Pat Kirwan and Jason Horowitz of CBSSports.com break down the Bucs-Vikings game Sunday. Hear (and see) what they have to say. (Joe ran some quotes from this the other day, but now CBS has made the video available.)

Now Joe isn’t buying much of what’s coming out of Minnesota, but it seems the Vikings are kicking themselves for not throwing the ball enough last week and are talking about working the ball around the field — the opposite of the Bucs’ takeaway from Week 1.

BSPN blogger Kevin Seifert spit out this observation early this week. 

Most revealing, an unofficial review of the play-by-play showed that offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave called running plays on 15 of the team’s 19 first-down plays. Of the four passing plays, one ended up as a 23-yard scramble by quarterback Donovan McNabb.

And Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com fame notes Musgrave on local radio accepting the playcalling heat and talking about opening up the offense, even if Donovan McNabb might not be up for it.

It’s unclear why the Vikings were so obvious and predictable.  It’s possible that Musgrave got a little skittish after McNabb threw a first-and-10 interception on the team’s first play from scrimmage, with the Vikings up 7-0 but quickly in a tie game after the Chargers drove six yards in three plays.

While Joe can see the Vikings looking to get Mason Foster to bite on the run and work the middle of the field early in the game, Joe has no illusions that somehow the Vikings won’t look to drive Adrian Peterson down the Bucs’ throat.

Historically, Peterson runs his best on the home turf, and the Vikings didn’t just write him a massive contract extension last week to get cute in the home-opener.

Good luck, Mr. Foster.

Bucs fans were livid after the season-opening loss to the Lions because Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson didn’t give the rock to LeGarrette Blount enough. The Bucs’ 1,000-yard rusher from last season had a grand total of five carries Sunday.

Fingers were even pointed at Olson from the BSPN crowd. In a recent NFC South chat, even ESPN’s Pat Yasinskas joined in.

GurS (Edgware, UK)
I’m convinced the person at most to blame for the Bucs’ loss to the Lions last week is
Greg Olson. Agree or disagree?

Pat Yasinskas
I’d have to agree with you there.

The NFL Network crew also befuddled by the play-calling. Brian Baldinger demonstrated with video that when Blount ran from an I-formation, not only were there holes to run through, but there was also room for Blount to run.

But as we found out earlier this week from no less than Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman, it was Bucs coach Raheem Morris who directed Olson to ditch the running attack.

Joe found it interesting this week listening to Pat Kirwan, who along with Tim Ryan co-hosts “Movin’ the Chains” heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio, suggested the Bucs offense is at its best in a no-huddle therefore if he was Olson, he would have the Bucs run no-huddle as much as possible tomorrow against the Vikings.

Carve up the pregame analysis of the Bucs-Vikings game as you wish, but the answer to the question above is the major key to the game. In this TBO.com video, The Tampa Tribune lines up their veteran duo of eye-RAH! Kaufman and Woody Cummings to explore this subject.

Jeremy Zuttah was the man at left guard in 2009. Then Mark Dominik shot that down and bought a veteran free agent, Keydrick Vincent, to play the position in 2010.

Vincent was cut halfway through the season, while Zuttah was starting at center for Jeff Faine and Ted Larsen took over left guard.

Now Larsen is back on the bench following a heinous preseason and an opening day that saw the offensive line play below its pay grade. Per the Twitterings eye-RAH Kaufman, of The Tampa Tribune, Zuttah will replace Larsen against the Vikings on Sunday.

@TBO_Buccaneers: Bucs make a switch at left guard for Sunday’s game at Minnesota, with Jeremy Zuttah starting instead of Ted Larsen.

Longtime readers here know Joe has always been in Zuttah’s corner. The fourth-year Mr. Versatile on the Bucs’ O-line should do very well. After all, aren’t linemen supposed to fully mature only after a few years?

Interestingly, Zuttah is an unrestricted free agent after this season. A 2011 for Zuttah from here forward would put the Bucs in line for another huge payday along their high-price line.

