Joe finds it comical how some of his media brethren get worked up when Greg Schiano won’t offer every last ounce of detail about a player’s health.

It’s as if these media types can’t imagine a scenario in which a sound diagnosis is not available on demand. Meanwhile, recent Bucs history with post-surgery Chris Simms, pre-surgery Brian Price and Arron Sears are just a few examples of situations that needed extended time to diagnose. 

That brings Joe to LeGarrette Blount, who was tackled on the field Sunday, then got up, and after doing some bizzare leg movements, fell to the turf and clutched his knee while flexing it repeatedly at the same time. Blount didn’t return to the game but literally ran out of the locker room.

Greg Schiano essentially said a few different ways on Sunday and Monday that Blount needed more time to be evaluated and his condition was unclear at that time. Then Stephen Holder, of the Tampa Bay Times, digested that and took to Twitter on Tuesday to take a shot at Schiano and call shenanigans.

@HolderStephen – Schiano won’t like me saying this, but oh well. He’s extremely evasive when talking about neurological issues. Makes one wonder about this

It’s seems Holder just coudn’t fathom the possibility that Blount truly needed more medical testing, and as it turns out the team sent Blount to North Carolina to see a specialist. Gee, whaddya know. Schiano wasn’t being evasive, just honest, and responsible by not speculating about a guy’s health.

A: Well, I think it starts with trusting each other, that everything is on the up and up and there’s no shenanigans. Belief in what we’re doing, I think that’s huge. Holding each other accountable. Those aren’t football X and O things, those are core values that I think as an organization allow you to do all the X and O things and strength and conditioning things, and film study, and community relations; all the things that go into being an NFL football team. Without core values, I don’t know if you can do any of that successfully.

Joe thought the “no shenanigans” line was so appropriate in light of the Blount situation. It would have been shenanigans if Schiano had, in fact, elaborated on Blount’s medical condition without knowing all the facs.

Giants defensive lineman Chris Canty speaks openly about why the Giants stunk against the Cowboys to open the season, how the Giants can right their wrongs and how they are preparing for the Bucs this week in this SNY video.

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Giants tight end Martellus Bennett is the brother of Bucs defensive end Michael Bennett.

Usually when Joe thinks of brothers and the Giants and Bucs are concerned, naturally Joe thinks of Ronde Barber and his twin brother Tiki. But there’s another pair, largely overlooked.

When the Bucs hit the New Jersey Swamplands Sunday, Bucs defensive end Michael Bennett will square off against his brother, Martellus Bennett, a Giants tight end.

Sometimes, the two brothers are so tight, this can create an uncomfortable moment as Martellus found out, told by Ralph Vacchiano and Ebenezer Samuel of the New York Daily News.

There was a moment last December, when the Dallas Cowboys visited Tampa Bay, that Martellus Bennett forgot which team he was on. When his brother, Bucs defensive end Michael Bennett, sacked Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, he got caught up in being a fan.

“I was on the sidelines and I was like, ‘Yeah! Good sack! Good sack!’” Martellus recalled on Wednesday. “Then I turned around (and yelled) ‘Somebody block that MF-er, man, what y’all doing out there?!’ ”

Now Joe is OK with Martellus if he secretly cheers while Eli Manning lay prone to the turf Sunday.

To Joe, an unsung bright spot in a dark, dark season last year was Michael Bennett, and it seems his play has continued if not improved so far in 2012. That’s good news for Bennett and probably bad news for the Bucs (in the long run) as this is a contract year for Bennett and pass rushers are paid handsomely.

On Sunday, Joe just has a hunch that chasing down Manning will be a tad easier than trying to corral Cam Newton.

Ahmad Bradshaw and the Giants rushing attack were impotent against the Cowboys to open the season

In what Paul Schwartz of the New York Post calls “the time-honored dance of the beaten,” the Giants claim they can correct their rushing woes, which led to an opening-game loss to the Cowboys.

But panic seems to be setting in in Gotham, Schwartz writes. The Giants haven’t been able to run the ball consistently for a season, and now facing the sudden new rush defense kings of the NFL, the Bucs, Big Blue followers are worried that an 0-2 start may mean no Super Bowl title repeat in the Big Apple.

