The man who despises “toes on the line,” Kellen Winslow, has now joined hands with Greg Schiano’s good friend Bill Belicheat.

Numerous reports out of Boston say the Patriots have signed Winslow, on the heels of Aaron Hernandez’s serious ankle injury Sunday.

As the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Former Bucs defensive tackle Booger McFarland says he has a little clarity about the Bucs after their first two games, even though both contests were dramatically different.

So what’s clear to McFarland? “Aqib Talib is a second-tier cornerback,” McFarland said yesterday on the Todd and Booger Show on 98.7 FM.

Now Joe had to laugh when he heard that. In Joe’s mind, Talib was a second-tier corner entering this season. There’s no shame in that designation, and it was earned, with Talib’s inconsistent play over the years combined with Talib’s various injuries. The guy has elite skills but just hasn’t been steady enough.

For Joe, now the discussion should be about Talib being a third-tier cornerback. Talib wasn’t just beaten repeatedly Sunday. He visibly beaten down mentally and physically.

Per a mysterious blog apparently located on Buccaneers.com, the Bucs’ official Twitter feed pumped out the following information late this afternoon.

@TBBuccaneers: Breaking news from the new “Captain’s Blog” on http://Buccaneers.com : Demar Dotson has been promoted to the starting lineup at right tackle.

This means, of course, former starting right tackle Jeremy Trueblood has been benched, at least temporarily.

It’s an interesting move on a few levels.

First, considering Trueblood won the job coming out of training camp, one could assume Dotson looked a lot better in Game 2 at right tackle than Trueblood looked in Game 1.

Or, the Bucs’ have determined that Trueblood’s injured ankle will plague him for weeks and a healthy Dotson is better than a hobbled Trueblood, and it’s better to get Trueblood healthy in case he’s needed.

Then there’s the business of Trueblood’s take-it-or-leave-it paycut to $4 million right before the season. Trueblood’s going to be paid a king’s ransom for a backup gig. Not bad work if you can get it. And now Dotson has a chance to score a big payday, as he becomes a free agent after this season.

Per venerable eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune, Preston Parker injured his foot Sunday and the Bucs have responded by re-signing WR Jordan Shipley and cutting guard Derek Hardman — again.

Shipley was cut from the Bengals midway through the preseason and the Bucs claimed him on waivers, but he didn’t do enough on the field for the Bucs to earn a roster spot.

Somewhere, Tiquan Underwood is wondering what’s going on.

As the great Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com has pointed out, twice in Greg Schiano’s tenure at Rutgers has his defense forced a fumble from an opponent in a victory formation. Thus, Florio and his ProFootballTalk on NBC Sports Network co-host Eric Kuselias, bring a spirited if not emotional defense to the Bucs first-year head coach in this NBC Sports video.

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

In a panel discussion of what Giants headmaster Tom Coughlin perceived as a dirty play, the majority side with Bucs coach Greg Schiano in this SNY video.

Inability to run the football with a late lead cost the Bucs as much as anything Sunday

No matter how you shuffle the 2011 stats, the Giants didn’t have a good run defense last season. They were in the bottom third of the NFL in most rush-defense categories.

Then on opening day this season, DeMarco Murray of the Cowboys torched the Giants for a 131 yards on only 20 carries.

But the Bucs on Sunday? Well, they had mixed results running against the Giants. And even leading 27-16 lead with the ball and only 39 seconds left in the third quarter, the Bucs passed on trying to grind out a smashmouth, clock-eating drive and threw two dangerous passes, one of which was picked off.

Then the Bucs tried on their next possession to pound out yardage leading 27-19 with 12:22 left in the fourth quarter. But Doug Martin carried four times for just five yards and the Bucs punted. (If that were LeGarrette Blount, fans and media would have hung him by now.)

So Joe has to wonder what the heck has happened to the Bucs’ running game. Were Sunday starters on the right side of the line, Demar Dotson and Ted Larsen, simply incapable of opening holes? Is Martin missing reads? Is the big-money trio of Donald Penn, Carl Nicks and Jeremy Zuttah out of sync?

Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan saw first-hand how the Giants effectively used two and three running backs for years. Why does he only use one?

Joe hopes Sullivan finds some answers. The Bucs need that ground attack desperately. In many ways, its absence cost them a victory Sunday.

Click the map above to shop online now at Ed Morse Brandon Automall, or head over there today to experience their outstanding inventory, value and service. Joe is confident you’ll be impressed.

Sunday, Giants headmaster Tom Coughlin got all bent out of shape in what he perceived as dirty tactics by Greg Schiano trying to force a fumble when the Giants were in a victory formation.

Well, many have come to Greg Schiano’s defense, including “Da Coach.”

No person personifies what the NFL was and should be: punch your opponent in the mouth, play whistle-to-whistle, never take a play off, physical, bruising mentality than Mike Ditka.

The Hall of Fame tight end and Super Bowl-winning coach came out swinging on BSPN Radio in his defense of the first-year Bucs coach.

“I like Greg Schiano a lot, I really do,” Ditka said in his first sentence about the subject. “You have pads and a helmet on — play! Tom [Coughlin] is wrong about this, no matter what he says. He’s wrong.”

