When it comes to coaches talking to the media, Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan is no Raheem Morris.

Sullivan isn’t prone to hyperbole or crazy talk. So Joe’s ears perked up yesterday when Sullivan answered a question about maintaining possession of the football to keep Peyton Manning off the field.

“To be honest with you, there’s so many overwhelming challenges in looking right at this defense right now we’re really just zeroed in on how we’re going to move the football and how we’re going to put points on the board,” Sullivan said.

Earlier, “Sully” called the Broncos “the best defense we’ve played all year.”

So where are the Broncos vulnerable?

Denver-area resident, Bucs icon, and the FOX color analyst for Sunday’s game, John Lynch, said on WDAE-AM 620 this morning that the Broncos can be pounded successfully between the tackles.

However the Bucs choose to attack, Joe knows they can’t afford to fall too far behind. They’ve got to remain a two-dimensional offense. A miracle comeback like the one against Carolina would be near impossible in Denver.

This somewhat disturbing link to the “SoundFX” video of Sunday’s Bucs-Falcons game includes conversations among receivers and Tony Gonzalez on the Atlanta sideline.

Now Joe realizes many receivers assume they’re open on every play, but it was still troubling to hear the flow that led to Gonzalez saying “all of us is open.” And considering Matt Ryan completed a staggering 81.3 percent of his passes Sunday, it’s hard to discount the concept that the Bucs aren’t covering well across the board.

Joe hopes the Denver receivers feel a little more Buccaneer breath as they run their routes.

“Broncos do lead the NFL in plays over 25 yards,” says Broncos beat writer Jeff Legwold in this DenverPost.com video below. Legwold tells Broncos fans how to beat the Bucs. It’s no surprise that he sees the Fearsome Foursome, “E.J., Leonard, Danny and LeQuan” as a weakness.

It will be hard enough to get pressure on Peyton Manning, even harder because of stud tackles like Ryan Clady.

A lot of Bucs fans will suggest the Bucs need to get pressure on Peyton Manning this week. Well, that’s like saying Rachel Watson should saunter through Joe’s front door no less than three times a week in the small hours of the morning.

Getting pressure on Manning is virtually impossible when he is using a three-step drop to slice up defenses.

Then Joe was reading a recent breakdown of the best offensive tackles graded out by the NFL thinktank of ProFootballFocus.com. It seems the Broncos have two of the best tackles in the NFL: Ryan Clady (ranked No. 2) and Orlando Franklin (tied for No. 6).

So here is the scenario the Bucs are faced with: Trying to get in the face of Peyton Manning on a three-step drop and getting past a couple of stone walls of offensive tackles.

Not a pleasant proposition.

On the flip side, the only Bucs offensive tackle rated (the site only has the top and bottom 20 of NFL tackles), is Donald Penn at No. 55.

Joe hasn’t enjoyed the Pro Bowl since he was a kid, and Joe’s found the whole Pro Bowl concept to be a complete freakin’ joke ever since Derrick Brooks make the Pro Bowl after the 2008 season but was then cut by the Bucs and couldn’t find a job that suited him.

That written, given that Ronde Barber is leading the NFL Pro Bowl fan voting at the free safety position with just a couple weeks to go in the voting, Joe would like to see Barber win. A fan-vote victory would mean Barber would have a darn good shot to be a starter in the game after league coaches and players vote after Week 15.

Barber has 74,120 votes, per the NFL.com story this morning linked above. That’s not much compared to players leading other positions, so Barber needs your help.

You can vote as often as you like via the “vote now” button on the graphic in this post. If you don’t vote, well, then Joe considers you a fraudulent Bucs fan.

Broncos strongside linebacker Von Miller has the attention of the Bucs’ offensive line

The vibe from players in the locker room today seems to be something out of the movie “Gettysburg,” where the Confederates knew the gravity of what they were about to face on the final day of the three-day battle, yet were confident the task at hand could be accomplished.

Yeah, everyone knows how dangerous Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is. But the offensive players know how important getting Doug Martin into gear is in order to keep the ball out of Manning’s hands.

