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Perhaps Roger Goodell should fine NFL Network reporters for wasting fans’ time with BS about the Bucs.

Joe’s really had enough of the outright BS being slung around by various media types.

Frankly, Joe’s embarrassed to be connected to a lot of the stupidity seen in the past couple of weeks.

Darrelle Revis, if anything, is no fool, and he’s a very savvy businessman. One could argue he’s the smartest player off the field in league history. Essentially, Revis engineered three new post-rookie contracts six years, the last being $16 million annually from the Bucs with no guaranteed money. The Tampa Bay deal was amazing considering he signed it with plenty of uncertainty surrounding the health of his knee.

Revis literally got back on the game field two weeks ago, and early this week an unsourced report from FOX Sports claimed Revis was upset with how he was being used in the Bucs defense and with Greg Schiano’s rules.

It made no sense that Revis would want to paint himself as a malcontent, or that he would actually be unhappy. And why would Revis want to piss off the organization that holds the keys to him earning $16 million a year — state tax free? Keep in mind Revis, by his own admission, is not yet 100 percent game-fit. He played about two-thirds of the snaps on opening day against the Jets and had cramps against the Saints. He’s had his own special set of rules and didn’t have to put his toes on the line during training camp.

Joe’s talked to Revis several times, and Revis says he addressed the rumors in a 1-on-1 meeting with Schiano to be sure his coach didn’t believe them and so his new teammates were certain his commitment to the Bucs was authentic. Revis has told anyone that would listen that there’s “zero truth” to the rumors.

But none of that logic and reality satisfied NFL Network.

They flew top “insider” Albert Breer to Tampa yesterday in order to gather intelligence, and Breer wasted no time getting on the air to deliver more nonsense Friday.  In this video, Breer references “the Revis problem” and what’s happening at One Buc Palace “after the little blowups there with Freeman and Revis.”

Perhaps Roger Goodell could fine Breer $20,000 for pelting defenseless fans with garbage?

As for the Josh-Freeman-will-formally-request-a-trade report floated by CBS Sports last weekend, that had to be the most unbelievable BS Joe’s heard in a while. So we’re to believe that happy-to-be-here, laid back Josh, and/or his agent, decided to leak a story that would make Freeman look like a team-killing, immature cancer by requesting a trade? In a contract year? That’s just lunacy. 

Not only does that not fit Freeman’s history in any way, it’s stupid. Freeman and his camp know he’d never be traded to anything but a lousy team, one without Vincent Jackson, Mike Williams, Doug Martin and three Pro Bowlers on the offensive line to keep him upright.

Again, Joe’s had enough of the outrageous, unsourced media assaults. And that’s another reason to hope for a Bucs win in New England. The only way to beat back the growing swarm of sharks is with a victory.

The folks at BSPN are building a Greg Schiano implosion watch.

In this video, the NFL Live crew dives into Bucs leadership and locker room issues with some intelligent takes from Teddy Bruschi, Damien Woody and Jerome Bettis. On the BSPN website, this video was wrapped around a story titled, Bucs’ Top Problem Is Greg Schiano.

“We have good players, proven methods, good schemes, good coaches. So when you have all those good components and you’re doing things the right way, it’ll turn. You know everybody who’s been in competitive athletics goes through some stretches where, you know, they wish it were better. But if you have the components, now you’re kidding yourself if you don’t have the components, then you’re just wishing, but I know we have the components. So you just gotta stick to our guns and it’ll turn.” — Greg Schiano, Sept. 20, 2013.

You can hear Commander Schiano’s full news conference via the WDAE-AM 620 audio below.

Yesterday, Bucs defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan faced the media for the first time since the Bucs-Saints loss and was hit with the day’s tough question within a few minutes (2:50 of this Buccaneers.com video.) 

(Joe’s paraphrasing) Mr, Sheridan, why wasn’t Darrelle Revis covering superstar receiver Marques Colston as the Saints were frantically marching down the field?

“We definitely thought about it afterwards, for sure,” Sheridan said smiling. “We do try to orchestrate [Revis on the opponent’s top receiver] during the game, as far as getting him on receivers we want him to cover and/or the coverage types that we play. He’s not as dependent as having, you know, a half-field safety behind him necessarily.”

Thanks, Coach.

Sheridan went on to say the Bucs will continue to look find ways to use Revis in the Revis Island role, as well as whatever makes the most sense with the defense.

Yes, Joe believes it was a screwup by the Bucs, having their $1 million-per-game cornerback covering rookie fifth-round pick Kenny Stills on a critical passing down. Hopefully, the Bucs learned their lesson.

