Every Bucs fan hopes opening day against Detroit is sold out. But the reality is that it will take a minor miracle for that to happen 72 hours before kickoff in order to get the game on local TV.

So Joe has revived the Blackout Tour for the home opener on Sept. 11, to give Bucs fans an opportunity to watch the game live in HD-TV in Fort Myers at Lee Roy Selmon’s, if they can’t swing getting out to the game in Tampa.

Joe ran the Blackout Tour last season with his great partners at Paradise Worldwide Transportation. And this year the price has dropped and there will be stops in Tampa (Lee Roy Selmon’s near International Plaza) and at Derby Lane in St. Petersburg for the chauffeured luxury bus that will take fans fans to Fort Myers to catch the game.

The cost is only $22.95 per person, which includes roundtrip transportation and a FREE draft beer and a FREE plate of wings at Lee Roy Selmon’s in Fort Myers, plus free soft drinks on the bus.

Joe is pleased to offer this stunning deal. The Blackout Tour was a blast last year and is a fun, affordable way to catch the game. Visit BlackoutTour.com to grab your seat and get all the details. The luxury bus will sell out and another bus will NOT be added.

So who does the rockstar general manager think were standout performers against the Patriots?

Mark Dominik, without being asked, volunteered his assessment while speaking to Dan Sileo Monday on WDAE-AM 620. A staunch film guy, Dominik likes what he sees from his highest priced talent on defense.

“But the thing that was really encouraging I think that a lot of Buccaneer fans probably are seeing already is the way that Quincy Black is playing. Now that he’s been in the system with Coach Morris and what we want to do and how fast he’s playing on this football field,” Dominik said.

“I was very encouraged by the way Gerald McCoy played the game. I thought he was very disruptive.  [The Patriots] had to change their blocking schemes and start trapping him just because he was getting off the ball so good and getting in the backfield, which is what we want from a 3-technique — is to be disruptive and have guys behind him make the plays. So there were some encouraging signs out there. Obviously, the score is very disappointing — 28-0 is what it is. Bottom line. But we can improve because we have time to look at the film and we still have half a month before we play the Detroit Lions here at home.”

Joe was intrigued to hear Dominik refer to the Bucs-Patriots game score as 28-0. Of course, the final score was 31-17. The 28-0 score was at halftime. More evidence how worthless much of the preaseason is.

As for Quincy Black, Joe thought he played well last week, but Black’s got a mountain to prove on the field. And Joe would say that even if the Bucs hadn’t guaranteed him $11 million.

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Overreaction and hyperbole are not in my nature and I didn’t do backflips over the Bucs’ shutout win in the preseason opener and I’m not ready to kill myself after their ugly loss Saturday. 

The Indianapolis Colts just lost their eighth straight preseason game, and that hasn’t bothered their regular season final results too much, so the Bucs poor showing becomes a great teaching point for this extremely young crop of players and not much else.

“There’s no ‘I’ in TEAM”, except in the NFL preseason where everything is about ‘I” (individuals). Players trying to make a NFL roster for the first time, veteran players trying to make it through training camp healthy, others rehabbing and coming back from injuries are only concerned about themselves, not the good of the team or the scoreboard.

Any of those players would take a good personal performance over a team win in the preseason, so the hubbub about Gerald McCoy’s comments was a great example of much ado about nothing. He was appropriately sober while being interviewed on TV while the game was still in progress, but while specifically referring to his own performance, he was very happy to be back on the field and spoke about his own return from injury and how much fun it was to get back to playing again.

If the outcome of the game was so important, then LeGarrette Blount should not have been laughing and joking with him while he was being interviewed and Kellen Winslow should have played. The thing that caught my eye was Elbert Mack’s extensive endzone dance on his interception return. I was always taught through the years that when you score a touchdown while getting blown out, you don’t celebrate too much and that dance was a bit much while still down by three scores.

The saddest thing of the night was the flag thrown on Mason Foster.

Since that play is by rule a penalty, the NFL has significantly downgraded the game of pro football. It was a very nice reaction and play by the rookie linebacker and not being able to legally hit a receiver while he is stretching to catch a ball is simply sad. The talk of a fine for that is unfortunate and I’m sure it won’t draw one from the commissioner. 