Joe has listened to loads of interviews of Greg Schiano and inevitably the leader of the New Schiano Order gets asked about making the transition from college to the pros. Then Schiano typically reminds/advises the interviewer that he spent years in the NFL as a Bears assistant, so he knew what the NFL was all about for years.

And that brings Joe to Sunday’s playcall by Schiano to go full throttle to force a fumble when the Giants were kneeling down to end the game (yes, the head coach referred to it as a specific “call” during his Monday news conference). Schiano knew full well that it wasn’t common in the NFL and it challenged an unwritten code. Schiano also prides himself on being a detail guy and calculating every move. So there’s no question in Joe’s mind that Schiano knew he’d stir up a controversy when he pulled the trigger on this call.

To think Schiano was naive to the uproar that blowing up a kneel-down likely would generate in the hyper-obsessed NFL media is just foolish.

Joe figures the head coach wanted a shot after a loss to move the media spotlight away from his team and to himself with this tactic, and further galvanize his club in the process. 

A couple of years ago, another head coach who liked to make bold statements told a crowd of media that his young club was “the best team in the NFC.” That line went a long way and achieved the desired effect as the Bucs finished 10-6.

Schiano prefers to make his statements on the field, but it’s clear to Joe that the head coach has no problem crafting some buzz if he thinks it will advance the mission of the New Schiano Order.

Joe is still in the greater New York metropolitan area as he types this late on a Monday night, and Joe can tell you that aside from the stoned, unwashed degenerates known in some circles as “Occupy Wall Street” that forced the New York police department to lock down lower Manhattan into a virtual cage (Joe accidently walked into the middle of this fiasco), the talk of the Big Apple was Giants headmaster Tom Coughlin throwing a hissy fit over Bucs coach Greg Schiano trying to force a late fumble while the Giants tried to ice the game in the final seconds.

As one can expect, cricket-watching, Marriott-sleeping, scone-loathing Peter King weighed in on the subject.

Wasting little time in his must-read SI.com Monday Morning Quarterback column, King wagged a finger at Schiano for what King perceived as an unethical move.

Coughlin’s right. Schiano’s wrong. I agree with playing to the final gun. No problem. But when one team is holding up the white flag, with a quarterback in full kneel-down mode, it’s a mistake to pig-pile on him. There’s a 1-in-1,000 chance the defense can jar the ball loose before the quarterback kneels and the whistle blows, but more likely what results is the risk of injury, on both sides of the ball. No question in my mind that if Schiano keeps trying to wreck victory formations, his own players will pay for it — and maybe in the form of retribution from vengeful players in the future.

Come on! If Joe wanted to watch flag football or kickball, he would. This is what seperates America as a richer culture from the third world virus of soccer. This is football, America’s game for Christ sake! It is a game of a physical nature with bruises common.

If this is truly a dirty play, then the NFL should make a rule like college that whenever someone’s knee is on the ground the play is dead.

Don’t like it? Change the rules.

So who is Giants headmaster Tom Coughlin going to yell at now?

The talk of the NFL yesterday was how Coughlin dressed down Bucs coach Greg Schiano for what Coughlin thought was a dirty play when Schiano ordered the Bucs to try to dislodge the ball from Eli Manning during a kneeldown on the final play in the sickening Bucs collapse of a loss to the Super Bowl champs Sunday.

Well, the suits at the NFL headquarters on Park Avenue looked at the evidence and, in a manner of speaking, backed up Schiano and stated Coughlin was out of line, so reports Mike Garafolo of USA Today.

@MikeGarafolo: If anyone was wondering, the NFL will have nothing further on the final play of NYG-TB. No violations on the play or afterward, they say.

This is just nonsense how much run this play has gotten. If it was, say, Pete Carroll in Seattle, it would barely create a ripple. But since it happened in the media capital of the western hemisphere… controversy!

Undrafted rookie Leonard Johnson seems to be above Myron Lewis on the depth chart

Those paying attention Sunday saw that rookie Leonard Johnson was the cornerback who jumped in the game when Eric Wright hurt his back in the second half.

Myron Lewis stayed on the bench.

With E.J. Biggers and Anthony Gaitor getting healthy and Brandon McDonald in a major role as nickel cornerback, Joe’s not sure how long Lewis, a 201o third-round pick sticks on the roster.

Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik’s overall draft record has been looking much better since the start of the 2012 season, but Joe’s not seeing a Lewis revival — or survival — anytime soon.

A true voice of reason here from Sports Illustrated scribe Andrew Perloff on the attitude of the New Schiano Order and why Tom Coughlin was being a drama queen. Seductive and intelligent Maggie Gray joins in on this SI.com video.

Joe gulped when he saw Arrelious Benn lined up to return the first kickoff coming the Bucs’ way Sunday.

Benn didn’t play in the preseason, missed nearly all of training camp, and this was how the Bucs would throw him into the fire? As a kickoff returner, an unfamiliar role for him? 

Benn fumbled that first return, but thankfully Quincy Black dove on the ball. And then Benn settled into a solid and busy day on the job with a 55-yard effort on one of his seven returns.

