Count Joe among those in great pain over the Rays looking the Jim Bates Experience today. So Joe thought an evening pick-me-up was in order.

USA Today has churned out a feature story exalting the budding superstarness that is Josh Freeman.

It’s a nice read.  

“We hit the jackpot in terms of his work ethic,” Buccaneers offensive coordinator Greg Olson says. “He’s got really good parents who talk about the value of hard work and preparation. 

“Here’s a kid that’s willing to come in and do what’s asked of him by the coaching staff. You don’t ever know how a kid will be when you pay him all that money. Will he be coachable? Will he do all the work?”

The article delves into how exactly Greg Olson had the nerve to ask Drew Brees to mentor Freeman and Josh Johnson during the offseason, as well as Brees’ response.

Joe hopes the Bucs reward Freeman with more talent at the skill positions. If the salary cap floor returns next year, Joe suspects that will be inevitable.

Click Joe’s ugly mug below to visit JoeRaysFan.com.

Bitter Marvin Lewis and his Bengals like to blitz, and Joe expects they might enjoy it even more with still-young Josh Freeman under center for the Bucs and a lot of inexperience among Bucs receivers.

This is one reason Joe believes Bucs fans will still see plenty of Cadillac Williams on Sunday. The Bucs are still all about protecting Freeman, and Joe finds it hard to believe the organization is going to trust LeGarrette Blount and Kareem Huggins to pick up a lot of those blitzes.

Former Bucs defensive end Steve White (1996-2001) looks at some keys to Sunday’s game on his personal blog and says success on the ground is likely a major key to beating Cincy.

How will the offensive line hold up? After a dismal outing against the Steelers the offensive line will look to rebound against a team that hasn’t sacked the quarterback this year but find ways to get a lot of pressure with their blitz packages. How well we run the ball may define whether we win or lose this game.

White is on the money. Josh Freeman can’t be expected to carry the offense, not with this receiving corps.

Joe believes Greg Olson is under pressure this week to craft a winning game plan against a beatable but good football team. Olson has had two weeks to dissect the Bengals and prepare. It’s time for him to shine.

The Bucs have to compete, and that means the offense must show serious improvement.

Bucs beat scribe Woody Cummings, of The Tampa Tribune, cruised around the Bucs locker room today sniffing for reaction to Derrick Ward blasting his ex-teammates via a New Jersey newspaper.

Among Ward’s comments was a line that basically said he’s wiped his time in Tampa from his memory.

Per Cummings, this attitude amused Cadillac Williams, who surely knows Ward gobbled up about $6 million from Team Glazer.

“How the heck can he forget about the Bucs?” said Williams. “He should thank the Bucs for the way they paid him.”

Raheem Morris took the high road during his afternoon news conference, simply repeating that he wished the best for Ward and saying it was pointless to talk about a player disconnected from the organization.

Joe’s still a little stunned that Ward said the Bucs’ offensive line wouldn’t block for him. That’s got to be one of the most ridiculous takes in NFL history. Talk about paranoid.

After finally fulfilling that guarantee of a great game about six weeks too late, Kardashian-chasing running back Derrick Ward was miffed at the Bucs this week and spouted off to the Star-Ledger in New Jersey.

Ward believes the notion he needed a second chance was fostered by the Buccaneers’ front office, which he blamed for spreading word he was overweight and unfocused. Though Kubiak concurred Ward was out of shape and challenged him to “get down,” Ward claims he was only 2 pounds over the 233-pound goal Houston set for him. He said he weighed 232 with the Giants.

Ward’s bitterness toward the Buccaneers revealed itself when he said the Texans are “a team that actually wants to block for their running backs, actually wants to win and doesn’t set their goals to a (lower) standard.” He even said he’s blocked out his time in Tampa.

“I feel like I went straight from New York to Houston,” he said.

Sour grapes, Mr. Ward.

Saying stupid stuff like “the Bucs didn’t want to block for their running backs” is absurd, as is saying the team didn’t want to win.

However, Joe could understand that Ward, after all that time in New York, might not have comprehended the whole building-a-lasting-contender philosophy. Especially since he likely heard a lot of win-now kind of stuff when the Bucs were courting him as a free agent in 2009.

As for Ward being angry the Bucs spread word before cutting him that he was overweight coming into camp, all Joe can say is the scale don’t lie.

While no beat writers around town wrote about Ward being out of shape before the Bucs brought it up late in training camp, that doesn’t mean Ward didn’t check in with a higher body fat and weight than he was supposed to register.

Joe doesn’t recall Ward issuing some fat denial and offering to step on the Bucs’ team scale for the media.

