The Bucs’ next opponent, the Kansas City Chiefs, appear to be a team on the brink.

The team has dealt with a drug suspension (stud defensive end Tamba Hali), injuries (wide receiver Dexter McCluster, a former Largo High School teammate of Bucs cornerback Leonard Johnson) and losing.

Ugly losing.

It’s so bad in Kansas City that fans have taken to the air, flying banners over Arrowhead Stadium demanding the ousting of general manager Scott Pioli.

If Chiefs offensive lineman and the Kansas City Star can be believed, yesterday in a struggle with the Baltimore Crows, fans turned on starting quarterback Matt Cassel, actually cheering when he was injured.

This has led Cassel’s teammates to express outrage at their paying customers, lashing out at Chiefs fans, details Randy Covitz of the Kansas City Star.

“But when somebody gets hurt … there are long-lasting ramifications to the game we play … I’ve already come to the understanding I probably won’t live as long because I play this game. And that’s OK. That’s the choice I’ve made. That’s the choice all of us made. But when you cheer somebody getting knocked out, I don’t care who it is, and it just so happened to be Matt Cassel, it’s sickening. It’s 100 percent sickening. I’ve been in some rough times on some rough teams. I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life to play football than at that moment right there.

“I get emotional about it, because these guys work their butts off. Matt Cassel hasn’t done anything to you people … hasn’t done anything to the media writers who kill him, hasn’t done anything wrong to the people that come out here and cheer him. If he’s not the best quarterback, he’s not the best quarterback, and that’s OK.

“But he’s a person. And he got knocked out in a game, and we got 70,000 people cheering … Boo him all you want. Boo me all you want. Throw me under the bus. Tell me I’m doing a bad job, say I’ve got to protect him more … but if you’re one of those people who were out there cheering, or even smiled, when he got knocked out, I just want everyone to know it’s sickening and disgusting.”

Now there’s two ways to look at this, at least in Joe’s eyes and perhaps, in Bucs’ fans eyes as well.

Either the Chiefs come into the stadium on Dale Mabry Highway a team in total disarray and ripe for a wood-shedding by the Bucs, or the Chiefs come in like a wounded tiger.

Joe’s guessing Bucs coach Greg Schiano is siding with the wounded tiger analogy.

Regulars on this here corner of the interwebs know Joe is a footballholic. On Saturdays, Joe can be found vegging on his couch virtually all day, inhaling copious amounts of beers while soaking in college football from noon to midnight (and sometimes, beyond).

Joe has become enmamoured with West Virginia and its video game-like offense, engineered by wonderful senior quarterback Geno Smith.

This past Saturday, Joe started a bonfire of sorts on Twitter when Bucs fans, who apparently were watching West Virginia and Smith slice up the Texas defense, began Twittering Joe about the possibility of the Bucs drafting Smith next April in the NFL draft.

Simply put, if Josh Freeman is still on the Bucs roster next spring, there is zero chance the Bucs draft Smith, which from the responses Joe received on Twitter, did not sit well with Bucs fans.

Look, there just is no way the Bucs will Pearl Harbor Freeman by drafting Smith. It simply isn’t going to happen. Plus, the Bucs are not going to be paying major cash to Freeman, a high first round draft pick, and have another high first round draft pick, Smith, sit on the bench behind him.

Besides, put yourself in the shoes of Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik. Does anyone with a sober mind actually expect Dominik to walk into the posh office of Team Glazer and try to explain to Team Glazer, “You know, all that cash you spent on Freeman, I guess it might be a waste. However, if you pull out your checkbook again, with maybe more cash, you could land Geno Smith.”

Short of Dominik totally selling out Raheem Morris, there is zero chance Dominik is going to lobby for Smith. It just isn’t going to happen.

Another element to think of: Does anyone — rationally thinking — really believe Greg Schiano will tank the rest of the Bucs games so the team has a shot of drafting Smith? Please.

For some reason, Bucs fans have to have a player to hate. First it was Barrett Ruud, then it was Gerald McCoy, now it seems to be Freeman.

Freeman’s current contract ends after the 2013 season. And no, the Bucs have not given up on Freeman.

