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Joe takes no joy whatsoever in writing about how a Bucs assistant coach got popped for a DUI last night. That’s not to say Joe enjoys writing about any misdeeds. But if Joe is going to bring you the news of players misbehaving, so too must he with coaches.

After a day in which the Bucs let loose Kardashian-chasing Derrick Ward and found out Aqib Talib was suspended for the season opener against Cleveland, Bucs assistant defensive line coach Chris Mosley was popped last night for a DUI, reports Josh Poltilove of the Tampa Tribune.

A Ford sport utility vehicle driven by Mosley didn’t stop for a red light on Armenia Avenue, so an officer pulled it over late Tuesday, a police report states. The officer said Mosley’s breath smelled of alcohol and that Mosley had glassy, bloodshot eyes and swayed while standing.

Mosley was arrested and charged with driving under the influence after failing a field sobriety test, police said.

In 2009, Mosley served as an assistant offensive line coach for the Buccaneers. Prior to that, he coached tight ends at Princeton University in 2008 and was a graduate assistant at Boston College in 2007.

Joe’s not sure if not stopping for a red light means he blew the red light or he didn’t come to a full stop. Big, big difference.

Sad way to start a morning for Joe. More than sad for Mosley. He better hope the Bucs do well because Joe believes he’ll have a hard time getting a college gig with a DUI on his record.

So yesterday the Bucs bid goodbye to Thursday-talking-only, Kardashian-chasing, baseball-hating Derrick Ward.

Joe is inclined to pat Mark Dominik and Team Glazer on the back. They recognized a mistake and decided to wipe the slate clean, not concerned over the now lost investment in Ward.

Tampa Tribune humorist Martin Fennelly believes this move is not something to be lauded. Fennelly seems to infer mistakes should not be made, rather than applauding the clean up job of a mistake.

He came, he saw, he sulked. Now Derrick Ward is a memory, as if he ever made any here. He turned 30 on Monday and unemployed on Tuesday.

Bucs coach Raheem Morris and GM Mark Dominik, who brought Ward here, cut him loose before the second year of a $17 million contract. Good move. When a guy coming off a lousy season reports to camp out of shape, when he is down to guaranteeing to media that he’ll have a big game … in a preseason tilt with Kansas City … it’s time to go.

The Bucs cut the cord. But, please, no standing ovations for the brain trust. That the cord needed to be cut sort of explains why the Bucs coaches and brass can’t bump chests over Cincinnati releasing receiver Antonio Bryant, just as the Bucs released him.

Bucs coach Raheem Morris and GM Mark Dominik, who brought Ward here, cut him loose before the second year of a $17 million contract. Good move. When a guy coming off a lousy season reports to camp out of shape, when he is down to guaranteeing to media that he’ll have a big game … in a preseason tilt with Kansas City … it’s time to go.

The Bucs cut the cord. But, please, no standing ovations for the brain trust. That the cord needed to be cut sort of explains why the Bucs coaches and brass can’t bump chests over Cincinnati releasing receiver Antonio Bryant, just as the Bucs released him.

Later in the column, Fennelly describes Ward as a “bust” and claimed he only talked on Thursdays.

Look, Dominik will be the first person to admit mistakes were made last year. If pressed, he may also admit he’s not one to let a mistake wallow on the roster and let pride and ego get in the way, hence the firings of former coordinators Jeff Jagodzinski and heinous Jim Bates Experiment.

This move is more reinforcement from what Joe has been writing for months: The Bucs running backs are mediocre.

The growth of JoeBucsFan.com seems to have no limit. And Joe just wants to take a moment to thank all of you.

Traffic on these here pages in August was up 50 percent from July, and year-over-year growth checked in at about 375 percent. Considering Joe’s traffic was quite strong last year, Joe’s not sure what to say. The new JoeBucsFan.com/620 WDAE Message Boards aren’t even part of the numbers.

Joe used to publish exact traffic figures, but for the mental health of his competitors and the Bucs front office, Joe’s not doing that anymore.

JoeBucsFan.com remains committed to delivering you Bucs news and commentary like no other outlet. And Joe appreciates you bearing with him as he experiments with changes to the site, such as dialing back the use of nicknames. Rest assured, Joe is charting all your feedback.

