Joe has an avowed distaste for BSPN because, well, frankly, Joe has higher standards (and if that offends people for being snobbish, so be it). If Joe wants intelligent information about his sports, he turns to the man channels, the NFL Network, MLB Network and the NHL Network.

(To be fair, ESPN — notice Joe can type the correct call letters when warranted? — is the gold standard when it comes to college football coverage, and Joe is very sincere about this. Every time that outfit does something college football related, it demonstrates to anyone with a keen eye and open mind the laziness and disregard it has for other sports.)

So unless Joe is tipped off about something relevant broadcast on the Romper Room show (SchlockCenter), Joe is unaware. The last time Joe watched SchlockCenter was June 2004.

Thankfully, or unfortunately, Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times helps the rest of us. In his otherwise solid “Shooting from the Lip” Monday morning column, in which Jones recaps the highs and lows of a weekend of sports broadcasting, rarely if ever Jones does not reference BSPN in some way, almost as if he is contractually obligated to do so. Sadly, Jones often writes about that insipid “Sports Reporters” show, a horribly, bastardized ripoff of the old principled, thoughtful, “The Sportswriters on TV” weekly show.

That Lupica show — Joe has never confirmed but is led to believe from rumors that Lupica’s brother-in-law owns the company that produces the show — is not just predictable but worthless in Joe’s eyes, in other words, perfect for BSPN. Joe doesn’t give a damn what Lupica thinks or speaks nor will his opinion or position on anything influence Joe. Really, who the hell cares what ivory tower, New Yawk-centric Lupica thinks about some first-name-reference-only non-basketball association clown?

The heavily-edited, if not butchered, Sunday morning cable reruns of “The Sopranos” are more enlightening and entertaining.

This week, Jones references a SchlockCenter piece Sunday where the Bucs came up.

Cris Carter believes the Bucs should go after convicted felon/wide receiver Plaxico Burress. Carter suggests the young Bucs receivers need a veteran to lead them.

Jones, correctly thinks this is a bad idea. Joe agrees for a myriad of reasons. Burress, before he was thrown in a cage, was a malcontent. The Steelers tired of his selfish ways and washed their hands of him, despite the pleading of way-too-handsy-with-women Ben Roethlisberger.

With the Giants, he was habitually late to meetings and practices and often didn’t put out 100 percent effort.

Then, throw in the fact the dude decided to go to a night club with a loaded rod in his sweatpants pocket no less! After facing charges, Burress had a chance to plead out and maybe serve a handful of weeks during the offseason in a pen, but decided to fight the charges and threw away a couple years of his life and career.

Real swift this guy.

As Jones points out, is this the type of veteran the Bucs want with young players? The answer is simple: No.

Carter pointed out that coach Raheem Morris might be a good fit for Burress and the Bucs could use a veteran receiver to go with its young core. But, when you think about it, Tampa Bay really doesn’t make sense. With all their recent arrests, the Bucs probably would be best served to avoid bringing in someone with that kind of baggage. Plus, the way the Bucs receivers were playing at the end of last season, they don’t need a guy who hasn’t caught an NFL pass since Nov. 16, 2008.

But Joe will go one step further than Jones. Last year we heard cries from all sorts of football pundits that screamed the Bucs needed veteran leadership because the team was so young, specifically at wide receiver.

While the points were valid, look at what happened: The Bucs still won 10 games.

If the Bucs were able to get by without a veteran receiver then (what, is Micheal Spurlock a spring chicken?), the Bucs certainly don’t need one now. And as Jones wrote, certainly not a guy with Burress’ baggage.

So folks can stop lying awake at night with the thoughts of Burress wearing pewter and red this season.

If there is a season.

Back when the Bucs snatched Adrian Clayborn in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft, the big defensive end got on the phone with draft guru Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski of WDAE-AM 620 and talked about being physical in a big way.

His tough talk got Joe fired up and some of the quotes went national.

Clayborn said Bucs fans will see a defensive end who gets after the quarterback and will “kick offensive lineman’s asses” in the running game. And he said, “If you’re not playing violent on the defensive line, there’s something wrong with you. Go somewhere else.”

Apparently, former Bucs QB Shaun King was paying attention and he asked Clayborn about those comments Friday on The King David Show on WQYK-AM 1010.

