The NFL’s in-house reporter, Jason LaCanfora, a man with infinite access and accomodating sources, is telling fans that the Josh Freeman era is on track to begin against the Green Bay Packers on Nov. 8.

But there is one caveat, per LaCanfora’s video report on NFL.com, the Bucs must lose their next two games.

“Watch the bye week,” LaCanfora said. “If they lose [against Carolina] and lose in London to New England, people in that organization expect the move to be made leading into their bye week Nov. 1, and going with the first round pick Josh Freeman in the second half of the season.”

So there it is. No Bucs fan should be surprised.

Freeman’s in the bullpen and Raheem The Dream is nine days away from picking up the phone — maybe.

The Bucs, if they don’t truly stink as badly as they appear, should really beat Carolina on Sunday. And, of course, they’re staring down the barrel at a good beating in London against New England the following week.

If Josh Johnson can’t get a W in the next two, it’ll be nearly impossible for Raheem The Dream to keep Freeman off the field.

Joe suspects the Glazers’ patience will have worn out with an 0-7 record fresh off getting mauled by the British media, which no doubt take some powerful shots at the Bucs.

Joe found it more than curious, though happy about it, that the Bucs sold out this Sunday’s game with the Panthers.

Joe heard from countless people how Bucs fans were nearly outnumbered by Dallass fans in the season-opener. No surprises, Cowboys fans travel well.

The next home game the Giants and many of their fans from Gotham showed up. Again, no surprise.

But the Bucs are still a horrible team, playing another horrible team from Carolina on Sunday that doesn’t travel well at all. Yet the Bucs still sold out.

Tom Balog of the Sarasota Herald-Review believes the Glazer family is “buying” the unsold tickets.

Maybe the Glazers had to absorb the last few thousands seats, which could have happened, because there were at least a few thousand empty seats in the second level of the stadium for the Giants game, which typically are the last to be sold.

There were even plenty of empty seats in the club level, indicating that even season ticket holders decided not to bother.

It’s hard to imagine that average people bought tickets ahead of the blackout deadline _ and then didn’t bother to show up on Sunday _ just so the game would be shown on local television.

If the Glazer family is indeed buying the tickets — Joe wonders if there’s an NFL rule against that? — it’s beyond a kind gesture by Bryan and Joel. Joe humbly thanks them from the bottom of his heart.

But let’s not be naive, this is a shrewd marketing move. Just think of the capital lost in the area from bars and restaurants if the Bucs are blacked out, not to mention unhappy local advertisers on WTVT-TV? That doesn’t foster much love for the squad.

Also, Joe remembers growing up in the 1970s. He lived within the blackout radius of the then-St. Louis Cardinals, who were beyond putrid. Rarely was a home game ever shown on TV, with the exception of three seasons. Joe remembers the first NFC East division title the Cardinals won in St. Louis came against the Giants, and was blacked out.

As a result, virtually everyone Joe grew up with had a favorite team other than the Cardinals. Dallass, Green Bay, Miami, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Los Angeles. Those were the dominant teams (though Green Bay had begun a downward spiral) of the time and those teams seemed to be on TV each weekend.

As a result, that jackass Bill Bidwill literally lost a generation (or two?) of fans who could care less what his team did. Joe remembers being in college when the Cardinals moved to Phoenix. The reaction of the area was pretty much a shrug of the shoulders and attention quickly turned to spring training.

That’s just what Bryan and Joel would be looking at here (again): a return to the Culverhouse Era. Bryan and Joel do not want that to happen again. Bryan and Joel did not and do not want the Bucs to become irrelevent.

Bucs fans have had their stomachs turned watching this team flounder and flop.

Raheem the Dream is sick, too. So much so he doesn’t even want to hear music. Tom Balog, of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, noted Raheem the Dream always started practices with music. But Raheem the Dream is so sick of losing, he can’t even think of music.

”We motivated ourselves today by reliving that sick feeling on Sundays that we’ve been having. That’s how we practiced today and you can tell. You can see the anger in practice, you can see the difference.”

If the Bucs keep stinking the joint up, the only music Raheem the Dream and others will have to worry about is the song of “Taps.”

Meanwhile, Joe hopes he doesn’t have to puke (again) watching the Bucs secondary get roasted (again).

Joe is again pleased to bring you the gorgeous Jenny Dell of BSPN and her weekly breakdown of an upcoming Bucs game. Watching this video, Joe didn’t quite catch all Ms. Dell had to say. For some curious reason, Joe was distracted, though he kept hearing her voice. Strange.