The caution flag goes up with the rushing attack, as the only background information is of the indicting variety. The Giants of 2011 were first in the hearts of their fans and last in the league in run offense and, until otherwise, not much has changed. Even the 82 yards gained against the Cowboys comes with a disclaimer that should read, “Caution, objects under this stat column are not as acceptable as they appear.’’ The Giants were swarmed up front and the 33-yard run Ahmad Bradshaw ripped off in the fourth quarter came with the Cowboys leading 24-10 and more than willing to trade yards on the ground for time off the clock.

The Buccaneers on Sunday represent the league’s top-rated run defense, a Week 1 designation based on the 10 — yes, that’s correct, 10 — rushing yards they allowed to the Panthers. Sure, Jonathan Stewart did not play and, no doubt, the Panthers gave up even trying to run it with only 13 attempts all game in their 16-10 loss. But still. When DeAngelo Williams gets the ball six times and comes away with minus-one yards of production, it’s worth noting. Ten yards is nearly nothing, or, as Bucs safety Ahmad Black told Tampa reporters, “Ten yards rushing … that’s Pop Warner.’’

“They had a great game defensively against a very good Carolina team that usually puts up a lot of yards rushing,” Giants guard Kevin Boothe said. “That’s impressive. I think that definitely raises eyebrows around the league.’’

It’s not just scribes and fans of the Giants that are worried. Giants headmaster Tom Coughlin admitted as much in his conference call with Bucs beat writers today.

“Any time you don’t have success you have concenrns,” Coughlin said. “We need to move people off the ball.”

One can see where this is going. The Giants’ front line is not moving defenders, the rushing game is stagnant, and the Giants will be facing what could be a strong rush defense by the Bucs led by Gerald McCoy, who Coughlin lauded as a budding NFL star.

“He’s very explosive,” Coughlin said of GMC. “He does a nice job rushing the passer and plays the run hard.”

Joe can see where this is headed: The game will break down to Eli Manning’s arm vs. Doug Martin’s legs. And since Joe is in a good mood, here is an oldie but a goodie song to send you into the evening.

The guy with the Bucs’ only touchdown grab this season is feeling pretty darn good. His head coach just told a national audience about his work ethic, and Sunday’s win against Carolina revealed that success should come easier for him this season. Joe talked to Mike Williams about this stuff today.

JoeBucsFan.com: Speaking on SiriusXM NFL Radio this week, Coach Schiano raved about how you’ve been really busting your “hump” in practice and he’s impressed? What’s changed with how you’re working now?

Mike Williams: Nothing’s really changed. You can even ask the coaches from last year. That’s one thing that I really try and stress for myself, to bust myself down in practice, work as hard as I can. That’s how I feel. I’ve got to do that. It’s just the first time these coaches have seen me do it, so I take it as a compliment. I take it as that’s my job. I have to work as hard as I can in practice to actually keep a spot and help this team win.

Joe: I know you have played a lot of basketball in past offseasons. Did you do anything different to prepare for this season?

Williams: Same thing. I play a lot of basketball. I stay in shape and try to be in my best shape for the start of camp. I did the same thing, played basketball and came to camp.

Joe: Coach also mentioned how he could tell already how you didn’t get the coverages rolled your way like last year and how excited he is for what you can do going forward? Did you feel a difference against Carolina with Vincent Jackson getting more attention?

Mike Williams: Oh, yeah. We got a lot of cover 4 coverages and he got the two-high coverages on his side a lot of the time in passing situations. So it felt a lot different. It felt good, too.

Update, 4:34 p.m.: The official injury report says Blount has a neck injury.

Update, 7:00 p.m.:  The Tampa Bay Times is reporting Blount is cleared to play and will practice tomorrow.

Greg Schiano dumped cold water on various theories surrounding LeGarrette Blount’s attitude and work ethic.

Schiano said at his news conference that Blount has been a “good” worker. “There haven’t been any problems with LeGarrette,” Schiano said. “He’s a team guy.”

Schiano also said Blount’s medical issues being explored are simply the result of team doctors looking for answers. Blount was scheduled for MRI tests today.

“When things don’t add up, you keep digging,” Schiano said.

