Ahmad Black is inhaling and exhaling comfortably these days.

Hillsborough County Court documents reveal that the first-degree misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession Black was slapped with in late October following a Tampa traffic stop was dismissed Jan. 7.

In December, Black’s attorney filed motions to “suppress illegal stop” and suppress statements made to police by Black, in addition to a motion to dismiss the case.

Following a Jan. 7 meeting with Judge Eric Myers, an assistant state attorney, and Black and his two lawyers, Myers dumped the case.

Joe hopes Black celebrated responsibly. And hopefully, the only green he has his hands on next season is an Eagles jersey.

At a cost of roughly $6 million per season, Quincy Black has been one massively overpaid dude over the past two years. And Joe fully expects the Bucs to part ways with Black, or at least renegotiate his contract.

Black wasn’t missed significantly when he was lost for the season with a gruesome neck/nerve injury, which will send him to the surgeon’s table at the end of this month, so reported the Tampa Bay Times yesterday.

Angry Adam Hayward filled in admirably at strong side linebacker, though perhaps the stress of starting led to him shoving Bryan Cox on the Bucs sidelines, a heinous act that in Joe’s mind was swept under the rug faster than Joe tosses empty peanut shells at a Rays game.

Joe wishes Black well, but the good news is that ditching Black, even if he’s unable to play football in 2013, won’t cost the Bucs much and will open up even more money for them to go shopping when the free agency bell rings in March. The Times’ Stephen Holder explained.

The Bucs’ first concern is Black’s health, but eventually they might face business decisions. If Black isn’t likely to play in the foreseeable future and the Bucs release him, he would be eligible for $1 million in injury-protection pay in 2013. If his injury impacts his ability to play in 2014, the Bucs could be on the hook for $500,000 more. Those sums do not count against the salary cap.

Joe hopes Dakoda Watson can step up and fill in for Black, but Joe isn’t counting on that considering Watson couldn’t beat out Hayward last season.

The fact that former Raiders receivers Tim Brown and Jerry Rice claim that former Raiders coach Bill Callahan threw the Super Bowl against the Bucs is over the top in Joe’s eyes.

In a twisted way, Joe believes this is a case of sour grapes on steroids. Their egos are out of control, in that they had their collective arses whipped by the Bucs and they cannot deal with the reality. So they concoct one of the wildest stories in sports history.

If this is close to true, it’s the worst sports scandal since the 1919 Chicago Black Sox throwing the World Series.

Let’s think about this for a moment. Why in the world would Callahan think of doing something so preposterous? Brown claims Callahan hated coaching the Raiders and threw the game to help out his friend, Chucky.

So let’s pick this apart, shall we?

Callahan hated the Raiders so much he coached there for multiple years? Callahan, by winning one Super Bowl, would have secured solid work the rest of his life (i.e. Brian Billick, i.e. Barry Switzer). And the notion Callahan would toss such financial security away with the potential of getting caught and face legal action is so crazy, the next thing Joe is expecting is that Brown suggests Callahan has imaginary Facebook groupies.

Would Callahan change the gameplan without the blessing of meddling Raiders owner Al Davis? If this happened, Callahan would have been fired before the Super Bowl.

These claims by Brown, backed up by Rice, border on idiocy if not hallucinogenic mushrooms.

As Joe stated earlier this morning in a previous article, Joe demands that NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell launch an immediate investigation to either find out if there is any truth to what Brown claims, or to clear the name of Callahan, Chucky, the Buc,s as well as the NFL in general. These are serious, serious, potentially damaging allegations.

This also involves current coaches, including new Chicago Bears coach Marc Trestman, who was Callahan’s offensive coordinator in the Super Bowl in question, and current Super Bowl and 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, and Pro Football Hall of Famer Fred Biletnikoff, all who were on Callahan’s offensive staff.

If no evidence if found to substantiate Brown’s claims, Joe strongly believes Brown should immediately lose his eligibility to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The brutal treatment Warren Sapp dished out to dozens of media members would in comparison to the potentially unjust damage Brown has done to The Shield.

