Just as Joe predicted (to himself) yesterday, and the prediction continued today, the pro-Aqib Talib faction, blinded by potential while unable to see the facts, were outraged that Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik was able find a sucker to cough up a fourth round pick for a guy the Bucs were going to let walk away after his contract expired in February.

Bill Belicheat was the sap this time, apparently a move of desperation as his toasty secondary is getting lit up right and left.

As the old cliche goes, any port in a storm.

The numbers crunchers of ProFootballFocus.com have monitored Talib’s play this year and their numbers and calculations reinforce what intelligent Bucs fans have seen: that Talib is grossly overrated and at best, is an inconsistent cornerback on (when he began his four-game suspension) the NFL’s worst pass defense.

How bad was Talib getting roasted? Some 66 percent of the balls thrown his way were completed. Doesn’t sound much like a lockdown corner to Joe.

Here are the gory details Twittered by PFF:

@PFF: Talib this year: 36 targets, 24 receptions (66.7%), for 399 yards and 1 TD given up. 1 INT, 6 PDs, QB rating of 101.5 into his coverage

That’s 16 yards a completion Talib averaged which is no less than outrageous! Myron Lewis could do just as well without all the drama and for a fraction of the cost.

As veteran columnist Gary Shelton once inferred this season on TampaBay.com, if you are, at best, an inconsistent cornerback on the league’s worst pass defense, just what value do you bring?

Apparently, in the poker room of Dominik, a fourth round pick.

Interesting stuff in this Boston sports radio audio below from popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging Peter King, of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports fame.

King reveals some of his fireside training camp chat with Greg Schiano about Aqib Talib. And King shares his talks with Talib, as well.

“Greg Schiano really liked this guy,” King emphasized.

King went on to make sure Patriots fans understand that Talib is not a great cornerback. He’s “not nirvana” for the Pats, King says. (The Talib chatter picks up about 3:10 of the audio.)

Here are the regions of the country that will broadcast the Bucs-Raiders game live over local FOX affiliate airwaves for the 4 p.m. EST kickoff. Areas shaded in yellow will receive the Bucs-Raiders broadcast. It appears Fort Myers and Tallahassee will get to see the Bucs game. Maps are subject to change prior to kickoff. Map is courtesy of the506.com.

Veteran Tampa Bay sportscaster Dave Wirth, of WTSP-TV, Ch. 10, weighs in with his exclusive weekly video for JoeBucsFan.com.

How cool is this!

Wirth gets into the various “bombshells” pounding away at the Bucs roster, and the Raiders game. Enjoy.

Josh Freeman was unprompted and speaking with extreme confidence last night when he said the Bucs offense and his chemistry with receivers will be significantly better in a month or so.

Freeman, via The Josh Freeman Show on WDAE-AM 620, comfortably talked about how the offense is grinding out the work day by day and seeing results — nine touchdown passes in the past three games should let any Bucs fan know Freeman is not delusional — and how Dallas Clark is settling in now after adjusting to an offense radically different than the one he was in for a decade in Indianapolis.

Interestingly, Greg Schiano gave a similar take to the Oakland media, via Associated Press.

“Everyone is getting a little bit better and it adds up,” Schiano said. “That doesn’t mean anything it’s looking forward. It gives them confidence, it should give them confidence that ‘Hey, this is what we’re capable of but you’re only as good as your next outing.’ That’s what we need to do. We need to go out and do a little bit better this week against Oakland. That’s what we have to try.”

Thankfully, tired “the-getting-better-every-day” line is not a bunch of baloney for these Bucs. One can track steady improvement on numerous fronts, including the coaching staff and Doug Martin stepping to the front of the line in Minnesota.

Hopefully it continues. But it’ll be a huge test to see how the Bucs respond when they do, almost inevitably, drop a clunker.

Back in December 1999, the Bucs lost 45-0 in Oakland, as Napolean Kaufman and Tyrone Wheatley ran hog wild on Tampa Bay. It served as a stunning a wake-up call before falling oh so short in the NFC Championship game to the Rams. Shaun King, QB of those ’99 Bucs, remembered that Raiders disaster yesterday on WDAE-AM. King said the Bucs had won six in a row before that game and there was a rockstar vibe around the team, which included one unnamed Buccaneer in the team resort elevator with naughty Salli Richardson the day before the game. 

