In his weekly wrapup of Sunday’s NFL games, Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports lists the day’s winners and losers.

Not surprisingly he has the Bucs as a winner but in particular, he cites Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman.

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman
Even at 4-2, the Bucs are a long way from being a good team. That said, people can stop sleeping on Freeman. He’s not just a big arm and a bundle of athleticism. Watch the Buccaneers’ game-winning drive against St. Louis in the final seconds – Freeman was in total command. The guy is a leader, too. He’s going to be a big-time player.

As Joe wrote yesterday, he is very impressed with Freeman in the fourth quarter. So far, it’s almost as if you want the Bucs to trail in the fourth quarter and give Freeman the ball. That’s when he plays his best.

Crazy but true.

Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch believes Sam Bradford and the Rams choked Sunday.

Many Bucs fans are giddy on this Monday morning that the Bucs rallied (again) in the fourth quarter for their fourth win of the season.

Denizens of the Midwest see a different outcome. They see a tank job by the Rams.

Joe’s good friend Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch didn’t mince words. He outright called the game a Rams choke job.

There is no polite way to put this: the Rams choked.

They absolutely, positively, handed a game to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by blowing a 17-3 lead in a disappointing 18-17 loss.

It’s a game that the Rams had won, only to give it away with a hideous second half. This was a gag job. This is a game that the Rams had control of, with Tampa Bay all but looking for a hole to crawl into after the Rams took charge early.

Miklasz went on to type that the Rams coaching in the second half was “a joke.”

How refreshing it is to read a columnist type his mind. Bravo Bernie, bravo! His column is a quality read.

While Joe likes to believe the Bucs won the game in the fourth quarter, any NFL team that coughs up a two-touchdown lead in the second half with a running back averaging five yards a carry and the opponent’s offense trying to outdo itself with creative penalties, yeah, Joe can see how others would see this outcome as a choke job by the Rams.

Veteran sports columnist Gary Shelton shares his thoughts on the Bucs come-from-behind win Sunday against the Rams in this St. Petersburg Times video.

Oh, that Raheem Morris. He’s an excitable one.

The Bucs coach with the infectious personality who will back his team to crazy proportions actually tossed out a new one-liner he’s been working on for his next Chucklehut appearance by claiming after the game there is no team better in the NFC than his resilient Bucs, documented by good guy Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times.

Raheem Morris was as pumped as ever after the Bucs secured their last-minute victory here at Raymond James Stadium today. And he wasn’t shy about making a few bold statements about his young team, which is fast becoming one of the surprise stories of this NFL season.

“I like where we are,” Morris said. “We’re 4-2. We’re the best team in the NFC. Yeah, I said it. We’re excited.”

Now Joe has learned that Morris also tried out some other one-liners but Joe cannot find any reference to them online. Here are some Joe heard of:

“I come from a rough neighborhood, Irvington, N.J., yeah. The kids there are mean. Why, they are so mean they used to tape worms to the sidewalks just to watch robins get hernias these kids are so mean.

“I’m telling ya,’ Irvington is a rough neighborhood — tough! What would you expect from Jersey? I once put my hand in wet cement and felt another hand.

“Dogs are tough too in Irvington. Their favorite bone is their master’s arm.”

Please remember to tip the waitresses and bartenders folks.

Now Joe knows Morris was just having fun. He can’t possibly believe his team is the best in the NFC when just last week no less than a division foe completely seal-clubbed the Bucs.

Know what? I bet his players will be ready to beat themselves up and work like maniacs in practice this week after hearing their coach claim they are the best in the conference.

Since we’re on the subject of comedy and one-liners, how about some Rodney?

Hearing and reading Ronde Barber’s quotes over the years, Joe knows that Barber isn’t one to single out players and break away from the whole team concept thing.

So it really stood out for Joe when Barber called out Josh Freeman and Mike Williams, as quoted by columnist Joe Henderson of The Tampa Tribune. Barber talked about the win and the ups and downs of a football game.

