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.

Chris Pressley (left) with Kareem Huggins and other Bucs at Earnest Graham's charity bowling event back in May. Photo by Kyra Hallett.

Well, Joe speculated last night that the Bucs had no use for fullback Chris Pressley, who came into the season as the No. 2 at the position.

Now he’s been cut this morning, so Tweeted Roy “Woody” Cummings, of The Tampa Tribune.

Roy: the Bucs have promoted OL Derek Hrdman from the practice squad and let go of FB Chris Pressley.

Pressley was a strongman fullback prospect from Wisconsin that Mark Dominik plucked from Cincinnati last year.

Joe supposes he just couldn’t block.

JoeBucsFan.com had a nice chat with Pressley in the offseason. Fine, intelligent young man. Joe wishes him well.

That makes rookie Erik Lorig the official No. 2 fullback, where he played quite a bit Sunday after Earnest Graham left the Saints game injured.

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst 

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.

The Bucs can’t run the ball very well and the head coach says the runners, blockers and playcaller are all a part of the problem.

They really can’t do much to change the runners or blockers at this point and I’m not for changing the playcaller again, so what could be the possibilities for improvement? 

Raheem Morris says they are going to go back into “the lab” to work on improving. I first heard “the lab” used in reference to football experimentation when Jon Gruden was working to improve Josh Johnson’s knowledge and skills, and it was a fun and interesting concept because of Gruden’s reputation for his in-depth playbook and Johnson’s lack of exposure to big-time football. Johnson also had a different and unique skill set that Gruden’s offense hadn’t really seen before, so saying he was going into “the lab” with the mad — offensive coordinator —scientist made sense.

But now, according to the head coach, everything the Bucs do is in “the lab.” This is the kind of rhetoric that seemed far too common last year and hearing much less of it this year was one of the improvements I thought Morris had made in his maturation process. We had been hearing less of this fluff stuff each week and more substantive football material on a regular basis and it was good for the fans and the media covering the Bucs.

Using such undefined terms is just a simple way of generalizing problems with no real plan to deal with any of it.  Players and coaches have always deflected criticism of their play or the team’s play by saying they have to, “Go back and watch the film.”

They are basically the same thing. But by calling it “the lab” just makes fixing the issues less credible because you experiment in the laboratory and you make corrections and call people to account in the film room.

By the way, Morris said that the defense was also exposed as not being able to stop the run and guess what they are going to do about it?  That’s right, they are going back into “the lab.” 

So if you can’t change the runners or the blockers, what are the playcaller’s options for better success? 

The New Orleans Saints could make Cadillac Williams a fantasy football star running back next Sunday if he was running with their offense.  The same goes for the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots.  Why?  Because their three wide receiver packages and quick decision making and accurate passing by their great quarterbacks keep defenses from loading the box with defenders, thus giving any running back on their team more room to find holes to run through and more daylight to run to.

The Bucs are lacking the receiving corps to be as effective as the aforementioned teams, but with Williams, Sloughter, Winslow and Benn, that has high hopes of improving. They also lack a QB that makes decisions as fast or as well as Brees, Brady or Manning, but that is improving as well. So the hopes are high and within sight, but they must play again Sunday against the St. Louis Rams, albeit a lesser team than the Steelers or Saints, but a team that has been able to score at times, has a strong runner in Steven Jackson and a franchise QB only a few starts behind Freeman.

While the Bucs are in “the lab” this week will the play-caller make it easier for the offensive line to open holes by keeping players out of the box with more receivers spread out across the field? Or will he keep things tight and try to block each guy and hope each guy does his job and Caddy creates his own space? 

As Morris says, it only takes one guy not doing his job to mess up the whole thing. I really don’t know what kind of a scientist Greg Olson is at this point, but unless there is some experimenting with different ingredients in the potion, the result will be very predictable, especially when they run into the upper 50 percent of the league.

And since the Bucs’ runners and blockers are relatively set, the play concepts are the only variables that can really be tinkered with in the lab. 

Will this week’s tinkering be that little change necessary to take us to a better product or an explosion?  Stay tuned.

Now Joe is sure all his readers fly to Vegas to wager legally, versus placing bets with the guy whose cell number changes every week. 

