NFL freelance reporter Dory LeBlanc covered the Bucs-Saints game in New Orleans for Joe and grabbed some interesting comments from Dallas Clark after the ugly shutout loss.

On Josh Freeman’s struggles:

“It’s definitely not just one person. [We] got a lot of things we have to iron out as an offense. Unfortunately in this league the quarterback, head coach, and other guys are always the first ones to throw under the bus, but I’ll be the first one to say it’s me, it’s everyone. We all have to play better and I think we have people here that will make it happen. But certainly no one should take the brunt of any of this. It’s a team thing right now and we have to get it fixed.”

On the sputtering Bucs offense the past few weeks:

“We’re just making mistakes you can’t make in the NFL. We’re doing a lot of stuff ourselves. It’s a credit to the Saints. Saints had a great game plan, they made some really good plays and really kind of put us in a bind. It was unfortunate – we were feeling good about this opportunity and we just left one out there.”

On Freeman’s pick that was intended for him:

“That was just a combination of a good play and just wish I had an extra step to deflect the pass or get a pass interference on him. It was a tough start, but it was a great read on their part.”

On the shutout:

“It really hasn’t fully sunk in. But yeah, this is not a good performance. And it’s not one person it’s everyone. And that’s what it’s going to take to correct it – everyone. It’s something we have to address.”

Adderall-popping, suspension-serving Eric Wright returned to the Twitter universe after a long hiatus last week. And on Saturday, Wright, aka @EWrighteous21, wanted all 21,903 of his followers to know that he was set for a lovely beach weekend with his wife, filled with beauty treatments, spectacular dining and ringing up his Visa card.

Hopefully, Wright found time to watch his Bucs brothers getting drilled in New Orleans.

@EWrighteous21 — Sometimes you just need a change of pace.. Taking @LaTanyaWright to Laguna for the weekend.. Spa weekend, shopping and good food #RelaxMode

Joe shouldn’t be surprised, but Joe can’t believe a suspended NFL player would be foolish and/or clueless enough to tell the world he needs “a change of pace” after he let his team down AND while he’s scheduled to return to said team in a matter of days.

That’s just bad judgment, one of Wright’s strengths.

Just about every Bucs fan has seen the video by now, even if they didn’t see it live. Backup linebacker (now thrust into the starting position due to injuries) and special teams captain Adam Hayward got into a physical confrontation with front seven coach Bryan Cox in the debacle in New Orleans last Sunday.

Well, if Eric Edholm of ProFootballWeekly.com is to be believed, Bucs coach Greg Schiano is siding with Hayward on the incident.

First-year Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano apparently sided with the players in a sideline spat involving defensive assistant Bryan Cox in Sunday’s 41-0 loss to the Saints, a source told PFW.

Cox was seen during the TV broadcast being pushed by LB Adam Hayward in the second quarter, and LB Jacob Cutrera also was involved in restraining Cox. But Sources say that Schiano sided with the players and told Cox that he would not be back on the coaching staff if he repeated his behavior.

Cox was yelling at officials as Hayward pushed the coach back to the sideline. Schiano added Cox to his defensive staff in February.

Now Joe has no idea what prompted the incident. Coaches and players getting into it — verbally — is nothing new. Happens just about every game. Big deal. But when a player goes after a coach, Joe doesn’t care what the hell was said to provoke such a response. A player CANNOT physically get into it with a coach, under no circumstances.

If this happened in a closed practice or inside the locker room, no big deal. This happened in full view of a packed stadium, caught on TV. In other words, very public.

Thus, Joe demands a public penalty on Hayward. Even being benched for the first two series against the Rams is fine. The team has to do something publicly. This cannot be tolerated. From a “captain” no less!

The Bucs seem to be on the verge of imploding. Their first round draft pick, fourth-year quarterback has gone into hiding. The pass defense is just a rumor. A coward spouted off to Mike Florio about how bad the coaching staff is.

