Earlier today Joe brought you the tidbit that Pat Kirwan wasn’t overly impressed with the Bucs unloading defensive end Gaines Adams.

Kirwan explains in more detail why he came to that conclusion including input he received from other NFL front office types.

It’s rare to see a player traded for a second-round draft pick 37 games after he was the fourth overall selection in the draft. Honestly, I stopped looking for a comparable transaction after going back 10 years.

I asked three personnel people and two former head coaches about this trade and they all seemed puzzled. After being drafted in 2007, Gaines Adams became a 16-game starter in 2008 and was credited with 38 tackles, 21 hits on the quarterback, 6.5 sacks and six passes defended.

I recognize he was off to a poor start this season, but when you consider his salary, his ’08 production, his age (26) and his 30 sacks in 28 college starts, Tampa Bay should not have traded him. Perhaps there were other factors that drove the deal, but a second-round pick just seems like a good deal for the Bears.

Why does Joe get the impression that somehow Rod Marinelli will find a way to get more out of Adams than Jim Bates could?

Of course Joe knew that cheap shot artist Dante Wesley would somehow blame someone else for his assault Sunday on Bucs return specialist Clifton Smith.

But Joe never guessed this Wesley would have the unmitigated gall to suggest the hit was Smith’s fault.

That is exactly what dirty back-up defensive back Wesley is claiming, reports David Scott of the Charlotte Observer.

“He never fair-(caught) the ball, so I was just trying to play,” said Wesley. “It’s not like I tried to deliberately hurt anybody. That’s not even me. It just so happened that I hit him.”

Wesley even had the nerve to suggest a number of Bucs players should have been suspended by NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell. Monday, Wesley was suspended for a game.

“How could I be the only one being ejected (just) because I tried to make a play?” he said. “They came toward me. I didn’t go in their face and try to say something aggressive toward them. When the other team came toward me like that, I felt like the ref could’ve looked at the situation a lot differently.”

Can you imagine? This is like sticking up a liquor store and popping the clerk and then blaming the poor guy for the cops barging in.

The Chicago media was formally introduced to Gaines Adams yesterday. And per an Associated Press report, Adams sold them a bill of goods claiming he was Mr. Work Ethic.

“Every day I went to work at Tampa, I gave it my all,” Adams said. “Obviously, things didn’t work out as planned.”

Why?

“I have no idea,” he said. “Obviously, the coaches wanted to go in a different route, and it’s something that I had to go with.”

LIAR!

This is laughable and Joe can point to two prominent feature stories that refute Adams’ claims of being such a hard worker.

First, Pat “Vacation Man” Yasinskis, of BSPN.com, basically wrote a whole spread on how Adams upped his commitment to the game this last offseason. Essentially, he reported Adams’ work ethic wasn’t where it needed to be in his first two seasons with the Bucs.

Second, Joe will point to a feature story by Rick Stroud, aka The Mad Twitterer, Bucs beat writer for the St. Pete Times.  In a June feature about the Bucs new strength and conditioning coach, Stroud claimed “[Adams] boycotted the squat rack” in his first two seasons.

Both stories referenced Adams’ lack of strength.

As for Adams responding “I have no idea” to questions about why he was traded, Joe is impressed that Adams is seemingly oblivious to the multiple times he was called out by Raheem The Dream before and during the season.

Joe wonders whether Adams knows what country he lives in.

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson writes the weekly QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson has TV gigs in the Bay area and trains quarterbacks of all ages via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

I haven’t been to too many Bucs games purely as a fan.

Usually, I have a professional reason to be there, but Sunday I enjoyed a beautiful afternoon with my son, plenty of empty seats around to spread out (just nine rows from the Bucs sideline).

No one yelled or stood up in front of me until Clifton Smith got knocked out on that punt return just before halftime. People all around us started cursing and screaming over that cheap shot, but not over the lack of deep shots (zero, by the way) the Bucs took with their passing game.

I would be starting to get a bit frustrated over the Bucs’ inability to pressure the secondary deep with any of their receivers, but the Carolina Panthers didn’t do anything differently than the Bucs.

Aqib Talib shut down Steve Smith, but Smith doesn’t have any touchdowns all season and Jake Delhomme didn’t take one shot at his 6-2 receiver Muhsin Muhammad, who was matched up much of the day on 5-10 Ronde Barber.