Regardless of how or why you wager, Joe knows there are many aspiring handicappers reading. So to please the gambling crowd, Joe has turned to superpicker Bob Fox. A writer for various sports publications over the years, Fox flashed his stellar picking skills back in 2008 on JoeBucsFan.com, when Joe had a contest here among sports media members.

Fox will be here to give you a few games every week. He’s 9-3 over his last 12.

By BOB FOX
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Auburn Tigers 24, LSU Tigers 20
 
This game should be a classic, as No. 5 Auburn takes on No. 6 LSU at Auburn. Both squads come into the game 7-0. QB Cam Newton is the main reason the Tigers of Auburn are undefeated. The former Florida Gator has put up Heisman trophy-type numbers, as he has thrown 13 TD passes, compared to five interceptions for 1,278 yards, plus he’s has rushed for 860 yards and 12 TDs. Auburn is ranked ninth nationally in offense, and last week scored 65 points in its win over Arkansas. The Auburn defense has some holes, however, especially in the passing game. LSU is undefeated, but was extremely lucky to get back-to-back wins against Tennessee and Florida.The LSU defense is the top reason the Tigers are still undefeated (that and good luck), as they are ranked 3rd in the nation. The QB combo of Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee have done just enough to win games for LSU, or at least not lose them. Bottom line, although it should be a close game, I see Newton and company doing what it takes to beat LSU and stay undefeated.
 
San Diego Chargers 24, New England Patriots 21
 
If somebody told me that a team that was ranked first in the NFL in total offense, and first in total defense, but would have a 2-4 record, I would say that person had to be crazy. But that is the exact situation that the San Diego Chargers find themselves in, as they prepare to face the 4-1 New England Patriots at home this week. The two clubs have met six times since the 2002 season, and the record is knotted at three games apiece. The Chargers are led by QB Phillip Rivers, who has thrown for 13 TD passes, compared to five picks for 2,008 yards. Rivers might have his options at receiver limited this week, as TE Antonio Gates has a toe injury that will limit his play, plus it appears that WR Malcom Floyd will be out with a hamstring injury. So it appears that the RB tandem of Ryan Matthews and Mike Tolbert will have to help out Rivers against the 30th-ranked Patriots defense.  Also, keep an eye on RB Darren Sproles, especially as a receiver and kick returner. The Pats are coming off a big win vs. the Baltimore Ravens, and it didn’t appear that they missed Randy Moss too much as QB Tom Brady connected with newly re-acquired Deion Branch, who caught nine passes, including one for a TD.  Somehow I see the Chargers getting a badly needed win, although the Pats will play them tough.   
 
Green Bay Packers 20, Minnesota Vikings 17
 
This game is Brett Favre vs. Ted Thompson III. Favre and the Vikings won their two meetings with the Packers last year, mostly based on Favre playing out of his mind, as he had seven TD passes and zero interceptions vs. the Pack in 2009. That and Jared Allen’s performance, as Allen had 7.5 sacks, forced a fumble, and recorded a safety in two games against Green Bay last season. Luckily for the Packers, LT Chad Clifton is healthy and ready to go against Allen, a matchup that never happened in 2009, due to injuries for Clifton. Speaking of health, it appears that the 3-3 Packers are getting back some key players this week vs. the 2-3 Vikes. The list includes LB Clay Matthews (hamstring), who leads the NFL in sacks with 8.5 sacks, and that could be key as Favre has been sacked 13 times. LB Brandon Chillar (shoulder) should also be back and he is a key ingredient in the Green Bay nickel defense. In addition CB Al Harris (knee) and S Atari Bigby (ankle) could be coming off the PUP list to help as well. The Packers need all the help that they can get as Favre has never lost against a defense run by Dom Capers. This game should be extremely close, but I see the Packers finally winning a close game (Green Bay has lost back-to-back overtime games), as QB Aaron Rodgers will outplay Favre in this contest.
 