So please put the thoughts of Smith coming to the Bucs out of your mind. It isn’t happening.

If there’s a guy among the media that knows Mike Sullivan and his offense, it would be former Giants receiver Amani Toomer.

Sullivan was Toomer’s position coach for five seasons (2004-2008) with New York. So Joe’s all ears when Toomer weighs in on the Bucs offense like he did last week with Whitney Johnson of WHBO-AM.

Toomer believes Josh Freeman looks very uncomfortable and Toomer doesn’t like the sideline interaction between Sullvan and No. 5.

“I just feel like [Freeman] doesn’t seem like he’s mastered it yet. You know, you can just look at his face, look at the body language and he just looks a little unsure of himself,” Toomer said. “Things happen and he’s going over to trying to talk to Sully. I know Sully is a guy who is very hands-on and he tries to explain to him. But there’s some point in time where you gotta just play the game and coach it off of the tape in terms of ‘Ok, Sully, I did that wrong and let’s move on and seek something else.’ Because there’s too much going on to be learning during the game.”

Toomer went on to say the bye week should be good for Freeman’s development.

Joe, too, has noticed Freeman and Sullivan poring over still shots together during games and seemingly in deep coach-player instruction.

Joe can’t call that a negative, like Toomer seems to be. But there is such a thing as overcoaching.

It’s the universal question swirling among Bucs fans: What’s wrong with Josh Freeman?

In recent days, Joe’s brought you various takes, including those from former Bucs Shaun King and Booger McFarland, who disagree with how Freeman has been handled by coaches.

Joe checked in with former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990-1991) on the subject after the Redskins game, and Carlson weighed in saying Freeman is having mechanics issues and Bucs coaches are waiting too long in games to have Freeman go to his strength, pumping balls downfield.

“It’s those short [throws], the square-ins and the curls, and the other types of routes that the backs do that he’s going to throw in front of them a little too far and behind them a little too far. He’ll put them on the money sometimes but he’s going to be inconsistent. And that’s his issue. That does come down to mechanics. But the reason he’s bad is because he’s unsure of what he’s doing, ” Carlson said.

“You can see the way he pulls his arm back. The quarterback should extend his arm out to the receiver. He kind of flicks it and pulls his arm back to himself. That just means he’s not confident in what he’s doing.”

Joe wonders along with everyone else about what is really driving Freeman’s inconsistency and apparent lack of on-field confidence.

One thing Joe does know is that Freeman would benefit greatly from a sound running game. The Bucs are averaging a terrible 3.6 yards a carry, 24th best in the NFL entering last weekend.

Joe wonders whether Greg Schiano was a bit jealous today watching the Chiefs lose 9-6 to the Ravens this afternoon.

The Chiefs pounded the ball relentlessly and successfully — something Schiano yearns to do — and simply needed Matt Cassell to protect the football and make some basic plays. Cassell couldn’t get it done, but the Chiefs did pick up confidence grinding out time of possession and moving the sticks on a top defense like the Ravens’.

Kansas City offensive lineman Eric Winston was excited after the game, telling the Kansas City Starhow the Chiefs need to maul defenses on the ground like that and rack up 50 carries every week. 

“I’ve never seen a team come out there and do what we did to them,’’ Winston said. “I’ve never seen somebody come out and run the ball like we did on them today, and that had better roll over. This has to be us every game. This has got to be us, a street fight every game. I told everybody in this locker room it’s got to be a street fight every game. This is who we are, this is who we need to be, this is Kansas City and we need to be a bunch of brawlers.

“If we have to run it 50 times and the fans boo because we ran it on third and 7, oh well. We’re going to be a bunch of brawlers . . . we’re not going to turn the ball over anymore and we’re going to get some wins.’’

Charles rushed 30 times for 140 yards and caught three passes for 21 yards. He got the ball a total of 39 times in the overtime win against the Saints.

While the Chiefs are a bad team with no legitimate quarterback in sight, they will make for an interesting opponent Sunday in Tampa.

There’s little doubt that Jamaal Charles and his offensive line can be dominant at times.

The Bucs will know what’s coming Sunday. The question is whether they can stop it like they did in Weeks 1-3 this season, or will they get gutted and gashed like they did against the Redskins.