Thanks again. Tell a friend. Don’t forget to check out JoeRaysFan.com. And The Blackout Tour buses are half full, so don’t wait too long.

Good guy Stephen Holder, while talking to his comrade Rick Stroud in this St. Petersburg Times video, believes the Bucs unloaded Kardashian-chasing running back Derrick Ward because of his attitude in the locker room.

Former Bucs defensive end Steve White, a JoeBucsFan.com analyst, brings passion and experience to all his Bucs takes, and his official prediction for the 2010 season is no exception.

Joe won’t spill all the details for you, which are in White’s blog. But White is confidently calling for the Bucs to win seven games, and he insists he is of sound mind and body.

I’m sure the question is why am I taking the over now when so many people have such a negative outlook on the Bucs for this year (Peter King just predicted they would go 2-14). Am I being overly optimistic? Am I trying to inflate the Bucs’ prospects because I used to play for them? Am I just trying to be contrarian? Or maybe I might have just bumped my head?

No…on all counts.

Joe’s just not seeing seven wins.

Right now, in between praying for Josh Freeman’s finger, Joe’s just hoping the Bucs find a way to avoid going 0-3 into the bye week.

THE PESSIMIST is a diehard Bucs fan whose negative writings appear occasionally on JoeBucsFan.com. His views surely do not necessarily reflect those of Joe. However, Joe sure gets a kick out of them.

THE  PESSIMIST was signed for another regular season on JoeBucsFan.com, but today’s breaking news of Derrick Ward getting cut has him returning early.

Why the hell couldn’t Derrick Ward be the Bucs’ third-string running back?

What the hell is wrong with insurance? The Glazers surely have it for their cars, their teeth and their palatial estates, but not their running backs?

Derrick Ward’s production with the Giants may be ancient history, but he surely was good enough for this Bucs roster.

Now the Bucs head for battle with lead dog Cadillac Williams, who’s playing on two patched up knees and is no Pro Bowl candidate, and Kareem Huggins, who is nothing more than a prayer with dreadlocks.

This is not a running game that you put together with a bunch of unproven receivers. The Bucs’ offense is dreadful.

With no salary cap, a paltry payroll and no depth at running back, THE PESSIMIST smells money as the main reason for Ward’s ouster after a pretty good showing in the last preseason game.

Depth is supposed to be important in the NFL. Apparently, profit is more important. Soon the Bucs might need a telescope to see what used to be the salary cap floor.

THE PESSIMIST hopes he’s wrong. THE PESSIMIST sincerely hopes an established NFL running back is on the phone with Mark Dominik booking a flight to Houston. 

What happens now if Cadillac gets hurt? The Bucs turn to Earnest Graham, trot out a crappy fullback, and tell Josh Freeman to hang in there?

Ward was no panacea. And for all THE PESSIMIST knows, Ward was a raging ass around the locker room and the Bucs questioned whether he could handle being buried on the bench.

But Ward was healthy. He knew the offense. And he just showed he had some life in his legs.

His $3 million plus for 2010 was well worth it — unless there’s a replacement on the way.

The news just keeps pouring out of One Buc Palace today. NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell has suspended Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib for one game due to his incident last year with a cabbie.

Last summer, following a night out with teammates to celebrate the end of training camp, Talib belted a cabbie in the head as the vehicle they rode in sped down I-275 in St. Petersburg.

The cab driver spoke candidly with Joe about the details shortly after the incident.

So, no Talib, who is in the midst of a pretrial intervention program, when the Bucs host Cleveland to open the season.

Multiple Twitter messages, including those from Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune and dapper Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger are reporting the Bucs have released Kardashian-chasing running back Derrick Ward this afternoon.

This is yet more evidence that this nonsense Joe hears that “the Glazers are cheap” is baseless. Ward was a key free agent signed last year by Bucs general manager Mark Dominik to bolster a running back corps that has largely been impotent, as evidenced by one of the NFL’s worst yards-per-attempt figures.