Ward knows the truth, and just like Kubiak referenced above, he didn’t hit the mark.

A Thursday morning tradition on JoeBucsFan.com is watching the lovely Jenny Dell reading a bunch of stat-geek babble off a teleprompter and coming to a conclusion about who will win the next Bucs game.

Typically, Joe just admires Jenny with the sound off. But this time Joe listened, and Dell delivers harsh numbers for Bucs fans. Ouch!

Joe’s not a stats geek at all, but some numbers tell quite a story.

Ronde Barber is poised to tie a league mark on Sunday that has stood for decades, so claims CBSSports.com. 

And, if healthy, Barber will break the record at home in two weeks against the Saints.

With his 171st consecutive start Sunday, 14-year CB Ronde Barber will tie Hall of Famer Dick LaBeau for the most consecutive starts by an NFL cornerback.

Of course, Barber is a true Bucs icon, but Joe didn’t know he was closing in on this record held by a legend of the game. LaBeau didn’t play in the 16-game era, but that takes absolutely nothing away from Barber’s accomplishment.

Joe is impressed. Hopefully, the Bucs will honor Barber for breaking the record during the Bucs-Saints game on Oct. 17.

Not to take away from this loving JoeBucsFan.com moment, but Joe has to wonder if reaching this milestone had anything to do with Raheem Morris deciding not to move Barber to free safety when Tanard Jackson was suspended.

Morris did talk about how strongly he was considering the move with Barber.

Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud discusses how the Bucs secondary will be a critical element in Sunday’s game at Cincinnati in this St. Petersburg Times video.

Joe’s taken a handful of e-mails asking why he hasn’t written about rookie seventh-round pick Erik Lorig coming off the practice squad and working at tight end and fullback when he was drafted as a defensive end.

The answer is simple: none of this excites Joe.

Frankly, it scares Joe.

Joe appreciates Lorig working on being versatile and keeping an NFL paycheck. Good for him, and good for the Bucs for trying to get the most out of a guy. But if Lorig plays any meaningful minutes outside of special teams this season, Joe knows the Bucs are in a heap of trouble.

So that’s where Joe stands.

Yesterday Joe brought news that angry Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, perhaps still bitter at the Bucs for not hiring him in 2002, spouted off about some perceived shady player transaction by the braintrust at One Buc Palace.

In short, Lewis was steamed that the Bucs would overpay for a practice squad player, a premise Joe thought to be, well, refreshing.

Word of Lewis’ words reached Bucs head coach Raheem Morris who didn’t hold back in his thoughts, documented by Tom Balog of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Tampa Bay head coach Raheem Morris shot back, with a reference to the Bengals’ deal with Bryant, noting the delicious irony of the overspending Bengals accusing another team of overpaying a player.

”That’s a first,” Morris said in his post-practice press conference. “I’m really not concerned about Marvin Lewis’ comments about how we run our organization. It’s a credit to our management and our ownership, in what we want to do and how we want to go get them. I heard that comment. That’s Marvin’s opinion. Good for Marvin.”

With the dregs of society that the Bengals have drafted and signed over the years, all under the watchful and approving gaze of Lewis himself, and those two attention-starved children he has at wide receiver, Lewis should be more concerned with his own lot than what the Bucs do.

Or maybe Lewis should learn how to defend himself better the next time one of his players punch him?

The Bucs have won three consecutive road games, and Raheem Morris was pressed for a hidden reason why during his news conference today.

The defensive mastermind/head coach obliged with an answer, which had nothing to do with Xs and Os. It seems his young Bucs thrive on being ripped by opposing fans.

“A little bit of the advantage we have is we’re so young, I think we kind of like the adversity a little bit. They kinda thrive on it. They kind of thrive on the boos. They kind of thrive on the middle fingers, you know, rolling into the stadium,” Morris said. “You know, they kinda get a little bit of energy of just being angry because everybody hates them. …They kind of thrive on it a bit, that negativity, or that us-against-the-world mentality because they are kind of a young football team and we all listened to Tupac [Shakur] growing up.”

Whatever works to get the Ws. If the Bucs need to be abused to bring on victories, then there’s no reason to limit that to road games.

Team Glazer could hire some F-bomb throwers, middle-finger wavers and angry hecklers to harass players from the moment they pull into the players parking lot off Dale Mabry Highway. They could even pipe in a montage of sports radio talk show hosts’ Bucs takes through the public address system.

Or, they could just have an old-fashioned, no-restrictions banner day, which surely would unleash some ugliness at the players favorite coach.

