Cadillac Williams shouldn't factor into the reality of the Bucs plans. He's just a fun fantasy until he proves he's not fragile. Joe finds the Caybrew girls to be a fun fantasy. Click on the picture to find them.

Joe can live with Byron Leftwich as starting QB. After Thursday night’s subpar play from the position, Joe’s just anxious to start the darn season against Dallas in two weeks and see what happens.

However, Joe got a very queasy feeling in his stomach today reading some Jeff Jagodzinski quotes published by the Bucs bedfellows with the colorful magazine, also known as Pewter Report.

No, it wasn’t the boring writing at Pewter Report that made Joe fell ill, it was the offensive coordinator implying — twice — that Cadillac’s success on Thursday gave the Bucs more confidence in the running game, which in turn led coaches to pick Leftwich whose strength is the vertical passing game off play-action.

(So the running game decided who your quarterback was going to be?)
Jagodzinski: “It wasn’t the running game. What we saw as a staff was how Cadillac can affect a game, running backs can affect a game, and when you have to stop a running back. They are going to have to put people up in the box, which will give you an opportunity to throw it downfield. There is only going to be three guys back there, but someone is going to have to commit to the run.

Again, this was the second time Jagodzinski in this Q&A referenced Cadillac’s success as a factor.

For the Bucs to be counting on Cadillac for anything at all is a recipe for disaster.

Right now, Cadillac is nothing more than a fantasy that feels real for the moment. Kind of like hugging a Bucs cheerleader one night and she gives you her phone number. It happened. It was so very nice. But you can’t count on it ever happening again.

Every Bucs fan hopes for Cadillac’s miraculous comeback to continue. But there’s a reason the Bucs would be lucky to trade him now for a seventh round pick. Joe sincerely hopes Cadillac didn’t factor into the Leftwich choice.

Raheem The Dream tells all about the decision to name Byron Leftwich. Joe applauds the depth of his answers.

Raheem The Dream gave the media today a blow-by-blow explanation of how Byron Leftwich won the starting quarterback job.

Fans can watch the video at Buccaneers.com.

Here are things Raheem The Dream said that intrigued Joe.

1) Byron Leftwich was signinficantly ahead of McCown after his performance in spring OTAs.

2) There was “No distinguished guy” entering Thursday night’s game. But it was a split decision among coaches and those with a vote after the Jacksonville game. The final vote on the starting quarterback was a unanimous decision for Leftwich.

3) Leftwich is a better fit for the new offense. Raheem The Dream said the Bucs will be a “heavy play-action team” and Leftwich is better at “throwing the ball down the field in chunks.” …”That kind of fits the mold of what he does.”

4) Raheem The Dream on experience: “I try not to let experience play into it.  …You let experience played into it, we’d still have Jeff Garcia.”

5) Luke McCown will be the backup quarterback. “We’ll have Josh Freeman over there holding the clipboard and wearing the earpiece.” …Josh Johnson is “probably” one of my best 53 players.

6) Raheem The Dream on what Leftwich needs to improve: “Concerned about getting the ball out, the big windup, …sluggish feet in the pocket. …We’ve got to get that cleaned up.”

7) Raheem The Dream talked about how he sat in on Leftwich’s pre-draft interview with Jon Gruden and was impressed.

8.) Ownership/money was not involved in his decision.

9) Players were largely split on who they preferred as starting QB.

10) Discussing when Josh Freeman will see the field is the equivalent “of me conceding to failure.”

As a diehard fan, Joe sincerely hopes the Bucs open the season strong — at least with strong quarterback play.

Otherwise it’s going to get so ugly for Raheem The Dream, and so very fast. Faster than he probably imagines.

It seems Raheem The Dream has his man. Byron Leftwich has been named the Bucs starting quarterback. Joe was alerted via NFL Network this morning.

It’s not Joe’s preferred choice, but Joe is pleased the head coach seems to have made his choice. That flies in the face of the St. Pete Times-driven rumors that the Glazer family was pulling the strings on the QB decision.

