Bucs running back Derrick Ward missed his third straight practice today, reports Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times. And it’s very much up in the air if he makes the trip to Washington.

RB Derrick Ward isn’t certain yet whether he’ll be traveling with the team to Washington. That will be decided by the training and coaching staff, with whom Ward will be consulting soon.

” I’m feeling better,” said Ward, who hasn’t practiced this week. “It’s just a wait-and-see thing right now. . . It’s not up to me. I’m about to talk to the trainers right now”Ward said he woke up Monday with a sore knee but isn’t certain how he suffered the injury. The soreness has lingered, though it has improved. “

The only prayer the Bucs have of beating Washington is if they somehow get their running game in gear. If Ward is on the bench, that may not happen.

And if the Bucs can’t run, get ready for another ugly game.

The Bucs defense smells worse than a used, uncleaned bedpan in a nursing home. There’s no way of denying it.

There are a myriad of reasons. No pass rush. Linebackers taking bad angles at ball carriers. Second rate safeties. Tanard Jackson getting a mandatory time out session. Rotten tackling. The list goes on.

But Doug Farrar of FootballOutsiders.com via the Washington Post has an impressive multimedia presentation breaking down exactly why the Bucs defense sucks.

Trust Joe, it’s well worth the click. It includes play analysis and the view from the defense.

Joe brings you the weekly power rankings of the Bucs from around the interwebs. You are welcome.

First up is Mike Blanco of BSPN.com who has the Bucs at No. 31.

Raheem Morris was all smiles when the Bucs hired him as head coach. He could not have known what awaited.

Former Bucs beat writer and current SI.com columnist Don Banks has the Bucs at No. 31 as well.

Byron Leftwich sits and Josh Johnson gets his turn to start at quarterback, but who knows how long it lasts? Bucs head coach Raheem Morris this preseason reminded everyone that Tampa Bay is “married to” first-round pick Josh Freeman, so Johnson looks likes a short-term fix at best. I don’t know about you, but this sounds as if the Jon Gruden era never really ended.

Adrian Hasenmayer also suggests the Bucs are the second-worst team in the NFL.

RECORD IS JUST RIGHT: So much for the Byron Leftwich experiment. It only took 2+ games for rookie head coach Raheem Morris to bench his starting QB, but not for Josh Freeman … Josh Johnson. You can’t blame Morris too much with his team in transition and a schedule that is downright evil.

Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com is slightly more lenient with the Bucs at No. 29.

This season is officially a disaster. That offense is horrible and the defense can’t stop anybody. That’s a bad combination. Is benching Byron Leftwich the answer? They think so, so Josh Johnson takes over.

It seems the Bucs slotted at No. 29 also satisfies Clifton Brown of SportingNews.com.

Benching Byron Leftwich in favor of Josh Johnson looks like a desperation move.

Helmet-wielding Aqib Talib’s propensity for getting in trouble and landing in fights of all kinds is not what makes him like Mike Tyson. And, to the best of Joe’s knowledge, Talib has never enjoyed the fruits of the lovely Robin Givens.

However, Talib does resemble Tyson in one distinct way: a high-pitched voice.

Very high.

Talib gets a huge share of giggles around the Bucs locker room when he opens his mouth.

Rarely do fans get to hear him. Understandably, he’s not one to have a radio show or do many interviews with that voice. But in the Oct. 1 Buccaneers Insider video at Buccaneers.com, fans can hear Talib talk.

It’s worth the click-through. 

 As in all the Bucs videos, there are fabulous looks from NFL Films of the previous week’s game.

One gets a great look at Geno Hayes dropping his interception opportunity against the Giants, along with Talib doing the same. Both were deep in Bucs territory as New York drove for a score. Plus you get good perspective on Tim Crowder running down Ahmad Bradshaw from behind.

Pat Kirwan and Jason Horowitz of CBSSports.com break down the Bucs-Redskins game. Kirwan’s rather critical of how the Bucs have handled their quarterback situation. He invokes the word “disaster.”

Many JoeBucsFan.com readers may have seen the report in the St. Pete Times about the Glazers sitting ranked No. 139 in the annual Forbes list of the wealthiest individuals and families in the United States.

But the Times blurb was missing a key nugget of perspective.

What’s interesting is the Glazers climbed 51 spots on the list from last year and their worth, as reported by Forbes, jumped $100 million to $2.4 billion. So during an ugly year for the world’s economy, the Glazers appear to be movin’ on up.