Just like the Bucs, Jordan Gross and the Panthers are having problems blocking opponents as well.

Let’s see, a team that has a horrible record is having trouble blocking despite having an offensive line that was supposed to be a team strength.

Sound familiar?

Well, it’s not just the Bucs, but the Panthers. Seems as though the Panthers offensive line leaks worse than the proverbial screen door on a submarine, which is good news for the Bucs. Charles Chandler of the Charlotte Observer has the gory details.

All five starters returned this season, led by 2008 All-Pro left tackle Jordan Gross, but so far the line has struggled both in run blocking and pass protection.

The Panthers rank 23rd in the NFL in rushing and have yet to get a 100-yard performance out of either of their highly regarded backs, DeAngelo Williams or Jonathan Stewart.

According to stats.com, the offensive line has given up 10 sacks through the first four games. That’s already half of the Panthers’ team total for all of last season.

A lot of people point to the Bucs defensive front as being a culprit in the toasty Bucs secondary. If the Panthers are truly this bad, the Bucs defensive line should get some pressure on Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme and thus should take some pressure off of the Bucs secondary.

If the Bucs can get pressure on Delhomme and the Bucs are still giving up home run passes, then we can check off the defensive line as being the root of the Bucs defensive ills.

“The Professor,” John Clayton of BSPN takes a look at the NFC South in his weekly report. He seems to think the Bucs pass rush, or lack thereof, has been a scapegoat for the Bucs’ toasty secondary play.

Yeah, yeah, Joe understands that Raheem the Dream has a crush on Josh Freeman worse than Joe lusts over Rachel Watson. But at some point common sense and reality have to kick in.

Joe understands Rachel will never be waiting for him, scantily clad or buried in winter clothes, when he returns home.

(Oh, and not-so-kind memo to all the whining women pining for cold weather, Joe has a four-letter word for you: Ohio. You wanna wear coats so damned bad, move to friggin’ Columbus and leave Joe alone. You live in Florida. It’s supposed to be hot. SHUT THE F’ UP OR MOVE!)

So when Joe read in an article typed by Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune that offensive coordinator Greg Olson — he of the genius who thought it would be oh, so edgy to run the freaking option in an NFL game — thought about putting Freeman into the Eagles debacle last Saturday, Joe almost choked on his coffee.

But after watching the Eagles’ defense launch a parade of blitzes, he thought better of it. Freeman, Olson decided, wasn’t ready.

“The feeling of the offensive staff was, ‘I don’t know if this is the defense that we want this kid to start off against,'” Olson said Wednesday. “We figured we’d let him develop a little further first.”

Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed!

Has this guy Olson ever heard of David Carr?

The Eagles were coming through the lines worse than Patton’s Third Army was racing through France. Sean Mayhem, as Harry King pointed out, looked more like a greeter at Wal-Mart than a center. It’s a wonder Josh Johnson didn’t get killed.

And Olson actually had the bright idea of parachuting Freeman into that!?

Mind you Olson, as Joe pointed out earlier in the week, was so flabbergasted by the Eagles blitzes, he didn’t know what to tell Johnson.

Look, until the Bucs patch up their offensive line and put together some sort of running game, Freeman should keep his rear end firmly planted on the bench. The people who scream for Freeman to be put in a game (for what reason, Joe doesn’t know) Joe again points to Carr.

Carr, put up some decent numbers for the Texans, but was absolutely ruined if not scarred for life because the Texans offensive line couldn’t block the wind. Right now the Bucs offensive line is not much better if it’s better at all.

Joe wasn’t fond of drafting Freeman either but that doesn’t mean Joe wants to see the kid get maimed. There is absolutely no need to rush Freeman. None.

While Josh Johnson looked a lot better in his second start last week to the naked eye, a bit more of a study shows that Johnson is, well, inexperienced.

Don’t believe Joe? Well, let Antonio Bryant explain, per TBO.com.

“There were times when I was open on the field, especially in the red zone, and it would have been a touchdown had the read been there,” Bryant said.

Bryant went on to say that he believes Johnson misread the play because Johnson is used to practicing with “a different number” at wide receiver because Bryant has been hobbled with a bum knee.

Joe thinks that’s just Bryant backtracking trying to cover for Johnson. If the routes were run correctly, what the hell difference does a number — or receiver — matter?

One of the problems the Panthers had in losing their first three games was they couldn’t stop the run.

That stopped last week against the Redskins, thanks to a free agent pickup, so writes Charles Chandler of the Charlotte Observer.

