So Tanard Jackson comes out flying around the field again today in jolly old England. Yeah, he missed a tackle on Matt Forte on the Bears’ first touchdown, but T-Jax was having his presence felt out there.

Then, on the Bears’ next possession, Jackson turns in a one-handed, left-handed interception of Jay Cutler at midfield. He runs the ball back and with seemingly only Cutler and a trailer to beat, Jackson cruises out of bounds at the Bears 12 yard line.

How the hell does he take it out of bounds there?

Perhaps that’s the play Jackson pulled his hamstring on. Joe’s not sure. But Joe would think sheer adrenaline — something pumping through Jackson for the past two games — would have had Jackson lowering his shoulder for 10 more yards.

Yeah, Joe spilled his beer and couldn’t believe his eyes.

Of course, Josh Freeman was intercepted on the next play, when Mike Williams didn’t hold in the end zone.

Corey Lynch made big plays — and some bad plays — filling in. But he’s not Jackson. 

Joe has been rough on Bucs linebacker Quincy Black the past couple of seasons because Joe believes he’s a ghost. If you don’t see him in uniform on the field, a Bucs fan would never know he’s on the field, short of a floating interception once every year and a half.

But Joe cannot suggest Black doesn’t have a heart or doesn’t care. Being interviewed on the Bucs radio network after the debacle of a loss to the Bears about why the defense was getting gutted by Matt Forte until the final minutes of the game, Black struggled to talk and finally confessed, “I’m too emotional right now.”

The Bears “were the better team today,” Black said. “Obviously, they came out to win. it was like we were fighting, scratching, clawing all the time. We didn’t make enough plays to win. I know they are cliches but it’s the truth.

“Why were they able to run on us? I have to go back and watch the film. I’m too emotional right now. I am sure there were some assignment faults. I know there were some things we didn’t do assignment-wise.

“We have two weeks to clean this up. This is a team game. We did everything we could do as a team. We can do more.

“It always seems like there is someone hurt at the bye. But injuries are part of the game. Next guy up better be ready to play.”

It was pretty obvious the moment Earnest Graham went down injured to start the Bucs’ second offensive series that Greg Olson didn’t have confidence in Kregg Lumpkin.

Long before halftime the Bucs had little use for Lumpkin running the ball, this behind a strong Bucs offensive line and against the worst rush-per-carry defense in the NFL, and with the game close.

Joe hopes he doesn’t have to hear anymore Lumpkin love talk from the Bucs’ brass. If they don’t believe in the guy, then get someone else.

Joe and other Bucs fans clamored in the offseason to keep Cadillac Williams. For Joe, that reasoning was simple, Cadillac was better than Lumpkin — and good depth is always important. End of story.

If Graham’s out a significant amount of time, Joe hopes the silver lining is LeGarrette Blount becoming a three-down running back. Joe’s pretty damn confident he’s up to it.

Lumpkin finished today’s game with eight carries for 15 yards.

What the hell can Joe say about this game?

Wow! Aqib Talib made an absoloutely idiotic personal foul that stripped the Bucs of precious late fourth-quarter time. The Bucs get the equivalent of a goal-line stand and Talib blows it by intentionally shoving his fingers in Roy Williams’ face mask? Really?

Absolute insanity on the field. The Bucs climb back in the game on the back of its defense standing tall on SIX consecutive possessions to close the second half.

The Bucs start firing on all cylinders only after Earnest Graham, Tanard Jackson, Mason Foster and Jeremy Zuttah go down. Talk about being weakened up the gut. Third-string center Ted Larsen and Derek Hardman at left guard were studs in pass blocking. Joe might have given a game ball to Dezmon Brizcoe.

But there are no game balls. The Bucs lost.

Why this team keeps starting games like its in the mud is mind-boggling. Somehow that’s connected to coaching.

Josh Freeman getting picked four times? Yes, the man has regressed. Why doesn’t he ever run anymore? Why is he forcing balls into Kellen Winslow when clearly nothing is there?

The bye week can’t come soon enough next week. Stick with Joe through the afternoon and night for much more on this game.

OK, boys and girls, have at it. Bears versus the Bucs in London.

Ready… set… go!

