Maybe before the Bucs go shopping for a receiver, Arrelious Benn should be targeted more often.

Sometimes Joe has to scratch his head wondering what some Bucs fans are watching.

Right now at the bye weekend of the Bucs’ schedule, if Joe had to pick one area where the Bucs have significant depth, it would be receiver. Apparently, not all Bucs fans see the receivers in the same light. In fact, one Bucs fan peppered Bucs beat writer Stephen Holder about how the Bucs need to bolster the Bucs receiver corps during a St. Petersburg Times chat.

Comment From Julian Wood

Any chance the Bucs look outside the organization for receiver help this year….it is pretty apparant they could use a burner on the outside.

Stephen F. Holder: I think there’s a chance. But I don’t ever expect it to be the guys you hear about on Sportscenter. It’s more likely to be somebody the Bucs have been watching who’s on someone else’s practice squad or a prospect cut by another team.

“Pretty apparent,” really? In what way?

Now if this guy asked Joe if the Bucs could use a speedy guy to come off the bench as a running back, Joe would immediately reply, “Hell, yes!”

The problem with the passing game isn’t the receivers.

Joe takes to the sports radio airwaves this morning at 11:30 on WDAE-AM 620 to talk all things football with the Buccaneers pre- and post-game radio voice, Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski.

If you’re not already listening to the brilliance of The Commish, go ahead and tune in. Those chained to a computer can listen online at 620wdae.com.

Well, as the Bucs enjoy their last weekend off until January — defensive end Adrian Clayborn took in Game 7 of last night’s World Series to watch his hometown Cardinals win (again) — there is no shortage of work to be done within the walls of One Buc Palace.

In addition to the fact the Bucs are 28th in the NFL in team defense, a Bucs bread-and-butter play from last year isn’t there this season.

Last year quarterback Josh Freeman used the play-action pass to take advantage of defenses keying too heavily on running back LeGarrette Blount. This year, maybe because Blount isn’t used that much, maybe because he has been hurt, maybe because opponents never heard Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik’s sales pitch of Kregg Lumpkin, defenses simply are not fooled by the Bucs’ play-action passes.

Word from BSPN Stats & Information by way of Pat Yasinskas, Josh Freeman’s success with the play-action this season has much to be desired.

The Bucs have been horrible on play-action passes. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Josh Freeman ranks No. 33 in the league with a 49 percent completion rate on play-action throws. Only Jacksonville rookie Blaine Gabbert (29 percent) ranks below Freeman.

On play-action passes, Freeman has completed 24 of 49 attempts for 347 yards with two touchdowns and five interceptions.

Joe’s going to guess now that Blount will be on the field the rest of the way — barring another injury — this number will improve.

Or it better improve.

Joe’s feeling a bit foggy this morning. So in honor of the bye week, Joe’s going to chat live here at 10 a.m. Come back and fire away.

Via the magic of live chat, ESPN NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas was able to field important Bucs questions today.

One of them was about whether Terrell Owens should join the Bucs now that he has brushed off an alleged overdose/suicide attempt, worked out for nobody this week, and even his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told the world the other day that T.O.’s services are not in demand.

(Joe loves live chats.) Yasinskas seemed to take the question seriously and explained the Bucs’ uncertain leadership situation makes T.O. a bad fit.

Austin (Tampa): Why not T.O. to the Bucs. I know they are focused on a “youth movement” but why not add a household name to a roster of full of guys the average football fan has never heard of. Freeman needs all thre help he can get and they may actually be able to sell some tickets.

Pat Yasinskas: First off, you’re assuming T.O. has something left. I’m not so sure that’s the case. Second, you’d be putting him into a locker room that is still looking for leaders. Not sure he’d be the best influence.

So the Bucs are still looking for leaders? Hmm, just yesterday Hardy Nickerson said the same thing about the defensive front seven.

Now Joe’s not buying the Bucs are lacking leaders when it comes to the whole team and dealing with a locker room cancer. That sounds like a weak take. 