Thomas is the rather portly (6-foot, 340 pounds) veteran of 14 seasons whom the Panthers signed to play the nose guard position that’s been their Achilles heel since Maake Kemoeatu tore his Achilles on Aug.3 in the opening practice of training camp.

Thomas’ presence helped clog the middle of the defensive line against the Redskins and freed middle linebacker Jon Beason to have his most productive game of the season (10 tackles and a sack).

This should be an interesting matchup in this game: the Panthers’ improved rush defense against the Bucs sometime struggling rush offense. It sure as hell helps that it appears Sean Mayhem will not be starting.

Months ago center Jeff Faine voiced his displeasure with the Bucs’ plan to hand over line call duties to the quarterback.

But that never materialized, Faine said later, as Byron Leftwich wasn’t well enough versed in the offense to call out the protections and other line calls.

Now an extremely confident Josh Johnson will take on those duties, offensive coordinator Greg Olson explained during his Wednesday news conference. 

Faine, who returns to the lineup this week, will serve as an override if Faine believes Johnson’s call is in error, Olson said.

Olson explained that having the quarterback make line calls is critical in this era of zone bliztes and that the great QBs of the game make their teams’ line calls.

“We often, even a year ago with Jeff Garcia when he was the starter, there was a big difference when [Garcia] was in and when Brian [Griese] was in. [Garcia] felt much more comfortable with Jeff Faine making the calls. [Garcia] had never done that in his career and he wasn’t real interested in that. And it wasn’t an issue but somewhat it is. Our quarterback has to get guys in the right places,” Olson said. “And so we ask [Josh Johnson and Josh Freeman] to do that and that’s a big part of the quarterback development. I think if the great ones, if you watch, especially nowawdays with all the zone blitzes, it’s important that the quarterbacks understand the protection part of it. …Josh Johnson is very confident in his ability, and I’m very confident in him to getting us to the right points in the protections.

“If there’s an issue, defer it to Faine. If you made [a call] and Faine says, ‘Uh, uh. Uh, uh. We’re going here with it.’ Understand that we’ll defer to Faine because of his experience right now as a veteran player. That’s what we did last year with Brian Griese. And so that will help both the Josh’s right now.”

Olson went on to explain that “Josh Freeman may not be as confident in setting the protections right now.”

Reading between the lines, Joe wonders whether the Bucs might have made the move to start Freeman, rather than Johnson, if Faine hadn’t been sidelined with a tricep tear.

After hearing Olson, Joe suspects the Bucs will start Freeman after the bye week , unless Faine is hurt or Josh Johnson beats the Patriots in England.

Hi, my name’s Lewis, but you can call me “Lou” so long as you are a Bolts fan (Panthers fans just don’t call me). I read where Joe exposed me with my Bolts jersey the other day. Just for that I might have to have an accident in his bedroom. I’ll just have to beg for more Beggin’ Strips tonight.

Ever feel bored? You know, when the Bolts aren’t playing and there’s no cats to fight with and you’re too tired to dig up the backyard?

Well, if I’m not watching the Bolts or chasing squirrels or scratching myself or rolling over and whimpering for table scraps, you can read my barks about the Bolts on my Twitter account, ThunderPuppyLou.

Maybe if I lap up enough water now I can wet Joe’s rug before he gets home? See ya!

Raheem The Dream talked about Father Dungy yesterday as if the famous ex-coach is trying to sleep late and lounge at his pool but people keep bugging him.

Apparently, Raheem The Dream doesn’t realize Dungy is employed by NBC on Sunday Night Football.

Joe suspects Dungy flies to New York on Saturday, watches film and has a production meeting or two. Then he spends all day Sunday watching football and preparing for the telecast. Monday is a travel day back to Tampa. Dungy has invested a lot of time keeping himself in the public eye since leaving the Colts. He’s hardly trying to hole up at home.

Here are Raheem The Dream’s comments, per the St. Pete Times.

(On what he would think if the Glazers thought about bringing in Tony Dungy as a consultant)
“I have no idea where that came from, to be honest with you, and the Glazers haven’t approached me. I kind of feel bad for Coach Dungy because he’s just at home trying to enjoy his family and kids and everybody wants to put him back to work. He’s sponsoring everybody, he’s mentoring Raheem, he’s mentoring Mark Dominik (laughing). He’s just hanging out in Tampa and enjoying his family. And if the Glazers have a conversation with Tony Dungy, then that’s their prerogative. I’m excited for Tony Dungy. But I just kind of feel bad for Tony. That’s just all speculation. If it has any truth to it, then so be it. My job is to try to win this week. That’s my job.”