Slow starts have plagued the Bucs throughout the Raheem Morris era. It’s been a constant point of emphasis, and it seems the Bucs continue to get creative to find a way to stop the madness.

Speaking on The Mike Williams Show last night on WDAE-AM 620, the Bucs’ No. 1 receiver explained that a significant alteration was made after the loss to the Lions. 

“We kind of changed this week how we practice, too. As soon has we come from stretch, we usually go to individuals (drills). But now we go to offense and see if we can get it started right away. We go to five quick plays, five hurry-up offense plays, and see if we can go 5-for-5 everyday,” Williams said. “And if we don’t, they say, ‘See, that’s our problem.’ But we actually did it this week. We actually went out there and excecuted. So we’re going to see if that works.”

Hmmm, if the Bucs practice a hurry-up offense all week to get jump-started, will they come out like that in Minnesota?

Williams went on to give his two cents on why the offense usually sputters out of the game. It’s a “mixture of nerves, everybody pumped up. [We]  just got to calm down and relax and get started fast. That’s just how I look at it,” Williams said.

As for Williams stunning catch in the end zone, and the rest of his game, Williams said he’s completely in the zone and the game is very slow for him. “Just how you see it on NFL Films,” he said.

If you watched one of the award-winning sportscasts on WTSP, Channel 10 last Sunday, then you learned the results of the world famous JoeBucsFan/WTSP-TV 10 News Poll. Here’s your Week 2 shot at shaping public opinion:

The nerve-wracking truth for Bucs fans, so delivered by Pat Kirwan of NFL Radio and CBS Sports, is that Adrian Peterson averages five yards per carry on his home dome turf.

Surely, the Bucs will be challenged early and often to stop him. Joe’s got plenty of Tums in the medicine cabinet.

Kirwan breaks down the Bucs-Vikings game in this excellent CBSSports.com video seen here. (oddly, no embed codes) Kirwan also floats the possibility that Donovan McNabb could be making his final start, if the Vikings lose to the Bucs. No team had a winning record after starting 0-2 in 2010, and Kirwan thinks a loss to the Bucs will prompt the Vikings to play for the future and start Christian Ponder moving forward.

Joe suspects McNabb will have that as extra motivation.

Kirwan bashed the Bucs playcalling against Detroit and says the good guys will “pound” LeGarrette Blount this week behind Davin Joseph. Joe hopes that’s the case, but Joe sure wouldn’t bet on it. Regardless, Joe thinks the Bucs are the better team after 60 minutes.

Oh, and Kirwan says the Bucs will rebound and win the game.

Joe’s written multiple times about Brian Price’s extraordinary recovery from a heinous series of hamstring/surgeries that are even painful to write about.

Now Sam Farmer of the L.A. Times brings it all home in an excellent feature story. Joe doesn’t want to spoil it for you, but here’s a paragraph.

“This guy has been in pain for literally a year,” Toriscelli said. “I’m not talking about just mild discomfort. I’m talking about driving home he’s got to sit on those bones, laying in bed, you just can’t get away from it. Certainly trying to play professional football … it’s just an absolutely remarkable thing, and a compliment to his drive and motivation. He is a very special person, I can tell you that.”

Yesterday, Price told the local beat scribes that he currently is playing at “60, 65 percent.” Yet he still made a powerful tackle for a loss against Detroit and earned the starting nod for Sunday’s Vikings-Bucs game.

Joe starting to wonder what kind of manbeast Price will be when he hits 95 percent, drops more weight and gets more game experience. At 22 years old, he’s got youth on his side, but Joe suspects we won’t see what Price can really be until 2012.

Donald Penn loves to trash talk and seems to enjoy reacting to and delivering bulletin board material.

So Penn should like this one. In a breakdown of the upcoming Bucs-Vikings game for the Star-Tribune, Minnesota beat writer Mark Craig says Penn isn’t all that.

