Yes, Joe believes in the proverbial “rookie wall,” the fatigue that hits many rookies playing full-time in the NFL. However, as Doug Martin is now on pace for 300+ carries and 40+ receptions, Joe is wondering how changes in the NFL might be affecting the reality of the “wall.”

The NFL is softer than ever thanks to new labor rules. The Bucs only practice once a week in pads (and that’s more than a lot of teams.) Training camp is softer and much more pad-free — two-a-days and three-a-days are ancient history. League rules have taken away a lot of late hits and piling on of running backs that were once commonplace.

Joe’s not sure what it all will mean for Martin, but Joe knows that the “rookie wall” isn’t what it once was, and it’s not the same thing many former-player analysts keep talking about.

Throw in that physical training and therapy methods are better than ever, plus the increasing pressure to win, and Joe’s not sure Greg Schiano really has plans to limit Martin’s carries in any significant manner. Joe envisions more of a common baseball pitcher’s scenario, where Martin keeps rolling until the Bucs either are forced to preserve him a little for the playoffs, or just shut him down completely if they fall out of contention in December.

Schiano lives by the one-game season mantra, and it’s clear that winning on the back of Martin and building the confidence blocks of the new regime is more important than preserving the stud rookie.

Joe has no problem with it, and it’s an interesting debate.

Among other revelations, Mike Williams said he audibly calls out “showtime” every time he catches the ball.

Even a casual football fan can see how incredibly explosive the Bucs offense has been the past four games.

So what changed?

Mike Williams answered that question on the Buccaneers Radio Network on WDAE-AM 620 Monday night. And there was no magic involved. Williams said time in the new system has caused the transformation.

“We started slow because we had to get the offense. There are a lot of adjustments in this offense,” Williams said. “We gotta read off zone coverages, man-to-man coverages, and we have different routes depending on what the coverage is. And I think we was like kinda not on the same page. We were seeing different things, but I think now we’re all starting to see the same things. Everything looking the same to us, the offense starting to get a lot familiar. We all can play any position now as a receivers corps, so it’s starting to be like something good to see.”

Williams went on to go deeper into how versatile the Bucs’ receivers are and how the system demands it.

Also, Williams admitted that he always calls out “showtime,” whenever he catches a ball. Sort of call to himself to take it to the house every time.

Of course, those who know Mike Williams know he’s a basketball junkie and a former hoops walk-on Syracuse University. So in that spirit, Joe presents some old school “showtime.” (If you’re short on time, pick up the video at 2:30)

Joe loves the edgy nature of the Behind the Bench segments on Buccaneers.com. You just can’t beat these NFL Films sights and sounds of gameday.

The most recent edition (click here) is particularly intense. Gerald McCoy talks to his defensive linemates about how the Raiders delivered “blatant disrespect” to the Bucs in the pregame for walking in front of Josh Freeman. From the audio, it seems the leader of the New Schiano Order stoked this fire.

Also, Donald Penn is seen dishing out some inspirational words, and the endzone looks at Josh Freeman’s touchdown throws are also can’t-miss stuff.

UPDATE: There is disagreement as to what Donald Penn said in this video. So Joe has deleted a previous comment on these pages about Penn’s harmless comment in the video.

When safety Ahmad Black was coming out of the University of Florida, he thought he had the talent to be a first-day draft pick. He was not. Black slipped to the Bucs in the fifth round, largely because many teams believed he was a step too slow and perhaps not big enough to succeed in the NFL.

Black still harbors bitterness about this. Just days ago, Black took to Twitter to mock those who didn’t draft him earlier.

@ahmadblack35: Too small and too slow to play in the NFL right? Lol yea ok

Not to sound arrogant — and Black is not, he’s a good guy who Joe has gotten to know since he was drafted — Black also posted the following on Twitter.

‏@ahmadblack35: Blessed and thankful for everything….never forget to thank the man above for all your blessings!!

Interestingly, per a police report obtained by Stephen Holder of the Tampa Bay Times, the aforementioned Twitter postings by Black occurred after Black was pulled over for weaving in the small hours of the morning of Oct. 30 and confessed to police he had been smoking pot.