Last year, Ward moped that he was underutilized. This spring, he found more excuses — between chasing a Kardashian — for his lack of productivity, including playing on a baseball infield in Miami in the first preseason game, a field that never hindered Ronnie Brown or Ricky Williams.

The fact that Ward and his salary were cut loose tells Joe that Mark Dominik may not be as inclined as Joe once believed to have receiver Michael Clayton finish out his final year of a two-year contract.

This move almost assuredly means Kareem Huggins has made the squad and that perhaps Clifton Smith may also have avoided The Turk, though Smith’s status remains on the bubble with his reported gout and habit of putting the ball on the ground.

"That's the last time I buy the swimsuit issue."

Per TBO.com, heralded Sports Illustrated NFL scribe Peter King unveils his NFL predictions tomorrow and the Bucs will check in with two wins, as in a 2-14 record in 2010.

TWO!

No word yet on whether King thinks the Bucs’ defensive mastermind/head coach will earn a third year after a two-win season (though King did tell Joe in an exclusive interview earlier this year that if the Bucs were not “significantly” better, King has his doubts about Raheem’s return).

If Joe could corner King over a bowl of oatmeal, of which he’s so fond, Joe would like to know why he thinks the 2010 Bucs are worse than last year’s edition.

Joe’s just not seeing that.

The only thing Joe can figure is that King looks at the Bucs’ second rate corps of receivers and running backs, and a second-year QB, and just can’t imagine how things will get better. Also, King can’t have much belief in the Bucs’ head coach.

It doesn’t take much coaching talent to land a couple of Ws.

Joe realizes his traffic has jumped considerably since last season — and a big, heart-felt thank you to you all — so Joe understands that not all of you are familiar with the gorgeous Jenny Dell.

Jenny does weekly breakdowns on Bucs games for BSPN ,and she graces this very site, usually on Thursdays.

Here’s a sneak peek at what you can expect, in this BSPN video, Jenny talks briefly about a former Bucs standout player. Joe is confident you won’t mind putting up with the rest of the nonsense in the video as it offers a pleasant opportunity to gawk at Jenny, a former UMass cheerleader.

By all appearances, Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman long ago won over the Bucs hierarchy and has seemingly won over the Tampa Bay community as a whole.

But judging by recent comments, Freeman has a lot of work to do to win over national media types.

Recently, Sirius NFL Radio and FoxSports.com’s Adam Schein bluntly said he’s “not buying” Freeman at quarterback this season.

Apparently, neither is John Clayton.

“The Professor” of the NFL on BSPN, Clayton believes Freeman is one of the worst quarterbacks in the league, ranking Freeman at No. 29 of all starting signal-callers.

29. Josh Freeman, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Analysis:  Freeman is a big, athletic quarterback who is being paired with a promising, young receiving corps. The small fracture on the tip of his right thumb is a slight setback, but Freeman is the perfect quarterback for the Bucs to build around.
Chance of being elite:  35 percent

Just who does Clayton have ranked above Freeman? Kyle Orton, “America’s Quarterback” (per Schein) David Garrard, Alex Smith, Kevin Kolb, Byron Leftwich (who hateful Bucs fans did their best in running out of town) and soon-to-be unemployed Matt Leinart.

"Sean, man, if Olie and Rah don't start winning they ain't gettin' on my (*&^'n tree."

The Bucs’ defensive mastermind/head coach paid tribute to his longtime mentor during his afternoon news conference yesterday.

Raheem Morris explained how his three-man rush plus Quincy Black is, in part, inspired by the innovative offensive and defensive genius of Chucky. In tone and words, Raheem dropped some big-time love on his former boss.

Perhaps Chucky is standing tall and proud right now. Or perhaps Chucky is mad as hell that he’s being linked to a 3-13 coach on his fledgling coaching tree.

Here’s what Raheem had to say:

“The packages that you can come up with these guys and be creative, you know, something that I learned from Coach Gru. You know, he was the best at it. He started Rocket. He started two backs in the backfield, two halfbacks. He started a lot of things that you see common, you know, thread in this league right now is some of the ideas that he’s had from the past and some of the ideas that he brought to us on defense that he saw other people doing. That provided us with great ideas,” Morris said.

