Greg Schiano says he wants his men to match the Niners’ bully “shtick.”

Forget about Sunday’s Bucs-Niners final score for a minute, Joe wants to see how the New Schiano Order defense stacks up against the 49ers’ offense.

Coaches at One Buc Palace have been painting the Niners as an epic powerhouse team in all phases. Joe hasn’t seen such gushing from Greg Schiano and friends.

But the fact is the 49ers are a run first team that’s had its share of off days offensively this season. [read more]

Bucs safety Dashon Goldson talked about how the Bucs have changed since Week One.

An NFL season, while all too short for fans, is a significantly long grind for players.

So long, that over the course of the season with newcomers and injuries and other roster transactions, a team can grow together or crumble apart.

Just looking at the Bucs’ results this year, it’s clear the team has grown. Given every chance to throw in the towel after starting the season 0-8, the Bucs have now won four of their last five games. [read more]

The hawk made an unusual in-season flight

Joe understands the concepts of love and friendship and male bonding, but perhaps Bucs captain Dashon Goldson took things too far.

Suspended for a week in November, which included no access to One Buc Palace or team doctors, [read more]

Unlike for Michael Bennett, Joe doesn’t hear Bucs fans moaning, groaning and yearning for departed starting nose tackle Roy Miller. That’s because rookie Akeem Spence has done strong work in the NFL’s nastiest job.

Joe caught up to the 2013 fourth-round pick yesterday to talk about pass rush skills, million dollar contracts, pedicures, getting weaker — yes, weaker — and more.

Enjoy. [read more]

The face of the San Francisco 49ers, quarterback Colin Kaepernick, talked to Tampa Bay media yesterday via a conference call. Joe is curious to hear reader feedback. It seems Kaepernick has taken on the personality of his head coach.

Joe is searching for words to continue boasting about the greatness of Lavonte David, and Joe’s running dry of superlatives without being redundant. Sometimes, the numbers speak for themselves.

It’s getting to the point where Joe likens David to Albert Pujols in his prime. No need to try to convince anyone how extraordinarily good he is, just sit back and enjoy the show. [read more]

Just in case you missed it (Joe knows his readers slave away each day for The Man and may not always catch every word here), Joe did research to show how rotten the Bucs were offensively in the second halves of games.

This was never more evident than in the win over the bungling Bills, when the Bucs forced seven takeaways and still struggled to pile points on the Bills Sunday.

For the season, the Bucs average 5.15 points a game in the second half. Re-read that sentence again to let it sink in. Even Father Dungy would be appalled with those offensive numbers. [read more]

Any Bucs fan will enjoy this NFL Films “mic’d up” video of Greg Schiano patrolling the sidelines during the Bucs-Bills game (video here), part of the SoundFX series on NFL Network.

Among the interesting nuggets were Schiano’s counseling session with Eric Page after Page failed to throw his reverse option pass out of bounds, as well as Schiano’s words for Mike Glennon after  red zone interception.

Schiano also seems to have a soft spot for Bobby Rainey — before his 80-yard touchdown run.

There’s plenty more as well, including looks at how Schiano gives regular input into offensive playcalling. No surprise there.

Joe ventured to the Hard Rock today this evening to talk all things Bucs with the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig of WDAE-AM 620. Joe dove deep into the Niners game, the state of the Bucs’ offense, Greg Schiano’s future and more. Enjoy.

Today Greg Schiano acknowledged the Bucs are getting valuable intelligence from Dashon Goldson on all things 49ers while preparing for Sunday.

Smiling in the locker room, Gerald McCoy said Goldson is the Bucs’ “undercover cop.”

What that all means, Joe doesn’t really know. Joe remembers Ronde Barber talking about how sometimes all that “intelligence” can get a team overthinking to the point it’s detrimental.

Talking to the Bucs media throng today, 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh didn’t want to talk much about Goldson, calling him a “great player, a great friend and a great teammate.”

Hopefully, Goldson’s got great information.

Rookie Will Gholston explains

Joe knows this is a hot topic for Bucs fans since the end of last season. Throughout the Tampa Bay area, fans slam pints of beer bars and holler at no one in particular, irate the Bucs can’t breathe on a quarterback (unless it is the bungling Bills).

Ex-Bucs players scream on radio about all the prancing stunts the Bucs employ, which take players out of position to put a quarterback on the ground. It is a never-ending irritant for these former Bucs stars. [read more]

Mike Sullivan talked about his performance

When an offensive coordinator leads the NFL’s 31st-ranked offense in December, and its second-half struggles never seem to end, his job performance becomes an important question.

Joe’s already written about Mike Sullivan’s murky future and apparent dissatisfaction in him from Greg Schiano.

Today at One Buc Palace, Sullivan was asked about his performance. [read more]

Young quarterbacks struggle to read defenses and get through their route progressions. You could almost see the anxiety in Mike Glennon Sunday.

Glennon had time in the pocket, but at times it was as if the press clippings of the Bills’ mighty, sacks-leading pass rush got in his head and made him uncomfortable without reason.

Niners QB Colin Kaepernick is having his own issues. [read more]

Joe doubts there were many Eric Wright fans around Tampa Bay last season. The man loved his spa days — while his teammates went off to slaughter.

Aside from one of the greatest interceptions in team history, Wright offered little to celebrate — unless you want cheer how Wright’s Adderall-popping ways and subsequent suspensions spared Team Glazer massive quantities of cash.

After getting cut from the Bucs this offseason and more legal troubles, Wright landed with his hometown 49ers and has played the past four games after being activated midseason. Wright shined with the game-sealing interception against the Seahawks last week. (Video here)

Hopefully, Wright won’t have an inspired Sunday against the Bucs.

Hopefully, Darrelle Revis wasn’t seeing the future.

Remember those September days during the wild, all-angles, anonymous-source onslaught on Bucs commander Greg Schiano?

Those were tough times. The world seemed to be imploding and you didn’t want to be seen at Publix wearing a Bucs t-shirt.

For Joe, at least that time delivered one of the true funny moments of the season. [read more]

Lost in the seven-sack, four-interception game Sunday was the play of Bucs stud defensive tackle Gerald McCoy.

Oh, he had a sack, too, no question. But it was the things he was doing that don’t always show up in the box score is a big reason why Bills quarterback EJ Manuel had such a horrible day.

That’s the analysis by John Breitenbach of ProFootballFocus.com, who documented just how much of a beast GMC was. [read more]

Dashon Goldson talked about his new decision-making

Buffalo’s biggest pass play of the day Sunday came courtesy of Roger Goodell and the lawsuit-paranoid NFL.

Joe wanted to vomit. Fans were denied great football. And for what? [read more]

The 49ers are horrible passing the ball, but Colin Kaepernick is light years ahead of Mike Glennon.

So we’ve seen Mike Glennon log three so-so games, all in succession, against three teams in Detroit, Carolina and Buffalo that are known to be unkind to quarterbacks.

It doesn’t get much easier Sunday with the rugged 49ers coming to town. Yes, Glennon is beginning to look like a rookie selected in the third round, and the Custodian of Canton, eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune, pointed out how much the Bucs’ passing game this season, largely with Glennon behind center, is sputtering. [read more]