Now Black seems to be a smart guy from his dealings with Joe and, as Black likes to point out, sometimes a football player’s best assets cannot be determined at a glorified indoor track practice in Indianapolis in the dead of winter. There is a thing called “football smarts,” which often mean the difference between making an NFL team and bartending.

But given the date Black was pulled over and allegedly confessed to police he smoked pot, Black had to know about recent Bucs history concerning controlled substances from Tanard Jackson (who threw away millions of dollars if not a career because he couldn’t put the bong down) to  the Adderall troubles of Aqib Talib and Eric Wright.

Black also had to know his team is woefully thin at cornerback, so thin that it’s a potential option that Black himself could start at safety if Ronde Barber is moved back to corner.

Look, Ahmad, you have the rest of your life to ingest whatever you want with no ramifications other than those in your personal life. However, you have a whole locker room of teammates that need you right now, need you dependable and on the field of play.

Black has now landed in the crosshairs of NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell who may or may not fine or suspend him. In football vernacular, Black is now a target.

Joe thinks it is great that Black is using his bitterness over not behind drafted higher to motivate himself to be a productive NFL player. Sadly, he can’t be counted on if he is going to be getting smoked up enough to be a road hazard and get pulled over by the long arm of the law.

In Joe’s eyes, Black just has to be smarter than this. Look, Joe doesn’t care what one does on his or her own time so long as it does not encroach on Joe’s liberties or finances. More importantly, when a player does something off the field that could jeopardize his team’s on-field play, that’s when Joe gets angry.

This just depresses Joe. Black is smarter than this. Or so Joe thought.

Your 2012 opening day nickel cornerback, veteran Brandon McDonald, who did some good things with the Bucs and drew love from Greg Schiano a few weeks ago, is now a former Buccaneer.

This is how Schiano described McDonald only a few weeks ago: “I’m impressed,” Schiano said. “His work ethic, his attention to detail. This guy’s a pro.”

Well, now McDonald will have to be a “pro” somewhere else.

The Bucs have promoted second-year cornerback LeQuan Lewis from the practice squad. Lewis has played in four games as a reserve over the past two seasons since joining the Titans as an undrafted rookie in 2011.

He has one career tackle.

This move sure is curious given the thin Bucs secondary and possible looming suspension of Eric Wright. Hopefully, the Bucs see something special in Lewis. Remeber, that’s LeQuan Lewis, not Myron Lewis.

No, Myron Lewis avoided the Grim Reaper today. Again.

If it is Tuesday, that means there are potential roster changes for the Bucs and one that Joe had anticipated came about today.

The Bucs cut a cornerback.

However, it’s not the cornerback Joe believed would be filing for unemployment today.

The football gods continue to smile on Myron Lewis as he once again, continues to be gainfully employed by an NFL team despite looking as comfortable in an NFL defensive backfield as a Manhattanite suddenly dropped in the middle of an Illinois cornfield. (“Where can I get a pastrami around here, huh?”)

Rather than cutting ties with Lewis, Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik released cornerback Brandon McDonald, promoting cornerback LeQuan Lewis from the practice squad.

Feel free to share your thoughts on this transaction, and how Myron Lewis has more NFL lives than a cat.

It is easy to see why members of the Bucs organization rubbed their eyes in fret when Pro Bowl right guard Davin Joseph went down with a season-ending knee injury in August. And Joe totally understands how the front office and coaching staff  wanted to reach for a bottle when Pro Bowl left guard Carl Nicks could no longer play on his big nasty toe injury.

Shoot, Joe wanted to empty a bottle as well.

But the way the Bucs (don’t forget, incumbent starting right tackle Jeremy Trueblood was injured and Wally Pipp’ed, and reserve right guard Ted Larsen returned to the bench) have overcome injuries and obstacles, and still played at a high level against a solid front seven of the Raiders, Joe was terribly impressed.

By Joe’s reasoning, most of the credit goes to offensive line coach Bob Bostad.

To hear what center/left guard Jeremy Zuttah and right tackle Demar Dotson told Joe yesterday about Bostad, well, Joe’s initial observations were right on.