 Penn vs. Jared Allen: A favorable matchup for Allen becomes even moreso with the crowd noise generated inside the Metrodome. Penn got the big payday a few years back, but he’s hardly an elite left tackle. According to ProFootballFocus.com, Penn, a former Vikings’ practice squad player, gave up six sacks, nine more knockdowns and 36 pressures in 2010.

Joe suggests you click on through above to the whole piece.

One take there suggests the young Bucs will struggle in the noise of the Metrodome. Joe can’t argue with that, but that’s not much of a factor when you’re running the ball successfully, which the Bucs desperately have to do.

Every wonder how much Raheem Morris is involved in the offense?

Josh Freeman offered some insight during The Josh Freeman Show, hosted by the dean on Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig, on WDAE-AM 620 every Wednesday. The show was dynamite last night, as Duemig, the new host this year, is a far better interviewer than Scott Ledger and Freeman clearly has established a comfort zone.

Freeman outlined a chain of command for the crafting of the Bucs gameplan.

Steve Duemig: Do fans get too caught up in saying, ‘Well, they only had 15 rushes for 30 yards. And. oh, it had to be the offensive line is the problem?

Josh Freeman: We had 15 rushes, you know, and four of which were mine.

Duemig: And you were the leading rusher.

Freeman: Yeah, We really just didn’t stick with the running game.

Duemig: That’s not your call.

Freeman: That’s part of the gameplan. That’s way above me, you know. I manage the game. I run what Coach Olson calls, and he does what Raheem wants to do. But no, we’re going to run the ball. With that O-line, with LeGarrette Blount. We’re going to run the ball.

Surely, it’s no shock that Raheem has a heavy hand in the offense. But that’s awfully tough duty given that Raheem is managing and mentoring a load of young players and filling the role of defensive coordinator.

Obviously, the Bucs were a top tier offense for the second half of the 2010 season, so the formula can work. But after the gameplan missed the mark Sunday, it’s interesting to wonder whether Raheem could use another coach to help him prepare, a second defensive coordinator perhaps, and lighten his workload.

What a great example here of how intense the young Bucs are and how their maturity is evolving.

And it’s another glimpse of how Josh Freeman leads.

Speaking on The Josh Freeman Show yesterday on WDAE-AM 620, Freeman relayed a story of how hard Arrelious Benn took the Lions’ interception thrown his way.

“Reg kind of got in a little bit of a funk. He’s a guy that takes his performance to heart,” Freeman said. “You know, he’s a great team guy and I felt like he felt he let the team down. The coach wanted to mix in Dezmon Briscoe, give him some plays. Reg wasn’t being punished. I think that he kind of got in a funk and that’s what he felt like.

“When I came back [from getting an IV] he was looking kind of blue on the sideline. I went over and started talking to him. I was like, ‘Dude, what’s wrong?’ He’s like, ‘I don’t know. I’m just kind of out of it.’ I’m like, ‘Well get ready because we’re about to make a run. And we’re going to need everybody …”

Freeman went on to say he quickly told coaches to get Benn in the game and Benn responded with multiple catches. Per Freeman, Benn thanked him after the game.

Impressive leadership by Freeman, though a little odd by Benn. Hopefully, that’s just a growing pain by a young player that is now an experience from which to grow.    

Bucs icon Derrick Brooks wants to see the Bucs establish a rhythm in the running game and a more physical defense to win in Minnesota, so he told the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig, on WDAE-AM 620 yesterday.

Talking about the Bucs needing to be more aggressive tacklers, Brooks went on a passionate rant that nearly gave Joe chills, as it stirred memories of the smothering Bucs defense of the glory years.

“That just seems like mentally, physically a defeat when a guy can fall forward,” Brooks said. “You want to make the hit, stop him right there. You don’t want him to fall forward for that extra half yard. …[Because] it appears that they’re more physical. They gain a confidence, ‘Oh, you hit me but I still got a yard. I still fell forward.’ You want to establish that line, when you make a hit, two or three guys makin’ a hit, and we’re sending you backwards. That’s an intimidation from a defensive standpoint. We don’t like guys falling forward. We don’t want you to get an extra blade of grass. … That’s the mentality you want to play with as a defender to really get that, to me, that mental advantage.”