History aside, Joe expects no such let down — or celebrity bedding — under the New Schiano Order in Oakland on Sunday. With extra time to prepare for this game, Joe doesn’t expect the Bucs to take a step backwards.

Super Bowl season is a fun time of year. And the amazing ESPN AT SEA has some great “Big Game” cruises out of Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale in 2013.

All kinds of former NFL greats are involved and accessible on the cruises, as well as greats from the soccer world, cheerleaders and much more. There’s a load of options, parties and a discount for JoeBucsFan.com readers. Click on through below to sniff all the deals and check out the Royal Caribbean ships.

Eric Wright’s days with the Bucs could very well quickly turn upside down if Greg Schiano’s handling of Aqib Talib is any standard.

Joe has to admit he was a bit stunned yesterday when Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik shipped gun-toting, helmet-wielding, cabbie-slugging, coach-cussing, granny-hassling Aqib Talib.

One reason was that even after the suspension for popping Adderall, Bucs coach Greg Schiano was adamant that Talib started with a clean slate with him and that the pill-popping was just his first offense.

Talib, who was Schiano’s staunchest supporter prior to the suspension, didn’t even get to finish out his sentence before being shipped off.

Now if Schiano has that itchy of a trigger finger to unload Talib after one offense, a player that constantly stuck up for Schiano and his hard-driving ways, just what are the chances troubled Eric Wright finishes the season in a Bucs uniform?

Wright, indirectly, made waves across the NFL last Sunday when NFL insider Jay Glazer, who also works for NFL Network in addition to his FOX duties, broke the news that Wright, too, tested positive for Adderall. And if true, he’s facing a four-game suspension just like Talib.

Joe is quick to point out that while Bucs officials hint Wright will play Sunday, not one Bucs official nor any NFL suit has hinted, on or off the record, that Glazer’s story was inaccurate.

Given Glazer’s history of nailing scoops, it’s difficult to believe the Bucs, Wright, his agent, and the NFL would be so quiet if Glazer was off base.

So if the Bucs were so quick to wash their hands of a Schiano-guy, just how thin is the ice under Wright?

The “rock star” did it again.

Yesterday when Joe learned the Bucs were able not just to trade away troubled, granny-hassling, helmet-wielding, gun-toting, cabbie-slugging, coach-cussing cornerback Aqib Talib, but get a great return for him, Joe thought it was remarkable.

Talib was only going to suit up for another handful of games, after which the Bucs surely were going to let him walk on his contract year. So the fact Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik was able to find anyone to cough up a draft pick for Talib was a pretty swift move. Then, Joe heard the Patriots and Bill Belicheat were parting with a fourth round pick; Joe couldn’t believe his ears!

If anything, Dominik has demonstrated an ability to con other general managers and purloin draft picks for bags of empty peanut shells.

Notice Dominik got a draft pick out of Brian Price, who is out of football. He got a conditional draft pick for disc-spinning Kellen Winslow, who is out of football. Hell, Dominik was able to swindle a second round pick for a guy who soon after would pass away.

But there is more to this saga then just stocking up on draft picks. Turn back the time machine to April when Dominik held extra poker chips during the NFL draft. It was with that extra collateral that Dominik traded up to grab Doug Martin, and trade up to grab Lavonte David, two pillars of the team that point to brighter days ahead.

Remember this transaction of Talib for a fourth round pick next spring when Dominik likely trades up for another solid pick.

Draft picks. Smart front office men want them. Everybody wants some. Everybody needs some.

Joe thought one highlight of the preseason, and a good player off the bench, was defensive end George Johnson, who saw lots of playing time with injuries to Adrian Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers.

Johnson did a helluva job of getting pressure on the quarterback, and in some cases, batting down passes with his paw. But apparently he was not good enough. Lost in the wake of the Aqib Talib trade was that the Bucs waived Johnson this afternoon.

Joe is very, very surprised at this. The only conclusion Joe can figure out is that Bowers is really improving to the point he can now play an entire series, not just a handful of third down situations.

Joe knows for a fact that Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik is a deliberate man. He just doesn’t do things on a whim.

Also, with Bucs coach Greg Schiano, does he impress you as one who just wings things? Of course not.

Both Dominik and Schiano studied trading Talib from all angles, including how the Bucs would be able to fill the void. This tells Joe that Schiano, if not Dominik himself, is high on Leonard Johnson.

The rookie undrafted free agent, a former Largo High School star some could have been drafted as high as the third round, some draftniks believed. Partially because of his size, partially because of a bad combine workout, Johnson slipped through the cracks and landed in Dominik’s lap.