How bout that! Jon Gruden, defensive genius.

Chucky was quick to be all smiles and visibile when it came time to link himself to Sean Payton and the rock star Saints of 2009.

Joe wonders what will it take for the front-running Chucky to publicly attach himself to Raheem Morris.

It seems the Bucs stats against the Jaguars were “ugly” on Saturday. That’s the word used by Derek “Old School” Fournier of WhatTheBuc.net. Here he explains why the Bucs made him wince.

Bucs fans who were at the CITS Saturday likely nearly dropped their $7 beers (lower prices this year!) when they saw Michael Spurlock line up at quarterback in a Wildcat formation.

Joe was surprised by this in a number of factors, specifically, why show your poker hand in the preseason?

The fact Spurlock did line up at quarterback may be a harbinger, says Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson, by way or Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune.

What might work in Spurlock’s favor is his ability to play quarterback. Spurlock played 21 games as a quarterback and running back at Mississippi. The Bucs lined up Spurlock in a wildcat formation against Jacksonville last week, but the play was never executed because of a penalty.

If Tampa Bay elects to keep Josh Freeman and Josh Johnson on its active roster, while placing Rudy Carpenter on the practice squad, Spurlock could be the Bucs’ emergency quarterback on game day.

“Everybody is trying to maximize their roster because of the limited roster size,” Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson said. “The more you can do, it’s a plus. It shows he can learn multiple positions and do multiple things and gives him an opportunity to make the team. Depending on what we do at our quarterback situation, if you’re a team that only carries two quarterbacks, he’d be a guy that would have to learn how to take some snaps and finish out a game for us. I’m not saying we’re going two quarterbacks, but he’s a guy at the receiver position who might able to do some things with the wildcat. He’s a versatile player.”

What does this tell Joe? That Rudy Carpenter is practice squad bound. Maybe. And that the Bucs are trying innovative things offensively in an effort to wash away the grime and stench of last season.

Rick Brown, the Lakeland Ledger Bucs beat writer who likes when Joe calls him “Backwards Hat,” (Time for more Bucs videos, Rick) checks in from Bucs practice today and reveals that Josh Freeman tossed a football Sunday and Maurice Stovall won’t play in Thursday’s preseason finale, among other nuggets.

No word on what Freeman’s passes looked like, but it’s a great sign for Bucs fans, assuming he was able to control the ball.

Still a long way for Freeman to go.

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

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 struggled again in preseason Game 3 to make their offense look like an improved version from 2009. And Josh Freeman watched from the stands, probably because Coach Morris was too afraid he might start warming up on the sidelines and hurt his already injured thumb.

Last week’s quotes from Morris about keeping Freeman off the practice field because the overly-excited QB might start throwing the ball on a side field against doctor’s and coach’s orders, hit me as probably the silliest thing I have ever heard.

Most readers took the comments as just sarcasm by Morris (which they should have been), so I didn’t react to it. But as John Lynch related the same story from Josh Freeman’s lips during Saturday night’s game, I’m just flabbergasted that the story was true.

Players are preached to, from high school on up to the pros, that every play matters and if you aren’t in the game or practice, you should know what the play is and go through the mental repetitions for maximum improvement. Why Freeman wouldn’t be in Greg Olson’s pocket on every rep working through the live-action is beyond me, and to not have your “franchise” on the practice field because he has a fingertip boo-boo is too much.

To think Freeman, who spent the entire offseason working out at One Buc at his own will, is such a free spirit that he doesn’t have the personal discipline to not throw before he is cleared and that the coach thinks it necessary to keep him inside the building doing other things to “protect him from himself” just doesn’t make any sense at all.

It makes me think of one of the great movie scenes of all time in A Few Good Men with Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise. Nicholson, as “Colonel Jessup,” is being deposed by Cruise on the witness stand. Cruise is trying to understand the Marine Corps code of conduct. Colonel Jessup explains that his men always follow his orders and they never take matters into their own hands, “They follow orders or people die,” he says.

To think that the Corps of Bucs Morris is leading is so loose and not concerned with repercussions that the star QB could get coerced by the star receiver Kellen Winslow to go throw passes on the field next to the team practice and put the team’s success in jeopardy is just too funny. 

