Yesterday was a first for Joe. He had never, ever been to an NFL game when the head coach literally told a starter to “go home” long before the end of the game.

But that is exactly what happened when the last place Bucs defensive tackle Brian Price was, for all intents and purposes, thrown out of the stadium along Dale Mabry Highway like a common fan who tried to jump on the field and accost Jamie Hanna.

And it appears Price’s agent Chuck Price is none too happy about it and ripped Morris for the act, per Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times.

“(Brian) regrets the untimeliness and the foolish nature of the penalty, but if that pentalty [sic] was on first down, would the coach have thrown him out of the game?” Chuck Price said. “For a kid who’s probably never had an unsportsmanlike (penalty)? He’s a guy who has played through some enormous challenges.

“He spent six days in a (walking) boot last week. It’s that same fight and attitude that probably (prompted the Bucs) to say, ‘I’m sorry you just got out of a boot, but go ahead and play football for us.’ I know Brian personally had to be disappointed because I know how he loves playing for Raheem. He’s made statements like he wouldn’t want to play for anyone else.”

Holder also pointed out that Morris wasn’t sure exactly what Price did to spark a near-melee on the field. To be fair to Morris, WFLA-TV Channel 8 had a clip of the incident and it appeared — but was not clear — that Price tried to pull a Ndamukong Suh and step on a guy’s arm. Again, it appeared to look that way but Joe couldn’t tell for sure, it was inconclusive, even after multiple viewings.

Morris has walked out on a proverbial plank with this move. First, he admits he wasn’t sure what Price did. Isn’t that a tad overreacting then?

Second, of all the players to single out and tell to go home, it’s shocking for Joe that it would be Price. The guy is literally playing on one leg, with muscles bolted to his pelvis. Price could easily be dogging it because of his injury and he is not. That’s the kind of character that should be lauded, not disdained.

Further, aren’t there better examples of players to tell to go home? Without naming names, Joe knows of one offensive player who is a target of NFL officials and his penalties — not all deserved — have literally taken points off the scoreboard and cost the Bucs games. Why is he given a pass? The Bucs have a defensive player that had made far more headlines off the field than plays on the field. Why are his transgressions dismissed?

Joe has to be honest, he was confident Morris would be brought back for the final year of his contract, if not have his contract extended after this season. The Bucs were a tiebreaker from a playoff berth last year and it can be argued no offseason and a shortened training camp really messed with the Bucs.

But the way this team has imploded from within, Joe truly wonders just how secure Morris is. In short, Joe is less confident after Sunday’s transgressions.

Josh Johnson is not the reason the Bucs lost today.

That honor, if there is such a thing, would fall on the Bucs’ whimpering defense. They couldn’t get off the field on a majority of third downs, and they were gutted and gashed for 385 yards.

But Johnson was solid. He had some top-shelf deep throws and finished 16–for-27 with 229 yards and a touchdown and an interception. The pick was more the fault of an early snap that only Jeff Faine seemed to think was on-time. However, Johnson should have taken the sack.

Raheem Morris liked what he saw of Johnson and even compared him to the Panthers quarterback who thinks he’s Superman.

“[Johnson] had a Cam Newton–like day [without] the touchdowns,” Raheem said on the Buccaneers Radio Network after the game.

Raheem said Johnson needs “more support” from his teammates, and Raheem praised Johnson for delivering an “executed gameplan.”

Joe’s not going to go there now when it comes to the offensive “gameplan;” that’s another discussion.

But while Johnson’s surely no Cam Newton, he gave the Bucs about what they could have expected from him and showcased himself nicely for free agency after the season. Especially considering the Bucs never established a running game for him.

Another player who had a decent game amid the stench of the loss to the stinking Panthers was Elbert Mack.

In his first two years Mack had mixed results. Last year Bucs fans turned on Mack, giving him the E.J. Biggers treatment, wanting to jettison the product from Troy University.

But in recent games in limited playing time, Mack has played solid football. He credits “growing pains” with his development.

“I am just going hard every day, it’s an uphill battle every year,” Mack said. “I am getting older. When you play this game enough it slows down a lot and you start to understand formation recognition and know what teams are going to do with you and where they want to attack you.

“It’s just growing pains.”

Joe uses profanity.

So does Raheem Morris.