On the other hand, and on a play that didn’t get any talk that I know of, but should have been flagged and possibly fined was Devin Holland’s blindside hit on the Patriots’ Danny Woodhead during punt coverage. It was a helmet-to-helmet hit and he exploded up into the defenseless Woodhead, who was knocked for a literal loop. It is that kind of hit that can alter and possibly end a player’s career, not the aforementioned hit on Ochocinco and even the former Chad Johnson agrees.

I promised myself I was going to stop bringing up options for getting Josh Johnson on the field with Freeman, but the preseason opener showed just what that extra dynamic could mean to the offense and the team.

The rule for having a third quarterback eligble and not eating an extra gameday roster spot is new this year, giving the Bucs more options in this regard. Also, Johnson was quoted not too long ago about his desire to be a starter in the league and not just a career backup. He is guaranteed to be a backup if he stays in Tampa, so Raheem Morris and Mark Dominik will have to either convince him or pay him to do that.

And if he really wants to be a starter, it will be impossible to keep him. So making life fun by getting him on the field for more special plays may be the only solution to keep Johnson around.And fun for Johnson would mean more fun for Bucs’ fans (and most assuredly more tickets sold).

Allowing Johnson to sit on the bench for another year and then leave the Bucs without using his unique and important talent for the good of the offense and helping the team win games this season (the stated goal of Morris) would be a sin.

Here’s to Greg Olson’s imagination working overtime to make that happen.

Anyone who has watched the Bucs first two preseason games has seen a changed man in defensive end Kyle Moore. A fourth round draft pick in 2009, Moore was pretty much invisible on the Bucs roster. Battling injuries for much of his first two years, when Moore did get on the field he was pretty much a non factor and has yet to record an NFL sack.

Perhaps because this is likely a make-or-break year for Moore with the Bucs, or perhaps because he worked out in the offseason with Kansas City sack machine Tamba Hali at Penn State with Nittany Lions defensive line coach Larry Johnson, and partly because Keith Millard and Grady Stretz are coaching up the Bucs defensive line, Moore plays like a far different player who is putting heat on quarterbacks.

  Moore spoke with Joe after the Patriots game about how he has evolved as an NFL player.

JoeBucsFan: Joe had his binoculars on the defensive line virtually all night and, like last week, you were in the backfield a lot, making plays. In the past couple of years here you never really got a decent start. You came in with a coordinator who wanted you to gain weight and he was gone after a few games. Then you battled through injuries and you never really got into the flow of things. You seem like a different player. Are the new defensive line coaches helping you that much?

Kyle Moore: We have great defensive line coaches who know how to pass rush. We have only had a short with them. I wish we had a whole offseason with them to learn everything they know. But in the time we have known them, we have had great improvement on the defensive line. We will get better.

Joe: What has Grady Stretz taught you that has helped your game?

Moore: Get off and get into the outside shoulder [of the offensive tackle]. Learning that and putting it together with what you already know helps a lot. We weren’t really taught that the past couple of years and in the past, I wasn’t taught that at all. Learning form him and getting to the outside shoulder, and if we can’t get that to come with a counter move, just [along with Keith Millard] their wisdom has taught me a lot.

Joe: Personally, how does that make you feel that you now have coaches that can bring out the best in you and you are starting to see the results in your play? How does that make you feel about your game now?

Moore: It makes me feel good. As you can see I am taking the coaching in and when you have coaches who know what to do, it really helps my game all the way. I’m happy about that.

Joe knew it was coming. You knew it was coming. The only question was, “When was it coming?”

Tuesday will be judgement day for Bucs troubled cornerback Aqib Talib. Though he dodged an unofficial sentence, he likely will not dodge the long arm of the law that is NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell, so reports BSPN’s Adam Schefter.

Talib has been summoned to the principal’s office and will face his sentence before Magistrate Commissioner Goodell for his action when he was alleged to have pistol whipped and then fired a gun at a fleeing man in Texas this spring.

Talib, along with Kenny Britt of the Titans, will have their hearings with Goodell this week; Britt will face the music Wednesday.

One league source said the players could be in line for “lengthy” suspensions, however Talib’s attorneys are convinced they have a sound defense that will appease the NFL and could help save their client.

In March, Talib was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Texas. Talib already was suspended one game last season for an altercation he had with a taxi driver.

