Xs and Os guru Dave Moore, the former Bucs tight end and current Buccaneers Radio Network game analyst, weighed in on all things Bucs-Niners this morning on WDAE-AM 620.

Moore talked a lot about the Bucs bad tackling and about how he could see Mike Glennon going through his progressions and not seeing “a whole lot open.”

Well, that’s what happens when your No. 3 receiver got cut for ineptitude, and your No. 2 receiver had hamstring surgery. There’s plenty more in the interview below. Moore also explains how the legitimate-threat status of Tim Wright should help the passing game in various ways for years to come.

The Bucs’ increase in sacks doesn’t mean much

The Bucs have 33 sacks with two games to play! Hip, hip hooray!

That’s a big number around these parts, one that hasn’t been seen in years, but dig into the numbers and you can see it’s not so impressive in a league that throws the football like never before.

Consider the Bucs had the NFL’s No. 2 ranked defense in 2007. [read more]

The Niners, Lions and Panthers all allow four yards per carry. The Bucs averaged 2.2 against those teams this past month.

Last year at this time, offensive line coach Bob Bostad was a miracle worker, leading a group that was blowing open holes with four of five linemen in positions where they didn’t start the 2012 season.

Now, it seems, Bostad is captain of the Bucs’ fastest sinking ship. [read more]

Mike Glennon and the Bucs offense had a woeful fourth quarter.

Joe knows many Bucs fans are aghast this morning about how their offense has slid the past month or so, making Mike Glennon now look like a stop-gap plan for another quarterback under maybe a different regime in the not-too-distant future.

What seemed like the only times the Bucs tried to push the ball up the field with any degree of urgency and purpose yesterday, Glennon looked sharp, engineering two touchdown drives, the first coming late in the first half. Glennon was nearly perfect throwing the ball. [read more]

The question brings Greg Schiano’s development skills into the spotlight

Fans by nature, yearn for the positive. It’s what feeds their hope. And sports are all about hope. It’s what makes August such an exciting time of year.

Joe actually even had a Bucs fan last week, a smart guy Joe knows for years, passionately explain to Joe why Greg Schiano is a “great” NFL coach. Not a good coach, not a promising a coach, a great coach. [read more]

Mike Glennon and the Bucs were battered and bruised yesterday.

A long look at the Bucs yesterday, today, and what to expect tomorrow and beyond.

If there was one redeeming value in the Bucs getting curb-stomped by the 49ers yesterday, it was the Bucs currently still have a great 2014 draft slot — seventh overall factoring in Joe’s calculation of strength of schedule tiebreakers for the entire season.

Frankly, there are any number of ways the Bucs could go. Joe is awfully sure secondary, linebacker and running back will not be on Bucs rock star general manger Mark Dominik’s notes for the first round.

Joe would be fine with a first round pick of any of the following positions, but of course would love a certain quarterback from College Station who Nick Saban couldn’t slow down: Offensive line, wide receiver, quarterback, defensive end.

Joe has a hunch Dominik will go offense first, a combination of Dominik being gun-shy of drafting another defensive lineman high and the offense having a lot of leaks. Just a hunch, nothing more. [read more]

The draft-position jockeying for Week 15 is over for the Bucs. If the season ended today, the Bucs would have the seventh overall pick.

Thanks for winning, Vikings and Bills!

The Bucs are tied with Altanta, Cleveland, Oakland and Jacksonville at 4-10, but the Bucs have the toughest strength of schedule, so the Bucs would lose all tiebreakers. Houston and Washington are battling for the dubious No. 1 pick, though Washington traded their pick away to help land Robert Griffin, III.

If the Bucs pick 7th, Joe’s darn confident a quality quarterback prospect will be sitting their for the taking.

DaQuan who?

Bucs fans can at least crack a little grin tonight at the play of rookie defensive end Will Gholston against the 49ers. He continues to emerge as a real-deal NFL talent over the past month or so. [read more]

Unless Bucs coaches expect Chris Owusu and others to break three or four tackles on third down, it is setting the offense up to fail by running pass routes short of the first down marker.

Look, Joe knows the fundamental strategy of football is to take what the defense gives you. While that sounds great, in practice, it’s not so great.

If a team does that, then that means the defense is dictating what the offense calls. Only teams with defenses like the old Bucs, the 1985 Bears or the 2000 Ravens can overcome such limp offenses, which bow to whatever the defense gives.

This came to mind while Joe was watching the Bucs struggle so much and so often on third downs. How many times on third down have you seen the Bucs call pass plays where the receiver is a good four yards shy of the first down marker? [read more]

Joe was mighty disappointed in the Bucs defense today.