By not publicly rebuking a player for assaulting a coach, Schiano is risking a full blown mutiny on his hands. It’s getting ugly.

With the team on the verge of a meltdown, turning your back on physically assaulting a coach in public is akin to lighting a match in a room full of gasoline.

The last thing Schiano needs is to lose this team. It seems to Joe there’s a powder keg of unrest out there among the Bucs.

The Bucs will miss hands-on, high-energy, demanding P.J. Fleck next season, but did they miss part of what he offers recently?

Maybe it’s coincidence, but the Bucs’ receiving game has been struggling and it started right around the time wide receiver coach P.J. Fleck clearly was in the heat of a job search and subsequently was named head coach of Western Michigan University yesterday.

Joe also has learned that Fleck’s wife went into labor yesterday. Congratulations, Mr. Fleck.

But those two scenarios above are major distractions, and given how greatly hands-on and influential Fleck was, and the emerging “miscommunication” issues between receivers and Josh Freeman, Joe can’t help but wonder if Fleck’s distractions led to trouble on the field.

Bucs fans seemingly saw something like this go down with Monte Kiffin, when — and it was Joe’s first major scoop — Kiffin was being shopped by son Lane Kiffin as part of a package coaching deal to various universities. Subsequently, Monte Kiffin made it known he was leaving the Bucs late in the 2008 season, and the Bucs defense quickly imploded into something not seen since the Sam Wyche era.

Joe’s not blaming Fleck for anything, just searching for possible answers as to what radically transformed the Bucs offense into a subpar unit.

From everything Joe has heard and Joe knows, Josh Freeman is a workaholic when it comes to trying to become one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL.

Thus far, Freeman in his four seasons has been at best, inconsistent. There are times where Freeman reminds Joe of Dan Fouts. There are times Freeman reminds Joe of Neil Lomax. There are times Joe cringes with the memories of Trent Dilfer dancing in his head.

This is part of the reason many Bucs fans either are ready to or already have thrown in the towel on the Bucs signal-caller, partially fueled by Freeman’s freefall the past four weeks from average to below average to struggling to wretched last Sunday, as the Bucs went from strong playoff contender to pretender to full-blown draft mode.

Part of the rancor comes from where Freeman was drafted. There is a certain expectation — real or imagined — that a quarterback drafted in the first round should put his team on his back and carry them to the playoffs.

That hasn’t happened, and the way Freeman has played this season, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, it’s hard to fathom Freeman doing that in the near future. Remember, the Bucs were in prime position for a playoff run at 6-4, and Freeman has regressed since.

Then there is the play of lesser and less-experienced quarterbacks, or at least NFL quarterbacks who were not drafted in the first round but likely are leading their teams to the postseason.

First there is Colin Kaepernick of the 49ers. Drafted in the second round last year, Kaepernick was plugged into the starting lineup in the middle of this season and has done nothing but great things, roasting the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football and then hanging four touchdowns in the freezing rain in New England on Sunday, handing the Patriots their first December home loss in 10 years.

Right now, can anyone envision Freeman doing that to the Patriots?

Then there is Andy Dalton, a second round pick in 2011, who is on the cusp of leading the usually dreadful Bengals to the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson also has the anti-Freeman crowd in a roar. The rookie third round pick has been nothing less than dynamic and has the Seahawks on the verge of the playoffs.

And who can forget Nick Foles, a rookie third round pick of the Eagles, who came into Raymond James and showed Bucs fans the way to play quarterback, the way to handle pressure, the way to slice through a defense for a game-winning drive, stuff Freeman hasn’t been able to accomplish enough over the past two years.

Because of the excellent play of quarterbacks with lesser expectations than Freeman had when he was drafted — no fault of Freeman’s — many Bucs fans have begun searching for torches.

When fans see these quarterbacks play so well, they ask, “Why can’t Freeman do that?” It’s a fair question given Freeman has more toys to play with than those signal-callers, and has had more games to polish his craft than the aforementioned QBs.