Perhaps Peter King’s oatmeal-slurping mug next to “2-14” on the JumboTron. Oh, the possibilities.

How bout those Bucs massively overpaying for a free agent!

Who knew?

Apparently, during his conference call with Bucs beat writers today, Bengals coach Marvin Lewis cried about the Bucs flashing fat cash and signing a rookie sixth-round pick he released but planned to put on the Bengals’ practice squad, so documented Anwar Richardson, of The Tampa Tribune.

The player in question, wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe, was offered about 3 1/2 times the minimum practice squad pay after he was cut by Cincinnati and jumped to the Bucs, reports Richardson.

Instead, Tampa Bay signed Briscoe and offered him a contract worth the rookie minimum salary, which is $325,000. Practice squad players typically are paid $5,200 per week, roughly $90,000 for all 17 weeks, but Tampa Bay exercised its option to go above and beyond to obtain Briscoe.

Lewis was not happy by Tampa Bay’s contract offer to Briscoe.

“He was in camp for us, but when you overpay a guy on the practice squad, you create a problem in the system for teams,” Lewis said. “I don’t know that teams want to set the precedent and they did with Dezmon.”

Lewis moans and groans even more. You’ll have to read Richardson’s story.

This bitching by Lewis is ludicrous. He cut Briscoe. And when rookies are cut, their agents (at least the good ones) are pouncing on every possible offer and trying to find the best potential spot for their clients.

Surely, the Bucs were a preferred desitination for a young receiver like Briscoe, given Tampa Bay’s interest in young players and it’s extremely inexperienced receiving corps.

Luring potential practice squad guys with extra money is standard practice, despite the way Lewis shamefully whines about it. Last year, Bucs quarterback Rudy Carpenter personally told Joe that the Cowboys offered him a big raise to stay on their practice squad, but he jumped to the Bucs because he thought had a real shot of making the roster here. And it turns out he did.

Just a hunch, but Joe suspects that somehow Lewis’ bitterness towards the Bucs front office is related to Antonio Bryant and the costly medical debacle that he was for the Bengals.

Joe hopes Lewis is a sore loser again on Sunday.

Update: 8:15 p.m.

Ok. Ok. The post below was corrected by Joe but didn’t need to be. After some enlightenment by esteemed Bucs beat writer Woody Cummings, of the The Tampa Tribune, his published stat about the Bucs not having a 100-yard rusher in 29 regulation games is correct.

Cadillac Williams rushed for 120+ yards in New Orleans last year but gained about 40 of it in overtime, as the Bucs grinded out the win.

Joe is hanging his head in shame. It happens. 

Corrected: (See post above) In a story about the Bucs’ running game and Cadillac Williams’ take on it, Woody Cummings, of The Tampa Tribune, rolls out the statistic that shows 100-yard rushers have only shown up on the Bucs stat sheet nine times in the past 68 games. 

That’s not surprising. Last season, the Bucs were often behind early and had little rushing attack in most games and rarely showed a commitment to get the running game going.

Chucky, of course, had the same quick trigger on the running game in 2008, but that season Earnest Graham and Warrick Dunn did rush for more than four yards par carry, which would feel like a blessing from the heavens right now.

Cummings offers more numbers and a take from Mark Dominik.

Since the start of the 2006 season – a span of 68 regular-season and playoff games – Tampa Bay has produced a 100-yard rusher in a game only nine times.

Earnest Graham reached that mark five times during that span, while Williams reached it three times and Warrick Dunn once. The Bucs’ record in that span is 27-41, which shows how important it is to get the running game on track.

“I think you’re looking for a way to make it all work together,” Dominik said, “and I think Coach Morris hit it right on the head when he said, if a guy gets really hot, then he becomes the guy.”

The guy right now is Williams. That hasn’t changed. Yet.

It could, though, especially if Williams can’t get going. And with the Bucs bent on looking at other options, he seems to realize that.

Joe suggests you read the entire Tribune piece. Cummings makes a case that the Bucs’ offensive line is the key player in the running troubles.

For Joe, if one wants to play the blame game, then one would need two hands for all the fingers that would have to be pointed.  

Joe loves pool parties — beer, bikinis, body shots, barbecue. Is there anything better?

It seems Raheem Morris has forgotten the importance of this great Florida pastime and that rounding up the honeys for poolside shenanigans is always in order.

The head coach is trying to keep his mind on loftier goals, so says the St. Pete Times. 

“This town doesn’t deserve to throw a pool party every time we get a win,” Morris said. “This town deserves the Rays, what the Rays have been able to do. Playoff bound, out there fighting and going out there and winning the AL East. You guys probably wrote them off, too. That’s what they went out there and did, and we want to be that.