Shaun King: You made interesting comments after the draft. … You got a lot of fans by these comments. You were pretty adamant that you’re very aggressive, that you’re violent, that want nothing better than to hurt offensive linemen and offensive players. Talk about that mindset.

Adrian Clayborn: I just believe that’s the way all great defensive linemen want to play. I mean look at [Ndamukong] Suh. He plays so violent. He gets after people. It’s just an aggressive position. That’s how I like to play and that’s how I’m going to play.

Of course, Joe doesn’t know whether Clayborn will pan out or whether he can back up the tough talk, but the Bucs could sure use a punch-him-in-the-mouth kind of guy at D-line or linebacker.

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

Were all excited waiting for the time to pass so it can be football season again! Oh sure there is lockout, some of us actually pay attention to it, while others realize it’s just a few OTAs were missing so far.

Besides, summer is coming and that’s when the NFL usually goes quiet full-time. Outside of JoeBucsFan.com and BucStop.com, you never hear much about football in July until camp opens, and we can’t wait because the Bucs should be competitive and this time we all know it.

Josh Freeman is a seriously talent. We have some exciting receivers, we’re building a defense, and we have a legit running threat in LeGarrette Blount.

Or do we?

Question of the day: Was it Blount that gave the Bucs a respectable running game? If you think you know the answer for sure, keep reading, because some of the evidence may surprise you.

We all know our recent history; the Bucs won the first two games of 2010 over a couple bad teams with some opportunistic plays on defense and some nice throwing by Josh Freeman. But the running attack was nothing to write home about.

And it got worse; big time losses to Pittsburgh where the Bucs got 53 yards on the ground, and New Orleans where we couldn’t even run for half of that. Cadillac Williams was averaging about two yards per carry, worst of any starting running back. Fans saw LeGarrette Blount hop for 12 yards on his first carry and bulldozer into the endzone with an ala-Alstott effort against Pittsburgh and we were calling the radio stations and posting on the websites “We want more Blount”!

The Bucs couldn’t accommodate, Cadillac knew the protection schemes; Blount did not. We couldn’t risk getting Josh Freeman hurt. The image of a sprawling on-the-turf Tony Romo was all anyone needed to see.

But it was right about then some changes started to happen. Keydrick Vincent, the starting left Guard the Bucs picked up from Carolina for his allegedly great tenacity in run blocking, couldn’t run block!  Normally, the team would have gone with its backup, but Jeremy Zuttah was busy backing up Center Jeff Faine who was out with a triceps injury.

In came Ted Larsen who played football 40 minutes away when he was in high school at Palm Harbor. Then a week or so later, Jeremy Trueblood goes down, and James Lee finally gets action after waiting since 2008 on the Bucs roster; that’s three new O-linemen.

In the first five games of the season, the Bucs averaged 64.8 yards per carry from the running backs. Two weeks later with Penn, Larsen, Zuttah, Davin Joseph, and Lee at the front, the Bucs over the next five weeks averaged 111.6 yards per game. That’s no small difference, that’s the kind of variation a team hopes for going from one season to the  next; must less separated by a mere two games (or changing three linemen).

Getting 46.8 yards per game more out of your running backs has to be  explained, so how do you do it?

Ok, Let’s say it WAS Blount – simply put, he is a better runner than Cadillac. Ok, I can take that in, but how many of those Blount runs were through holes you or I could have gained a few yards through? I think of Cadillac’s early season runs for no yardage and see him hitting a ton of opposing uniforms for the most part.

Later in the year with the improved line (which also substituted Derek Hardman for Joseph), Cadillac’s average greatly increased too. From 2.5 ypc, Williams was averaging about six yards over the final six games. 

Better productivity due to the new linemen? Could be, but there is a window of about two or three games where the Bucs running attack improves before Cadillac’s numbers go up. too.

Was it the THREAT of a Blount boosting Cadillac? Or did things improve behind a better group of O-linemen who were also better at pass protecting, which provided better passing numbers, opening more holes for Cadillac?