“That speaks to our resiliency,” cornerback Ronde Barber said. “There are a lot of variables in this game that you can’t control and throwing yellow flags is one of them. All you can do is deal with the situation and make the best of it.”I’m not surprised. We have a lot of guys who don’t like to lose, a lot of guys who like coming to work and competing to be great. It shows in (receiver) Mike Williams, it definitely shows in 5 (Freeman).”

That’s hefty public praise for Freeman and Williams from No. 20, who was nearly a major goat in this game. No, Joe didn’t forget Barber “encroached” on the Rams field goal, which resulted in a first down, took the points off the board and led to an eventual touchdown for St. Louis.

Outside of that screwup, Barber continues to amaze by his high level of play at 35. Ten tackles today and a good shot on Sam Bradford.

Joe can only pray Barber stays healthy for the rest of the season. Barber, unlike several others Bucs apparently, is not replaceable on this team.

You want highlights of today’s Bucs win over the Rams? Joe’s got highlights. All courtesy of the good people of the NFL Network, a channel in every real man’s castle.

Why not start with Cadillac Williams’ game-winning touchdown? Here’s another clip.

Bucs force Rams quarterback Sam Bradford into a fumble.

Connor Barth has a field goal. And another. And another. And another.

Mike Williams with a sweet 20-yard catch.

LeGarrette Blount with a solid run.

Josh Freeman with a solid run.

Stylez White doubles his sack total for the season.

All of the game highlights.

Postgame press conferences of Raheem Morris and Josh Freeman.

Forget what a Bucs sack looked like? Joe almost did.

The Bucs didn’t do much to get off their crazy-ugly pace of notching just 13 sacks for the season today.

In fact, they’re still on pace for 13 for the season. (13.3, up from 12.8 before the game)

But the Bucs did get a sack today in the thrilling 18-17 comeback win against the Rams, and a huge one at that, from Stylez White in the Rams’ opening series.

White (finally) beat his man badly off the edge and crushed Sam Bradford who fumbled and the Bucs recovered at the Rams’ 6 yard line.

Sadly, the Bucs proceeded to get hit with two penalties and face a 3rd-and-34. But they got the field goal and a 3-0 lead. That offensive series made Joe want to puke, but it was still a huge play by Stylez, who is on pace for 5.3 sacks himself.

Joe has written several times since January that no matter how much he likes Cadillac Williams the man, Cadillac Williams the running back, is washed up.

After the first four games it became apparent to even Stevie Wonder that Williams’ best days as a running back are over. Rushing for less than three yards a carry in the NFL and not being able to read holes or adjust a run on the fly (like Rams running back Steven Jackson did multiple times today) is not the way to keep a job as a starter.

But as Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson said last week, there’s no one on the roster better.

The fans have even turned on Caddy. Just look at today’s game live chat and see how people were freaking out. So amid all the negatively and criticism, Caddy responds not by running for 100 yards or rushing for three touchdowns, but for catching the winning touchdown from quarterback Josh Freeman.

Again, Joe thinks the world of Cadillac. Great story. Great guy. Great heart. But this isn’t college football. This isn’t a fan club. The NFL is a results-based business.

Cadillac got the results today. But will it be enough to keep him in the starting lineup?

These 4-2 Bucs threw caution to the wind and actually handed the rock off to LeGarrette Blount today. And, voila, he found holes and ran threw them with a nasty, get-out-of-my-fuc*n way edge.

It can’t be a coincidence that he finds holes where Cadillac Williams falls in invisible ditches.

And for those blacked out fans who couldn’t see a replay, Blount’s 20+ yard run called back for a foolish Jeremy Trueblood block in the back came after Blount had run past Trueblood and the Rams defender victimized by Trueblood.

Blount finished with 11 carries for 72 yards and about 40,000 new fans.

Joe’s just excited about the guy, probably because there’s been so little excitement in the Bucs backfield for since Earnest Graham got banged up in 2007.

Joe wonders what the Bucs might look like if Blount is carrying the ball significantly in the first half and the team actually gets a lead and serves up a more balanced attack. 

