Look, the Bucs are out of the playoffs. Joe knows this comes as news to Bucs fans about as much as next Tuesday is Christmas.

There is a fair debate on the merits of the final two games of the season. Normally, in Joe’s mind, once a team can’t make the playoffs, it is actually beneficial to lose games rather than to win. The NFL is built on the draft and the better the draft position, the better odds of turning an NFL ship around.

But this year’s Bucs team is a bit different. This subject came up in an ESPN South chat recently.

CC (Atlanta)

You honestly think winning 2 meaningless games in late December will translate into momentum for the Bucs next Aug/Sept? That’s just silly. I expect more from you Pat. Too much egg nog?

Pat Yasinskas

Yes, I do. They’ve lost four in a row. If it turns into six, they go into the offseason with a really bad taste in their mouths. Might undo all the progress they made earlier this season.

Here’s the thing: As evidenced by a mole in the Bucs locker room to the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com Mike Florio, there is a non-Buccaneer man still on the roster; likely more than one.

Bucs coach Greg Schiano is going to use the final two games to weed out the non-Buccaneer Men for what clearly will be a second round of player purging. So winning the final two games, in that respect, is important.

Those who don’t play hard will show up on tape. The eye in the sky doesn’t lie.

Coaches and players alike consider tanking games for a better draft position to be sheer heresy. Joe understands this, but there is no question five or six spots up the draft ladder is better.

This season though, Joe gets why the Bucs would want to win the next two games. Better proof of who is and who isn’t a Buccaneer Man.

Why doesn’t Josh Freeman run more?

Why isn’t he extending plays with his feet and freelancing and scrambling like he did during his stud 2010 season?

Mike Williams says the new Mike Sullivan playbook doesn’t leave much room for that. 

“I think in this offense it’s hard to like get a breakdown and scramble because you’ve got your breakdown rules with this offense, too,” Williams said on the Buccaneers Radio Network. “He gotta hit the checkdown right away and things like that. So in this offense I think it’s harder for to scramble as in other offenses where it was easy for him, if it broke down, he could get out of there and run like he’d been doing.”

“Breakdown rules,” like the ones Williams referenced, also keep quarterbacks from getting clobbered repeatedly like Jay Cutler and others that play in a more liberal system.

Joe only likes to see Freeman run a little more because it seems, based on Freeman’s body language, to give him confidence, in addition to the fact that Freeman is a good runner.

The arrival of the New Schiano Order brought a whip-cracking in key football areas: penalties and turnovers.

Greg Schiano explained that while he delegates plenty to his assistant coaches, he personally obsesses over all fumbles and penalties. And eliminating mistakes and turnovers is a constant priority of the regime.

Well, the Bucs have bumbled their way to become one of the most penalized teams in the NFL, in the bottom 25 percent of league.

However, the Bucs are on the verge of at least tying an NFL record when it comes to turnovers. Not once has a Buccaneer fumbled this season after catching a pass. And the one rushing fumble this season from Doug Martin should have been a touchdown in Carolina. (For those wondering, the fumbled away LeGarrette Blount-Josh Freeman exchange was not awarded to Blount by league statisticians.)

The ball security numbers are a real feather in Schiano’s cap. And Joe must give a big nod to departing wide receivers coach P.J. Fleck, the new head coach at Western Michigan. “Psychotic” is the only word Joe can think of to describe Fleck’s constant drilling of ball security from the day he arrived. “Chin! Chin! Chin!” and “Bite the football” was pounded into the offense, and Fleck routinely is seen physically chasing receivers or diving on top of them and trying to strip them — even long after a practice play is over.

Joe’s not sure how Schiano will fix the penalties, but Joe’s confident that will a huge priority this offseason.

Veteran Ch. 10 sportscaster Dave Wirth checks in with his weekly take for JoeBucsFan.com readers. Wirth dives into the Josh Freeman chatter and more.

Chris Long (pictured) and fellow Rams defensive end Robert Quinn will give the Bucs’ offensive line a major test Sunday.

Few offensive lines in the NFL have been ravaged by injuries like the Bucs’ this year. And while the line is beginning to show cracks and wear and tear in its ability to rush block, thus far Josh Freeman’s jersey isn’t getting too filthy.

Despite having just two starters on the line they started training camp with, one of which, Jeremy Zuttah, was moved to left guard to help patch holes, the Bucs offensive line is 11th in the NFL in sacks allowed with 32.

