The Bucs’ first-teamers walked off the field with a 24-0 lead

The Tampa Bay defense continues to dominate. Who needs offense? Joe can only imagine the furious chants of DEE-FENCE coming back to the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway.

Lovie Smith said in January that nasty, turnover-forcing defense could win a team eight games without much of an offense. So perhaps the Bucs are at least an eight-win team? [read more]

Join the fun in the comments section all through the game

The Bucs have their last dress rehearsal for the starters, or who they think will be starters, at 4:30 p.m. in Buffalo. Of particular interest is how the Bucs offensive line does against one of football’s better front sevens. How far along the offensive line likely will be revealed this afternoon.

Joe has a hunch there will be players picked up off the waiver wire after cutdown day later this week, as teams trim their rosters to the mandated 75 after the third preseason game.

Bang it here with your comments early and often. The game is nationally televised live on NFL Network, so for folks who are out of the Tampa Bay area, there should be no need for illegal video streaming of the game.

Leadership skills and experience are massive reasons Josh McCown was anointed Tampa Bay starting quarterback. It certainly wasn’t his 16 career victories since being drafted in 2002.

McCown is smart, wise and serene under pressure, Lovie Smith said in March, and McCown was going to surprise with his elite athleticism at 35 years old. [read more]

It’s Jeff Tedford time in this important “dress rehearsal” in Buffalo. No, Tedford is not pictured with these lovely Buffalo lasses.

Preseason Game 3

Buccaneers at Bills

Kickoff: 4:30 p.m.

TV: Live on WFLA-TV, Channel 8, locally, and nationally broadcast on NFL Network.

Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM 103.5, and WDAE-AM 620); SiriusXM Channel 136.

[read more]

Gerald McCoy talks about the difference between Lovie Smith and former commander Greg Schiano.

Joe can’t claim he knows Bucs coach Lovie Smith. Oh, sure, he knows who he is (and Lovie knows who Joe is, too). That doesn’t mean Joe knows him.

But in Joe’s perhaps, half-dozen times he’s had a chance to talk one-on-one with Lovie, the word “gentleman” springs to mind. Because Lovie really is a gentle man. [read more]

Training camp wasn’t even over yet when Joe was getting messages from loads of fans, “Why aren’t you writing about Michael Johnson?” Of course, there were other players Joe was asked about, but none more so than Johnson.

(As most readers know, Joe is about topics and happenings. Joe won’t write about a player just because he is on the roster. A guy has to do something — bad or good — in order for Joe to care.) [read more]

“Matter closed,” says Bucs coach Lovie Smith.

Yesterday, TMZ.com unearthed a video of Bucs rookie wide receiver Mike Evans getting into a hassle outside a Miami night club. The site incorrectly reported the date of the incident to be last Saturday.

In fact, the Bucs hosted Miami in a preseaosn game Saturday, a game in which Evans played in (remember the near-touchdown?). Then, Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times confirmed with Evans’ agent that the incident took place in March, some six weeks before Evans was drafted by the Bucs. [read more]

Bucs MLB Mason Foster talks about the main trait of the 2014 Bucs.

Consider Mason Foster a survivor. The Bucs’ middle linebacker was overwhelmed as a rookie, thrown into the fire with no help on either side of him and playing a new position. It showed.

Foster survived the Raheem Morris mess and improve greatly under then-commander Greg Schiano. With his third coach in four years, Lovie Smith, the new Bucs leader thought so much of him he handed him the playcalling duties. [read more]

Video surfaces of Bucs WR Mike Evans in a hassle outside a nightclub.

[UPDATE: Per Greg Auman ot the Tampa Bay Times, this incident happened in March. The TMZ story incorrectly dates the incident Saturday night in Miami. The Bucs played the Dolphins Saturday night in Tampa.]

Video has surfaced of Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans getting into a throwdown outside a Miami nightclub in March. The incident happened before he was drafted.

Evans is seen arguing with a group of people outside a nightclub when chaos erupts. The video, obtained by TMZ.com, shows Evans jumping over a car and swinging. It looked more like a baseball “brawl” than anything else. There is more shoving and yelling than punches landed.

[read more]

Former NFL scout and NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah has crafted his list of NFL offensive rookie of the year candidates.

It’s a good list for Bucs fans because Mike Evans made the cut, but it’s also bad for two reasons. [read more]

Boom or bust for Doug Martin in 2014?

Right now the Bucs are starting to look like a waiting room at a hospital emergency room with all their injuries. And the team hasn’t even played its third preseason game.

Just in the backfield is scary enough. Charles Sims is out at least 12 weeks after ankle surgery. Mike James has a bum shoulder and won’t play tomorrow night. That’s two key players the Bucs had high hopes for in the running game (and passing game for Sims). [read more]

“Playing time will come.” Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.

While Bucs fans are understandably excited and giddy for the play of their rookie tight end, the monster that is Austin Seferian-Jenkins, right now he is not the No. 1 tight end. Read what you wish into it, but fan favorite Luke Stocker started last week.

As a pass-catcher, ASJ is an absolute freaking mismatch nightmare for both linebackers and cornerbacks. Even so, ASJ won’t start until he grasps elements he is learning on the NFL level. And he is fine with that. [read more]

When the Chiefs arrived to start the 2014 season this spring, Kansas City boss Andy Reid blessed new Bucs guard Rishaw Johnson as the man who would get first crack at starting right guard.

That’s what happens after you play well as a starter in the 2013 finale, and perform in a playoff game. [read more]

Bucs DL Da’Quan Bowers talks about his job status.

Wednesday, Bucs coach Lovie Smith discussed the status of oft-injured defensive lineman Da’Quan Bowers. Lovie did not mince words: Bowers needs to get out of the cold tub and onto the practice field or he could be unemployed, soon.

Lovie noted when bubble players miss reps, others take advantage. In short, Bowers had better his hurt groin healthy enough to get on the practice field and play through the pain. [read more]

Michael Johnson explains one of his technical adjustments that needs work

Big money free agent Michael Johnson is adjusting to his new role in a new defense.

Yes, it seems odd that an athletic defensive end like Johnson is finding it challenging to start wide at the line of scrimmage and get up the field, but that’s what’s happening. [read more]

“Our rush? On the defensive line? What rush?” — Adrian Clayborn, when asked to “rank” last year’s pass rush. [read more]

Bucs coach Lovie Smith, days after publicly scolding Bucs TE Tim Wright, today lauded the second-year NFLer.

The ups and downs and twists and turns of Bucs preseason, the inaugural season of the Lovie Smith regime, took another hard left turn in the straightaway today. In a slightly surprising move during his post-practice presser, Lovie sang the song of satisfaction when discussing Bucs tight end Tim Wright.

Mind you, this is the same Tim Wright who found himself in Lovie’s doghouse when Lovie called out Wright for suddenly displaying inconsistent hands and not being the most crisp blocker. [read more]