Also know that Schiano has had a relationship with Johnson since he was a sophomore in high school. Johnson was named MVP of a Rutgers-sponsored high school football camp held in Tampa. No one knows Johnson at One Buc Palace better than Schiano, who still kicks himself for not being able to lure Johnson to Piscataway.

Johnson played like a seasoned pro against Minnesota. He should have had two picks; he did record one, robbed of a second and played strong. Perhaps it was a harbinger of things to come.

As for a harbinger, how about this from Schiano when the news of Talib’s latest suspension was learned:

“Every decision that we make as an organization has one thing in mind, and that’s what’s best for the organization,” said Schiano. “When I say best, it’s not just winning. Yes, that’s what you do in this league. There are 32 teams and we’re all chasing one prize.

“But when you’re part of a community, there’s a lot of things that go into a decision. I can just tell our fans and all the people that care about this that we are going to do what’s best for the organization, so you’ve got to just trust us on this one.”

Johnson is humble, smart, focused, motivated. One could say, he’s the anti-Talib.

Nearly every week the leader of the New Schiano Order says all the moves he makes and will make are about winning the next football game.

It’s a commentary Greg Schiano puts out there many different ways.

So for Joe, today’s trade of Aqib Talib is especially interesting. It’s a deal that clearly does not make the New Schiano Order Bucs more likely to win at home against San Diego on Nov. 11, a game Talib would have been ready to play after returning from his substance-abuse suspension, and a game that might be critical for the playoff hunt.

No, the Bucs won’t be better in 10 days without Talib.

Ditching Talib was not about winning; it was about the third core tenet of the New Schiano Order: accountability, as in “trust, belief and accountability.”

For whatever reason, in the case of Talib Schiano and rockstar general manager Mark Dominik believed that upholding the new Buccaneer Way was more important than a W.

Some fans might have a big problem with that. But Joe’s all good.

Joe has never before seen throngs of Bucs fans go nuts over a guy so grossly overrated, so horribly inconsistent.

Whenever Joe suggested troubled, helmet-wielding, cabbie-slugging, pistol-shooting (allegedly), Adderall-popping Aqib Talib’s days with the Bucs might be over, the way a good number of Bucs fans reacted, it was if the Bucs were unloading Night Train Lane or Rod Woodson.

This just in: The Bucs have a winning record when Talib is unable to play, whether by injury or suspension.

Against good quarterbacks and good receivers, Talib was seared like a porterhouse steak on a grill at a Fourth of July weekend backyard party. Calvin Johnson shamed him. Eli Manning lit him up like a roman candle, to name a few.

Talib, now that he was playing for a coach that wouldn’t coddle him and allow him to cuss out said coach in a London lobby in full view of the public after blowing off curfew, simply couldn’t deal with all the drama for such little play.

If you are a horribly inconsistent, average cornerback on a team with (at the time of his suspension) the NFL’s worst pass defense, then really how valuable can one be?

And away Talib goes. The hammer of the New Schiano Order has come down and it has come down hard.

Joe’s going to guess that Eric Wright will not sleep well tonight.

Helmet-wielding, cabbie-slugging, Adderrall-popping, coach-cussing, referee-charging, pistol-friendly, granny-hassling Aqib Talib has joined Bill Belicheat and the New England Patriots, per ProFootballTalk.com. The trade went down this afternoon(Update: the Bucs dealt a 2013 seventh-round pick with Talib for the Patriots’ 2013 fourth-round pick.)

Wow!

This ends a turbulent era for the man Raheem Morris dubbed the “wild child” shortly after he was drafted by Chucky and Bruce Almighty in the first round of the NFL Draft back in 2008.

It’s no surprise the Bucs were trying to unload Talib, but it is a surprise that they found a taker at the trade deadline’s 11th hour. Joe suspects Greg Schiano strongly recommended Talib’s work ethic to his pal Belicheat, though not the cornerback’s shenanigans.

The only thing Joe’s sure of after this is that the Bucs most certainly will be looking at a cornerback in the first round come April’s draft.

Joe has no problem with the deal, and Joe also would have been just fine if Talib rode out the season before moving on in free agency. Talib simply ran out of rope with his latest drug mess.

Raiders analyst Bill Romanowski, the wild, crazy and juiced up former hard-hitting Pro Bowler, likes what the New Schiano Order is all about.

