Good guy Stephen Holder, of the St. Pete Times, penned a look at the key battles for starting positions on the Bucs this preseason.

Holder names left guard, left defensive end, strong safety, receiver and defensive tackle as the hotspots.

Still, as we approach training camp, Tampa Bay still has a fair amount of competition for jobs. There are at least six starting spots that, near as we can tell, are either wide open or where the incumbent will likely have to fight off a challenge from others.

Joe is quite hysterical reading this paragraph from Holder. Just six weeks ago, his fellow beat writer, The Mad Twitterer, said all but one starting job on the Bucs was up for grabs. Stroud even went so far to say that hogwash fact is what will make training camp so exciting.

Of course, Holder is like any other intelligent Bucs fan. He knows there are several starting jobs in stone on the Bucs, including more than half the defense.

One position Holder passed on is running back.

Joe firmly believes Derrick Ward will be given a chance to redeem Mark Dominik win the starting running back job.  He’s not being paid handsomely to hold his helmet.

It’s highly unlikely Cadillac Willams (28) or Ward (almost 30) will be Buccaneers when the team hopefully reaches its “lasting contender” phase. So why wouldn’t the team simply play the hot guy on 2010?

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Joe has been scouring the interwebs looking for Bucs stuff (in between e-mailing and calling out of town writers for interviews), as it seems many of the local pen and mic club are taking a siesta.

Joe takes no siesta, unless Rachel Watson comes calling, of course.

In his research, Joe came across rather inflammatory accusations about Raheem the Dream’s job status by Todd L. Frank of RealFootball365.com. There, in a column written earlier this month, Frank suggests that Team Glazer regretted hiring Raheem the Dream and the Bucs were going to jettison Raheem the Dream this offseason.

Just came off his first year, but the Bucs were showing signs of remorse and considered canning him earlier this offseason. If Morris and the team don’t show improvement, they could pull the trigger.

This is simply an outrageous statement by any measure. Of course, Raheem the Dream could be let go if the Bucs win, say, two games this year. And Joe could also find himself in the embrace of Rachel Watson someday as well.

But Frank never attributes his source nor even hints he has a source in claiming Raheem the Dream was about to be fired. Exactly who is feeding him this information? Or is Frank just throwing feces against the wall?

Now if Frank somehow mistook Team Glazer waiting a few days after the regular season to give Raheem the Dream another year, well, OK, Joe can see where Frank may have connected two-and-two and came up with five. But to not attribute where he obtained such explosive information is beyond the pale.

Bucs icon and resident old man Ronde Barber sat down with NFL Network anchor Rich Eisen for a long interview on all things Buccaneers.

Joe recommends you watch the entire video.

(First, shame on Eisen — and his researchers — for leading off the interview telling everyone that Barber and Jermaine Phillips are the only remaining Bucs on the current roster from the Super Bowl season. Phillips has been off the team for months.)

In his very laid back style, Barber shares his impressions of Gerald McCoy, Josh Freeman and much more.

Asked to name top talent on the Bucs, Barber singled out two of his cohorts in the secondary.

“You look at guys, especially on the defense, guys like Tanard Jackson and Aqib Talib. Those guys are can’t-miss stars in this league,” Barber said. … Interesingly, the next and final guy Barber identified as top talent was Stylez White, who enters a season as a starter for the first time in his career.

Barber explained that he’s in the final year of his six-year contract, an accomplishment he says neither he nor the Bucs expected when he signed that deal.

Joe found it intriguing that Barber talked like a guy who genuinely wants to play in 2011, but Barber wondered aloud whether a team will want him at 36-years old.

Always working to give Bucs fans fresh, unique daily content, when others aren’t nearly as dedicated as the final days before training camp drag on, Joe spoke with Bob Asmussen of the Champaign (Ill.) News-Gazette, who is the paper’s primary beat writer covering the University of Illinois. Joe reached out to him to get some background on Bucs rookie wide receiver Arrelious Benn.

Asmussen writes for his paper’s Illini Web site, IlliniHQ.com, where Joe was featured in a story about the Bucs earlier this year.