With the Panthers running over the Bucs on the line of scrimmage and with Delhomme’s four TDs and 10 interceptions on the year, I might be gun-shy to throw it up as well. At least it’s good to know there is another team that doesn’t try to exploit the whole field. And with the help of special teams and defensive touchdowns, the Bucs played within one score.

Unfortunately for the Bucs, Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Wes Welker and a few other Patriots just might use the whole field.

Former Bucs wide receiver Joey Galloway, who was signed in the offseason by the Patriots, won’t be sharing any fish and chips with his old friends on the Bucs this weekend in London

Galloway was cut, as Joe’s good friend, the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, “The Big Dog,” Steve Duemig  of WDAE-AM 620 just e-mailed Joe.

It seems the Bucs are looking for wide receivers, as clearly they brought in receivers for a workout a week ago and signed Yamon Figurs as a result. Might the Bucs take another flier on Galloway?

Raheem The Dream was quoted saying Sammie Stroughter should model his career development after Joey Galloway because they are similar body types and Galloway has a great work ethic and was a great young kick/punt returner, as well.

Rough last few days for Galloway. First his Buckeyes go down to Purdue and now he’s out of a gig. 

(Tip ‘o the hat to “The Big Dog.”)

Adam Schefter of BSPN explains to Sage Steele when he thinks Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman gets his first start. Hint: Think green.

Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger claims the trade of Gaines Adams very well could be the first of many changes to the Bucs roster, and hinted Michael Clayton should be concerned.

Raheem the Dream hinted at it yesterday that there needs to be a thorough housecleaning on the Bucs roster.

Good of him to final notice what most Bucs fans figured out some time ago.

Good guy Backwards Hat, otherwise known as Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger — Hey Rick, Joe misses your weekly videos, man — suggests the trade of Gaines Adams Friday was the first salvo that major changes are at hand if performance lacks.

The move also sent out a silent warning among the players – perform or risk being the next one shipped out.

Are you watching Michael Clayton?

When a team is 6-0, then everything is rosy.

The Bucs, however, are not 6-0. For those who are still counting, they are 0-6 and fans are starting to fold their cards on the season.

This is the time, however, when the spotlight from management turns to the players. They want to see if the people they pegged to be the foundation of the team are the proper building blocks.

Do you understand Derrick Ward?

Joe can only think of a handful of players who have no worries about their mortgages. Aqib Talib, Donald Penn, Sammie Stroughter, Davin Joseph and Josh Freeman are absolutely safe. Geno Hayes, Quincy Black and Earnest Graham are likely safe.

The rest better worry. If they don’t, then they are gutless.

Sad thing is Raheem the Dream and possibly Mark Dominik came to this conclusion a bit late. There are scant hours left in the trade deadline (4 p.m. today).

Raheem the Dream has thrown his hands in the air in frustration over his sorry defensive line.

Buried in an article from Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune was a quote from Raheem the Dream where he called out his defensive line, which frankly should have happened weeks ago.

(Joe’s beyond tired of the coddling. If a bunch of adults playing this horribly cannot handle their coach telling them they suck, then they need to get the hell out of the NFL.)

In short, Raheem the Dream threatened a housecleaning of his defensive line.

“That last drive was more of that Giants-type of physicality where you get beat up and you get overpowered,” Bucs coach Raheem Morris said, referring to the 24-0 Week 3 loss in which the Bucs surrendered 226 rushing yards.

“We either need to get better up front or we need to get better people,” he said. “We’ve got to find a way to stop the run when it counts, and that last drive was one of the times it counted.

Joe has resisted going after Raheem the Dream for several reasons but Joe can’t let this one slip by, as much as he likes Raheem the Dream.

Yo, Ra: You are the one who picked these slugs. You — or was it Jim Bates? — are the one who thought these guys could play a two-gap system. Or are you finally admitting this was the proverbial case of a round peg in a square hole that virtually every football person not connected to the Bucs from Pat Kirwan to Steve White has been saying since January?

Or are you confessing you thoroughly misjudged the “talents” of your defensive line?

After all, the head coach has the final say on who stays with the team when the final cuts are made in early September, right?

Or are you suggesting that someone in the halls of One Buc Palace is telling you who to pick for “your” team?

Joe has a lot of respect for former NFL coach and executive Pat Kirwan.