Look, Joe is confident Freeman will be your Bucs starting quarterback through 2013, and he very well may be re-signed by Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik.

But the patience of Bucs fans has grown short for Freeman’s ability to lead a team to mid-January games — not watching on the couch like the rest of us.

Minutes after the first-ever clobbering suffered by the New Schiano Order, Greg Schiano calmly told media that “I’ve been here before” and “I know what to do.”

That was great. Joe loved hearing the head coach go on the record telling everyone listening that he knows just how to handle it when a professional footballl team officially goes into a heinous freefall late in a season. The last coach surely didn’t know what to do.

Joe and every fan is watching closely and pulling for Schiano.

But if Schiano can’t snap the Bucs out of its funk in these next two games, especially with experienced assistant coaches and veteran senior advisors in Butch Davis and Jimmy Raye, Joe thinks it’s fair to say that Schiano did not know what to do.

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Greg Schiano took quite a verbal thrashing from multiple fans on his radio show last night. Schiano was patient and understanding and let callers vent, but he put his foot down hard after hearing Mark Dominik bashing.

Mad props to the leader of the New Schiano Order for letting fans attack the state of the Bucs on his radio show last night on WDAE-AM 620. Greg Schiano manned up and didn’t have producers cut off callers, specifically two back-to-back angry diatribes that each lasted more than two minutes, and he handled them with class.

Joe hasn’t heard such fiery, in-your-face criticism since Joe listened to The Boomer Esiason Show in 1994, when Jets fans would scream at the quarterback mercilessly every Monday evening.

Schiano didn’t get defensive, except when it came to a shot fired at rockstar general manager Mark Dominik, who Schiano called the best GM in the business.

Caller Brian following his 2 minute and 5 second, uninterrupted verbal thrashing of Josh Freeman, playcalling and the general Bucs experience of the past few weeks: Don’t let that general manager get in the way. Cause I’m hoping he’s next to get outta here. He should have went behind Jon Gruden, really, but I guess they’re going to give him a little bit more longer. Because he ain’t done nothing since he been here. Nothin’.

Greg Schiano: Alright Brian, I appreciate that. You know I’m glad that you were going to lay back on this one (playfully sarcastic) because, man, if Jimmy hadn’t called before, you might have really laid into me. Look, I understand your frustration. Let me just get a couple of things straight. No. 1, at the very end there you made a comment about Mark Dominik. There’s none better in this league. He’s doing an incredible job. He’s been a huge, huge help to me since we’ve arrived. You look at the draft we just had. You look at what we did in free agency. Just give us a chance, OK. Again, I understand the frustration. I don’t want to downplay that at all. But don’t be so sure that we’re going to lose the next two like you said. Just give us a chance and let us go out and play it out. … I strongly believe in our football team and our coaching staff, and I strongly believe in what we do and how we do it and how we approach things. We’re going to bounce back. And we’re going to play good football. And, you know, like I said, go out this week and play the very, very best  that we’re capable. I think that’s going to be something that our fans are going to enjoy seeing. I appreciate the passsion and how much you care. That’s what makes this place special.

Again, Joe has to give it up for the head coach for respecting and appreciating the fans’ passion — even when it’s presented negatively. And trust Joe, there was a load of negativity from these two callers.

As for Schiano’s love for Dominik, it’s not surprising. Dominik dropped three stunning draft picks in Schiano’s lap, and an elite wide receiver in free agency that made the entire offense better. As for the dreadful cornerback situation, clearly Schiano bought into the concept of Aqib Talib’s phony transformation as much as Dominik, so the head coach can’t knock the GM for what happened there.

NFL freelance reporter Dory LeBlanc attended Sunday’s Bucs-Saints game in New Orleans for Joe as a credentialed member of the fourth estate. Below she offers her vision on just how far Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman must go to be mentioned in the same breath as Saints signal-caller Drew Brees.

There was certainly an elite quarterback on the field at the Superdome Sunday, but his name was not Josh Freeman.