Here is Asmussen’s perspective on Benn:

JoeBucsFan:  West-Central Florida isn’t much of a hotbed of Illini football and Illinois isn’t seen much on local TV sets outside of sporadic games on the Big Ten Network, especially after the Rose Bowl appearance two years ago. What made Benn such a special talent for the Illini?

Bob Asmussen:  A couple of things. First, he worked harder than anybody. Just look at him physically. You don’t get to be like that without a lot of time running, lifting and catching passes. Plus, he eats about as well as any football player I’ve come in contact with. When your best player is also your hardest worker that’s a great thing.

Second, he is extremely confident in his own ability, but isn’t a jerk about it. He basically thinks he will make every play and does it in such a convincing manner that you start to believe it too.

Joe:  Was there a particular play or a specific game that you watched Benn play at Illinois and first thought to yourself, “Wow, this guy’s going to get paid to play on Sundays?”

Bob:  Easy, freshman year against Penn State. First, he returned a kickoff for a touchdown. And later in the game, he had a spectacular catch and run for a touchdown, breaking away from several Penn State defenders. That play, to me, was his best at Illinois.

The first time I saw him on the Illinois campus was at a camp before his senior year in high school. He was catching everything and I turned to somebody and said, “That’s Jerry Rice.” Now, of course, that’s a stretch, but he was better than any receiver Illinois had at the time. Not even close.

Joe:  You stated previously you got to know Benn and his family pretty well. Can you flush out some of the details about what kind of a background he came from?

Bob:  It’s interesting. His mom, Denise Benn, is a wonderful person. She is one of the nicer parents I’ve dealt with during my time covering Illinois. And she hasn’t had an easy life. Arrelious’ older brother, Trulon Henry, spent part of Benn’s childhood in federal prison for armed robbery. The family is very open about it and Trulon has turned his life around. In fact, he will likely be a starting safety for Illinois this season after spending two years at a Chicago-area junior college. The brothers are very close and I think Trulon’s comeback has been inspiring to Arrelious.

Trulon was excited when he heard Arrelious was going to the Bucs. He thinks that’s a great fit.

Joe:  What is it on a personal level that may impress you about Benn or something that not many people may know? Is he a leader by vocal commands, or is he a leader by example? Is he just a lunchpail kind of a guy or is he flamboyant at all?

Bob:  He leads by example, but got more vocal later in his career. I think that’s pretty normal. He is a lunchpail guy who can be flamboyant. But not too much. Mom and his brother wouldn’t stand for it. He is very mature for his age, which probably is due in part to the difficult background. I thought he seemed like an adult as a freshman. He is easy to talk to and always has a smile. But he is also very self-critical. When he has a bad game and the team loses, you can tell that it hurts.

Joe:  From your research and knowledge and insight, how would you project Benn to be as an NFL wide receiver, say, five years down the road? What trait does he have that suggests he will be a survivor or a stud in the league?

Bob:  I think he has a chance to be an All-Pro. He has the physical skills and the mental makeup. And he is tough, playing through injuries during his Illinois career. I think he will get better. I’m guessing he will have the usual growing pains his first season, then blossom as a second-year player. You see that so often with receivers in the NFL. Once he gets going, he can be a 100-catch guy if that’s what the Bucs want to do with him. I’d think he is much more likely be a star than he is to be a bust.

If Brett Favre had kept his mouth shut, him playing for the Bucs would not have been just something found on a video game.

Two years ago, in what would be Chucky’s last season in Tampa Bay, he nearly pulled off a trade to bring future Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre to the Bucs, despite what former Bucs general manager Bruce Almighty might (still) deny.

In talking recently with BSPN, recounted by NFL.com, Farve spoke of how his chances to come to the Bucs were very real until his mouth got in the way.

Favre also revealed aspects of his standoff with Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy. The Packers traded Favre to the New York Jets in 2008 after the quarterback changed his mind about retirement the first time.

“There was just silence,” Favre told the magazine. “I said, ‘Well, what are we gonna do?’