In this CSNBayarea.com video. Romanowski gets intense talking about how the Bucs “will knock you in the mouth” and he wants to see the Raiders look more like the Bucs. Good stuff here. Joe especially likes Romanowski’s take on kneel-downs.

Where’s Gerald McCoy? Big No. 93 hasn’t had a sack since September.

Bucs defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan was asked today to explain McCoy’s impact considering recent stats don’t paint much of a picture. Sheridan was quick to passionately explain that McCoy is the straw that stirs the drink.

“If you really watch the film and how people are setting their protections to handle [McCoy,} and even just the interior push he’s able to provide in the pocket, same thing in the running game, you know, d-tackles aren’t going to make as many tackles as your linebackers and safeties, but the type of blocking patterns that he’s drawing, that allows our second-level guys to play off of him and make plays at the line of scrimmage in the running game,” Sheridan said.

“Like I said, if you really watch the film, he has a huge impact on our defense every single week and definitely is disruptive to the offense. And they know that and they’re setting up their schemes accordingly.”

Well, there you have it. The film don’t lie, says Sheridan.

McCoy is healthy, his teammates are playing off him successfully, and teams are game-planning to stop him. Now all he has to do is stay on the field.

Once a fixture on the Bucs sidelines, Tiger Woods now inspires Connor Barth.

Joe explored the brain of Connor Barth yesterday and found a kicker who refuses to allow negative vibes to infect his spirit.

Simply put, when Barth misses a field goal — thankfully a rare happening — he doesn’t go back to the film to see what went wrong. Lots of kickers study tape, Barth said, but he prefers to just get back to field work and employ the Tiger Woods strategy of positive imagery.  

“I only watch kicks that I make, just because that keeps positive mental images in my mind,” Barth said.” I like to watch Tiger Woods in interviews because if he’s ever asked about a bad shot, he always changes it around and says, ‘Hey, look at the good shot I had on this tee shot, or this green,’ or whatever. So I just try to look at the positives. I rarely, rarely watch misses just because any kicker knows exactly what he did at that time. There’s no reason to go back.

“Maybe if it’s a bad, bad hit, then maybe, but for me it’s moving on to the next one and trying to be positve about everything. There’s just no point. Kicking is such a mental thing. You need to have those good vibes in your head.”

This reminded Joe of serial adulterer Tiger Woods hanging with Chucky on the Bucs’ sidelines (sadly TMZ  never pursued that connection. And how lame was it that Woods disappeared when Chucky was fired? You know Raheem would have embraced Tiger.) Barth’s words also reminded Joe of John Madden saying in an interview many years ago that he never watched/listened to himself call a football game.

Madden explained that going back to the video would only force him to focus on his flaws and distract him from preparing for the next game.

Hopefully, Barth can keep his focus as he churns toward a Pro Bowl season. He’s a huge strength for the Bucs, and he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy that will fizzle out quickly, ala Martin Gramatica.

Former Bucs QB Shaun King weighs in on Carson Palmer, who surely will let his speedy Raiders wideouts test the likes of E.J. Biggers and Leonard Johnson.

Shaun King, one of three quarterbacks to lead the Bucs to the NFC title game, says there’s drool falling off the chin of veteran Raiders QB Carson Palmer.

King, however, is hopeful the Bucs pass rush can disrupt Palmer enough to prevent the Raiders from putting up video-game numbers Sunday.

“He’s licking his chops,” King said of Palmer on WDAE-AM 620 this morning. “And right now, when you look at our won-loss record and defensively what we’ve been able to do, if we play a team that has an average or below quarterback, then we generally have done really well. When we’ve played guys that have above-average quarterbacks, then we’ve had a lot of difficulty.

“Up to this point [the Raiders] haven’t been real effective running the ball and they don’t have a great offensive line, so we should be able to get enough pressure on Carson where he just doesn’t kill us.”

The Raiders offense is a strange brew, so Joe is confident nobody can know what to expect Sunday. Oakland’s new offensive coordinator has come under heavy fire, and the Raiders seem to changeup their attack regularly. They’ve already scaled back using their new-for-2012 zone blocking schemes, and Palmer has run a load of no-huddle in some games and not much in others.

Perhaps the most consistent element has been Palmer himself. He ranks in the NFL’s top tier in numerous statistical categories and his speedy receiving corps is healthy.

