Joe’s really loving “Steve White Unplugged,” actually known as the Two-Hand Touch show with Derek “Old School” Fournier on WQYK-AM 1010.

White, the former Bucs defensive end, gets all the time he could want to break down all things Bucs on Tuesday nights. It’s sort of his famous, yet now defunct, Bull Rush column on the radio with passion and personality thrown in. You can listen to the show archive at WhatTheBuc.net.

Here’s what White thought of the sputtering, disjointed Bucs offense as the Lions dominated the opening 30 minutes Sunday.

“Our offensive playcalling was atrocious in the first half. “We don’t really have, or at least in the first half we definitely didn’t have, an offensive identity as far as running the ball. Our best running plays are counters and Power Os. We ran one the whole first half. Then, you know, we’re trying to trick them and influence them and this and that, and that’s really not our game,” White said.

“Unfortunately we don’t have some of the weapons they do have, like Calvin Johnson. We do have a very good tight end. I don’t think we featured him enough in the first half. We do have a great receiver in Mike Williams, but we tried to run him on fade routes every time … It was frustrating to watch, because, no, we don’t have the offensive firepower that the Lions do. But I thought our offensive line blocked well. I thought we had plenty of opportunities. But the playcalling was just atrocious in my opinion.

“There is no reason why you’re not running quick slants for Mike Williams all the time because he’s such a good run-after-the-catch guy. Even if he catches those fade routes, most of the time he’s going to get tackled right there or he’s going out of bounds.

“Give him those quick slants. Give him dig routes, some quick outs and let him run after the catch. … Last year, he had so much success with it, yet you didn’t really see it much at all [Sunday].”

White also went on to say he was disappointed to not see the Bucs work Kellen Winslow over the middle of the field.

Joe also would give the playcalling a failing grade. It would be hard not to, even over 60 minutes. Five touches for LeGarrette Blount won’t win the Bucs games anytime soon. Yet after all that, if Josh Freeman doesn’t throw a bad pick (not Greg Olson’s fault) and Luke Stocker doesn’t impersonate Michael Clayton, the Bucs probably send the game into overtime or win outright. 

There was no quit in the Bucs.

Tomorrow, Joe will lay out White’s powerful Week 1 takes on Gerald McCoy and Quincy Black.

Only 24 years old, fourth-year linebacker Geno Hayes is the kind of guy that makes a coach pull his hair out — and not because he’s been alarm-clock challenged and on the wrong end of a taser.

Hayes flashes greatness nearly every game. Heck, he was a glowing bright spot during the Jim Bates Experiment. But Hayes also has his share of down plays.

Raheem Morris spelled it out succinctly to a caller during The Raheem Morris Show on WDAE-AM 620 Monday.

“Geno Hayes is absolutely what I’m talking about when we say we need to play more consistent,” Raheem said. “Geno has splash plays, you know, every other play. And he makes great plays behind the line of scrimmage, tackles for loss. But right now he has to improve his consistency. You know he missed some plays or he missed some alignments that he can just be great if he gets lined up and he does the correct thing every single time.

“And that’s something that we stressed [Monday] in our meetings. Hopefully, next week he’ll do those things. And he’ll clean up the little things in order to go out there to be great. Because he certainly has the ability. And I see what you see, Bobby, the splash plays, the tackles for loss, the big plays in the passing game. He has the ability to score. He’s fast. He’s elusive. He’s quick. He can be special, if he’s in the right spot at the right time all the time.”

Hayes better hurry up if he’s to reach the expecation Raheem set for him before the season: “Dominance. Absolute dominance.” Those were Raheem’s words five weeks ago.

Let this serve as a return email of sorts to the many that emailed Joe to describe personal concession stands nightmares — and/or missing beer and water vendor agony — at Sunday’s Bucs-Lions game.

First, Joe read your emails and doesn’t believe any of you were making up stories. But you’re emailing the wrong guy. You should be sending the Buccaneers your complaints.

Second, Joe knows there are water fountains all around The C.I.T.S. It’s not the Sahara. To the one guy who claimed he fell into a dehydration-induced hallucination and rage on a 60-minute concession line, dude, you need to stay aware of your surroundings.