But this weekend will be a challenge, Bucs right tackle Demar Dotson admitted to Joe. Sunday, the Rams invade the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway with stud ends Chris Long and Robert Quinn, who have a combined 17 sacks.

“They have two very good defensive ends; these guys play hard,’ Dotson said. “These guys bring it off the edge. It’s going to be a job Sunday. But, every week is a job.

“The thing is, they pass rush so well. They want to play the pass. That is their main focus.”

One step to reaching that goal, Dotson thought, was that Bucs coach Greg Schiano awarded the Bucs a Victory Monday, without the victory, thinking the team needed a mental break after getting woodshedded by the Saints last week.

Dotson thinks that was a smart move.

“The day off was big,” Dotson said. “We got a chance to rest and flush that game from our mind.”

Joe has to give it to Dotson. “Flush” is the appropriate verb for last week’s game.

If there was a positive from the heinous Raheem-era-like debacle in New Orleans, Joe must call out the continued recovery and ressurection of DaQuan Bowers.

Now eight games into his return from a spring Achilles tear, an injury Joe thought should have put Bowers on the shelf for a full season in order to be safe, Bowers continues to prove Joe wrong and shine.

On Sunday, he recorded his third sack in part-time duty. Today, the leader of the New Schiano Order was quick to praise the progression of Bowers’ play this season in addition to a transformation born from his dedication.

“The thing that I mentioned when he came back is that he really did more than rehab his Achilles, he changed his body somewhat, you know, and he’s stronger. He’s quicker. And I think, you know, the sky’s the limit for Da’Quan,” Greg Schiano said. “He got to play, get two more games God willing, and then another whole offseason with the program, I think he’s going to be a really talented guy.”

There’s a lot of hope and expectation for Bowers and injured Adrian Clayborn, rockstar general manager Mark Dominik’s back-to-back defensive end picks in 2010. Those guys are a huge key to next season. However, the Bucs absolutely have to re-sign Michael Bennett, who will cost a small fortune. Bennett is the best horse in the stable.

Rams cornerback Cortland Finnegan (31) may be the best defender Bucs receivers will have faced in a few weeks.

Yeah, the Bucs passing game has been rough of late. Trying to get on track Sunday might be a hurdle.

The Rams defense is a bit underrated in Joe’s eyes. It gets a strong pass rush from its ends, has one of the most unheralded linebackers in Son of Animal, James Laurinaitis, and then there are the cornerbacks.

Last offseason, the Rams really beefed up their secondary by landing free agent Cortland Finnegan and drafting supremely talented problem child Janoris Jenkins.

Joe got a chance to chat with Bucs receiver Tiquan Underwood and trust Joe, the Rams cornerback duo has the attention of the Bucs.

“They have been playing pretty well,” Underwood said. “Jenkins already has a couple of picks for touchdowns. He’s an aggressive and talented player. We just have to execute and stay on the same page as our quarterback.”

When it comes to Finnegan, Underwood has a bit of a history going mano y mano against Finnegan a few times when the two were division rivals, Finnegan played for Tennessee and Underwood for Jacksonville. But Underwood downplayed gaining any extra knowledge of Finnegan from those match-ups.

“It is a new year and two different teams,” Underwood said. “It’s all about executing this Sunday.”

The Bucs M*A*S*H unit of an offensive line has done a good job of keeping quarterback Josh Freeman’s jersey clean this year. If they can continue to do that Sunday, that will be half the battle of getting the Bucs’ passing game back in the groove.

Rumors of Bucs covert defensive advisor Butch Davis being considered for college head coaching jobs, combined with Bucs icon Monte Kiffin leaving the University of Southern California to return to the NFL, had many speculating whether Kiffin might join the New Schiano Order.

Greg Schiano himself has talked openly about how he’s admired and studied Kiffin’s defenses and coaching style for years. Plus Kiffin still resides in the Bay area.

But Derrick Brooks says a Schiano-Kiffin marriage is unlikely to be a good match, so Brooks said on WDAE-AM 620 on Wednesday.

“I don’t know about bringing Kif here back to Tampa. You know, I just see that’s a probably difficult fit because the style of defense and some of the personality of, you know, Coach Schiano what he wants to get done from a pressure standpoint,” Brooks said. “He’s more of a pressure guy. Kif is more vanilla, ‘Line up. Do your job. Know what you’re doing.’ Kind of do what you do and make people beat you because they outexecuted you versus what they got now. I like the thought, but I think it would be kind of difficult in my opinion.”