They’re loaded with talent at all three levels. They were healthy. (Yes, Joe knows Lavonte David and Mark Barron got banged up.) Niners stud left guard Mike Iupati didn’t play. The Bucs were back home, coming off a huge performance. But the Bucs dropped a dud. [read more]

Joe still has reservations about Bucs QB Mike Glennon.

Joe knows many Bucs fans have already anointed quarterback Mike Glennon as their next franchise quarterback. Joe also knows if Bucs commander Greg Schiano returns, it’s hard to believe Glennon won’t be the Bucs quarterback.

Joe wants to believe in the guy, he really does. But Glennon had another meh game today, which is now his fourth lackluster game in a row. [read more]

This photo appears to show Eric Page’s handoff to Russell Sheppard on a kick return was not squarely placed in Sheppard’s gut, which resulted in a scoop-and-score by the 49ers. Given the fact that both special teams coach Dave Wannstedt and Bucs commander Greg Schiano confronted Page on the sideline after the play, and that Page did not return to the field on the ensuing kickoff, it’s fair to reason Page was at fault somehow on the play.

Joe has already posted about the kickoff fumble between Eric Page and Russell Sheppard that provided the 49ers with a game-sealing scoop-and-score. The angle of a close-up replay Joe saw in the press box of the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway showed Page did not put the ball in Sheppard’s gut, which is Football 101 for handoffs. [read more]

Was Bucs commander Greg Schiano too conservative (again)?

Now call this nitpicking. Joe doesn’t mind. You very well could be correct.

Last week, on Wednesday no less, Bucs commander Greg Schiano held court with the Tampa Bay pen and mic club, which he does virtually each and every day.

Wednesday, in the vernacular of the NFL, is the start of the work week. In this case, it was 49ers week. Schiano went on and on about how good the 49ers were, and he was and is correct. The 49ers have a damned fine team. There’s a reason why the 49ers are the defending NFC champs. [read more]

The Bucs had just given up a field goal for the 49ers to take a 23-14 lead with 4:27 left in today’s game. Not a perfect scenario for the Bucs but certainly enough time for a comeback.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Bucs decided to go with some trickery. The Bucs had practiced a reverse or a handoff of some type to fool the 49ers and allow for a big kick return.

Problem was, it turned out the Bucs looked like fools. Initial replays (NFL film not yet available on NFL.com as of this writing) showed that kick returner Eric Page attempted to hand off to Russell Sheppard but the ball — again, from the replay angle Joe initially saw — was not placed in Sheppard’s gut; that’s failing Football 101 for handing a ball off. [read more]

It was a game on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter, but the reality is the Bucs were bullied and worn down by the mighty 49ers today.

The Bucs made plays, plenty of them on defense and flashed some offense, but it was nowhere near enough. That was to be expected.

The Bucs lost in the trenches — again, expected — and got burned by third-down magician Colin Kaepernick far too many times. [read more]

Welcome to (for now) sunny Tampa, where the Bucs host the rugged 49ers in the last home game of the 2013 season. Will it be Bucs commander Greg Schiano’s final home game as Bucs coach?

One way to punch his ticket for a return at the helm would be to pull off a monumental upset of the 49ers. As Joe wrote earlier, he simply cannot see that happening short of the Bucs pulling off a pick-six and/or a scoop and score on defense.

Some things to watch: Will Mike Glennon continue his slide or will he bounce back? If Glennon stinks up the joint again, Joe is sure drafting a quarterback is very much on the table (“Hhheeerrreee’sss Johnny!”). Also, can the Bucs ‘offensive line man up and prevent the manly 49ers front seven, maybe the best in the business, from harassing Glennon and create running lanes?

Feel free to bang your keyboard here throughout the game. As always, please do not post URLs of illegally streamed broadcasts, but you are welcome to e-mail them among yourselves.

Go Bucs!

Game 14

49ers (9-4) at Bucs (4-9)

Kickoff: 1 p.m.

TV: WTVT-TV, Channel 13, locally. Outside the Tampa Bay area, DirecTV Channel 708.

Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM 103.5, and WDAE-AM 620); SiriusXM Channel 93.

[read more]

In this CSN Bay Area video, Matt Maiocco discusses the most critical match-up of today’s 49ers-Bucs game, and that would be All-World tight end Vernon Davis vs. Bucs safety Dashon Goldson.

The fate of Bucs commander Greg Schiano is viewed as up in the air for some. After posting a losing season in 2012, and starting this season 0-8, Joe has never before experienced this kind of local freakout over a coach.

Billboards shot up all over the Tampa Bay area calling for Schiano’s job. Phone lines to local sports radio shows were fried by fans demanding Schiano’s head on a silver platter.

It was ugly. [read more]