“Coach Bostad is a great coach,” Zuttah said. “He’s aggressive and assertive and stresses little things. He will keep on us, he doesn’t ever ease up. He is always on us and I think that is good because it pushes us to a new level.”

Zuttah cited hand placement and footwork as two of Bostad’s key points that he stresses, among others.

“Everything. He won’t let you go with anything,” Zuttah said. “If your technique is a little bit off, he will be on you. “

Dotson also credited the little things Bostad focuses on that have made him a better lineman.

“He is an awesome guy, an awesome coach,” Dotson said of Bostad. “Everywhere he has been he has been successful. He is the reason why we are coming along the way we are. I mean, we have two Pro Bowlers that are not here. Yet we are still getting the job done. That’s what kind of coach he is.

“He teaches physical and teaches technique. He is big on being physical and big on technique, knowing your plays, knowing your assignment. If you do what he says, you are going to be successful.

“It is some simply things like putting your hat across the guy’s shoulders on a run block, he is big on that. You may get it right, you may get it wrong but he harps on that because he wants everybody to do it right.”

Joe simply cannot remember, sans perhaps Pittsburgh, in recent years, an offensive line being down three starters, two of which are Pro Bowl players, and still getting the job done up front.

If Team Glazer doesn’t have Bostad locked in for a few years at a competitive salary, perhaps now is the time to rectify that matter?

Though it likely belonged to a friend (doesn’t it always?), marijuana allegedly under the care of Ahmad Black led the Bucs safety to get a misdemeanor cannibus possession citation in Hillsborough County last week, so reports Stephen Holder of the Tampa Bay Times.

Per Holder, Black’s citation to appear in court next month was issued Oct. 30.

If convicted, Black’s punishment for possessing less than 20 grams is a maximum fine of $1,000 and a year in jail, per Florida statutes. However, Black likely is eligible for a diversion program, which would keep the conviction off his record and force him to be on probation for a year, pay a bunch of cash, and take regular drug tests during that time. Aqib Talib entered a diversion program after clobbering the St. Pete cabbie a couple of years ago. Talib was ordered to go through anger counseling and be on probation.

Joe will keep an eyeball on this case.

Joe suspects Black reported the situation to the Bucs immediately and the team will follow its typical protocol of letting the legal system run its course before reacting.

The fact that Da’Quan Bowers has been able to come back from his Achilles injury this spring to make his first appearance not quite midway through the season is exceptional.

As a result, Bucs coaches have sort of been treating Bowers with kid gloves, slowly working him into the lineup more and more. Part of this is to get Bowers into football shape since he missed all of training camp and preseason.

The kid gloves started to come off a little last Sunday. Already down a defensive end with Adrian Clayborn out for the season, Michael Bennett was dinged up in the win over the Raiders and suddenly, Bowers was logging a lot more playing time than he or his coaches planned.

Bowers told Joe that his conditioning was far from his train of thought when Bennett went down.

“You never think about anything like that until you are put in the moment,” Bowers said. “My well-being definitely wasn’t my first thought. My first thought was: ‘Michael is down. I have to help the team.’

“That was my first initial thought. Once I got into it, I wasn’t paying attention to how many plays I got.

“My Achilles isn’t the issue now, it’s my conditioning. But as you can tell, going 9 to 10 plays in a row, my conditioning isn’t much of an issue any more.”

This is good news to Joe, and should be to all Bucs fans. The more Bowers can play — and apparently, he can play more — the less wear and tear on Bennett.

The more Bennett and Bowers can rotate the fresher those guys will be down the road. Bennett hasn’t rotated out much this season so giving him a few breathers will be welcome for the soon-to-be-free agent.

As much as Greg Schiano talked all offseason about how he wanted to run the football, it surprised Joe a bit that the Bucs seemed content to hand the starting fullback gig to Erik Lorig, a converted defensive end with limited experience in the backfield.

Then as it became clear that the Bucs’ new offense would actually use the fullback more than most, Joe had his fingers and toes crossed that Lorig could deliver.