To Joe, this was another great example of Raheem The Dream talking too much.

All he had to say was, “Dungy is a great football man and a friend. I haven’t heard a thing about him returning to football. If the Glazers are interested in him as a consultant, then they’ll let you know.”

Ironic that Raheem The Dream “feels bad” for Dungy (when there’s no reason to). Joe suspects Dungy feels twice as bad for Raheem and his winless record. 

Raheem the Dream checks his blackberry daily to make sure Chucky hasn't been hired.

The book is very much open on Raheem the Dream, though just by the comments on this site Joe notices fans are very restless.

Tom Curran of NBCSports.com takes a look at all the NFL’s first-year coaches and believes Raheem the Dream was a “hasty” hire and the Bucs winless start to the season is evidence of that.

Morris seems like a hasty hiring after the hasty firing of Jon Gruden. And now the Bucs are adrift, seemingly disorganized and unsure what exactly their identity is. The only team remaining on their schedule they have a reasonable shot at beating is Carolina. They are a threat to go winless.

Again, Joe believes at worst Raheem the Dream should finish the season. If Chucky is hired by Danny Snyder or Jerry Jones in the offseason, thereby removing his salary from the Bucs books, Joe would be nervous if Joe was Raheem the Dream.

Consider this the first Chucky rumor of the coaching recruiting season.

Michael Lombardi of NFL.com reports that the University of Louisville has Chucky atop its wish list. Oh, and Lombardi also throws in how Danny Snyder, the Redskins tyrant/owner, might also be interested in Chucky.

Gee, where have you read that before?

Chucky coaching in college is borderline nonsense to Joe. Chucky would be an awful college coach in Joe’s eyes. He’d be a lousy recruiter and his offense is so complex, it generally takes an NFL quarterback two or three years to digest, much less a guy just out of high school.

Just look how that same offense worked for Bill Callahan at Nebraska.

Lombardi claims in the video that accompanies the above link that Chucky is not as appealing to NFL owners as Mike Holmgren or Mike Shanahan (or possibly Bill Cowher). While Joe would take Bill Cowher over Chucky any day of the week, the more the Bucs continue to suck, the more Chucky looks like a wizard for getting the Bucs to the cusp of a playoff game with virtually the same team.

Jim Bates seems depressed. So Joe is depressed, too.

There was gloom and doom in Bates’ answer to a question about the Bucs’ woes in the secondary. It was asked during his Wednesday news conference.

The veteran defensive coordinator was asked to explain the greatest challenges for the secondary transitioning from primarily playing zone coverage — Monte Kiffin’s scheme — to Bates’ system.

Bates all but said the Bucs don’t have the talent in place at cornerback or the experience at safety. Here is his response unedited.

“The biggest part is bump corners. As far as the bump corners and the safeties also getting accustomed as far as when they can help. Cause it shouldn’t look like every single snap that it’s the corners all the way and they’re out there on an island. When [safeties] can come off and help especially when there is a lot of airtime on the ball. If it’s an under 20-yard route, then it’s going to be the corner’s play over there when we’re in bump. …The corners got to do a good job. Every place that I’ve been fortunate enough to be at, we’ve had really good corners and really good bump corners. And they really take away the deep ball for the most part in all those places. And we’re going to get there. We’re going to get there. But sometimes it just isn’t the corner. The safety has got to be able to know when he can give help, get the depth, get the break on the ball, and when there’s a lot of airtime on the ball we should be making the plays with the safeties, especially on those deep sideline routes.”

The Bucs gave up six pass completions of 40 or more yards during the 2008 season. Through five games this season, they have already yielded eight. This fun fact comes from the Twitter account of eye!-RAH Kaufman, NFL writer for The Tampa Tribune.

It seems Bates overestimated what he had in the Bucs’ secondary, or his fears have come to fruition. Perhaps both. 

But Bates obviously thinks his horses in the secondary are second-rate for his system. So unless the pass rush shows marked improvement, Bucs fans can probably expect to see lots more big plays for the wrong team.

In a take no sane Bucs fan could agree with, Mike Florio, curator, creator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, has named Josh Johnson as one of his top-10 players who should be traded by next week’s trade deadline.

Florio compares Johnson and Josh Freeman to Browns greats Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn, respectively. By Florio’s logic, Freeman won’t be able to handle the pressure of Josh Johnson looming over his shoulder when he takes the QB torch.