Saying I could predict every one of Freeman’s four interceptions as the Bucs’ struggling quarterback released the ball Sunday is a bold statement. But sitting in a press box, high above the field with an overview of all 100 yards affords a powerful point of view.

In particular, on the interception intended for Vincent Jackson, it was obvious when the ball was snapped and Jackson tore off in a straight the line, Freeman assumed the wide receiver would break off and turn into the hashmarks and the pass would land in the hands of Saints safety Rafael Bush, the only player in the vicinity. Clearly there was a miscommunication, and that in itself reveals a serious problem.

It was Week 15, and the Bucs’ offense had communication issues. Of course, communication issues are common across the NFL – but at times it seems Freeman is using a different playbook than his teammates.

For the second time this season, I’ve watched Drew Brees live, which is a much different experience than on TV. Whereas Freeman seemed as if he was on a different page from the rest of the offense through much of the game, Brees was – well, Brees: decisive, confident, and accurate. Brees worked the Bucs secondary like they were candy striping interns, as he surgically maneuvered drive after drive to almost perfection.

When Brees steps onto the field, the whole mojo of the stadium changes. Not just the way the 73,000-plus fans at the Superdome react, but the way the Saints offense reacts. There is no question he is a commander, and if there is a communication discrepancy, Brees has the wherewithal to make something happen and we’re all none the wiser.

On the flip side, no one is sure what happened to Freeman after he led the Bucs to a come-from-behind, overtime victory over the Panthers; I’m not sure Freeman knows. His ability to extend plays has ceased and his downfield bombs have become duds. More important, at this point of the season, there shouldn’t be communication issues between the quarterback and his No. 1 receiver, and if there are, they need to be recognized sooner and the progressions gone through.

As much as Brees has earned the moniker “elite,” Freeman’s performance Sunday showed he is far from it. For the Bucs’ and Freeman’s sake, let’s hope he can channel his pre-Falcons self in the remaining two games or it’s going to be a long offseason for the kid.

Most of the Bucs’ offensive line is manned by backups due to injuries. It’s beginning to show, as evidenced yesterday by no running game to speak of.

Joe has written this before, but the job Bucs’ offensive line coach Bob Bostad has done with a depleted offensive line has been nothing short of a miracle.

But for the first time all year, that offensive line, pretty much put together with bailing wire and duct tape after losing All-Pro Carl Nicks and Davin Joseph, and former starter Jeremy Trueblood, showed signs of being exposed badly yesterday.

There’s a reason Doug Martin couldn’t run the ball. The offensive line, especially the interior, was getting blown off the line in rush attempts. Jamon Meredith, especially, had a rough day.

Now Joe’s not pinning the loss on the offense line solely, but it seems opposing defenses have finally found the Achilles heel of a depleted group.

In some ways, it was only a matter of time before the cracks developed.

Per multiple reports, Western Michigan will hire Buccaneers wide receiver coach P.J. Fleck as its head coach, per MLive.com.

Western Michigan University’s month-long search for its next football coach is over.

The school is expected to hire Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receivers coach P.J. Fleck as its next head football coach on Tuesday, multiple sources have told the Kalamazoo Gazette.

Those sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement is pending.

This could be a loss for the Bucs in that Fleck, a high-energy, high-octane coach, was close to the Bucs wide receivers and just about every receiver Joe has spoken with raved about Fleck.

Interesting that Fleck would leave an NFL gig for a MAC school.

UPDATE: Per CBSSports.com college football expert Bruce Feldman, the reports are true about Fleck.

@BFeldmanCBS: PJ Fleck will be the new head coach at WMU, source tells CBS, as 1st reported by Kalamazoo Gazette. Schiano Tree growing fast

UPDATE II: Greg Schiano, speaking before media this afternoon, wouldn’t comment about the potential loss of Fleck, other than to say lots of great coaches like Fleck on his staff will be in demand for other positions.