If this is getting confusing, don’t worry, your probably not alone; and I have bad news – I don’t have the answers. I’m not even sure there are any. But one thing is for certain – either LeGarrette  Blount is one heck of a better runner than Cadillac Williams, or the  of Penn, Larsen, Zuttah, Joseph and Lee are better than Penn, Vincent, Faine, Joseph and Trueblood.

There is one other option: They are both true. And if that’s the case, a 10-6 season in 2011 might be looked at as greatly underachieving.

So much has been speculated about Adrian Clayborn’s potential limitations because of Erb’s Palsy. And perhaps the most popular take is that Clayborn can’t play the left side of the defensive line because of the problems he has with his right shoulder.

The Bucs’ first-round pick threw a bunch of cold water on that Friday during an interview on The King David Show on WQYK-AM 1010.

Clayborn answered questions about his body and limitations, or lack thereof.

“I’ve been dealing with this starting back in seventh grade. I couldn’t play baseball. I couldn’t play basketball. I couldn’t play football. And I had to deal with it in college a little bit and, I mean, it’s great proving people wrong and fighting against it,” Clayborn said. “I know the NFL is another next big step, but I’m looking forward to proving people wrong again.”

“I have a little bit of nerve damage in my shoulder and a little bit of lack of movement. So it’s not an extreme case. …I believe I can play both sides [of the defensive line]. Playing in my Iowa defense, we pretty much play the heavy technique, so we have to use both our arms and both our shoulders and all that stuff. And I’ve doing that for four or five years. …I guess I’ve got to prove them wrong, too.”

Clayborn also said a lot of fans and media are searching Google and finding the worst of Erb’s Palsy issues and patients. Essentially, Clayborn wants people to know he’s not in that boat.

Count Joe among those who assumed Clayborn was going to be limited to the right side of the line. But Joe wonders whether the Bucs coaches would invest any time in Clayborn playing on the left side in what could be a limited offseason.

It surely didn’t work last year when Raheem Morris bounced Gerald McCoy all over the line early in the season.

The Bucs wowed the NFL last year when the team, which some expected only to win two games, ran off 10 wins with both a young and injury-riddled roster, narrowly missing the playoffs.

But eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune has pulled back some of the onion skins and found a disturbing concern: The Bucs were one of the worst first-quarter offenses in the NFL last season.

The Bucs were outscored 73-43 in the opening quarter, and only the Panthers (35), Jets (36) and Bills (40) registered fewer points in the first 15 minutes of games than Tampa Bay.

Of the four touchdowns the Bucs scored in the first quarter, one came on a 41-yard interception return by linebacker Geno Hayes at Arizona.

That leaves three offensive touchdowns in 16 opening quarters, giving coordinator Greg Olson a troubling issue to address this summer in trying to initiate more productive starts.

Well, there’s two ways of looking at this. While eye-RAH’s information is indeed troubling, Joe sort of senses that Olson is pretty adept at changing on the fly and adjusting, which is a very key thing. It also could mean Olson is playing possum in the first quarter, keeping a keen eye at what the defensive tendencies are before he pulls the trigger.

Whether Olson is preparing his offense adequately, well, this season will prove telling.

Joe understands most fans are as upset as Joe is at this asinine lockout thrust upon right-thinking Americans by NFL chieftain Roger Goodell. Not only does it hurt fans, it hurts players too.

“The Professor,” John Clayton of BSPN, decided to put fingertips to keyboard and selected 10 NFL players that this asinine lockout is hurting.

Coming in last on the list is Bucs troubled cornerback Aqib Talib.

10. Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib: Teammate Ronde Barber spoke up for the troubled Bucs cornerback this week. Players don’t want him to be released, and the team is likely to keep him. But he faces up to 20 years in prison on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Texas. Instead of sitting through the summer worrying about the case, Talib would be best served by a quick labor settlement and the chance to focus on football.

Joe isn’t so sure how the asinine lockout is hurting Talib. Right now thanks to the asinine lockout, he is out of sight and almost out of mind, which is perfect for a guy embroiled in a legal battle like Talib. He’s also attending Freeman’s workouts so that’s a plus.

But there was one phrase in Clayton’s synopsis that caught Joe’s eye. “Likely to return?” Hhhmmm. Joe thought it was a done deal Talib was gone?

For a guy some Bucs fans point to as an incredibly unreliable teammate that’s never learned a lesson, Aqib Talib is piling up an astounding number of glowing endorsements from his fellow Buccaneers.