Joe had a chance to chat with Bucs right tackle Demar Dotson, among other offensive linemen. Dotson seemed to believe protecting Josh Freeman was just as important as the defense stopping Peyton Manning. With Elvis Dumervil at defensive end and Von Miller at strongside linebacker, the Broncos have two of the best pass rushers in the game. This is not lost on Dotson.

“It is going to be big time to get the run game going because they have some dynamic pass rushers,” Dotson said. “We have to slow those guys down as best we can. So if we can get the run game going, it will help big time.”

In particular, Dotson was concerned about Miller, who he believed to be among the NFL’s elite linebackers.

“He is just a great rusher,” Dotson said. “He may be one of the best pass rushers in the league if not the best. He is a very good speed rush guy. We have to get up on him and get a game plan to stop these guys and get the job done.”

It seems like a game of “pick your poison.” If the Bucs run, there’s Miller to worry about. If the Bucs pass, there is both Miller and Dumervil to worry about.

The Bucs’ offensive line will certainly be earning their salaries Sunday.

Now a member of the Bucs’ top quartet of cornerbacks for the 2012 homestretch, Danny Gorrer is a guy most Bucs fans never heard of until last Sunday against Atlanta. Gorrer saw a lot of playing time in nickel situations and Roddy White shoved him off the line on a slant route/catch to all but seal the Falcons’ victory. Gorrer is an undrafted third-year player out of Texas A&M, who spent 2010 with the Rams, played in 11 games for the Ravens last year, and was cut this season in October by the Seahawks before signing with the Bucs. Joe hit him up with a few questions this week.

JoeBucsFan.com: Did you have any connections with the Bucs before you got here? Is there any story behind you coming here?

Danny Gorrer: Not at all. I think they saw me play before and liked what I done in the past and gave me an opportunity.

JoeBucsFan.com: You’ve been with a few teams. Greg Schiano talks a lot about how hard this team works. What are your impressions of the work ethic here versus what you’ve seen at your other stops?

Gorrer: Coming from Baltimore and coming from Seattle, I feel like every team I’ve been on worked hard. And when I got here I felt like I fit right in with the guys because everybody on the team works hard, and everybody’s got one goal in mind, and that’s to get better every day. I feel like I fit in.

JoeBucsFan.com: That play when you were covering Roddy White on the third-down slant, there’s not much you can do there. What happened there?

Gorrer: Yeah, there’s not much you can do, but I feel like I watched film on that play, and I’ll see what I can do better. I’m kind of upset about the play with Roddy. There’s always something you can do to get better.

JoeBucsFan.com: Anything unique you can tell fans about yourself? What should people know about you? Maybe something about your history in the NFL and something in your personal life?

Gorrer: Something about me, when you see me out there you’re going to see me going 100 percent. You’re going to get the best of Danny Gorrer every time I go out there. Fans will see me getting better every week.

Barber reached out to Raheem for guidance on tackling at his new position

Lots of folks, including rockstar general manager Mark Dominik, have gone on record saying Ronde Barber is playing at a Pro Bowl level in his first year as a safety.

Well, it seems the Ole’ ball coach, Raheem Morris, gets a little piece of the credit, along with Steelers head coach and former Bucs secondary coach Mike Tomlin, and Raheem’s Bucs defensive backs coach, Jimmy Raye.

Barber told Joe today that “Mike, Rah, Jimmy, the guys that I’m close with,” are former coaches that have assisted him in his daily battle to learn how to tackle effectively from the safety position in the run game.

A couple of weeks ago on the Buccaneers Radio Network, Barber explained his his adjustment challenges.

 “That’s something that I’ve had to work on. I’ve talked pretty extensively with my coaches, some of my old coaches too, about just the tackling system [from the safety position,] Barber said. “Because we have a tackling system, but you know getting to the tackling system is, you know, it’s something I’ve had to work on and work on, and consciously think about every day in practice. So when you get to the game it becomes kind of like it’s habit. You’re not wondering like, ‘Oh my god, here comes this enormous, you know, train truck of a runner, how am I going to get him on the ground?” You go into the game and you have confidence in what you’re going to do and how you’re going to tackle him then it’s a lot easier. It really kind of showed up during that Minnesota game, because there were runs a couple of weeks before, there was one against Washington where I went in and missed a tackle and they scored a touchdown.

