America, welcome to LeGarrette Blount.

The man gets stronger as games go on. If Adrian Clayborn is Raheem Morris’  part-man-part-beast “Boy Dog,” than Blount is some cross between a human and an F-150. Other than the Bucs, no team can claim it has stopped Bount in his career.

Again, Blount got his touches last night and look what happened. He broke one, and was punishing to the point that Ronde Barber and various postgame pundits on NFL Network were talking about how it’s obvious that the Colts’ defense didn’t want to tackle him. Looking back, it almost seems like the Bucs committed a crime against humanity for burying Blount on the bench against the undefeated Lions.  

Joe hates to jinx Blount, but he hasn’t fumbled this season, and Joe suspects Blount would have little trouble ramping up the Bucs offense another notch if he saw more action on third down. Obviously, he’s the most dangerous weapon they have coming out of the backfield, even in the passing game.

Last night was to showcase the no-name, rising Bucs on national TV, and it’s Blount who walked off the field with superstar status and 127 yards on 25 carries. The hurdling got him out there in 2010, but now everyone knows he’s a unique and versatile weapon in the NFL.

Joe just hopes the Bucs know how to use him to win games and keep him fresh for the playoffs. Last night, seemed just about the right formula.

Brian Price and Gerald McCoy walk away from their fallen prey, Curtis Painter, in the Bucs win over the Dolts Monday night.

In what has been a nasty habit for the Bucs all too often the past two seasons, the Bucs had an ugly first half.

Between limited scoring and a deluge of penalties, there were more than a few Bucs fans who wished the Bucs had never been selected to play on Monday Night Football.

Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy was as frustrated as the fans. He knew his comrades, as well as himself, could play better.

So GMC laid the law down at halftime.

“I told them we had to go out there an attack,” GMC said. “I told the guys — the d-line: ‘Look. We have to go out and there and get angry. Just play nasty and get angry and it made a big difference in the second half.”

GMC recorded a sack in the second half and probably should be credited with another that was initially given to Adrian Clayborn. GMC didn’t want to talk about that. He wanted to talk about how the defensive line as a unit took over the game late, like a pack of starving German Shepherds.

“I was ready for the next play, get them down and get ready for the next play,” GMC said. “We had to force [Curtis Painter] into bad throws. They were trying to use three-step drops so we couldn’t get pressure on him. But our coverage was so good we were still getting pressure on him. We told our [secondary], if he gets more than three steps we will get to him and we did. If he took three steps and he thought, we were there.”

Like the rest of the Bucs, GMC was happy the Bucs could show a national television audience they can win ugly games.

“We [showed the public the Bucs] can win in adverse situations and that we are young and hungry team, youngry, like what Coach Morris said. We want to win a division and the Colts were another opponent. now it’s San Francisco. Three-and-one feels good. You always want to be in a position like this. It feels good. Enjoy it for a few hours and move on.”

One reason Joe loathes BSPN was on display Monday night.

There was Michael Bennett notching two sacks and a forced fumble (perhaps even a half-sack late in the game), but the Monday Night Football crew had little interesting in talking up Bennett or giving any legitimate background on the guy. Not even a sideline shot.

If that’s Dwight Freeney with a night like that, it’s a lovefest of epic proportions. Hell, they were sucking up Freeney out of the gate for a spin move that ended with Donald Penn shepherding him harmlessly away from Josh Freeman.

Yet part of the BSPN buildup of the game was acknowledging that the game was a meet-the-nation event for the Bucs. But at the end of the day there was little interest in introducing the Buccaneer not named Blount that had the biggest impact on the stat sheet.

It just didn’t fit the script.

Week after week, game after game, it seems Donald Penn is going against an All Pro player. Whether it’s Dwight Freeney or John Abraham, when right defensive ends face Penn this season, one result seems to take place each game:

You rarely hear the name of the opposing right defensive end’s name called.

That’s the level of play Donald Penn has demonstrated this year, and it’s one reason the Bucs have jumped out to a 3-1 start this season.

Penn was near-giddy after the Bucs gutted out a win against the Dolts on national television Monday night. And no, he wasn’t joyous because LeGarrette Blount kept yelling across the locker room for all to hear that Penn is an All Pro.

Penn was happy with the win… but he wasn’t exactly bashful about his level of play either.

“That’s the story of the season so far,” Penn said of going against stud players each week. “I am just trying to help my team win and I got lucky today. I played well and we got the win. That’s what it’s all about.”

When asked by a reporter what the win told the nation and the local community — the first time locals got to watch a Bucs home game on TV in over a year, Penn said, “That I’m an All Pro left tackle and that old Buccaneers football is back.”

Penn then talked about the Bucs “four-minute offense” to kill the clock and how much the win meant.