The Glazers have little if any history of telling their coaches what to do. And it seems they are sticking to that M.O.

Much more information will come out later today after Morris addresses the media.

Joe is now most interested in how the Bucs will approach the backup quarterback position.

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson, a JoeBucsFan.com analyst, has written many times about how Leftwich leaves himself wide open for injury with his big windup, lack of mobility and history of taking sacks.

Who will back him up? Will Luke stay with the team? Can Josh Freeman develop effectively as the No. 3 quarterback? What about Josh Johnson?

With Leftwich now starting — and getting paid — the Bucs are investing quite large sum in the QB position, considering they are way under the cap.

Joe would be somewhat surprised if McCown is there on opening day.

As usual, the good folks at Buccaneers.com have a video review of Thursday night’s game, complete with highlight looks you won’t find anywhere else and snippets from Raheem The Dream’s news conference on Friday.

Raheem The Dream singled out Geno Hayes as his Thursday star, talking about Hayes’ standout work on special teams and his performance as a starting linebacker.

Hayes sure showed his quickness at linebacker Thursday, and his young legs let him fly on special teams, too.

Joe hopes he can physically handle the entire season at that pace.

Of course, Raheem The Dream and his staff poured over game film this morning.

Raheem The Dream has that Chucky-like work ethic, as do many of his assistants. Sleep is but an annoying necessity between meetings and film study for these guys.

And now, after all that review, and all the months prior, there’s still no decision on a starting quarterback. Raheem The Dream told the media today he’s just not ready yet.

Joe has to ask. What’s going to change over the next few days?  The film is the film. The coach’s evaluations are clearly made. Raheem The Dream already admitted he has his unspoken preference.

Very puzzling. And a little troubling.

Joe can’t help but remember when Bryan Glazer talked about making the decision to fire Chucky. He said he consulted Bucs fans as part of the process.

Is that what’s happening now?

No matter how many times he’s been asked over the past few days, Raheem The Dream won’t say ownership is not involved in the quarterback decision-making process in some way.

Per Buccaneers.com, asked today whether he will inform the Glazers about the quarterback situation or consult them, Raheem The Dream said “For the most part it is information for our ownership. They like information just like you guys do. You own the team; you don’t want to read in the paper about how your quarterback is.”

Joe is troubled by him saying “for the most part.” Either the Glazers are involved in making the decision or they’re not. There is no middle ground.

Hey, maybe the Glazers have some great insight. After all, they’ve been NFL owners for roughly 15 years. However, Joe would much prefer they leave the decision 100 percent up to their football men.

The Bucs offensive line showed flashes of being ready to lead a dominant running attack. The success of Cadillac Williams and Earnest Graham against Miami was invigorating. Joe sat down with Pro Bowl guard Davin Joseph to get his take on the line’s progression in the zone-blocking scheme, his play, and the state of the Bucs.

Joe: In the past you’ve talked about how it took you almost an entire season to master Jon Gruden’s playbook. Tonight, Jeff Faine said at halftime the offensive line would probably master the zone-blocking system by midseason. What’s your timeline? How long is it going to take?

Davin Joseph: I don’t like to put a timeline. I really believe the more games we get in. The more practices. The more times we actually get to run our offense the better we’ll get. The longer we keep these guys together and the healthier we are, the better everything will blossom. With the running backs we have, they cover us so good. Sometimes we miss blocks and they still make us look so good. But it’s hard for me to put a timeline. But I feel as if we’re going in the right direction. …To know that the guys are believing in the offense and trying to execute. Soon, and we don’t know when, we’re going to hit a boom and it’s going to be really exciting. It’s going to be really exciting.

Joe: Can you put a percentage on it? Do you feel you’re 60 percent there as an offensive line?

Davin Joseph: I gotta go back and see this film because I feel like the beginning of the game the running game wasn’t going but the passing game was there. At the end of the game the running game was really loaded in the box and the passing picked up and then there were all the blitzes. …It’s hard to judge. I’ll know better as we get into that Dallas week of preparation about how much we’ve progressed. From the first game to now we’ve progressed a lot. But we still need more games, more time together and all that good stuff.