Yesterday, both Tim Brown and Jerry Rice, two otherwise seemingly intelligent gents, made idiotic remarks claiming former Raiders coach Bill Callahan threw the Super Bowl to the Bucs because, per Brown, Callahan liked Chucky and hated the Raiders.

All day yesterday Callahan kept quiet but come towards midnight, he apparently had enough of his name being dragged through the mud and unloaded on Brown and the insane remarks, so reports Ed Werder of BSPN by way or Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com.

“I am shocked, saddened and outraged by Tim Brown’s allegations and Jerry Rice’s support of those allegations,” Callahan said in a statement released to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport. “To leave no doubt, I categorically and unequivocally deny the sum and substance of their allegation. To suggest otherwise, especially at this time when it involves the Super Bowl, is ludicrous and defamatory.

“Any suggestion that I would undermine the integrity of the sport that I love and dedicated my life to, or dishonor the commitment I made to our players, coaches and fans, is flat out wrong. I think it would be in the best interests of all including the game America loves that these allegations be retracted immediately.”

Bravo, bravo!

Joe thinks is it wise for NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell to launch an immediate investigation into this matter.

Let’s play devil’s advocate for a moment. Let’s just say Brown is right, even though it sounds as illogical as one can imagine. It’s not like we haven’t been inundated with illogical, unbelievable sports news of late.

If there is a hint of accuracy into what Brown (and Rice) claim, we are talking the worst sports crime since the Chicago Black Sox scandal.

With this nonsense floating just days before the Super Bowl, the NFL must protect its shield. It must protect its good name for advertisers, current and future, and for nothing else but the integrity of the game.

This investigation needs to be launched immediately in Joe’s eyes.

And if this clown Brown is proven to be lying, Joe believes he should lose his eligibility to be elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

If Callahan is correct, what Brown is doing to the Bucs and the NFL is no less than an outrage if not slander!

Joe spoke with five prospects last week at the East-West Shrine practices and game that could be targets of the Bucs, three cornerbacks, one safety and one linebacker. The Bucs have a pattern for prospects: multiple years as a starter, played for a big-time program or conference, and served as a team captain. The Bucs rarely deviate from this pattern. Some have met all three qualifications for a Bucs draftee; some have not.

Name: Branden Smith
School: Georgia
Position: Cornerback
Size: 5-11, 1753
Started: Three years
Captain: No
Have Bucs representatives spoken to him? No.
Background: In Joe’s eyes, Branden Smith may be one of the more underrated cornerbacks in the draft. Yes, he got busted with the hippie lettuce once in college, but the young man swore to Joe that is a mistake he has learned from and he doesn’t try to hide the fact he got pinched. Ashamed, but honest. Smith finished with 25 tackles this season on one of the best defensive teams in the nation, 18 of those tackles were solo. He has four interceptions on the college ranks, and did run the ball a few times on offense. The thing that intrigues Joe about Smith is that in the past, he has been assigned to cover Julio Jones and virtually every day in practice as a sophomore, had to guard A.J. Green not to mention had to go against one of the top pro-style quarterbacks in college football each day in practice, Aaron Murray. So before Smith has been drafted or signed, he already knows what it is like to defend against NFL-level talent.

Sales pitch to Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik: “I have speed, I have size, I can make play son the ball and the Bucs need cornerbacks. I’m the guy. I can do everything, offense, defense, special teams, anything to help the team win. I can play nickel, I can definitely play corner. When you are a corner, you our out on an island and all through high school and college, I have been on that island. I can handle the pressure.”

Profile: Smith isn’t the greatest against the run, which is a strike for him in Greg Schiano’s mindset. He wasn’t a captain for the Bulldogs, which is a strike in Dominik’s eyes. The guy is quick though and given how he has played against two of the NFL’s top receivers, and played against one of college football’s top quarterbacks, and has been solid in the nation’s top football conference, perhaps it is wise to take a flyer on the guy since the Bucs are so desperate for depth at cornerback.