To date, Joe thinks Lorig has been better than expected. His blocking appears to have improved — he threw key blocks on three of four Doug Martin touchdown runs Sunday — and Lorig has been sure-handed and quick out of the backfield all season.

Last night, the leader of the New Schiano Order took to the WDAE-AM 620 airwaves and enthusiastically heaped hefty praise on his fullback.

“Erik Lorig has done a great job. I mean, being a lead fullback, catching the ball when we throw it to him,” Schiano said.

Joe’s got a lot of faith in Lorig’s ability to improve. Former Bucs defensive end Steve White documented one of Lorig’s blocking shortcomings weeks ago, which Joe has kept an eye on since. Joe has seen improvement. Plus, Joe got to chat with former Bucs FB/RB Earnest Graham about Lorig, and Graham asssured Joe that Lorig is an extraordinary athlete and has the work ethic to develop into a top fullback.

If Lorig keeps catching balls and lead-blocking Martin to a great season, he could end up being the first Mark Dominik draft pick to start a Pro Bowl, aka eat pineapple.

The amazing new ESPN AT SEA has great “Big Game” cruises out of Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale in 2013. Yeah, Super Bowl time.

All kinds of former NFL greats are accessible on the cruises, as well as stars from the soccer world, cruise cheerleaders and much more. There are so many options to choose, plus parties, and a discount for JoeBucsFan.com readers. Click on through below to sniff all the deals and check out the Royal Caribbean ships.

Oh, no. Here comes the hate mail to Joe’s inbox, as Joe dares to write something political. Joe can already smell the venom.

Today is Election Day, and Joe is not here to endorse candidates or cheerleaders. But Joe does want everyone to vote, and Joe is here to ask his fellow citizens to do a little research on the various candidates and amendments up and down the ballot before heading out to vote. In other words, try to have a clue on who/what you’re voting for.

You invest hours every week on football-related fun — a glorious freedom — at least give your community the gift of an informed vote a couple of times a year, or at least one that’s more informed than the last time you voted.

Good things usually happen when people care.

Ahmad Black doesn’t play a lot, but the guy makes plays.

He did his thing this preseason, snatched a key interception on opening day, and Black has pressed on in ways big and small.

Against the Raiders, Black had a touchdown-saving, open-field tackle. He made an athletic leap and catch to snag a good Raiders onsides kick. That was tremendous awareness and instincts. And he had a late interception to all but put the game away.

Black has not only made rockstar general manager Mark Dominik proud as a blossoming fifth-round pick from the 2011 draft, the leader of the New Schiano Order has taken notice.

“At the beginning, ‘Oh, he got lucky.’ But when you do it over and over and over again. It isn’t luck,” Greg Schiano said last night on WDAE-AM 620 of Ahmad Black making plays. “It’s instinct and it’s a feel for that kind of thing. Ahmad is getting better and better in our scheme, and he as a great guy to learn behind in Ronde Barber.”

Joe feels best about Black’s game as it relates to the Bucs potentially moving Ronde Barber to cornerback, full-time or part-time. Clearly, Black has earned playing time, and as much as Schiano has talked about getting the best players on the field, one could think a Barber move is more likely than unlikely.

“Demar, you are a Buccaneer Man.”

As Joe wrote yesterday, and will write about in more detail later today, Bucs offensive line coach Bob Bostad shouldn’t have to buy a drink or a dinner the rest of the football season given the job he has done with the Bucs.

Joe cannot remember, this side of Pittsburgh, an NFL team whose offensive line has been ravaged by injuries to star personnel, only to have the NFL equivalent of chewing gum and duct tape repair the holes and still shut down a talented opponent.

But that was the case Sunday when the Bucs offensive line all but shut down a talented foe like the Raiders, allowing Doug Martin to go all Gayle Sayers.

Apparently, it wasn’t just Bostad’s magic touch, but a mindset the Bucs line. They were going into the game with a street fight mentality that apparently paid off, so Demar Dotson said yesterday afternoon at One Buc Palace.