Joe: The offensive line is meaner and leaner physically this year. After playing three preseason games in your new body, how do you feel right now?

Davin Joseph: This is the best physically I’ve felt since being in the league. It’s a combination of things. It’s dropping weight, lifting more, being in pads more. It all kind of gets you in football shape. I feel like I’m in football shape now, which is much earlier than in previous years.

Joe: Is there a Super Bowl mindset in the locker room?

Davin Joseph: We have to take everything week by week. And if we’re able to do that, and fight every game, we’re going to put ourselves in a great position to make a run. As long as we fight, the way we know how we can fight. We’ll be fine.

Joe: Was the fight there against Miami?

Davin Joseph: The fight was there. The execution was not there. But the fight was there. Some guys really going out and giving up their body and making special plays, really on defense. Really going out there and executing and playing physical. On the offensive side of the ball, our chemistry wasn’t quite there and we didn’t make great adjustments. But the fight was there. You saw guys finishing blocks and being aggressive. That’s what has to be consistent. And it’s been that way. We can correct everything else.

Before the Bucs’ locker room opened for the media following Thursday’s home loss to Miami, offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski walked by the gaggle of reporters and agreed to an interview.

Joe will characterize Jagodzinski’s demeanor as that of a coordinator whose offense just put up six points in four quarters.

He was not in a great mood.

So Joe applauds him for standing up for a grilling about the anemic quarterback play and the QB competition controversy, among other topics.

One thing that stood out was Jagodzinski repeatedly answering, “It’s not my decision,” when asked about selecting a starting quarterback and nearly everything related to the quarterback competition.

Joe can’t help but wonder if Jagodzinski ever thought for a minute that he wouldn’t be pick his starting quarterback when he accepted this job — to work for a young head coach without any offensive experience.

Adam Hayward, another player trying to win Derrick Brook’s old weakside linebacker position, left the Miami game with an injured ankle.

No official word on the severity from the Bucs. But it seemed like it could be quite serious.

Now Joe’s starting to get goosebumps, as if there’s a ghost in the house.

Jermaine Phillips was recently kicked swiftly out of the weakside linebacker spot to return to safety, after Tanard Jackson was suspended for four games. Before that, linebacker Angelo Crowell, who signed a lucrative contract in the offseason, went down for the year. Crowell has significant NFL experience playing at weakside linebacker.

That’s three linebackers down in a matter of weeks.

Joe has to believe a mysterious Derrick Brooks curse might be at play.

Of course, Geno Hayes, who started Thursday at the position, is healthy as a horse. Brooks has been mentoring Hayes, his fellow Florida State Seminole. So it makes sense that Hayes wouldn’t be affected.

If Hayward has a significant ankle injury, the Bucs really need to get Brooks in for a workout. Forgetting for a moment that it’s Brooks, and that he’s healthy and eager, the Bucs need another linebacker.

Raheem The Dream seemed as lukewarm as most Bucs fans in his assessment of the candidates for starting quarterback following Thursday’s loss to Miami.

“Leftwich played decent,” Raheem The Dream told the Buccaneers Radio Network.

On Luke McCown, the head coach said McCown was victimized by “protection breakdowns” and McCown “didn’t get a chance to get off.”

How Raheem The Dream is going to confidently proclaim one of these guys his starting quarterback is going to be great theater.

Joe's very impressed by linebacker Quincy Black

Joe will crank out plenty more for you on tonight’s game.

Off the top of Joe’s head, he was pretty excited about Quincy Black, Jimmy Wilkerson, Maurice Stovall, Kellen Winslow, Sabby Piscitelli, Steve Cargile and the running game. And the Bucs’ run defense continues to make last year’s ugly finish look like ancient history.

On the flip side, E.J. Biggers and Torrie Cox should make us all realize how perilously thin the Bucs are at cornerback.