No big deal at all, except Raheem dropped one F-bomb while talking about Brian Price during his postgame news conference today, so reports the St. Pete Times. That’s when Raheem stands at a podium in the bowels of the stadium and takes questions for five minutes after addressing his players and a brief cool-down period.

Is cursing before a throng of media a big deal? Not really, in Joe’s mind. But when your team is seriously undisciplined, it’s not a smart act by the head coach and it begs to be questioned. If the coach can’t be under control, then will his players be?

Joe wonders whether Roger Goodell or Team Glazer will come down on Raheem for cursing.

The way the NFL loves to sell profanity on Hard Knocks it would be rather hypocritical for the league to slap Raheem with a fine. Therefore, Joe fully expects the NFL to act.

If there was any positive from this curb-stomping the stinking Panthers laid on the spinning-out-of-control Bucs, it was the play of defensive end Da’Quan Bowers.

The Bucs rookie was said to have been a steal in the second round, due to a bum knee that scared off the rest of the NFL, but not Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik.

In training camp and early in the season, Bowers didn’t appear to be anything special. But about midseason, Bowers began to show flashes in part-time play. In his second consecutive start Sunday, Bowers dominated and now will be hard to take off the field.

Following the game, Bowers was humble and only began to speak of his game when pressed by several members of the Bucs press corps.

In short, he couldn’t get over the fact the Bucs lost.

“I don’t really brag about personal stats, but I think I had a decent game,” Bowers said. “I’d rather have a win than a tackle for a loss.”

Bowers and the Bucs didn’t get a win of course, but Bowers racked up tackles in the backfield. He finished the game with seven tackles, a sack and a half, one he shared with fellow rookie defensive end Adrian Clayborn as they sandwiched Panthers quarterback Cam Newton.

Of the seven tackles Bowers racked up, five were tackles for a loss.

“It’s not important if you don’t win,” Bowers said. “Our job as players and coaches are to work hard and do everything we can to correct mishaps.

“It’s all about a building process. I am getting opportunities and I have to capitalize on them.”

Bowers said his vast improvement over the past couple of months is no secret.

“It’s just hard practices, hard work, film study and just having my teammates and coaches believe in me and giving me the opportunity.”

Bowers denied his rise has anything to do with his knee.

“It’s not much of a physical aspect, it’s more of a mental thing, watching film, understanding the game plan. I’ve always been comfortable. I just had to wait my turn and be patient.”

We’ve all heard Raheem Morris’ core beliefs; the Bucs goal is to play “hard, fast, smart and consistent” at all times.

But the Bucs haven’t been consistent when it comes to playing hard and fast, though they never play “smart.” That’s not Joe talking. That’s Raheem speaking on the Buccaneers Radio Network on WDAE-AM 620 after today’s blowout at the hands of the Panthers.

“We didn’t play smart today,” Raheem said. “We haven’t played smart all year.”

Sorry, but Joe can only pin a small fraction of unintelligent play Joe on the Bucs’ youth. The coaches’ messages just aren’t getting through.

It’s 3rd-and-2 and the Bucs are driving in the red zone. They’re trailing 14-3, but it’s early in the second quarter and they’ve got momentum.

So what does Greg Olson call on this critical 3rd-and-2?

Olson looked deep into his playbook and pulled out the play that doesn’t work, the Arrelious Benn reverse.

This time that stunning play broke a new personal record with a 12-yard loss.

Joe’s first emotional thought after that play was that Olson deserves to fired on the spot for that call — with a mobile quarterback and a punishing running back available.

Of course, one play should never doom an offensive coordinator. But Joe’s got to seriously question the judgement of the call, especially with that critical down and distance.

Sadly, Joe suspects Bucs fans haven’t seen the last of that play.  

Brian Price marched to the locker room in the third quarter after a needless personal foul that negated a Geno Hayes sack.

So what happened?

Raheem Morris kicked him off the field, so a bitter-sounding Raheem explained on WDAE-AM 620 after the game.

“We can’t tolerate foolish, selfish penalties from our guys,” Raheem said. “He needed a day off. …We can’t have that kind of stuff on our football team.”

It’s unclear to Joe what Price did, but from Raheem’s tone of voice and response, it’s pretty obvious Raheem witnessed a reckless act.