 There’s a pile of legitimate veterans on the offensive line, including Captain Faine, plus Josh Freeman has eagerly grabbed the reigns, and guys like Earnest Graham, Kellen Winslow and Ronde Barber are walking around. Hell, they even have a third-year head coach.

Joe suspects if a guy like T.O. was walking around the locker room and practice field acting like an idiot, the Bucs would have what it takes to handle it.

Seemingly contradicting what Joe and other fans saw with their own eyes, Raheem Morris is emphatic when he says there’s nothing personal or problematic about the heated communication between Kellen Winslow and Josh Freeman.

In fact, when asked by Rock Riley of WDAE-AM 620 about the alleged problem between Freeman and Winslow, Raheem said that chatter is something fabricated by observers.

“We don’t have those little bickering spats that people like to make up,” Raheem said.

The interview was taped locally this week and aired yesterday.

Maybe Joe’s naive, but Joe believes there is a problem between Winslow and Freeman. But Joe puts the blame squarely on both of them.

Winslow needs to dial it back, and Freeman needs to mature so he doesn’t react, in part, by trying to force the ball to Winslow repeatedly when it’s not there.

The situation has reached the point where it’s a classic scenario for a coach to step in and fix before it does become far more disruptive than a “little bickering spat” could ever be.

Earlier this week battling jet lag, Bucs coach Raheem Morris made his weekly appearance on “The Blitz,” co-hosted by popular radio personality Adam Schein and former Super Bowl quarterback Rich Gannon, heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio. Joe caught the interview in progress.

Adam Schein: How important is it to get LaGarrette Blount back after the bye?

Raheem Morris: Very important without Earnest [Graham]. Not sure we can find anyone who can replace Earnest. Blount is a good runner. At least we will have him back.

Rich Gannon: Coach, you threw the ball 51 times with Josh. I know those are not the numbers you want. Tell us about his decision-making. Are you concerned?

Morris: Yeah, throwing 50 times for us is not conducive. We want to spread it around. [Freeman] is going through some growing pains with his progressions and his reads and not throwing balls [in traffic]. But we need people to make plays. Those things cannot happen. We’ve had dropped balls, balls being batted down. Those are plays we have to avoid.

Schein: Without question, you know what I think of Josh. I think he played better last year than he has this year. When you look at it, why is that the case?

Morris: I think it’s safe to say that his MVP award is premature. We have to get him back on the playing better format. Not all of it is on Josh. But some of the playmakers around him, they have to protect him better, make plays, get some turnovers to give him a short field.

Gannon: What happened on the run defense?

Morris: We had three plays where they hurt us on the run. Otherwise, we played well. But getting getting 93 back in the middle, he’s the plugger that will help us. Outside of those three runs — that put the stats out of whack. That’s why I say stats are for losers.

Schein: I know you are a company guy and I am being serious, I appreciate that. A game in London means a lot to the owners in the NFL. But you didn’t have a home field advantage. You are in a dogfight for the wild card. You only have seven home games this year. Are you concerned with how that affected your team to get into the playoffs?

Morris: That’s all gray matter, that’s excuses. Right now we are a half-game out. We need to be ready to go. The Saints racked up 60 points the other night. Maybe we will look back in a couple of years and cry but as the leader of this organization, I will not let excuses come into play.

Gannon: What will the focus be? The team is coming off a bye week at 4-3. What will you do as a staff?

Morris: The first thing is, you have to look at the penalties. Way too many. We are 4-3 and we have to play hard in the second half. All hands on deck. We will finish and see what we can do to be our best self. On defense, we need to make plays.

Schein: Do you trust Aqib Talib as a ballplayer?

Morris: No doubt about it. It was the way that young man stood up and took care of the last three plays [after his personal foul late in the Bears loss]. To watch him crawl after a defender in those last three plays, that’s the kind of defender we want. But that penalty falls on the head coach.

Gannon: Has Josh taken on too much responsibility? You feel like he is trying to do more?