Given the fact that Talib has a prior record with Sheriff Commissoner Goodell, and has already served time from a Goodell sentence of one game last year, it’s very possible that Talib could be looking at a verdict of three to four games, or more.

Joe just hopes that Goodell has mercy on Talib’s soul.

Darren Woodson of BSPN ranks his top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL. But where is Josh Freeman? Watch and find out.

E.J. Wilson (78) and Gerald McCoy listen to defensive tackles coach Keith Millard in a training camp practice earlier this summer. Photo by JoeBucsFan.

How prevalent is Twitter? How addicted are some people to Twitter? Consider Bucs defensive tackle E. J. Wilson.

The guy just wakes up from surgery on his Achilles tendon and one of the first things he does is jump on Twitter to announce surgery “went well.”

EjfrmVA: Fresh out of surgery!!! It went well twitter fam. Thanks for your concern and prayers!

Wilson posted this shortly after 1 p.m. today.

This was a bummer for Joe. No, not that his surgery went well, but Wilson was playing well and an Achilles injury to a football player is a very, very serious injury and in some cases, career-threatening.

The Bucs are beat up at defensive tackle with Wilson gone for the year, Brian Price a big question mark, Roy Miller having a “tear” in his knee and Gerald McCoy already dinged during training camp and missed a game. This is an area of concern and bears monitoring.

Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik shed a bit of light on the mysterious recovery of defensive tackle Brian Price today.

Fans know Price had both hamstrings removed last year and somehow screwed back into his pelvis (medical science never ceases to amaze Joe), but Price’s comeback has been under a cloud of uncertainty. Price was unclear about his future in late June on JoeBucsFanTV, and during training camp he was sporadically on and off the field.

Speaking to Dan Sileo this morning on WDAE-AM 620, Dominik said Price has been overcoming “being stuck on the couch a lot” and unable to do “cardio work” following his unique surgery.

“He continues to make progress. His weight’s down. He continues to look better,” Dominik said of Price. “As he proves he can get himself into good enough shape for stamina to play the amount of snaps we want him to play, he’ll get on the field. And I’m encouraged that it’s going to be this week [against Miami] and see what he can do.”

The whole Price thing is very interesting to Joe. Surely, if the Bucs had serious medical concerns about Price, they could have put him on the physically unable to perform list, which would have kept him off the roster through the first six games of 2011 — time to keep working and get right.

Joe hopes Price plays Saturday. If he can even give the Bucs one quality series and stay healthy, that should go a long way toward him contributing in the D-tackle rotation this season.

There was a rule of thought among many Bucs followers that Jeremy Trueblood was either gone from Tampa Bay since his contract was up, or at best would return as a reserve.

It could be argued that James Lee, who replaced an injured Trueblood late in the season, played better than Trueblood and that the offensive line as a whole played better late in the year.

But anyone wanting to shovel dirt on Trueblood’s grave better walk back to the tool shed. eye-RAH! Kaufman brings word via the TBO Bucs Twitter feed that it “appears” Trueblood has won his starting job back.

Jeremy Trueblood appears to have regained his starting RT job for the Bucs, beating out James Lee. The OL needs to rebound vs. Miami.

There are two major areas of concern for Joe with this season’s Bucs. The first, and perhaps most important, is the offensive line. The second area of concern is the rush defense.

If Josh Freeman has a filthy jersey by halftime like he had against the Patriots, if LeGarrette Blount has no holes to run through, this will be a very long season. The Bucs simply don’t have a stout enough defense to lock down opponents if the offense is stuttering.

Joe’s gone to the videotape and his notebook and taken a look at the run defense against the Patriots.

In the first quarter, New England totaled runs of the following yardage: 2, 29, 6, no gain, 6, 2, 14, 16,  and 1 (TD).

In the second quarter, the Patriots’ carries came consecutively on one drive. They pounded the ball as follows (in yards): 7, 5, 12, 7, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Then, after a completed pass, New England scored on a one-yard touchdown run to grab a 21-0 lead.

So that’s eight of 18 first half runs of at least six yards a carry, plus two touchdowns. It was ugly. But Raheem Morris has no worries, so he said yesterday during his afternoon news conference.

Reporter: What’s your concern with the run defense overall?