Joe expects the whole thing will be a good learning experience for Price, but it’s still more evidence that the Bucs are an undisciplined bunch.

As one can imagine, the Bucs locker room was sullen after getting whipped at home by the last place stinking Panthers.

Even the Bucs players are at a loss for words as to how to stop the season from circling the drain.

But what the Bucs did know “midweek” is that Josh Freeman would not be able to make a go of it and that the Bucs would have to turn to trusted backup quarterback Josh Jobnson today.

“It was really like midweek, we learned Josh [Johnson] would most likely start,’ Bucs offensive guard Davin Joseph said. “But overall, I think he did a good job stepping in. For less than a week of prep, he did a great job.”

“An alarm goes off in your head,” wide receiver Arrelious Benn said upon learning the news of JJ being given a start. “But I don’t think we blinked. We’ve practiced with him, it was like any other game.”

Forget about the pending felony assault charge and his past transgressions, Aqib Talib just isn’t that valuable because he’s hurt every year.

Hamstring injuries, knee trouble, and a freak hip injury have limited Talib and kept him out of a lot of games over the past three seasons.

He was playing stellar football the past two games before leaving the field early in the first quarter today with more hamstring issues. Raheem Morris confirmed the injury after the game on the Buccaneers Radio Network. Joe saw Talib pop that hammy and couldn’t help but think of one of his favorite Buccaneers, linebacker safety Jermaine Phillips.

The heralded matchup of Steve Smith and Talib never materialized. It turned out E.J. Biggers did a very solid job on Smith.

Talib is signed for next season, and Joe would expect he’ll be back, assuming he’s not found guilty in Texas. Joe’s just not sure Talib’s persistent injury troubles make him part of the long term.

There are oodles of ways to analyze the performance of the Bucs and the worthiness of Raheem Morris’ coaching future in Tampa Bay.

But what can’t be denied or ignored is that the Bucs are simply playing ugly, unattractive football. Sure, there are bright spots from their rookie defensive ends, and highlights from LeGarrette Blount and the occasional deep pass, but the overall product is severely lacking.

It would be one thing to be 4-8 and be the Panthers, with a high-octane, balanced offense, but the Bucs don’t have that. And the defense has fallen so, so far.

Joe and legions of other fans remember the days of  swarming Bucs defenses consistently ranking in the top 10 and battling for every blade of grass. Raheem himself once led the No. 1 ranked passing defense, if Joe remembers correctly.

Yes, the Bucs have a damn exciting kicking game, if there is such a thing. 

Raheem repeatedly has called his players entertainers and himself “an entertainer.” Sorry, but Joe’s not enjoying himself watching Bucs games.

Getting clubbed at home in consecutive games when the Bucs are trying to renew season tickets and build a fanbase in the face of blackouts has to be an enormous weight on the franchise.

Joe’s just depressed by what the Bucs have become.

Welcome to the dark side — today’s “signature loss” at home to the Carolina Panthers.

This was a glorified scrimmage for Cam Newton and the Panthers offense. And the Bucs couldn’t run the ball or punch in a meaningful touchdown against the heinous Panthers defense.

Tony Dungy never had a six-game losing streak. Jon Gruden never had one. Raheem Morris now has two.

Some fans moaned and groaned last year because the Bucs were winning but not scoring a “signature win,” defined as one against a good team. They finally got one in New Orleans to close the season 10-6, and then got two more this season. But now the wheels have completely come off the Buccaneers with six straight losses.

Hope has left the building.

A team other than the Bucs even stopped LeGarrette Blount.

Consecutive blowouts at home is simply horrendous. A home blowout to the former bottom-dweller of your division is even worse. Barring a miraculous revival of this Bucs team, there will be major changes coming next season. What those changes are will be determined over the next four weeks.

On the heels of this loss, Joe can’t imagine even the most stout Bucs optimist quibbling with an overhaul of the coaching staff. Raheem Morris needs some fast results to prove he still belongs.  

No onsides kick with 6:30 left trailing by 19 points? Joe thought the Bucs wanted to be an aggressive team?

At least we got one hell of a field goal kicker.

OK boys and girls, have at it. Let your feelings be known about how the Bucs are playing against the stinking Panthers today. As always, any and all commenters who post addresses of pirated streams of the game, even spelling the addresses out, will be banned. You are welcome to post your e-mail address and share the pirated feeds amongst yourselves.