The link between the Super Bowl champion Giants and the Bucs doesn’t just start with the assistant coaches the Bucs hired from the Giants in the offseason, nor Eli Manning’s budding friendship with Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman.

No, the link goes back to when Tom Coughlin was coaching the Jags and Schiano was looking to NFL pastures when he was a secondary coach at Penn State.

“I interviewed Greg one time when I was at Jacksonville and he went to Chicago,” Coughlin told the Tampa Bay pen and mic club via teleconference this afternoon. “I have followed [Schiano’s] career from a distance and was very much aware of his presence at Rutgers and on occasion visited with Greg. I think highly of him.”

Both Schiano and Coughlin drink from the same football well. Coughlin, along with Bill Belicheat, were two main branches rooted to the Bill Parcells coaching tree. Schiano is a Belicheat disciple through and through.

So while the Bucs may have knowledge of the Giants’ inner-workings though Schiagno’s dealings with Coughlin and both Bucs coordinators having worked under Coughlin, so too does Coughlin know the Bucs.

“The entire [Bucs win over Carolina] was a positive relection of Greg and his values and what he has tried to instill on his team,” Coughlin said.

The man Bucs fans hope Gerald McCoy will toss around like a ragdoll Sunday, Eli Manning, took to the WFAN-AM New York sports radio airwaves yesterday and referenced multiple times how the Giants need to jack up their intensity for the Bucs.

Manning made it clear that the Super Bowl champs lost their edge in their home opener.

“It was a wakeup call, and we kind of got used to winning,” Manning said of the Giants’ opening-night loss to Dallas. “We got to get back to the way we worked late in the season last year. Just our intensity, the way we came out and practiced each week. And so it’s about getting into that rhythm, and hopefully we’ll get back into it this week.”

One could say the Bucs are catching the Giants at the wrong time, an angry, re-focused team desperate for a win at home. Or one could say the Bucs get the Giants at the just the right time. Tampa Bay is healthy and New York is still finding its footing and might have had their confidence shaken a bit in Week 1.

Regardless, Joe expects an extraordinarily physical football game Sunday, a great measuring stick for the New Schiano Order.

Those Gators are supposed to be pretty smart, and it seems Ahmad Black is perpetuating that perception.

Black has been glued to Ronde Barber for months, so Barber explained last night on Total Access on WDAE-AM 620.

“Every single workout I’ve done this offseason, I’ve done it with Ahmad Black,” Barber said. “So, you know, I’ve spent a bunch of time with him in these past couple of months. There’s a lot of things that I probably don’t even realize I’m doing that’s rubbing off on these [young players]. I hope that it is because that’s how it was for me. And whenever my mentoring days are over here, whenever that is, I hope some of what I’ve learned over my 15 years going 16 years in the league rubs off on them. And the position in general is better off, that’s how guys always presented it to me when I was young, that when they left part of them was still with me and it made me a better player. Hopefully it’s the same going forward with all the guys I’m working with now.”

Barber’s always been known as a mentor to his young mates in the Bucs secondary, but this interview and others done by Barber recently lead Joe to believe Barber has embraced the role more than ever before. This is such a good thing for Black, Mark Barron and others.

Below is the entire interview with Barber, who details his rehab from a severely broken arm and more. Barber also explains how Greg Schiano wanted to know if Barber could jump before he moved him to safety. Barber was a bit insulted and explained that he could dunk a basketball “if I could palm it.”

It’s starting to get weird about the Bucs and LeGarrette Blount.

Blount was taken out of the game Sunday after being injured in some way — he was tended to while lying on the ground — and never played again, though later coach Greg Schiano said he could have played, but added he didn’t know what was wrong with Blount (nevermind Schiano has direct access to team trainers).

To Joe’s untrained eye, it appeared Blount may have had a cramp.

After the game while in the bowels of the stadium on Dale Mabry Highway, Joe witnessed Blount running off the field and into the tunnel to the locker room at a brisk pace; he was the very first player off the field. Just a few brief moments later, Joe witnessed Blount sprinting out of the Bucs locker room and exiting the stadium, well before media was granted access to the Bucs locker room.