Week 7
Bears vs. Bucs, at London
Kickoff: 1 p.m.
TV: WTVT-TV Channel 13 locally, DirecTV 709.
Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM, 103.5 and WDAE-AM, 620); Sirius Channel 106.
Weather: Per Accuweather.com, a chilly, but clear evening to play football. Remember this is a night game, a 6 p.m. kickoff London time. Temperature at kickoff is expected to be 59 and will remain pretty steady the rest of the game dropping to 56 degrees by game’s end.
Odds: Per SportsBook.com, Bucs +2.
Outlook: This is a strange game for Joe to call. Last week Earnest Graham slashed the Saints on the ground. But that’s the Saints, who are garbage against the run. The Bears aren’t as bad, but do allow a league worst 5.4 yards per carry. But the Bears are a mess. If they aren’t cussing out their own coaches, they have a split personality. With Matt Forte the Bears can grind down opponents with the run. Trick is, Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz doesn’t like that and wants to throw the ball downfield like Air Coryell. The Bears offensive line is bear dung, and when Martz wants to pass, bratty Jay Cutler gets beat to a pulp. The Bears secondary isn’t that great, specifically their safeties so Joe expects the Bucs to try to expose the Bears safeties with passes over the top to Kellen Winslow. … Let’s hope this is the last time the Bucs play in London, though Joe strongly expects this to become a tradition.

Derek “Old School” Fournier of WhatTheBuc.net brings his weekly take on how the Bucs can win. Derek sums up in one sentence how the Bucs can win. Find out how by watching the video.

Joe thought the Bucs safety position was a revolving door. From Cody Grimm to Corey Lynch to Tanard Jackson, it seems the Bucs have had a different starting safety each game.

The same could almost be said for the Bears. It appears Major Wright has a major hip injury and is likely to miss Sunday’s game. Enter Chris Harris who has gone within a week from demanding a trade to starting for the Bears, so documents Brad Briggs of the Chicago Tribune.

“As I said last week, each week your role changes,” Smith said. “Chris Harris and the rest of our players realize that. Chris last week after I told him his role would be different, he was on the sideline coaching the guys up. I think all of our players are ready for me and us to tell them what they will be doing this week and they’re going to do the best of their ability to get that done.”

Of course, Smith conveniently omits that after coaching guys up on the sideline, Harris sought a chance to play for a different team. But he’s a pro and he knows the defense. The Bears have used five different safety combinations through six games and a Harris-Chris Conte pairing would be a sixth.

“Obviously there hasn’t been consistency,” cornerback Charles Tillman said. “I think we’d all like to see consistency. We’ll just see what happens.”

Joe wonders if perhaps Greg Olson will actually try to take advantage of this? Joe knows how much Freeman tries to get Kellen Winslow the ball. So could this be a splash play tomorrow, or perhaps would Arrelious Benn get touches over the middle?

Of course, Harris knows the Bucs well, having started for the Panthers for three years. Could Harris actually be an upgrade for the Bears?

Jason Horowitz and Pat Kirwan take a look inside the Bears-Bucs game in this CBSSports.com video.

In one of the funnier moments of rockstar general manager Mark Dominik’s appearance on WDAE-AM 620 Thursday night, a caller with a very serious presentation greeted Dominik and called him out on his late-round draft busts, asking what it’s like to fail after all that research.

The guy finished his take and was off the line, then Dominik explained to the audience that the caller was his “friggin’ brother” busting his balls live on the air. Funny stuff.

On a more serious note, host Dave Moore asked Dominik about his draft methodology, and the general manager opened up. 

Dave Moore: Different GMs have different philosophies. We talked a little bit about tangibles and intangibles. Are you more into the guys that fit your system, or do you rate your players and take the best available?

Mark Dominik: I like to look at the way they play the game. And I’m not so much, ‘You have to fit the system.’ There are certain crtiteria I have for different positions on this football team. Again, through the journaling and through watching production over the years, I have a personal opinion on exactly what our receiving corps should kind of be like, height, weight, speeds, all those kinds of things, because I think that’s going to be that most productive for our football team. At the same point, intensity and physicality are a big part of what I want to be defensively. And that was what we really focused on in this year’s draft.

Having the chance to be fortunate enough to have Adrian Clayborn be there at No. 20, I think every GM in the league says, ‘I couldn’t believe he was there at No. 20.’ “Well, I’ll be honest with you, I’m very excited Adrian Clayborn was there at No. 20, and I think its paying off dividends. And I think the Buccaneer fans that are watching our games are seeing a guy that’s relentless, who’s physical. Last [Sunday], he may not have had a big stat line but was in Drew Brees’ background and I bet you he was in Drew Brees’ mind the entire game. … I think he helped us have three interceptions last week that really changed the game.

Da’Quan Bowers has done a good job for us, and certainly Mason Foster. It’s an intensity. It’s a swagger mentality we want to have here at this organization because I appreciated what the Baltimore Ravens did. All the way from winning the Super Bowl back in 2000 with that defense, the way they’ve consistently been a great defense.