“They made it pretty clear I wasn’t going to play there, and I said, ‘How about the Vikings or even the Lions?’ I wanted to stay in the same division. They said that wasn’t going to happen, but maybe Tampa. I said, ‘Fine, trade me to Tampa. I’ll whip your asses in Week 4,'” Favre stated. “Maybe that was a mistake. I’m flying back to Hattiesburg thinking I’m going to the Bucs, and I get off the plane and Bus tells me I’ve been traded to the Jets. I said, ‘Bull,’ but they were smart; they released the news so I’d look like an ass if I backed out.”

Oh, how might the Bucs be different if Farve had kept his mouth shut. It’s possible Chucky would still be here. Raheem the Dream would be the Bucs defensive coordinator. Future Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks may also still be here, but more likely he would have been able to exit with honor and respect last season rather than be thrown to the curb like a used beer cup.

It makes Joe wonder what might have been.

Some Tinseltown heavyweights reached out to Joe recently to work with them on their tailgating/cooking/football junkie reality show. An episode will be shot in Tampa next month.

Now Joe, after making sure this wasn’t some bizarre porn outfit much research on this Hollywood group, decided to get involved in Backyard Blitz.

A casting call is coming up soon in the Tampa Bay area. Plus there will be opportunities for audience members to be part of the show and get paid cash for that, in addition to eating free food (definitely Joe’s idea of hard labor.)

Joe’s going to have a lot more info. soon. But for now, if you think you want to be on TV, here’s Step 1.

BE PART OF THE COMPETITION
Do you go crazy for the TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS? Are you all about tailgating before the big game? If you’ve got team spirit and want to put your BBQ skills to the test, we’re looking for you!

You and a teammate of your choice will go head to head with two other tailgate-tested teams to huddle up around the grill and prove who the MVP’s will be in this competitive cook-off.
You’ll need two dishes to score your touchdown! So put down the playbook, pick up the cookbook and get ready to run your drills behind the grill on Backyard Blitz!

Send the following information for you and your teammate to BackyardBlitzCasting@gmail.com
NAME
PHONE NUMBER
2 CURRENT PHOTOS
FAVORITE BUCCANEERS PLAYER(S)
HOW YOU AND YOUR TEAMMATE KNOW EACH OTHER
SIGNATURE TAILGATE DISHES

Joe advises following the directions above closely in order to be considered. …Again, Joe will post more information very soon. 

Having only cobbled together three wins last year and going through two coordinators by the halfway point of the season, it’s easy to see why many are skeptical that Raheem The Dream will have any lasting power as the Bucs head coach.

But no less an authority than Herm Edwards believes Raheem The Dream will lock up some job security this season.

Twittering as he often does early in the morning, Herm fielded a question from a Bucs fan about Raheem the Dream and gave a short but clear endorsement of him.

@TWOZRO:  can the Bucs improve enough to keep Rah Mo employed? I want to see him blossom.

@HermEdwardsESPN:  Yes

Unless the Bucs totally trip up this season — not unlikely given the fact quarterback Josh Freeman has limited weapons and the defense will rely too heavily on rookies on the defensive line — Joe can easily see Raheem The Dream coming back for the 2011 season, provided there is a 2011 season.

Six wins would pretty much lock up Raheem The Dream for another season.

Last summer when Joe interviewed Bucs tight end Kellen Winslow, he compared Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman as a “black Ben Roethlisberger.”

Pat Kirwan has another famous quarterback that Freeman reminds him of.

During a recent chat on NFL.com, Kirwan cautioned Bucs fans not to get their hopes up too high for Freeman — this year. Down the road, Kirwan dared to predict Freeman could be the next Warren Moon.

Bucs Fan, Tampa, Fl
Hi Pat, Do you see Josh Freeman possibly making an impact this year for the team?

Pat Kirwan, NFL.com
I’m a big fan of Josh Freeman. As I’ve stated many times before, he reminds me of a young Warren Moon. His challenge this year besides his own development is bringing along two rookie WRs and getting them up to par with the NFL game. That is a big challenge. Two or three years from now, he may be the best from his class.