Joe, too, would like to see the Bucs show everyone what “youngry” looks like. Because outside of a handful of splash plays, youngry hasn’t shown up yet.

Veteran WTSP-TV, Ch. 10 sportscaster Dave Wirth serves up his take on Sunday’s Vikings-Bucs matchup exclusively for JoeBucsFan.com readers. Among other things, Wirth is hardly upbeat out the Bucs opener and he too is concerned about the Bucs’ run defense.

Venerable NFL scribe Pete Prisco, of CBSSports.com, has seen enough. He’s taken a nosedive off the Bucs bandwagon.

Outside of the Chiefs and Colts, who lost a Hall of Fame quarterback, no team on Prisco’s weekly power rankings fell more than the Buccaneers from their opening slot. Prisco dropped the Bucs from No. 13 to No. 21.

I worried they would take a step back this season, but not nearly as bad as they did against the Lions. Where’s the speed on offense?

This analysis made Joe laugh, as most national takes do. Uhh, Mr. Prisco, the speed on offense wasn’t there before the season.

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

THE OPTIMIST is Nick Houllis, a Bucs fan and an accomplished writer whose steadfast allegiance to the team 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.

The haters are out in full force. The memory of a seven-game turnaround and a 10-6 season is a long forgotten memory in their minds. But Bucs fans do have a few things left in life to continue living.

After watching the game the second time, I saw an offensive line that did not perform all that bad. Detroit’s main weapon is their defensive line. All world Ndamukong Suh had two tackles and no sacks. Josh Freeman threw over 40 passes yet was sacked twice. Suh was basically shut down, although the O-line could have run blocked better. It’s not like the Bucs have a short-yardage or game-changing flash back either.

The Bucs defense made the adjustments early stopping Detroit on their first two drives from scoring two TDs and instead forcing them into two field goals. But when you consider three of the Bucs defenders are rookies, playing their first game, you can see there are brighter days ahead.

Detroit did not gash the Bucs run defense like they did last year.

And it wasn’t just the Bucs, almost every poor performing team in the preseason fell on Sunday; Atlanta, Kansas City, and Cleveland for example. Yet as bad as the Bucs played, they were only a good minute away from tying the game. Wasn’t that the recipe for last season to being with?

Last year Barrett Ruud led the team in tackles, but he just wasn’t physical enough. His replacement is physical, but is young and green and will make mistakes. Later on in the year, just like Gerald McCoy started to come on around mid-season, Foster and Clayborn and Bowers will get it.

Then again, you can always bail on your team, but if you’re like me, you”ll stick around and watch the young talent develop.

Remember; take away a Ronde Barber interception and runback, the Bucs probably get blown out by Cleveland last year in the opener. Week 2 the Bucs looked great on the road.

Lets tune in, after all it will be on TV! And we should enjoy that, because the blackout will be back faster than Mathew Stafford can release the ball.

Yes, the Bucs were better against the run Sunday. It wasn’t great, but it was a good sign as they try to move toward having a respectable run defense.

Amid all the talk of finding more sacks and quarterback pressure in the offseason, Joe was always stuck on the Bucs ending their 36-game slump against the run, minus a few decent outings.

For Joe, Sunday in Minnesota is going to be an extraordinary test. The run is coming at them. Adrian Peterson, pulling his fat new contract, is going to get the rock. The Vikings would be nuts not to pound it repeatedly against the Bucs. And, per a Star Tribune story, it seems that’s what’s coming from the purple team.

Not so much the Vikings. McNabb took pains to say he was here to win, not meet some passing yardage milestone. Even left tackle Charlie Johnson, who played with Peyton Manning in Indianapolis, talked up the running game.

“When you have a back like [Peterson], and when you give it enough time, give that back enough time, you find a rhythm,” Johnson said. “Once you have that, it opens up so much more in the passing game. I think that’s the approach.”