Joe was thinking about the sum total of the Talib love, and it goes far beyond the typical one-off comment in support of him.

Just this week:

1) E.J. Biggers, the guy who likely would take over for Talib, said on WDAE-AM 620 that the renowned cabbie-slugger is a great teammate who has helped him from Day 1. Biggers went on to say he can’t wait to see Talib and that he and Ronde Barber may be the best tandem in the NFL.

2) Barber himself told the online Pewter outfit that Talib is the best lockdown corner in Bucs history and “you don’t ever want to play a season or even a game without that guy.” Barber blathered on and on about how the Bucs shouldn’t cut Talib and the guy is family.

3) Kellen Winslow told NFL Network that Talib is the Bucs’ second most important player, among other superlatives.

4) Stylez White, on his 1010 AM radio show, said he really likes Talib and is pulling for him. White also characterized Talib as a guy whose hard work as a teammate stands out.

Then there’s Josh Freeman welcoming Talib to the Bucs offseason workouts, which alone is a major blessing from the big man on campus. Looking back, before Talib’s alleged gun play in Texas, Jeff Faine explained why Talib was priceless to the offense, yes offense. Then, which has always amazed Joe,  there’s Torrie Cox, the guy Talib slugged and bloodied at practice with a helmet, who clearly had forgiven Talib and was hanging out with him during the violent cab ride in St. Pete.

Joe’s just seeing a pattern of Buccaneers going over the top in their support for Talib.

It’s interesting. Maybe the players are influenced, in part, by the unsourced, hard-to-believe report by the St. Pete Times that the Bucs have already decided to cut Talib when the lockout is lifted. Maybe they just genuinely love the guy.

If you’re in pain, don’t wait to call or e-mail Dr. Long. You owe it to yourself to stop the suffering. Dr. Long and her staff are fabulous and professional. You can enjoy all that summer has to offer.

Click below for more information.

It’s Saturday night and, if you’re not having a blast at Derby Lane, Joe thought you might enjoy the signature tones of legendary Bucs voice Gene Deckerhoff, who inked a new two-year contract this week.

Deckerhoff was interviewed on The Ron and Ian Show this week on WDAE-AM 620. You can click the arrow below to listen.

First, Deckerhoff said he wants to broadcast Bucs games for many years to come. C’mon, Team Glazer, give the guy a longer deal. He’s a freakin’ institution!

Later on in the interview, Deckerhoff tells some great Bucs stories, including one of Ray Perkins chewing him out when Deckerhoff dared to suggest to him that rookie Emmitt Smith was a heck of a running back. Perkins, that master talent evaluator, barked that Smith was too slow and too small.

Its’ a great listen, as Deckerhoff always is. Enjoy.

[audio: deckerhoff.mp3]

Clearly spending a No. 3 overall pick on Gerald McCoy, the Bucs have high hopes for the defensive tackle, even though his rookie season was not something to write home about.

Only the unbalanced expect a rookie defensive tackle to shine. Yes, manbeast Ndamukong Suh is a rare player, a once in a generation type of player. Remember, even Warren Sapp was largely invisible his rookie year.

When GMC began tuning out former defensive line coach Todd Wash midway through the season, his numbers shockingly began to rise until he blew out a biceps, ending his season.

Matt Williamson of Scouts Inc. is of the mind that GMC will soon become a disruptive force in the NFL.

The transition to the NFL is difficult for many rookie defensive tackles, in large part because they can no longer whip most players across from them with raw natural ability the way they did in college. McCoy has physical gifts but took some time to learn patience and to read and feel blocking schemes before his injury, and he is still a work in progress from that standpoint, but he did record four sacks in the last three games he played in 2010.

Overall, though, he is one of the quickest, most explosive and most athletic defensive tackles in the league. McCoy has a long linear build that should gradually fill out over the next few years, better enabling him to deal with the double teams and extra attention that he is sure to attract, and taking on multiple blockers will free up his teammates to get to the ball. McCoy has the ability to disrupt on his own and make the players around him better, which is exactly what you want from a 3-technique in a 4-3 defense.

