Earnest “Insurance” Graham checked in on the first two games of the New Schiano Order, and Graham didn’t mince words: “I love what I see,” Graham said on WDAE-AM 620 yesterday.

Graham went on to talk about LeGarrette Blount and Doug Martin, and about his beloved Gators and how the Giants winning the Super Bowl last season with a low-ranked running game has further devalued the running back position. Enjoy below.

Joe’s made it extraordinarily clear for many months that LeGarrette Blount is a dangerous offensive football player who needs a coach that understands how to maximize his talents.

Greg Olson failed at that in 2011, and to date the New Schiano Order is in the same boat.

Monday on his radio show on WDAE-AM 620, Greg Schiano offered insight into Blount’s role and acknowledged that the Bucs’ staff must challenge their minds to find a way to better incorporate Blount.

“LeGarrette Blount, you will see run again,” Schiano said. “He’s going to be a part of our offense. He did play a couple of plays [Sunday], but you know in that game when there’s only 52 plays, and I never felt like our running back, Doug [Martin], got at all winded. And, you know, we have to figure a way to work him in there better, even in a situation like that. Because he brings a unique skillset to that position and definitely can complement Doug and make our run game better.”

Frankly, Joe was left rather speechless by the coach’s comments and choice of words. That Schiano had the mindset to talk about Blount’s role in relation to the aerobic fitness of “our running back” is mind-boggling. First, Martin isn’t exactly setting the league on fire, and the right call, as Schiano said, is to get the most out of Blount and Martin to maximize the rushing attack.

Joe hopes the Bucs have learned their lesson moving forward. Using all your weapons makes the offense less predictable and more dangerous.

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The leader of the New Schiano Order appreciated the Dallas Clark sighting late in the fourth quarter Sunday.

In fact, Schiano definitely wants to see more.

“I certainly want to get the ball in Dallas’s hands,” Schiano said in response to a caller to his WDAE-AM 620 radio show Monday. “He’s a veteran guy who understands how to win. And, you know, I think one of things that jumped out on you towards the end of the game he catches three balls in a row. We certainly have him circled, and they’re going to try to get him the ball more.”

Joe knows Clark will get more involved — and he wants to be — and there’s no doubt in Joe’s mind that Josh Freeman has built up confidence in Clark after those three consecutive throws on the Bucs’ final drive against the Giants.

Mike Sullivan must use all his weapons to be successful. Clark, LeGarrette Blount and another receiver have to get into the fold.

With the news yesterday that Jeremy Trueblood has been benched in favor of Demar Dotson at right tackle, it is the latest in a series of signs that Trueblood will not wear a Bucs uniform come 2013.

His benching is the second in three years. Two years ago, Trueblood got to spend quality time on the pine in favor of journeyman James Lee. All but handed a starting spot last year in training camp, Lee could not live up to expectations and Trueblood regained his starting gig.

If the handwriting wasn’t on the wall then, it certainly was when Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik essentially gave Trueblood an ultimatum: Either accept a 2012 paycut to $4 million — in return for it being guaranteed money — or face the prospect of walking the streets looking for work.

Trueblood’s current contract expires at the end of this season.

Getting hurt and seeing your backup play admirably against the toughest defensive front in the league didn’t help Trueblood’s cause, either.

Unless Trueblood is willing to work for league minimum, Joe doesn’t expect him with Tampa Bay next season.

The man who despises “toes on the line,” Kellen Winslow, has now joined hands with Greg Schiano’s good friend Bill Belicheat.

Numerous reports out of Boston say the Patriots have signed Winslow, on the heels of Aaron Hernandez’s serious ankle injury Sunday.

As the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Former Bucs defensive tackle Booger McFarland says he has a little clarity about the Bucs after their first two games, even though both contests were dramatically different.

So what’s clear to McFarland? “Aqib Talib is a second-tier cornerback,” McFarland said yesterday on the Todd and Booger Show on 98.7 FM.

Now Joe had to laugh when he heard that. In Joe’s mind, Talib was a second-tier corner entering this season. There’s no shame in that designation, and it was earned, with Talib’s inconsistent play over the years combined with Talib’s various injuries. The guy has elite skills but just hasn’t been steady enough.

For Joe, now the discussion should be about Talib being a third-tier cornerback. Talib wasn’t just beaten repeatedly Sunday. He visibly beaten down mentally and physically.

Per a mysterious blog apparently located on Buccaneers.com, the Bucs’ official Twitter feed pumped out the following information late this afternoon.

@TBBuccaneers: Breaking news from the new “Captain’s Blog” on http://Buccaneers.com : Demar Dotson has been promoted to the starting lineup at right tackle.

This means, of course, former starting right tackle Jeremy Trueblood has been benched, at least temporarily.