“The little things about the game, like tackling angles and, you know, how to approach a runner when he’s open field, those things I’ve had to learn. Had to fight some of my instincts. It’s week [10] I guess, and I still feel like I got a chance to get better here in the next seven weeks doing it.”

What a generous guy Raheem is, helping Barber while he’s working for a conference rival. Joe hopes it helped. Surely Raheem couldn’t “fix” angle-challenged Sabby the Goat, as he promised to do late in the 2009 season.

Joe finds it very cool that Barber is leaving no stone unturned in an effort to master his new position. What a true pro.

Don’t hang the Bucs’ questionable pass rush on Gerald McCoy, says former Bucs tight end and current radio network analyst Dave Moore.

McCoy is pushing the pocket against the pass, Moore told the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620, but the Bucs’ defensive ends aren’t forcing quarterbacks to step up. QBs are able to move laterally, rather than being forced to step up where McCoy has eaten space.

“What’s happening is Gerald McCoy is collapsing the inside, but because the quarterback’s able to step to his left or to his right, rather than forcing the step-up, or having to throw it right away to shorten his motion because there’s a guy coming from inside. What you’re missing is Clayborn on the outside. You’re missing the guys to force the quarterback to step up into the pocket.”

Moore went on to say McCoy is playing well and that the scenario above is costing McCoy on the stat sheet. Moore was fighting off co-host Ian Beckles’ assertion that McCoy is a guy that isn’t making anywhere near the number of plays he should be making.

Of course, the Bucs’ three-man rushes, and the now infamous two-man rush on display against Atlanta, one that saw McCoy drop in pass coverage on third down, aren’t helping No. 93 either.

Regardless, the Bucs need more from the defensive line. Michael Bennett can’t have an off day in Denver like he had on Sunday.

The story of guard Derek Hardman always flummoxed Joe a bit.

Hardman was an undrafted rookie in 2010, and played five games in place of Davin Joseph, during which time the Bucs’ ground game was stellar and the passing game put up big numbers. Hardman did well, notbably holding fellow rookie Ndamukong Suh in check.

Then Hardman fell off the map. He saw very little action in 2011, none this season, and was cut by the New Schiano Order after two games, despite Joseph being out for the season.

That seemed odd considering he had more experience at guard than the guys considered to be Joseph’s replacements.

But now Hardman is back off the streets, re-signed today by the Bucs.

“Hey you, that’s right, you — Myron Lewis. You don’t want to step on the same field with me on Sunday. Otherwise, you’ll be working for the Outlaw country music channel on SiriusXM.”

The way Matty Ice ripped apart the Bucs secondary Sunday, Joe is almost afraid to watch the Bucs play the Broncos with the ultimate NFL surgeon, Peyton Manning, barking signals for the Broncos.

If Matty Ice carbed up the Bucs like leftover Thanksgiving turkey, imagine what Manning will do? It is a disturbing thought.

Maybe Joe is panicking? If one is to read between the lines of the breakdown of the loss to the Dixie Chicks by Thomas Maney of ProFootballFocus.com, it seems the Bucs’ front line, which barely breathed on Matty Ice, couldn’t have played worse.

Though Matt Ryan was just two of four for 21 yards and an interception on passes under pressure, the Tampa Bay defense just didn’t get to him nearly often enough, pressuring him on just six of his 34 drop-backs. Left end Michael Bennett (-3.4) had a particularly bad day as he failed to disrupt Ryan even once on his 28 pass rushes, only the second time in the past two seasons he’s failed to record a QB pressure. A matchup we highlighted going into the game was Gerald McCoy versus the interior line of the Falcons. And though he was strong against the run, McCoy, like Bennett, failed to make much of an impact rushing the passer, producing a single hurry. Among Tampa Bay’s front seven, only Da’Quan Bowers graded positively for his efforts rushing the passer, producing a team-leading two pressures on 19 snaps.

You know what this tells Joe? That Peyton Manning may see a little pressure from the Bucs. If last Sunday was the second time in two years Michael Bennett didn’t get pressure on a quarterback, why believe he will repeat that again in consecutive games?