Raheem Morris: None really. It’s just a matter of fitting things up, letting Mason Foster get better. Our first team actually did a decent job on the run game. You had the one breakout run against the first team, where the ball cut black on a blitz. We were closed the wrong way. That was a mistake, whether it was by the D-line or young Mason closing the wrong way, that was an error that was very correctable. So I don’t have an issue. …

“For the most part, I’m pretty comfortable with what’s going on. We missed a couple of tackles on Woodhead. He’s slippery. He’s quick. He’s fast — quick twitch. But other than that we feel pretty good. It was not any just miss fits where you had a real problem. There was a missed tackle on the one big Woodhead run. And there was a missed [call] where we didn’t have a player where he was supposed to be. And we just gotta fix those things.”

Frankly, this response by Raheem left Joe speechless. Joe has nightmares about the Bucs’ run defense while the head coach thinks the first team “did a decent job” Thursday.

Joe sure hopes Raheem has got this one right and Joe is terribly wrong.

For those wondering what really was the deal with Tanard Jackson violating the NFL substance abuse policy three times and getting booted from the league, St. Pete Times beat writer Stephen Holder definitively laid it out for all during a live chat on TampaBay.com.

The NFL doesn’t announce details of how/what a player failed after testing. But Holder says marijuana was Jackson’s only infraction and Holder also offers a strong statement about other players blowing bongs but getting away with it.

Comment From MJMJ: Thanks again for doing this, Stephen. Props to you. How do you think the T-Jax situation plays out when/if he is reinstated? Who’s roster spot will he take?

Stephen F. Holder: I think he probably gets reinstated. It was only marijuana at the end of the day. I’m not defending it, I’m just saying that it’s not something many other guys in the league haven’t also done and gotten away with (trust me on that). Can’t’ say who’s spot he takes because I don’t know what the makeup of the safety position is going to be.

Holder’s “trust me on that” line was a bit troubling to Joe, only because Holder’s career bio on the Times website doesn’t list him as a beat writer for any other NFL team in his career. But perhaps Holder was referring to players using drugs before they got to the NFL.

Regardless, Joe’s not sure what the Bucs plan to do about Jackson, who could be reinstated with most of the 2011 season remaining. It would seem the like the Bucs would want to give him a shot, but it would have to make sense.

What could make the whole decision interesting is rookie Ahmad Black’s sprained ankle. Without having much time to show his value, Black, if he makes the Bucs’ roster, could be the odd man out if Jackson returns.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Joe knows it’s preseason and Joe knows win-loss records, among other things in preseason, mean about as much as whatever Joe flushed the morning after a plate of chicken fajitas washed down with several adult beverages.

But an irritant for Joe hasn’t gone away from last year, even with a shutout slapping of the Chiefs.

The Bucs are still giving up chunks of real estate on the ground.

Through two preseason games, opponents are rushing for an average of 4.8 yards a carry, so notes eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.

Kaufman also documents how the Bucs were 28th in the league in rushing defense last season, giving up 4.7 yards a carry.

Now Joe knows that defensive tackle Gerald McCoy has only played one game and that is likely a factor as is middle linebacker Mason Foster is still as green as a lime having just a handful of practices as a pro.

Simply put, if the Bucs plan on making it to the playoffs with a much tougher schedule than last year, toughing up the run defense is an area that simply cannot be avoided.

The Bucs are playing in London for the second time in three years this season, once again against a high-profile, popular opponent.

Sadly, this move of another Bucs game to London has triggered ugly domestic disputes among Bucs fans. The sheer thought of yet another loss of a home game overseas, forced upon a kickball-loving, royals-obsessive public, has enraged many a Bucs fan.

ESPN blogger Pat Yasinskas sure seemed to hint in a recent NFC South mailbag that Bucs fans not buying tickets is the root cause of this move and that Team Glazer doesn’t want to be shamed with Bears fans filling The CITS.

Nate in Alaska asks why Tampa Bay keeps drawing games in London.

Pat Yasinskas: I think there are two reasons. First, the Glazer family has ties to the United Kingdom. The Glazers own soccer’s Manchester United and, although they might not be beloved by fans, bringing the Bucs to London might help their public profile. Second, the Bucs have been having trouble selling out Raymond James Stadium. If the game against Chicago was held in Tampa, the stadium might be loaded with Bears’ fans and that can be embarrassing. The game in London is pretty much a guaranteed sellout and the crowd won’t be rooting against the Bucs. I don’t think the NFL is forcing these games on the Bucs. I think there is a willingness by the team to go overseas.