“It is the NFL; next man up,” Dotson said. “You are going to have to play different positions and when your number is up you are going to do what is the best for the team. That’s why Jeremy Zuttah is so unselfish in going from center to left guard. He didn’t even complain about it. He just went out there and locked down [Raiders defensive tackle Richard] Seymour. That’s what kind of player he is.

“I think after the first couple of series we started to get comfortable. We started to get together as a unit. We knew we were going to go out there and fight. [The Raiders] have a good front seven, especially a good front four. We knew it was going to be a dogfight from start to finish and we knew we were not going to get punked out. We were there to fight all day.”

Hearing this got Joe fired up. That type of mentality is exactly what the New Schiano Order is all about.

And Dotson is right. After a less than stellar start, the line started to own the line of scrimmage.

Impressive stuff.

It was one thing when former quarterback Boomer Esiason accused Josh Freeman of “clubbing” too much and spouted seemingly baseless allegations that Freeman was not properly committed to his job a few weeks ago.

Joe thought that was ugly rumormongering by the CBS Sports analyst. But Esiason, even after Freeman has put up huge numbers the past three games, is continuing to smear the Bucs quarterback.

Esiason joined WEEI-FM sports radio in Boston yesterday and said he hoped Freeman has “turned that corner” and isn’t “running the streets at night.”

“Nobody is talking about is what Greg Schiano is doing down in Tampa. You know, Josh Freeman the last four weeks has all of a sudden become the quarterback that he was two years ago,” Esiason said. “Now all of a sudden, under a significant structural change in that organization with Greg Schiano taking over for Raheem Morris, he’s become the player that he was two years ago, even better than he was two years ago. The only thing I say about him is that if you want to be an elite quarterback, and I said this about Joe Flacco [Sunday] on the NFL today, you gotta make the commitment. You gotta make the commitment mentally. You gotta make the commitment physically. You can’t be out running the streets at night. You gotta make sure that you take care of yourself and that your teammates have to believe that you do really care about what you’re doing on the field, and hopefully he’s turned that corner and he’s going to be serious about it.”

As Joe wrote after Esiason spouted off last time, there’s no evidence to support that Freeman isn’t thoroughly committed to his job; and he has been for a while. Joe even recalls an interview with workhorse and former Bucs captain Barrett Ruud, when Ruud talked about how Freeman was the only guy to ever beat him to One Buc Palace to start the workday.

“Physically, I don’t know if there is a more talented quarterback in the NFL. But as you’ll see, to be the very best quarterback, it’s all the mental things, the preparation,” Ruud said. “The good thing with Josh is he has the attitude and work ethic to get to that level.”

“By 6:15 I’m going to be here alone or he’ll be here …either his car or my car is going to be there first. I take a lot of pride in my preparation, and he does the same thing. He’s just not relying on, you know, the rocket he was touches with when he was a baby. He’s got a lot of natural talent, but he also puts a lot of work in.”

Joe believes it’s high time Freeman’s agent steps in to try and muzzle Esiason and stop him from running around the country questioning Freeman’s commitment without any sources to back it up.

Don’t think Esiason has a big platform audience to worry about? Well, he hosts a daily radio show in New York, does weekly interviews on sports radio in Boston and around the country, broadcasts Monday Night Football on radio, and he’s in the CBS-TV national studio every week.

Joe’s had enough of the Freeman smearing. Esiason should be ashamed.

It seems New Schiano Order fever still has a ways to go to reach the wallets of Bucs fans across the region.

Bucs officials this evening are advising that the Bucs must sell another 9,000 tickets to Sunday’s Chargers-Bucs game by 1 p.m. on Thursday to avoid having the game blacked out on local television. Yes, that 9K is to reach the 85 percent of non-premium tickets sold, the threshold to avoid the blackout.

Joe doesn’t want to be a downer, but that’s a lot of tickets to move with an election tomorrow that’s going to distract a lot of people — and depress about half of them on Wednesday.

Per Ticketmaster.com, $30 seats are available.

Former Bucs defensive tackle Booger McFarland claimed he became ill watching the Bucs pass defense Sunday against the Raiders.