Joe also expects Minnesota to mix it up and take advantage of Quincy Black’s and Mason Foster’s inexperience in the middle of the field. But with the Bucs not having to key as much on a superstar receiver, what their run defense is all about should be revealed Sunday.

Hopefully, the ghost of Jim Bates can’t penetrate the roof of the Metrodome.

Ronde Barber, the last man standing from Chucky’s opening game when the Super Bowl Bucs got punched in the gut at home by the Saints, seems to be amused by the fans and pundits ready to bury the Bucs. 

Speaking on Total Access on WDAE-AM 620 Monday night, Barber, who has a history of interesting media critiquing, shared soothing perspective for those ready to jump off a bridge.

“The immediacy of a loss always is like panic time for everybody, you know, (laughs). It’s easier to drive the negative news than it is to be uplifting,” Barber said “You know, it’s one game. Now if one game turns into 16 one-games, and they’re not all good, then that’s a problem. But this is the first game of the season. Fortunately, for us, Carolina, Atlanta and New Orleans lost. So we’re square one as far as we’re concerned still. None of them have an advantage on us. All we know is that at the end of this 16-game season we want to be in the playoffs. And the best way to do that is to win our division. And we’re right on par with our division (laughs). So we’ll take our misfortune in losing this game to Detroit and keep moving. It’ s pointless to look back on anyways and try to figure out woulda, coulda, shoulda.”

Joe thought Barber’s words might help a few folks get through the day.

UPDATE: 4:29 p.m. – Brian Price will start Sunday, so Raheem said at his afternoon news conference.

The man who had his hamstrings ripped off and screwed back into his pelvis was back on the practice field for the Bucs today, per the Twitterings of Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud.

It seems like Brian Price, who left the field during Sunday’s game walking gingerly with a hamstring issue, was merely suffering from heat related issues and pain associated with his recovery, so the St. Pete Times reported this morning. 

It’s all good.

Amazingly, Price might have been the best the Bucs had to offer at nose tackle against Detroit. Joe can’t say enough about this guy’s heart. 

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company, America’s Best Quarterback. Plus, he’s a really cool dude.

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Even after Sunday’s loss, the Bucs are the best team in the NFC South.  Well, at least they are tied for the best record — and the worst — in a division that went winless this weekend.

As one of the teams that got together for self-directed practice more than most during the lockout, all the Bucs’ offseason practice sessions didn’t add up to a win in Week 1 of the real season.

Extra offseason practice didn’t work out for the New Orleans Saints either, up against a Green Bay Packers team that didn’t get together at all during the lockout. So much for the importance of building team camaraderie in the offseason. 

The Saints fought to the last play on opening night against the defending Super Bowl champs and after going down the field in seconds, courtesy of Drew Brees’ arm, they chose to go up the middle to their rookie running back on an all-or-nothing play and ended up with nothing. That was a bad coaching decision, not just after the fact; you just don’t go “all-in” where one missed block discounts all the efforts of the previous three hours. Give it to Brees on the move where he will have two or three receiver options as well as a chance to run it in if need be. It’s good to know former Super Bowl winning coaches can make bad decisions too.

All coaching staffs spent the entire offseason with Sept. 11 circled on their calendars for the season opener, and without the daily interruptions of working with their players. The Bucs threw their gameplan in the trash at halftime to play a style of football for which they are not built.

And so, on their final play of the day, they played’ “hot potato” with Donald Penn and friends to finish up a rough day on both sides of the ball. 

The Bucs looked average to poor throughout the preseason, but I was sure they were just holding on to their good stuff for the games that count. I guess I was wrong or they are holding on to their good stuff for more important games than the first one of the season, where championships are not won or lost (all 16 teams that lose in week 1 always have the same opinion).

The Detroit Lions are a team on the rise and looked like it throughout their preseason.  Matt Stafford, the former No. 1 pick in 2009, looked like an All-Pro this summer. His improvement thus far, following the first two injury-plagued seasons, is anticipating his throws and getting rid of the ball before taking the massive hits that ended both prematurely.