Coming from Kirwan, this warms Joe’s heart. Like Kirwan, Joe is not expecting anything from Freeman. Look, how can anyone expect Freeman to shine when he doesn’t have anything to work with? His running backs are average at best, and to be honest, that’s a stretch. Freeman’s best receiver isn’t even a receiver, it’s his tight end. His two top receivers likely will be rookies.

Joe Montana might even struggle with that supporting cast.

Joe recently touched base with Eric Sondheimer of the Los Angeles Times to get more background information into Bucs second round draft pick, defensive tackle Brian Price. Sondheimer, who covered Price both at UCLA and in high school, was kind enough to fill in Joe on some details on Price, both the player and the person.

JoeBucsFan:  Granted, here on the west coast of the East Coast, we don’t get to see too many UCLA games. What made Brian Price such a special defensive tackle?

Eric Sondheimer:  Price showed exceptional strength in beating offensive linemen one-on-one, whether stopping the run or bursting through to pressure the quarterback. His combination of quickness and strength made him a unique player.

Joe:  Was there a particular play or a specific game that you watched Price play at UCLA and first thought to yourself, “Wow, this guy’s playing on Sundays?”

Eric:  I saw him at Crenshaw High, and there just wasn’t anyone to play with him. That’s why USC tried very hard to recruit him, even sending a limo to try to pick him up on a recruiting visit. But he had already made up his mind to attend UCLA, which was having trouble get top players from Los Angeles. He turned out to be as good as advertised.

Joe:  You stated in a previous e-mail that you covered Price in high school, as well, so you likely know him just about as well as any reporters. I know Price had a difficult upbringing. Can you flush out some of the details about what a rough background he came from and the personal challenges he faced?

Eric:  Price had a brother killed. He comes from an area where gangs are prominent, but he has always been a good kid who loved sports and respected his coaches. His father works as a softball coach at Crenshaw. He knows the difference between right and wrong. He wants to succeed and wants to work hard.

Joe:  What is it on a personal level that may impress you about Price or something that not many people may know? He is the kind of guy teammates follow or gravitate to? Is he a rah-rah kind of guy or does he simply lead by example?

Eric:  When UCLA played a bowl game at a very cold site, he was the one wandering around in freezing temperatures with his shirt off before the game. I don’t know if that makes him crazy or he was simply setting an example for teammates to ignore the conditions. I never asked. This past weekend, he came back to his high school to help run a lineman clinic for high school and youth football players. That shows he hasn’t forgotten where he came from. He is very likable and approachable. He loves football. He loves to win. He loves to have fun. He’s a Los Angeles kid who appreciates what it has taken to get where he’s at.

Joe:  Since you’ve seen so many of his games, from your research and knowledge and insight, how would you project Price to be as an NFL player, say, five years down the road?

Eric:  I think Brian Price is going to be a dependable, steady player for years in the NFL. He has the body and physical makeup to be a standout at times. His only weakness at UCLA was conditioning. He had to come out of games at times. But run stoppers and pass rushers are needed, and he can be both as long as he stays injury free. Price showed exceptional strength in beating offensive linemen one-on-one, whether stopping the run or bursting through to pressure the quarterback. His combination of quickness and strength made him a unique player.

A tiny percentage of Joe’s readers will see JoeBucsFan.com featured on the cover of the Tampa Bay Business Journal today.

It’s not Sports Illustrated, but it’s a nice spread and Joe appreciates the interest from the Bay area’s top business publication. JoeBucsFan.com has exploded. JoeRaysFan.com has even greater traffic. And it’s pretty cool that intelligent people are taking notice.

However, this was a business story and missing from it is Joe’s passion for everything Buccaneers. One person who read the story this morning e-mailed Joe to say, “Gosh, it almost came off like you weren’t a crazy Bucs fan.”

That saddened Joe enough to write this post.