Brooks went on to say he thought Kiffin might, in fact, be seeking a consultant role versus a defensive coordinator position.

Joe will say this, if the Bucs don’t seriously improve their secondary in the offseason, then the team could use every last  defensive mastermind it can find to right the mess.

Below is the broadcast map for the Rams-Bucs game Sunday. The game will be broadcast by over-the-air local FOX affiliates located in the yellow-shaded areas. Map courtesy of the506.com.

There has been all sorts of Bucs news this past week and little of it has been good for the team.

Sports talk radio has been non-stop raging on quarterback Josh Freeman, after his weekly freefall led to the Bucs dropping four straight and out of the playoff race, culminating with a grotesque shutout to the Saints in which Freeman threw four interceptions.

Then there was a special teams captain getting all handsy on the sideline with front seven coach Bryan Cox.

Not to be outdone, a mole reached out to Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, claiming Bucs coaches need to go back to college.

To which Josh Katzowitz of CBSSports.com writes, so what?

It’s certainly not out of the question that one player — or perhaps a faction of the team — isn’t happy with Schiano, but you’ll also find some kind of dissension on just about every football team in existence. That doesn’t mean Schiano has lost his team; personally, I like the direction in which the Buccaneers are headed.

Interesting point Katzowitz has there. Even when the Bucs won the Super Bowl, not everyone was on Chucky’s side. Remember when Meshawn Johnson and Chucky got into it on the sideline on Monday Night Football? Difference was the Bucs were winning and those hostile to Chucky kept quiet as a result.

Joe’s pretty sure the Bucs will have a second purge of players in the offseason to ensure the team is filled with Buccaneer Men.

Brooks said it took a while for him to be sold on a college guy that became his position coach

Send that coach back to college!

That’s the feeling that went through Derrick Brooks’ mind when a little known defensive backs coach at Ohio State, Lovie Smith, join the Bucs as linebackers coach and had Brooks doing things he thought were senseless in 1996.

So with that in mind, Brooks said this week that he does not doubt the veracity of the controversial anonymous quote on ProFootballTalk.com that claimed a frustrated Buccaneer player told writer/chief Mike Florio, “Can we send these coaches back to college?” following the loss to the Saints.

Brooks explained to Steve Duemig, of WDAE-AM 620, that players doubting the Schiano regime likely has been a common and healthy part of the process.

“I can see [a comment like] this probably happening well before last week, man,” Brooks said, “because they see, especially if you’re a veteran, that these coaches are new or coached in college. They did. Lovie Smith was my linebacker coach who coached DBs coach in college but came to the pros as a linebacker coach. I would like to sit here and tell you every day that I went in there I didn’t have a question or two about something we were doing, or something he was teaching. ‘Like man, is this going to work? These are DB drills. We linebackers.’ But it stayed within and I went out and I executed everything he asked me to do. I didn’t question him; I just asked myself internally, ‘is this going to work?’ I smartened up. The only way it’s going to work, Steve, is when I go out there and do it.”

This was tremendous insight from Brooks. And it ties into something Brooks said earlier about Schiano picking the Buccaneer weeds at the end of the season. Joe suspects there will be a surprise or two in the gardencleaning.

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Now Joe knows, and just about every semi-conscious Bucs fan knows, that the Bucs’ pass defense is as wretched as it comes. So much so Joe wouldn’t be shocked if Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik drafts two corners with the first four picks of the draft in April, in addition to grabbing some free-agent corner.

So last night while Joe was researching the Rams, Joe came across an eye-opening stat from one of his old friends, Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Bernie is one of the best football writers in America and is a numbers cruncher. He’s always looking for answers under the hood with rigid research. Well, apparently Bernie was mining for information on the Bucs and came up with a gem claiming the Bucs’ pass defense isn’t as horrid as Joe or most Bucs fans may think it is.

Does this mean [Sam] Bradford will have an easy time or a good day? Nothing is certain. Interestingly, one of Tampa Bay’s strengths has been third-down pass defense. Without going into the numbers, I suspect that’s because of the third-and-longs being set up by all of those runs being slammed by the Tampa Bay rushing defense. But the Bucs have been outstanding on third down, making eight interceptions and allowing a mediocre passer rating of 78.5.

