have the No. 1 run defense in the NFL. They have held opponents to less than 100 yards rushing in eight games, and less than 40 yards rushing in three games.

So in response, their opponents have moved on from the run game quickly.

What it leads to is this: Only four teams have faced fewer rushing attempts than the Buccaneers this season.

The four teams Legwold documents that have faced fewer runs are Washington, Houston, Chicago and Seattle.

This makes a great deal of sense: Why keep running into a brick wall when you can throw over the wall and accomplish your goal? This is why Joe would be shocked if the Broncos run the ball 20 times Sunday.

Why would you run when you have Peyton Manning against the likes that make up the Bucs secondary.

This is so cool. You just go to Hooters, meet the ladies, and have typical Hooters fun and food.

Yesterday, word began filtering out about what Bucs players (and coaches) would return to  Dec. 9 for a home game against the Eagles to honor the 10th anniversary of the Bucs’ lone Super Bowl championship, and Chucky’s name was the first released.

Well, Buccaneers.com has a full list of attendees (thus far) and nearly every member of that team is showing up, including the good Dexter Jackson, who was the Super Bowl MVP.

Interestingly, a player who was a key cog but never quite fit in and was all but thrown off the team the following season, Meshawn Johnson, is not among those pledging to attend.

Yes, Joe knows Meshawn works for the four-letter on Sunday mornings, but so too does Warren Sapp work Sunday mornings (on the NFL Network) and he is attending.

Here is the list so far of Bucs coming back for the 10-year reunion:

“You think I give a fu*k that half those old timers hate my guts? I’m coming to the damn 10th anniversary party. I can’t want for Joel Glazer to serve me a damn shot of Cuervo at the banquet. Seat me next to Mark Alstott, Keyshawn, Shaun King, Jurevicius, Lynch, I’ll fight all of them. Just don’t ask me to pick Al Singleton out of a lineup. Monte can sit with those guys.”

Per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, the Bucs have confirmed that Chucky will take a break from preparing to stroke every player on Monday Night Football telecasts to attend the 10th-anniversary Super Bowl party festivities in Tampa on Sunday, Dec. 9, when the Bucs host the Eagles.

Back in September, Bucs rockstar general manager Mark Dominik went out on a limb for Dekoda Watson, calling him a “Pro Bowl caliber special teams player” during a radio interview, but then Watson went out and choked and earned a Sabby against the Giants a few days later.

Well, now it seems things have come full cirlce for Watson. The NFL selected him as Special Teams Player of the Month for November, per today’s announcement.

Joe typically finds these monthly and weekly awards are little more than PR stunts or ways to garner more sponsorship. However, the special teams award is at least intriguing, given that it often goes to a relatively unknown player like Watson.

It’s probably appropriate now to add Watson to the long list of potential Bucs Pro Bowlers for the 2012 season. Squads are named after Week 15.

As for Watson’s game, it was disappointing to Joe that Watson wasn’t able to win the backup “SAM” linebacker job from Adam Hayward, and Watson hasn’t materialized as much of a pass rusher in his third season. But he’s still just 24 years old, and as a special teams stud, he’s surely been more than worth the seventh-round pick Dominik used on him back in 2010.

The Bucs can put up a good showing in Denver, says former Bucs quarterback Shaun King, but to do that Sunday the Bucs will need to survive the first quarter and not get overwhelmed early. But as for the Bucs’ playoff prospects, well, King’s confident Bucs management gave up those weeks ago.

One of three QBs to lead the Bucs to the NFC Championship, King said on WDAE-AM 620 today that the Bucs threw in the towel on 2012 at the trading deadline and the inevitable gutting of the current secondary is something they welcomed.

“I go back to this. I said something when we traded Aqib Talib. I said, ‘You know what, we’ve given up on this season,'” King said. “When we made that trade, and I know everybody was happy because we got a fourth-round pick in return, but we made that trade knowing that Eric Wright was going to go on suspension for four games. And we knew, even in a playoff hunt, if we lost Eric Wright, and I don’t think he’s a great player, where we would be at cornerback. I mean, hopefully these [cornerbacks] can try and improve and get a little better, but I kind of think that was our nail in the coffin as far as this year goes making the playoffs.”

Joe only partially agrees with King. Sure, rockstar general manager Mark Dominik and Greg Schiano knew they’d be better off down the stretch against Matt Ryan (twice), Peyton Manning and Drew Brees with Talib playing cornerback. 

However, Talib’s history off the field and on the field (injury) left no reason to count on him for the remainder of this season. And the fourth-round pick was a steal for an unreliable guy who behaves like an idiot. Then, there was that little matter of Talib hardly playing at a Pro Bowl level in 2012.

Yeah, the Bucs would be better Sunday with Talib on the roster, but Joe still would make that trade in a heartbeat.

Whoa! Imagine buying 10 hours of limousine time with the best limo/transporation company on the planet at a huge discount, and then being able to carve up the time any way you want?

What a great way to impress business clients, cruise to the airport, or take a cheerleader for a wild night. Joe suggests you get this done immediately!

You can even split it with a friend. It’s another Tampa Bay limo deal for the ages from Paradise Worldwide Transportation.