“Playing in the SEC? It has helped me a lot. It’s one of the best conferences in college football. I am playing against the best every day. You have to bring you’re A-game every day in practice. It has helped me a whole lot. It helped me because I was playing against big receivers, small receivers, fast receivers. So, I have played against he best.

Aaron Murray? Going against him, he is smooth. There are a lot of good quarterback in the SEC but going against Aaron every day, that has helped me a lot. He is a good quarterback. He can make the big throws and the shorts throws. He has helped me a lot.”

Below is an example of Smith’s speed while playing wide receiver. In a plus for the Bucs, he already has the Benn’d Around down pat.

Former Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon flatly stated Tim Brown’s suggestion that former Raiders coach Bill Callahan threw the Super Bowl against the Bucs is wrong.

Earlier, Joe brought word that former Oakland Raiders wide receiver Tim Brown suggested former Raiders head coach Bill Callahan threw the Super Bowl against the Bucs because, Brown implied, Callahan was indebted to Chucky and didn’t want to coach the Raiders.

That is such a preposterous statement, Joe doesn’t know where to begin.

Today on his mid-day radio show, “The Blitz,” co-hosted with popular sports radio personality Adam Schein, heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio, former Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon took Brown to task for spreading nonsense and detailed why he thought the Bucs manhandled the Raiders to win the Super Bowl. And it had nothing to do with any coach forcing his team to lay down.

“I don’t’ know that the gameplan really changed. I think what happened was we talked about the best way to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and we thought that being physical and running the ball, but that was not who we were.

“We tried to run the football early on and we didn’t have much success.

“We didn’t change enough of our plays as far as verbiage at the line of scrimmage. It was a carryover from what Jon Gruden had as far as our run checks and Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks were calling out our runs. That took us out of our no huddle package a little bit. Then when we fell behind, we probably threw too much.

“You win together and you lose together and there was a culture and environment in Oakland at the time that was difficult to compete for championships and a struggle to win on Sundays and I think that is a struggle today. An attitude, an entitlement that we are the Oakland Raiders, the silver and black, all we have to do roll up on Sunday and we will beat you.

“Bill Callahan is a good football coach and a good man and I don’t think thing ever [would] intentionally ever [throw a game], based on a relationship with a former coach… we had too much invested.”

Gannon also said that Barrett Robbins, the Raiders starting center who went on a trip to Mexico and weirded out and was unable to play in the Super Bowl, was hardly the only Raiders to player to “party in Mexico” prior to kickoff.

To hear all of Gannon’s words, click on the yellow button below.

Joe’s heard the Internet chatter claiming free agent tight end Martellus Bennett, a beast of a blocking and receiving talent, won’t want to come to Tampa Bay now that the Bucs have hired John Garrett as quarterbacks coach. Garrett was Bennett’s tight ends coach for four underwhelming seasons in Dallas, before Bennett’s breakout season with the Giants in 2012.

Well, it seems this is a baloney take, to use one of Greg Schiano’s favorite words.

Speaking on 98.7 FM last night, longtime Cowboys beat writer Charean Williams said Bennett and Garrett were close on and off the field and the presence of Garrett on the Bucs, in fact, would be a potential attraction for Bennett.

And Williams took that a step further saying she personally knows Martellus Bennett, and his family and brother, Bucs soon-to-be free-agent brother Michael Bennett, and the two definitely want to play together in the NFL.

Do the Bucs re-sign aging, locker room leader Dallas Clark? Or do they look to make a splash with a guy like Martellus Bennett?

Joe thinks the Bucs’ biggest interest in Bennett might come for his reputation of being a punishing blocker, a label Giants GM Jerry Reese slapped on him. And that 6-6, 265-pound body, with 54 catches last year and familiarity with the Bucs’ style of offense, qualifies as a weapon upgrade for Josh Freeman.

Bennett also fits the rockstar general manager Mark Dominik preferred free agent mold. He’s a five-year veteran but still only 25 years old.

Tim Brown claims that then-Raiders coach Bill Callahan threw the Super Bowl so his friend Chucky and the Bucs would get all the glory and make NFL history.

This sports media business is getting downright crazy and Joe doesn’t know where it’s going to stop.

