Joe didn’t see Jeff Tedford on the practice fields of One Buc Palace today. He wasn’t even on the bench wearing a floppy hat with Logan Mankins, Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Michael Johnson. [read more]

The official injury report isn’t out yet, but the key wounded Buccaneers were wearing a floppy hat today and watching practice in the sun at One Buc Palace.

Not good.

Shown here in the floppy hat club, from left to right, Michael Johnson (ankle), Austin Seferian-Jenkins (wearing a walking boot on his right foot), limping Logan Mankins and Charles Sims. (Doug Martin is also sitting out, per The Tampa Tribune.)

Here comes the trash talk

Starting on the dreadful (after one week) Rams offensive line is right guard Davin Joseph, the former Buccaneers captain.

Joseph was well loved by his teammates, so look for Joseph to get quite an earful of trash talk on Sunday. [read more]

Lambs backup QB Shaun Hill was, as Charles Barkley would say, “turrible,” in the Lambs’ season opening loss to the Vikings.

Just like last week, the Bucs will face a backup quarterback Sunday when the St. Louis Lambs blow into town.

Last week, as we all remember, the Bucs couldn’t take advantage of facing the dangerous Derek Anderson who outplayed Bucs quarterback Josh McCown.

With the Lambs, their quarterback situation is a complete and total mess. [read more]

Mike Jenkins’ season is over

In some circles, it is believed the Bucs lost a cornerback this morning. Joe thinks otherwise.

In the early days of the Lovie Smith Administration, if Joe sensed any player was Lovie’s pet, it was the notorious Mike Jenkins.

Run out of Dallas and left along the side of the road by the mighty Raiders, Lovie decided to rescue Jenkins from unemployment and did his best to force Jenkins into the starting lineup. [read more]

Last year, the Panthers held opponents to 16 or fewer points in 10 — Ten! — of their 16 regular season games. They had a smothering run defense and the led the NFL in sacks. What exactly was expected from the Bucs’ offensive line Sunday?

The reality is they weren’t that bad. [read more]

“Shutup, Sully. That’s working, but we didn’t practice it enough to do it in the second half.”

Greg Schiano would have quite flummoxed if he listened to Josh McCown talk on the Buccaneers Radio Network last night.

You see, McCown discussed how Tampa Bay made in-game adjustments to the Panthers defense, which led to two late touchdown drives and a fourth quarter that left Bucs fans with hope. [read more]

You gotta love the urgency in the NFL, and the psychotic nature of its hardcore fans.

Even Lovie Smith, still on his Tampa honeymoon, heard boos rain down upon him in the first half of the season opener Sunday. [read more]

It’s good to have a short memory as a professional athlete. Good or bad, put it in the rearview mirror and move on to the next game or the next play.

Bucs quarterback Josh McCown, however, operates with a unique spin on that wisdom. [read more]

After injuring his ankle last week, it is unknown whether stud Lambs DE Chris Long will play against the Bucs.

When the Lambs come to town Sunday, they will involuntarily give the Bucs a break. Too bad Tampa Bay got the same break last week and blew the chance.

For the second week in a row, a Bucs opponent will be without its starting quarterback. [read more]

A prominent former Buccaneer weighs in with firm language

Jonathan Casillas already grinned in the sad Bucs postgame locker room Sunday and talked about how his former Saints teams were ones to play games with the NFL injury report.

That was in response to a question about the Panthers possibly lying about Cam Newton’s health. [read more]

With the regular season here, the popular “JoeBucsFan.com hour” kicks up a notch as Joe joins the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig of WDAE-AM 620, every Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Joe dove deep this evening on a variety of subjects. [read more]

Bucs C Evan Dietrich-Smith discusses the Sunday debacle

The new Bucs sure seemed like the old Bucs Sunday, at least for three quarters. Horrible quarterback play. Zero pressure on the quarterback. Inconsistent blocking on offense.

For Bucs center Evan Dietrich-Smith, the offensive line needs only to look in the mirror, but it will get better. [read more]

Last Sunday, Solomon Patton was one of the very few bright spots on the field for the Bucs in a debacle loss to the Stinking Panthers. He averaged 26 yards a kick return fielding only two.

A day before, he had no idea he would even play. [read more]

Nothing quite like film study to get Joe aroused. It’s not cheerleader arousal, but still fun nonetheless.

Remember that big catch and run by rookie tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins on the Bucs’ opening offensive series Sunday? [read more]

About 100 days ago, Lovie Smith sized up Steven Means as “that prototype guy” while talking about defensive ends for his system.

Now, Means is a former Buccaneer. [read more]

The loss of Michael Bennett got a new twist today

Letting beastly young defensive end Michael Bennett walk away to Seattle after a nine-sack season in 2012, a season in which Bennett also was dominant against the run, is one of the more puzzling moves/non-moves in Tampa Bay Buccaneers history.

And this morning, former Bucs rockstar general manager Mark Dominik made it sound like that critical call wasn’t his decision. [read more]

Left guard Garrett Gilkey weighed in on his new team and first performance, and drew Lovie Smith accolades.

New Bucs All-Pro guard Logan Mankins went down with a knee injury Sunday, and Joe’s going to guess most Tampa Bay fans have no idea who replaced him.

The fact is second-year man Garrett Gilkey, who arrived in Tampa last week after being among the Browns’ final cuts, did a solid job against the mighty Panthers defensive line, especially in pass protection. [read more]