Boy, if the Bucs can beat the Saints (who are playing more like the Aints) this Sunday, the bandwagon is going to fill up. “The Professor,” John Clayton, is already chugging the Bucs Kool-Aid as he gushes in this BSPN video about Josh Freeman and Mike Williams.

In his weekly NFL wrap-up column, Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports breaks down the winners and losers.

He has the Bucs as winners, but he seems to be in a state of disbelief.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman
The Bucs are 3-1. I keep blinking and looking at that record and can’t believe it. Freeman is the reason why. The guy can make some unreal throws and keep drives alive in the clutch. His sideline pass to Michael Spurlock setting up the game-winning field goal against the Bengals was so good it was absurd. Once again, I point to the Ben Roethlisberger comparison made by CBS analyst Gus Johnson. Freeman’s team is nowhere near as talented as the ones Roethlisberger had early in his career, but it is a good comparison.

Well, Joe’s well aware that it didn’t take an imbecile like Hollerin’ Gus Johnson to figure this out. Joe quoted no less an authority than Kellen Winslow, Jr. during the summer prior to Freeman’s rookie training camp who compared Freeman to handsy, horny Roethlisberger, comparing the pair’s football skills, that is.

And what exactly is this fascination with Hollerin’ Gus Johnson? Since when is a hyena screaming into a microphone a good thing? The absolute only time that’s a good thing is if said person screaming has ample breasts and a firm arse, neither of which Hollerin’ Gus Johnson possesses to the best of Joe’s knowledge.

Why, if some carnival barker walked in your living room and brayed like Hollerin’ Gus Johnson after every friggin’ play, you’d punch him in the jaw or have the cops drag the moron off. But Hollerin’ Gus Johnson, who gins up fiction to make it sound cool, is a good thing? In what civilized world?

The only time Joe ever wants to be screamed at like that is when Joe is consummating a long, intense, sweaty, heavy-breathing, late-night tryst with Rachel Watson.

Every week in his popular Bull Rush column, former Bucs defensive end Steve White breaks down the play of each Bucs defensive lineman and looks at all things defensive line as a whole.

It’s always a unique, intense and long read. Joe always advises you to read the whole thing.

Following the Bucs-Bengals game, Stylez White was skewered with a fat dose of reality:

Stylez G. White: I have been saying for weeks that White has to start making inside moves to get offensive tackles to stop setting for his outside rush. And for weeks nothing has changed. Now Stylez did some good things against the Bengals. He had an assisted tackle. He had a great EX game going with Moore where he comes in and blasts the left guard and takes out two blockers to free Moore up. And he also had that great outside rush from the left side which I talked about earlier.

But I’m going to make a point here. I counted 7 times when Stylez had an opportunity to make an inside move. By opportunity I mean the left tackle took a wide set, the B gap was open, and the left guard at least initially was not looking for him to come inside.

SEVEN TIMES!

With a damn statue back there at quarterback!

Stylez won’t have a better opportunity to sack a quarterback who has no inclination to try to move very much in the pocket. And Palmer isn’t the type of guy to hold on to the ball and allow you to get to him consistently with an outside rush. And yet out of those 7 opportunities Stylez didn’t try even once to take what the Bengals were giving him.

Maybe the most egregious opportunity squandered was with 45 seconds left in the first half. The left guard literally turns his back to the B gap and the left tackle opened up so wide with his shoulders turned towards the sideline that he practically had a neon sign flashing “SPIN ON ME PLEASE!!!” Instead White tried to go around the horn again…and didn’t get there.

I have always had confidence in Stylez as a pass rusher. I was one of the ones who agreed with his assertion that he would have double digit sacks this year. But right now he is giving away sacks and pressures. Left tackles should be sending him thank you cards because he is letting them off the hook. And the defense is not as dominant as it should be because he continues to focus solely on beating guys outside.

There isn’t a premier pass rusher in the NFL at defensive end who does not make inside moves several times again. Not a single one. Simeon Rice who was one of the most productive and fastest defensive ends in Buccaneers history would make three or four inside moves a game at least. You HAVE to do it not only because it gives you an opportunity for quick pressure, but also because it gives left tackles more than one look so they can’t be comfortable in their pass sets.