Now Joe isn’t getting all giddy thinking Manning will be on the turf a half-dozen times. Every time a good quarterback has faced the Bucs (Eli Manning, Drew Brees, Matty Ice), the Bucs secondary has been ripped to shreds as if the quarterbacks were in seven-on-seven drills.

But perhaps if Manning is hurried once in a while the Bucs might be able to take advantage of a mistake?

Joe has a hunch the Bucs are going to be three-step-dropped to death by Peyton Manning just like his kid brother Eli did to them earlier in the year.

Ronde Barber has played under a wide mix of coaching styles, those of Tony Dungy, Jon Gruden, Raheem Morris, Greg Schiano, plus loads of premier assistant coaches and coordinators.

Asked yesterday to compare Chucky with the leader of the New Schiano Order, Barber labeled Schiano a “commander” of the highest order and explained why he’s far more involved than the notoriously hard-working Super Bowl head coach.

“Jon demanded, you know, certain things out of his team. And Coach Schiano does the same thing, demands a way of doing things. And that’s good for the football team. How they’re different? That’s tough to say. Jon was really just kind of an offensive-sided guy. Monte [Kiffin] was really the head coach on defense when Jon was here,” Barber said on the Buccaneers Radio Network. “But Coach Schiano really takes ownership on everything. I think he is as detailed a commander (laughs), that’s a good way to put it, as I’ve been around.

“There’s not an aspect of the game that he doesn’t have a part of making a decision on, or at least, you know, influencing. That’s just how he is. He’s a detail oriented guy. He anticipates, everything that could happen in the game he’s anticipated and is prepared for, whether it’s offense, defense or special teams. That’s just his manner. When you meet the guy, if you ever meet the guy, he’ll talk to you and the way he comes across to you is like, ‘Hey, I am on top of everything that I need to be on top of and I’m going to force my will on every situation because that’s my job.’ That’s how he looks at it.”

Hearing Barber’s take on Commander Schiano, Joe can’t help but wonder what it’s like to work under Schiano. One has to think Schiano expects his coaches to be extraordinarily detail-obsessed and deliver a work rate that matches the head coach’s — a tall order in the New Schiano Order.

The Bucs placed offensive tackle Jeremy Trueblood and safety Cody Grimm on the injured reserve list this evening.

Per a news release on Buccaneers.com, Grimm suffered a hamstring injury in the Bucs win at Oakland and it hasn’t healed enough since. This marks the third time in as many years as a pro that Grimm has ended the season on the injured reserve list with a leg injury.

Trueblood has been hobbled by an ankle injury virtually all year, which caused him to lose his starting gig. He also hurt his shoulder against the Dixie Chicks. Given his new contract restructure, it would be a surprise if Trueblood was seen in a Bucs uniform again.

Trueblood’s transaction today marks three offensive linemen who began the season as starters are now on injured reserve.

Greg Schiano talks about Michael Smith

M.I.A. running back/returner Michael Smith is a “Buccaneer Man,” Greg Schiano said a month ago.

And Schiano heaped even more love on the captain of the inactive list last night, during The Greg Schiano Show via the Buccaneers Radio Network. A fan called in to ask the leader of the New Schiano Order “what happened” to the speedy rookie, who hasn’t been seen since opening day.

“I was very impressed and am still very impressed,” Schiano said of Smith. “You should see the way he practices and the way that he works at it. He’s a great guy to have on this football team. And I do think his time’s coming. I do think that Mike’s a guy that’s going to help us down the road, and is helping us now in practice, but is going to help us down the road in games. So just hang on. I think we’re going to get to see him one of these days.”

Schiano stopped well short of calling Smith “the driving force of our football team,” but it’s clear Schiano likes and respects the kid.

As little as D.J. Ware and LeGarrette Blount were used Sunday (no carries combined), maybe it is time to give Smith a shot to return kicks and play third-string running back for a game.

Lord knows there will be plenty of kicks to return in Denver, and Smith (out of Utah State) is no stranger to cold weather.

The 2011 Bucs didn’t win a game after Kregg Lumpkin replaced Earnest Graham

In what feels like a cruel joke on Giants fans (which is a good thing), the Super Bowl champs signed former Bucs running back Kregg “The Great” Lumpkin off the street today.