Now Joe recognizes the Glazers may be cash poor and being especially frugal with the Bucs because of their massive loan payments to their Manchester United creditors.

But Joe thinks fans should keep their minds open to the possibility that the Glazers financial situation may be improving. Joe knows his humble stock portfoilio has had one hell of a year in 2009.

You’ve read it; Joe’s read it: The NFL is a copycat league.

So when embattled Redskins coach Jim Zorn said he wants the Redskins to try to pound the ball more, he may not be blowing smoke. Ryan O’Halloran of the Washington Times writes that since the Bucs have the NFL’s second-worst rush defense, the Redskins would be wise to pound the ball at the Bucs, just like the Giants did.

The Redskins are 28th in time of possession (27:19) and 26th in rushing attempts (68). In the fourth quarter of their two losses, they have been forced to abandon the running game in order to rally.

This week’s opponent, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, rank second-to-last in rush defense (187.3).

“We’re not going to become Ground Jim, but we are going to run the ball and mix it up,” Zorn said Wednesday.

The key cog of that running game, Clinton Portis, missed practice with a bad calf but is expected to play. Portis is 16th in carries (47) and 22nd in yards (183).

Portis said the bone spurs in his ankles, which caused him to miss practice last week, have bothered him for two years, but a new treatment plan has eliminated the pain.

The rush defense stat sort of surprised Joe. If Portis can play, the Redskins would be dumb not to try to pound the ball at the Bucs.

Joe, however, has a sneaking suspicion that instead the Redskins will pass early and often. They have weapons that are just as good as Terrell Owens and Lee Evans at wide receiver.

The troops are rallying around Josh Johnson, so reports Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune. In fact, Johnson’s teammates suggest the Bucs won’t miss a beat with Johnson, though that may not be such a good thing.

“I don’t feel like this was a move made out of desperation, and I don’t feel like it was a move that abandons anything, because I’ve been here with Josh and I feel he’s capable of doing anything,” receiver Antonio Bryant said.

“I was watching some film from last year and I was looking at some highlights of the Cowboys game and I thought to myself, ‘Josh Johnson reminds me a lot of Tony Romo.’

“What I mean is that, just like Romo, he always had quarterbacks ahead of him and he had to wait his turn. He had to sit there and master that system, and so he learned how to be a professional.”

Of course, Joe is confident that if Johnson could pull some of the top shelf talent that Romo has, Johnson would be quite content with such an analogy.

Joe certainly would.

How the hell can anyone say Raheem the Dream is one of the worst NFL hires in the past 25 years after only three games?

SI.com’s Joe Posnanski has a list of the worst coaching hires in the NFL since 1984 (not sure why he chose to start with that date). On top of the list is forward-thinking, two-bit actor Eric Mangini.

What shocked Joe is that Posnanski has Raheem the Dream as No. 8.

Whew, yeah, that’s a bad hire. But, again, at least he was hired from within and he had not just been canned.

While Joe totally understands concerns about Raheem the Dream, isn’t it rather premature to write off Raheem the Dream after three games? Look what he has to work with.

The Bucs front office is more to blame with the Bucs 0-3 record than Raheem the Dream is.

Joe gave Raheem The Dream a failing grade for his initial address to roughly 100,000 public school students two weeks ago. It was poorly prepared and included a mis-spoken statement that sent the wrong message to kids.

That gaffe was even edited out by the Bucs communication staff in a story about the address on Buccaneers.com.

This awesome effort to have the head coach give inspirational messages to all Hillsborough and Pinellas County middle and high school students via in-classroom television is a fabulous public service by the Bucs. No question. But Joe wants it done right. You know, with that attention to detail allegedly lacking in Jeff Jagodzinski.

Raheem The Dream was back behind the TV cameras and in front of the kids this week.

Ironically, his one-minute lesson was about “accountability” and “preparation.” You can watch it here on the Pinellas County Schools Web site. (Click on the video box on the lower right corner of the home page.)

Joe’s giving The Dream a grade of C+ for this week’s inspirational message. The coach needs a script and a little less coachspeak and a little more meat in his talk that will appeal to a greater range of kids. As Raheem The Dream says in the video, “It all starts with preparation guys. Let’s make that the most important thing this week.””

JoeBucsFan.com readers can judge for themselves.

Joe is keeping tabs on Raheem The Dream’s messages to students only because it’s such a worthy effort that can have a widespread positive impact. It should be done with great attention to detail.

Joe hopes to give Raheem The Dream an A+ soon.