Joe’s here every day because he loves the Bucs and enjoys sharing that passion with his readers. Sure, Joe’s a capitalist and is trying to make some real money. Perhaps that’ll happen in a couple of years, but the reality is Joe might have a better chance of getting a rubdown from Jenna Lee.

And if anyone knows Jenna Lee, please tell her Joe is pleased to escort her to Bucs training camp next week.

It seems Yahoo! Sports’ Jason Cole continues to rank the best units in the NFL by team. He recently typed his list of the best defensive back crews in the NFL and has the Bucs slightly above average.

No. 15. Tampa Bay Buccaneers:  The Bucs possess the most volatile secondary in the league, a group defined by mercurial CB Aqib Talib. When Talib is right, he’s a ball-hawking machine. When he’s not, he disrupts the team in every way possible. This group could be great or it could be a train wreck, which is one of the reasons CB Ronde Barber is coming back for his 14th season. Barber is supposed to help keep the likes of Talib, Tanard Jackson and Elbert Mack going in the right direction. Talk about a tough job.

Joe believes this to be utter nonsense. While Talib was hardly a choirboy last year, his distractions hardly affected the Bucs secondary. Rather, it was largely the heinous Jim Bates Experiment.

Joe believes, potentially, the Bucs have one of the better secondaries in the league and it was easily a Bucs strength last year. It just shows how one massive crater in the secondary — Sabby the Goat — dragged the Bucs defensive backs down to middle of the pack in the NFL.

Stephen Holder, of the St. Pete Times, also felt compelled to write about the Bucs relying on an inexperienced and underachieving receiving corps coupled with a 22-year-old quarterback.

Joe’s agonized about that situation for weeks, as Joe wrote yesterday.

In Holder’s brief look, he mentions that Micheal Spurlock, the man who made Bucs history in 2007, was a standout during OTAs and is making a case for a final receiver spot.

Even a veteran afterthought such as Reggie Brown impressed coaches with his work ethic and precise route-running. Meanwhile, Micheal Spurlock did his best to convince the staff that he is more than a return specialist, and he made a pretty convincing argument. Second-round pick Arrelious Benn had his moments, too.

Spurlock is an interesting option for the Bucs.

Joe wonders whether Clifton Smith just had bad luck with his two serious concussions last season or does he now have a fragile head?

Sammie Stroughter, who had a return for touchdown last year, seems to be a definite starter at wide receiver and the Bucs might not want him to be their No. 2 return man.

Spurlock might be a wise choice for a roster spot — and inexpensive — but there’s no way he’s on the team if blocking icon Michael Clayton, and his $3 million+ guaranteed sticks around.

Gerald McCoy may have lightning get-off at the line of scrimmage, but he doesn’t plan to bring that kind of frenetic urgency to his contract negotiatons, so he told The Oklahoman for an interview published today.

Bucs training camp starts in 13 days, and McCoy said he plans to wait to sign until No. 1 overall pick Sam Bradford sets the money bar for this year’s draft class. 

The only problem – for Bucs fans – is that several outlets are reporting that the Rams, Bradford’s new team, may be throwing a lowball offer at him in an effort to squeeze him into signing a deal. Essentially, the Rams may have leverage because a new NFL new labor agreement likely will include a low wage scale for rookies

How are contract discussions coming?

(shrugs shoulders) I definitely want to be on time, but we just have to see how it goes.

What do you think of former teammate Sam Bradford‘s contract situation?

King Sam! Sam will get his deal done. I think Sam will be there, and as soon as Sam gets his deal done, mine will be done.

Are you waiting on Sam to sign?

It’s kind of one of those deals where you would rather let the first pick sign first. You don’t want to do your deal first and his contract is way higher than yours. But if you waited yours would have been higher.

Yesterday, at an event in Oklahoma, McCoy told the Associated Press: “Given the fact that we’re about to enter a lockout, you’ve got to get as much money as you can.”

Joe can’t fault McCoy for pushing for maximum dollars for himself and his family. And there’s no reason to believe that McCoy is going to be unreasonable.

But as Joe wrote yesterday, Joe has no confidence that this will be a smooth process, despite Joel Glazer telling everyone that “money will never be an issue” when building the Bucs.