The Jets have been obviously a good defense, Pittsburgh Steelers. We want to build that defense that we had back in the 90’s. … Warren Sapp always said, ‘You get me 17, I’ll get you a win.” The league might be a little different; It might take 24 these days because of the rules and everything, but that’s the mentality we want to have on defense to be a championship caliber football team.

Interesting stuff. Joe likes the desire for the “swagger mentality,” but Joe’s not sure what Buccaneer on defense could step forward as true lead dogs, like Sapp and Derrick Brooks did years ago.

Warren Sapp, Charles Barkley, Chris Collinsworth and Phil Simms break down the Week 7 games in this CBS video.

The Bucs pick comes at about 2:35 of the video. Thankfully, Barkley loosened up midway through and flashed his style so popular during NBA studio show. It was inevitable that he’d talk some trash at Sapp, which comes about 6:00 of the video. And at 8:25 of the video, Barkley starts a hilarious take on the Browns-Seahawks game.

Joe usually doesn’t link to videos where the Nazis who devise a website don’t offer embed codes. If they don’t want the masses to watch said video, why should Joe try to bail them out?

But this is different because it is so damned good. Sky Sports, which is basically Fox Sports for the rest of the world, spent a day at One Buc Palace to do a story on the Bucs playing in London.

Much of the video is a behind-the-scenes tour given by Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik.

It is WAY cool and the best Joe has seen. So Joe strongly recommends you clicking on the link to watch the video in its entirety.

(Hat tip Cork Gaines)

When the rockstar general manager calls out players — good or bad — Joe takes notice. Mark Dominik doesn’t go there very often.

Speaking last night on WDAE-AM 620, Dominik talked about how the Bucs aren’t on a jolly ol’ sightseeing tour in England. They’re there to work and bond, and some guys are standing out among their peers.

“People think we’re out here just galavanting around the countryside. But no, we have a structured practice schedule, there’s a lot of meeting time, there’s a lot of time for every player to get together. But specifically, again, when you talk about the youngest football team in the National Football League, and for them to spend time together, get to know their personalities, certain guys have really blossomed in this week and have really shown up at practice.  I feel like Arrelious Benn and Preston Parker, Dezmon Brizcoe at receiver. … Brian Price has been a different person here and continues to excel and show up at practice. So it’s been exciting,” Dominik said. 

“And all the guys gravitating toward each other. That’s what’s been great about this trip. It’s been a 100 percent business trip for us as an organization and it will be.”

Joe loves that the Brian Price story continues to roll out great new chapters. Joe can only imagine how energized Price will be after more healing and fitness time and fish grazing during the upcoming bye week.

As for the team bonding, Joe knows it’s a great thing, especially after a lockout shortened offseason. But again, Joe sincerely thinks that would get old in a hurry if the Bucs choose to play in England next year.

Back for his weekly trip to the end zone of the NFL universe, popular sports radio personality Adam Schein travels through football space and time outs. Check out what Schein says about the Bucs this week. Consider yourself sucked in to the latest episode of Cosmic Schein!

In an interesting story in the Chicago Tribune, Bears head coach Lovie Smith explains that he and defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli are stuck in in the 1990’s when it comes to the Bears defense.

They think the legendary Bucs defense of that era doesn’t need any tweaking, like Raheem Morris has done, with he and Ronde Barber nicknaming it the Tampa 2.1.

“It hasn’t evolved, to me,” said Smith, who joined Bucs in 1996. “We’re running the same (defense) here that we started with initially there. Other people’s version of it … it’s not ‘Tampa 2’ or anything, it’s something else.

“We were there on the ground floor. There were a couple of guys in the league when we started (who use it now). Rod (Marinelli) and I were the only ones, I think, who were there back then. So we’re running the same defense.”

Smith firmly believes in it, when executed properly. From 1997 to 1999, the Bucs ranked third or better in total defense thanks, in large part, to Dungy, defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, Smith and the Cover-2 scheme. Then Smith went to the Rams as defensive coordinator and immediately transformed the Rams into the NFL’s third-best defense using Cover-2 principles.

Joe suggests you click through and read the whole article.

Joe thinks the Bucs’ offensive line, clearly a top tier pass blocking unit in the NFL, will do an excellent job against the Bears’ rush, which is so critical to success in their defense. If Josh Freeman of last week — and last year — shows up, Joe’ quite confident the Bucs can pick apart the Bears all day Sunday.