If discipline is that big a problem, just wrap his whole hand and arm in a cast so that he can’t hold a ball at all and get his head in on as many mental reps as possible. What is keeping Freeman from trying out his mending thumb when he leaves the practice facility anyway?

Obvious to anyone watching the Bucs-Jags preseason game on Saturday was Ronde Barber flying around the field making plays during the 50 or so plays the Bucs’ defense had to quash in the first half.

Joe can’t remember a play in which Barber looked 30, let alone the 35 that he is.

Awesome, admirable stuff.

On his blog, former Bucs defensive end Steve White gave his 10 cents on Barber’s play on Saturday, along with the rest of his The Good, The Bad & The Ugly breakdown.

Ronde Barber: The old guy showed that he still has it, tying Black for the team lead in tackles. Several of those tackles were one on one situations where if he had missed the runner would have gone for a big gain. But in each situation he found a way to get the guy on the ground. One play in particular though is what compelled me to put him on the list this week. On the goalline the Jaguars tried to run a counter play with a guard coming to kick out the end man on the line of scrimmage. If the guard had made his block the running back likely would have walked into the endzone. Unfortunately for him the end man on the line of scrimmage was Ronde and although he was outweighed by almost 100 pounds he went in and spilled the play making the running back bounce outside and then had the wherewithal to spin back and get in on the tackle.

That is the kind of play that doesn’t really show up on any stat sheet but shows you why Ronde is still a part of this team and why the Bucs should be thankfully to still have him out there as a leader.

What more can one say about Barber?

Joe hopes he stays healthy and productive. He’s already one of the more intriguing Hall of Fame candidates, and that’ll be especially so, if he can get it done and add to his stats this year. 

Former Bucs DE Steve White

By STEVE WHITE
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Buccaneers defensive end Steve White (1996-2001) is a devoted student of the game. He’s even authored a coaching guide and coached defensive linemen at the University of South Florida. And his blog is fun stuff. After all those years breaking down film with former defensive line coach Rod Marinelli and the other architects and legends of the Bucs’ defense, White shares his knowledge with JoeBucsFan.com readers in his must-read Bull Rush column. 

Today, White goes very deep into analyzing all things defensive line out of Saturday’s Jags-Bucs game. Joe advises you to grab a cold beverage, tell the old lady or the boss to leave you alone, and enjoy. This is great stuff, as usual.

Even though we didn’t beat the Jaguars, I came away after watching this game very encouraged about the Buccaneers’ season.

Particularly, I thought just about every guy on the defensive line showed at least some improvement. There were a bunch of hits and pressures on David Garrard, though we didn’t come home with any sacks this game. And the effort was once again very good.

There were some problems, though, with everyone on defense being on the same page, particularly when we blitzed. At least twice we had major busts when we blitzed and nobody covered the running back out of the backfield. One time it appeared to be Kyle Moore’s fault, another time it appeared to be Sean Jones’ fault. In addition, several times when we blitzed there was no contain element of the defense away from the blitz. It didn’t hurt us at first, but then in the second half Garrard noticed and he took off running for a first down.

Now I don’t know for sure who was right and who was wrong, or if the blitzes just had some design flaws or what. But those are the kinds of mistakes that can be the difference between a win and a loss in a tight game. So it’s of utmost importance that we get those problems ironed out as we get ready to face Cleveland in a couple of weeks.

Technique wise, one thing I noticed this game was when the defensive line ran a line stunt and guys came inside they really didn’t use their rip to help them get inside of the blocker. Instead, they just stayed square and tried to push the blocker in the backfield.

I understand not wanting to get washed way down inside, but by the same token if a guy doesn’t rip into the inside gap they lose almost any chance of penetrating and either making a play or forcing the runner to go laterally instead of downhill. It’s a little technique thing that can really make a big difference.

I’m still not a fan of the five-down linemen alignment we have for short yardage and goal line. It’s simply too easy to run inside when you don’t cover both A-gaps.

I keep hoping that Coach Morris will at least consider going back to what we used to do, seeing as how what they are using now hasn’t been all that effective. But so far I’ve seen nothing that makes me believe he will change, so I guess I’ll just have to get over it and hope we don’t end up in that situation all that often.