Raheem Morris agreed saying, “We just weren’t able to get there when he had the ball in his hands.” That is the challenge for every team isn’t it?

The Bucs racked up a total of zero defensive stat lines for sacks, hurries or hits on the QB. The change in Stafford’s game is all he needs to be a great one, and with a target like the massive Calvin Johnson, they become competitive in the NFC North immediately. 

Alternatively, Josh Freeman needs an effective running game to make this offense effective enough to compete week in and week out.  Defensively, they won’t compete in their own division without knocking Drew Brees, Matt Ryan and the record-setting rookie Cam Newton around quite a bit. They also need to find a weapon out of the backfield on third down, not just a good blocker. 

The preseason offense lacked movement and imagination and I simply chalked it up to saving the good stuff for September. But without motion to create favorable match-ups and change of pace plays to keep the rush honest, it will create too much pressure on Freeman to make plays down the field too often. 

All the important figures for Tampa Bay were right to say that one loss does not a season make, but another poor performance in Minnesota next week should strike serious concern for this team and for all of us hoping to see December home games that have significance, which also might help us see a home game on TV sometime this year.

Labeled a tackling machine coming out of college, starting middle linebacker Mason Foster flashed some of that production Sunday.

The rookie played just 43 percent of the snaps, as he was off the field on third down and on three-receiver sets, but his name hit the stat sheet hard, for whatever that’s worth. Raheem Morris praised his rookie MLB while heavily critiquing his other linebackers during The Raheem Morris Show on WDAE-AM 620 Monday evening.

“Six tackles in those 29 snaps and one assist. He really played productive,” Raheem said. “When [Foster] was in, he certainly played well.”

Joe didn’t see that a crushing physical presence from Foster on Sunday, but he surely had a solid debut and surely wasn’t the problem on the Bucs defense.

Joe’s really loving “Steve White Unplugged,” actually known as the Two-Hand Touch show with Derek “Old School” Fournier on WQYK-AM 1010.

White, the former Bucs defensive end, gets all the time he could want to break down all things Bucs on Tuesday nights. It’s sort of his famous, yet now defunct, Bull Rush column on the radio with passion and personality thrown in. You can listen to the show archive at WhatTheBuc.net.

Here’s what White thought of the sputtering, disjointed Bucs offense as the Lions dominated the opening 30 minutes Sunday.

“Our offensive playcalling was atrocious in the first half. “We don’t really have, or at least in the first half we definitely didn’t have, an offensive identity as far as running the ball. Our best running plays are counters and Power Os. We ran one the whole first half. Then, you know, we’re trying to trick them and influence them and this and that, and that’s really not our game,” White said.

“Unfortunately we don’t have some of the weapons they do have, like Calvin Johnson. We do have a very good tight end. I don’t think we featured him enough in the first half. We do have a great receiver in Mike Williams, but we tried to run him on fade routes every time … It was frustrating to watch, because, no, we don’t have the offensive firepower that the Lions do. But I thought our offensive line blocked well. I thought we had plenty of opportunities. But the playcalling was just atrocious in my opinion.

“There is no reason why you’re not running quick slants for Mike Williams all the time because he’s such a good run-after-the-catch guy. Even if he catches those fade routes, most of the time he’s going to get tackled right there or he’s going out of bounds.

“Give him those quick slants. Give him dig routes, some quick outs and let him run after the catch. … Last year, he had so much success with it, yet you didn’t really see it much at all [Sunday].”

White also went on to say he was disappointed to not see the Bucs work Kellen Winslow over the middle of the field.

Joe also would give the playcalling a failing grade. It would be hard not to, even over 60 minutes. Five touches for LeGarrette Blount won’t win the Bucs games anytime soon. Yet after all that, if Josh Freeman doesn’t throw a bad pick (not Greg Olson’s fault) and Luke Stocker doesn’t impersonate Michael Clayton, the Bucs probably send the game into overtime or win outright. 

There was no quit in the Bucs.

Tomorrow, Joe will lay out White’s powerful Week 1 takes on Gerald McCoy and Quincy Black.