Lord knows Greg Olson won’t pound Earnest Graham relentlessly on the ground.

Joe’s been surfing the daily rags in England of late hoping to get some tidbits on the Bucs but about the only thing Joe learned is that the sites are littered with kickball coverage.

Bullocks!

But today Joe found a nugget in the London Sun, in which a bloke by the name Mark Wood — reporting from Chicago no less! — interviewed former Bears coach Mike Ditka who seems to like the Bucs despite the fact the Bucs, in Woods’ words, are “less glamorous.”

“I like Tampa Bay. They’re kind of old-fashioned — they don’t score a lot but they don’t give up a lot of points either.

“They got a good young quarterback, they got a great young running back, they got some good receivers.

“It’s an interesting team. The other day they won methodically — it wasn’t anything beautiful just boom boom boom and they did what they had to to win. It will be a tough game for the Bears.”

Joe figured tone of the Brits would be about pop and sizzle of the game between the Bucs and Bears and far less to do with football.

Rubbish indeed!

Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith and a few Bears players seemed geeked about playing in London. Brian Urlacher, not so much, in this CSNChicago.com video.

In between watching the Bucs practice and trying to avoid British cooking, Mark Dominik has been a busy guy. He had a full one-hour call-in show last night as part of Total Access heard on the Bucs radio network and broadcast on WDAE-AM 620.

But in his limited downtime, the rock star general manager has seen Internet reports from some colonists — NOT Joe — who tried to connect dots that did not exist speculating Team Glazer was going to uproot the Bucs and move the team to jolly old England.

As the Brits would say, Dominik called rubbish on the rumors, so reports Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.

“This team is never going to relocate from Tampa and go to London,” Dominik said during a team workout at the Pennyhill Park resort. “We’re the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“I know there’s been some rumblings on ProFootballTalk and anywhere else saying we may relocate, but we’re very happy to be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and we will be going forward.”

As Joe mentioned in the comments section yesterday, people trying to claim the Bucs are moving to London are ignoring some very obvious facts. One is the Bucs have an absolute sweetheart of a lease at The CITS, which unlikely would be matched by moving the team to London or elsewhere. Second would be the millions of dollars Team Glazer invested to acquire land at the height of the real estate boom and then develop the land to build One Buc Palace, what once was a shopping mall.

And Joe’s going to stick up for the great Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com. He was hardly the only person suggesting the London Buccaneers were not a mirage.

As Cummings pointed out in his article, however, is that Dominik was less forward in denying the Bucs may be playing an annual “home game” in London.

The build-from-within, build-through-the-draft Bucs company line isn’t just for the media, so says Ronde Barber. The Bucs icon gave a heartfelt explanation on the Buccaneers Radio Network on WDAE-AM 620 Wednesday night.

Host Dave Moore was talking about communication and how players need to hear it straight in the NFL from coaches and management, a situation Moore said is rare around the league.

Barber assured Moore that Raheem Morris and rockstar general manager Mark Dominik foster that kind of functional family environment.

“At the beginning of these past two seasons, and we’ve never done this, but Mark Dominik gets in front of the team and, you know, we go through the process in training camp and an offseason of getting guys in the offseason on this football team, and we’re going to build our team with the guys we have in the room. And both these past years, Mark gets in front of everybody and says, ‘Hey, this is our team. We’re not looking to get other guys’ free agents that get cut, or looking for trades. These are the guys we want in here. We believe all you guys can play.’ And so everybody goes out with that attitude that, you know, they’re part of this.

“Raheem does a great job in the preseason talking about just ‘Get the Shield. Make a team. And if you’re here, you’re here.” And guys really embrace that, man. It’s a great environment to be around. We can talk about it, but you really can’t feel what it’s like to be part of this family unless you’re in our locker room. … Believe me, everybody here loves this situation. I don’t think to a man, coaches, players, would care to be anywhere else.”

Joe got all fired up for Sunday listening to Barber, especially when you think about all the off-the-field shenanigans swirling around the Bears — Matt Forte moaning about his contract, Jay Cutler’s language, etc.

Whatever’s going on inside One Buc Palace, it’s healthy for the team on the field. How else does a beat up team bounce back like it did from an epic beating in San Francisco?

You’ve all read THE PESSIMIST, who spews his Bucs-related anger like no other. But Joe also brings you THE OPTIMIST. 

THE OPTIMIST is Nick Houllis, a Bucs fan and an accomplished writer whose steadfast allegiance to the Buccaneers goes back to the 1970s. Houllis is the founder, creator and guru of BucStop.com, a place Joe goes to get lost in time via Houllis’ stunning video collection.