As everyone who is a regular reader of Joe knows, Joe’s a man. Therefore, Joe watches the NFL Network. Daily.

Occasionally on the NFL Network they talk about the clutch quarterbacks of all time. Roger Staubach, Joe Montana, Kenny Stabler are just a few of the names discussed as clutch NFL signal-callers.

Could Josh Freeman be the next on that list?

The Bucs were losing against Cleveland but Freeman marched the Bucs in a fourth quarter rally for the season-opening win.

The Bucs were losing against Cincinnati. Down 10 points in the fourth quarter in fact. But Freeman gets the job done with a key touchdown pass to Mike Williams and a clutch pass to Michael Spurlock to set up the winning field goal.

Then came today. The Bucs were listless. Penalty-plagued. Hurt. Tired. But not Freeman.

Fourth quarter. Down five. Less than five minutes left. Ball at the Bucs-18.

Freeman, cool as a Gulf breeze as usual, engineers a 16-play drive before hitting Cadillac Williams for the winning score.

Ballgame. 4-2.

Now Joe’s not crazy enough to put Freeman in the class of Staubach, Montana or Stabler. But if the Bucs need a touchdown in the fourth quarter, even for a win, Joe’s comfortable seeing No. 5 with the ball in his hands.

Yes, the Bucs evoked the ghost of Jim Bates — again — in the first half, but followed that with their third second-half shutout of the season.

Joe had a chance to chat with Barrett Ruud after the thrilling 18-17 win today. Ruud is under no illusion that the Bucs are a defensive juggernaut.

“Eventually we’re going to hit our mark and string some good games together. It was more blown assignments in the first half,” Ruud said. “You have to tackle [Stephen Jackson] at the line of scrimmage, or at least attempt to tackle him at the line of scrimmage. Because then you get a chance for the next guy to come in and help out. When he’s getting the ball and he”s not getting touched for five or six yards, he’s going to be a problem. We did a lot better job of being on our keys, being on our assignments [in the second half].”

Ruud went on to say the 4-2 Bucs will be a better team but he’s not sure when.

“What I’m encouraged about is we’re not playing our best right now. And eventually, we’re going to get it. I don’t know what it’s going to take quite yet,” Ruud said. ” But we are 4-2 and we haven’t hit our peak. And eventually we’ll hit our peak and hopefully get better throughout the year. Because it wasn’t our best football game.”

Listening to elated, thrilled Bucs players, Joe heard a lot of realism and humble speak after the game.

Look, if Joe could tell the future, he’d be wealthy beyond his imagination, lounging with cold cocktails on  his private Cayman beach with Rachel Watson hanging all over him.

Alas, Joe has a modest, land-locked condo with standard-def TVs and no Rachel in sight.

But what Joe can tell is that the Bucs made the correct turn this afternoon, pulling out an ugly win against the St. Louis Rams.

This game, the Bucs were at a T-intersection. A wrong turn and this season very easily could have spiraled into a dismal depth. But the Bucs turned right and, for a few days at least, all is well. Four more wins in the next 10 games and the Bucs could be flirting with a playoff berth.

The Bucs won despite a makeshift offensive line, due to injuries. The Bucs have a backfield largely consisting of rejects, thanks to injuries. The Bucs best receivers and starting quarterback still get carded on a regular basis at Tampa’s hottest nightspots. The Bucs defensive line struggles to stop a cool breeze.

Yet the Bucs fought. They hung tight. They battled through injuries. They won.

Now the season could still turn out to be terrible. The Bucs could still finish with a subpar record. But who among us could have guessed the Bucs would be 4-2 with the aforementioned issues?

Playoffs aren’t such a crazy visision from this standing point.

“Hey, Rachel, over here!”

Coach of the Year contender Raheem Morris

Joe’s not sure the Bucs launched into the ranks of great football teams after this somewhat ugly home win against the Rams. But who the hell cares? Tampa Bay is 4-2. And the Bucs didn’t crumble in the face of getting Jim Batsed in the first half.

