Two years ago Josh Freeman was the talk of the NFL. The Bucs quarterback put up astounding numbers, specifically his touchdown-to-interception ratio that was an otherworldly 25 touchdowns to six interceptions.

Freeman was so good, he nearly led the Bucs to the playoffs, as the Bucs lost out in a tiebreaker to the eventual Super Bowl champion Packers.

Last year expected almost as much from Freeman (which, in retrospect, was unrealistic), Freeman regressed terribly.

Joe believes there were many factors in Freeman’s step backwards. The Bucs coaching staff, for reasons incomprehensible, decided to ignore the rushing attack and put all the pressure on Freeman’s shoulders.

When Kellen Winslow became more distraction than asset and teams figured out how to double- and triple-team Mike Williams, the result was Freeman’s 22 interceptions.

Now there is a valid question Bucs fans may have: Is Freeman the quarterback we witnessed in 2010 or the quarterback we witnessed in 2011?

Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik believes it is the former, so reports Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.

Freeman’s dedication to improving on last year’s disappointing 16-touchdown, 22-interception effort is very encouraging, Dominik said during the Sneaker Soiree roundtable.

“He’s an extremely competitive person and this offseason, all on his own, he’s already lost 15 pounds,” Dominik said. “He looks like a different person.

“And even though he’s still a baby in the NFL, he knows that life in the NFL can be short and so he’s done everything he can to devote himself not only to being a better football player but to learning the new system. I’m very encouraged that he takes his job that seriously.”

Well, just judging by what Joe has seen of the Bucs practicing — and Joe hasn’t been able to get much of a look at Freeman yet — the signs for a rebound are there.

There is no question under the New Schiano Order that Greg Schiano is determined to run the ball, just the opposite of last year’s offensive coordinator Greg Olson.

Further, the Bucs have acquired help for LeGarrette Blount by drafting Muscle Hamster Doug Martin and scatback Michael Smith.

Besides, it’s not that difficult to improve on 22 interceptions.

A fan seemingly preparing for the ouster of rockstar general manager Mark Dominik fired a question off to ESPN NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas about the job security of the Bucs’ big cheese during a live chat Friday.

Apparently, this fan doesn’t believe the bold assumption floated by Tampa Bay Times writer Stephen Holder that Dominik has already been stripped of much of his power, and neither does Yasinskas, based on his response.

Jared (Tampa): Pat, lets kick this chat off early…Do you think if we do not see key drafted players have a strong season for the Buccaneers Mark Dominik will still be with us this time next year? Who are the players that need to have strong seasons besides Freeman and Clayborn?

Pat Yasinskas: If they have a bad record, yeah, he could be on the hot seat. But I think you’ll see some progress from the Bucs this year. I’d throw Gerald McCoy (if he stays healthy) into that category on your second question. And I think this year’s first three draft picks also will make pretty instant impacts.

Sure, Dominik could be in hot water if the Bucs don’t show progress in 2012, but for Joe this is more of the talent-vs.-performance debate. Clearly Dominik has made bad moves, but he’s also had top-shelf calls on his watch. Joe’s mindset during and after last season was the Bucs were most vicitimized by coaching gone terribly wrong than anything else. You can’t open 4-2 with wins over two playoff teams and then blame the GM for a historic collapse.

That written, after four seasons, 2009-2012, Dominik surely will have a much more complete record on which to be judged.

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Expect new Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan to run an offense similar to the Giants'.

Joe is asked this question often, mostly on Twitter:

What kind of defense will Greg Schiano run?

Nobody short of Schiano really knows. Every time he is asked this question, he gives some evasive answer such as, “We will run some four-man fronts and some three-man fronts.”

Translation: Wait until September to see.

The question Joe cannot remember any fan asking him yet is, “What kind of an offense will Greg Schiano run?”

Well, it will be a run-first offense for sure, since the Bucs loaded up on running backs in the draft and added Carl Nicks. Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune is of the mind that the Bucs will run Mike Sullivan’s offense, which will be a version of the New York Giants, offense. That’s what Cummings detailed in a TBO Bucs Q&A.