First, a thieving liar of a bike rider finally fesses up he’s a thieving liar, then an All-American linebacker from Notre Dame has a Facebook relationship with a chick (?) who apparently died of cancer, yet it turned out to be fake and later a Cowboys beat reporter goes on local airwaves, killed by soccertalk (!) if you can imagine such a thing, suggesting — unchallenged — that Chucky and Monte Kiffin were at odds in their final days with the Bucs and tried to make the bizarre comparison between Warren Sapp’s Hall of Fame election status to Joe Montana and Art Monk.

Huh?

It’s to the point Joe just wants to lift a bottle of Bushmills and see how much of the bottle Joe can kill in one swig.

The weird sports news continued when Tim Brown, who had a legendary career with the Bucs (sarcasm!), but is more famous for his long years with the Raiders, claims that the Bucs didn’t beat the Raiders in the Super Bowl, it’s  Raiders coach Bill Callahan who Pearl Harbored the Raiders chances and, in so many words, threw the game on purpose to help out his friend, Chucky.

This is what Brown tried to pedal on SiriusXM NFL Radio over the weekend, documented by creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, Mike Florio.

“We all called it sabotage . . . because Callahan and [Tampa Bay coach Jon] Gruden were good friends,” Brown said. “And Callahan had a big problem with the Raiders, you know, hated the Raiders. You know, only came because Gruden made him come. Literally walked off the field on us a couple of times during the season when he first got there, the first couple years. So really he had become someone who was part of the staff but we just didn’t pay him any attention. Gruden leaves, he becomes the head coach. . . . It’s hard to say that the guy sabotaged the Super Bowl. You know, can you really say that? That can be my opinion, but I can’t say for a fact that that’s what his plan was, to sabotage the Super Bowl. He hated the Raiders so much that he would sabotage the Super Bowl so his friend can win the Super Bowl. That’s hard to say, because you can’t prove it.

“But the facts are what they are, that less than 36 hours before the game we changed our game plan. And we go into that game absolutely knowing that we have no shot. That the only shot we had if Tampa Bay didn’t show up.”

Brown also claims this stunt by Callahan led Raiders starting center Barrett Robbins to go off the deep end in Mexico, leaving him unavailable for the Super Bowl.

This is no less than outrageous!

Let Joe get this straight: Callahan threw a Super Bowl — and to be forever remembered as a Super Bowl loser — all because he was buddy-buddy with Chucky?

And Callahan hated the Raiders so much he agreed to coach for Al Davis, not just one year, but for multiple years? Really?

Joe understands Brown may still be irked about losing a Super Bowl, but get a hold of yourself! Next thing you will know, Brown will try to say the Bucs should have kept one of the two McCown clowns to quarterback the team instead of Josh Freeman.

Why, this is almost enough for Joe to compare Sapp to Montana or Monk … or to hatch some story that Chucky and Kiffin got into a wrestling match in the locker room, or listen to local soccertalk on radio.

No, that’s not quite correct. Joe hasn’t grabbed the bottle of Bushmills. Yet. But Joe admits last night upon reading this story and hearing the wild stuff of local sports radio, he had to turn to his DVR recordings of 24 for solace.

Joe spoke with five prospects last week at the East-West Shrine practices and game that could be targets of the Bucs, three cornerbacks, one safety and one linebacker. The Bucs have a pattern for prospects: multiple years as a starter, played for a big-time program or conference, and served as a team captain. The Bucs rarely deviate from this pattern. Some have met all three qualifications for a Bucs draftee, some have not.

Name: Demontre Hurst
School: Oklahoma
Position: Cornerback
Size: 5-10, 183
Started: Three years
Captain: Yes
Have Bucs representatives spoken to him? Yes.
Background: Three-year starter, two-time second team All-Big XII. Hurst was fourth on the Sooners in tackles. In a loss to Notre Dame, which eventually played for the national title, Hurst had seven tackles, a sack and two pass break-ups. Finished senior season with 51 tackles, 43 of which were solo tackles.