One possible upside for McCoy getting to training camp on-time is the Rams start camp two days before Tampa Bay. If Bradford’s negotiations go down to the start of camp, that at least gives the Bucs and McCoy a couple of business days to ink a deal before he misses any precious time putting his face on people with his undewear off and big boy pads on.

Joe admits he’s been an insomniac lately. Thinking about who actually is going to play wide receiver for the Bucs and wondering how Josh Freeman will develop enough of a rhythm with those guys to WIN on opening day is enough to drive Joe batty.

Call Joe crazy, but Joe cares about winning more than anything else.

All the “lasting contender” buzz is very cute but it won’t be soothing when the whistle blows against Cleveland in September.

That brings up the question of how much time Freeman might see in the preseason. Should he play more than most quarterbacks given the state of the Bucs?

Sadly, Greg Olson and Raheem The Dream don’t really have much (any?) experience handling a 22-year-old starter in the preseason along with a huge crop of rookie and young receivers — and veteran receivers — who have so much to prove.

Arrelious Benn was the 39th overall pick in what was considered the deepest draft in a generation. He’s got to play a lot. And Michael Williams is the Bucs’ lovechild of the underwear sessions better known as OTAs. He’s playing a lot.

Then there’s 25-year-old Maurice Stovall, who actually caught 24 balls last year and earned a shot to see if he can get it done. Sammie Stroughter needs his time, and surely the Bucs want to get a long look at Reggie Brown to see if he’s better than Clayton recaptured any of his lost glory.

Joe sincerely hopes blocking icon Michael Clayton is only around to deliver to ferocious hits to future UFL players and catch fade routes from Rudy Carpenter.

After 2009, Joe just has no confidence the Bucs know how to get this all figured out smoothly, successfully and quickly, without needing a half a season for the coaching staff to right the ship.

Hopefully, Joe hopes can stop the anxiety for a night. Perhaps Joe can take his mind off it by thinking about the Bucs’ depth at defensive line and linebacker. … Ahhh, never mind.

The next and possibly ugly battle to be waged on the NFL labor front is underway. That would be the signing of the 2010 first-round draft class.

Owners across the league are hoarding cash and preparing for a lockout in 2011. So who could expect them to start gleefully throwing around alleged market-rate dollars for rookies? Especially when a rookie salary cap seems an inevitable byproduct of a new collective bargaining agreement (whenever that actually happens).

Woody Cummings, beat writer for The Tampa Tribune,  believes a big squeeze might be forthcoming from the Rams to No. 1 overall pick Sam Bradford, and force a trickle down effect of holdouts that could include Bucs manbeast in waiting Gerald McCoy.

At a time when a five-year contract and $50 million in guaranteed payouts would be the norm for Bradford, there is talk the Rams may try to get Bradford to accept a three-year deal that includes less than $30 million in guarantees.

That would represent a significant step backwards for the players, who are already facing the strong likelihood that a far-less-lucrative rookie wage scale will be part of the new collective bargaining agreement.

The players, of course, are hoping to maintain the status quo at least through the current negotiating season. That desire could result in several rookie holdouts, possibly including McCoy, who was drafted third overall.

Surely Team Glazer would never stand for negotiations that could affect the Bucs’ on-field performance. After all, Joel Glazer recently said “money will never be an issue” when it comes to building the Bucs. Why Joe even expects Glazer to step in soon and demand that Mark Dominik sign Donald Penn to a long term deal.

Kidding aside, with defensive tackle Brian Price missing a load of offseason practice time already because of school commitments and an injury, the Bucs certainly can’t afford — on the field — to have McCoy miss any training camp.

Given the labor situation, Joe has little hope of a smooth, holdout-free process.

The Bucs opened reservations for free tickets to training camp’s opening day today at 10 a.m., via the free-to-join One Buc Club on the team’s website.

However, on the home page of Buccaneers.com there is no mention of tickets being available now, and to the best of Joe’s knowledge the Bucs haven’t sent out any news releases or drummed up excitement at all.