Clearly there were concessions problems — again — at the stadium Sunday. There also were numerous calls on the subject to sports radio stations on Monday and Tuesday. And Joe’s media partners at WTSP-TV, Channel 10 reported it.

Maybe the trouble was just in isolated sections? Perhaps some vendors weren’t ready for the half-price concessions offer in effect for the game? Joe doesn’t care very much about the details, just the possible lasting negative effect on Bucs attendance. Word of mouth goes a long way — good and bad.

There’s nothing Joe loves more than the rollercoaster ride of a football season. It’s glorious. It’s a man holiday every week all week, when the fire rages over what happened on the field, the team’s reaction, and what’s coming up next.

Joe could walk into Mugs Grill & Bar or any fine establishment around town tonight, sit at the bar and find someone to debate Bucs football into the wee hours. 

But even jaded Joe is amazed by how many Bucs fans out there already have a sky-is-falling attitude about the 2011 Bucs.

True story:  This afternoon Joe talked to a guy wearing a Bucs shirt who started making a case for the Bucs going winless. Winless! So Joe asked the dude what his preseason prediction for the Bucs was. He said, “8-8.”

Joe also hears all the craziness burning up sports radio.

Look, Joe’s as passionate as the next guy, but it was just one game on Sunday. The Bucs looked ugly. Absolutely. They were outplayed and outcoached. But Joe’s not about to lose his mind unless the Bucs somehow aren’t 2-2 after their first four games.

If that happens, you’ll find Joe among the raging lunatics, as well.

One of the more cerebral video blogs here from Tampa Tribune beat writers Woody Cummings and Anwar Richardson. The dynamic duo explore the conundrum that is the Bucs’ offense.

Count former Bucs guard Ian Beckles, co-host of The Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620,  among those who want to see Gerald McCoy talk less and play more.

Today Beckles was set off by McCoy’s quotes typed out by Anwar Richardson of The Tampa Tribune. McCoy offered a detailed take on what went wrong Sunday.

“The one thing I can say is how those guards were sitting,” McCoy said. “As deep as they were sitting, I don’t think that was legal. I really don’t. We said something to the refs. They just let it go. But we said, ‘Hey, we have to play with the conditions we are in and keep playing.’

“They didn’t slide protect like we planned. Everybody was sitting back. They game-planned our speed up front. But with us seeing that, it is a good learning experience. Now we can go work on that.”

Beckles called McCoy’s words excuses. Among other things, he explained to his readers that if a guard decides to gouge a defensive tackle’s eyes out and there’s no whistle, then that’s “legal” and you have to deal with it.

“If a guard is sitting back, the lower your shoulder pads and run over him. Stop talking and make a play,” Beckles said.

For Joe, McCoy’s comments are another illustration of the Bucs getting outcoached Sunday. As for McCoy talking, Joe is entertained by the steady flow of ex-players whose blood pressure rises after learning of McCoy’s quotes du jour.

Listening to Jeff Faine chatter last night on The Jeff Faine Show on WYGM-AM in Orlando, Joe didn’t hear a guy talking like his team was “youngry” on Sunday.

Faine spoke of the Bucs’ offense failing on what he calls “cheap yardage plays,” those small chunks of real estate that help get the offense in a rhythm and move the chains early in a drive.

“Some of the key calls, I think they’re cheap yardage plays. Almost plays we take for granted,” Faine said. “Naked’s that we’ll get five, six yards on. We didn’t get them.”

Faine offered no real insight other than the usual playerspeak after a team starts slow and “didn’t execute” or “get it going.”

Faine did say the Bucs will come out with a similar gameplan Sunday in Minnesota and “not just jump into our two-minute offense.”

Other things Joe learned, Demar Dotson refers to the Bucs starting center as “Uncle Faine,” and Faine scoreboard watches during game. “It’s hard not to watch the scoreboard when it’s right there in front of your face. I was happy Chicago was beating Atlanta,” Faine said.