The Bucs are walking into that same potential trap with Josh Johnson and Josh Freeman. The latter was a 2009 first-round pick, and the presumed quarterback of the future. The former is the short-timer, who is playing well without the stress of possibly being benched, since everyone (including Johnson) believes that day is coming once Freeman is ready.

But even if he’s not the starter in 2010, Johnson is showing enough to make him a viable Plan B if Freeman struggles next year. And Freeman will be more likely to overthink and/or hesitate if he realizes that bad performances could give Johnson another shot.

As a result, with plenty of positive buzz being generated regarding Johnson, the Bucs should move him now, and they should trust the guy in whom they entrusted first-round status.

Joe couldn’t disagree more. If Josh Johnson becomes a problem for Freeman, then Freeman needs to buy some oversized Depends and thank his maker that the Bucs dropped tens of millions on such an immature clown as he.

If Freeman stinks, the fans will always be calling for the No. 2 quarterback. That’s the way it’ll be regardless of who’s on the roster.

Many in the Tampa Bay area predicted that the first Bucs blacked out game in the history of the CITS would be this Sunday when the Bucs host the nearly-as-bad Carolina Panthers.

Hold on, says eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune. He tweeted that the Bucs will sell out the Carolina game.

You heard it here first — the Bucs game against the Panthers Sunday at Raymond James Stadium will not be blacked out.

Joe will believe it when he sees it, though Joe is hopeful.

Speaking of believing, eye-RAH! seems to believe the Bucs have a very good shot at winning if they can get some decent blocking.

I’ll say it again — the Bucs need at least 30 rushing attempts to win, especially against a Carolina team that can’t stop the run.

If this were to come through, Sean Mayhem cannot be in the lineup.

By Harry King

My two cents: This Raheem the Dream is some kind of leader. He tells it like it is to his players, just like my old pal Earl Weaver. Hey, if it worked for George Patton, it can work for a football coach. His son was a great guest. … Speaking of the Orioles, watching the Bucs play defense was like watching Weaver’s teams: Sooner or later, there was going to be a couple of home runs.

Defensive players run past Sean Mahan quicker than when my boyhood friends and I used to run past ushers to sneak into Ebbets Field. I grew up with Sandy Koufax, you know? … Linebackers fly past Mahan so quickly, cops want to cite them for reckless driving. … In the offseason, Sean Mahan stays in shape by working as a greeter in a local Wal-Mart.

After eating mounds of pasta at Ciao Trattoria with Jonathon Winters, not even we were as full of it as Chucky on Monday Night Football. … Word is when Tony Dungy stated he would not be a consultant with the Bucs, Josh Freeman was seen at St. Petersburg Diocesan chapel lighting candles in thanks. … Earnest Graham has been forgotten, just like my previous seven marriages.

Much has been made about Michael Clayton’s seemingly heartfelt and sincere apologies Tuesday during his interview with J.P. Peterson on JP’s Happy Hour on WQYK-AM 1010. Clayton apologized for using the horrible choice of words referencing his NFL checks when asked about fan reactions to his league-leading dropped passes.

(For the record, the Bucs lead the NFL in dropped passes).

But what was interesting in the interview was Clayton’s response when Peterson asked him if he was worried about getting cut, noting how the Bucs had moments prior to the interview announced the signing of wide receiver Yamon Figurs.

When Peterson asked Clayton, “Do you have any fear you might be released?” Clayton said he doesn’t concern himself with such matters.

“Nah, not at all,” Clayton said. “I don’t thing about those things. I feel deep in me that I have shown my passion of what I want to be for this football team. It’s not a good time for any body right now at all.

“It’s the nature of the business and when [you are] under this situation you will be under scrutiny. We will handle it. We will be able to deal with it. It’s about being a professional right now. You have to stay loyal and dedicated to the team. We will continue to stay the course.”

Joe was pleased to hear Clayton not offer any excuses for his dropped passes as he has in the past, claiming Chucky forced him to drop balls. Chucky, of course, is long gone.

Joe believes Clayton’s heart is in the right spot and one could almost hear the pain in his voice about how he admits his drops are letting down the team. Sadly, sympathy only goes so far in the NFL.

Sooner or later, Clayton’s going to have to register more games like he did against the Cowboys to open the season or he will be dropping passes for some other team no matter how well he blocks; no matter where his heart may lie.

The Football Moron of BSPN breaksdown the Panthers-Bucs game this Sunday. For once, this clown makes sense, though it sounds ugly for Bucs fans.