Morris: No doubt. That is a mistake by all young quarterbacks. That’s the sophomore jinx. He is trying to put the world on his shoulders and he doesn’t need to do that. If we don’t turn the ball over, we win, no doubt in our minds. We’ll keep working to be a finished product. Just have to get better in small aspects of the team and grow.

Schein: Coach, thanks for calling in after such a tough loss and the long travel, we appreciate it.

Morris: I’ll tell you what: Just talking to Schein and Gannon, I feel better already.

Joe recognizes there are Bucs fans that love to wear tin foil helmets and float all kinds of Team Glazer conspiracy theories, especially the ever popular “Manchester United is sucking money from the Bucs and that’s why the Bucs have a bottom-rung payroll.”

Maybe it’s true. Maybe it’s not. Maybe a scantily clad Gillian Anderson will appear and demand Joe share a hot tub with her to solve this great X-file.

Is the truth out there? Does it really matter?

For those who think it does, TheScore.com serves up a fresh link to the latest financial disclosures out of England for Manchester United. You can read the entire 80-page disclosure here or simply know that Team Glazer is making a pile of money overseas.

Unless, of course, you think these books are cooked and Arron Sears’ downfall is somehow connected. If so, Joe can’t help you.

It was an ugly loss in London to the Bears. The franchise quarterback has outdone Rex Grossman in interceptions. Injuries have piled up more than a M*A*S*H unit.

But Bucs coach Raheem Morris is not throwing in a towel quite yet on the season as the Bucs enter their bye week, despite the number of yellow towels the zebras have thrown at the Bucs.

From stupid personal fouls to untimely holding calls, the Bucs have been crippled by penalties.

But Bucs coach Raheem Morris sees a silver lining, or at least a light at the end of the tunnel (no, Joe won’t use any more cliches).

The Tampa Tribune’s eye-RAH Kaufman details why Morris is taking a positive approach.

The Bucs have been flagged for 493 yards, well above the NFL average (354.5), and Morris said many of those penalties either undermined Tampa Bay drives or sustained possessions by opposing clubs during the club’s 4-3 start.

Still, Morris is proud that the Bucs have remained within striking distance through seven weeks, despite the sloppy play.

“The best team in the NFL has seven wins,” he said, referring to the defending-champion Packers. “The next-best teams have five, so we’re only one game away from being the second-best team in the NFL.”

It’s an interesting point. Despite the Bucs sleepwalking through the first three quarters of too many games, despite the Bucs inability to force turnovers, despite the Bucs shooting themselves in the foot constantly, the Bucs are just one game back from having the second-best record in the NFL.

The sky is not (yet) falling.

If asked what Buccaneers might have scored a contract extension from Team Glazer before the end of the 2011 season, Joe’s quite certain nobody would have had Tanard Jackson’s name on a short list — or any list.

The guy has now gone from the couch two weeks ago, serving the end of a year-long substance abuse suspension, to the playing field and the ATM machine, so reports Stephen Holder of the St. Pete Times.

Team Glazer not only locked up Jackson for 2012, he more than doubled his salary for this season.

The Bucs saw fit to make sure they kept Jackson around longer, approaching him with the contract extension last week. The new deal calls for Jackson to make a base salaries of $1.454 million this season and $2 million in 2012, according to figures from the NFL Players Association. Before now, Jackson’s contract was scheduled to expire at the end of this season and he previously was on the books for $600,000 in base salary for 2011.

Smart move by the Bucs. No reason to risk letting Jackson walk after this season, not with Cody Grimm coming off major knee surgery. And surely Jackson won’t see any cash if he gets suspended again.

The Bucs also probably got a good deal. If T-Jax keeps ball-hawking at his current pace, he’d surely be in demand around the league come March.

Seven years patrolling the middle of the Bucs’ defense, five of them Pro Bowl seasons, former Tampa Bay middle linebacker Hardy Nickerson knows a thing or two about leadership and defense.

And to Joe’s surprise, Nickerson, who lives in California and coaches high school ball there, said today that he watches every Bucs game and he and his son are “huge Bucs fans.”