To Joe’s untrained eyes, Blount didn’t seem injured but it was very curious to Joe why Blount didn’t want to celebrate the upset win with his teammates on the field and why he was in such a mad rush to get out of the stadium. The fact he dodged media members makes Joe immediately wonder just what he is hiding?

Well, late this morning, Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik accounced via the Bucs official Twitter feed that Blount will have an MRI on his neck and back and a concussion has been ruled out by team officials.

@TBBuccaneers: Blount will get an MRI on his neck and his back. Dominik says player safety always comes first. … GM Mark Dominik says RB LeGarrette Blount will not be at practice today. Dominik says Blount definitely does NOT have a concussion.

Joe just smells something odd here. No, Joe’s not looking for conspiracies under rocks or trying to connect dots that are not there, but adding everything up, it just seems weird.

As we all know, former Bucs great defensive tackle Warren Sapp had to declare bankruptcy. As a result, Sapp is selling his Windermere pad, a mere four-bed, eight-bath (?), 15,162-square foot, 2.90-acre man cave. It can be yours for a cool $3,774,000.

Let’s take a tour, shall we?

Welcome to Casa Sapp.

Nothing like fine dining at Casa Sapp where the servants are there to tend to your every want and need.

Nothing like a wood-fired oven in your kitchen.

This is where Sapp’s paramours began the long climb to his lair.

Guessing this is the Florida room.

Somehow, it seems that tub would be a tight squeeze for Sapp.

What happened to the naked woman painting?

Has to be a virtual fireplace. Look at the remotes.

Something tells Joe that Sapp was never able to use this watersled.

What’s a central Florida mansion without backyard fishing and a trail for gators to come up to the back door?

Hat tip TheBigLead. Photos courtesy of Realtor.com.

Click for a .pdf of the delicious Slice Masters menu

Do you live in Carrollwood?

Would you cruise over to Carrollwood to feast on affordable, delicious pizza, awesome lasagna and Italian food?

Do you want to win a fancy jersey of your favorite Tampa Bay Football team?

These are all reasons to “Like” Slice Masters NY Pizzeria on Facebook, and then head over there for lunch or dinner. It’s a true find at 4538 W. Village Dr., Tampa, FL 33624. They deliver, too. (813) 341-1414

For a shot to win the  jersey, all you have to do is “Like” Slicemasters on Facebook, and they’ll be picking a winner among their Facebook friends.

For free pizza, email joe@joebucsfan.com with your name and physical address — subject line Pizza — and Joe will pick winners for several free extra large pizzas with toppings. Tampa addresses only, please.

Gotham is getting nervous. The Super Bowl champs lost their season opener and now face the undefeated Bucs at the New Jersey Swamplands this week. It seems some believe this game is a must-win for the Giants — in the second week of the season! — in this episode of SNY’S “Loud Mouths.”

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Strong interview below from longtime former NFL general manager Charley Casserly, now an analyst for NFL Network. Casserly was on WDAE-AM 620 this morning to talk all things Bucs, and he shared some interesting takes on the the replacement NFL officials.

Among other topics, Casserly talks about Lavonte David’s instinctive play and what the Bucs offense must do to beat the Giants. Click below to hear.

The leader of the New Schiano Order says he’s hands-off on playcalling

It was world famous popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging Peter King, of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports fame, who outed Greg Schiano as a pasta- and temperature-obsessed control freak on a national stage months ago. Yet yesterday, ironically it was King who set the stage for Schiano to explain that he enjoyed being hands-off head coach on gameday against the Panthers.

The leader of the New Schiano Order checked in on the Peter King Podcast and explained he never delegated all playcalling while leading Rutgers but is now content to be rather hands off with the Bucs.

“This job is really the first one as a head coach that in some way shape or form I’m not calling some part of the game,” Schiano said. “So it was  really different for me in that, you know, I contribute, and I’ll tell our coordinators if I want to do something, ‘Take a shot. Put pressure on them,’ but not having to make specific play calls allows you to really think about the game and the personnel and all those things. And that I really enjoyed. I didn’t think I would. But I did.”

Joe’s glad to hear Schiano is confident enough in his staff to take more of a CEO role and not micromanage the playcalling.

Perhaps King might even dare to publicly renounce the “control freak” label he was so quick to hit Schiano with. Nahh. That’s not going to happen.