Former Bucs TE Dave Moore says the loss of Barrett Ruud already is being felt

Two weeks ago, former Bucs tight end and current Buccaneers Radio Network Radio analyst Dave Moore called out Quincy Black for getting beat for a touchdown and explained that he expected opponents to attack Bucs linebackers.

After Sunday’s loss against the Lions, Moore took to the WDAE-AM 620 airwaves to spell out for host Dan Sileo some of why the Bucs suffered at linebacker against Detroit and why Barrett Ruud’s absence already has the Bucs changing their defense to compensate for the loss.

Moore talked about Ruud’s intelligence and relentless film study so he wouldn’t bite on the run at the wrong time and get beat over the middle. Now, Moore said, the Bucs can’t count on that consistency from Black and Mason Foster and must adapt for their inexperience.

“So Barrett [Ruud] would get dragged for three or four yards, but you never saw him get beat up the middle. When was the last time you saw a tight end catch a ball dead up the middle of the field when Barrett Ruud was the middle linebacker? That’s what you lose now with going with a younger guy that’s more aggressive,” Moore said. “Yeah, [Foster is]  more aggressive against the run, but now you’re open to that middle because that’s a tough deal. When you’re a guy that’s expected to take on a fullback, the lead blocker and stop the run at the line of scrimmage, but also cover the middle of the field against a [speedy] receiver, that’s tough duty.

“So, we may see coverages get away from that Cover 2. We saw in the second half a lot more 2-man coverage off, you know, Cover 4, some things to kind of protect that middle linebacker.”

Joe suggests you click through the link above and hear all of Moore’s comments. Great stuff, as usual, from Moore. He’s one of those rare guys, like former Bucs DE Steve White, who easily boils down complicated Xs and Os for the average fan.

Regardless of what you think of Ruud, when the Bucs let Ruud walk, they traded the known for the unknown — 100+ tackles and reliability in the passing game for a mysterious and evolving melding of Black and Foster.

This is tough duty on Raheem Morris, who has plenty to prove as a defensive coordinator. Rock star general manager Mark Dominik passed on Raheem’s quarterback of the defense (Ruud) in favor of dropping  a rookie middle linebacker into the fire after an asinine-lockout-shortened offseason.

Joe’s hoping the Bucs’ defensive line makes huge strides in a hurry to take pressure off the linebackers. That’s the most likely path to success versus quick miracles out of Black and Foster.

So where did the Bucs go wrong on defense yesterday? There’s a lot of answers to that question, but Raheem Morris was clear on three positions and four players needing to do more.

At his Monday news conference, Raheem said he wanted more disruption up the gut.

“Roy [Miller] and [Frank] Okam, we didn’t get very good get-off.  We didn’t get very good play out of our nosetackle yesterday,” Raheem said. “And I’ll address that with them. There’s not an indictment on them or anything of that nature.  But we’ve go to get better play from our nose tackle position with our get-off the way we want to play the game.”

Per TampaBay.com, Raheem also said he wants more production from Geno Hayes and Quincy Black.

Joe was surprised Roy Miller even got the start over Okam, who was much better in preseason. But each guy got plenty of snaps and both looked a step slow.

As for the linebackers, Joe’s not going to come down on Black again now.

A local radio host suggests Price came back too soon

Relatively speaking, there was good news today on injured Sammie Stroughter and Brian Price.

Yesterday, Stroughter left The C.I.T.S. on crutches with a boot on his left foot and Price reportedly had a hamstring injury, extra alarming considering his serious offseason hamstring/pelvis surgery.

Raheem Morris didn’t give any indication that either injury was season-ending during his afternoon news conference Monday. 

“Stroughter will have a small surgery tomorrow,” Raheem said. “Not major. He will be out a few weeks.”

Raheem said Price was day-to-day and singled out his strong play at nose tackle in limited snaps.

Today, WDAE-AM 620 host Ian Beckles questioned Price even being on the field against Detroit. “They put too much stock in a player they knew wasn’t healthy,” Beckles said.  