Who took over for Joe Barry and coached the Bucs linebackers the last two seasons?

That’s a reasonably tough trivia question. And the anwer is a guy that Quincy Black clearly didn’t think too highly of, Joe Baker. Black told Tampa Tribune scribe eye-RAH! Kaufman that he appreciates the change Bucs’ front-seven coach Bryan Cox has brought to the table this season.

“Coach Cox has a linebacker’s personality,” strongside linebacker Quincy Black said, “and that’s something we haven’t had around here for a couple of years.”

Hmm, it’s noteworthy to Joe that Black was voted by teammates as a Bucs captain last season yet, from this comment, was harboring a lack of respect for his position coach. There’s a lousy combination.

Black has hardly earned his gigantic contract this season (13 tackles) but he’s no longer a head-shake inducing liability.

It’s no surprise that Greg Schiano, a former college linebacker, has the Bucs linebackers performing far above the dreadful play the Bucs got at the position last season.

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Look, Joe’s a huge NFL fan, and while there’s a heck of a slate of games on tap this afternoon, Joe is dialed in to the Ravens at Chiefs at 1 p.m. The Bucs have Kansas City next Sunday at home, and Joe wants to study this Chiefs team.

Kansas City leads the NFL in turnovers with 15, which is absolutely horrendous, and the team is in shambles in many ways. Though they have a punishing running game behind Jamaal Charles and have put up points.

Joe talked all things Chiefs with 31-year Kansas City beat writer Bob Gretz on the 98.7 FM airwaves Friday night. Gretz made it clear that Matt Cassell is on a serious hot seat and a move to Brady Quinn is possible soon but “emperor” Scott Pioli doesn’t want to lose “his boy” Cassell. But Gretz also said that there’s no reason to believe that Quinn is the better quarterback.

Interestingly, Gretz, without direct prompting from Joe, said that Chiefs fans would love to have hometown guy Josh Freeman wearing red. Before the 2011 season, Joe wondered whether Freeman would want to play for Kansas City after he made comments about how being a Chiefs QB was a boyhood dream. If Freeman continues to be inconsistent, and the Chiefs don’t get settled at quarterback, it’s not outlandish to think the Bucs and Chiefs could make that happen for 2013.

The full interview with Gretz is below. A Hall of Fame voter, Gretz talks about Warren Sapp and John Lynch, in addition to going deep on the Chiefs.

One of only three quarterbacks to lead the Bucs to the NFC Championship game, Shaun King, would handle fourth-year veteran Josh Freeman very differently than the New Schiano Order does.

If fact, King thinks the Bucs should do an about-face with their plan for Freeman in the Bucs offense.

“I’d use the opposite approach to what Tampa’s doing now,” King said on WDAE-AM 620 this week. “You know right now they really have Josh almost being a game manager. You know they’re trying to run the football and pick their spots, which I can understand that. But I’d have to see if Josh can be elite. I can go get a game manager. I can go find Kyle Orton and get a guy and tell him, ‘Just don’t turn the football over. You know, throw the ball away if nothing is there.’

“I gotta see, can Josh Freeman be elite? So I’d give him everything we had. I’d give him the opportunity to change plays. I’d give him the opportunity to go into the two-minute [offense], speed the offense, the pace, the tempo up, if he saw fit. I mean I’d throw everything at him so I can really see what it is that I have.”

King also repeated his assertion that Freeman would benefit from a sports psychologist. King said Freeman isn’t always understanding down and distance or momentum in a game, in addition to poor decision-making with the football.

Interestingly, this week Greg Schiano made it clear that it’s important the Bucs “don’t get too nervous” and “stick to the plan.”

So it seems that King will have to wait a while to see an “opposite approach” with Freeman.

A lot of people point to the season-ending injury suffered by Davin Joseph to be a crippling setback to the Bucs’ running game and it sure looks like that’s the case. The right side of the Bucs’ offensive line is a mess without him.

But another, sort of under-the-radar injury (under the radar meaning it happened in the offseason) was defensive end Da’Quan Bowers’ Achilles tear. And with the loss of fellow defensive end Adrian Clayborn to a nasty knee injury, it just may have ripple effects.