Per The Star-Ledger, Lumpkin beat out some big yet over-the-hill names looking for work.

The Giants selected Lumpkin after working out a handful of veteran running backs today, including Ryan Grant, Cadillac Williams and Ryan Torain. They needed to bolster the position since Brown’s injury left the Giants with just two running backs on their roster, Ahmad Bradshaw and rookie David Wilson, plus fullback Henry Hynoski.

Lumpkin, 5-foot-11 and 228 pounds, was waived by Seattle in September. He’s played in 29 NFL games in his career

Joe thought it was cool that Cadillac Williams is still seeking employment, but it’s got to be a bummer for Cadillac to lose out to Lumpkin two seasons in a row. Raheem Morris said he wanted Cadillac back last season, but instead it appeared Raheem was overruled by rockstar general manager Mark Dominik, who made Lumpkin the Bucs’ No. 3 back. Cadillac went on to back up Stephen Jackson in St. Louis.

Joe suspects Lumpkin found a new home, in part, for his ability on special teams.

Who says you have to cry in your beer because there’s no football on a Tuesday night?

In fact, there is football. And it’s the Bucs-Falcons replay on NFL Network at 8 p.m.

These replays are pretty cool. The game is condensed into 90 minutes, and sometimes includes some cool angles and audio not found anywhere else.

It looks like the Bucs definitely will dance the rest of the season with the Fearsome Foursome at cornerback, aka “E.J., Leonard, Danny and LeQuan,” as Greg Schiano referred to his often overmatched CBs.

It’s not “in the cards” for Ronde Barber to play cornerback this season and help fill the void left by pill-poppers Eric Wright and Aqib Talib, so Schiano said during his WDAE-AM 620 radio show yesterday.

“I’d rather not,” Schiano said of Barber playing corner. “I think Ronde’s doing a great job at safety and one that we really need him there. I don’t think that’s in the cards. But the nice thing is you have a guy that’s capable if you ever had to as an emergency corner.”

First, Joe must say that Barber is, at times, on the field with Mark Barron and Ahmad Black. Barber’s definitely in a cornerback role when that happens. But the message from Schiano is clear: Barber’s staying put.

Joe’s unsure whether this is knock on Black.

Schiano often has talked about putting the best 11 men on the field. And Joe would venture to say that trading Black for Barber at safety and moving Barber to cornerback to replace, for example, Danny Gorrer, would put more talent in the defensive backfield for the Bucs.

The leader of the New Schiano Order seemingly leaves no stone unturned in his preparation for victory.

The more Joe talks to players, and listens to coaches and players, the more Joe learns about how Greg Schiano has nearly every potential detail covered, if not all of them.

On Schiano’s radio show last night, the head coach talked about E.J. Biggers’ sack and forced fumble Sunday and explained that there’s no such thing as a “sack” under the New Schiano Order. It’s known as a “sack-fumble.” The concept is that if you’re going to sack the quarterback, your goal is to strip a likely vulnerable football.

The replay (and photo here) of Biggers’ sack shows he went into Matt Ryan rather high but right at the football, likely the result of his coaching.

Joe likes the concept. If the sack focus is on the strip as much as the tackle, that could cost the Bucs a sack or two over the course of a season, but it’s also likely going to generate an extra turnover or two. And Joe suspects any coach would take the trade-off.

Also on the detail front, last night on the Buccaneers Radio Network, Williams explained how intricately the team plans for the Hail Mary pass and how much practice went into the pass to Dallas Clark with eight seconds left Sunday to set up the Hail Mary try to end the game. Williams said the team specifically practices the scenario “eight seconds left” with no timeouts from their own territory and it popped up Sunday.

Yeah, Joe knows the Bucs are 6-5 and don’t execute flawlessly. But Joe has no doubt the team is well coached and derives confidence from its preparation. Those are great things moving forward.

Joe saw Roddy White beat little-known Bucs cornerback Danny Gorrer on a slant pass for the Falcons’ critical third-down conversion inside of two minutes remaining Sunday, and Joe knew he had seen that dagger before.