Joe really can’t go there with Price. He’s been back from the lockout for 6+ weeks, and he clearly came out healthy after playing loads of snap against Washington in the final preseason game. Price has proven he can contribute, and if his doctors are on board, then there’s no reason for him to sit.

Moments after the Bucs-Lions game ended yesterday, Joe wrote about the ridiculousness of LeGarrette Blount only having five carries despite a very tight game on the scoreboard for most of the day.

Today, former Bucs quarterback Shaun King said of the Bucs abandoning Blount and the running game, “They panicked.”

And Raheem Morris offered a rather similar take today during his news conference saying the offense the Bucs need to be successful starts with Blount bludgeoning people, racking up yardage and setting up play-action passes.

“Maybe as a coach I went too early to the two-minute offense,” Raheem said.

Interestingly, before Blount was a starter last year, the Bucs pounded Cadillac Williams over and over again despite little success. Cadillac had 49 carries for 126 yards over the first two games. The consensus from the Bucs’ coaches was that it had to be done.

So what happened yesterday?

Joe’s writing this post for two reasons:

To set the record straight for the local media that is bound to come here on a fact-finding mission regarding Raheem Morris’ comments today, and to address the fans ready to label Joe a snitch once again.

Speaking at his news conference today, Raheem was asked about the supposed punishment that might be crashing down upon him from the NFL for allegedly communicating with players during the lockout. Raheem explained a bit of what happened and then chose to point a finger at JoeBucsFan.com. Here is his verbatim quote:

“Yeah, I called Kellen [Winslow] to say, ‘Congratulations on your new baby'” Raheem said. “I haven’t heard any reports about, I heard the rumors about the fine and all that type of stuff, but I haven’t gotten anything from the league.

“Yeah, I called Aqib when he [went] to jail. I called Kellen when he had a baby. Thanks JoeBucsFan for talking about that and getting my phone records checked. I appreciate that.”

Joe encourages fans and media to read the original story here.

The facts are that Raheem talked about speaking to players during the lockout on the Buccaneers’ flagship radio station, WDAE-AM 620, during a heavily promoted live sit down with The Big Dog, Steve Duemig, the top rated sports show in the Tampa Bay market. Communicating with players came out while Raheem addressed a fan calling in.

Now surely the Bucs were listening, as they monitor all of Raheem’s public appearences. Duemig was listening. And Raheem spoke clearly and directly. He surely knew what he was saying. There was no attempt made to clarify the coach’s comments after they were made.  The radio station posted the podcast. And Joe reported the exchange two days later, praising Raheem for likely doing what all head coach’s were doing to get an edge.

Joe understands, in theory, why some fans might think Joe did a misdeed and didn’t protect the Bucs and used poor judgement. Some even think Joe played “gotcha” with Raheem, which is ridiculous since Joe reported it two days later. And Joe knows every beat writer in town would never not listen to the head coach on live radio during a one-hour sit down.

The fact is, Joe simply regurgitated what was heard by about 50,000+ listeners, even more podcast listeners, and effectively approved by the Bucs.

If that’s being a bad fan, well, expect Joe to do it again to serve his readers. Joe follows a simple rule. If it’s Bucs-related, and Joe thinks it’s interesting, then Joe writes about it.

Joe will say that months ago Raheem and Joe had a passionate conversation about the original report face to face, like real men, with nobody else around and no recorders running. That conversation will remain private.

Alex Loeb and Cris Carter break down the Bucs loss to the Lions in this BSPN.com video.

It's kind of difficult to get a coverage sack on Matthew Stafford if there is no coverage.

It’s pretty clear to Joe — and Joe is sure, most Bucs fans — who watches games and who relies on a box score to break down a game.

Enter Peter King. Now Joe loves King and regularly refers to his Monday Morning Quarterback as a must read. It is. Now King works for NBC on Sundays and tries to take a peek at all games, but that’s not watching a game, that’s getting a quick glimpse.