Now behave! 🙂

Q.: But Joe, why don’t you have live chats?

A.: They were more pain in the ass than worth it for Joe. The software for the live chats only allowed 15 unmoderated users. Any more than 15, each and every comment had to be approved. Joe’s trying to do work (read: watch the game) and too may people were b!tching about how their comments were not posted quick enough, so Joe decided to deep-six the live chats for Bucs games.

Here are the Bucs inactives today. As Joe’s written, Josh Freeman won’t play.  

On the defensive side of the ball, you won’t see Michael Bennett, Myron Lewis or Daniel Te’O-Hesheim.

Derek Hardman, James Lee, Micheal Spurlock and, of course, Freeman, lose the coveted helmet on offense.

No big surprises here, and you won’t have Lewis to pick on after the game.

Gulp!

The St. Pete Times is reporting Josh Freeman will not play today. Sure, Freeman hasn’t had the greatest season, but he’s still a critical cog to any Bucs victory.

For Joe, this is a bit of a silver lining. There’s got to be no doubt the Bucs will pound LeGarrette Blount to make life easier on Josh Johnson.

What an opportunity for Johnson, who gets to showcase himself against a garbage Carolina defense as he approaches unrestricted free agency. Johnson can make himself some good money this weekend — in Tampa or another city.

Now Joe has read from some conspiracy theorists that the reason why Freeman won’t play is that if the Bucs lose to the Panthers with Josh Johnson as the starter, no big deal. If the Bucs lost to the lowly Panthers with Freeman, the vultures would be circling embattled Bucs coach Raheem Morris.

Adjust your tin foil hats accordingly.

No excuses, Bucs. Go beat the lowly Panthers at home.

In a sure sign that Bucs starting quarterback Josh Freeman may not play tomorrow against the Panthers, or may be limited in playing time, the Bucs today activated third string quarterback Rudy Carpenter from the practice squad, per Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune, on the TBO Bucs Twitter feed.

The Bucs have promoted QB Rudy Carpenter from the practice squad just in case Josh Freeman can’t go tomorrow.

If Freeman was healthy or the Bucs thought he could go, there’s little doubt Carpenter would not be activated. What would be the point when you can have another player activated to add depth?

Will Bucs fans who attend the throwback game be witness to Josh Johnson’s first start of the season?

In what seems like a statement of the obvious, veteran Tampa Tribune scribe eye-RAH! Kaufman added more media heat under Raheem Morris today via the TBO.com Bucs Twitter account.

Kaufman says Team Glazer will be scrutinizing all things Bucs and Raheem Morris during the final 29 days of the season.

@TBO_Buccaneers:  Ira: Bucs ownership will be looking for signs of improvement in the final 5 games. Otherwise, Raheem Morris could be out after 3 seasons.

On Monday, it was St. Pete Times scribe Rick Stroud talking about Raheem needing to win games to guarantee his survival. A couple of days ago it was a TV talking head asking Raheem about his job security during a news conference. Two weeks ago, it was former NFL executive turned NFL Network guru Mike Lombard skewering Raheem, to which Raheem responded with a clown reference.

For Joe, these theatrics are completely expected for a head coach mired in a five-game losing streak, a guy who also is a defensive coordinator of an atrocious defense.

Again, Joe’s not thinking Kaufman is sending any coded messages from Team Glazer. Raheem simply needs to win and get his guys improving in a hurry. Otherwise, Joe’s not seeing how fans or ownership could have any confidence in Raheem’s ability to turn things around next season.

The spend-some-damn-money crowd got an update this morning from the statistical gremlins at ESPN, so reports NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas.

Privy to “committed” cash data for the 2012 season, Yasinskas reports that the Bucs have the 26th most dough on the docket at $91.5 million, about $14 million under the league average.

I’m seeing six teams with more 2012 cap room than the Bucs, who are at $91.533 million. Tampa Bay’s number also is going to climb after this season because the Bucs are playing a lot of young players who have escalator clauses in their contracts that kick in if certain requirements on playing time are met.

One of the teams well below the average is the Atlanta Falcons. They’re sitting at $89.3 million. The Cincinnati Bengals ($71.2 million) have the least committed toward the 2012 cap.