As beautiful as the Bucs offense was yesterday, as exciting as Muscle Hamster Doug Martin was going all Gayle Sayers on the Raiders, the Bucs’ pass defense is equally obscene.

This is nothing new this season. Whenever the Bucs play a decent quarterback (Eli Manning, RGIII, Drew Brees), the secondary is simply scalded for yards at an alarming, frightening rate.

The Bucs’ pass defense was so unnerving, it made former Bucs star Booger McFarland, co-host of “The Booger and Rich Show” with Rich Herrera on WHFS-FM, sick to his stomach.

“All that I ate yesterday I nearly tossed up watching that pass defense,” McFarland said.

In short, McFarland said Bucs coaches are putting the Bucs cornerbacks in no-win situations with too many blitzes and asking the corners to accomplish what they physically cannot do.

“You can’t put these guys out on an island” on so many blitzes, McFarland said.

But the Bucs are in a pickle. Eric Wright likely will be suspended shortly and be gone for four weeks ,so it appears your Bucs starting cornerbacks are E.J. Biggers and Leonard Johnson with — brace yourself — Myron Lewis as your nickel, as Brandon McDonald is getting healthy.

Yes, Joe knows Stanford Routt was released by the Chiefs today. Don’t expect the Bucs to sign him. He has a heavily expensive option in his contract and quite frankly, Joe doesn’t know about a guy getting cut from the worst team in the NFL.

Would Routt be an upgrade (if cash was not a factor) over Lewis? Well, yeah, a $12 lawn chair from Wal-Mart would be an upgrade over Lewis, who looks completely and totally lost in an NFL defensive backfield. At least there would be a remote chance a receiver would trip over a lawn chair.

Joe has been getting a lot of queries as to the status of Bucs backup cornerback Anthony Gaitor. So many, Joe spoke with Bucs media relations personnel today to get to the heart of the matter.

Gaitor is rehabbing at One Buc Palace as he has been nursing a nasty hamstring injury just about all year. Gaitor is seen often in the Bucs locker room (as is, by the way, Adrian Clayborn and periodically, Davin Joseph).

Because of new NFL rules, there are opportunities where a player can be pulled off of the injured reserve list and Gaitor is still eligible for that option. But it is a short option. There is roughly a one-week window where Gaitor can be brought back to the 53-man roster. That would be after the 12th game of the season (Broncos game) and before the 13th game (Eagles).

If Gaitor is not activated prior to the Eagles game, he must remain on the injured reserve list for the remainder of the season. He cannot be activated prior to the Broncos game.

Of course, this is all dependent on whether Gaitor is healthy enough. If he is deemed unhealthy by the training staff, this is all a moot point.

Naturally, there will have to be a roster move in order for Gaitor to be activated. If Gaitor is healthy enough and the option to activate him will be used, Joe’s going to guess (hope) the odd man out is beleaguered cornerback Myron Lewis.

CLARIFICATION: Per NFL rules, Gaitor mostly cannot practice with the team while on the injured reserve list but he can rehab at the team’s facility. Gaitor may, however, practice with the team within two weeks of his eligibility window in which he can be reactivated to the 53-man roster.

It’s one of the more bizarre stats you’ll see; the Bucs have the NFL’s best run defense (77.2 yards allowed per game) and the league’s worst pass defense (321.1 yards per game).

Now Raheem Morris says stats are for losers, but Greg Schiano is a big numbers cruncher and this data is not dismissed by the head coach.

Today before local media, Schiano repeated that his pass defense is getting closer to making more plays, working every week, and it’s evident on film that the Bucs are just a few inches away from a better defense. Call it “a shoe,” if you will.

Will the Bucs make up those inches? Well, Joe’s hardly confident there will be loads of improvement in the secondary, especially if Eric Wright is suspended four games for Adderrall use. However, Joe does expect at least a little improvement from the remaining cornerbacks (hopefully not Myron Lewis), and a little more life to the pass rush as Da’Quan Bowers gets to full strength.

A pass rush is and always will be a secondary’s best friend. And just the slightest uptick from the D-line would make a huge impact on the Bucs’ playoff hopes.