A longtime pregame and postgame radio voice of University of South Florida football, Joe’s friend Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski has lots of experience studying Big East football. And it was Pawlowski who said many months ago that Bucs fans should keep an eye on Greg Schiano’s faith in Josh Freeman because Schiano was rather trigger-happy with his quarterbacks at Rutgers.

Schiano recently used three freshman quarterbacks in three consecutive seasons at Rutgers, Pawlowski said, and the coach’s track record was not one of patience at the position.

Given the current freefall of Freeman, Pawlowski astutely reminded listeners of this bit of Schiano history today on his “Gary and The Commish” show on 98.7 FM.

Joe also would point fans toward the comments of the leader of the New Schiano Order on his radio show last week. Schiano was peppered by a caller about Freeman’s future and the coach explained that he believes in Freeman but if a time comes that he isn’t confident in his quarterback that could change.

“I think that, you know, this is a guy who’s 24 years old, he’s in a new system, quarterbacking a new system, and I think he’s had some great, great moments. And I think there’s also been some that he and I both wish we could redo,” Schiano said last week. “Again, this is a guy who is definitely on the come, understands what we’re doing and is only getting better. I truly believe that he’s going to play great [against the Saints]. And if I ever don’t feel that, then that’s a different story, but I do. I believe in this kind and I believe he’s going to do a great job. The best days are ahead for Josh Freeman and for the Bucs.”

How Schiano feels about Freeman after yesterday’s debacle is unknown. But how the Bucs approach the quarterback position in the offseason will tell Joe a lot about what’s in Schiano’s head.

Joe’s supremely confident Freeman will be the 2013 starter, but if the Bucs magically end up drafting a mid-round quarterback in April, and/or upgrade Dan Orlovsky in free agency, that will tell Joe a lot about how the organization feels about No. 5.

Here is a chart of Josh Freeman’s pass attempts vs the Saints yesterday, courtesy of the good people of ProFootballFocus.com. For a larger view, click here.

Hat tip: “The Big Dog,” Steve Duemig.

Was the brave solider who outed the Bucs rookie coaches from college aiming his ire at former LSU coach and current Bucs defensive backs coach Ron Cooper?

The brave soul in the Bucs locker room who wouldn’t offer his name but blew the whistle on a Bucs coach(es) to Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, claimed the (former) college coaches of the Bucs need to go back to college, so Joe wonders who exactly this stand-up, unnamed knight (sarcasm) was referring to.

So Joe will do a little snooping from his keyboard and see if he can connect the dots.

Greg Schiano: Very likely said player was referring to the New Schiano Order in general, and in particular, head coach Greg Schiano and his hard-nosed ways. To this, Joe says, “Wah. If the NFL is too tough, maybe said player would prefer volleyball or gymnastics.” The NFL is a sport for men, not spoiled children.

Bob Bostad: No Bucs coach, short of perhaps Bryan Cox, has done a better job than Bostad, the offensive line coach who came from Wisconsin. Bostad has proven himself to be one of football’s best offensive line coaches, NFL or college.

Jay Butler: The strength and conditioning coach from Rutgers, well, Joe has not heard a bad word about him.

Ron Cooper: There is no way to describe Cooper’s work with a straight face other than to suggest the Bucs defensive backs coach from LSU has done an atrocious job. The Bucs are on pace to set a franchise-worst record for pass defense and could set an NFL mark for the same. Even when he had the Adderall Twins, Aqib Talib and Eric Wright, the Bucs secondary was getting fried worse than an Artie Lange relapse. Joe has no earthly idea how Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik or Schiano can sell to paying customers and Bucs loyalists a Cooper return in 2013. The job (?) Cooper has done this season reinforces the notion that to win in college, all you need to do is recruit.

P.J. Fleck: Joe has spoken with virtually all the Bucs receivers on a regular basis and not one of them has had a remotely unkind word about the Bucs high-strung, high-energy wide receivers coach. In fact, Bucs receivers regularly laud Fleck in glowing terms.