Sales pitch to Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik:  I bring a lot of discipline and a lot of effort to the game. I really trust my ability to make plays. wherever the coaches put me at corner. I do my best to try to make the play. I may not be the biggest guy but I use my size to my advantage. I just try to make plays all over the field.

Profile: Hurst is strong against the run and can deliver a lick, traits that make Bucs coach Greg Schiano smile. Hurst has done his homework and knows the Bucs are in a dire need for cornerback depth and has targeted the Bucs as a team he is trying to impress.

Hurst touted his versatility to Joe last week.

“I can play nickel and corner and I am trying to work on those positions out here. I know in the league, you have to be versatile. That is what I am trying to do, use my versatility to my advantage. I played corner all four years in college and some nickel plays every now and then. I have learned that NFL teams are playing three corners a lot and I’m trying to take advantage of that.

“To be in this league, you have to tackle. Being a corner, when guys get to the outside you have to be able to bring them down. I am not the biggest guy in the world but I can tackle in the open field.”

Below is an example of how, as a junior, Hurst put receivers on the ground in a very unwelcome manner.

Saturday, Joe got a chance to talk with NFL Network draft guru and overall exceptional football analyst Mike Mayock after he worked the East-West Shrine game at the Fruitdome in St. Petersburg. Attired in a dapper 1920s Chicago gangster pinstripe suit, Mayock touched upon a few hot-button Bucs issues.

JoeBucsFan: What are your thoughts on the job done by Greg Schiano in his first year with the Bucs?

Mike Mayock: Coach Schiano, to me, did a nice job of changing the culture in that building. I think that is what had to happen. Now in Year-2, you have to build on some of that success and go from there.

Joe: Locally, a lot of fans and some radio types have been hounding Gerald McCoy as being soft, injury-prone and grossly overrated. This year, his first full year, he makes the Pro Bowl. Is this the type of player Bucs fans can expect to see or was this a fluke for McCoy?

Mayock: I had him rated ahead of [Detroit tackle Ndamukong] Suh because I thought he was a better pass rusher coming out of college — I thought they were the two best players that year. I think what you saw this past year is what he can be when healthy: dominant in both the run game and the pass game.

Joe: Josh Freeman is really catching heat locally for his meltdown the final month of the season when the Bucs had a clear shot at a playoff berth. When he is off he is really off. When he is on he is dynamite. Will Freeman ever be a top-tier quarterback that can lead the Bucs to the playoffs?

Mayock: I think you just said it. His inconsistencies are frustrating. When you get to the NFL level, inconsistencies cost you football games. With a good run game like they have with Doug Martin, with Vincent Jackson in town, I think they have to augment that offensive line to protect him. But he has to be a more consistent football player to win more games.

Joe: Freeman has had a rotating set of coaches with both his position coaches and offensive coordinators in his four years with the Bucs. Shouldn’t it be expected that he will be more consistent, more comfortable having a full offseason, and a second football season, to work with Mike Sullivan?

Mayock: Oh, yeah. I am a big believer in continuity. It’s partly about who your coordinators and who your coaches are but it is also about players who you play with and are surrounded with. He’s still a young quarterback. I thought his [first full season as a starter] he looked really good. I thought his second year was rough and this past year, he was both good and bad. We are at the point now where he needs to step up and become a more consistent player.

Late in 2012, Greg Schiano starting wearing a black, rubber-looking bracelet with the word “Family” on it, so it seems fitting that a family tie appears to have brought new Bucs wide receivers coach John Garrett from the Cowboys to Tampa Bay.

Charean Williams, of the Fort-Worth Star Telegram, caught up to Garrett, who explained that the leader of the New Schiano Order had a relationship with his dad.

Garrett’s tie to Schiano is his father. Jim Garrett was a long-time NFL scout whose path crossed several times with Schiano while Schiano was in the college ranks.

Interestingly, it seems Vincent Jackson was involved in the interview process.