New York Giants 21, Dallas Cowboys 20
 
Dallas (1-4) comes into this game vs. the New York Giants in a desperation mode.  The Giants (4-2) know all about being in a funk, as they started 2010 slowly, but have rebounded and won three straight.  Another loss for the Cowboys, especially vs. a divisional and NFC foe, might cause Jerry Jones order another facelift…this time for his team. The Cowboys keep shooting themselves in the foot with mistakes, whether they be turnovers or penalties. Like the Chargers, the Cowboys should not be looking up, as they are ranked third in total offense in the NFL and fourt in total defense. The Giants also come into the game with nice team stats, as they are ranked seventh in total offense and second in total defense.  The Giants will pressure QB Tony Romo often, as the G-Men are 2nd the NFL in sacks with 21, plus lead the NFL in forced fumbles with 13. WR Miles Austin will have to play big if the Boys are going to win. QB Eli Manning has many weapons to choose from at the receiver position, especially Hakeem Nicks (36 catches for 417 yards and 6 TDs), plus has a solid run game behind him as well (4th in the NFL). In the summer 2010, Jones had dreams that his squad would be the NFC’s representative at the Super Bowl, which will be at his billion dollar Cowboys Stadium. That dream is becoming a nightmare, and the bad dream will continue with the Giants winning a close one.

In Joe’s mind, when tapping into football knowledge from the Gateway to the West, there are only two people to reach out to: Howard Balzer, whose many credits Joe will cite later, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Bernie Miklasz, a former president of the Pro Football Writers of America organization.

Joe got a hold of Balzer first. Balzer, currently the editor for football content for The Sports Xchange, which is the primary content supplier for CBSSports.com, also is a period host on Sirius NFL Radio, the Rams beat writer for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and, if that isn’t enough work, Balzer hosts a weekday local radio show on KFNS-AM in St. Louis.

Joe decided to get some inside information about the Rams from Balzer.

JoeBucsFan: The inside of the Bucs defense is terribly soft. They are rotating three guys (two rookies and one second-year player) at defensive tackle, Barrett Ruud is not a run stopper at all at middle linebacker and Sean Jones and rookie Cody Grimm are the safeties. As a result, teams have gashed the Bucs on the ground the past three weeks, starting with Rashard Mendenhall, then Cedric Benson and last week the immortal Chris Ivory. With Steven Jackson, folks down here are convinced the Rams will continue this trend. How have the Rams been running inside and has the Rams offensive line improved enough to consistently run inside?

Howard Balzer: Running inside has been a mixed bag, but Jackson is always a threat to be a force. He doesn’t get big yardage, but there is always that threat. In recent weeks, the Rams have been using John Greco at right guard during games. He is considered a better run blocker than Adam Goldberg. The interior of the line is solid, with center Jason Brown and left guard Jacob Bell.

Joe: Obviously, Sam Bradford is the franchise for the Rams. Thus far he has been pretty good, especially for a rookie. Has Bradford surprised the Rams braintrust that he has developed this quickly?

Balzer: There really isn’t that much surprise. It was apparent from the start that beyond the skills necessary, Bradford had the work ethic and desire to do whatever necessary to improve on a daily basis. He would often say during training camp his goal was just to get better every day. How a rookie reacts to the regular-season intensity is also a question, but I believe the coaches would have been more surprised had he been negatively affected by it.

Joe: The loss to the Lions aside, the Rams defense has been somewhat stingy. This really shouldn’t be a surprise given Steve Spagnuolo’s background. James Laurinaitis may be the most underrated middle linebacker in the game. Chris Long appears to have finally turned the corner at defensive end. What seems to be working for the Rams defense and are there any unsung players on that side of the ball?

Balzer: When defensive tackle Fred Robbins was signed as a free agent, hardly an eyebrow was raised, but he has added not only a run-stuffing presence inside, but having played for Spagnuolo with the Giants, his knowledge of the defense has been a help to the younger players. Defensive end James Hall has also been a big plus. Hall visited New Orleans early in free agency, but chose to re-sign with the Rams. He’s another guy that is a leader on a young team.

Joe: The Bucs seemed to be on the upswing after a dreadful season in 2009, and then the Saints thoroughly manhandled them last week, running and throwing the ball at will. From your sources, what element do the Bucs possess that concerns Spagnuolo the most? Or were the three early wins by the Bucs simply done with mirrors?

Balzer: They are concerned with the Bucs’ speed on defense, and the ability of Josh Freeman to make big plays.

Former Rams vice president of player personnel Tony Softli and Cliff Saunders of WXOS-FM in St. Louis discuss the Rams-Bucs game Sunday. In this video, you will learn what “SJ39” means.