As for quarterback, it ain’t pretty right now.

Put that Bucanero in the ashtray, get some sleep and come back after sunrise. There will be plenty of can’t-miss coverage all day.

The Bucs big-money center returned tonight. There surely was an upgrade from Sean Mahan.

Faine said he liked the hard running of the Bucs running backs. As Joe mentioned before, Earnest Graham and Cadillac Williams looked like Pro Bowlers.

According to Faine, the Bucs zone-blocking scheme is still a work in progress.

“It’s getting better. It’s still going to be something that we probably won’t hit the sweet spot until midseason where we will be a well-oiled machine,” Faine said at halftime.

Joe can’t say enough about the return of the Bucs running game.

Earnest Graham and Cadillac Williams are a combined 13 carries for 93 yards and both have broken off big runs.

They’re also running with Pro Bowl attitude, breaking tackles and cutting sharply. The offensive line clearly got it into high gear after a shaky couple of series.

“The knee is not an issue to me,” Cadillac said at halftime. “It’s not a problem, I feel great. I’m just loving what I do.”

The running game has been enough to keep Joe from crying about the quarterback situation.

"Hi. My name is Luke. I got a $2.5 million signing bonus."

Byron Leftwich was second-rate in his pre-lightning delay action. Now Luke McCown isn’t looking too much better.

Is either of these guys good enough to snatch the No. 1 quarterback job by the short hairs?

Joe’s almost ready to say give the damn ball to Josh Freeman and get it over with. Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson and Bucs icon John Lynch might be right on the money.

In McCown’s first series, he opened with a gorgeous strike of a 30-yard touch pass as he’s hit to Jeremy Stevens who juggles it and goes out of bounds. No catch.

McCown then gets a first down with his legs on 3rd-and-8 after the pocket collapses. Nice.

After Earnest Graham breaks one for 27 yards, and Cadillac Williams moves the chains yet again with some nasty, strong running, McCown underthrows wide receiver Kelly Campbell, who had a step on his man downfield.

Then the bottom dropped out for McCown.

 He was sacked for a five-yard loss with Sammie Stroughter wide open. Then he took a sack on the next play, when he didn’t react well to a blitz that wasn’t picked up effectively by Graham. 

On the next possession, the seemingly once-a-game ugly play by McCown arrived. He took a horrendously stupid intentional grounding for 20+ yard loss. It was one of those plays he tried to make when he should have thrown the ball away.

Two series. No completions.

Halftime awaits.

Bad overthrows. A fumble. Looking out of it. Drawing the RJS boo-birds.

All in one quarter.

Byron Leftwich can’t snap out of this. Can he?

Leftwich finished the first quarter 8-for-15 for 97 yards.

But probably the most important number isn’t on the stat sheet. He looked like a No. 2 quarterback.

Joe hates unsourced rumors, especially from “league sources,” and especially from league Web sites.

Joe went off on that subject yesterday.

Here’s another one that claims the Bucs have shown interest in young Tyler Thigpen, the Chiefs quarterback who embarrassed the Bucs defense last year and flashed some talent as Kansas City struggled.

Now Raheem The Dream did say multiple times on his first day on the job that he was going to “Stay The Course.” Perhaps he was referring to collecting quarterbacks like previous Bucs head coach.

Dolphins at Bucs
Preseason Game 3
Kickoff: Tonight at 8 p.m.
TV: FOX-13 (Replay Friday, 1 p.m., NFL Network)
Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM, 103.5 and WDAE-AM, 620); Sirius Channel 146.
Weather: Per AccuWeather.com, thunderstorms are expected at kickoff but conditions soon thereafter will turn mostly cloudy.
Odds: Per Bodog.com, Bucs -2.5.
Outlook: So here we thought we’d have a starting quarterback by now. Whoops.

Maybe Raheem The Dream decided that if he put so much pressure on the two quarterbacks, one might fold from the heat and make his decision so much easier.