The thing that jumped out at Joe in the win over the stinking Panthers was how much impact was made by the Bucs’ top three draft picks from this spring.

Safety Mark Barron put the fear of God in receivers young and old the way he popped people and broke up passes, not to mention the highlight reels he made on national sports shows by nearly beheading Steve Smith.

Muscle Hamster Doug Martin was everything advertised, getting tough yards fighting against the heralded Panthers linebacker unit, then closing the game out with a double-digit run for a first down.

Then there was weakside linebacker Lavonte David, who was playing sideline to sideline and was actually calling the defensive plays. A rookie in his first NFL game no less!

The feats of the three rookies were not lost on veteran sports columnist Gary Shelton, who waxed poetic about the trio in the Tampa Bay Times.

The kids are brand new. That should be pointed out, and re-pointed out. They are one game into their careers, and nothing is promised, and there is a lot of football to be played before any of them have arrived. All of us understand that.

And yet … weren’t all three of them something to see in their debuts?

Furthermore, isn’t it about time the Bucs discovered their next wave of sellable jerseys?

How good were the three Sunday? Martin led both teams in rushing yards, David led the Bucs in tackles and Barron led the Bucs in cracking the other team’s ribs. It was a beautiful thing.

Speaking of which, you just know the headline Joe chose is ample reason to drop a video on Joe’s readers from “The Who” when they were in their prime.

It is not a good thing to get former Bucs great defensive tackle Warren Sapp angry. And apparently, despite current Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy having a fantastic game against the stinking Panthers, Sapp found a way to get irritated with GMC.

GMC hassled, hounded and bruised Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, who is the size of a tight end if not an offensive lineman. Newton, a couple of times, escaped the clutches of GMC which prompted Sapp — always a Bucs player at heart — to call GMC, so writes eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.

McCoy posted one of Tampa Bay’s three sacks against Cam Newton, adding two tackles for loss and two quarterback hits. On the morning after, he lamented a snap when he appeared to have Newton wrapped up but couldn’t bring him down – a sequence that prompted a phone call from former Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp.

“Sapp called me last night and said, ‘Look, if you’ve ever got a quarterback in your grasp like that and you let him out, me and you are going to fight,’ ” McCoy said.

Joe understands where Sapp is coming from and also understands Sapp has the same mentality of Al Davis, “The quarterback must go down, and he must go down hard.” But as GMC notes in Kaufman’s article, bringing down Newton is easier said than done. Newton is a different breed of cat than, say, Brett Favre or Rich Gannon or Jeff George, some of Sapp’s contemporaries.

Nevertheless, Joe thinks it is cool that Sapp is still so emotionally involved with the Bucs that it disturbs him when the Bucs don’t reach perfection.

It was one of the more fun moments of Sunday’s Bucs game, 2nd-and-10 on the Panthers 19 yard line with the Bucs leading 10-0 in the second quarter.

Josh Freeman completes a slant pass to Vincent Jackson, and Jackson is held up by Panthers defenders at the 7 yard line as Jackson keeps his legs pumping. Then Doug Martin sticks his head into the barely moving pile and tries to drive it, and then Jeremy Zuttah, Carl Nicks and Ted Larsen come flying in full sprint and collapse the pile to the 4 yard line — 1st-and-goal Bucs.

It was a great play, except for Dallas Clark standing alongside the pile out of danger while Martin and the O-line sacrificed their bodies. During the Raheem Morris era, that would have been classified as a “loaf.” Heck, in any era it was a loaf.

This disappointed Joe, especially after Bill Polian said over and over this offseason on NFL Radio that Clark is a guy who loves everything football and is the ultimate team player. Clark didn’t show it on that play.

Weeks ago Greg Schiano said changes to his depth chart would be worth noting.

Well, today there’s a new one. Brandon McDonald, the surprise nickel cornerback Sunday, has moved ahead of Myron Lewis and is listed as Eric Wright’s backup on the depth chart issued by the Bucs for their upcoming game against the Giants. Joe delivered an interview of McDonald yesterday, in case you missed it.

E.J. Biggers remains behind Aqib Talib, and Lewis, Anthony Gaitor and Leonard Johnson are listed as third string.