Q: Coach Schiano impresses me by trying to instill work ethics back in the Bucs. His selection of experienced ex-pro assistants and his style are impressive. My concern is his ability to develop a pro-caliber offense. The Rutgers offense was mediocre by college standards and the jump to the NFL is a concern. Can Schiano make the leap scheme-wise?

Al, Belleview

A: Well, the Bucs aren’t going to run Schiano’s offense. They’re going to run his defense and Mike Sullivan’s offense. We’re still not sure what Sullivan’s offense will look like but the word we have from the players we’ve talked to, including QB Josh Freeman, is that it will look a lot like what the New York Giants have been running lately. That makes sense since Sullivan came from the Giants, where he was receivers coach and then quarterbacks coach. That offense has won two Super Bowls so it must be rather effective. It’s primarily a rush-oriented attack that takes shots down the field, which is definitely what Schiano wants.

— Roy Cummings

While the Giants do like to the throw the ball downfield, it’s a run-first offense, even with Eli Manning at quarterback. The Giants have thrown two- and three-headed running back monsters at defenses.

This tells Joe right there that not just Muscle Hamster and LeGarrette Blount will get plenty of work, but scatback Michael Smith could see plenty of touches.

Joe thinks about the Bucs’ 2012 linebacker corps and instantly becomes nervous and edgy. Lavonte David has big-time potential, but he’s a rookie. Mason Foster has a lot to prove in all phases of his game, and Quincy Black is, well, Quincy Black.

It would be an absolute stunner if those three guys aren’t starting, so that’s Joe’s feeling about them at this point. Joe really has no confidence and simply hopes the unit can rise up this season and become a middle-of-the-pack NFL linebacking corps.

Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik, however, says he’s “comfortable and optimistic” when it comes to Bucs linebackers, so he told the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig, Thursday on WDAE-AM 620.

Dominik painted a picture of David working hard to earn first-team status, reiterated that Foster led all NFL rookies in tackles last year while the Bucs put an incredible load on his plate for a rookie, and Dominik said Quincy Black has moved over to “his natural position” and “we’re expecting that he should play a good SAM position.”

Joe hopes Dominik is on the money, but Joe can’t bring himself to be “optimistic” about the 2012 linebackers as a unit, not without an iron clad guarantee that Gerald McCoy shows up to work every day and plays like a No. 3 overall pick. Every other position? Sure, Joe can easily be optimistic.

The leader of the New Schiano Order took to the Tropicana Field mound to toss out the first pitch at the Rays-Orioles game tonight. Sadly, reports on the Rays official website claim Greg Schiano threw a screamer that went far over guest catcher Joe Maddon’s head and to the backstop.

Earlier in the day on Pro Football Talk Live, Schiano said he was “going to throw my high cutter and see if it won’t come down over the plate.” Apparently, Schiano’s mechanics were off.

Joe was a bit surprised Schiano didn’t don a Rays jersey or at least a Rays hat for the festivities, as Raheem Morris and other Bucs players have done previously when bestowed the same honor.

As you can see in the photo, Schiano stuck with his Bucs polo.

Update: SOLD OUT for June 2 and June 3. The luxury bus is staying for the postgame concert on June 17.

The Rays are back home this weekend. So it’s time to have more fun going to Rays games and save money.

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Don’t look for the New Schiano Order appearing on Hard Knocks in future seasons. Greg Schiano explained his feelings during an interview today with Mike Florio on Pro Football Talk Live on NBCSports.com.

The Bucs head coach prefers to keep things as tight-lipped as possible.

“I personally am not a big fan of it,” Schiano said about the realities of a team being on Hard Knocks.

“I’m kind of more of a private guy. I look at my family and the Buccaneer family as kind of the same.”

The relaxed interview was a good peek inside Schiano, and it’s pretty clear Schiano won’t be coming out with any “race to 10” slogans anytime soon.