Yeah, Joe heard the bad news delivered by Raheem Morris at his afternoon news conference.

Joe was depressed and turned to ice cold pints before hitting his laptop.

Brian Price is going to be out for a while. The St. Pete Times reported Price has some sort of hip inflammation that tossed a curveball at Bucs doctors. The Bucs are going to see how he responds with some extended time off. It could be several weeks, per the Times.

As Joe wrote the other day, pull up your pants, Ryan Sims.

Surely, Gerald McCoy will get nearly every defensive snap, as usual. And Sims and Roy Miller will split it up at nosetackle. Look for Michael Bennett, who played his share inside in preseason, to get a handful of reps there. Joe suspects Kyle Moore, whose return is expected, will stay primarily at his left end spot.

Now losing Price is no massive loss, per se, because the defensive line as a whole has not had success. Price is a lot better than Sims. And since this season sadly is not about winning a Super Bowl, then losing one of the young guys the Bucs need to develop and evaluate is troubling.

Earnest Graham didn’t practice Friday because of a bad hamstring. Morris talked about how Kregg Lumpkin has been cross-training at fullback and Erik Lorig is emerging as more than an emergency fullback. But there was not a peep about Chris Pressley, the guy who came into the season as the No. 2 fullback. We know he can’t run the ball, but now he can’t block, either? Joe sincerely hopes Graham can find a way Sunday.

Old man LG Keydrick Vincent also has missed practice time this week, and Raheem calmly chatted about how rookie Ted Larsen would the his replacement, if necessary. No word whether Raheem was wetting himself behind the podium. …. Larsen was a college center who has been learning his way at left guard since the Patriots drafted him.

The thought of losing Vincent and Graham is enough to send Joe to the liquor cabinet.

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Joe thought this was particularly amusing so he decided to share, from the good people of Tauntr.com.

If you think the Bucs season last year was sickening — and it was — imagine being so putrid, so absent of hope, your team finished with the first pick in the draft.

That’s how miserable the Rams season was, and they used that first pick to select their franchise quarterback, Sam Bradford.

After the Rams had a few surprising wins, including blasting San Diego last week, could it be the Rams rebuilding effort is a quicker construction than the Bucs?

It seems eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune thinks so. He put fingers to keyboard and posted via the TBO Bucs Twitter feed that the Rams are rebuilding better than the Bucs.

The Rams may be a little further along on their rebuilding plan than the Bucs. That’s why Sunday’s blacked-out game has some intrigue.

Well, three things the Rams have that the Bucs don’t have which may lead people to believe the Rams are indeed further along: They have a young stud rush-stuffing middle linebacker in James Laurinaitis (son of “Animal,”) a budding sackmeister of a defensive end in Chris Long and a dangerous, workhorse of a running back in Steven Jackson.

If the Bucs had solid play from those three positions — which, currently, the Bucs do not — the Bucs would be just as far down the rebuilding road as the Rams, if not farther.

Rachel Nichols, Mark Schlereth and Mike Golic investigate the upcoming Rams-Bucs game in this BSPN video. Joe likes the verb Golic uses to describe what happened to the Bucs last week. Nichols reminds Joe of a Halloween character: The woman never blinks.

Joe recently had the chance to chat with Bucs wide receiver Sammie Stroughter. Bucs general manager Mark Dominik commented last week about the work ethic of some of the Bucs and singled out Stroughter for praise. So Joe asked Stroughter about working in the offseason.

JoeBucsFan: Mark Dominik recently was on Sirius NFL Radio giving you props for how hard you work in the offseason. Tell me about that.

Sammie Stroughter: I take pride in working hard and I always want to be better and I want to be part of the team’s success. I don’t want to disappoint so, yeah, we work in the offseason. I want to be my best self out there. We have high standards. So, yeah, we’re big on accountability.

Joe: Did other receivers, specifically rookies Mike Williams and Arrelious Benn, when they see the time you put in during the offseason, you think that rubs off on them?

Stroughter: Yes sir. We have great veteran leadership from Maurice Stovall and Michael Spurlock who work really, really hard. But the rookies came out here and they had a great work ethic also. So it was an easy [transition]. Knowing the accountability that we have to each other, our focus is trying to be our best selves each and every day.