Speaking on the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620, co-host and former Bucs guard Ian Beckles asked Nickerson what he thought of Barrett Ruud being characterized as a “finesse middle linebacker.”

“I don’t think you can get too far with a finesse middle linebacker. A middle linebacker’s got to be a tough guy. You gotta be a tough guy,” Nickerson said. “You gotta be the guy that’s going to step up. You know, the old saying goes, ‘You gotta step up and hit a guy in the mouth.’ A middle linebacker’s got to be that guy.”

When asked what Buccaneer on the defensive front seven has a chance to be a superstar? Nickerson chose Mason Foster.

“I think Foster has a chance. You know, he’s just a young kid. As he gets better, I think he’ll find his niche,  find his playing style and define himself as he goes along here,” Nickerson said. “I think he has a chance.”

On the Bucs’ defense in general, Nickerson said he’s very excited by what the way the Bucs are growing and he thinks what’s seriously lacking and needed is a true leader and “a game-changer” on the defensive front seven. Nickerson said he expects that player will evolve from the current group.

Nickerson wasn’t asked during the interview, but Joe’s wondering when No. 56 will get his Ring of Honor day? Five Pro Bowls under two very different Bucs defenses and the on-filed mentor for so many of the greats of the glory years. There shouldn’t be any doubt.

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Mr. Hayward's intensity needs to rub off on some of his teammates

The maddening slow start/rousing finish thing the Bucs have done rather consistently for a season and a half eats away at Bucs fans.

Why? Because it’s fixable.

If you can play with urgency late in a second half, it surely can happen for 60 minutes. There’s no logical reason why the Bucs fail to show their best football from the opening whistle — repeatedly.

Ronde Barber, in his news conference following the London game, specifically used the phrase “sense of urgency” to describe what the Bucs lack to start games.

But this is what drives Joe nuts and makes little sense.

A “young” and “hungry” team, with an excited young head coach and largely a type A coaching staff, should be the easiest team in the NFL to get fired up and crazy for kickoff. Logic would say the Bucs should be battling being overly aggressive early in games because they’re so amped up to run through a wall. Yet the opposite is true.

The blame goes across the players and coaches. Not because it happens, but that they haven’t figured out how to stop it, or at least fix it before halftime.

Joe saw the rip-your-head-off energy Adam Hayward brought to the field when he replaced Mason Foster on Sunday. What a thing of beauty. Joe would suggest that if the Bucs aren’t going to play Hayward when Foster returns, then they should assign him the job of getting in the face of every player on the defense before the game and whenever he feels someone needs it.

Joe may have been first Sunday — even before Bucs players had a chance to wash the stain of the loss to the Bears away — to notice one glaring void.

Where was Arrelious Benn?

The Bucs had to play catch-up, after yet again hitting the snooze bar too many times before they finally rolled out of the rack and realized it was the fourth quarter.

In this catch-up, hurry-up, gotta-score-points offense, perhaps the Bucs most dynamic receiver this side of Mike Williams, Arrelious Benn, was nowhere to be found.

Actually, that last sentence is inaccurate. Benn could be found on the Bucs bench.

Joe asked right away why Benn, a second-round pick last year who has made the biggest plays on offense this season, was standing along the sidelines watching the game just like the blokes in the English crowd paid to watch?

It seems we have an answer, by way of Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times. It seems when the Bucs go to a base three-receiver set, Benn is not part of such a package.

“When Earnest (Graham) went down, we only had one back,” he said. “Then (fullback Erik) Lorig got hurt. So, then our base personnel was kind of out of the question. We had to go with our three-wide receiver set. Briscoe is the starting Z (that’s the flanker) in that (lineup). You put the best guys on the field and try to come away with the win. We left a couple of plays out there on the field. But we have to regroup and take this bye week to take a rest and start all over again.”

That was pretty much all he had to say on the subject, so I’ll take it from here. The Bucs, like every team, use a number of different personnel groupings on offense and defense. When the defense, for example, goes to a nickel package, its defensive-line combination is different than the lineup used in the base defense.