Asked to detail what would represent success for the Bucs in 2012, Schiano said his managerial focus is getting the most out of everyone daily and he doesn’t focus on end results.  Schiano said his approach starts daily with himself, and then moves to everyone around him and holding everyone accountable.

It’s “wasted time” and “wasted energy,” Schiano said, to worry about the Bucs’ potential record.

“I peform for an audience of one, and it’s no one down here,” Schiano said, seemingly referring to a Higher Power and not team ownership.

Asked about struggling attendance in Tampa, Schiano says a major key to filling the stadium is “giving the community what they’re asking for.” He went on to explain he always tries to remember that fans want and expect an entertaining product.

If/when audio of the interview becomes available, Joe will serve it up here later.

Keen readers of Joe know how, though he is also a baseball fan, Joe has nearly been driven away from the sport by the stat geeks.

Stats, when used with reason, can sometimes be enlightening. But the glut of made-up acronyms — all borne out of fantasy baseball — is mind-numbing if not distracting. The nonsense a couple of Sundays ago on a Rays TV broadcast where viewers were hit over the head with this statistical graffiti was worse than nuns belting students over the head with a pointer over an algebra lesson.

Joe had to turn the sound down and turn the radio on for relief.

Joe learned a long time ago, in high school in fact, that anyone can concoct any statistic they wanted to prove just about any premise.

Again, a stat can shed light on a subject when used correctly. This brings Joe to Greg Olson.

Joe had railed all last season, and still pounds his fist on the bar, about how underutilized LeGarrette Blount was last year. Yeah, Olson came up with all sorts of excuses not to give him the ball short of Mars is behind the moon.

But it wasn’t just Blount, it was the entire rushing attack. In a story on how the Bucs want to really run the ball this season, eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune unearthed a statistic so unnerving to Joe, he almost spit his coffee on his keyboard.

Schiano’s predecessor, Raheem Morris, also stressed physicality, but the Bucs ran the ball only 346 times in 2011, the fewest rushing attempts in franchise history during a non-strike season.

Facepalm!

This little nugget right there may have been a major cause of why the Bucs tailspinned into their grotesque 10-game losing streak.

Josh Freeman was struggling. Mike Williams was struggling. Kellen Winslow was struggling. You had a guy in the backfield who averaged five yards a carry the previous season and a line built for run-blocking, but damn the torpedoes, we’re throwing the ball, boys!

Sure, the Bucs were behind often so they had to throw the ball, Joe gets that. Notice this record was not set in 2009 when the Bucs won a grand total of three games, were behind terribly in most of those games, and had no rushing attack to speak of.

And people wonder why Olson was fired?

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Don’t be foolish enough to search for your next ride without considering the stunning value and service at Ed Morse dealerships like this one. Joe bought his pre-owned car at an Ed Morse dealer in February 2011. Joe’s never been happier.

There’s nothing wrong with a little excitement about a player in May, even if it is underwear football where there’s little contact and running backs and other positions barely get a two-hand touch.

Count rockstar general manager Mark Dominik among those excited already about the performance of the 2012 Bucs draft class.

Speaking to Steve Duemig, of WDAE-AM 620 yesterday, Dominik said late-round picks have “really splashed” and include seventh-round scatback Michael Smith, the former No. 2 back at Utah State.

“We’ve been very excited about what Michael Smith has done with the ball in his hands. You’re seeing the 4.3 speed on the field, when he gets the ball in his hands and just being able to accelerate and make big plays,” Dominik said.

It’s fun to think about Smith becoming an electric weapon in the Bucs’ backfield, but Joe really can’t get “excited.” Not now. Not yet. Maybe after Smith stands out in a preseason game.

Kareem Huggins had that kind of speed and fans flocked to him as a potential savior. Joe simply will be impressed if Smith can make the Bucs roster and challenge for carries with the huge talents ahead of him on the depth chart.

A handful of pundits thought the Bucs were nuts to grab a safety (Mark Barron) over a cornerback (Morris Claiborne) with the fifth-turned-seventh pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Taking a safety over a corner, these analysts claim, is like choosing a typical South Tampa cutie over Rachel Watson. A cornerback is always more valuable, they said.