Now Joe was under the impression — he could be offbase — that Team Glazer offered up the Bucs for another London game because the NFL was in a pinch thanks to the asinine lockout.

Joe understands that NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell wants to grow the game, meaning expose the NFL to markets yet untapped. Hence, games in London.

Obviously, Joe’s not a Park Avenue marketing maven, but Joe would think that, say, Mexico, despite it’s drug cartel-laden violence, would be a better market to tap into. Mexico is double the population of Great Britain and there seems to be a bigger pocket of NFL fans there.

At least if the Bucs played in, say, Cancun, it would be a nice, easy, quick vacation spot for Bucs fans and it’s doubtful you would hear many Bucs fans kavetch too much over this.

Who the hell wants to spend hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dollars to go to England in October? Brian Urlacher doesn’t.

Last week when the best nationally broadcast football radio show came to One Buc Palace as part of its “Training Camp Tour 2011,” Joe got a chance to chat with the co-hosts of “Movin’ the Chains,” Pat Kirwan and Tim Ryan, heard exclusively on SirusXM NFL Radio.

 First up was Kirwan. Now it’s Ryan’s turn. The former Bears defensive tackle regaled Joe with how geeked he is for the Bucs and gave a special take on Bucs first round draft pick Adrian Clayborn.

 FYI, Ryan, who also calls games for FOX Sports, will work the Bucs season opener against Detroit.

JoeBucsFan: What is your vibe about the team now that you have interviewed some coaches and players and watched some practice?

Tim Ryan: Exciting. I think that it all starts with the quarterback and everybody will say that but there are other good pieces to the puzzle. Getting the O-line re-signed and back with Davin and Jeremy, good move. Mike Williams, great move. Kellen has had a great offseason. Go back and watch the tape like I have of every game, he is still playing at a high level. The more LeGarrette Blount gets it going, watch what it does to the tight end position and watch how those two will feed each other in terms of how many guys stay in the box to defend the run and how many guys gotta get out there and cover Kellen Winslow in the base packages in terms of a backer. There are really, really, really simplistic ways to reduce the number of defenders just in the running box just by flexing your tight end out a little bit in some of your base packages. Those two guys will feed each other.

I am so excited for the defense and the defensive line. Look, this league has become about quarterbacks and the line of scrimmage. Go watch Matt Ryan and watch how many times he is at the line of scrimmage Peyton Manning-esque, calling the plays, dialing things up, controlling the tempo. There is not a greater equalizer in the game on defensive linemen and the impact of a game than a quarterback who is playing hurry-up and controlling the tempo of those defensive linemen. When you go get more guys and you keep shuttling guys through.

No one wants to talk about Kyle Moore who was a fourth-rounder a couple of years ago but he is part of the deal because you are going to have to have seven guys who can consistently go with fresh legs who can rush the passer. You couple that with the addition of Keith Millard who was a great undertackle in Minnesota, really in the same base form of this defense in what Monte Kiffin did up there, great addition to those guys. All that speed is going to show up. I’m hoping for Brian Price that he can get out there and go.

I’m a little bit worried about the third down defense without Barrett Ruud although I know Quincy Black is going to be stepping in there in the middle.

I’m excited man, just talking to these guys. Listening to them and their maturity, and the coaches and what Mark Dominik is trying to do here. Think of Green Bay how they built through the draft. This team is built to win now, but they are built to win a championship in two years. That’s my opinion.

The quarterback will continue to get better. Can they win the division this year? You bet they can win the division this year. But you look at Atlanta and you look at New Orleans, where I am thinking — and I will never concede this year for these guys — they could win it but if you think of a year or two down the road: Drew Brees will be two years older. Michael Turner down in Atlanta will be closer to the end. John Abraham will certainly be closer to the end.

This team is certainly closing the gap day by day by day with the signings and still be competitive on the field. So what Mark is doing down here, I know he has taken a lot of flak for the lack of some free agent moves and building this thing through the draft. He’s building this thing to win now, but to really win the Lombardi Trophy in a couple of years.