The same concept applies here. The Bucs, when using a three-wide receiver set, use Briscoe as the starting flanker. When they’re in their base package, which they use most often, it’s Benn. As Benn said, however, Sunday’s injuries forced the Bucs to move away from their base personnel because they did not have the ability to use their two-back sets.

Now the question needs to be asked: Why exactly is Benn not part of this package? Does he lack the skills to be in such an offense, is he not running crisp routes? Does offensive coordinator Greg Olson believe Benn isn’t one of the better receivers on the team?

Numbers show that Benn is a dangerous weapon. He’s averaging 16 yards a catch and nine yards after a catch, which is damned good.

Nothing against Preston Parker or Dezmon Briscoe, but what’s the deal with Rejus on the sidelines?

Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman had such a wonderful first full season as the Bucs starter last year that it did two things:

1) Bucs fans became giddy thinking of what might be, a Bucs team with a stud quarterback, the likes of which never seen by this franchise.

2) Freeman set himself up for a sophomore slump, a regression. But shoot, even just eight interceptions would have been a regression the way he played last year.

So when Joe learned this week that Freeman led the NFL in interceptions — had more than even Rex Grossman if you can imagine such a thing — the news was simply chilling.

Martin Fennelly of the Tampa Tribune put fingers to keyboard and suggests the Bucs, as the roster is currently assembled, will not be able to overcome Freeman’s freefall.

This team isn’t good enough to flourish with the current Freeman. He means too much, maybe too much. It’s all about 5, Morris has loved to say, and right now it’s all mistakes, about Freeman forcing things, about not finding another level, about turnovers, mistakes, nothing like last season.

“That’s something that’s really uncharacteristic of our offense, uncharacteristic of me,” Freeman said. “If we can (eliminate) that, we’re looking at a team that’s 5-2 if not 6-1 right now.”

A healthy running game would help. But the simple fact is that defenses saw what Freeman did last season, off play action, with his legs, and they’ve decided to take that away. They’re daring him to be a pocket passer, something he wasn’t in college or in his breakout 2010.

Joe has been saying this for weeks: Joe feared that, during the asinine lockout, defensive coaches throughout the NFL had nothing to do but break down tape of both NFL and college players.

Joe’s certain that the league’s defensive coordinators have figured out Freeman’s kryptonite and the results are what Bucs fans are witnessing now.

So it will be up to Freeman to do some adjusting of his own on the fly. Or, as Fennelly suggests, 4-3 may be the high point of the season.

Of all the comments from Raheem Morris today, the most important was the confident talk about a return of LeGarrette Blount for the Bucs’ next game in New Orleans.

Sure, the Bucs beat New Orleans without him 12 days ago, but with Earnest Graham out of the season, there’s no question the Bucs might not win another game this season without Blount.

The good fellows at TBO.com listened to Raheem and took notes.

“We lost ‘Insurance’ Graham, but we’ll get Blount back after the bye,” Morris said. “We’ve also moved up (rookie running back) Mossis Madu. I’m feeling really confident about Blount. He looked good last week and he looked better today. He’ll have another week of rest and he’ll get a bunch of treatment and be ready to go downhill … here we go.”

Morris said he expects defensive tackle Gerald McCoy (ankle) back for the New Orleans game, along with center Jeff Faine (biceps). He said center Jeremy Zuttah (knee), rookie middle linebacker Mason Foster (ankle) and safety Tanard Jackson (hamstring) may all be available to play at the Superdome.

With Blount’s return, Bucs fans should be praying for at least the return of Zuttah or Faine. Joe’s going to need a case of Tums at the ready if the Bucs are forced to start Ted Larsen at center and Derek Hardman at left guard.

The stats gremlins at BSPN are at it again, cobbling together information they think is important to fans.

In this installment, relayed by NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas, we learn the Bucs drop the most passes in the NFL.

The Bucs have moved into a three-way tie (with the Bears and Browns) for the league lead in team drops. Tampa Bay receivers have dropped 15 passes, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The Bucs are led by Mike Williams, who now has five drops. Arrelious Benn and tight end Kellen Winslow each have three drops.