Plus, the Saints got punished at home by the Browns to drop their record to 4-3.

The Bucs managed to score an impressive game-winning, 81-yard touchdown drive with the likes of James Lee, Ted Larsen and Jeremy Zuttah on the offensive line, and Erik Lorig at fullback.

LeGarrette Blount emerged as a go-to guy with 11 carries for 72 yards. And Cadillac Williams catches the game-winning touchdown. How’s that for irony?

Joe doesn’t lose sight of the Bucs defense pitching yet another second-half shutout, its third of the season.

Joe will have so much more through the day.

Joe used to use a nickname for Jerramy Stevens that bordered on crude yet was accurate given his history. Joe is inclined to use it again but vowed not to use nicknames for Bucs players.

Joe will let fans do that. Last night, per Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune, Stevens was popped last night and charged with “intent to sell cannabis.”

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office website, Stevens was arrested yesterday at Cypress Street and Westshore Boulevard at 7:12 p.m. and booked at 8:30 p.m. He was released from jail after posting a $4,500 cash bond at 12:18 a.m. today.

Bucs spokesperson Jonathan Grella said Stevens will not against St. Louis today at 1 p.m.

“We’re deeply disappointed by this news. We take such matters seriously,” Grella said. “Obviously, Jerramy Stevens will not be participating today. We will address this matter with the seriousness it deserves, but in the meantime, we’re focused on the Rams game.”

The charges Stevens was hit with were possession of cannabis with intent to sell (felony), possession of cannabis (felony) and possession of drug paraphernalia (misdemeanor).

Richardson also reported that Stevens will not play today against the Rams.

Week 7
Rams at Bucs
Kickoff: 1 p.m.
TV: Blacked out locally. Outside the Tampa/Orlando TV markets, the game can be found on DirecTV Channel 709.
Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM, 103.5 and WDAE-AM, 620); Sirius Channel 113.
Weather: Per Accuweather.com, great beer-drinking weather. Joe just loves Florida and this is why: late October and it’s supposed to hit 90! While the tailgating will be very nice in the low 80s, it will rapidly heat up. Kickoff is expected to be 88 and will reach 90 by the end of the game. No rain and mild breezes.
Odds: Per Bodog.com, Bucs -3.
Outlook: The season could turn for the Bucs who have gone 1-2 in their past three games where the defense has looked horrendous. Throw in the fact that the injury bug has bit hard. Kareem Huggins is done for the year. Brian Price is out for maybe a month. Barrett Ruud is nicked up. Jeff Faine is out today. Keydrick Vincent and Davin Joseph are questionable. Earnest Graham is dealing with a nasty hamstring. It’s starting to get ugly. The defense is getting bludgeoned by the run, evidenced last week by third string tailback Chris Ivory who, last year at a Division-II school, was his team’s third leading rusher if you can imagine such a thing. Now here comes SJ39, Steven Jackson, a bruising, quick running back. If the Bucs don’t shore up their insdide defense, and Joe doesn’t know how that can be accomplished in a handful of days when you lost a key defensive tackle to injury, this could get very, very ugly. If the Bucs win they will be 4-2 needing to go 4-6 the rest of the way to flirt with a playoff bid. If the Bucs lose Sunday, Joe fears the season quickly spiraling into an ugly slide. The Bucs are going to have to make Rams quarterback Sam Bradford play like a rookie. If that happens, it’s possible the Bucs can win. With all the injuries to the offense, and the Rams playing for the most part well defensively, and given the Bucs problems with stopping the run, Joe is very uncomfortable about this game.
Video: NFL Films preview of today’s game. … NFL Network’s Sterling Sharpe, Brian Billick and Brian Baldinger look at what’s working for the Rams and why the Bucs stink in rush defense. … Pat Kirwan explains who he expects to win and why. … The TBO duo of Woody Cummings and Anwar Richardson discuss the underperforming defensive line.
Fun facts: The Bucs have won five of six games when Ruud gets an interception. … Mike Williams leads all rookies in touchdowns. … SJ39 needs 32 rushing yards to pass Eric Dickerson to be the Rams’ all-time leading rusher. … St. Louis’ James Hall is tied for fourth in the NFL with six sacks, equally the total number of sacks the Bucs have.