“I just try to get Josh [Freeman] time and when he has time there’s no telling what he will do,” Penn said. “We wanted it so bad, just like last week. We wanted it. Davin and Trueblood and Faine got pushes every single time. But we came out with a win.

“We showed the world that old Buccaneer football is back. Now [the nation] got to see it first-hand. The defense played great. Preston Parker stepped up. I can’t say enough about Freeman moving the pocket and getting first downs.

“But a win is all that matters.”

Some fans might be talking about the Bucs going for it on 4th-and-1 to end the game, but Joe’s way more impressed by the go-for-it call on 4th-and-1 near the end of the third quarter in field goal range trailing by a touchdown.

That one saw Josh Johnson trot under center for his first snap of the game and run the option right for seven yards. LeGarrette Blount was with him, but Johnson calmly ran the keeper.

What a ballsy and stout call by Greg Olson and Raheem Morris.

Following that play, Chucky said on the TV broadcast that the Bucs aren’t using Johnson as much because they only have two quarterbacks on the roster. The implication was the Bucs are being cautious to avoid an injury to Johnson in the open field.

Joe hopes that’s not the case. Johnson’s got plenty to contribute. Olson just has to find a way to make it happen.

Those that read Joe regularly know where Joe’s going with the headline here. The Bucs have now stuffed the run in a big way in two consecutives games.

That hasn’t happened since somewhere before December 2008.

Tonight against the Colts, the Bucs kept the bad guys to 18 rushes for 62 yards, most in the first quarter. The Bucs tightened up in a huge way, and it was from the defensive line, not heroics from the second level. Last week, big bad Michael Turner only found 20 yards on the ground.

Is a new era of run-stuffing upon us? Frank Gore should answer that question Sunday.

With 14 penalties, many of the extreme bonehead variety, this W won’t go down as pretty. But when it mattered most, Josh Freeman ran the ball with authority and LeGarrette Blount was dominant.

Joe also must give his due to the Bucs’ defensive line, which came up with massive sacks on the Colts’ two drives before their desperation final effort — the first to Gerald McCoy, the second to a combined effort of Michael Bennett and Adrian Clayborn.

There are no bad wins in the NFL, even though the Bucs let an inferior opponent stay in the game. The Bucs are 3-1. Stay with Joe for much more through the night and when the sun comes up.

So the Bucs finally return to Monday Night Football at home in Tampa. Have at it boys and girls. Now behave. 🙂

The Bucs and the Dolts have released their inactives for tonight’s game.

Bucs: Sammie Stroughter, Allen Bradford, Anthony Gaitor, Derek Hardman, James Lee, Zacck Pianalto and Frank Okam.

Dolts: Kerry Collins, Anthony Gonzalez, Peyton Manning, Kevin Thomas, Ernie Sims, Ryan Diem and Fili Moala.

Week 4
Dolts at Bucs
Kickoff: 8:30 p.m.
TV: BSPN, WFTS-TV Channel 28 in the Tampa Bay area.
Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM, 103.5 and WDAE-AM, 620); Sirius Channel 93.
Weather: Per Accuweather.com, bring your jackets — when is the last time you wore one? By Florida standards, the game will get chilly. Tailgating will be perfect with temperatures in the 70s but once the sun sets, it will get cool enough where a sweatshirt or a jacket will be needed. Temperature at kickoff will be 70 and will drop as the game continues. By the time you leave the stadium, temperature should be 64. No rain whatsoever is expected.
Odds: Per SportsBook.com, Bucs -10.5.
Outlook: This is a game Bucs fans have been waiting for since the last time the Bucs hosted the Dolts. Monday Night Football. Prime time. National attention. The spotlight of the nation focused on the intersection of Dale Mabry Highway and Tampa Bay Blvd. This time the attention won’t be on the Dolts and quarterback Peyton Manning, who is sidelined by a neck injury and his career hangs in the balance. Perhaps if he didn’t bounce around like a banshee all the time or witness first-hand Tom Brady march up and down the field on his team in the postseason so often, Manning would have had less wear and tear on his neck? With the possible exception of Jay Cutler, no NFL quarterback pouts better than Manning. Joe hopes he attends tonight’s game and pouts while Josh Freeman directs the Bucs offense multiple times across the goal line. In Joe’s eyes, the game comes down to the line of scrimmage. If the Bucs can stop the run like they did against the Dixie Chicks, Joe likes the Bucs chances. Joe will take his risks with Curtis Painter making his first NFL start. … Look for the Dolts to try to take advantage of what is now a true hole in the Bucs secondary. With Cody Grimm lost for the season (again), Joe is certain the Dolts will throw at Corey Lynch and Larry Asante. Of course, Drew Brees tried the same tactic last year and it blew up in his face. Again, if the Bucs stop the run and don’t turn the ball over, they should win. Don’t use the Steelers-Dolts game last week as a standard. The Steelers are horribly beat up on the offensive line and for some reason, the Steelers are gagging up tons of rushing yards a game this season.