One stat Yasinskas doesn’t mention is that Josh Freeman has thrown more passes this season than all but one quarterback. That would be Drew Brees.

And there lies the real problem;  the Bucs throw the ball way too much.

Joe has made his thoughts perfectly clear about BSPN. Outside of live games, Joe just doesn’t watch it.

But even before Joe went BSPN dark, Joe gave up on NFL pregame shows as a whole (and BSPN in particular). Outside of the NFL Network, which takes time to go in-depth in breaking down games, pregame shows are pretty much useless to Joe.

Ever since this little fad called the Internet came around, Joe can get all the information he needs during the week prior to a game, a lot more than any of the chuckleheads can give on Sunday morning.

(Joe has been known to nurse his Sunday morning hangovers vegging on his leather couch watching reruns of “The Sopranos.”)

So it was a total surprise to Joe to learn how Meshawn Johnson resurrected his old war with his former Bucs coach Chucky when Meshawn said how Chucky messed with his head (insert your own punchline for that).

“I didn’t want to be there,” Johnson said. “I didn’t want to be in the environment. No matter we had just won a championship, and I was playing fine the year that I got deactivated, I was doing great. In fact, we had a chance to go to the playoffs. But it was just something about the way I was being coached, talked to, dealt with. Just didn’t want to be there. So for me, I was happy when I got the phone call that said, ‘Hey, we’re going to deactivate you for the rest of the year.’ I was excited. I was like, ‘Oh, cool, no problem. I don’t have to be around this because my health is more important.’ Going into a building and not wanting to be there, it was just a blessing to me to be able to go to Dallas. Heck, even before I went to Dallas I was talking to the Arizona Cardinals. Now think about that. I just wanted to get out of Tampa.”

As Meshawn pointed out, the Bucs kicked Meshawn off the team. Just off the top of Joe’s head, the Bucs had little chance at the playoffs after a strong start. The miserable choke to Indianapolis before the whole world on Monday Night Football, the Bucs never recovered from it (especially when Joe Jurevicius and Mike Alstott got hurt on the very same play when they collided).

Again, off the top of Joe’s head, the Bucs later went to San Francisco and were alley-beaten (sound familiar), so Joe’s not so sure the Bucs had a shot at the playoffs.

But Chucky being Chucky, he responded this morning, and claimed he has thick skin.

It’s been what, eight years since these two shared a sideline and they are still going at it? Wow.

“I had a guy on SportsCenter say he couldn’t get along with me the other day on TV,” Gruden said. “So I know how it feels. You’ve got to have some thick skin, and you’ve got to know when things get tough there are going to be some negative things said.”

As Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com pointed out, if Chucky really did have thick skin, he wouldn’t have brought Meshawn up.

The man Raheem Morris once dubbed “the driving force of our football team,” running back Kareem Huggins, must be feeling healthy after his 2010 knee injury, as Huggins worked out yesterday for the Washington Redskins, so reports Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com.

The Bucs also looked at backs Tuesday, Florio notes, with Jon Hoese and Eddie Williams getting eyeballed at One Buc Palace.

But those guys are fullback prospects, per Joe’s research, so it seems the Bucs are content with the running backs now on the payroll.

UPDATE: Bucs 2011 draft pick fullback Allen Bradford, who was cut by both the Bucs and Seahawks in recent weeks, stated on his Twitter feed yesterday the Bucs have been in contact with him but he did not provide further details.

While this is no surprise to serious Bucs fans, the reality of the situation smacked Joe in the face yesterday. The Bucs have six of their final nine games on the road.

That means the good guys will have it extra tough to get to the postseason promised land.

However, the Bucs can still get to 10 wins by winning their final three home games (Houston, Dallas and Carolina) and winning on the road in Jacksonville, Carolina and Tennessee.

In other words, the Bucs can win 10 games again this year without needing anything miraculous.

Imagine if the Bucs won 10 and missed the playoffs again, surely that would be some sort of bizarre new NFL record.