Joe: Donald Penn is raving about Adrian Clayborn. The two of them lock horns each day in practice. How much as a rookie does going against Penn each day help Clayborn?

Ryan: Oh, it is helping him but here is the problem with that: He knows Donald Penn already. He has studied Donald he understands Donald he knows where Donald’s weaknesses are and vice versa and those guys can help each other. Anytime he can go against a Pro Bowl tackle and he can tell him, “OK, here’s what gets me, here’s what doesn’t get me. Here is what you are doing wrong: You’ve got to get a little lower, you have to use your rip a little more, maybe you need to develop a counter move… “

All of that stuff is great. But until he gets a black book on the other tackles in the league, on the guys that are in New Orleans whether you are talking about [Jermon] Bushrod or Sam Baker in Atlanta or Jordan Gross [with Carolina]. Once you start getting a book on those guys, now you are cooking with gas because you know what their weaknesses are too. But he is such a talent. I think in talking to him such a motivated guy and a precocious guy in terms of how he sees the game, he is going to be fine. He is going to have a fine rookie year.

Joe: Clearly the Bucs drafted Clayborn to get heat on the quarterback but against the Chiefs he looked like he was stopping the run pretty well also. This is sort of icing on the cake.

Ryan: Well, if you play in the Big Ten you learn how to play the run. You have to and everybody talks about his Erb’s Palsy and the amount of reps he did at the combine and that stuff is never going to change, it is a condition he’s had all his life. I have watched the tape and the guy has been able to make up for it in many other ways. Getting to look at him physically, he doesn’t look like he is shortchanged in any areas. You don’t draft a guy that high where they drafted him to not be able to play the run and to be exclusively a third down pass rusher. So I am excited for him.

Joe: Well, you were an NFL defensive tackle, speaking of combine reps, Warren Sapp’s famous line is “You don’t pump weights at the 50-yard line.” And he didn’t have a great weight rep at his combine.

Ryan: Here is my saying: “I’ve thrown around a lot of 500-pound benchers.” Weight reps don’t always translate to the football field. This is a game of balance. This is a game of speed. It’s a game of leverage. Is a bench press great and a great measure of strength? Yeah, it is. Now some guys translate great but I’ve seen a lot of guys who can lift weights all day long but they get out on the football field and they spend 58 of the 60 minutes of a game on the ground and they can’t play football.

So [Clayborn] will be fine. He will get stronger while he is here. Maybe the bench doesn’t go up because of his condition but watch what happens with his power clean. Watch what happens with his squat. I have always said this: The game is played from the lower body down. Especially as a defensive lineman. Low man wins and leg explosion and Clayborn has all of that.

There were so many things that turned Joe’s stomach over Thursday’s beat down the Patriots laid on the Bucs Joe lost count while pounding beers, trying to erase the debacle from his memory banks.

But one of the things Joe can’t just wash away with adult beverages was the jailbreak than ensued with Patriots defensive linemen running wild in the Bucs backfield, jostling and hounding Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman.

So Sunday it was damage control at One Buc Palace. While listening to Raheem Morris and Bucs center Jeff Faine, NFL.com blogger Jenna Laine Twittered their defense of the Bucs offensive line Thursday.

@JennaLaineBucs: “We had one or two breakdowns in protections but I don’t know about ‘gaping holes.’ Kind of an exaggeration” – Bucs’ Morris on O-line … Bucs center Jeff Faine: “We didn’t see anything out there that was unblockable. We didn’t see an exotic scheme. We just didn’t get it done”

Joe is well aware that this was a preseason game and that in a preseason game, much like a spring training game in baseball, players might very well be working on specific moves or techniques and the results be damned because, in the end, preseason games don’t matter, just ask the 2008 winless Lions who won every preseason game that year.

Thursday’s game, however, looked eerily similar to the Bucs seal-clubbing at the hands of the Steelers and Saints last year at home. Joe isn’t sure if the Bucs were that overmatched or that they were overconfident is pounding the Chiefs or still giddy from training camp breaking on Tuesday.

Hopefully, this was all a wake up call.

Raheem Morris loves to live by the phrase “mentality before reality.”

As Raheem says, that’s one of his “core beliefs.”

And the mentality is simple nowadays, the head coach explained to St. Pete Times columnist Gary Shelton, win now.