Joe: How important is that for team chemistry to work with Josh Freeman in the offseason and how much does that actually help you during the season?

Stroughter: Oh, it helps you a lot. Starting from Day One in how you run your routes. Everybody runs routes differently. It’s like any job, the more time you put in you will see better results.

Joe: Tell us about flying in from Oregon to work out. Dominik said that you called him in February and asked him if you should fly in to work out with Freeman. Is that true and how did that come about? Was that your idea or Dominik’s?

Stroughter: It’s all Freeman. When Freeman tells you to be there, you better be there. We are all trying to get molded from him. He works the hardest. He’s one of the best workers [as a teammate] I’ve ever had. He puts a lot into it. You see that [work ethic] as a receiver; you want to do the same thing.

The Bucs took off their underwear and put on their big boy pads many weeks ago, but lately they haven’t been putting their face on people.

No, Joe’s not tyring to conjure images of naked men, simply rehashing the legendary Raheem Morris quote about the meaning of training camp.

This week, defensive line coach Todd Wash told Tom Balog, of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, that the Bucs need more of their faces on people.

“There’s been some yards after contact. That’s a concern this week with Jackson coming in,” Wash said. “We’re going to have to play physical at the point and when we get an opportunity, we have to put our face on it.”

Joe watched a chunk of the Bucs-Saints game again last night, and Joe was surprised how truly ugly it looked through a more analytical view than on gameday.

Joe’s putting a lot of faith in the Bucs on Sunday based on how they emerged from several beatings over the past two seasons (3-3 and the losses by a combined 17 points), and the Rams aren’t anywhere near the Saints’ league. But Sunday’s horrendous tackling and overall lifeless defensive play is giving Joe serious second thoughts.

Joe’s not sure how a defense drops a total home stinker effort like that against the Super Bowl champs. Way too many slumped shoulders. That was not a young, angry, violent, hungry Bucs team on Sunday.

You’ve all read THE PESSIMIST, who spews his Bucs-related anger like no other. But Joe also wants you to know THE OPTIMIST. 

THE OPTIMIST is Nick Houllis, a Bucs fan and an accomplished writer whose steadfast allegiance to the team goes back to the 1970s. Houllis is the founder, creator and guru of BucStop.com, a place Joe goes to get lost in time via Houllis’ stunning video collection.

THE OPTIMIST will shine that positive light in your eyes. Some will love it. Some won’t.

The Saints game was ugly, no doubt. The Bucs were exposed in just about every area of need they have.

The lack of pass rush? Fifteen NFL Players have more sacks than the Bucs do.

Trying to stop the run? The top two draft picks including the 3rd overall choice has increased the Bucs from dead last in Rush Defense to, well, next to last — 157 yards per game. But hey, that is better than last year; where at 158 yards per game the defensive coordinator was fired.

That is not likely to happen this year, as its good to have friends in high places! But if you look closely, there is a difference. No folks, the Bucs are not there yet, and anyone who reads my Bucstop website regularly knows I predicted exactly this kind of start to the year. I said the Bucs would start the year 3-1, before reality hit in; this is a very, very young team. How young? This is the  entire Blue-Grey team plus Ronde Barber playing all time cornerback. This is a team where Josh Freeman and Sammy Stroughter are veterans and Gerald McCoy and Brian Price just havn’t found their home yet.

I won’t sugar coat it. Warren Sapp had a sack by now; heck, he had one before halftime of his very first game up in the Vet at Philadelphia.

But that’s about all Sapp did for the first year or so, and Randall Cunningham trips up every once in a while too, you know. McCoy is still trying to think about what to do, instead of instinctively just doing it. That takes time, as anyone who switches jobs can attest to. If you’re a cook at Hops for 5 years, then you take a job with Chili’s, it’s going to take awhile before you don’t have to think about how the fixings on an order of fajitas are set up. You think, you take up time. You react instinctively, you’ve got fajitas for everyone!

Last year, the Bucs gave up 158 yards per game on the ground, but that was to everyone, including the likes of Fred Jackson and the Buffalo Bills gashing us for 163 yards. It was also the Redskins adding on 128, and Miami rushing for 198.  Sure, Chris Ivory is an unknown too, but the offensive line he was running behind wasn’t; we were watching them in February, remember?