Its just like a pitcher. If all you throw is fast balls, even if you throw heat, people are going to knock your shit out of the park. But if you throw a change up here or there you keep guys off balance. And you make it a lot easier on yourself.

Until Stylez starts throwing change ups our pass rush isn’t going to consistently scare anybody. And there is absolutely no chance he will get to double digits.

It is what it is.

For Joe, a successful, consistent pass rush from the Bucs’ defensive line feels like ancient history at this point.

Perhaps the Over Stick is in order?

Raheem Morris took on the Where’s-Earnest-Graham question from multiple callers to his radio show on WDAE-AM 620 on Monday.

First, Raheem explained that he’s waiting for a lead to get Graham and LeGarrette Blount more carries. Later, when hit with the query about playing No. 34, he used an NBA analogy to explain, in part, Graham’s role.

“For us, he’s Robert Horry. He’s going to be there when game is on the line and making the big shot,” Morris said. “You know, he’s all those little guys that Michael Jordan kicked out [to] over the years, Steve Kerr and John Paxson. He’s making big-time clutch plays that are absolutely winning football games for us.”

Joe (this particular NBA-fan Joe) gets that Raheem is picking his spots for Graham. But even clutch player extraordinaire Robert Horry averaged over eight shots a game in his career.

How bout getting Graham involved at least a few more times on Sunday, coach. You know, so he can be more like Horry.

Including rushes and receptions, Graham is averaging just six touches a game, up from two per game last year.

Graham has been consistently successful. Cadillac Williams has not. Michael Jordan always fed the hot hand. Why won’t Raheem and Greg Olson?

Yes, the Bucs’ running game is struggling. Donald Penn admitted as much during the Total Access show on WDAE-AM 620 on Monday Night.

However, the rushing attack is on the upswing. Cadillac Williams averaged three yards a carry in Cincinnati (his average entering the game was 2.5) and Earnest Graham broke a 61-yard run through a big hole. 

Penn explained that thorough, intense study during the bye week had a significant impact that should lead to improvement and consistency.

“The bye week we sat down and we watched every single play that we had called in the run game throughout the preseason and through the first three games. And we watched every play one after another. You know, to see if we had anything that was lingering over, if we were making the the same mistakes, I think that helped us a lot,” Penn said. “Seeing that and watching just one play every single time, you know to see the things that were consistent, and to see the things that were bad so we could fix it, I think it’s showing dividends. I think it is, really. I think it really played over into [Cincinnati], and I think it’s going to still play over.”

Penn, with clear frustration in his voice from the Bucs’ lack of consistency running the football, went on to talk about how the offensive line feels it has to do more for Williams. In response to a question from a caller, Penn also said Graham and Williams are the best running backs on the roster.

Joe’s glad good guy Tom Jones of the St. Pete Times isn’t his accountant.

Jones, who pens an enjoyable Two Cents column, secured the TV ratings of the head-to-head games played Sunday by the Bucs and Rays.

The Bucs ratings were 36 percent higher, per Jones’ figures, yet Jones tries to tell his readers the Rays are just as popular.

The Bucs-Bengals game on Fox earned a 15.1 rating, meaning 15.1 percent of Tampa Bay households with TVs were tuned in. That’s about 272,677 homes. The Rays-Rangers Game 4 drew an 11.1, or about 200,443 homes. But, two things to remember. It’s likely many viewers switched back and forth between the games, so both games would get credit in the same household. Secondly, TBS is a cable network, as opposed to Fox, so more people get Fox than TBS. That would help the Bucs game draw a larger audience. All in all, it could be considered just about a split viewership in Tampa Bay.”

Sorry, Tom. Your math is off. There’s no “split viewership” here.

While the Bucs game was on FOX-13, TBS is available in more than 85 percent of homes with television sets in the Tampa Bay television market, per ratings giant Neilsen. 

There is no comparison between the popularity of the Bucs and Rays. The math doesn’t add up. The Bucs are far more popular.

No surprise, but sad nonetheless, the huge Bucs game on Sunday against the Saints will not be televised in the Tampa Bay area, so reports Stephen Holder of the St. Pete Times.