I did like some of the things Coach Morris did with the three-linemen setup, but only when he sent pressure or had Quincy Black coming off the edge.

I don’t really think rushing an offensive tackle is really Black’s strong suit, but when he rushes it gives the three other guys an opportunity to be successful. But I can’t stand when we only rush three because it’s almost impossible to get any pressure on the quarterback and anybody, if given enough time, can find an open receiver.

With the way we were getting after Garrard with our four-man rushes, I was surprised that Coach Morris went to so much three-man rush, but maybe he was just trying to get a long look at it. At least I hope that’s all it was.

For most of the night the Jaguars were getting the passes off early anyway and not giving our guys a chance to sack Garrard. I did get really excited one time when Stylez White and Gerald McCoy ran an EX game to perfection. The ball came out quick, but if it didn’t both guys would have been free to pummel Garrard.

As for the individual critiques:

Kyle Moore: Moore’s pass rush at left end was much improved this game. He still didn’t really attempt to turn the corner outside, but he had several good inside moves. I had him with one pressure and a couple of other notable rushes. He still doesn’t look all that impressive as an inside rusher to me, though. Also, he was poor again in trying to set up a TEX with Ryan Sims. Taking two steps upfield and expecting that to attract the offensive tackle is just not good enough.

He also got a little too high down on the goal line and got knocked off the ball a little. I would really like to see him use his hands more when he goes against tight ends. He is big and strong enough to dominate those matchups, but he never seems to get good hand placement on them so he can get good extension with his arms. Because he is the left end and most offenses are right-handed, he is going to have to battle tight ends a lot. That part of his game definitely needs work.

Gerald McCoy: I was very impressed by McCoy this game. You can tell that he is getting very comfortable with the speed of the game now, and it’s not overwhelming to him. He had some outstanding pass rush moves that you probably didn’t even notice on the first glance. I had him with two pressures, a quarterback hit and three other really good rushes. By my count, he had a tackle and an assist to go along with that.

And that’s with Garrard going with a three-step drop for most of the game.

He did have a missed tackle, but it was on a play where he got good penetration into his gap and made the running back go almost backwards to try to get around him. That penetration allowed the rest of the defense to pursue and get the running back on the ground for a loss.

I still would urge caution against anyone expecting McCoy to be a world beater in his rookie season. But I can tell you this much, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if he is.

Roy Miller: Roy had a quiet game this week. I think that’s mostly because he wasn’t in for a lot of the three-linemen schemes. When he was in the game, I thought he did well, though. And he did a lot better this week on the scoop cut. He didn’t fall down, and he ended up being in on the running play. He also held up well over the center in goal line and didn’t allow himself to get knocked off the ball much.

Stylez G. White: Stylez flashed big time against the Jaguars. After having his coaches taking shots at him in the newspaper for his work ethic, and other folks including me saying he needed to show up, he did just that. He had a really nice spin move and got a hit on the quarterback. He came inside on a blitz and got good pressure on Garrard. He had a good speed rush and forced a holding call on the offensive tackle. And he had a really good tackle from behind on a play where he showed great effort running down the field in pursuit.

That’s the kind of performance I am expecting out of Stylez every game, and that’s the standard he is going to be held to. And if he can go out and play like that for 16 games, something tells me our pass rush will be alright.

Michael Bennett: I’m going to go ahead and say this and get it out of the way. I believe Bennett should either be the starter or split reps evenly with Kyle Moore. It’s not necessarily a knock against Moore, but the truth is Bennett has shown himself to be the better pass rusher at left end in games this preseason. And it’s not as if he has only done well against backups. He has had some of his better rushes against starting offensive tackles, in fact. And as I have said before, and as it was proven again on Saturday, right now Bennett is the only guy at left end who is successful speed rushing around the corner.

I just believe that all other things being equal you go with the better pass rusher, and that is Bennett in this case.

Now I have about as much chance of starting at left end for the Bucs right now as Michael Bennett does, and I realize that. The Bucs are committed to Kyle Moore, and it’s not likely that they would consider benching him any time soon. I’m just telling you what I see as an unbiased observer.