No this team is not ready to take on the Steelers or the Saints just yet. What they are ready to do is take on the weak teams, you know, the ones that beat them last year, and play competitive with them. They are ready to play in the same league with the average teams, all the while learning their lessons from their beat downs, taking film of their ills and having them dissected.

At this time a year ago, we were wondering, Can the Bucs win a game?

Today, were wondering, can the Bucs reach .500? We’re asking the tougher questions because the players are better. Byron Leftwich has been replaced with Josh Freeman, who still has not finished a full 16 games. Michael Clayton and Maurice Stovall have been replaced with Mike Williams and Arrelious Benn. Mike Nugent’s wide right kicks would have dreamed of the chance to hit the right goal post.

The progress is there folks, if you care to see it. The finished product, however, is not. But don’t think for a moment that just because of last week’s game, that it won’t be.

Gregg Rosenthal believes the way the Bucs have played against Pittsburgh and New Orleans that they don’t deserve respect, so he says in this NBCSports.com video.

Joe’s already got a $50 bet going that the Bucs will throw the ball on first down of their first possession.

Often this has led to trouble for Josh Freeman, and Joe typically is near vomiting when he sees the Bucs bail on the running game. But considering how bad the run game has been, Joe believes the Bucs are going to open it up early Sunday and hope to grab a lead and set up the run.

Besides, Josh Freeman is a Pro Bowl talent, so says Rams defensive coordinator Ken Flajole, via CBSSports.com.

Defensive coordinator Ken Flajole said Tampa QB Josh Freeman is a lot like a younger Donovan McNabb. So even though the Rams have played against an again McNabb this season, Flajole said they haven’t faced a quarterback with Freeman’s skill set.

And Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo got in on the Freeman love:

Spagnuolo on Tampa QB Josh Freeman: “Even when you’ve got a free shot at him, he’s hard to bring down. He’s always looking downfield, looking to make a play. He doesn’t panic. He’s way beyond his years.”

Joe expects the Bucs to let No. 5 go out and win what is an extraordinarily critical game for the new regime. Freeman might be their best shot.

Gerald McCoy getting his first sack Sunday would go a long way in halting the Bucs defensive woes.

Three weeks into the season the Bucs were on Cloud-9, undefeated and hosting fellow undefeated Pittsburgh.

A win over the Steelers may have launched a magical season for the Bucs. But it was not meant to be as the Steelers played big boy football and pummeled the Bucs on the ground.

Since, the Bucs defense has been in a freefall, so writes eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.

Pittsburgh’s 38-13 romp has triggered a three-game slide for a defense that had been playing consistently well, holding seven of Tampa Bay’s previous eight opponents to 20 points or fewer.

All four of Tampa Bay’s sacks came during a 20-7 triumph at Carolina in Week 2, yet the Bucs have blitzed sparingly because, according to Morris, they don’t want to leave the secondary exposed for big gains.

The Steelers set the blueprint and, the NFL being a copycat league, Cincinnati and New Orleans have picked up the baton. Yes, the Bucs got over on the Bengals, thanks to forced turnovers.

Of course, later in Kaufman’s story, all the Bucs players he spoke to said all the right things. Joe is more into results than talk. The Bucs could easily turn the page with a stout defensive stand against the Rams.

If not, it would help to force some turnovers against St. Louis. Remember, Sam Bradford is still a green quarterback. If Aqib Talib is to make plays befitting a Pro Bowl player, Sunday against Bradford would be a good start.

The thought of last season makes Joe’s stomach turn, specifically the heinous Jim Bates Experiment.

Watching opponents’ passes sail over the secondary’s head like a Dirtbag Longoria line drive into the left field gap, seeing Barrett Ruud run after ball carriers downfield like Thunder Puppy Lou chases scantily clad fraulines at the beach, and watching Sabby take horrid angles week after week, game after game, possession after possession, Joe just wanted to pick up his barstool and wing it across the room.

Joe cannot tell you how many beers he guzzled, forced to watch this farce of a defense.

Probably the best personnel move Raheem Morris made all of last year was to tell Bates to go eat chicken at a fast food joint while the Bucs practiced, defrocking the Bucs then-defensive coordinator.

Though there are still potholes in the Bucs defense, it has improved.