In Holder’s piece, he goes on to say the Bucs season ticket base is “between 40,000 and 50,000” and therefore it’s hard to turn a sellout in the 65,000-seat stadium.

Joe has to quibble with Holder’s math a little, considering the 12,000 club seats (aka premium seats) at the C.I.T.S. don’t count toward the total needed sold to keep the game on local television. Plus, attendance on opening day was 47,211, per Holder’s newspaper.

Joe would not be suprised if the Bucs full season ticket base equates to just a sniff above 40,000, maybe even 39k and change. And Joe’s research suggests about 8,000 club seats are sold to season ticket holders.

But Joe’s an optimist at heart and suspects ticket sales will pick up quite a bit if the Bucs can stay in the playoff hunt.

If you can’t attend the game, or shun unlawful Internet streams, you can join Joe on The Blackout Tour. It’s a lot of fun.

In this CBSSports.com video, Boomer Esiason of the NFL Today talks about why the Bucs won.

Wondering when you’ll see Earnest Graham and LeGarrette Blount get their numbers called consistently and (hopefully) grind out four- and five-yard carries?

Well, it seems the plan is for them to tote the rock when the Bucs have a lead, so said Raheem Morris during The Raheem Morris Show on WDAE-AM 620 on Monday.

“I’m loving where these guys are going and what they’re able to do and the stuff they provide us. I can’t wait til we get a lead here so we can really pound some people with those big backs. It’ll be fun,” Morris said.

C’mon, coach. How about some of that “fun” on the opening drive. There’s no reason to wait.

To refresh the head coach’s memory, the bulk of Blount’s carries against the Steelers were during the Bucs’ third drive of the game trailing 7-3. He came in and ran for 12 yards, 4 yards, 2 yards and 8 yards before the Bucs kicked a field goal to pull within 7-6.

And Graham? He’s proven he can average more than the 2.6 yards per carry that Cadillac Williams is churning out.

Joe’s not sure why Morris says he wants/needs a lead to get Graham and Blount significant carries. If he thinks they can pound the ball successfully with a lead — when everyone knows the run is coming — surely he should think that Graham and Blount can move the chains at other points in the game.

Perhaps one of the most hideous quarterbacks Joe has ever laid eyes on, but a man who will have you believe by the way he talks he was a 1990s version of Sammy Baugh, discusses Josh Freeman in this BSPN video.

It appears Mike Smith doesn’t know much about the Bucs.

Yet.

The Falcons coach made his weekly appearance this morning on Sirius NFL Radio and Peter King, who was co-hosting “The Opening Drive” along with Bob Papa, asked Smith what he thought of the Bucs.

Smith didn’t think much of the Bucs only because he has seen only scant snippets of Bucs games.

Peter King: I’d like to know something: I have been really fascinated by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They are feisty on defense. They have a really good leader in Josh Freeman at quarterback, even though he is only 22. How much time to you spend — if you spend any time at all — looking at other teams during the week that you don’t play them?

Mike Smith: Peter, I don’t spend any time looking at a team until the week that we play them. But we spent time in the offseason looking at the Bucs because our last game last year was against Tampa. You can see the groundwork they were building to have a very good football team.

Freeman has the skill set to be a very good quarterback. I think Raheem has those guys playing extremely hard and they are extremely opportunistic, taking advantage of a lot mistakes by other teams. From my vantage point just watching on TV, they are the up-and-coming team we thought they would be and they are a team that should be reckoned with.

Sabby Piscitelli fans, assuming there are some, were in full celebration Sunday, as their guy had the Bucs’ big interception to set up the winning score in Cincinnati.

Joe even gave Sabby the game ball, although it was clear Sabby didn’t play well before that game-changing play.

On Monday, Raheem Morris elaborated on Piscitelli’s demotion and how Sabby’s immature, angry response before opening day was a teaching moment for his young Bucs. Morris spoke on The Raheem Morris Show on WDAE-AM 620.

“[Sabby] put it out in public and it became kind of a thing that brought our team together,” Morris said. “It was a great example for me to use for our team. It was a great example for me to use for our guys. It took him a while to get out of his funk. He’s been in my office. We have a dynamic and unbelievable relationship. And that’s the beauty of this whole thing for me to watch him get that pick yesterday and his whole team tackle him and beat him up underneath the stands. And absoulutely have a ball with him.”