Toward the end of the 2011 season — if there is a season — will be telling for GMC, Joe believes. He has a new defensive line coach, Keith Millard, hand-picked by Sapp himself.

If Millard is that good, and GMC has adapted to handling and recognizing NFL blocking schemes, there should be a marked turnaround.

While hardly as satisfying as running into a throng of scantily clad drunken babes on Clearwater Beach reading JoeBucsFan.com on their iPhones, Joe loves watching NFL Network, aka the Man Channel.

And on this proud channel of men was Kellen Winslow, Jr. during Total Access last night. He sat down live with Rich Eisen to talk all things Bucs. 

Winslow later got on the studio field with Willie McGinest to breakdown Xs and Os of his moves against double coverage. Truly great stuff, as Winslow said Greg Olson gives him freedom at the line of scrimmage to read defenses and change his positioning.

After Winslow explained to Eisen that Josh Freeman could be talked about among the all-time great quarterbacks, Eisen asked Winslow what’s next for No. 5.

Winslow was quick with an answer. “I think the no-huddle system is next for [Freeman]. Calling plays at the line, not huddling up so much,” he said. “There’s only so many coverages you can run when you run no-huddle offense.”

Joe likes the sound of that. But how much time the Bucs might have to work on a no-huddle remains to be seen as the heinous lockout marches forward.

Winslow reflected on 2010 saying “I didn’t think we were going to be that good, to be honest. …But we had Raheem Morris. We had Josh Freeman.”

On Aqib Talib’s future, in addition to repeating that he wants Talib to stay in Tampa, Winslow said “they’re very close,” regarding Raheem and Talib, and he said he thought that relationship would play a key role.

Joe wonders whether Winslow’s mention of the no-huddle means Freeman is already working on it.

NFL Draft guru Justin Pawlowski, The Commish of WDAE-AM 620, is back today with his award-winning sometimes Saturday show, The Blitz, thanks to the good radio gods of the Clear Channel family.

Pawlowski gets behind the microphone at 1 p.m. and drives The Sports Animal bus up to 3:30 p.m. Joe is confident Justin will bring Rays news and, of course, there will be Bucs talk, likely touching upon one of the favorite TV shows of Bucs first round draft pick Adrian Clayborn’s youth.

Those chained to a computer can listen online at 620wdae.com.

Buccaneers coordinator of pro scouting Shelton Quarles, also the last Bucs middle linebacker to get a Pro Bowl nod, says Tampa Bay again will play its share of rookies in 2011.

“I think our first four guys, or five  guys, [from the 2011 draft] will have an opportunity to play on Sundays for us right away,” Quarles said on WDAE-AM 620 yesterday. “We were the youngest team last year. I think we had 10 rookies start for us during the course of the season. It was the first team in NFL history to have 10 rookies start and have that team end up with a plus-.500 record.”

Of course, hearing this confidence in the rookie class prompts Joe to wonder which 2010 Bucs will be shown the door.

None are retiring, and the Bucs say their goal is to re-sign all their own free agents. Plus, the Bucs surely have high hopes for their three 2011 picks from the sixth and seventh rounds, and a pile of guys are returning from injury. It’s a long list, from the big-name guys to Demar Dotson and Kareem Huggins.

Joe’s planning on legitimate surprises come final cuts.

Love and support for Aqib Talib keeps pouring in from all angles. (Joe will have more on that tomorrow.)

The latest comes from Kellen Winslow, Jr., the Bucs’ leading receiver each of the past two seasons. He had a chat with NFL.com before appearing live on Total Access tonight. For those with Outhouse Networks cable television, Total Access is the NFL Network’s nightly show.

In the extensive NFL.com Q & A, Winslow was asked about Aqib Talib and explained that Talib is the second most important player on the Bucs.

Bucs CB Aqib Talib is in the middle of a tumultuous offseason. How important is he to your team?

KW: We need that guy to win. Talking about Super Bowls — we need him really more than anyone besides Freeman. He’s that good. He locks down receivers. He’s got to iron out what he’s got to iron out, but we need him as much as anybody.

Now Joe has written before that the Bucs don’t need Talib. They had success without him and he’s unreliable at best.