What Joe is getting at is, Joe has a hunch the Bucs may try to rush back Bowers, who is eligible to come off the injured list in a matter of weeks, to try to help patch the hole left in Clayborn’s absence.

Pat Yasinskas of ESPN briefly touched upon this issue in a recent NFC South chat.

Nathan (Orange County)

What’s the latest on Bowers. Dominik expressed some optimism about his return this season but that was weeks ago.

Pat Yasinskas

Think there’s still optimism. We’ll find out soon.

If all things are equal, Joe would just wish Bowers would wait until next year. An Achilles injury is nasty and there’s no reason to perhaps endanger a career for the sake of a handful of games.

Whether Bowers will be able to return is still very much up in the air, and Joe believes the next few weeks will determine Bowers’ status.

Sure, the Bucs are 1-3 and a wild card berth appears a long shot, but crazier things have happened. If the Bucs go on a winning streak to enter the playoff race, Joe believes the chances of Bowers returning this season will increase.

If the Bucs continue to struggle and a playoff hope dims, the less likely Bowers will suit up this season.

Joe learned long ago that anyone wishing to prove any point can concoct statistics to back it up. This is one reason Joe is wary of judging play by stats alone, and another reason Joe has grown weary of how baseball has been hijacked by the spreadsheet warriors (who often moonlight as Trekkies), some of whom will actually try to convince innocents that Karlos Pena is a productive hitter, if you can imagine.

Take an element by eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune. In a recent notes column, Kaufman offered a nugget that touts the Bucs as having a stingy third-down defense.

The Bucs rank fourth in the league in third-down defense, limiting opponents to a 28 percent success rate which would set a franchise record.

Sounds cool, doesn’t it? Well, let’s start peeling the onion skins off of this one.

This stat would suggest the Bucs have one helluva defense. After all, isn’t the moniker of every coach to “get off the field on third down?”

Yet when the Bucs needed that defense, it was nowhere to be found. In the fourth quarter of the ghastly loss to the Giants, Big Blue and Eli Manning converted two of the three third downs the Giants faced, including an 80-yard touchdown bomb to Victor Cruz.

Now in another loss, a gut-puncher to the Redskins where Robert Griffin III led the Redskins on a game-winning drive, the Redskins did not convert one third down in two chances in the fourth quarter (one of the third downs, Griffin completed a nine-yard pass, but not for a first down).

In looking at the play-by-play breakdown, the Redskins didn’t often face a third down late in the game because they were converting first downs early in the series of downs.

And while the Bucs may be on a pace to set a franchise mark for third-down defense, does anyone really believe this Bucs defense is as good as the glory years with Warren Sapp, Simeon Rice, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch and a then-young Ronde Barber?

One could argue this year’s Bucs defense, while much improved over last year, isn’t yet on the same level as the defense that carried the Bucs to an NFL title game in 1979, led by Lee Roy Selmon and Batman Wood.

So when people throw out numbers, it’s always better to break out a notepad and pen and actually go behind the numbers to get to the real story.

And that, friends, is the won-loss record.

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Lots of juicy nuggets in this fun interview below with former Bucs defensive end Stylez White on 98.7 FM this morning.

Joe manned the 98.7 FM air chair in the wee hours and White was kind enough to join Joe to talk all things Bucs and life after playing last night for the Virginia Destroyers of the UFL.

Among the highlights, White talks about disliking Raheem Morris. His “respect for the game wasn’t really there,” White said.

Also, White explained his frustration with the Bucs frowning on his use of social media to interact with fans. And White talked about Donald Penn’s weight and Jon Gruden repeatedly showering him with “I love you,” and more.

Click below to listen or download.

It seems everybody has a take on what might be wrong with Josh Freeman — and Joe will bring you many interesting takes on Freeman through the weekend — and that includes former Bucs defensive tackle Anthony “Booger” McFarland.

Speaking on the Rich and Booger Show this week on 98.7 FM, Booger said he assigns 30 percent of the blame for Freeman’s 2012 performance to the Bucs’ coaching staff and the “shackles” they’ve placed on the No. 5.

The other “70 percent” was given to Freeman himself. “If they would allow him to play football, then I think Josh Freeman can play,” Booger said.