Bradford has struggled on third downs this season; it’s one of the weaker parts of his performance. On third down he’s completed only 55 percent of his passes, with more INTs (4) than TDs (3) and a passer rating of 69.0. A big part of the problem is pass protection; Bradford has been sacked 18 times on third down, the second-highest total among NFL quarterbacks. But his passer rating ranks 23rd among QBs that have attempted at least 100 passes on third downs. So Sunday’s game could be determined by Bradford vs. the Bucs on third down.

Joe nearly fell off his chair reading this. But this is why Bernie is one of the best to dig up information.

So here is a match-up to watch Sunday: How the Bucs work the Rams on third down passing situations. It will also be interesting to see how/if the Bucs shut down Steven Jackson, who is some 91 yards short an eighth straight 1,000-yard season.

With Josh Freeman struggling more each week, with a player going Moe Howard on an assistant, with a player trying to incite a mutiny from afar, it’s easy for a Bucs fan to want to lay prone on a couch begging for the season to come to a close. Soon.

Don’t worry Bucs fans, brighter days are coming. This is the word from noted player personnel man Gil Brandt. The architect of the Dallas Cowboys dynasty of the 1970s believes, via NFL.com, that of all the teams currently out of the playoff hunt, the Bucs will be a force next season.

1) Tampa Bay Buccaneers

After drafting well (as evidenced by rookie running back Doug Martin’s performance) and signing the right free agents (like receiver Vincent Jackson) over the past three years, the Bucs have a good, young roster. We saw things start to click for them during a 6-4 start, though they’ve fallen off since. Greg Schiano has done a terrific job in his debut season. In Year 2, he’ll have a better understanding of the length of the NFL season, and he’ll have a firmer sense of when (and how hard) to push his players.

The Bucs have given up a lot of passing yards (310.6 per game, worst in the NFL), and where they really need help is on the back end. Aqib Talib is gone, having been traded to the New England Patriots. Stalwart Ronde Barber, meanwhile, is 37 and might not come back for a 17th season. So they’ll have some openings to fill. Can they find a way to keep defensive end Michael Bennett, who leads the team with nine sacks, from moving on as a free agent? They also might want to bring in a veteran quarterback (like Kyle Orton, say) to help mentor young signal-caller Josh Freeman, who has talent but has played hot and cold this season. Tampa Bay should have the cap space to do something.

Joe believes Brandt is onto something. The Bucs’ pass defense simply cannot be this bad next year. Just cannot.

The key, again, for a Bucs playoff run, will be for Freeman to be more consistent and to play up to his potential.

For next year, the Bucs will go as far as Freeman can take them.

So what really happened with Josh Freeman’s third interception Sunday in New Orleans?

“Dallas lost it in the lights,” Freeman said tonight on his radio show on WDAE-AM 620.

Freeman called the high-altitude deep ball to Dallas Clark “an opportunity ball” that absolutely was intended for Clark to go up and make a play. But Freeman explained Clark told him he lost the ball early and never found it before Isa Abdul-Quddus picked it off.  

Freeman went on to say it was an “everything-that-could-go-wrong” day and his confidence is not shaken in the slightest.

Stuff happens, but Joe’s confident a jump ball to Clark is not a wise idea even if he can see it.

Derrick Brooks talked about emerging quitters and Eric Wright’s recent Twittering

There’s no doubt the New Schiano Order will be looking to sniff out loafers over the final 11 days of the season, guys who aren’t behaving like “Buccaneer men” in practice or in games.

Bucs icon Derrick Brooks acknowledged some players adopt a quitters mentality when things go south in December, especially when it’s a new regime. “If there are some weeds in the roses, they’re not going to come up on Day 1,” Brooks said on The Steve Duemig Show yesterday on WDAE-AM 620.

Brooks said he experienced that quickly in the NFL.

“I’ll never forget that in 1995. That type of talk was going on,” Brooks said of players having a quitters mentality.

“Here we were 6-7, had a chance to win out here and at least go 8-8 and guys are talking about vacation. I’m like, ‘what are they here talking about, in practice!” shouted Brooks, who went on to say he was stunned by players chatting about U-Hauls and more.

Speaking of hidden weeds, Brooks also was flabbergasted by Eric Wright Twittering about going on a weekend spa vacation in California on Saturday, a day before the Bucs were in New Orleans.

“Why? Even if you are doing it why? The season’s going on,” Brooks said of Wright’s Twittering. “Why? You know, a little bird on your shoulder. Why? As Coach Edwards [would say], ‘think before you hit Tweet or send.'”