It was three years ago, also in late November, when Falcons QB Chris Redman had a 4th-and-goal with 26 seconds left at the Bucs’ 5 yard line and threw a nearly identical slant to White to beat another little-known Bucs cornerback, Derrick Roberson. Here’s the video. It was the game-winning touchdown.

Now rockstar general manager Mark Dominik has said multiple times that a team can never have too many cornerbacks. It’s a pretty common take around the NFL. And this Bucs season is exhibit A as to why teams need legitimate cornerback depth.

You just can’t have C-list corners covering A-list receivers and expect success, especially when a game is on the line.

Eric Wright and Aqib Talib screwed the Bucs this season with their pill-popping ways. One could say that was neither expected nor predictable. But given their personal histories, one also could make the argument it was totally predictable.

Regardless, the Bucs didn’t have what they needed at cornerback this season. Blame whatever/whoever you want, but the Bucs are paying a huge price for their lack of quality at the position. Yesterday afternoon, Greg Schiano reffered to “E.J., Leonard, Danny and LeQuan;” That really drove it home for Joe.

At this point, Joe easily could see Leonard Johnson as the only cornerback returning in 2013. The Bucs could ditch Eric Wright without financial consequences and use that cash for a premier free agent corner, plus grab a veteran second-tier, free-agent CB, and draft a first-rounder at the position.

Booger McFarland

Former defensive tackle Booger McFarland was a member of the greatest Bucs team in franchise history, the lone Bucs team to hold the Vince Lombardi Trophy in victory. It was a team bursting with Pro Bowlers, studs and future Hall of Famers, and almost without exception, it was a team-first mentality.

So Joe totally understands what fueled McFarland’s angst yesterday. Now a co-host with Rich Herrera on WHFS-FM 98.7, McFarland lashed out at troubled Bucs cornerback Eric Wright for putting himself before the team, fighting for its playoff life, when he was popped and suspended four games by the NFL for doing Adderall.

“If you are Eric Wright, you are selfish, son. You let your team down. A secondary that needs you. A team that needs you. A pass defense that needs you. A team trying to make a playoff run and its high-priced corner is not going to be there. Shame on you Eric Wright,” McFarland said.

Bravo, Booger. Bravo. Joe couldn’t have said it better. Wright absolutely was not thinking of the team when he was popping Adderall. If, as he claims, it was for a medical condition, then get the paperwork, real simple. Apparently, he didn’t have the paperwork (or his, cough, doctor).

Booger went on to hammer Wright for not just manning up and taking the suspension right away which would have been over by now, therefore being eligible to play for the Bucs in their most important four-game stretch of the season.

Eric Wright’s career with the Bucs could be turned upside down after being slapped with a four-game suspension by the NFL.

It’s is very possible that troubled Bucs cornerback Eric Wright has played his last game with the Bucs.

It seems that Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik has a nice little clause written in wright’s contract, per Adam Schefter of ESPN, via Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com that if Wright was popped for PED’s — he was nailed for taking Adderall — the Bucs could release him after the 2012 season and his two-year contract with the Bucs would be null and void.

In short, the Bucs would be released from owing Wright some $7.75 million next year that was previously guaranteed.

Wright, per Schefter, appealed his positive test for Adderall claiming he had misplaced the medical paperwork. Joe calls that nonsense. Doctors — at least those practicing with a license — keep accurate records of everything they give to patients. Everything.

If Wright misplaced the paperwork, all he had to do was get another copy of said paperwork from his doctor’s office, simple as that. Unless said (ahem) doctor doesn’t have a license to distribute prescription medications.

Granted, Wright’s suspension is four games, four crucial games, and he is eligible to return for the Bucs season finale against Atlanta. But if the Bucs are out of the playoffs at that time, what’s the point?

Below is Wright’s written statement concerning the suspension released by the Bucs, via TBO.com.

“This is a result of taking Adderall at the end of July for health issues I was experiencing,” Wright said in written statement released by the team. “I am extremely disappointed that the suspension was upheld at my appeal.”

“I apologize to the Glazer family, General Manager Mark Dominik, Coach Schiano and the entire Tampa Bay Buccaneers organization, my teammates, our great fans and my family, who have stood by me through this entire process. I will continue to prepare myself and look forward to rejoining the team.”