The return of Cadillac Williams is here. If Caddy doesn’t look good, Joe wouldn’t be surprised if the Bucs turned him loose and kept Kareem Huggins. That would be sad but the NFL is a cold business. Huggins, however, is out for the game with a hyperextended knee.

Other guys on the sidelines include Matt Bryant (hamstring), who is slowly losing his job to Mike Nugent, Michael Clayton (hamstring), Antonio Bryant (knee), complete bust   Dexter Jackson (ankle), safety Donte Nicholson (quad), tight end John Gilmore (calf) and safety Will Allen (shoulder).

Watch Jermaine Phillips back where he belongs at safety. Seems as if the Bucs are all of a sudden thin there.

And Geno Hayes will make the start at weakside linebacker (22 years old and a sixth-round pick – Joe hopes he’s ready for this).

And an additional treat for Bucs fans: The adorable lady above is Dolphins cheerleader Fabiola Romero. Readers with a keen eye should recognize her. She was one of the three original Florida State Cowgirls along with hometown girl and Bucs traitor Jenn Sterger. Word has it Sterger finally took off her filthy Jets clothes and no longer works for Gang Green. This video displays Fabiola in all her glory and Joe strongly encourages readers to utilize  the “full screen” option. The hammock scene is fabulous. Simply put, Fabiola is… fabulous!

Click on the beer to find out where to buy Caybrew, the fantastic lager beer of the Cayman Islands and the official beer of JoeBucsFan.com. Joe buys his Caybrew at Total Wine & More.

Joe can’t count how many stories have been written about current Bucs players and coaches who in turn mention that Derrick Brooks is advising, mentoring and coaching them from his living room.

Here’s another one today about young Geno Hayes from Stephen Holder, of the St. Pete Times.

“I think learning two different positions (strongside and weakside) and playing them at a high tempo, limiting mistakes and showing a lot of good hustle on tape, I’ve shown I’ve improved from last year,” he said. “I think I’ve been showing the coaches some urgency on my assignments and being on top of the details.”

He has had some help with those details, too. The man who played Hayes’ position for 14 seasons, Derrick Brooks, was released in February but has kept in contact with Hayes.

“He’s looking out for all of us,” said Hayes, who says he often consults Brooks for advice.

Given the Bucs loss of projected starting linebackers Jermaine Phillips and Angelo Crowell, and given Brooks’ apparently effective role right now as teacher/mentor and his desire to play, wouldn’t it make sense to offer Brooks at least a player-coach role with the club?

Would linebackers coach Joe Barry really object?

If Raheem The Dream and Mark Dominik want to go with a youth movement at linebacker, fine. But wouldn’t Brooks help the cause most teaching in practice and backing up on the field?

Yeah, there’s a Bucs game tonight.

And it’s a huge game for the history of the franchise.

But Joe knows there are Tampa Bay Lightning lovers out there who can never get enough hockey.

JoeBoltsFan.com is there for you. The action never stops. Why is Vinny Lecavalier now talking about playing defense?

Check out JoeBoltsFan.com today.

BSPN.com writer Pat Yasinskas is way down on Byron Leftwich

Pat “Vacation Man” Yasinskas, of BSPN.com, pulls no punches in his assessment of Byron Leftwich and the Bucs quarterback competition.

It’s one of the strongest opinions to date among the slew of beat writers and commentators. Vacation Man basically says Leftwich is a waste of space yet Raheem The Dream prefers him.

Verdict: I strongly suspect Morris will take the cautious approach and go with Leftwich. But I’d go with McCown or maybe even throw Freeman in from the start. It was established in Leftwich’s Jacksonville days that he’s not a franchise quarterback. Morris likes to say he’s not preparing for failure. But going with Leftwich, who has no upside, sure sounds like the Bucs are aiming for mediocrity.

Joe, too, prefers McCown. But it’s growing obvious Raheem The Dream prefers Leftwich as the place-holder before Josh Freeman grabs the reins.

Joe hopes either McCown or Leftwich make this an easy decision with their play tonight.