Against the Jaguars, Bennett again was very productive. He had some really good rushes, got a hit on the quarterback and ended up with a tackle and a couple of assists. He might be falling too in love with his inside pass rush moves, though. He is good at getting the offensive lineman upfield and then coming back inside, but when you are the left end facing a right handed quarterback, the last thing you want to do is lose containment and allow the QB outside of the pocket. And sooner or later, if you keep going inside, somebody is going to see it and take advantage of it.

Bennett also learned a valuable lesson Saturday. And that is when you see a back offset to your side, you always have to be aware that they might chip-block you when you aren’t looking for it. Bennett was trying to get upfield to make the Jags’ quarterback pull up on a roll out pass and one of their running backs caught him from the blindside and put him on his back. Not a good look at all. lol

Brian Price: Price had a much better game. He obviously got his legs back up under him, and it was a lot harder for the Jaguars to move him or get him on the ground. He had a really good hit on Garrard off of a three-man (plus-Quincy-Black) pass rush look. He did have one bust, though, when he forgot to loop around for containment when we ran a line stunt. But all in all, for his second bit of live action of the preseason, he held his own.

Tim Crowder: Crowder played well but he didn’t flash all that much. He did have one good rush that I noted, but for the most part he was where he was supposed to be, doing his job. But he just didn’t really fill up the stat sheet.

Normally, I would go through the rest of the guys on the roster, but they didn’t play all that much this game. Plus, because the DVR gods are jerks, the last two minutes or so of the game was not recorded. Therefore, I will just note that although Carlton Powell may not have enough talent to play in the NFL, I have really been impressed with the way he has bounced back from a decidedly horrible first preseason game against the Dolphins.

The guy goes hard, and you can tell it means something to him. I feel like that’s the kind of guy who I would want on my practice squad because I think he will actually appreciate the opportunity and, in time, just might develop to the point where he IS ready to play in the NFL.

I’m not trying to campaign for the guy, but I am saying I really appreciate seeing young guys who bust their ass and show marked improvement from game to game.

Well, that’s it for this week. Just two more weeks before the real bullets start flying. I don’t know about you but I can hardly wait!

Bucs fans already know the pewter pirates, specifically Bucs general manager Mark Dominik, may have gotten the steal of the draft in wide receiver Mike Williams.

Count Peter King as a believer as well.

The longtime Sports Illustrated columnist put down his cup of coffee and bowl of oatmeal to describe how impressed he is with the Bucs rookie in King’s must-read Monday Morning Quarterback column.

I think the two Mike Williamses, the rookie from Syracuse in Tampa Bay, and the vet trying to make a comeback in Seattle, had interesting Saturdays. … The Tampa Williams made a couple of great catch-and-run plays. Too early to make a judgment on the Tampa Williams because of all the baggage in his past, but if Tampa Bay hits on him, imagine the value for the 101st player picked in the draft.

If that little nugget isn’t enough for you to click on the link and read King, there’s also some troubling hate on Stylez White included as well as some of King’s time-honored staples such as musings on coffee, travel, oatmeal and Brett Favre.

Before Saturday’s preseason game against the Jaguars, Joe heard the Bucs’ defensive mastermind/head coach asked a question on the Buccaneers Radio Network.

Apparently, since Raheem Morris’ job is not in jeopardy, interviewer/host TJ Rives didn’t pass on any questions of the day. Rives asked Morris whether Josh Freeman would have played that night if the game was opening day of the regular season.

“The young man would have tried to play,” Morris said.

Joe’s not sure what to make of that; the head coach didn’t elaborate.

So just how close is Freeman to being ready?

Joe finds it interesting that none of the mainstream press had any quotes from Freeman out of Saturday night’s game. He is the franchise player, and his injury status is key to the entire season.

That makes it seem to Joe that Freeman was made off-limits to the media. And from Joe’s experience, that could be a strong sign that the Bucs aren’t confident in his opening-day return and don’t want Freeman to say anything that could reveal that now.

It’s all quite mysterious. Joe wouldn’t bet a nickel Freeman is the opening day QB.