“I’m not saying we’re going to do that right now, or when we’re going to be able to do it, but that’s what we’re building for. I told you guys a long time ago, we’re going to build a team that has long-lasting winning, and we’re starting that. We’ve got young players, ascending players, and we’re growing in the right direction. I hope I can get there faster than what you guys think I can because then I can come up here and make you guys look bad.”

Joe’s all for keeping perspective and keeping ones eyes on the prize. But please, coach, a pool party is always in order.

The Bucs will need to find a way to get to immobile Carson Palmer.

One way the Bucs were able to win at Carolina was because the Bucs’ front defensive line, jostled, mocked and robbed Panthers quarterback Matt Moore.

This brought great joy to Joe’s heart.

The Bucs knocked Moore out of the game and maybe out of a career.

Carson Palmer of the Bengals will easily be the best quarterback the Bucs defense will have faced yet this season. But he’s also, perhaps, the most immobile quarterback the Bucs have faced this season.

This nugget of information did not pass by eye-RAH! Kaufman, of the Tampa Tribune, who Twittered on the TBO Bucs Twitter feed that getting to Palmer will be critical.

The Bucs know exactly where Carson Palmer will be Sunday — in the pocket. The question is, can they make him uncomfortable?

When a defense faces a quarterback who is about as fleet-footed as a statue, it’s critical to make his life uncomfortable, otherwise, said quarterback will make the defense uncomfortable.

Over at CBSSports.com, the Bucs are being covered by local reporter Scott Purks, a man Joe has had a few chilled beverages with over the years.

Apparently, Purks chatted with Mark Dominik today and the Bucs general manager defended the Bucs’ rushing attack, which is not very good.

It’s too early to say the running game (ranked 20th overall) is below average, general manager Mark Dominik said. “It’s only been three games, and in the Pittsburgh game (a 38-13 loss), we got behind early, which hampered our running,” Dominik said.

Joe appreciates the optimism of the GM, but the Bucs’ running game has been ugly outside of the hope rookie LeGarrette Blount injected against the Steelers last week with his six carries.

Earnest Graham fumbled on the goal line on opening day. Cadillac Williams’ numbers are atrocious (2.5 yards per carry). And the Bucs, as Purks notes, are ranked 20th in the league in rushing. Take away Josh Freeman’s deft scrambles and there’s not much there.

Cincinnati’s run defense is ranked No. 15 after games against Baltimore, Carolina, New England and Cleveland, not exactly a shabby bunch of rushing attacks.

The Bengals will be an excellent test for the Bucs’ offensive line and what looks like a three-headed attack of Cadillac, Blount and a now healthy Kareem Huggins on Sunday.

Joe suspects Freeman and the defense will be who wins this game for the Bucs — if they win.

The funny, foul-mouthed guy who runs Bucstats.com has written an entertaining account of his invitation-only visit to One Buc Place.

“Scott,” the longtime guru of Bucstats.com, documents being invited by the Buccaneers media relations department for a summer bonding session with Bucs bloggers and team officials. And he details his subsequent visit, which included one-on-one time with Mark Dominik and Bryan Glazer.

Joe has verified with the Bucs that the account is legitimate.

Here’s a small snippet: Joe suggests you read the whole thing (parental guidance is strongly advised).

After a few minutes of watching practice, Bryan Glazer walked out and Dominik went over to greet him and they chatted for a while. Then Glazer came over and introduced himself to me. “Yeah, the Bucstats guy,” was what he said. The owner of the Buccaneers knows who I am.

I’d like to stop for a moment to remind myself about the countless hooker jokes and all the times I confessed that I cannot adequately satisfy a woman and all my semi-gay mancrushes. Bryan Glazer probably read all those.

Glazer asked how I liked the tour so far and we talked about the direction the Bucs were going in, the youth movement and, again, the media’s treatment of the team. One thing that seemed to bother Glazer is the perception of his brothers and him as hands-off owners. He has only missed one home and one away game since they bought the team in 1995 despite the reporting from the local media that they are just check writers. And he desperately wants to win. He knew the 3-13 season was coming and he’s committed to sticking to the plan, but I could tell the losing season wasn’t any fun for him. I’m convinced that this isn’t just an expensive hobby for the Glazers that they could discard if they got bored with it. I’m sure Manchester United is important to them, too, but Glazer was there with a briefcase and obviously working on the Buccaneers, not just basking in the glow of owning a major sports franchise. If they had wanted to sell it, I’m sure they could have done it by now.