Brooks said Wright should have kept his private business to himself. “Your team is out there. You know, your team is trying to keep the ship, you know, straight. They’re fighting.”

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In somewhat of a fitting end to a season that has imploded on and off the field the past month, the Bucs’ final home game against the Rams Sunday will be blacked out in the Tampa and Orlando TV markets.

Tickets for the game are still available.

As Bucs fans are probably used to by now, the team needed to sell 85 percent of non-premium seats 72 hours prior to kickoff to have the NFL lift the blackout for the game to be televised locally.

The Bucs’ run defense in New Orleans evoked memories of the gutting and gashing that was commonplace during and since the December collapse of 2008, and the entire Raheem Morris era.

The “negative runs,” aka tackles for loss, the trademark of the New Schiano Order defense, weren’t there. And Lavonte David had an off day, though he still ranks second in the NFL in solo tackles (98 total) behind a guy the Bucs will see Sunday, the Rams’ James Laurinitis (104).

So what must the Bucs do to get back to get back to their run defense that was suffocating teams all season long before Sunday? Greg Schiano gave a take on that to the St. Louis media yesterday; TurfShowTimes.com offered a transcription.

“I think guys, when they play together, and they strain their guts out, do whatever they can to maintain their gap integrity and then being able to tackle well; it gives you a chance to play run defense,” Schiano said. “Unfortunately, this past weekend was the first time in a while we didn’t play very good run defense. We didn’t really play very well pass defense, either. So, we had a tough outing last week and now we’re up against one of the better running teams in the National Football League. So, it’s going to be quite a challenge. We talk about we want to get back to playing great run defense, but this is going to be a tough opponent to do it against.”

Joe loved the “strain their guts out” line. It really speaks to the want-to involved when it comes to stopping the run.

Even more than a Josh Freeman revival, Joe wants to see the Bucs’ run defense bounce back against the Rams. The Bucs are healthy along the front-7, and there’s no reason they can’t go out and do what they’ve done all season — stuff the run better than every team in the league. Holding on to their No. 1 ranking against the run should be a huge building block for the Bucs defense this offseason.

Joe often delivers readers data from the popular ProFootballFocus.com, which provides detailed grades for all players after every NFL game.

But make no mistake, Joe does not consider the ProFootballFocus stuff to be gospel. Yes, Joe realizes a handful of NFL teams pay for the data and consider it strongly, as Peter King of Sports Illustrated has reported, but logic tells Joe the data is extraordinarily subjective and Joe’s skeptical of the credentials of the evaluators.

League stats issued by the Buccaneers this week on pass blocking, however, are not debatable.

The Bucs’ offensive line is allowing sacks on only 4.2 percent of pass plays, tied for sixth-best in the NFL. The Bucs finished last season ranked 11th in the league in that category.

This is darn impressive, especially considering the injuries along the offensive line, and the fact that Josh Freeman isn’t known for his quick release and fast decision-making.

The numbers also add some fuel to the Josh Freeman doubters, who can add strong pass blocking to the list of offensive riches that surround Freeman.

The great Mike Florio

Consider it a promise.

Earlier this week, Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com had a “private communication” with a Bucs player in the waning hours after the shutout debacle in New Orleans where some player, who refused to be identified, claimed the Bucs college coaches should go back to college.

Yesterday, Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune asked Bucs great Ronde Barber about Florio’s report and Barber dropped a naughty word he was so adamant Florio’s report was fabricated.

Not so fast, says Florio, who responded to Barber’s response last night.

I promise you that someone did, Ronde.

Who’s in a position to be more sure? The guy to whom it was told, or the guy who has no idea what his teammates have said in the hours after a frustrating shutout loss to one of their biggest rivals? That’s why we opted not to go with the same-old “we stand by our report” when asked for a response by the Tribune, choosing instead something far more pragmatic: “If Ronde is aware of every private communication in which his 52 teammates engage, that’s even more impressive than his Hall of Fame playing career.”

Our guess is that Ronde opted to react strongly due to speculation in the local media that he was the source. As his career in Tampa likely winds to a conclusion, it wouldn’t be the ideal way to make his exit. Regardless, we won’t say who said it. But I promise you that someone did.

As Joe wrote last night, Florio works for himself and NBC Sports, and that outfit frowns heavily on somebody inventing a quote. Florio’s a smart guy. He knows all too well his empire would quickly crumble (as well as his NBC contract, as well as possibly his law career) if he started manufacturing quotes just for a few clicks on his site.