However, Winslow’s point is clear. Talib is a massive talent, and the Bucs need him to completely — not partially — straighten out his act. Joe believes Talib will get one more chance in Tampa, despite the St. Pete Times’ unsourced and unwavering claim that the Bucs have already decided to cut him.

Never boring and sometimes ridiculous, yet always a top-shelf HD production, it’s the unexplainable and unmatched JoeBucsFan TV. If you haven’t seen it, take a look.

A guy the Bucs might need to be at his absolute best in 2011, especially if family shenanigans shelve Aqib Talib, E.J. Biggers says he’s going all out to be ready.

Speaking today on the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620, Biggers said he’s in his native Miami working out four days a week with fellow NFL players.

“Very [football] intensive. In the mornings we’re on the field either doing field work, conditioning and position drills, then right after that we go in the weight room. So it’s kinda like a two-a-day workout, but it’s back to back and we do that four days a week,” Biggers said. “The weekends you have to yourself and then it’s back at it on Monday.”

Among other topics, Biggers called Talib a “great teammate” who helped him “from Day 1.”

Click the pretty arrow below to listen to the entire interview:

[audio: biggers.mp3]

Although nothing has officially been announced, there likely will not be a Bucs Fan Fest this year, thanks to this asinine lockout railroaded upon innocent NFL fans by NFL strongman Roger Goodell.

Of course, this could all change at a moment’s notice as it has become all too apparent in recent months to Joe that to try to gauge how a judge will rule is like trying to guess the color negligee Rachel Watson is wearing on a given day.

Now the Bucs were working out at  … Joe’s not saying, but video star Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune and workaholic Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times found out where and it was enough to chase Josh Freeman, leader of the Bucs and organizer of the workouts, to seek a new, private location.

(Column intermission: Speaking of Holder, last Friday afternoon Holder went off on a shocking, emotional rant on Twitter, which was partially if not fully directed at Joe for the Jeff Faine/workouts issue. Holder chastised “bloggers with too much time on their hands” with “starting fake controversies.” Read: “Jack Sheppard chewed my arse out because I wasn’t on top of the story and I have to find a scapegoat.” Also, if the Faine issue was so “fake” as Holder stated, how was it his own paper and fellow colleagues were knee-deep in it quoting Faine initially on the subject and later running his letter of apology? If this issue was “fake” as Holder would have Bucs fans believe, then his own employer was running fiction stories as well.

As for “bloggers with too much time on their hands,” well, Holder is so up to his neck in work, he passed on going to St. Louis to cover court proceedings of this asinine NFL lockout like many dedicated NFL reporters, and instead offered his services to cover the non-basketball association finals, a sport that doesn’t even have a Tampa Bay franchise! That’s like a Browns beat writer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer covering the Stanley Cup Finals!)

Joe understands how Freeman and perhaps his teammates want a modicum of privacy to concentrate on the matters at hand and Joe understands. But with the NFLPA embroiled with NFL owners in this labor hassle, players have to win over close-minded fans who somehow are of the mind that the players are the root cause of this lockout.

Drew Brees, who has been sort of a mentor for Freeman, gets it. Maybe because his name is on the lawsuit against the NFL, but Brees is inviting fans to participate in a Saints workout, per a release from the NFLPA, the Saints are holding a raffle with four winners getting a chance to practice with the Saints. For any winners based away from New Orleans, round-trip airfare and a night at the Ritz-Carlton is included.

How cool is that?

Now Joe isn’t suggesting Freeman and his teammates try to pull off something that elaborate. But what Joe thinks would be cool is to have a Fan Fest of their own. Invite fans on a Saturday morning to watch a work out and make it interactive, pull some fans out of the stands (at a local high school field), let a couple of kids toss a ball around with Freeman, or maybe see if some kid can out race Ronde Barber or have a guy challenge E.J. Biggers to defend him catching a pass?

Stuff like that.

Joe not only thinks it would be cool for the fans, but it would be yet another way for the players to bond with their supporters and become part of the Tampa Bay  community.

It would just be one day. It would be go a long way to salve the wounds left by this heinous work stoppage.

"Who am I? Rodney fuc*n Dangerfield? Jimminy Christmas. Yeah, I had a 'fix-it-each-year type of situation' Glazer because I'm trying to win fuc*n football games. I could have drafted Freeman, too, you know. I love that guy."

