Vincent Jackson stood before Joe and the Tampa Bay media in the locker room this afternoon and touches on various topics.

Of course, Jackson played the role of loyal captain. [read more]

Minnesota will play its second consecutive road game on Sunday in Tampa, and the Bucs are coming off a bye week.

The Vegas-type numbers crunchers will tell you that’s a big advantage for the good guys. But does that really apply this weekend? [read more]

Joe hates comparing the 1996, inaugural Tony Dungy Bucs to the current team. It’s almost stupid.

Different personnel, different rules, different approaches for offenses. [read more]

In these unsettled times of devastating Bucs losses, constant change and growing pains, Joe thought it would be wise to bring back THE OPTIMIST.

THE OPTIMIST is Nick Houllis, a Bucs fan and an accomplished writer whose steadfast allegiance to the Buccaneers 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. … Of course, THE OPTIMIST’s opinions are his alone and are not influenced by Joe. [read more]

A little change was in the air at Bucs practice yesterday

Every day at practice, Greg Schiano ran the Bucs through a circuit of high school-like drills on tackling, fumble-recovery, ball-stripping and interceptions.

Frankly, those tactics all worked for Commander Schiano. Tampa Bay was tied for third in the NFL at takeaways last year. [read more]

Is Holliday signing a tell on the running backs battle?

It’s hard for Joe to excited over a returner who wasn’t re-signed by his own team as a restricted free agent, blew a hamstring this summer, and then sat unclaimed on the street for the past two weeks. But that doesn’t mean Bucs coach Lovie Smith isn’t excited.

The overlord of football operations with the Bucs is about as even-keeled as you get. Still, despite his Tom Landry-like demeanor, Lovie claims he is geeked — as only he can be geeked — about the addition of kick returner Trindon Holliday. [read more]

Lots of talk yesterday about Leslie Frazier

Vikings media was busy yesterday talking to former Minnesota head coach Leslie Frazier and other Bucs.

It seems Frazier is well loved but there are feelings of shame circling. [read more]

Joe always snickers at how NFL teams think they are guarding the secrets to the Manhattan Project the way they play NKVD. It really is amusing.

Like the high school espionage that Lovie Smith practices with who will start at quarterback for the Bucs this week, as if teams don’t have video on both guys. (hint: The Vikings beat the Josh McCown-led Bears last year). [read more]

The Bucs are in the middle of an uglier than ugly season. Not sure how much will change due to the bye week. Let’s just say picking up a kick returner who sat on the street for days doesn’t fill Joe with a lot of confidence, sorry.

Now there are whispers from a respected national voice about just how dominant perhaps their best player is, defensive tackle Gerald McCoy. [read more]

Bucs safety “Hawk” Goldson said, in the words of Roger Daltrey, you can see the real me if you buy a ticket for Sunday’s game.

Bucs safety “Hawk” Goldson hasn’t played since the win over Pittsburgh as he has been nursing a bum ankle. It seems his absence is just about over.

Holding court with the Tampa Bay pen and mic club today prior to practice, Goldson declared his ankle is fine and he will be ready to crunch ribs Sunday as the Bucs host the Vikings. [read more]

The Bucs are too soft. That’s not Joe complaining, it was the sentiment expressed by Lovie Smith this afternoon at One Buc Palace. [read more]

Right now, when Bucs fans broil in the sun at the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway, they just slam their souvenir beer cups on the concrete floor of the stadium in disgust when they watch opposing quarterbacks loft passes without a Bucs jersey in the same zip code.

It has become a long-standing Bucs tradition.

Though it hasn’t boiled over yet, there is a bubbling irritation with first-year Bucs defensive end Michael Johnson. [read more]

Today, Lovie Smith was selling the lack of a quarterback controversy on his team.

How he defines controversy, of course, isn’t clear. [read more]

From the words and body language of Bucs acting offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo today, it sure seems like QB Josh McCown won’t be ready to play Sunday.

Of course, the Bucs love to go all high school espionage when it comes to quarterbacks. Will Mike Glennon start Sunday? Or how about Josh McCown?

Lovie Smith, as if 17-year olds are playing defense for the Vikings, coached by part-time guys who may have never taken a snap of college football, loves to play it coy. [read more]

Don’t worry, Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans, the woeful offense can be fixed.

After rewinding all kinds of game film during the bye week, de facto offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo issued that address today. [read more]

Bucs DT Akeem Spence talks Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater and rushing the quarterback.

It’s like a hemorrhoid for Joe that flares up every fall and nothing doctors can do, short of carving the thing out, will subside the damned thing from September through December.

That NFL-hemorrhoid is the Bucs’ pass rush. As Joe wrote earlier, how many freaking draft picks, how many high-priced free agents have or will the Bucs have to go through before they find a guy to record double-digit sacks? [read more]

The call at starting quarterback may not come for days. Josh McCown is healthy, yet Lovie Smith says Mike Glennon provides “a lot of hope.”

Joe suspects Lovie would be happy to keep the Vikings and Mike Zimmer thoroughly confused up until kickoff Sunday. [read more]

During a week when Lovie Smith is preaching a “mentality” change, quite a picture was painted yesterday of the defensive hunger the Bucs should have.

Former Tampa Bay starting linebacker Ryan Nece, a rookie on the legendary Super Bowl team, explained what a guy like Teddy Bridgewater coming to Tampa used to mean. [read more]