So when King — and others Joe has heard — mock the Bucs for a lack of pressure on a quarterback, that blatantly tells Joe they didn’t watch the game. Let Joe use a few of King’s lines in his MMQB this morning for evidence.

h. In the last two drafts, the Bucs picked four defensive linemen in the first two rounds: Gerald McCoy, Brian Price, Adrian Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers. Combined, they had five tackles, no sacks, no quarterback pressures on Sunday. Yikes.

i. In fact, the Bucs had no sacks and no pressures … against a Detroit offensive line that isn’t in the league’s upper echelon. That’s a bad sign for a team that will live or die on its young defensive stalwarts.

If someone watched the game, they would know that after the first series, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford went to a two- and three-step drops. Part of this was that early, the Bucs indeed were getting pressure on Stafford. Joe specifically remembers Adrian Clayborn drilling Stafford in the ribs just as he released the ball.

That’s not pressure?

Does King believe that perhaps the Lions went to two- and three-step drops because the Lions don’t have a “stalwart” offensive line? Also, it’s common football sense that the only way a defense is going to sack a quarterback on a two- and three-step drop would be on coverage sacks.

And the way the Lions receivers ran wild on the Bucs secondary like a some show on the Animal Planet, it was virtually impossible short of a lineman not being blocked at all to put heat on Stafford.

Like most Bucs fans, former Buccaneer guard turned radio personality Ian Beckles was aghast by what he saw against the Lions.

Speaking on The Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620 today, Beckles said what’s on the field doesn’t match the talk coming from the head coach.

“This is supposed to be a rough and tough team that Raheem is building,” Beckles said. “Would have been nicer to see a little bit better of a fight out there [on a day honoring Lee Roy Selmon].

“They really didn’t do anything well. They didn’t rush the passer well. They didn’t cover well.

“They never really tried to establish anything [in the running game]. When you’re up early, try to establish something. I thought we’re supposed to be a physical football team. That’s what Raheem keeps saying.”

The Bucs definitely the physical battle on both sides of the ball. From the lines to Calvin Johnson dominating with his freakish skills. Joe’s not about to call the Bucs soft. The Lions were just better.

There was a play where the Lions should have had a defensive interference call on the goal line that would have given the Bucs a first-and-goal Sunday.

Joe was furious, not only because of the no-call, but because it reminded Joe last year how the Bucs had a touchdown pulled off the scoreboard because Kellen Winslow was whistled for offensive interference. It was such a horrible call that the NFL apologized (the play cost the Bucs the playoffs).

Well, the zebras were at it again yesterday and to Joe’s knowledge, few if anyone noticed this and it turned out to be huge.

For some reason, the embed codes on a FoxSports.com video are not working. So Joe strongly suggests you click on this link and let former NFL Vice President of Officiating and current Fox Sports analyst Mike Mike Pereira explain how a blown call in the Lions-Bucs game could have meant a 14-point swing in favor of the Bucs.

Details are sketchy and so are the league rules, but it seems the clear the NFL is scrutinizing Raheem Morris’ communication with players during the NFL lockout.

Jason LaCanfora, of NFL.com, a man who’s got all the sources he could want, delivered the news yesterday just before opening-day kickoff.

The NFL was investigating seven instances of contact between Bucs players and coaches, according to the team source, but three of the calls were less than a minute long and could have been hangups or never completed. One call was between coach Raheem Morris and TE Kellen Winslow to wish him well on the birth of a child. And the longest conversation was between Morris and a player who didn’t make the team.

The NFL alerted teams they must log calls and contact with players during the lockout and that league officials could look at those records after the lockout was over. Privately, other executives from rival teams believed that quotes from Morris and others indicated an illegal amount of activity with their players at that time.

When Joe saw this, his first thought was, if the league demanded teams to “log calls and contact with players,” then obviously various kinds of contact was permissable. So Joe’s not sure where this whole thing might go.

As Joe wrote previously when he reported that Raheem referenced contact with players on live radio, Joe expected all head coaches were talking to players this offseason, especially those close with players like Raheem.

But one might think if a coach was cheating he would use one of those mysterious cheap cell phones you can get at 7-Eleven to contact a player — something outside the traceable net of the NFL.