If this were late February, Joe might be paying more attention. But with five games to go and unknown variables in this data, Joe doesn’t care too much.

Remember, these numbers from ESPN are essentially contracts on the books for 2012. So, for example, Ronde Barber, who reportedly has a one-year deal for 2011 at $5 million, is not part of the 2012 cash numbers. The data may or may not include Albert Haynesworth’s rougly $7 million he’s scheduled to make next season. Quincky Black’s fat deal is in there.

The only thing clear is that the Bucs will again have a pile of money available to spend in the offseason.

Bucs legend, tight end Jimmy Giles, becomes the third Buccaneer to be inducted into the Bucs Ring of Honor on Sunday, and the team will honor Giles by wearing the throwback creamcicles. Joe was fortunate to have a chance this week to ask Giles a few questions about his days with the Bucs and how the game has changed for tight ends.

JoeBucsFan: Are you sort of jealous about the way the game has changed? When you played, aside from Kellen Winslow — who was a tight end in name but in reality was a slot receiver — tight ends were blockers first and receivers second. Now, some tight ends are top receivers. Could you have been more of a passing target in today’s football?

Jimmie Giles: That’s one of the things we talked about. Blocking, that’s something I prided myself on that. Passing? Back in the day when Kellen played, tight end was more of a passing weapon in the AFC, but with John McKay, it was all about pitching that ball out and blocking to spring the running back. You had to be a blocker and when you had to catch it, you had better catch it or you would never have the ball thrown to you. I had to put myself in position where I could catch the ball anywhere from 6-12 times. But if I played now, I’m sure I could get 16 catches a game. Kellen was a great tight end but he didn’t want to block that much and he didn’t have to.

Joe: You were a crushing blocker, almost like a pulling guard. As a kid, I remember and can still picture you blowing up linebackers time after time. Was your blocking ability something you had to develop with the Bucs or what that a skill you always possessed?

Giles: First of all, I invite you to join the committee to elect me to the Hall of Fame. One of the things is, you have to have a team concept of being able to run the football. A tight end had to be a very integral part of the blocking and you have to want to be able to work and learn the techniques of blocking and have a mindset of blocking. If you know you have to make a key block, to make the running game go, that is as important as catching a 15-yard pass. Blocking is more of an attitude. But they don’t pay you for blocking, they pay you for catching passes.

Joe: You played in two of the most extreme weather games in Bucs history, the 1979 regular season finale in a monsoon at Tampa Stadium against the Chiefs to clinch the NFC Central title, and the Snow Bowl in Green Bay where you literally played in a blizzard with a foot of snow and wind chills at zero degrees. Which was the most difficult?

Giles: Without a doubt the game against Kansas City because that was the game that ended the losing days for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That game put us in the playoffs and you couldn’t call us losers any more. That win gave us a 10-6 record and nobody could say we were losers and we were excited about that.

Joe: The early glory days of the Bucs you played with Doug Williams. When he left the team’s success collapsed and it took over a decade for the team to recover. With his success with the Bucs and later the Redskins, should Williams be in the Hall of Fame?

Giles: I would have to say without a doubt because of the adversity he faced throughout his career and the things that he accomplished despite not having the tools other quarterbacks had to work with and to get to the Super Bowl and did what he did in the Super Bowl, I think he was one of the greatest of all times, convincingly. For his journey, absolutely he should be in the Hall of Fame.

Joe: It seems that you and your Bucs teammates were close. Few if any of you were from Florida yet so many of you stayed in the area and set down roots and started businesses, which you don’t see that often with other teams. Whenever there is an appearance or reunion of the old Bucs, there is a big turnout. So it seems you guys were tight and close. Was there a special bond that you developed with your teammates? Is that why so many of you stayed in the area?

Giles: That is what prepared us for winning. We became a football family after the 1978 season, we became very close and we developed a rapport to lock out for each other and take care of each other. We won despite everyone else. We had a great core of fans week in and week out and that made a huge difference when you came to the games on Sunday and see the stadium packed. You wanted to win for the fans and the organization.

The lovely Tiffany Simons (she’s actually getting hotter, if you can imagine) and Gregg Rosenthal discuss the state of the Bucs and Rosenthal doesn’t believe Raheem Morris is in any danger of losing his job in this NBCSports.com video.

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