If Raheem The Dream wants help polishing his script, he’s welcome to contact Joe at joe@JoeBucsFan.com.

The Bucs decision (front office orders?) to start Josh Johnson at quarterback raised all sorts of questions for Joe. Quarterback Byron Leftwich was hardly the reason why the Bucs stunk like an old septic tank the first three games.

In fact, Raheem the Dream, just hours before demoting Leftwich, said more than once that Leftwich was not the reason for the Bucs disastrous start to the season.

Then he demotes Leftwich.

Dan Parr of ProFootballWeekly.com hints there is a reason why Johnson is starting and it has nothing to do with wins for the 2009 season. It’s to hopefully showcase Johnson for a trade.

If Johnson does well in his starting stint, the Bucs likely would make him their top backup for next season — or they could entertain trade offers for him in the offseason should any teams show interest.

The Bucs are in such a sad state at the moment that it really doesn’t matter who plays quarterback. The defense has been in disarray since Week 14 of last season and didn’t snap out of it Sunday, even though Morris called the “D” out publicly in the days leading up to the game.

Morris can shuffle quarterbacks and personnel at other positions all he wants, but it looks like the Bucs won’t be able to solve most of their problems until 2010 free agency and the draft.

Well, there’s no doubt that the quarterback of the future for the Bucs isn’t the “career backup” as Raheem the Dream called Johnson prior to the season. It’s Josh Freeman. Just follow the money.

So if Johnson does anything the Bucs could conceivably get a better draft pick than whatever they got for peddling Luke McCown.

Joe never imagined a team would so early in a season use regular season games as a showcase for a player. Joe always thought that’s what the preseason was for?

Bucs coahes were prepared to risk Josh Johnson's quarterbacking future just days ago

Bucs fans wanting to pound their heads against the wall a few more times need only read the comments of offensive coordinator Greg Olson when talking about starting quarterback Josh Johnson yesterday.

Wonderfully transcribed by Stephen Holder, of the St. Pete Times (and Joe loves when he doesn’t have to do the typing), Olson said Johnson was expected to get real-live game action at receiver soon to utilize his playmaking skills.

“When you watch [Johnson] run and, even a year ago when he was on the scout team, we threw him out at wide receiver and he’s played some (in practice). Our plan was initially, if we were going to have some success and continue with Byron (Leftwich), he was going to play some receiver because of that. He’d done some very nice things on the practice field playing the wide receiver position. He’s a real explosive athlete.”

This is just mind-blowing to Joe.

Did the Bucs have such little regard for their new starting quarterback — and hopeful season-saver — in the team’s new run-oriented offense that they were going to send his skinny frame in slant routes? So the Bucs were just fine risking Johnson getting his clock cleaned over the middle a few times, in hopes of possibly breaking a big play?

Johnson is known for being an intelligent pocket passer first, who also has the wheels to create havoc for the defense. If he was Raheem The Dream’s “career backup,” why even consider risking him at receiver?

Don’t the Bucs have their fill of explosive after-the-catch weapons in Clifton Smith and Antonio Bryant?

For Joe, the plan to use Johnson at receiver is more evidence the Bucs have completely botched the management of the quarterback position in 2009. This ever-changing plan since Day 1 just doesn’t smell good.

And Joe can’t help but remember all the many times over the past two seasons he heard players and coaches talk about how Luke McCown was the best athlete on the Bucs, yet he was never an option at wide receiver.

These are confusing times for Bucs fans.

There are a lot of words, vulgar and polite, that can be used to describe the Bucs. But there doesn’t seem to be much discontent among the players.

The same can’t be said for the Bucs opponent this week, the Redskins. Players are openly taking potshots at the lackluster play and it seems from an article typed by Rick Maese of the Washington Post that the Redskins are about to break apart.

While many players said the locker room still supports its head coach, Zorn’s descriptions of the team that emerged from Sunday’s loss to the Lions didn’t always match the impressions of players.

“We don’t have an identity,” cornerback Carlos Rogers said. “I don’t know what we want to be on offense. I don’t know what we want to be on defense.”

Cornerback DeAngelo Hall said the team doesn’t have “the same fight that we had last year.”

“I don’t know what the story is,” he said, “but you just don’t see the same fight, the same determination, the same attitude.”

Joe reads this as the team is on the verge of falling apart. If somehow the Bucs can get a lead at FedEx Field, the Redskins fans should go absolutely mental and it’s quite possible the team folds.

Fail… to… the… Redskins…

Hot-off-the-presses copies of the colorful Bucs fan magazine Pewter Report will soon be a thing of the past.