But again, if various communication with players was OK, then maybe Raheem had nothing to hide.

Before Joe gets rolling, let him be clear: Aqib Talib is a good cornerback.

Having typed that, Aqib Talib is not yet a Pro Bowl cornerback and is not an elite cornerback.

Since last year, Bucs fans have mocked E.J. Biggers, blaming him for a loss to the Lions because, so these fans claimed, Biggers was horrible and if only the Bucs had Talib on the field (he was injured) the game would have been different.

After the debacle of pass defense displayed by the secondary yesterday, Talib only wished he had as good of a game as Biggers did last year against the Lions.

There is no other way to put it. Talib got roasted by Calvin Johnson Sunday. Talib was owned. So much so the way Johnson spoke with eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune, it seemed he felt sorry for Talib.

The stat sheet, however, spoke loudly as Johnson caught six passes for 88 yards, including two touchdowns.

“We made plays on him (Talib),” said Johnson, who caught 10 passes in Tampa last year during an overtime win as an injured Talib watched from the sidelines. “I didn’t have any problems. There was a lot of talk. We don’t talk back … we just do what we do.”

Does Talib have the talent to be an elite corner? It seems he does. But when presented with chances to make big plays, he comes up empty and Joe is not talking about fluke plays like his pick six from a deflected pass. Joe’s talking about guarding his man.

The Pittsburgh game is still vivid in Joe’s mind where Talib totally whiffed on two picks, one of which bounced off his hands for a Pittsburgh touchdown.

Yesterday, Talib seemed to have good position on Johnson in the second quarter along the right sideline. But Talib got greedy and went for a pick. He missed but Johnson didn’t and it was six points for the Lions. Had Talib just stayed on his man, he at least would have had a pass defend.

Yes, Talib is a good cornerback. But yesterday reminded all Bucs fans that while Talib is a talented player, he is hardly elite.

Two standouts for the Bucs today, Sammie Stroughter and Brian Price, had rough endings to their days.

Stroughter had a boot on his left foot and used crutches leaving the locker room. Joe doesn’t know his status. Stroughter’s 78-yard kick return, courtesy of a Maurice Stovall missed tackle, led to the Bucs’ first score. You can watch it here.

And Joe can’t say enough about Brian Price. His first snap of the day in the first quarter, Price blew through the Detroit line and had a tackle for a three-yard loss. It was the kind of dominating burst Price wowed with as a rookie at training camp last year.

Price played limited snaps today but was effective and capped his heroic comeback from his gruesome offseason surgery.

Unfortunately, Price left the game with a hamstring injury. It was his hamstrings that were ripped off the bone and screwed into his pelvis this offseason.

Joe wishes these fine young men well. Raheem Morris should have an injury update tomorrow at his press conference.

There’s no amount of spin that can cover for the Bucs’ problem of exceptionally slow starts in games.

It’s not just Joe being critical. Raheem Morris has spoken of the pattern himself.

Today it was painfully front and center on both sides of the ball. And fixing it is something the team has made a focus, yet it’s still there, dating back to most games last year and, well, probably everything associated with 2009.

Where does the blame lie?

Joe asked Ronde Barber whether slow starts are just bad luck and a media-made focus, or something a team legitimately can work to eradicate.

“You’ ve got to have a sense of urgency from the opening gun,” Barber said. “When we get to that point, we’ll be a better football team. There’s no doubt about it.”

Now Joe can’t fathom how an allegedly “youngry” NFL team, on opening day no less, is hurting for a sense of urgency. It’s truly mind-boggling, especially with much more experience on the field this season and a coaching staff dialed in on fixing the problem.

And it was so widespread today, from the offensive line to Josh Freeman to the playcaller to the defense.

Joe has to think the Bucs need a shakeup. Strippers in the locker room? Coffee? Old fashioned locker room threats from the head coach? Aggressive gameplanning on both sides of the ball from the opening whistle? Something is wrong somewhere.

Veteran sports columnist Gary Shelton discusses the Bucs’ ugly, season-opening loss to the Lions at The CITS in this St. Petersburg Times video.