Bob Fraser: Perhaps the unit that has had the best turnaround since last year is the linebackers, led by their position coach who came from Rutgers. Fraser had done as good of a job as Bostad and/or Cox. If anything, Fraser deserves a promotion.

Phil Galiano: Not much of a feel on the Bucs’ assistant special teams coach, who hailed from Rutgers, either way. The Bucs’ special teams have been average.

Bob Gilmartin: Another assistant strength and conditioning coach, also from Rutgers, is often lauded by Schiano. As with Galiano, Joe has no feel for Gilmartin either way.

Jeff Hafley: From Rutgers, the Bucs assistant defensive backs coach is guilty by association. If you work in waste management, you generally smell like trash. Given the horrendous play of the secondary, it doesn’t bode well for Hafley’s job security, nor should it.

Tem Lukabu: Listed as a generic “defensive assistant,” Lukabu, from Rutgers, may slide depending on where he is working. If he’s working with the linebackers or front line, he is on solid footing. If he works with the defensive backs, welp…

Joe Vaughn: Another assistant strength and conditioning coach, he hails from Kansas. Again, Schiano often lauds this group for their work and Joe has no feel yah or nay on these assistants.

Just judging by the resumes of the aforementioned coaches and the pathetic job the secondary has performed this season, Joe’s just going to guess — nothing more than a guess — that the courageous man who outed coaches to Florio was a member of the Bucs secondary.

Again, just a hunch. Nothing more. Just reading the tea leaves.

It’s easy to say what Greg Schiano did yesterday after the Bucs-Saints debacle, that Adam Hayward shoving and taunting assistant coach Bryan Cox before television cameras was a heat-of-the-moment case between friends that is now closed and behind the club.

Well, Joe doesn’t buy that, as Joe thinks committing a violent act against a coach — no matter how minor — is serious business. In fact, Joe thinks Hayward’s deed should merit an extreme punishment, especialy since it violated two of three Greg Schiano tenets: trust and belief. So the third tenet, accountability, needs to be delivered in a big way.

Joe believes Roger Goodell, who’s been known to be a Schiano-like micromanager when it comes to discipline across the NFL, is likely to get involved in Hayward’s case — either issuing a punishment or behind the scenes.

The more Joe thinks about what Hayward did, the more Joe can’t imagine it just gets swept under the rug. That can’t happen.

Yesterday, Joe barked about the baloney of “miscommunication” between Josh Freeman and his receivers in Week 15 of the season.

And today, former Bucs tight end Anthony Becht went on a long rant on WDAE-AM 620 about how miscommunication is not an excuse in December after all the work Freeman has put in with Vincent Jackson and other receivers this year.

Becht described work he put in with numerous quarterbacks in his long career — and with more complex playbooks than Mike Sullivan’s — and offered that Freeman’s attention to detail and work ethic along with his receivers’ may not be as good as advertised.

“If I’m going to point a finger at a receiver, well, maybe I didn’t do enough during the week to make sure we’re on the same page. He’s the chief,” Becht said of Freeman.

“It’s on both of them,” Bechts said, referring to Freeman and receivers. “You gotta put in the time the night before.”

Dave Moore joined Becht, his former teammate, on the air and Moore said he couldn’t say whether Freeman and his receivers are putting in the work the night before a game and taking their film study to extreme levels that he used to with Becht meeting Chucky’s demands.

In what might give Bucs fans hope, Moore said Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, a guy Moore worked with when he played for the Buffalo Bills, had similar communication issues early on in Eli Manning’s career.

Joe wondered aloud yesterday, based on quotes from various former Bucs players, whether the New Schiano Order and it’s “toes on the line” mantra would wear off once the Bucs are losing.

Well, it sure seems like it is. The Bucs have lost four in a row. Quarterback Josh Freeman has regressed terribly by the week over the past month and is below Blaine Gabbert standards, if you can imagine.

Then, during the 2011-like blowout shutout loss to the reeling Saints, linebacker Adam Hayward lost it and prompted a physical altercation with front-seven coach Bryan Cox, which in Joe’s eyes is totally unacceptable on the sidelines. Unacceptable as in Hayward should find work for another team next season.