So far the things Kirwan has predicted for the Bucs since the change in coaches this January has been absolute dead-on accurate, to Joe’s chagrin. His Sirius NFL Radio show with Pat Ryan is must-listen radio for football fans.

So it raised an eyebrow with Joe when he read Kirwan take the Bucs to task for giving up defensive end Gaines Adams for a second round pick. Virtually everyone connected to the Bucs — including fans — have washed their hands on Adams labeling him a bust.

Kirwan is not among that group. He noted in an NFL.com chat Monday the Bucs made a mistake.

Jon chwecke, Great Falls MT
why would my bucs trade huge potential like gaines adams its so frustrating.

Pat Kirwan, NFL.com
Jon, I questioned it in my column today. Rarely can you find the fourth overall pick in an NFL draft traded in less than three years. Last year, Gaines Adams had incredible numbers for a second-year player. There could be financial reasons they did it, but I just sit here and scratch my head about taking a second-round pick for a guy that had 6.5 sacks, 21 hits on a QB, seven passes defended and 55 tackles last year, and is only 26 years old.

Hhhhmmm? Financial reasons? Joe smells an English kickball team.

[UPDATE: Dante Wesley was suspended by the NFL for one game for his assault on Clifton Smith.]

For Bucs fans who may have missed it, here’s the assult by Carolina’s Dante Wesley on defenseless Clifton Smith.

"Bill Belichick is licking his chops," Raheem The Dream said.

Some quality ridiculousness at Raheem The Dream’s Monday news conference.

After telling the media, “Bill Belichick is licking his chops,” Raheem The Dream went on to explain that one way he prepared to face the New England Patriots in London on Sunday is by consulting with the Glazers on how to deal with jet lag.

“We got some ownership that’s really familiar with going over there a lot and traveling over there and how you deal with jeg lag and all those things. So we took a lot of advice from our ownership and took a lot of advice from people that go over there often,” Raheem The Dream said.

Joe finds this bizarre. The Bucs are playing at 1 p.m. EST on Sunday, their usual time, and they have a daytime flight on Friday to England.

Why would there be jet lag issues?

It’s not like the game is in Tokyo, or Hawaii for that matter. London is five hours ahead. Keep your regular schedule and play the damn game.

As for what the Glazers could offer up for advice, Joe can only imagine. Last Joe checked none of them are professional athletes, unless you consider hiding from the media a sport.

Alex Loeb and Cris Cater recap the Panthers victory of the putrid Bucs.

The Bucs are miserable. No denying that.

So putrid are the Bucs that Joe can’t think about watching them without a few Caybrews, it’s that frightening.

So now the Bucs are in a race for the top overall draft pick in next spring’s draft with St. Louis and Tennessee. At worst, St. Louis and Tennessee will cancel each other out because they play against each other.

Look at the remaining schedules below and see if you can guess who will be the first team walking to the podium next spring when NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell opens the draft.

Bucs

Green Bay
at Miami
New Orleans
at Atlanta
at Carolina
New York Jets
at Seattle
at New Orleans
Atlanta

Rams

Indianapolis
at Detroit
New Orleans
Arizona
Seattle
at Chicago
at Tennessee
Houston
at Arizona
San Francisco

Titans

Jacksonville
at San Francisco
Buffalo
at Houston
Arizona
at Indianapolis
St. Louis
Miami
San Diego
at Seattle

Cheap shot artist Dante Wesley nearly incited a riot yesterday when he clobbered defenseless Clifton Smith on a kick return, knocking him out cold and out of the game.

Naturally, the dirtbag was thrown out of the game. He should be thrown out the NFL for a few weeks as a result.

Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports crucifies the dirtbag Wesley.

At best, it was reckless judgment. At worst, it was malicious. And predictably, the hit sparked a clearing of parts from both sidelines as players mixed it up. Meanwhile, Smith laid on the field for several minutes before being helped up and wobbling his way to the locker room. Wesley was ultimately ejected, and now he’ll face what should be a significant fine and suspension from the NFL.

Joe suspects Wesley is going to receive a nasty FedEx letter this week from Roger Goodell.

Charles Davis and Dick Stockton of Fox Sports discuss how the Panthers ran all over the Bucs.