This game is no cake-walk. It still troubles Joe that the Falcons needed a late 55-yard field goal and turnover to beat the Raiders earlier this season in Atlanta.

There’s a pretty darn cool ESPN at Sea cruise leaving from the Port of Tampa in February. On this fantastic Royal Caribbean cruise, you can hang out and watch the “BIG GAME” with all kinds of former Bucs and NFL players (more to be announced soon), along with greats from the world of soccer.

Click below to check out Joe’s special page at the ESPN at Sea website, where you can find the discount code joebucsfan, check out all the options and learn about the cheerleaders on board. There’s also another “BIG GAME” cruise from Ft. Lauderdale.

Breaking Bucs news is what “The Big Dog” does.

Yesterday, Joe’s good friend, “The Big Dog,” Steve Duemig of WDAE-AM 620, once again broke Bucs news as he is wont to do.

While the Bucs were showing Ted Larsen taking snaps at left guard in the 30-minute window the Tampa Bay pen and mic club was allowed to watch practice yesterday (which is mostly used up by players warming up), Bucs coach Greg Schiano is up to espionage, Duemig told his listening audience, and in fact is working Jeremy Zuttah at left guard and Larsen at center.

The reason for this is, as Bucs fans should know by now, All-Pro guard Carl Nicks is out for the year with a grotesque toe injury (which Joe has seen and can confirm it is gross).

Zuttah was the incumbent left guard until Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik signed Nicks as a free agent in the offseason. Zuttah did play left guard last year when Jeff Faine played at center. When Faine couldn’t answer the bell, Zuttah moved to center and Larsen filled in at left guard, where he is marginally better than at right guard.

Schiano would not say yesterday who was playing or who would start at left guard Sunday at Oakland, but Schiano said, in so many words, that all offensive linemen were in the mix in various mix-and-matches to try to find the best combination for the starting five.

Joe spoke with former starter Jeremy Trueblood, who lost his right tackle gig, and who had been whispered to perhaps play guard at some point, a position he hasn’t taken a snap at since high school. But Trueblood flatly told Joe he was not going to play left guard, nor has he been working out at the position in practice — words straight from Trueblood’s mouth.

There is no way the Bucs can replace Nicks. That isn’t happening. But perhaps Schiano believes Zuttah is a better fit there than Larsen.

Schiano’s mixing and matching on the offensive line seems to have plugged holes/weaknesses on the right side of the line thus far. So Joe’s hoping Schiano can use the same magic on the left side.

Feel free to share your thoughts on the offensive line scramble with “The Big Dog” by calling his show this afternoon from 3-6 p.m.

The Bucs have the unflattering notoriety of having their starting two cornerbacks, Aqib Talib and Eric Wright, in trouble with Adderall, a banned substance in NFL circles.

While Talib admitted he tested positive for Adderall, Wright has not been as forthcoming. FOX NFL insider Jay Glazer reported Sunday that Wright, too, tested positive for Adderall. Wright, not surprisingly, has been quiet and kept at arm’s length from probing reporters. And while Bucs officials are under the cloak of player confidentiality and deflect drug-related questions about Wright, not one Bucs official or NFL spokesman has denied Glazer’s report.

Alan Dell absorbs all of this information and is seething. The Bradenton Herald columnist documents Wright’s troubled past with felony charges, alleged pill possessions and indirect links between Wright’s former teammates and their brushes with Adderall as well.

Dell wonders aloud why Talib is crucified by Bucs fans while Wright is seemingly given a pass.

It seemed everybody wanted to run Talib out of town when he was recently suspended for taking Adderall, a substance the NFL bans, citing it as a performance-enhancing drug. For a player to take it, he must get a doctor’s prescription and then a waiver from the league.

Talib got neither.

He is not known for making wise decisions and to keep him out of trouble, you want to surround him with people who will look out for his best interests, which brings us back to Wright.

Dell goes on to write that Wright is a quesitonable influence around the young Bucs roster.

It is an interesting theory of Dell’s. One could argue that Wright’s past makes Talib’s indiscretions pale by comparison. Many of Talib’s steps over the line just weren’t smart moves.

Wright’s brushes with the law seem a bit more sinister.

As to why Bucs fans may be giving Wright a pass, Wright has only been around the Tampa Bay area a few months. Sure, there was the California collision this summer, with charges dropped, so the positive test for Adderall (allegedly) is his first offense as a Bucs player.

Talib averages an annual indiscretion.

In short, Dell’s piece is worth reading.