“Vincent Jackson is a fantastic player and from what I hear and what I saw when I had the interview, he is arguably a better person,” Garrett said. “All the coaches there think he’s an outstanding leader, a fantastic worker. He loves to be coached and loves football. They had a lot of comparisons to this is our [Jason] Witten, how he just loves it and as a star player sets the tone and pace for how to work and prepare. I got a chance to visit with him in the course of the interview and that’s exactly the case. I developed a good rapport, and I’m looking forward to working with such a talented guy.”

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Joe chatted with former successful Falcons head coach and not-so-successful Bucs head coach Leeman Bennett yesterday and asked him to go out on a limb and pick standouts from the East-West Shrine practices and game last week. Bennett coached the West squad.

Linebacker Keith Pough (6-2, 241) was the only name Bennett spit out. He said Pough is a complete, physical player who quickly showed he was a leader on the field and in the locker room.

Pough is projected to be a strong-side linebacker in the NFL but not a first- or second-round pick, likely because he played college ball for Howard University in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference against the likes of Morgan State, Savannah State and Delaware State.

Joe also learned that Pough seems to have the makings of the proverbial “Buccaneer Man.” He was a two-year captain at Howard and is the son of a high school football coach. He also was shorter in high school, a late physical bloomer, which factored into his college options.

Perhaps Pough could be a replacement for Quincy Black?

Bennett also weighed in on Steve Young’s days with the Bucs and the team’s decision to get rid of Young. Bennett said Young was not ready to be a professional quarterback and pointed to Young’s early days in San Francisco as evidence that he needed more time to mature.

Of course, Young was dreadful leading the ’86 Bucs to a 2-14 record, and talent in San Francisco was a massive upgrade.

Joe has been fascinated by the Aqib Talib enablers. To hear some of Talib’s supporters talk, he is the be-all, end-all for NFL defensive backs and in his spare time, is a virtual Green Lantern, saving damsels in distress and performs surgery on children in the Philippines.

Yet when Talib was unavailable while a member of the Bucs, the team had a winning record, if you can imagine such a thing.

In his last few years, Talib was hardly dependable, and Joe isn’t speaking of pistol-whipping ways or Adderall-popping. Talib was often injured, nicked up, simply unavailable.

This continued at the worst possible time yesterday with his new/old team, the Patriots. Just days after his coach Bill Belicheat all but proclaimed Talib to be the next “Night Train” Lane, Talib, in the AFC Championship yesterday, came up lame and was unavailable in the second half while the Baltimore Crows rallied to beat the Patriots and advance to the Super Bowl.

Joe was happy that Talib and his perpetual soap opera left for New England, and will likely arrive at some other city later this year, all but certain to be another place other than Tampa Bay.

Running back Frank Gore is now making plans for the Super Bowl, and that means the Muscle Hampster, rookie Doug Martin, will take his place at the Pro Bowl in Hawaii.

That makes three Bucs who will feast on pineapple next Sunday. Martin joins Vincent Jackson, who also got the call for the roster as an alternate, and Gerald McCoy, who was selected via the initial process via fans’, coaches’ and players’ votes.

Martin racked up 1,454 rushing yards and is very deserving. Martin had just one official fumble at Carolina, and that should have been ruled a touchdown. He’s the first Bucs rookie to eat pineapple since Clifton “Peanut” Smith in 2008.

Yes, Joe will watch this year’s Pro Bowl. The beer already is on ice.

Another Bucs hire is in the books this evening, per NFL.com.

John Garrett, most recently the Cowboys tight ends coach (2007-2012), and the brother of Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett, is the new Bucs wide receivers coach. He replaces the departed and popular P.J. Fleck, who is now the youngest head coach in major college football at Western Michigan.

Reports earlier this month said Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was squeezing Jason Garrett to fire his brother, and that John Garrett was not well liked by his co-workers.

Garrett is an Ivy League guy and has been coaching since leaving the NFL after brief career with the Cowboys, Bengals and Bills, ending in 1991.

Joe’s pleased to see Garrett has experience and played in the league.

Former Bucs tight end Kellen Winslow was an incredible talent. He also had an incredible ego.

Always demanding the ball, pouting when he wasn’t targeted, even if the Bucs scored a touchdown, it was all about K2 when he was here. Practice? Nah, gotta spin some discs poolside in Vegas, man.