One of Greg Schiano’s greatest dreams is coming true: Pro Bowl guards Carl Nicks and Davin Joseph are expected to start Sunday.

Schiano shared the good news at One Buc Palace today, and Nicks is fired up, via beat writer Rick Stroud’s Twitter account.

@NFLStroud – Can Nicks play the whole game? “That’s the plan but we’re going to find out. You guys will see it sooner than I will if I’m gassed.”

Joe can’t wait to see the human armoire, Nicks, take the field. Doug Martin must be drooling. Schiano came to the Bucs expressing his desire to run the football over and over again, and Nicks and Joseph are massive keys to that plan.

Yes, Joe wants to see the Bucs trust Josh Freeman and be more dangerous on offense, but if they can successfully grind out 40 carries and win ball games, Joe’s just fine with that, too.

For your dining and dancing pleasure, above is where Americans can watch the Bucs-Patriots game via the over-the-air FOX broadcast. Areas shaded in yellow can watch the game free in the comfort of their living rooms. As always, the map is courtesy of 506sports.com.

Joe took a little time this morning to talk about all things Bucs on the Ron and Ian show on WDAE-AM 620. Joe hit on various topics. As for Joe’s assessment of the failings at No. 3 receiver, at one point Joe was indirectly referencing this connection between Greg Schiano and wide receivers coach John Garrett. Enjoy.

Joe always used to chuckle when Bucs fans were often angry with BSPN (not that the outfit doesn’t provide enough ammo on a daily basis for people to be angry) or NFL Network because they didn’t talk enough about the Bucs.

Well, if you want national outlets to talk Bucs, either the team needs to win or there must be a lot of drama going on. Given the fact the Bucs are 0-2, you can figure out why Bucs news is now all the rage among national media types.

Enter known stalker and girlfriend beater Jay Mariotti, who decided to pile on with a unique take on an otherwise nuclear blast on the team.

Mariotti drops references to “One Hazmat Place” and Bucs quarterback “Rip Van Freeman” in documenting what has to have been a harrowing past six weeks or so for Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik and Bucs commander Greg Schiano.

In an otherwise scathing column, Mariotti at least gives credit to Bucs star cornerback Darrelle Revis for trying to right the pirate ship.

Whether that love-in will lead to any measure of equilibrium on this wobbling pirate ship is your guess or mine. All I know is, I’ve never seen a month quite like it — so many detrimental stories from all sides attacking a normally efficient organization. “I thought those New York days were over,” said Revis, smiling, knowing the New York, Philadelphia and Boston media would be salivating. And while Revis again stressed the significance of this team staying together when so much is wrong and uttered these vital words — “I think the best thing through these situations is to be honest, and for us as a team to stick together. A win will change everything. A win will change this whole atmosphere.” — the reality of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers can’t be changed.

One, they don’t have a quarterback.

Two, their coach has lost seven of his last eight games and, no matter what Revis says, is a couple of more bad losses from losing his team — and, ultimately, his job. If Schiano is an avowed disciplinarian, why so many penalties, many of the idiot variety? If he’s an authoritarian, why so much disarray?

Mariotti makes a salient point that Joe has brought up previously. Schiano is a disciplinarian, meaning stupid mental mistakes are usually intolerable and drummed out of the players’ heads in practice. Yet many of those stupid penalties can be directly connected to costing the Bucs one game and perhaps both (remember, Vincent Jackson had a touchdown catch voided last Sunday due to a penalty).

Combined with the dysfunctional way the offense acted to open the season, it makes Joe scratch his head wondering what the heck the team had been practicing throughout the summer and preseason.

When a team with a disciplinarian coach plays undisciplined, that’s not good for anyone’s job security, players or coaches.

“Bill, I got V-Jax. That’s what I’m sayin’, Dawg.”

 Where would the Bucs’ offense be without Vincent Jackson?

It seems the Patriots are going to try and find out.

Per film guru and Patriots beat writer Doug Kyed of NESN, look for helmet-wielding, cabbie-slugging, Adderrall-popping, coach-cussing, referee-charging, pistol-friendly, granny-hassling Aqib Talib to man up on Jackson all over the field Sunday.