No longer will constipated Bucs fans be able to enjoy its lengthy stories on the toilet without the benefit of a computer.

Formerly Buccaneer Magazine dating back to the Hugh Culverhouse era, Pewter Report is ditching its printed edition, stepping into the 21st Century and will be an online-only fan news and commentary hub beginning Oct. 23, when the magazine can be accessed via a pdf. file on the company Web site.

It seems their printed product fell in step with the rest of the publishing world, which has suffered from declining reader interest and revenue for years. 

Pewter Report slashed its annual subscription rates several months ago to $10, a sign of the economic times and that changes were coming to the company. Pewter Report dropped video from its Web site prior to the 2009 season, but added a blog-type display and kept its fan message boards known for rambling rants and debate.

The NFL frowns upon giving game credentials to Web-only media, but Pewter Report publisher Scott Reynolds claims that the rigid, draconian NFL policy won’t apply to Pewter Report’s team, which has included full-time and part-time reporters over the years.

“The change to digital will have no bearing on Pewter Report’s ability to secure credentials. There’s no reason why it would,” Reynolds said in an e-mail to JoeBucsFan.com.

“Pewter Report (formerly Buccaneer Magazine) has a 21-year history of getting credentialed through the NFL and a proven track record with the Buccaneers for being fair and responsible journalists. The magazine isn’t going away. It is just evolving,” Reyonds said. “We are investing tens of thousands of dollars in this new technology and the same amount of work will go into each issue. The Buccaneers know that. The only difference is that …it  is being published right on the website instantly.”

Reynolds left open the chance the new Web-only Pewter Report magazine could return to print one day with special editions, such as a Super Bowl issue if the Bucs were to get back to the big game. 

Joe congratulates Pewter Report for ditching the print dinosaur and joining the ranks of Web-only Bucs publishers like JoeBucsFan.com. 

And it’s good to know the Bucs have welcomed them with open arms as credentialed media. As Bucs and all sports coverage in newspapers shrinks (see the Orlando Sentinel as Exhibit A), the team will need all the qualified journalists covering the team it can find.

Want to see Josh Freeman start? You won’t have to wait long, so says “The Professor,” John Clayton of BSPN. Clayton, in his weekly look at the NFC South, predicts unless Freeman will start in “two to three weeks.”

Even a guy walking around with a white cane can see the Bucs are pretty bad this year. But Alex Marvez of FoxSports.com goes out on a limb claiming the Bucs are one of three teams worse than the Lions.

Marvez pins a little blame on the coaches, but heaves it on the Bucs front office.

That doesn’t make this overhaul any less painful to watch — especially knowing that Tampa Bay has an NFL-high $30 million available in salary cap room that tight-fisted ownership refuses to spend. The Bucs didn’t add enough personnel in the offseason to aid defensive coordinator Jim Bates in the switch from a cover-two scheme to a more traditional 4-3 attack. DE Gaines Adams is an especially big disappointment. The fourth overall pick in the 2007 draft, Adams has no sacks and ranks last among Bucs defensive starters in tackles with eight. MLB Barrett Ruud (32 tackles) can’t be expected to make every play.

The easiest way to sink a solid team is lousy personal decisions.

 The two main responsibilities for those terrible picks are gone. It will take at least two years to fill in the holes. That’s why Joe cringes when he reads comments on this site from loyal readers and hears callers to sports radio shows who already want to break out the guillotine on Raheem the Dream.

Mike Wise and Jason Reid of the Washington Post, among others, discuss if the Washington Redskins are the worst team in the NFL. Joe defies anyone to watch this and then say with a straight face the soft local pen and mic club is “negative.”

These guys absolutely crucify the Redskins.

If Bucs 2009 first round draft pick, quarterback Josh Freeman, is jealous that he wasn’t named the starter this week after Byron Leftwich was demoted to No. 3, well, Freeman doesn’t seem to be showing it.

In talking with eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune, Freeman seems to be saying he will be current starting quarterback Josh Johnson’s biggest fan.

The strapping rookie from Kansas State may be Tampa Bay’s quarterback of the future, but Sunday marks Johnson’s opportunity to prove he can succeed at the pro level.

“Josh has been preparing for this his whole career,” Freeman said. “I’m expecting big things out of him Sunday. All I can do is to be supportive. Josh willl do great this weekend. All I can do is come to practice every day and give my best. Week in and week out, I feel myself growing as a quarterback in this offense.”