The question of “shackles,” as Booger called them, is really the greatest mystery surrounding Freeman.

Joe suspects some of these alleged shackles are in Freeman’s head and how he interpreted coaching and let said coaching affect his natural instincts and confidence. Hopefully, extra time in the bye week will lead Mike Sullivan, Greg Schiano and Freeman to gel. If not, then it’s going to get ugly. Clearly, the Bucs need Freeman to return to 2010 form in order to win games.

Before this season, rockstar general manager Mark Dominik and Schiano talked about Freeman hitting “the reset button” and clearing his head and getting back to 2010 form.

It hasn’t happened, and Joe concurs with Booger in that it’s not all on the quarterback.

Joe remains hopeful, however. While many fans already are preparing to run Freeman out of town if he doesn’t turn into Matt Ryan this month, Joe believes there’s plenty of time to right the offense and get the most out of Freeman. It’s still just four games into a new playbook and playcaller.

RGIII drops back to pass and gets sacked at the six-inch line for a seven-yard loss by George Johnson and Mason Foster. Not so fast. Roger Goodell’s stat gremlins have stepped in to deliver their twisted brand of reality.

Scott Smith, on the fancy pants new blog on Buccaneers.com, explains why the NFL has stripped Foster and Johnson their sack.

On the play, Griffin takes a shotgun snap and is pretty quickly overwhelmed by Foster, Johnson and LB Lavonte David near the goal line.  At the time, it seemed pretty clear that the play was a sack.  However, Elias’ review of the play noted that all three receivers on the field immediately started blocking on the play, and that Griffin appeared to pause for just a moment before starting to run up the middle of the field.  RB Alfred Morris, who is lined up behind Griffin at the snap, rushes up the middle of the field and tries to throw a block on Foster but misses.

All of the evidence added up, in the eyes of the Elias statisticians to a designed running play, and it’s possible that the Washington coaching staff verified that opinion earlier this week.  As such, the stop of Griffin – since it wasn’t a passing play – is not officially considered a sack.  Instead, both Johnson and Foster get a tackle for loss.

As a result, the Buccaneers’ defense has eight sacks through four games, not nine.  The ruling did marginally help Tampa Bay’s already good rushing defense numbers, as that play is now scored as a run for a loss of seven.

It sickens Joe how the NFL invests so much energy getting the stats right but refuses to use technology to review a play like Mark Barron’s clean tackle of RGIII that senselessly drew a personal foul.

“I really think that after four weeks I can see how, you know, this thing can really, really take off. And we just have to make sure we stick to the plan. And, you know, tweak it here and there but don’t get too nervous because you look at at, and certainly we’re 1-3 and you are what your record says you are, but, you know, a play or two or a call or two and you know, we’re 3-1 or 4-0 and everybody is singing your praises. Neither one would be correct, singin’ praises or saying, ‘What the heck is going on?’ It’s game by game, you’ve got to find a way to win them. That’s really what we’re trying to do this week, set ourselves up for here for the next little group of games that one at a time we find a way to get over the hump.” — Greg Schiano on the state of the Buccaneers, speaking yesterday to Steve Duemig on WDAE-AM 620.

The leader of the New Schiano Order is marching on.

The plan is on target, so he explained above.

Joe’s not nervous — but Joe will be if the Bucs lose their next two games, home against Kansas City and New Orleans.

The Bucs have a strong +3 turnover ratio with a losing record. That’s a rare combination.

All that “biting” of the football in training camp seems to be paying off for the Bucs.

The Bucs are one of only four teams in the NFL that have yet to have a running back fumble, and two of those clubs (Tampa Bay and Chicago) have chalked up 100+ carries. Every other NFL team has coughed up balls in their running game.

The Bucs’ +3 turnover ratio ranks tied for ninth best in the NFL, but sadly, Tampa Bay is the only team that protects the ball that well and still has a losing record. 

Usually, good turnover stats equate to wins — in any era, for any team. So hopefully, that’s a sign good things are on the horizon for the Bucs.

So who is is the worst team in the NFL at protecting the football? That would be the Bucs’ next opponent, the Chiefs. Kansas City sports a heinous -13 turnover ratio.