It’s an interesting move on a few levels.

First, considering Trueblood won the job coming out of training camp, one could assume Dotson looked a lot better in Game 2 at right tackle than Trueblood looked in Game 1.

Or, the Bucs’ have determined that Trueblood’s injured ankle will plague him for weeks and a healthy Dotson is better than a hobbled Trueblood, and it’s better to get Trueblood healthy in case he’s needed.

Then there’s the business of Trueblood’s take-it-or-leave-it paycut to $4 million right before the season. Trueblood’s going to be paid a king’s ransom for a backup gig. Not bad work if you can get it. And now Dotson has a chance to score a big payday, as he becomes a free agent after this season.

Per venerable eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune, Preston Parker injured his foot Sunday and the Bucs have responded by re-signing WR Jordan Shipley and cutting guard Derek Hardman — again.

Shipley was cut from the Bengals midway through the preseason and the Bucs claimed him on waivers, but he didn’t do enough on the field for the Bucs to earn a roster spot.

Somewhere, Tiquan Underwood is wondering what’s going on.

As the great Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com has pointed out, twice in Greg Schiano’s tenure at Rutgers has his defense forced a fumble from an opponent in a victory formation. Thus, Florio and his ProFootballTalk on NBC Sports Network co-host Eric Kuselias, bring a spirited if not emotional defense to the Bucs first-year head coach in this NBC Sports video.

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

In a panel discussion of what Giants headmaster Tom Coughlin perceived as a dirty play, the majority side with Bucs coach Greg Schiano in this SNY video.

Inability to run the football with a late lead cost the Bucs as much as anything Sunday

No matter how you shuffle the 2011 stats, the Giants didn’t have a good run defense last season. They were in the bottom third of the NFL in most rush-defense categories.

Then on opening day this season, DeMarco Murray of the Cowboys torched the Giants for a 131 yards on only 20 carries.

But the Bucs on Sunday? Well, they had mixed results running against the Giants. And even leading 27-16 lead with the ball and only 39 seconds left in the third quarter, the Bucs passed on trying to grind out a smashmouth, clock-eating drive and threw two dangerous passes, one of which was picked off.

Then the Bucs tried on their next possession to pound out yardage leading 27-19 with 12:22 left in the fourth quarter. But Doug Martin carried four times for just five yards and the Bucs punted. (If that were LeGarrette Blount, fans and media would have hung him by now.)

So Joe has to wonder what the heck has happened to the Bucs’ running game. Were Sunday starters on the right side of the line, Demar Dotson and Ted Larsen, simply incapable of opening holes? Is Martin missing reads? Is the big-money trio of Donald Penn, Carl Nicks and Jeremy Zuttah out of sync?

Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan saw first-hand how the Giants effectively used two and three running backs for years. Why does he only use one?

Joe hopes Sullivan finds some answers. The Bucs need that ground attack desperately. In many ways, its absence cost them a victory Sunday.

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Sunday, Giants headmaster Tom Coughlin got all bent out of shape in what he perceived as dirty tactics by Greg Schiano trying to force a fumble when the Giants were in a victory formation.

Well, many have come to Greg Schiano’s defense, including “Da Coach.”

No person personifies what the NFL was and should be: punch your opponent in the mouth, play whistle-to-whistle, never take a play off, physical, bruising mentality than Mike Ditka.

The Hall of Fame tight end and Super Bowl-winning coach came out swinging on BSPN Radio in his defense of the first-year Bucs coach.

“I like Greg Schiano a lot, I really do,” Ditka said in his first sentence about the subject. “You have pads and a helmet on — play! Tom [Coughlin] is wrong about this, no matter what he says. He’s wrong.”

Joe has listened to loads of interviews of Greg Schiano and inevitably the leader of the New Schiano Order gets asked about making the transition from college to the pros. Then Schiano typically reminds/advises the interviewer that he spent years in the NFL as a Bears assistant, so he knew what the NFL was all about for years.

And that brings Joe to Sunday’s playcall by Schiano to go full throttle to force a fumble when the Giants were kneeling down to end the game (yes, the head coach referred to it as a specific “call” during his Monday news conference). Schiano knew full well that it wasn’t common in the NFL and it challenged an unwritten code. Schiano also prides himself on being a detail guy and calculating every move. So there’s no question in Joe’s mind that Schiano knew he’d stir up a controversy when he pulled the trigger on this call.

To think Schiano was naive to the uproar that blowing up a kneel-down likely would generate in the hyper-obsessed NFL media is just foolish.

Joe figures the head coach wanted a shot after a loss to move the media spotlight away from his team and to himself with this tactic, and further galvanize his club in the process. 

A couple of years ago, another head coach who liked to make bold statements told a crowd of media that his young club was “the best team in the NFC.” That line went a long way and achieved the desired effect as the Bucs finished 10-6.