So the Bucs sign Vincent Jackson and jettisoned K2, the Bucs’ passing offense — for fantasy football types — blew up like never before.

So, unlike K2, who is still unemployed and quit on the Patriots — yeah, Winslow couldn’t be bothered by winning because he would have had to have played for a hardarse, not a enabler — and went on a famous “toes on the line” screed, Vincent Jackson lauds Bucs coach Greg Schiano and wants to be his best recruiter, so he told Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times.

“I couldn’t be more impressed with Schiano and his staff, the way they were able to come in here in one year, coming from the collegiate level to dealing with professionals,” Jackson said. “I know (Schiano) has some background in the NFL. But as a head coach, to take the reins the way he did, get his message across, get guys to buy in the way he did under totally different circumstances from years prior, he did an excellent job with that. He’s a lot of fun to play for. He’s a competitive guy, and he’s going to make sure you’re as well prepared as you can possibly be.

“I would tell (free agents) it’s a top-notch organization; it’s a top-notch structure. We have a great coaching staff here. They’ve built a system and a feeling of family and continuity, not only with the team itself, but I think they’ve done a great job in the community as well.”

Now this is what Joe calls a class act. It appears, thanks in part to Jackson reworking his contract, that Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik will have some monopoly money to play with in order to entice free agents to Tampa Bay (a cornerback or two?).

With a guy like Jackson, and Joe is sure Gerald McCoy as well, talking up the Bucs in Hawaii among the game’s elite, this cannot be a bad thing.

Meanwhile, Joe guesses while taking a break from watching football on this Championship Sunday, K2 is grumbling at his dog for not getting him the ball.

“C’mon, Free. It’s force it to Winslow in coverage, then Blount up the middle, then the Benn’d around. I’m telling you. We’re going to start fast this week.”

A couple of former subpar Bucs offensive coordinators found jobs yesterday leading NFL offenses.

Joe is almost speechless.

Run-up-the-gut-for-three-yards Mike Shula has been tasked with destroying enhancing Cam Newton’s development, replacing departed offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski. This is great news for Bucs fans!

Also, the sadist behind the dreadful and infamous Benn’d Around play, Greg Olson, will take Chucky’s old playbook to Oakland. Joe wonders how far Olson threw Raheem Morris under the bus during the interview process when asked what happened during the 2011 season in Tampa.

Joe commends the salesmanship of Shula and Olson.

There has been some movement among Bucs coaches, some guessed at, some real. This is not uncommon within the NFL.

But for some Bucs fans, this is cause for alarm. That was one subject explored during a recent ESPN NFC South chat.

redzone jones (NY)

I feel its a little strange that 4 coaches have left the Bucs after 1 season of being on the staff. 2 got hired to Head Coaches but why would a 7-9 team get poached? Cooper left to be the same position somewhere else. Thoughts?

Pat Yasinskas

Two guys with some college background got head coaching jobs in college. On Cooper, somebody had to take the fall for the horrible pass defense, so i don’t think that one was poaching. On the D-line coach, I don’t know.

Well, let’s think about this a moment: P.J. Fleck, who Bucs receivers loved and who guided the group to the best results in Bucs history, got offered a head coaching gig at 32 years old. How is this a bad thing? Why would anyone try to pin this as a negative on the Bucs much less Greg Schiano? Geez. Is a guy not allowed to seek career advancement?

As for Ron Turner, Joe only wished he could have bought him a farewell beer from a local craft brewery. Turner’s resume is less than spectacular and Joe isn’t shedding tears that he got a head coaching gig in South Florida. Look, “this Joe” is from the cornfields of Illinois but one would have to be brain damaged to prefer a gig in Champaign than Miami.

And yes, the Bucs are not changing defensive line coaches.

So in Joe’s eyes, thus far, only one transaction among coaches has been made from the pen of Schiano, and to suggest a guy in charge of a unit that nearly set an NFL record for most yards allowed should have been granted job security, Joe believes said person has been ordering too many double-Captains.

There is no conspiracy here.