It gets worse. An unnamed Bucs player apparently went off on the Bucs coaching staff to the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, Mike Florio.

“Can we send these coaches back to college?” one player privately said after the game.

Well, Joe has a major issue with this. First, please explain how your babysitter drinking buddy NFL coach did last year? How’s Jim Harbaugh doing? Or Pete Carroll?

This is just a loser mentality, no other way to put it.

Just do your job or ask for a release/trade Mr. NFL player (who is so upstanding, upfront, brave and honorable he declined to be identifed).

Joe’s going to guess there will be another purge of players this offseason, guys who want to go MMA on the sideline with coaches and dudes who whine about “college coaches” yet grossly tanked games for an alleged NFL coach.

Freelance football writer Dory LeBlanc attended the Bucs-Saints game as a credentialed media member for Joe. Her quotes are used in this post.

Joe wonders whether Bucs players realize how much is at stake in these last two games. A good showing in both, with at least one win, should be enough to bring a night home game back to Tampa in 2013, which means a national showcase for the community and at least one locally televised home game.

But if the Bucs keep tanking, Joe’s confident TV executives will pass on the Bucs, like they did after the heinous 10-game losing streak of 2011.

There’s also the hope and pride legions of fans on the line, most who are/were really on board with the New Schiano Order. You can’t feed a fan base back-to-back collapses and not lose a load of people. Joe knows fans would reveal scant Bucs pride during what would be a torturous, long offseason if the Bucs lose out.

So Joe was encouraged to hear D.J. Ware insist his teammates care about the big picture and didn’t just give the it’s-on-to-the-Rams-season speech.

“These last two games are very important for us. We’ve got to go out there and show our next two opponents what we are all about. We’ve got a lot to prove and we are going to have to do that to finish the season strong. We have a lot of pride here in this locker room and now we have to prove it on the field,” Ware said.

Ronde Barber talked more about pride and responsibility.

“You don’t expect this to happen but it did,” Barber said. “But looking ahead we have two games left to play and every game we play is important. You sign up for 16 games every year and you have to play 16. And we are going to go out there and play hard because tomorrow is not promised to anyone.”

Joe really wants to see what the Bucs are made of these next two games. It’s scary, but literally, they can lose a majority of what was accomplished this season with continued poor play. Joe will join the ranks of the devastated if that happens.

Josh Freeman says his mechanics are not an issue

Josh Freeman disagreed with an assessment that his mechanics aren’t what they were a month ago, during a chat with media following the brutal beat down in New Orleans yesterday.

“From a physical-mechanics, throwing-the-ball standpoint, I feel like I’m as good as I’ve ever been,” Freeman said.

Ok, well, Joe can’t argue with how Freeman “feels.” However, Joe would not stomach an earlier comment Freeman made about what he considers the most important element to repairing the Bucs offense.

Asked how critical a factor falling into 3rd-and-long situations has been in this recent offensive freefall, Freeman said, “First and second down, you know, that’s the key to this whole thing.”

Sorry, but Joe can’t accept that for a second.

Freeman threw four interceptions yesterday, and not one had to do with down and distance, and every ball was tossed into the red zone. They came on the following downs, 2nd-and-10, 3rd-and-14, 1st-and-10 and 1st-and-10. Plus, the 3rd-and-14 pick was nowhere near Vincent Jackson and was immediately after Freeman missed Mike Williams in the end zone on second down.

“The key to this whole thing,” to use Freeman’s words, is Freeman himself. He’s simply letting down his team with bad throws, bad decisions and failing in his leadership role when he’s most needed.

Joe’s really not sure what Freeman’s mindset is at this point. He looks shellshocked on the field, and some of his takes to the media reflect that.

It is “toes up” time as veteran columnist Gary Shelton has strong words for the Bucs after their fourth straight loss in this Tampa Bay Times video.