Schiano prefers to make his statements on the field, but it’s clear to Joe that the head coach has no problem crafting some buzz if he thinks it will advance the mission of the New Schiano Order.

Joe is still in the greater New York metropolitan area as he types this late on a Monday night, and Joe can tell you that aside from the stoned, unwashed degenerates known in some circles as “Occupy Wall Street” that forced the New York police department to lock down lower Manhattan into a virtual cage (Joe accidently walked into the middle of this fiasco), the talk of the Big Apple was Giants headmaster Tom Coughlin throwing a hissy fit over Bucs coach Greg Schiano trying to force a late fumble while the Giants tried to ice the game in the final seconds.

As one can expect, cricket-watching, Marriott-sleeping, scone-loathing Peter King weighed in on the subject.

Wasting little time in his must-read SI.com Monday Morning Quarterback column, King wagged a finger at Schiano for what King perceived as an unethical move.

Coughlin’s right. Schiano’s wrong. I agree with playing to the final gun. No problem. But when one team is holding up the white flag, with a quarterback in full kneel-down mode, it’s a mistake to pig-pile on him. There’s a 1-in-1,000 chance the defense can jar the ball loose before the quarterback kneels and the whistle blows, but more likely what results is the risk of injury, on both sides of the ball. No question in my mind that if Schiano keeps trying to wreck victory formations, his own players will pay for it — and maybe in the form of retribution from vengeful players in the future.

Come on! If Joe wanted to watch flag football or kickball, he would. This is what seperates America as a richer culture from the third world virus of soccer. This is football, America’s game for Christ sake! It is a game of a physical nature with bruises common.

If this is truly a dirty play, then the NFL should make a rule like college that whenever someone’s knee is on the ground the play is dead.

Don’t like it? Change the rules.

So who is Giants headmaster Tom Coughlin going to yell at now?

The talk of the NFL yesterday was how Coughlin dressed down Bucs coach Greg Schiano for what Coughlin thought was a dirty play when Schiano ordered the Bucs to try to dislodge the ball from Eli Manning during a kneeldown on the final play in the sickening Bucs collapse of a loss to the Super Bowl champs Sunday.

Well, the suits at the NFL headquarters on Park Avenue looked at the evidence and, in a manner of speaking, backed up Schiano and stated Coughlin was out of line, so reports Mike Garafolo of USA Today.

@MikeGarafolo: If anyone was wondering, the NFL will have nothing further on the final play of NYG-TB. No violations on the play or afterward, they say.

This is just nonsense how much run this play has gotten. If it was, say, Pete Carroll in Seattle, it would barely create a ripple. But since it happened in the media capital of the western hemisphere… controversy!

Undrafted rookie Leonard Johnson seems to be above Myron Lewis on the depth chart

Those paying attention Sunday saw that rookie Leonard Johnson was the cornerback who jumped in the game when Eric Wright hurt his back in the second half.

Myron Lewis stayed on the bench.

With E.J. Biggers and Anthony Gaitor getting healthy and Brandon McDonald in a major role as nickel cornerback, Joe’s not sure how long Lewis, a 201o third-round pick sticks on the roster.

Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik’s overall draft record has been looking much better since the start of the 2012 season, but Joe’s not seeing a Lewis revival — or survival — anytime soon.

A true voice of reason here from Sports Illustrated scribe Andrew Perloff on the attitude of the New Schiano Order and why Tom Coughlin was being a drama queen. Seductive and intelligent Maggie Gray joins in on this SI.com video.

Joe gulped when he saw Arrelious Benn lined up to return the first kickoff coming the Bucs’ way Sunday.

Benn didn’t play in the preseason, missed nearly all of training camp, and this was how the Bucs would throw him into the fire? As a kickoff returner, an unfamiliar role for him? 

Benn fumbled that first return, but thankfully Quincy Black dove on the ball. And then Benn settled into a solid and busy day on the job with a 55-yard effort on one of his seven returns.

Joe was intrigued by this role for Benn on a few levels. Clearly, the Bucs viewed him as completely healthy, which makes Joe wonder why Benn was not targeted in the passing game against the Giants. Benn also was active on coverage teams, so again, health wasn’t an issue. 

Also, last week Greg Schiano said rookie Michael Smith, kick returner against the Panthers, did a good job in the home-opener but the Bucs’ return team was poorly coached and didn’t block well. Though this week Smith was yanked.

Benn showed some flashes, but Joe still prefers Sammie Stroughter as the No. 1 kickoff returner. Stroughter’s brought one to the house, he’s sure-handed, and he ripped off a 78-yarder in the home-opener last season, the play that left him with a busted foot and cost him more than half the 2011 season.