Former Bucs DE Steve White

By STEVE WHITE
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Steve White spent every season of the Tony Dungy era playing defensive end for the Bucs. He’s spent countless hours in the film room with the likes of Warren Sapp, Rod Marinelli and more. Joe is humbled to now have White, also a published author and blogger, as part of the JoeBucsFan.com team. Below is White’s weekly Bull Rush column that breaks down all things defensive line. It’s simply a can’t-miss read for the hardcore Bucs fan.

I would imagine most Bucs fans awoke this morning wondering what the hell happened in the fourth quarter yesterday.

Surely, there will be no shortage of people who don’t really have a clue throwing out a bunch of reckless speculation about why our defense got pounded all the way down the field by the Carolina Panthers with the game on the line. They will talk about heart and talent and question the toughness of our players, usually with little to no grounding to back up their comments.

Well, what I am here to provide is insight on what actually happened, specifically where it pertains to our defensive line. And I can tell you unequivocally that it wasn’t about heart and it wasn’t about effort and it definitely wasn’t about toughness yesterday.

What it came down to was technique and execution, and that can’t all be attributed to the players.

You want a sacrificial lamb?

Ok, I will give you one. Ryan Sims did not play well yesterday. He was blown off the ball on double teams too many times, he didn’t give us a lot when he had one-on-one blocking versus play action pass, he got hooked (blocked inside) several times when lined up over the guard, and the one time he lined up head up on the center he got high which made us soft up the middle.

But here is the thing, Sims gave great effort all day yesterday from his first snap till his last. And the guy made several tackles with linemen hanging all over him. I criticize him not because he sucked, but because I know and have seen him play better. But if you want to see heart, watch him get knocked down and then jump up in a sprint running to the ball. You want to see toughness? Watch him get double teamed all day and keep coming back for more.

What this was really about was the fact that we were not gap sound in our defense. We have all of these guys two-gapping instead of penetrating in the backfield, which not only makes it relatively easy for a good back to bounce it outside on us, it also makes it relatively easy for them to cutback on any given play.

Then yesterday many times we had our defensive tackles slanting one way or another. But again these slants were lateral movements that generally made us softer, not stronger against the run. And last but certainly not least, if there is one thing that stood out on that embarrassing last drive its that we didn’t even seem to have a plan for that situation.

You want to know what kind of alignment we had in many of the short yardage situations yesterday? A frikkin’ 3-4 alignment up front.

Sometimes we had five defensive lineman, sometimes we had four plus a linebacker, but either way we had two guys on the guards and one guy head up on the center, inside. Who in the hell thinks we have the personnel for that?

In what world does that even make sense? Sims, Roy Miller and Chris Hovan are pretty good inside players but they are not built for a 3-4 defense or 3-4 alignments. They just aren’t. But time and again it’s how we lined up, including down by the goalline. And time and time again they made us pay.

Now everything wasn’t doom and gloom yesterday by any means.

Greg (Stylez) White got his first sack of the year and showed a lot of hustle to get a hit on Jake Delhomme on another play by crawling to him. Jimmy Wilkerson was strong against the Panthers two tight end sets and made some excellent plays versus the run. Sims, Hovan, and Miller all made some good things happen in the run game, and Tim Crowder gave us some quality reps as well including playing a lot on short yardage plays for White.

But the end result is still the same, we got our ass handed to us on a silver platter. I hope having read this post that you have a better idea why.

Joe always enjoys reading Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports dating back to his Sports Illustrated days. Despite the fact he’s a Maoist, Silver’s a good guy and a damned fine football writer.

This morning, Silver does a Phil Mushnick: He takes only one paragraph to torch the Bucs, albeit a very long paragraph.

Silver claims the Bucs problems are both mishandling from atop by the Glazer family, and piss poor coaching.

Two years ago, I flew to London to watch the Dolphins fall to 0-8 (en route to a 1-15 season) and apologized to the good people of England for having to witness such a jolly bad show. This year? Apologies in advance. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-6) should be similarly atrocious when they face the Patriots at Wembley Stadium next Sunday, a matchup that has the potential to be as brutally lopsided as Austin Powers’ teeth. It might be cathartic for those Man U fans who are still mad at the Glazer family for daring to own a cherished British club – and, truth be told, the Bucs’ owners deserve to be booed for the way they’ve let their American football franchise deteriorate. With twice the cap room of any NFL team, Tampa Bay predictably has struggled against more talented foes and didn’t give rookie coach Raheem Morris much of a fighting chance. That said, the Bucs have been outscored 47-7 in the third quarter this season, the lone points coming in Sunday’s 28-21 defeat to the Panthers on Sammie Stroughter’s 97-yard kickoff return. Two words: bad coaching.