Listening to Bryan Glazer’s tone at a fancy sports gala in Tampa last night, broadcast on WDAE-AM 620, Joe sniffed Glazer’s weariness over the final years (five years?) of the Chucky era.

Glazer was asked by emcee Rock Riley about the decision to hire Mark Dominik and Raheem Morris, and Glazer explained that the duo believed in the Dungy-era way Glazer wanted a return to.

“We wanted to get back to that,” Glazer said. “[a team that can] win mulitiple championships.”

Glazer said it was important to make sure the Bucs approach “wasn’t a fix-it-each-year type of situation” any longer.

Poor Chucky. He won games with his veteran, Band-Aid approach, but winning wasn’t enough to save his job.

Team Glazer wanted a legitimate contender with scary young players and thought it was too much to ask of Chucky.

Nothing got Bucs fans tossed from bars quicker than when they threw beer glasses at a TV, outraged over the play of Bucs linebackers.

Just mentioning the name “Barrett Ruud” so incenses Bucs fans some are liable to blindly run into traffic, screaming at the top of their lungs about how he is a disgrace to powder puff college women’s flag football linebackers.

Quincy Black largely gets a pass because these same angry fans claim Black is invisible.

Geno Hayes, the third of the Bucs starting linebackers, is a mixed bag. Joe believes Hayes is simply inconsistent. He will make a few splash plays but then get burned on routine plays.

But that’s not quite accurate, so say the educated geeks (Joe says that fondly) at FootballOutsiders.com. The spreadsheeters compared computer printouts and determined that Hayes is one of the best run-stoppers in the NFL.

Stop Rate is defined as the percentage of a players Plays that were Stops. Plays are any time a player shows up in the play-by-play on defense: tackles, assists, forced fumbles, etc. Stops are plays that stop the offense short of what FO considers a successful play: 45 percent of yards on first down, 60 percent on second down, and 100 percent on third or fourth down.

Obviously, Stop Rate isn’t a perfect stat. It measures the plays that a player makes, not the plays he misses or the plays he doesn’t even get a chance to miss because he is being properly blocked away from the ballcarrier. Still, it gives you a good idea of where players were making their plays and thus why certain defenses were good or bad at certain parts of the game in 2010.

The tables below are limited solely to running plays, including scrambles. We give Run Stop Rate as well as number of Plays and number of Defeats, plus yards per play, which is the average length of a run past the line of scrimmage when this player had a tackle or assist.

In the link above, Hayes is the fifth-best run-stopper at linebacker in the NFL, just behind Terrell Suggs, Roger Goodell’s nightmare James Harrison and Lance Briggs.

Per FootballOutsiders.com, of the 36 rushes Hayes defended, opponents only got 2.1 yards. That’s a damn good average.

In a related note, the FootballOutsiders.com whizkids also ranked cornerbacks and it should come as no surprise that Ronde Barber was ranked third overall in the NFL.

Not bad for an old man (for NFL standards). Not bad at all.

A peppy Bryan Glazer spoke with conviction about the Tampa Bay region’s shot at the 2015 Super Bowl tonight at a fancy banquet that featured a roundtable Q & A with Tampa Bay franchise owners Glazer, Stu Sternberg and Jeff Vinik.

The event was broadcast live on WDAE-AM 620.

Emcee Rock Riley asked Glazer what he thought of Tampa Bay’s chances of snagging the 2015 Super Bowl, and Glazer unveiled a fighting spirit.

“I feel great about them. …We’re going to work our butts off to get the Super Bowl back here in 2015,” Glazer said. “[After years of cold weather cities,] the owners are ready to go back to warm weather. Us versus Phoenix, I promise you our nights are a lot warmer than theirs.”

Nice to hear Glazer take a shot at Arizona. Actually, it nice to just hear Team Glazer at all. Two interviews in one day today — that’s got to tie a record.

Hardly earth-shattering news on the Super Bowl’s return, but it’s probably a great idea for the Bay area to snag it in 2015, before the NFL has success hosting in cold weather and starts thinking they’ll dodge ice and snow every year.