Matt Cassell alone has seven interceptions and three lost fumbles, and the Chiefs are 1-3, just like the Bucs.

Joe’s not sure it is fair to judge a running back by just four games. Thus far, Bucs fans are waiting for the Doug Martin, he of the running back the Bucs traded up for in the draft, to arrive.

Martin has been the proverbial bellcow for Greg Schiano’s run-first, run-second offense, but only a scant few times has Martin been able to break runs of double-digits.

Sure, a lot of it is because the right side of the Bucs’ offensive line is a mess with the loss of injured Davin Joseph and the benching of incumbent starter Jeremy Trueblood.

This is raising concerns with Alan Dell. The Bradenton Herald columnist is of the mind Schiano may want to change his run-first objectives if he wants to have a longer shelf life than his predecessor.

As stubborn as they come, the new Bucs head coach insists he wants a run-first, physical team. He is learning that might not be possible, and if he wants to be around longer than the man he replaced, he might have to change.

The decision to move up in the draft and select running back Doug Martin in the first round has raised legitimate questions.

When Martin was selected, he received rave reviews from those within the organization who wanted him. Now we are hearing stuff like, “have patience” and “he is a hard worker.”

Those who described him as the second coming of Ray Rice have lost their voice.

Well, maybe part of the reason Martin hasn’t yet become a stud NFL runner is the Bucs have relied on him too much. There is nothing wrong changing things up with a guy who has a career average of 4.6 yards a carry. And the more Blount gets carries, the more dangerous he becomes; not just two or three carries a game.

Lastly, Joe’s wondering about the disappearance of Michael Smith.

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Sports Illustrated scribe Jim Trotter talked all things NFL today on the Gary and The Commish show on 98.7 FM and went out of his way to back up the recent Yahoo! hit piece on Greg Schiano by Michael Silver.

Trotter said he knew that general managers and coaches were talking about Schiano’s heavy-handed ways long before he was in the mix for the Bucs job.  

And Trotter suggested Schiano might get help next season by possibly hiring new NFL assistants “who can help him better understand the NFL game.” Trotter said Cardinals QB coach John McNulty could be an example. (It was reported early this year that Schiano wanted to pursue McNulty to be his offensive coordinator but was denied by Arizona.)

Overall, it was worthwhile interview. You can check it out below.

Discipline is important.

Does extreme discipline win games? Well, the talented Bucs will find out this season under the New Schiano Order.

Jarrett Bell of USA Today caught up with Bucs icon Ronde Barber recently and asked him to describe his various leaders. The “D” word came up when No. 20 got to Schiano.

Tony Dungy was the humble leader. “You wanted to succeed for him more because you didn’t want to disappoint him,” Barber said.

On Gruden: “The most fiery guy I’ve ever been around. He wanted everyone to be in his image on the football field.”

On Morris: “The most passionate players’ coach I’ve ever been around. He loved his guys. He treated them like they were part of his family.”

Schiano? “Disciplinarian. That’s the best word for him. He’s got rules for rules.”

As Joe’s written many times, Joe’s fine with Schiano’s approach. In fact, Joe’s pretty much good with any approach as long as it translates into victories.

A middle school geography teacher in Idaho is no fan of the New Schiano Order.

Zebra Jim Core wasn’t moving up the college football officiating ranks, so he applied to be a replacement referee in the NFL.

In this Showtime interview below, Core is grilled by James Brown and Chris Collinsworth about his experiences. Core is asked who the toughest coach was he had to work with. His answer? “Coach Schiano.”

“He’s college,’’ Core said. “I mean the rest of them acted at a different level. You could just tell working with them, they were at a different level than what I felt like he was.’’

Joe’s not sure what to make of this. Who cares if Schiano wasn’t liked by this scab referee? Is it a shock that an Idaho guy didn’t like a Jersey guy’s delivery? And it’s no surprise that Schiano gave the impression of a college style. Schiano still refers to his actions at Rutgers as “we” on first reference.

Core’s comments come in the six-minute mark in the video.

In this CBS Sports video below, Bucs fans get a look inside Arrelious Benn’s personal life. Among other topics, Benn talks about how he is obsessed with fashion.