If Freeman has to start this season — and Joe is very content with letting him sit for the season — Joe is crossing his fingers hoping Freeman doesn’t start until after the bye week.

Michael Vick isn’t the only NFL player who has dog problems. So too does Facestomper Albert Haynesworth. If various reports are to be believed, the Bucs threw more money at Facestomper than Redskins tyrant and failed amusement park owner Danny Snyder.

Seems Facestomper had a restraining order slapped on him recently because, among other things, he refused to pay his dog’s medical bills, so writes Teresa Walker of the Associated Press via the Washington Post.

Stephanie Haynesworth said in the motion filed Sept. 17 that Haynesworth recently threatened to stop paying temporary support that began in June. The motion alleges he said he wouldn’t pay his daughter’s monthly tuition and a $4,000 veterinary bill that he authorized for the family dog.

Also on Wednesday, Facestomper said he didn’t sign with the Bucs because this area is too nice, per Vacation Man of BSPN.com.

“I like water, I like boats and I like sun,” Facestomper said.  “Coming to Tampa, there was a whole lot there. I have a whole offseason. If I went to Tampa, it would have been too much of a mix.”

Bad enough that Facestomper is way overpaid and is having trouble staying healthy and possibly might miss this Sunday’s game with the Bucs. Throw in the fact that he won’t pay for his dog’s medical bills, and Joe is beyond happy the Bucs lost their bid to acquire him.

Lost in the sewage that has been the Bucs’ first three games has been the play of possibly the best Bucs player thus far early in the season: offensive tackle Donald Penn.

Consider that Penn had to play two of his first three games against Dallass and the New York Giants and their two stud players, DeMarcus Ware and Osi Umenyiora.

In the season opener against Dallass, Ware, the outside linebacker/defensive end was held to a grand total of four tackles and no assists. Ware didn’t register a sack.

Fast forward two weeks later against the Giants. Umenyiora was seen and not heard. He had a grand total of zero tackles, zero assists, zero sacks.

In both games, some may suggest Penn played over his head.

Joe believes three games into the season, Penn has been the Bucs best player.

Chucky appeared with “The Blitz” co-hosts Adam Schein and Rich Gannon on Sirius NFL Radio earlier today to drop a couple of mini bombshells and to lobby for the Dallass gig (that isn’t open yet) with a radio version of a French kiss to Tony Romo.

Hey, Romo likes blondes, so maybe…

First, Chucky all but threw his former comrade in arms, Bruce Almighty, under the bus.

Quick background: One of Joe’s very first posts on this site was catching Bruce Almighty in a fib where Bruce Almighty claimed the Bucs were not in serious negotiations in trading for Brett Favre.

Well, today, Chucky confirmed Bruce Almighty was full of it.

When Schein asked Chucky if he thought the Bucs were about to consummate a deal to acquire Farve in the summer of 2008, Chucky didn’t hold back.

“I sure did,” Chucky said. “We thought he was coming to Tampa and if he did, I might still be coaching.”

When Schein asked Chucky about Romo, Chucky couldn’t contain his excitement.

“I have a staff, we go through the tapes here in Tampa… Romo is a lightning rod for some reason. When he didn’t play I don’t think they scored a touchdown in a game.

(Joe’s note: Brad Johnson disagrees).

Chucky went on to laud the record of the Cowboys when Romo starts and you would have thought Chucky was talking about Romo’s latest piece of eye candy, a former Miss Missouri.

Gannon then asked Chucky about the Bucs and Josh Johnson, who Chucky drafted last year. Chucky didn’t take the bait on the Bucs but he did talk lovingly about Johnson.

“I am not an expert on Tampa, obviously,” Chucky said. “I wish them the best. It’s a new scheme and they had a change in an offensive coordinator and a quarterback, hey, that is tough on any team.

“But Johnson, I like a lot about him. He is very athletic. He played for Jim Harbaugh at San Diego before he went to Stanford so he knows a lot about the west coast offense. He’s a smart guy, a hard-working guy, maybe the hardest I’ve ever had at that position. There’s tremendous upside with his ability.

“He’ll be ready to go and I’ll be excited to see how he does.”

Chucky also downplayed any talk of him coaching as early as next year. He was asked by Schein why he leans toward being a cheerleader on Monday Night Football.

“Look, I just got fired. I want to hang onto this job as long as I can,” Chucky joked. “I don’t like to criticize. I want to be enthusiastic and positive.”

Joe is sure Ronde Barber can appreciate that.