In an extremely rare occurrence, Bucs co-chairman Bryan Glazer sat down for a brief interview with Joe’s good friend “The Big Dog,” Steve Duemig, this afternoon live on WDAE-AM 620. Among the things Glazer talked about was why he hired rock star general manager Mark Dominik and coach Raheem Morris, how in-house decisions are made and who was responsible for drafting Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman. Hint: “… it was Raheem.”

Steve Duemig: You made the decision to re-sign Mark Dominik and Raheem Morris and extend their contracts, tell us about that.

Bryan Glazer: We made the decision to hire them two years ago. Mark, he has been with the organization for 16 years, as long as I have been here. We saw him work his way up from a scout and we learned to trust him. Raheem, we have known for close to 10 years. They shared what we wanted to do going forward and that is to build a lasting contender, not just one or two years in a row.

Duemig: You have done that in the past with Coach Dungy.

Glazer: It takes some patience. You have to have everyone on board. But that was the feeling from day one. We knew there would be bumps in the road, we knew it would be painful but we knew that the team would be successful.

Duemig: It seemed there was a quick turnaround. Were you surprised by the 10 wins last year?

Glazer: It did not shock us. The previous season, we could have won more games. We lost a few games in the last minutes. When people — and I won’t mention any names — said we would win two or three games, I’d laugh. We had the talent and Josh was getting better and it was a wonderful year. Most fun I’ve had in a long time.

Duemig: Consistency, it’s important to have a solid quarterback, you don’t want to change that.

Glazer: Yes, and you see the teams that have longevity and long success, you see a franchise quarterback.

Duemig: Was that the owners’ decision to draft [Freeman] or was that management’s?

Glazer: At the end of the day, it was Raheem more than anyone else. His one year [at Kansas State where Freeman was the starting quarterback] he got to know Josh and he told us the whole story. From there, it was an easy decision.

Duemig: How much do you get involved — it is rare to get a chance to talk to you. I know from your history you let people do their job but you have the final say.

Glazer: That is correct. We hire good people to do their job. Yes, we are in the room when they make the decision but at the end of the day, yeah, it’s our decision but we trust our people.

Duemig: Has there been a bump in season ticket sales?

Glazer: We we had some success. Fans have gotten to know the team a little more. There is a way to go but we are excited and optimistic.

Duemig: With the advent of HDTV, have you had or are there any discussions in owners meetings to try to keep fans in the stadium?

Glazer: We talk about that all the time. We have to make the in-game experience more fun than the home experience. At home, you are just steps from the refrigerator. In-stadium, there is no way to match that experience. But it is a challenge. It’s a challenge for all teams, not just football.

Duemig: How do you do it?

Glazer: We are talking about some things that I can’t mention now but we know it’s a challenge. People can stay home, they can go to the beach, they can go to the movies. We have to get people to come to the game. A game situation has to be fun. This is a good market. Look at the Lightning and what they have done. The Rays too. This may be the most exciting 12 months for Tampa Bay sports. Fans will enjoy themselves at games and have a good time.

Perhaps more than any other Buccaneer, Joe’s aching to see Bucs second round pick Da’Quan Bowers take the field. What an X factor this guy could be. Key word: could.

Bowers was relaxed and confident for an Internet radio interview with a site called DraftCountdown.com this week. The sack artist was very upbeat, though Joe was a bit troubled when Bowers said he thought he could participate in 80 to 90 percent of drills right now if the Bucs opened camp.

“You know. I spoke with Dr. Andrews and he did some research on my knee, and there are no long term effects,” Bowers said. “You know, a lot of people think I had microfracture surgery, which isn’t the case. I had a surgery called chondroplasty, and it’s nothing like microfracture. It was a small surgery. I was walking the same day without crutches.”

Bowers went on to acknowledge concern about arthritis in his knee, but he said he feels great and wants to make sure the Bucs “look like the geniuses that they are” for drafting him.

He also said he’s excited to play left defensive end opposite Adrian Clayborn and explained he has “the quickness of Julius Peppers” and the strength of some guy named “Reggie Bruce.” Joe assumes/hopes he meant Reggie White.

Bowers said he was in Tampa recently to visit Josh Freeman’s workouts and his stated impression of the turnout was 30 to 40 guys.

Joe hopes Bowers gets healthy. Damn, the Bucs could use a healthy dose of nasty coming off the edge.