Joe’s always surprised when Bucs fans let loose rage and hate at Donald Penn.

These fans must be either taking Pro Football Focus stats as gospel and/or be prejudiced against fat people. Why? Because Penn absolutely was not the problem with the Bucs’ 32nd-ranked offense. [read more]

 

People think of coaches from the Tuna Parcells tree to be dour individuals with the personalities of angry gators, guys who are only concerned with how to win football games.

That’s not Romeo Crennel. The long-time NFL assistant, who worked with Parcells and Bill Belicheat in New England and had two unsuccessful stints as an NFL head coach, is good guy.

The affable Crennel genuinely wishes for his fellow NFL coaches to do well. One of those is Lovie Smith. [read more]

There’s a lot of swagger and experience in Lovie Smith’s staff. Joe wrote about that earlier.

And today, the Bucs named their tight ends coach, Jon Embree, a former NFL player who got his start coaching in the league with the Chiefs in 2006. [read more]

Joe’s confident no Buccaneers players will realize mild-mannered, even-keeled Leslie Frazier was a dancer and rapper in the world famous Super Bowl Shuffle video. It’s so hard to imagine Frazier willfully participating in one of most arrogant displays in professional sports history. [read more]

Might Stephon Tuitt replace him?

The Bucs need heat on quarterbacks in the worst way.

How badly? Well, Joe can only imagine it’s like being parched on a broiling July afternoon in dire need of a cold beer but finding himself trapped in a dry county.

When then-rockstar general manager Mark Dominik drafted Adrian Clayborn in the first round in 2011, the Bucs had high hopes for him at right defense. But the past two years have been pretty much a waste. [read more]

The last Bucs head coach swore that Mike Glennon was making receivers better because he was so darn accurate. Greg Schiano even took it a step further with a backhanded slap to Josh Freeman, saying Bucs receivers needed time to get used Glennon’s pinpoint throws.

But while Schiano was raving about Glennon’s accuracy, he strangely believed that quarterback mechanics were not something to be taught at the NFL level — even with a rookie, or even to sleepy, leaky, erratic Josh Freeman. [read more]

When Joe sits down to talk all things Bucs with Tampa Bay sports radio icon Steve Duemig every Wednesday on WDAE-AM 620, you just never know where the conversation will go. It’s kind of like Joe’s writing on these pages — predictably unpredictable. You can listen to yesterday’s entire audio below.

Leslie Frazier put his foot down

Joe knows some paranoid types freaked out when Lovie Smith was named the 10th head coach in Bucs history because, they claimed, Lovie is a devout Tampa-2 zone guy and all-world cornerback Darrelle Revis is a press-man cover corner who would be misplaced in a zone defense.

(Remember how fans screamed when, trying to get Revis on the field despite Revis being far from 100 percent, Greg Schiano had Revis playing zone and fans were ready to billy club Schiano?)

Though Lovie tried to calm down these folks when he was introduced as Schiano’s successor, Lovie’s new defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, in no uncertain terms, said Wednesday he must mold a defense to take advantage of Revis’ skills and accomplishing that goal will be critical. [read more]

Dennis Hickey of the Bucs interviewed Jimmy Garoppolo Monday evening.

Earlier this week at the East-West Shrine practices, Joe had a chance to talk with quarterback wunderkind Jimmy Garoppolo of Eastern Illinois. “This Joe” is more than a bit interested in Garoppolo because “this Joe” graduated from the same higher institute of learning. [read more]

It’s January, and Joe is no fan of BSPN draft guru Mel Kiper, but he did release his first mock draft of the year based, in part, on what he’s hearing from NFL insiders around the league.

No surprise. Kiper has Johnny Football going No. 1 overall to Houston. [read more]

The Bucs offensive coordinator shared some of his philosophy

Former Bucs commander Greg Schiano believed in a bellcow running back system. Ride that cow into the ground!

That always fascinated Joe, considering his offensive coordinator came from the Giants, where they won Super Bowl rings featuring two and three running backs of different abilities. [read more]

Leslie Frazier speaks

Bucs defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier fielded the inevitable leaky, sleepy Josh Freeman questions today at One Buc Palace, as he met with media for the first time in his new role.

Frazier could easily have said he was only going to talk about Buccaneers, but instead he offered plenty of typical coachspeak about Freeman and also went out of his way to praise Freeman’s professionalism. [read more]

“Mike, while you’re working it, make sure they bring me back for my $7 million.”

Mike Glennon is no fool. He knows he’s got important opportunities between now and when the free agency bell rings in March to impress Lovie Smith.

Lovie already shared that Glennon was knocking on his door within minutes of his hire to find out the rules surrounding Glennon being allowed to learn and work right now at One Buc Palace. [read more]

While this is news, Joe is not going to pound on a guy for this.

Bucs defensive tackle Akeem Spence was pinched for pot Tuesday after a traffic stop in Alabama. It was not a routine stop, as Spence was flying down the road at over 100 mph, reports NorthEscambia.com.

According to reports, Spence was stopped by an Alabama State Trooper who clocked him in excess of 100 mph. A search of his vehicle by a law enforcement K-9 located an unspecified amount of marijuana in his vehicle, according to authorities. [read more]

 

Local TV ratings for Bucs regular season games this season were the best among Florida NFL clubs and showed a 14 percent increase from the 2012 season.

But the Bucs’ numbers are among the lowest in the NFL, per Sports Business Daily. [read more]

In Joe’s eyes, there is simply no other NFL draft analyst. Mike Mayock has no peer. Oh, sure, Mel Kiper has some good insight. But if NFL fans want the most pure, unbiased, deeply researched information on an NFL draft prospect, one can start and stop their research with Mayock.

The NFL Network analyst, who also is a color commentator for Notre Dame games on NBC, was kind enough to give Joe a few minutes of his busy time at the East-West Shrine practices Tuesday to talk Bucs. [read more]

Kellen Clemens?

Kellen Clemens?

Michael Vick?

Sleepy, leaky Josh Freeman?

One local Bucs beat writer is absolutely certain Tampa Bay will sign a quarterback when the free agency bell rings in March. [read more]

Lovie looks forward to flashing Team Glazer’s cash at free agents

The Bucs are not known for spending up to the NFL salary cap limit. Through the past couple of regimes, somehow they found themselves with millions of dollars of unused cash. 

Joe wishes he had that problem. [read more]