Derek “Old School” Fournier of WhatTheBuc.net gives his weekly take on the Bucs, this time of course focusing on tonight’s game with the Dolts.

Oatmeal-loving, popcorn-shoveling Peter King, of Sports Illustrated fame, is out with his weekly rankings of NFL Teams and the Bucs have climbed to No. 7.

In his Monday Morning Quarterback column on SI.com, King predicts the Bucs to win 24-9 tonight, and it seems that win already is factored in to his ranking.

Now Joe can’t speak for the black market swirling along the sidewalks of Himes Avenue and around the stadium tonight, but you can still head to StubHub.com and instantly buy and download tickets for the Bucs-Colts matchup.

Joe has used the Stub Hub instant downloads before and found them very reliable. Check out the above link.

Interestingly, no tickets were released late via TicketMaster.

For the sake of the Bucs building their fan base, Joe sincerely hopes Team Glazer and the Tampa Sports Authority folks have eliminated the ridiculous challenges seen during previous home games. It can’t be that hard to get overstocked with food, drink and ice, and have enough people to serve them.

Chucky joins his Monday Night Football brethren to talk about tonight’s matchup in this BSPN video below. Chucky rattles of some names and says the Colts are “not a bare cupboard.”

"Raheem's a good kid, man. It was easy to be nice to those guys on D. I didn't mess with the freakin' defense. I told Monte, 'I'm here at 3 a.m. trying to make Griese look like an NFL quarterback.' That's a fuc*n full-time job in itself."

It seems the Raheem Morris, while on Chucky’s staff, wasn’t one of the “angry workers” he wants on his football team.

Numerous times over the past week Raheem has glowed with love for his old boss. On his radio show, Raheem said of Gruden “noboby knows how hard he worked,”and Raheem has paid incredible homage to “Coach Gru” since.

eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune served up more love today with Raheem sharing how his mentor let him address the Bucs when he was way down on the totem pole.

“To me, he’s boss. I’m not surprised he shut it down this week, because Jon has never wanted to be the story. He likes it to be about the team, the people around him. He’s always been a guy who pushed people into the light. He nurtured all of us. He was the first guy who gave me an opportunity to speak in front of an NFL team as a quality control coach. Who does that?’ Raheem said.

Now Joe’s not sure what Raheem meant when he said Chucky “shut it down this week.” It’s probably, in part, an answer to a question about Chucky seeking the spotlight for his return.

To his credit, Chucky has not. It would have been one wild buildup over the last few days if Chucky had lashed out at Team Glazer in some way for his suprise firing.

Then again, Joe’s not ready to grant Saint status to Chucky. There’s a darn good chance he reached some  form of contract settlement agreement that forbids him from speaking his mind.

Regular readers of Joe know how much he’s rails against the practices of the Bristol Bolsheviks of BSPN.

As spectacular as that outfit is in covering college football — and Joe is quite sincere about that comment — the four-letter is equally dreadful in the rest of its programming.

The four-letter slurps Mark “Sanchise” as if he’s the second coming of Joe Namath, yet Joe is pretty sure Namath, old as he is, would have better accuracy on his passes than “Sanchise.”

Of course, the Bucs are not deemed one of the worthy teams by the four-letter, thus like many other teams, they are only afforded second-class status.

That changes tonight but Dolts defensive end Dwight Feeney, whose teammate Peyton Manning the four-letter cannot stroke enough, tried to explain to Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune why the Bucs are strangers to Monday Night Football.

Despite their recent success, that youthful makeup is one reason the Bucs have been overlooked.

“You have to understand how this league is,” Colts veteran defensive end Dwight Freeney said. “It’s like a rookie that has a good year. Everybody wants to know, ‘Can you make it two years?’ That’s why you rarely see a rookie make the Pro Bowl, because people wonder if they’re really legit or did he just dominate that year.

“So, I can see how they might feel underappreciated. But I definitely respect them. They’re a team to be reckoned with. We see that.”

Joe understands why the Bucs have not been on Monday Night Football and Feeney is on the right track. That’s not what bothers Joe about BSPN.

What irks Joe to no end is, the Cowboys could have a garbage record and there is Ed Werder doing a standup at Valley Ranch, trying his best to convince an innocent public that Tony Romo is the reincarnation of Roger Staubach. Then, no matter how awful the Beagles may be, there is SalPal at Lincoln Financial Field.