THE OPTIMIST will shine that positive light in your eyes. Some will love it. Some won’t. 

Get over 2010 Bucs fans, because 2011 is a whole new season, and this Bucs team is actually BETTER than its 2010 counterpart.

Last year the Bucs defense could not stop long drives at critical junctures of a game, which normally cost it a win. Against Detroit last year, at Washington, and Atlanta, three teams in a row, the Bucs gave up long drives late in the game, and were only able to sneak out a win vs the Redskins when a point-after snap went awry.

This season, the Bucs are STOPPING teams late in the game, either preserving a win, or allowing for a comeback. Detroit did nothing in the fourth quarter, Minnesota was shut down the whole second half, Atlanta and New Orleans were both stopped from scoring, and from ruining a good game.

In 2011, the Bucs are getting pressure on the quarterback. Last year it wasn’t until midday through the season the Bucs were able to get Gerald McCoy going. We’re just past the quarter point, and the Bucs are getting production out of their defensive ends too, as well as from the D tackles.

And this 2011 D-line and team can stop the run. Last year the Bucs were gashed repeatedly. But this season, Tampa Bay has shut three teams down to under 100 total yards — and that is three of the last four; so the team is really headed in the right direction.

So while a lot of attention is on Josh Freeman for not looking like the same 25 TD 6 INT QB we had last year, the other side of the ball, the one we’ve come to know, love and expect to produce in Tampa Bay, the Defense, is on its way to being just fine.

Then there is Coach Morris. He’s a leader, but Tampa Bay has never found a way to get behind him 100 percent for some reason. Raheem Morris is now 16-9 in his last 25 games, a winning record any team would be proud of.

Just last week everyone was critical of the Bucs for not having any speed on the roster, and passing on Darren Sproles. Perhaps there is something to this? “Stats are for losers.” “Next man up.” A coach and his GM that stand behind putting a homegrown team on the field.

Joe was going to type up his usual Morning Cup of Joe feature, courtesy of HootersCalendar.com. However, Joe made the mistake of first visiting HootersCalendar.com, which stripped Joe of all his motivation. A guy can really get lost in that website in a hurry.

So Joe advises you to do the same. And don’t forget to buy a few 2012 Hooters Calendars. It’s a phenomenal gift. Click below to visit Hooters Calendar.com. Use coupon code JoeBucsFan for a sweeet discount.

Pat Kirwan might be the busiest and best-connected NFL analyst in the business. The former assistant coach and personnel executive works for CBSSports.com and CBS NFL Today, hosts a show on Sirius NFL Radio, and writes regularly for NFL.com and more.

Speaking on The Miller and Moulton Show on 770 AM in Fort Myers yesterday, Kirwan offered a take on the future of the NFL in England. It’s a topic and concept Joe loathes, but since the credible Kirwan mentioned Team Glazer possibly eyeballing a future overseas, Joe will share Kirwan’s take.

“The NFL ultimately is going to put a team in London. I keep telling everyone that and they don’t get it. I think the maybe Glazers one day will sell the Bucs and own the team in London,” Kirwan said.

“I know this about the London fans. I talk to them a lot on my NFL.com chats. … They don’t want anymore visiting teams. They’re having a hard time selling this one out. Their message really isn’t, ‘We don’t like football.’ Their message is, ‘Can we have our own team? We are not here to see an exhibition of two NFL teams. We want our own team to cheer for.’

“So that’s coming to a head. And I think the NFL is very excited that it could come to a head and someone will go there eventually, maybe even Jacksonville.”

Now Joe doesn’t buy Kirwan’s line of thinking on this. It makes no sense that Team Glazer would bail on the Bucs after having such rousing success with the team and the business operation, plus a long-standing commitment in the Tampa Bay community, and a cash cow of a stadium deal.

The NFL is cruising along financially, even during these challenging economic times. Why sell the Bucs and run to a massively risky proposition with a team in soccer-mad England? Again, it makes no sense.

But as plugged in as Kirwan is, why is he (and others) still tossing out theories of the Bucs and/or Team Glazer leaving Tampa. That’s a head-scratcher for Joe.

What also would be a head-scratcher for Joe is if the Bucs end up playing annually in London as the “home” team, as many insiders have suggested. While this England trip seems to be a fantastic team-bonding experience (and the Giants won a Super Bowl the year they played overseas), Joe has to think that losing a real home game and traveling to London in consecutive seasons would get old for players in a hurry.