Joe’s good friend, “The Commissioner,” Justin Pawlowski of WDAE-AM 620 apparently hates Sports Attacks, but loves to talk fantasy football. Don’t be dumb and not heed his advice.

It would be nice if good guy Stylez White could double his 2010 sack total Sunday. He can do that by getting one sack.

Yes, we all know what Joe thought of the heinous Jim Bates Experiment, and how under the wise tutelage of the former defensive coordinator, the Bucs set a pathetic franchise record for consecutive games allowing opponents to score 25 or more points.

It was so miserable, Raheem Morris defrocked Bates in mid-season.

This year, some elements of the Bucs defense is actually worse, specifically sacks. Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune noted that the Bucs are on pace to set a franchise record low for sacks.

With only four quarterback sacks thus far the Bucs are on a pace to record just 13 sacks this season. That would easily be the fewest in franchise history, and that history suggests that too few sacks results in too few victories as well.

Since they first took the field in 1976 (and we’re excluding the 1982 strike year here) the Bucs have posted just two winning seasons while recording fewer than 30 sacks.

The first was in 1981, when the Bucs went 9-7 and won the NFC Central Division title after recording just 23 sacks. The second was in 2008, when they again went 9-7 but missed the playoffs after recording 29 sacks.

This just sent shivers up Joe’s spine. To think the Bucs would jump out to a 3-1 mark with such an easy schedule the rest of the way, and then have a losing season.

Unexpected? No. Disappointing? Very much so.

Part of the reason for so few sacks is the youngsters upfront, specifically Gerald McCoy, Brian Price and Roy Miller. Sadly, it seems Miller has regressed and Joe’s not sure why. For a rookie who didn’t start all the time last year, he had a nice season.

Joe’s well aware GMC this week has vowed to play like a new man. Joe understands he’s a rookie and little can be expected, so Joe’s taking the wait-and-see approach on GMC’s recent pronouncements.

Joe is perplexed.

Hardy Nickerson had four Pro Bowl seasons as a Bucs middle linebacker (1996 through 1999), with an All-Pro year mixed in. Later in 2002, Shelton Quarles earned a Pro Bowl honor of his own as the Bucs brought home a Super Bowl.

But it seems highly acclaimed NFC South writer Pat Yasinskas, of BSPN.com, a man who has been around the Bucs since his days as a Bucs beat writer for The Tampa Tribune in the 1990s, has forgotten all about these great Bucs studs of years past.

In his Friday chat on BSPN.com, Yasinskas expained in multiple posts that he’s confident Barret Ruud won’t return to the Bucs next season because he’s not worth the money. And Yasinskas went on to explain the Bucs defense doesn’t really need a star middle linebacker because they never had one back in the day.

Kevin (Omaha)
You have said that you don’t know if it is worth having a high price MLB in Tampa’a defensive scheme but doesn’t Chicago run the same scheme (I am not saying Rudd is as good as Urlacher because clearly he is not)

Pat Yasinskas
Look back at Bucs glory days. They didn’t have a stud in the middle. Brooks was the stud at WLB. That’s the big position on this defense.

Joe doesn’t know where to begin.

First, it was less than two years ago when Yasinskas wrote a feature about how Ruud was being tabbed as the best middle linebacker in football. Funny there was no mention in that about the allegedly not-so-important middle linebacker position in the Bucs defesne.

Second, what Bucs fan/observer/reporter could possibly forget or downplay what Nickerson and Quarles were to the Bucs? Joe can not forgive such heresy.

Derek “Old School” Fournier, of WhatTheBuc.net, offers his preview of the Rams-Bucs game tomorrow. He believes Bucs cornerback Aqib Tallb will have a big day. But there’s much more. Have a look.