Joe is not as down on Raheem the Dream as some people are. His coordinators? Now those are the guys that are giving Joe irritable bowel syndrome. The fact that the Bucs have been outscored in the third quarter 47-7 — 47-7!!! — tells Joe one guy on the Bucs sideline is getting absolutely schooled by opposing coaches.

Like many, including Joe, Gary Shelton of the St. Petersburg Times is frustrated.

The longtime columnist has seen enough. He claims it’s time to place a call to the bullpen and call in quarterback Josh Freeman.

For months now, the Bucs have been patient, and bully for them for it. For months, they have repeated a thousand times that they would not force Freeman to play before he was ready.

After all, he is the franchise.

After all, he is the future.

At 0-6, and after another Sunday of being battered at the ball yard, isn’t it finally time to get that future started? If Freeman really is the Next Big Deal around here, isn’t it time the Bucs gave us a glimpse? Goodness knows, there is nothing left of today.

Joe has stated time and again there is no reason to bring in Freeman, especially against Bill Belicheat and the Patriots. None. A lot more can go wrong than can go right. And who in their right mind actually thinks Freeman can magically turn around this season? He won’t.

For those who believe it’s absolutely necessary to bring in Freeman, Joe has two words: David Carr.

If it was up to Joe, Freeman wouldn’t see an opposing defense (except on TV or from the sidelines) until next year. The fact Freeman has yet to take a snap in a regular season game is one of the few things this team has gotten right this year.

When Clifton Smith got knocked cold on a vicious, dirty play by headhunter Dante Wesley, it was all Sabby Piscitelli could do to not go after Wesley.

Fortunately Piscitelli kept his cool. In fact, Piscitelli likely kept Aqib Talib from getting thrown out of the game.

In the melee that ensued after the cheap shot, Talib was punched in the head by an unnamed Panthers player and Talib freaked. Piscitelli physically grabbed Talib and, thus, saved him from taking an early shower, reports Tom Balog of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Piscitelli did grab teammate Aqib Talib after a Carolina player punched him in the head in the ensuing skirmish. He saved Talib from a possible ejection and fine.

”I just saw him going crazy,” Piscitelli said. “At times like that you have to act professional. It’s hard when you see one of your soldiers, one of your players like that. You have to keep your composure.”

Joe couldn’t believe that a full-scale riot didn’t break out. If there was ever a time Joe could understand Talib wielding his helmet, that was the time.

Much was made yesterday of the report Sunday morning that Bucs general manager Mark Dominik did not give Raheem the Dream a vote of confidence. This report was later shot down when Dominik spoke to NBC’s Peter King saying Raheem the Dream is safe.

Joe spoke with a number of sources last night who informed Joe that Raheem the Dream’s job security, or lack thereof, is not up to Dominik. Rather, Bryan and Joel will determine Raheem the Dream’s fate in this nightmarish season.

Then there’s the fact Joe irresponsibly overlooked yesterday that Joe has been harping on for months:

So long as Chucky’s salary is still on the Bucs books, Raheem the Dream is safe. There’s no way Bryan and Joel will pay for three head coaches, two of which (Chucky and Raheem the Dream) would be walking the streets.

Until Chucky has another coaching gig, it’s asinine to talk about unloading Raheem the Dream.

Antonio Bryant’s name was barely mentioned yesterday and the losing and lack of opportunities are starting to get to him.

Though he’s been the healthiest all season, Bryant got few balls thrown to him and he’s upset, so notes Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times.

The frustration is clearly starting to set in after a game in which he had a limited number of touches. After two catches on Sunday, Bryant made reference to limited opportunities and was asked whether he deserved more.

“You tell me,” he said. “This is probably the best I’ve felt all this year. I’ve had a lot of great results on this (injured) knee.

“All I can do is. . . control what I can control. That’s going out there, running the routes, trying to get open and being where I’m supposed to be so it shows up on film, the right people see it and something gets done about it.”

Who exactly are the right people? Bill Belicheat? Danny Snyder? Oh, that’s right, tamperer Tuna.