Joe finds it interesting that the Bucs have reached out to bloggers this season. It’s a wise move, considering the readers of these websites are their core audience, the hardcore fans that buy the tickets, purchase the gear, and spew their passionate opinions and shape public opinion of the team.

As for the Bucs reaching out to Joe for this blogger camping trip, well, Joe’s going to withhold all comment.

Joe will say he’s had a sometimes ugly, sometimes pretty relationship with the Bucs for the past 2+ years, much like any other media outlet.

Reading Geno Hayes’ take on the impact of crazy numbers of Steelers fans in the house last week, Joe got a vibe that the Bucs might not have been mentally prepared for the hostile-at-times environment that sadly enveloped them on their home turf.

NFL.com buries a blog on its website for each team, and the talented Jenna Laine writes most of the Bucs coverage. And she had an extended postgame chat with Hayes.

While Hayes said the mistakes on defense are correctable, he added that the most discouraging part of the loss was seeing Raymond James turn into Heinz Field, mimicking a Super Bowl celebration from two years ago.

“Once the game started going into their hands, it started having a negative effect because now they’re getting into the game, and they’re loud like they’re at home, and really making our offense have to hurry in there and be loud with their checks, [Hayes said]. So it was kind of hard towards the end of the game.”

“That’s amazing right there, to sit back and watch another team that’s actually in your house but it’s like their house, ya know? It’s kinda tough.”

In the NFL.com post, Laine reported that more than half the crowd was black-and-gold clad Steelers fans.

Joe wonders why Hayes gave the comments he did. One would think Raheem Morris would have thoroughly prepared the Bucs for a road game, complete with piped in crowd noise during practice and more.

Of course, Hayes is only one Buccaneers player giving one opinion. But was the team unprepared for what met them out of the tunnel?

The Bucs’ running game is basically anemic. It frustrates Joe as much as it does other Bucs fans.

Looking at the numbers and the scars on his knees, it appears that the Bucs braintrust has concluded that Cadillac Williams is no longer the go-to guy in the Bucs backfield. That’s the suggestion from Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune who writes the Bucs are already making plans for the post-Cadillac era in Tampa Bay.

Few believed he could overcome two serious knee injuries to play in the NFL again. Most thought his career was in jeopardy after the first surgery to repair a torn patellar tendon in 2007. Williams’ career seemed just about over after his second season-ending knee injury in 2008.

Although Williams returned and was productive last season, Tampa Bay is seemingly laying the groundwork to find his replacement.

Tampa Bay (2-1) plans to incorporate rookie running back LeGarrette Blount and Kareem Huggins into its running attack against Cincinnati (2-2) on Sunday. Williams is in no immediate danger of losing his starting position, but his reps could decrease if Blount and Huggins flourish.

Look, no one appreciates Caddy more than Joe. The guy has the heart of a lion. If half of the NFL players had as much desire to produce at his craft (rather than chase a Kardashian, ahem) as Caddy, man, the NFL would be truly special.

But it just comes down to simply physics. A running back, in his upper-20s no less, playing on two man-made knees, is not a good thing.

Men glued to the NFL Network during the offseason saw endless highlights of Terrell Owens beating Aqib Talib in Buffalo for a touchdown in 2009.

Raheem Morris even referenced once how that clip played over and over and Talib couldn’t escape it.

Obviously, Talib is on the cusp of greatness, but he has missed on his share of big-play opportunities during his tenure, and he’s been beaten at key times. Morris was asked about this at his news conference today and defended Talib’s production.

“He’s really taken more than he’s given up. You know, it’s just that when you’re a corner, it’s always easy to remember the bad ones rather than the good ones,” Morris said. “You know, I believe the young man, at his position, for the same amount of time, has more interceptions than anyone he came in with. And we could certainly sit here and name every touchdown he’s given up.”

Talib is doing what young almost-great players are supposed to do: make plays and make mistakes. Joe hopes he’ll tighten his game to hit his Pro Bowl potential, but if Talib doesn’t improve at all, he’s surely already good enough to play for a lasting contender.

The Bucs’ defensive mastermind/head coach said he’s still determining how the Bucs will defend Bengals receivers Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens, who was thrown to 15 times Sunday and caught 10 balls for 222 yards.

 “They got two guys. [Talib] can only cover one,” Morris said. “It might be a week for E.J. Biggers to have to step up this week.”

Joe’s more interested in the Bucs reviving their pass rush that disappeared against Pittsburgh. Despite Carson Palmer’s big statistical day Sunday, he was sacked four times and looks like a guy ripe to get busted up and sidelined by a few good hits.