Joe would have been happy to dive on Sabby and smack him around a bit, too. Joe sincerely hopes Sabby didn’t pay for any beers on Sunday night.

But, back to reality, Joe’s very glad starting safety Sean Jones is on track to return for Sunday’s home game against New Orleans.

One reason why Joe so enjoys listening to his good friend “The Commissioner,” Justin Pawlowski of WDAE-AM 620, is that he is not afraid to speak his mind.

Currently, Justin believes Cadillac Williams is washed up. In fact, Justin goes so far to write on his blog located on the WDAE website, that if Cadillac is not benched soon, he will drag the Bucs down the road to ruin.

The Bucs are defying the odds of winning by not being able to stop the run on defense and not being able to run the ball on offense. We’ll start on offense and the lack of production from Cadillac Williams.  I know that people are shouting all over Tampa to get Cadillac out of the game, and I am with them 100%.  The guy is a nice story, but he is not producing.  This isn’t a one-game stumble, this is a full season disappointment.  In the NFL today, as a RB, you must either have the speed to burst through the hole or have the power to bust through the hole.  Cadillac has neither.  Huggins 1 carry and Blount’s 4 carries gives us no idea if these 2 players can bolster such a poor unit.  Cadillac is one more season away from his 30th birthday and has already had 2 knee surgeries.  If the Bucs want to continue to win, they MUST find a running game on offense.

Look, Joe loves Cadillac’s heart. If someone like Randy Moss had the heart and desire and work ethic of Cadillac, my, word!

Given his two bum knees and his approaching old man status of NFL running backs, it seems Cadillac is out of gas. Joe will again repeat what Marshall Faulk said on the NFL Network.

Faulk noted that “good running backs can overcome a bad offensive line.” (And Joe doesn’t believe the Bucs offensive line is bad.)

Aqib Talib has been terrorizing quarterbacks this season

It comes as no surprise to Joe that the Bucs are picking passes off more than Wade Phillips picks his nose at a red light.

The Bucs were expected to have a strong defensive backfield and it seems even without Tanard Jackson, the Bucs’ secondary has a nose for the ball.

Good guy Stephen Holder, of the St. Petersburg Times, has evidence of that premise. The Bucs are intercepting opposing quarterbacks so frequently they are on pace for a franchise mark.

Bucs are on pace for 36 INTs… Team record is 32 in 1981. They’ve got 9 in 4 games, tied for second in NFL.

This is cool to read. Will the Bucs set a new team record? Who knows, maybe they can’t keep up this pace? But the Bucs’ secondary seems to be serving notice to the NFL not to test it.

Bad new for the Bucs.

Starting center and co-captain Jeff Faine will miss at least a few weeks with a “lower body” muscle injury, Raheem Morris said moments ago in his noon news conference.

Faine left Sunday’s dramatic win early in the second half and was replaced successfully with third-year versatile offensive lineman Jeremy Zuttah.

Regarding starting strong safety Sean Jones, who was inured and replaced after the opening play by Sabby Piscitelli, Raheem said Jones “should be fine. He should be ready to go [Sunday].”

Raheem said rookie center Ted Larsen, the 2010 Patriots sixth-round pick from North Carolina State, “will have an opportunity to get a helmet on” as the backup center on Sunday against the Saints.

Former Bucs guard Ian Beckles (1990-1996), co-host of the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620, says it’s time Bucs fans tip their caps to Raheem Morris.

Stunned by the Bucs 3-1 record, Beckles said the Bucs are not a physical team and are ripe to be exposed more in future games yet are thriving off their mentality.

“It doesn’t matter. They think they can win. And that’s half the battle sometimes,” Beckles said.

“It’s not so crazy,” Beckles said of Raheem’s Race-to-10 catch phrase for 2010.

Beckles went on to say that his eyes were keyed in during the game on Gerald McCoy. “It wasn’t pretty, Beckles said. “He is not physical at all. He was getting ragdolled a lot.”