Not so fast, says Justin Pawlowski. Joe’s good friend at WDAE-AM 620, otherwise known as “The Commissioner,” and host of the popular “Blitz” heard Saturday afternoons.

Pawlowski is of the mind that after the Bucs got slapped around by the Saints last week, the Bucs are better off with Bates, if one can imagine such a thing. Pawlowski details on his blog found on his station’s website.

It’s easy to see that the Bucs defensive statistics should be vastly improved from last year, not just because the schedule was much easier, but also because the Bucs are running a defense that fits their players much better, right?

In 2009, the Bucs, in their first 5 games, allowed 140 points, 763 yards on the ground, 4.7 yards per carry, 227.2 passing yards per game, and sacked opposing quarterbacks 9 times. In 2010, the Bucs, in their first 5 games, allowed 111 points, 785 yards on the ground, 5.3 yards per carry, 210.6 passing yards a game, and have sacked opposing quarterbacks just 4 times.

It’s easy to see that even with a much easier schedule this year than last year, the Buccaneer defense has actually put up worse statistics than a year ago through 5 games.

Joe loves Justin but Joe’s not ready to go there yet. As Justin pointed out, the Bucs have (had?) two rookie defensive tackles getting starts and playing loads of snaps. Rarely do rookie defensive tackles play well; Joe’s been over this many times before.

Secondly, under the watchful gaze of Bates, the Bucs defense set a franchise record for consecutive games allowing opponents to score 25 or more points. When you factor in some of the rancid teams the Bucs fielded in their checkered history, this is an appalling and unexcusable mark.

Were the Bucs freight-trained by the Steelers? Yup. Did the Bucs get alley-beaten last week by the Saints? Sure. But the Bucs already have won as many games in their first four outings as they did all last year.

In the end, that’s all that counts: Ws.

At various times since the Saints beating Sunday, Raheem Morris has blamed himself for some of the problems on defense.

Today, he offered a little more clarity at his news conference. The coach essentially said he made things too complicated for his young defense.

“If I don’t evaluate myself, then I’m not doing our team or our talent a service. I maybe gave them too much last week. And we went out there and didn’t play as well as we could. You know, we were a little bit paralyzed by analyzation, sort of speak, instead of going out there and playing our fast brand of football,” Morris said. “So we’ll get back to doing that. We’ll cut back a little bit. Now I don’t want to go back to the point where you’re just vanilla, and you’re doing nothing, but at the same time I don’t want to hurt the guy’s play and how fast they were able to play.”

Yesterday, as Joe documented, Derrick Brooks said the Bucs should make sure not to “overscheme.”

Surely, Raheem overwhelming his young defense was bound to happen, as he tries to feel out what they can handle. But now that it’s happened, the defensive coordinator/head should know exactly what to do next to get the team back to the execution level they showed against Cleveland and Carolina.

The Rams, especially on the road, aren’t much better than those teams.

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The folks at the Post-Dispatch in St. Louis are making noise about Gerald McCoy’s quotes after he chatted with the St. Louis media yesterday.

Inevitably, the MSM out there wanted to talk about McCoy taking on his former college QB teammate Sam Bradford on Sunday, when the Lambs come to Tampa.

“I’m going to kill him,” McCoy said Wednesday. “If I can get to him, I’m going to kill him. We are definitely cool off the field. But on the field, I do not know him. He is No. 8 for the Rams, and that’s all I know.”

McCoy embellished the message, adding that if he sacks Bradford, “I might even do something dirty, like knee him or something. When we get off the field, I’ll say, ‘Hey, Sam, don’t take it personal, man. It was an accident.'”

Bradford acknowledged hearing the smack talk and even offered an excuse. “At Oklahoma, he was never allowed to hit me,” Bradford said. “So, I think he’s got a lot of built-up frustration that he’s going to try to take out on Sunday.”

Now McCoy and Bradford are friends so there’s no juicy bad blood here. McCoy professed his love of Bradford on The Gerald McCoy Show on WDAE-AM 620 on Tuesday night. McCoy even told a story about how he passed some college classes because Bradford was his personal tutor.

As for “killing” Bradford, Joe would be pleased if McCoy can simply touch, maybe hit, Bradford a few times. That would be a big improvement over the past few games.