Vincent Jackson vs. Aqib Talib: At this point, Talib should be very familiar with Jackson. He was the 6-foot-5, 230-pound receiver’s teammate for the first half of last season, they practiced against each other for a week this summer and they matched up with one another during a preseason game. All that familiarity will likely help Talib more than Jackson. Talib did a nice job against Jackson in the preseason, but the Buccaneers’ receiver had some impressive moments during training camp practice. Talib typically sticks to the left side of the field, but in special circumstances, the Patriots will have him shadow a team’s top receiver. This will likely be one of those situations. Jackson has 12 catches on 24 targets for 231 yards and zero touchdowns this season. Talib has allowed two catches on five targets for 47 yards with two interceptions, according to my own film study.

Joe suspects the Patriots will focus more on taking away Doug Martin and making Josh Freeman beat them. So there should be plenty of opportunities for Jackson.

As for the Talib-Jackson matchup, Joe won’t bet against Jackson, though Talib surely has plenty of familiarity with Freeman’s tendencies.

Joe asked Mike Williams this week whether Talib could talk enough trash on the field to get in the heads of Jackson or Williams. That’s not possible, Williams said.

Williams went on to tell Joe he’s still in regular contact with Talib, one of his early mentors, and that the Bucs have made enough adjustments to the offense where Talib shouldn’t be able to pick up Tampa Bay play calls.

Joe watched the Bucs game against the Saints, and like most sober and non-sober Bucs fans, Joe was sickened by the ineptitude of Tampa Bay’s offense that scored just seven points.

Yes, the running game was effective, but there was no rhythm to the offense and the missing threats at No. 3 receiver and tight end was glaring.

But Bucs players see things differently. A few days removed from the 16-14 loss, optimism abounds at One Buc Palace. Lakeland Ledger beat writer Rick Brown took notes.

“I think we’re real close,” said Ogletree, who has one catch for 5 yards and a touchdown. “Our approach stays the same. If we come out and work we know it will get clicking. We have some talent on both sides of the ball.

Freeman, who has had to deal with rumors of him wanting to ask for a trade and him not getting along with coach Greg Schiano, admits he is a little frustrated, but not because of the rumors.

“I think the frustration of knowing we’re not that far away; of knowing this offense is capable of scoring a lot more than seven points a game,” Freeman said. “We just have to find a way to stop hurting ourselves, get better on third down and we’ll be just fine.”

Yes, Freeman is correct; the Bucs must get better on third down, and first and second downs, so third down is easier.

The Bucs have scored just three offensive touchdowns through the first two weeks. The “not-that-far-away” offense is going to have to show up immediately.

WTSP-TV, Ch. 10 sports chief Dave Wirth delivers an uplifting breakdown this morning in his exclusive Bucs-Patriots game preview for JoeBucsFan.com.

The Bucs’ $1 million-per-game cornerback, Darrelle Revis, says the Bucs did, in fact, gain an edge against the Patriots by practicing with them in Foxborough this summer. The question is whether the Bucs can take advantage.

Revis painted a picture of the Bucs gathering intelligence and now it’s up to the New Schiano Order to make the most of it.

“I think what we all got is we got to see what they do, you know, it’s almost like you’re in the bushes with a camera watching their practice,” Revis said on WDAE-AM 620 last night. “It’s almost like it’s just cheating. You get to see their formations. You get to see how Tom [Brady] runs the offense. You know, our offense gets to see their defense and vice versa. So it’s almost like an open book test in school. You’ve got the answers right there. You just gotta figure out a great game plan to go up there and beat those guys.”

Joe appreciated this take from Revis. Of course, it can be a huge edge to practice with a team and observe them for days. Downplaying would be silly.

However, there also is a superstar head coach on the other side, Bill Belicheat. And he knows all about cameras and hiding in bushes.

The Bucs have the talent to beat the Patriots, and on paper the Bucs match up pretty will with this banged up edition of the Pats. Joe suspects coaching, game plan and discipline will have huge roles on Sunday.

Much has been made of the relationship between Bucs commander Greg Schiano and franchise quarterback Josh Freeman. It’s even taken over talk across NFL circles; not just locally.

Super Bowl-winning quarterback Phil Simms recently dropped in on the “Booger and Rich Show” heard locally on WHFS-FM 98.7, and joked how the alleged rift between Schiano and Freeman is all the rage nationally.

When discussing Freeman, Simms strongly hinted that criticism of Freeman is in large part the Kansas State product’s own doing.

“I will just say this: you don’t see it too often from a starting quarterback is late to any team function or misses a team function. The quarterback is held to higher standard — you know that — and I think that is the right thing to do. Quarterbacks are the second-most powerful guy in every organization. The head coach and the quarterback have to be on the same page. They have to be the two hardest workers in the organization and if they are not, you know what, you are going to have problems.