Not so fast, says rockstar general manager Mark Dominik. Speaking to the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio yesterday, Steve Duemig of WDAE-AM 620, Dominik talked about how that logic doesn’t fly in the modern NFL.

Mark Dominik: That’s just one of those positions where historically you don’t take a safety in the top-10 as much, but historically things are changing in the NFL.

Steve Duemig: Did Eric Berry change that?

Dominik: I think [Eric Berry] did. He helped it. Certainly, you know, Eric Berry came in, he went to the Pro Bowl his rookie year and really had a phenomenal first season. I think that’s been a big step, along with what Sean Taylor had done in his early career.

That’s quite a bit of pressure Dominik put on himself with Barron. Berry, drafted fifth overall in 2010, was an instant star. And Taylor, who burned the Bucs in the 2005 playoffs, was very successful as a rookie and made a Pro Bowl before he was killed during his fourth season in 2007.

Dominik also said he loves what he sees at One Buc Palace from Barron and the Bucs have a good shot “to really hit gold” with the rookie.

Joe’s as hopeful as the next fan that Barron is the real deal. But the reality is that any guy taken that high in the draft has to be an impact player to not be considered a bust. Whether a safety or a cornerback, it makes no difference as long the player lives up to his billing.

As if anyone thought otherwise, Greg Schiano really does care about regulating and mandating meeting room temperatures, so he told Albert Breer of NFL.com.

Breer got into ChillGate and Noodletalk with Schiano and rockstar general manager Mark Dominik today.

“That speaks to the level of detail, the organization and how precise he thinks the little things need to be to get it right,” said Dominik, who laughed when he heard about Schiano’s response to the temperature story. “I saw that story as a positive, as him trying to find any advantage he can to make the team better. Whether it’s the room temperature or the story about him allegedly wanting a certain kind of pasta, it shows how important all of it is to Coach Schiano. In any and all aspects of the operation, he wants it to be the best it can be.”

Click on through above to read Schiano’s comments.

Again, Joe has no problem with any of this micromanaging. Though Joe’s not sure why Peter King made such a big deal out of it. Other coaches do it and they’re heralded. Schiano’s a “control freak” and that’s somehow a problem?

Sure, a coach can take things too far, but setting a thermostat at 71.3 degrees, for example, is not going to upset anything. The Bucs roster needs the discipline, and especially the perception that their every move is being scrutinized, and that everything they do is important.

Hopefully, that doesn’t lead to young players playing scared. But if that’s the case, then hopefully Schiano and his staff will pick up on that in training camp when the pads come on and figure out how to adjust successfully.

The Bucs are hoping their ground game this season has more big plays than the popular WD40 days.

Joe knows many Bucs fans still have the fond, vivid memories dancing in their heads of the WD40 days of the Bucs offense: Warrick Dunn and Mike Alstott.

It was a beautiful mesh of two very good backs; the punishing, bruising runs of Alstott and the lightning-quick, shifty moves of Dunn.

Oh, and both could catch out of the backfield.

So by drafting Muscle Hamster Doug Martin in the first round and scatback Michael Smith in the seventh round, added to LeGarrette Blount, the Bucs, per (Scott Smith?) Buccaneers.com, are hoping to replicate not the WD40 years, but 2010.

Why 2010? Because that was the season the Bucs had the most “big plays” from the ground game in franchise history.

Defining “big plays” on the ground as all carries of 10 or more yards, one finds a spike of such occurrences from 1998 to 2000 for the Buccaneers. In those three years, Tampa Bay ranked ninth, eighth and 13th, respectively, in big plays on the ground, creating either 53 or 54 in each campaign. That’s the best stretch of big-play rankings in the running game in team history.

Those are three of the four best years in that category in Buc annals, in fact. However, none of them are at the absolute top of the list. That actually belongs to the 2010 team, which produced 63 big plays on the ground and was the fourth-best team in the entire NFL in that category.