And of course, never-blinking Rachel Nichols will describe in breathless tones about how Tom Brady has cut his hair, and ever-squinting Suzy Kolber will prattle on about Eli Manning.

BSPN can have its pet players and teams. Joe will curl up on his leather couch and 42-inch HDTV and soak in all the NFL Network has to offer like real men do.

Joe’s not discounting Indianapolis and the glory of the Bucs returning to Monday Night Football tonight, but it’s hard not to overanalyze the schedule and other teams after a Sunday of watching the rest of the league perform.

If the Bucs take care of business and move to 3-1, this is what follows in October and November:

@ S.F. (3-1)
SAINTS (3-1)
BEARS  (2-2) in London
@ Saints (3-1)
TEXANS (3-1)
@ G.B. (4-0)
@ Titans (3-1)

That’s a brutal stretch, especially with the 49ers game across the country on short rest no longer looking like the easy “W” many projected before the season. Plus the Texans and Titans appear to be having breakthrough years. (How about Barrett Ruud in the middle of the stingiest (fewest points) defense in the NFL?)

Can the Bucs win tonight and then manage a 4-3 record against that bunch? That would put them at 7-4 entering the final five games: two against Carolina, home for Dallas, and on the road in Jacksonville and at Altanta to close the season.

Yeah, it’s one game at a time and things change fast, but the Bucs have serious work ahead to set themselves up for a December run.

BSPN suits are upset Peyton Manning won't play Monday night. The Bucs aren't.

One thing that drives Joe crazy is when — often New York types — try to belittle or brag about a sporting event based on TV ratings.

Unmitigated feces is what that is. If sports were based on TV ratings, there would be only two or three sports in existence with roughly about eight teams total.

There is nothing, not one thing, that is more overblown in sports than TV ratings. Guess who cares about TV ratings? Maybe the 32 owners in the NFL, Roger Goodell, and perhaps a dozen suits at TV networks. That’s it. Joe doubts there are 50 people walking the face of the earth whose jobs are on the line based on TV ratings.

Look, in the age of 500 channels via satellite, if Joe wants to watch a football game and few others do, Joe will just whip out his credit card and buy the damn game, real simple.

Joe just knows the suits at BSPN are crying their eyes out because hyper, happy-footed, impatient Peyton Manning is not playing Monday night and Joe just can’t be happier.

First, if it’s bad for BSPN, it’s good for sports fans. Second, there is no quarterback Joe cannot stand to watch more than Manning and his constant jumping around and his histrionics. JUST CALL THE DAMN PLAY AND RUN IT! All this jumping around. All this pointing. All this hollering. JUST STOP IT!

But of course, the main reason Joe is happy Manning is not playing is the fact that it gives the Bucs a much better chance of winning the game with Curtis Painter behind center for the Dolts.

It seems the Bucs are of the same frame of mind, so writes Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times.

On the surface, it’s a big break for the Bucs. But Barber knows that kind of thinking can get a young team in trouble.

“We’re going to prepare for them as if they’re the team that dominated the NFL for so many years,” Barber said. “(Painter), obviously, is green somewhat. But the offense is still the Colts offense. You just don’t want him to get hot against us.”

The Colts are having a tough time adjusting to life without Manning, 35. No surprise there. The four-time league MVP never missed a game until this season and had a savant-like ability to call plays and dissect defenses.

Barber is correct. The Dolts will not go winless. Some team at some point this season will get tripped up by the Dolts. They do have talent.

Simply put, though it sounds like a broken record it bears repeating: Stop the run. If the Bucs can stop the run, the Dolts and Painter will not beat the Bucs. It’s that simple.

Meanwhile, Joe is so happy the BSPN executives are upset that Manning is not playing, he hopes they have have to seek counseling. Maybe that will change things at the four-letter, though very doubtful.

The chuckleheads of NFL Today, James Brown, Dan Marino, Bill Cowher, Shannon Sharpe and Boomer Esiason, discuss the Bucs game Monday night with the Dolts in this CBS Sports video.

NFL.com offers a peek at some of what earned Ronde Barber NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors last week.

In the NFL.com video linked here, Brian Baldinger and Joe Theismann break down some game film of the Bucs and Colts. 

Joe loves this kind of stuff where you get that “coach’s tape” film unavailable to fans, though routinely viewed by all who watch the Man Channel, NFL Network.

Baldinger takes a great look at Ronde Barber in coverage, and the Bucs’ pass rush. 

Theismann dares to show the world why he things Colts no-name quarterback Curtis Painter has some game. Yes, Theismann picks the Colts to win.

Joe thinks Theismann is out of his mind.

If the Bucs truly have taken a major step with their win against Atlanta, a second-rate quarterback with little experience playing on the road on Monday Night Football should be fresh meat.