The Bucs may have won the game yesterday over the Bengals but many national football experts believe it was the Bengals that lost the same game.

Some, including Adam Schein, believe the Bengals lost yesterday to a lesser opponent.

Discussing the game with his co-host Rich Gannon, heard exclusively on Sirius NFL Radio, the duo tore apart Carson Palmer for losing to the Bucs.

“After that game, who would you rather have, Carson Palmer or Josh Freeman on your team?” Gannon rhetorically asked. “I’ll take Josh Freeman, who is in, what, his 12th or 13th start?”

“You can’t lose to an inferior club,” Schein said, mocking the Bengals. “Look, Josh Freeman has the knack. Mike Williams is incredible. The Bucs took advantage.”

Gannon was especially hard on Palmer for throwing a pick-six to Bucs rookie safety Cody Grimm, claiming the play was all on Palmer’s shoulders, not Grimm reading the play like a book.

It was an ugly moment for Micheal Spurlock. His fumble on a kickoff return led to a Cincinnati touchdown and appeared to turn the game in the Bengals’ favor.

Joe was so sick he couldn’t finish his beer. Apparently, per Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune, so too was Spurlock (sans the beer).

But given a chance to redeem himself, Spurlock did with one of the plays of the day in the NFL, a top-tipping, falling-out-of-bounds catch that set up Connor Barth’s game-winning field goal.

Few, including Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, believed Spurlock had made the grab, but in the time it took for replay officials to confirm their original finding, Spurlock was redeemed.

“Yeah, that was redemption,” Spurlock said after his catch set the stage for Connor Barth’s 31-yard game-winning field goal with one second left in the Bucs’ dramatic 24-21 victory against the Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium.

“The thing is, we practice that play every day,” Spurlock said. “It’s a drill that some might think is a waste of time but it’s a drill that sure helped us out today.”

As Joe learned when he was a kid, practice makes perfect. And Joe was happy that Spurlock got a chance to wipe that ugly play off out of fans’ memories.

So there was No. 34 hurdling Bengals DT Pat Sims and blown up Keydrick Vincent in the backfield yesterday.

No. 34 then regained his balance and willed and powered his way into the endzone.

And No. 34 also was the guy hammering into the line with the Bucs backed up on their 1 yard line and busting a 61-yard run.

Joe doesn’t know many fullbacks with that kind of ability. So when is Earnest Graham going to get more touches?

Cadillac Williams jacked up his season average to 2.6 yards a carry after another sluggish Sunday. And Caddy dropped yet another screen pass. Clearly, the Bucs can’t run the ball and, as expected, the coaching staff has little faith in Kareem Huggins’ and LeGarrette Blount’s ability to protect Josh Freeman, so they’re not on the field.

If Huggins and Blount are on-paper options more than anything else, then Greg Olson needs to find away to get more out of Graham. When given a chance, the guy has delivered, even last year in his inexplicably brief opportunities (14 carries for 66 yards).

What exactly are the Bucs saving him for?

Joe can’t imagine anyone making a case that Cadillac is a better option than Graham.

Most of Joe’s readers were incensed if not mortified when Sports Illustrated’s popcorn-shoveling Peter King predicted the Bucs would win a meager two games this season.

Well, now the Bucs have as many wins as they mustered last year through just four games. Suddenly, King is drinking Bucs Kool-Aid more than he chugs coffee.

King is now so enamoured with the Bucs, he believes Josh Freeman is in the running for the NFL Offensive MVP honors.

In King’s MVP Watch in his weekly must-read Monday Morning Quarterback, King lists Freeman among his top five candidates.

5. Josh Freeman, QB, Tampa Bay. Forget the stats. Watch the Bucs. They’re a gallant team, and Freeman makes more mistakes than he should. But he’s the on-field keystone to an intriguing team that’s not going away.

Look, Joe is giddy with the Bucs’ start as much as the next Bucs fan, and Joe is really liking Freeman’s intangibles. But to suggest Freeman may be NFL Offensive MVP is a bit of a stretch, even by the most avid of pewter-colored sunglasses wearing Bucs fans.

Of course, if the Bucs continue to pull out fourth quarter wins, Joe will even have to concede Freeman may be in the discussion at year’s end.