And that’s one reason to hope that some much-needed explosiveness will return to the Buccaneers’ ground attack in 2012 after a tough season in that regard in 2011. The man most responsible for that explosion of explosiveness in 2010 was then-rookie LeGarrette Blount, and he is about to enter his third NFL season, and the first in which he gets to spend an actual offseason learning Tampa Bay’s offense.

The way the Bucs have beefed up the offensive line and the depth at running back, Joe can’t see why the Bucs couldn’t accomplish such a feat.

This information is also why Joe is still floored by how the previous regime underutilized Blount last year to an appalling level. Joe cannot get over the fact that Blount was given just five — FIVE! — touches in the season opener against Detroit.

Then when the season started going south, a certain offensive coordinator, in a shameful, embarrassing attempt to save his own hide, blamed Blount for everything from the Ebola virus to the lousy Florida housing market.

Joe really recommends this riveting interview with former Bucs running back Michael Pittman, who was a guest of the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620 this morning.

Pittman, 36, described how he has concussion-related depression that has become out of his control at times. He hasn’t had thoughts of suicide, Pittman said, but has sought psychiatric care and medication. “I’m not ashamed to say it,” said Pittman, who added he is not part of any brain injury lawsuit against the NFL.

“I can understand maybe what Junior [Seau] was going through at the time he probably committed suicide,” Pittman said.

Pittman also reminisced about his time with the Bucs, saying Keyshawn Johnson talking badly about Jon Gruden in front of young players was key to his Tampa Bay demise. Though Pittman said he believed Keyshawn was motivated by truly wanting to succeed and was so good he deserved the damn ball.

Pittman also spoke of Chucky studying 1960s film, and said some teammates could roll with Chucky’s often broken promises to players, but others didn’t deal with it well. But “I still believe a lot of those players respect him.”

The saga of money-flushing Bucs icon Warren Sapp took another twist yesterday as word broke that bankruptcy-seeking Sapp will keep his job at NFL Network for another year. The gig pays him about $45,000 monthly, per various reports.

No surprise. Joe wasn’t worried Sapp would go hungry. Joe always figured Sapp would land a good analyst gig somewhere else if the NFL ditched him as punishment for fingering Jeremy Shockey as the alleged snitch of the Saints bounty scandal.

However, Joe didn’t realize Sapp had torched Trent Dilfer in his new book, which comes out this summer, gambling that he wouldn’t need to call on Dilfer’s employer for a job.

And in his new book Sapp Attack, Sapp probably didn’t help his chances of signing on with ESPN if he needed a new TV job. Talking about ex-teammates who are now prominent ESPN analysts, Sapp said Trent Dilfer was just “an interception waiting to happen,” while Keyshawn Johnson was a problem because “everything was about him.”

Joe can’t wait for Sapp’s inevitable summer book tour, which should include several signings across the Tampa Bay area and plenty of local radio interviews with Sapp divulging all kinds of goodies to help sell books.

You’ve missed out on a phenomenal experience if you’ve never seen a live boxing match in a small-venue setting. Everything great about boxing really hits home when you can hear it, feel it and soak in the fury of the competition.

So get your ass out to Tampa’s A La Carte Pavillion on Friday night for a great card, including a Florida state title fight. Joe can guarantee you won’t regret it. Fight Night Productions puts on a great show, and their previous local events have sold out. Click through below for details.

The fine folks at BSPN caught up with Doug Martin for a light Q & A session recently.

Martin didn’t have much exciting to say, but Joe found these two exchanges interesting:

What are your offseason goals?

Improving my game and just trying to get into this playbook and grasp it as fast as I can. Show these coaches that I can pick it up and be ready to go.

Who would be the one celebrity, athlete or otherwise, you would like to meet?

Eva Mendes. Eva Mendes. Definitely Eva Mendes.

Joe suspects Martin’s focus on learning the playbook might surprise some Bucs fans that already have annointed him the starting running back but forgot he has no NFL carries.

As for Eva Mendes, well, Joe appreciates a young man with a healthy cougar obsession.