But you can get those tickets in hand right now. Joe’s got six printed off his trusty Epson . … (One for Joe, one for the other Joe, one for Rachel Watson, one for Roxanne Wilder, one for those two Latina twins who were kind enough to ask Joe to take their picture at last year’s training camp).

It’s an easy ordering process fulfilled via Ticketmaster.

Joe contacted the powers at One Buc Palace yesterday after the learning of today’s launch while viewing of an unrelated video on Buccaneers.com. The Bucs didn’t deny tickets were going up for public consumption, but they surely didn’t seem interested in getting the word out.

Bizarre.

One would think the marketing folks there would want to take off their underwear, put on their big boy pads and put their face on people when it comes to such an exciting event as the opening of training camp. (For those unaware, this seemingly sleazy reference is actually a Raheem The Dream quote).

Oh, well. 

Joe recommends you get your tickets now. Tickets for Day 2 of training camp will be released Saturday morning.

Josh Freeman has built an amazing reputation in just over a year.

The guy lives in the film room and on the practice fields at One Buc Palace. Everyone agrees he’s shown A+ dedication.

Now he’s even jumped head first into serving the community with, among other things, a youth football camp and recently a celebrity bartending appearance for charity. Here’s a photo below courtesy of WhatTheBuc.net:

Ahhh, it’s good to be quarterback.

Linebacker is one of several positions where the Bucs are painfully thin

The new in-house super expert at NFL.com, Michael Lombardi, is not expecting much from the Bucs in 2010.

Why Lombardi boldly predicted the Bucs could have a breakout season and win only six games.

Lombardi, the former Raiders, Eagles and Browns personnel executive, revealed little hope for Tampa Bay and his fellow Hofstra alumni Raheem The Dream in his NFC season preview.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: The bad news for the Bucs is they only won three games last year. The good news is they won two of the last three games. Is that a signal that they are improving? Is this the momentum needed to launch a successful campaign in 2010? I am not buying it. The Bucs are a young team on and off the field. Young quarterback, young wide receivers, young defensive lineman, young head coach, and young general manager, which means they make mistakes. And last year they made them all over, from players signed, to play-calling, to game management, to turning the ball over. They are, however, starting to collect talent, which leads you to believe on paper they could be a team capable of breaking out and doubling their win total. However, winning in the NFL with youth is a challenge and the Bucs will use the 2010 season to grow up (all over) and possibly be ready to challenge in 2011.

Joe thinks Lombardi is pushing it to say the Bucs would be “breaking out” to win six games. As Joe has written before, the Bucs played 3-6 football to close the season and somewhat righted a sinking ship, with stability at quarterback and Raheem The Dream taking over the defense after the heinous Jim Bates Experiment.

Barring injury, Joe expects the Bucs to keep playing 3-6 football, which would leave them with five or six wins.

Logic aside, the reality of a six-win season and the Bucs’ painfully young roster void of veteran experience puts a hefty knot in Joe’s stomach. With a couple of typically inevitable key injuries, the Bucs’ season could get ugly very quickly.

Buried in an NFL.com story about the strained NFL labor situation is some tantalizing fodder for the growing legions of Bucs fans obsessed with the team’s finances.

Jason LaCanfora, of NFL.com, studied the new annual report of the publicly held Green Bay Packers organization and analyzed some of his findings. He revealed the Packers’ total revenue of $258 million included $157 million from the NFL’s revenue sharing pot last year.

Of that $258 million, more than half ($157 million) came from national revenues which are shared by all franchises via the television contracts, road-game revenues, national media rights and sponsorship deals. Local revenues — money derived from sales at the Pro Shop, for instance — were actually down $500,000 from a year ago, and have been flat for about three years. Murphy identified the struggling economy as a leading contributor to that.

So it stands to reason that the Bucs, like all other teams, also got $157 million from the mother ship. That’s a sweet piece of change, especially when your player payroll is $84.5 million, like the Bucs’ was in 2009, per the USA Today salary database.

Joe is pleased to know the Bucs are making piles of money.