This year, when many expect this team to backslide, he talks about winning the NFC South. Mention having time to grow, having time to build, and Morris shakes his head.

“There isn’t any such thing,” Morris said. “Did the 1990 Cowboys (7-9) feel they were ready? They were young and hungry, and most people felt they were two, three years away. (Dallas won the Super Bowl two seasons later.) I’m not going to let anyone tell us we’re two, three years away.

“Wait two, three years, and people can get hurt, or they can leave. The window is short in this league, man. You have to jump in while you can.”

Joe suggests you click through above and read Shelton’s excellent column. It should sufficiently fire you up for Bucs football.

Joe’s ecstatic that Raheem has high expectations. Every fan should. You don’t go 10-6 and then think something less the next season is progress. To be a lasting contender, you must contend. And the Bucs need another playoff-caliber record this season.

Interestingly, Shelton makes a reference to Raheem likening Josh Freeman to Magic Johnson. Man, Joe would love to hear Raheem flush out that analogy one day. On that note, it’s still a bummer the Bucs don’t have a speedy Norm Nixon-type in the backfield.

It’s pretty clear to any sober or even not-so-sober Bucs fans that the success of the Bucs last year came down to three players: Josh Freeman, LeGarrette Blount and Mike Williams.

A memorable but not exactly accurate comment Joe had from one of his readers last month was that without Freeman, Williams and Blount, Dale Mabry Highway would be lined with fans baring torches and pitchforks.

Jeffri Chadiha of BSPN believes that, as Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik likes to say, it’s all about No. 5. Chadiha says Freeman is the straw that stirs the Bucs cocktail and the challenge of the rest of the team faces, specifically rookies and second-year players — is that they must keep up the pace of improvement that Freeman has displayed.

That lesson will be essential to whatever the Bucs do this season. One of the NFL’s youngest teams went from being a three-win bunch in 2010 to a 10-6 squad last year, largely because Freeman developed so quickly that he tossed 25 touchdown passes and only six interceptions in his second year. What his maturation also did was give his teammates incentive to grow up in a hurry. It’s no coincidence that an offense that had as many as four rookies starting at one point — including wide receiver Mike Williams and running back LeGarrette Blount — managed to come within a whisker of qualifying for the wild-card spot that ultimately went to Green Bay.

That growth is what it takes to make people believe in a rebuilding effort. While someone has to be the centerpiece of the blueprint — Freeman, in this case — all the other rocks in the foundation have to see the importance of keeping pace. As Freeman said, “We are a hungry team. We want to be in the playoffs year in and year out. We want to be a team that is competing for championships, and not making the playoffs last season really stung.”

Joe has seen enough of (the new) Gerald McCoy and Adrian Clayborn that Joe believes the Bucs will be fine there and, of course, the secondary Joe has no concerns over.

While Chadiha points out the Bucs youngsters need to keep pace with Freeman — and it’s a strong, valid premise — Joe believes it is the veterans that need to hold their own. The Bucs offensive line has three veterans in Donald Penn, Jeff Faine and Davin Joseph, four if you believe Jeremy Trueblood will start.

It is those veterans that will decide the fate of the Bucs, Joe is convinced. If Freeman’s jersey is filthy, if Blount has no holes to run through, the Bucs offense will simply sputter and bluntly put, the Bucs’ defense is not stout enough (yet) to shut down opponents if the Bucs offense is struggling all day.

Former Bucs QB Shaun King clobbered Gerald McCoy on local radio yesterday in a blast for the ages.

In one of the more epic radio tirades of this century, former Buccaneers quarterback Shaun King unloaded five cans of verbal whoopass on Gerald McCoy yesterday while co-hosing The King David Show on WQYK-AM 1010.

King was set off by McCoy cracking jokes to reporters about the greatness of Tom Brady and playfully insulting Chiefs quarterback Tyler Palko, plus making excuses for his own play. The Boston Globe recorded McCoy’s entire chat, which Joe wrote about yesterday.

King made it clear that his rage was built up over time, saying McCoy consistently talks too much for a guy with “no pineapple in your diet.” King explained, for the benefit of Joe and other laymen, that “pineapple” is playerspeak for Pro Bowls.

“The league’s asking Ndamukong Suh to please stop slamming quarterbacks. McCoy’s asking Tom Brady to slow down,” King said. 