Joe has been fortunate to be able to watch a few Bucs offseason practices this spring and, man, is there a difference from last year.

It’s not just hollering by coaches, including new coach Greg Schiano, but the overall feel and look of the workouts. The word “crisp” comes to Joe’s mind. No time is wasted. Even when guys are given water breaks, it appears — from a distance — that assistants are using the short downtime periods as teaching moments while players gulp water.

And Joe just loves how the simplest fundamentals are stressed.

The word of these practices seems to have traveled cross-country, as a Bucs fan on the left coast wondered if the New Schiano Order will result in victories this fall in a TBO Bucs Q&A.

Q: I can smell the excitement all the way from Washington about the Bucs’ new regime. I’m curious though what your opinion(s) are about the discipline and demeanor of new Bucs head coach Greg Schiano. I’m a school teacher with traditional values and make my students “toe the line.” After watching every game last year and following up with studying game film I saw immaturity prevail. Last year’s Bucs looked lifeless and careless.

My question is this: How is the progress so far at One Buc Place for Schiano’s “Buccaneer Way” transformation? Working with late adolescent millionaires might require little less than a miracle compared to my 8th grade P.E. class.

Curtis Weber, Spokane, Wash.

A: As for the transformation, all seems to be going well. Coach Schiano is clearly getting rid of those who choose not to buy into his program and that will send a clear message to the current and potentially future Bucs that his way is the only way. That’s a good thing. Like your students football players, even veteran ones, need guidance and leadership.

No team has 53 Hardy Nickersons or Ronde Barbers or Warren Sapps, guys who “get it” from the very start and know how to be pros, work their game and improve steadily as time goes on. Most teams have two or three of those guys and so the coaches have to be the real leaders and they have to lead with smart discipline. By that I mean there has to be a payoff for all that they’re doing.

It’s kind of like the Karate Kid. He didn’t understand why he was washing and waxing all those cars until his mentor showed him the skills he’d developed through consistent work habits. It’s the same with football. If you get used to running from one drill to another all day in practice, you’ll run all day on Sunday, too.

— Woody Cummings

Joe learned long ago in football — and in other aspects of life — that if you do the little things right all the time, the big things take care of themselves. Schiano often quotes his mentor Joe Paterno using this philosophy and it was also an axiom of Father Dungy’s.

And if anyone is brave (or drunk) enough to go back to their DVR and watch some of the Bucs games during the grotesque 10-game losing streak from last season, one will be reminded of how sorely this squad needed some fundamentals.

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Not sure how many of Joe’s readers are aware, but the Tom Krasniqi era at WHBO-AM 1040 came to an end over the weekend.

Krasniqi worked the afternoon drivetime shift for the station and had regular guests talking Bucs. One of them was eye-RAH! Kaufman, and Joe was fortunate enough to obtain an audioclip of the interview last week thanks to the ever-talented Rollergirl.

Kaufman explained to Krasniqi and his listeners that after the Bucs departed with tight end Kellen Winslow, new Bucs coach Greg Schiano owed the fans a brief explanation why the team saw fit to trade K2 to Seattle.

“The fans deserve a couple of sentences about what happened with Kellen Winslow. I’m not saying you have to rip into K2, but explain why he didn’t fit into plans. You don’t have to rip the guy. I thought it was an ill-conceived answer [saying he wanted only to talk about players on the current roster]. He had to know what he was going to be asked when he walked up to the [media] scrum.

“[Schiano] saw a guy on film who was getting into Freeman’s head. It was a tough spot for Freeman, getting harangued by a veteran. [Winslow] not getting separation was a factor last year. And he wasn’t a big red zone threat. He was a safe third-and-six guy who wouldn’t break tackles.”

Kaufman also explained he believed Butch Davis had a major say into Winslow being traded, given their histories in Miami and later in Cleveland where Kaufman said the relationship between the two became frayed.

To hear Kaufman discuss other Bucs subjects, click the arrow below.

Audio courtesy of WHBO-AM — (H/T Rollergirl).