“I always say this: If Josh Freeman goes out there and prepares and works hard on the practice field every day and he leads, you know what? Greg Schiano is going to be his best friend. I had kids that played football and if they were not starting I always told them the same thing, ‘Make the coach play you. Make him. Go out there and keep practicing hard. They will notice.’ I would say the same thing to Josh Freeman. ‘Don’t worry about all of this fighting. Do your job. Lead the team! Be a great example to everybody else.’ That’s how it works. That’s how it works. There is only one way out of it. If you think there is another team out there for you, get that out of your head. This league moves fast. There is no guarantee there is another starting job for you somewhere else. There are quarterbacks that come into this league every year. Two, three, four or five that are the so-called franchise guys. My advice is, make it work there in Tampa.”

Simms, in a roundabout way, said that if Freeman thinks he is playing for a hardass coach in Schiano, he has no idea what a hardass coach is, referring to his coach with the Giants, Bill Parcells. Simms then began to recount his days with Parcells saying that each and every practice Parcells rode him and was all over his case, largely only because he was the quarterback.

Joe wrote the following before and will write it again. Freeman’s future lies in Freeman’s hands, it is that simple.

Also, speaking of simple, winning cures all ills. If the Bucs go on a winning streak, all of this drama will be backburner material.

Ahmad Black, earning $555,000 this season per RotoWorld.com, is no fan of being a little lighter in the wallet after the NFL slapped him with a $21,000 fine for his clearly dirty hit on Jimmy Graham on Sunday. That’s much harder on Black than the $100,000 Dashon Goldson, an $8 million-a-year man, was penalized by Roger Goodell. (Frankly, Joe can’t relate to all those zeros.)

Black said what he had to say about playing within the rules and much more in the Bucs’ locker room today, including referencing his checkbook. (Audio via Joe’s partners at 620wdae.com.)

Joe talks about the “kick in the gut” of the Saints loss and a whole lot more during this weekly podcast with Ronnie Lane, the smooth-voiced dude of the Buccaneers Radio Network.

There is great news out of One Buc Palace. The Bucs had a fantastic week of practice to date, so said numerous players. Even commander Greg Schiano said the Bucs have put the Saints game behind them and have shown up with their lunch pails.

But most important, Josh Freeman says the offense has been feeling the vibe and is at its 2013 peak.

“This has been the sharpest that we’ve been in practice, so I look forward to seeing us transfer that to the game on Sunday,” Freeman said, via TBO.com.

Ok. So maybe, just maybe, the Bucs offense needed the first two games to wake up after being allowed to snooze through preseason. Davin Joseph and Darrelle Revis finally have their legs under them. Doug Martin is in a groove. Carl Nicks and Tom Crabtree might be back. Kevin Ogletree can only get better.

There is hope for Sunday.

Dashon Goldson is racking up penalties and fines faster than Kevin Ogletree accumulates drops.

Bucs icon John Lynch, known for his violent play, has called Bucs games recently for FOX and will again on Sunday. Lynch has done intensive film study on the Bucs, and has come away believing that much of what the NFL wants Goldson to change is unrealistic.

“You look at the [Darren] Sproles hit [on Sunday]. You gotta guy who is 5-8, being generous, and he’s going to the ground. (laughs) So how much lower can you go? I think some of what the league is asking the guys to do is impossible,” Lynch said on the Ron and Ian show on WDAE-AM 620. “It’s a fine line for Dashon, because that’s what makes him a tremendous player. He controls that middle of the field. I think we’ve already seen it; receivers aren’t so sure about going across the middle against him and [Mark] Barron. But at the same point, they need [Golson] out there, and he’s not going to be out there if he continues to play the way he’s playing.”

Lynch hits the core of the problem for many of the flags referees are throwing at Goldson and other Buccaneers. There’s just no way to play manly, fast football and avoid illegal contact in many cases.

And there lies the problem. The Bucs are paying Goldson $8 million a year. They’re not paying him to play soft and alter his style. Goldson, himself, has a lot of money riding on his ability to maintain an intimidating presence and he knows his style helped lead to his superstar status.

Don’t look for Goldson to change anytime soon.

Wait a minute. You mean Tom Brady might smile at the thought of going after every cornerback not named Revis on Sunday? Well, that’s no surprise. The Bucs are quite thin and inexperienced after No. 24.

Pats beat men Doug Kyed and Nick Underhill dive into all things Bucs in this NESN.com video, including how the Pats might “exploit” Johnthan Banks and Leonard Johnson.