“In [McCoy’s] fantasy world, he’s somebody. …I’m trying to think of what excuse is he going to come up with next. Last year he was confused. He was blaming the coach. Then he had a sore arm.

“Tom Brady doesn’t now who you are. He needs a reality check. Somebody needs to knock on his door. He’s out of line. …Until he starts producing and gets some sacks, he stinks. …I want Gerald McCoy to stand up and be accounted for. … You are the No. 3 player in last year’s draft. … Kyle Moore stunk when he got here, but at least I didn’t have to listen to him.

“Local media, don’t interview Gerald McCoy anymore. I don’t want to hear him talking. …Right now you stink Gerald McCoy. Shutup and play. Last I checked there’s no pineapple in your diet.”

McCoy missed the first preseason game nursing a minor shoulder injury. In general, the Bucs have been cautious with players’ health this preseason. Raheem Morris has been very open about that.

That doesn’t sit well with King, who thinks McCoy and the youngest team in the league needs to be on the field more.

“Coach Morris might be babying these guys too much. Too many guys with no pineapple in their diet that aren’t coming to the dinner table. … There’s a whole lot of Joey Galloways on this team,” King said, referring to Galloway’s light practice schedule under the Chucky regime.

King also blasted McCoy for taking his Twitter fans to the movies, which King says is another sign McCoy is taking on a superstar personna — minus the superstar production.

The whole concept of McCoy joking to reporters wedged under King’s skin, too, and King blasted McCoy for not realizing how expensive it is to go to a game and some people “make signifcant sacrifices” to buy tickets. “This is not a game. This is not a joke.”

Interestingly, Raheem Morris commented on McCoy’s attempt at humor with reporters to close his Friday news conference.

“That was a soft statement by Gerald last night,” Raheem said. “But, I think he was trying to, it was a bad joke, I think he was trying to give Tom Brady really a compiment.”

For Joe, there’s no question McCoy is going to be scrutinized mightily by King and fans because of McCoy’s contract — though fans will probably give McCoy more rope than King. As the No. 3 overall pick, he’s enjoying $35 million or so of guaranteed money. That’s just football and the rest of professional sports.

Ironically, Raheem praised McCoy’s disruptive play in Thursday’s game, as did former Bucs defensive end Steve White, who called in to The King David Show to discuss McCoy following King’s tirade.

“The Patriots aren’t saying today that they blocked McCoy. They couldn’t block him,” White said of McCoy’s play early in the first quarter.

White acknowledged McCoy’s missed tackle in the backfield that led to a huge Patriots gain, but in all White said McCoy is improving and should almost be lauded for not throwing his defensive line coach clearly under the bus last year. White is no fan of departed Todd Wash.

At the end of the day this will all come down to production. If McCoy has a good, healthy season, nobody will care what the hell he says or where he frolics with his Twitter pals.

If you want to send Shaun King your thoughts, he welcomes you to follow him on Twitter and have at it @realshaunking.

Of course everyone at One Buc Palace will state from the start that Thursday night’s debacle against the Patriots and Bill Belicheat was just a preseason game, a glorified scrimmage, the Bucs weren’t scheming, et al.

All valid points.

But there’s one point that eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune makes that happened Thursday and is reflective of last season for the Bucs:

The Bucs offense simply is stuck in first gear in the first quarter.

The Bucs were outscored 73-43 in the opening quarter last season as only Carolina (35) scored fewer first-quarter points in the NFC.

“We have to be able to start strong against a good opponent,” Joseph said. “We’ve got to go out in the first quarter and sustain drives, giving our defense a fighting chance. You can’t keep putting yourself behind the eight-ball with penalties.

“Starting strong was a problem last year and we’ve got to get ourselves in manageable down-and-distance situations. They say this game doesn’t matter, but the things we did are not going to be good for us in the regular season and in the long run.”

It is fundamental football, especially with the Bucs. Now, yes, the Bucs have a chance to have a prolific offense (provided the front line keeps Josh Freeman’s jersey clean). But digging yourself a hole neutralizes one of the Bucs’ best weapons LeGarrette Blount.

Scoring a touchdown once in a while in the first quarter — which is just what the Bucs did at Kansas City last week — is chicken soup for the Bucs’ soul.