Joe was intrigued by this role for Benn on a few levels. Clearly, the Bucs viewed him as completely healthy, which makes Joe wonder why Benn was not targeted in the passing game against the Giants. Benn also was active on coverage teams, so again, health wasn’t an issue. 

Also, last week Greg Schiano said rookie Michael Smith, kick returner against the Panthers, did a good job in the home-opener but the Bucs’ return team was poorly coached and didn’t block well. Though this week Smith was yanked.

Benn showed some flashes, but Joe still prefers Sammie Stroughter as the No. 1 kickoff returner. Stroughter’s brought one to the house, he’s sure-handed, and he ripped off a 78-yarder in the home-opener last season, the play that left him with a busted foot and cost him more than half the 2011 season.

Deion Sanders didn’t mince words on the NFL Network after the Bucs-Giants game. He didn’t like anything about Greg Schiano defending his edict to the Bucs to play 100 percent through the kneel-down of Eli Manning to close out the Giants 41-34 victory Sunday.

NFL Network rolled tape of Schiano saying he coaches clean, hard football for 60 minutes. And then Sanders cut in with his disgust.

“That don’t work. That’s ignorant. That doesn’t work. It’s unwritten rules in the NFL and you abide by them,” Sanders said. “He’s a young coach coming up trying to establish credibility and credential with his players saying, ‘Guys, we go whistle to whistle.’ That don’t work in the NFL.”

Here’s the tape of the exchange.

Joe had no problem with the Bucs’ actions on the final play, and Sanders calling Schiano’s comments “ignorant” crossed a line. It’s ironic to Joe how Sanders, who loved to showboat and humiliate opponents, is lecturing on unwritten rules of the NFL.

Josh Freeman was quick to call his interception with seconds left in the third quarter a “bonehead” play after Sunday’s Giants-Bucs game.

And it was ugly Freeman. It was the force-the-ball into Kellen Winslow Freeman fans were tortured by last year when No. 5 led the NFL in interceptions.

But Joe has to focus on what Freeman delivered in the fourth quarter as encouraging. Down a touchdown with four minutes left and momentum completely owned by the Giants, Freeman was clinical with three passes to Dallas Clark before uncorking a monster, 60-yards-in-the-air throw to Mike Williams for a touchdown. That’s the fourth-quarter magic and fearlessness Freeman delivered in 2010.

Then down a touchdown again with 31 seconds left, Freeman rips off tight throws to Vincent Jackson and Williams, who was sickeningly robbed by officials’ overturning his catch at the Giants’ 16 yard line. Regardless of the call, it was another 2010-like, fourth-quarter precision throw by Freeman.

Joe’s taking Freeman’s obvious confidence late as a great sign. Not enough for a win yesterday, but the guy who made his mark on the NFL in 2010 as the comeback quarterback showed signs he’s still got those heroics in him.

Yesterday’s late second-half interception by Eric Wright, who turned into an extraordinary 60-yard, 12-second return for a touchdown, was one of the greatest defensive plays in Bucs history.

Joe must take a moment to give the play the love it deserves. You can soak up the video via this NFL.com link.

Wright’s pick-6 had all the elements, including Wright having the presence of mind to understand that he caught the ball with 21 seconds left in the half and the Bucs needed a big return to ensure a chance at a score before halftime.

Wright makes a savvy, athletic, leaping catch on the ball, then bolts forward for five yards only to pull back to set up his blockers — twice — before darting to daylight and the end zone.

Just an extraordinary play, one of the best efforts in a Bucs uniform that Joe’s seen in years.

Joe just knew this was going to get out of hand. When the Bucs tried to knock the ball out of Eli Manning’s hands when the Giants tried a kneel-down in a victory formation, Giants headmaster went off on Schiano after the game in this season’s version of Jim Harbaugh and Jim Schwartz.

Joe just knew the Big Apple fourth estate would tee off on Schiano and that’s exactly what is happening. Gary Myers of the New York Daily News unloads on the Bucs coach for what he perceives as dirty tactics.

That was personal. This was dangerous. Schiano ordered his guys to go after Manning, go after the ball. “If they watch Rutgers, they would know, that’s what we do at the end of the game,” he said.

Forgive Coughlin if he didn’t pop the best of “The Schiano Years” into his DVD player, although it wouldn’t have taken much more than two or three minutes to watch.
“We fight until the game is over,” Schiano said. “There’s nothing dirty about it.”

College coaches who try to bring college stuff to the NFL usually wind up back in college. “I don’t think you do that at this level,” Coughlin said.

This is just nonsense, though comical nonsense, on so many levels.

First, if Schiano really did tell the Bucs defense to go after Manning, how come his jersey was clean? Manning was so unfazed by the Bucs’ pass rush throughout the game, it was as if he had an Ebola virus.

Second, Coughlin admitted this week he has watched Rutgers tape to try to decipher just what Schiano football is.

Of course, no one would be saying anything if Justin Tuck knocked a ball loose from Josh Freeman on a kneel down and scored a defensive touchdown.