If the Bucs are to have the No. 18 ranked defensive line this fall, Roy Miller will have to play a huge role.

Surfing the net for Bucs nuggets on this lazy Saturday of a holiday weekend, Joe was stunned to come across Jason Cole’s rankings of each NFL team’s defensive line.

Joe not only did a double-take when he read the following, Joe had to check that his coffee wasn’t spiked with something a bit stronger than Folgers Brazilian. Cole, writing for Yahoo! Sports, has the Bucs defensive line ranked at No. 18.

18. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: OK, I have to admit right from the start that the Bucs don’t have an end who is worth mentioning (they have placeholders in Tim Crowder and Stylez G White), but you have to love what the Bucs did with their first two picks in the draft, taking tackle Gerald McCoy and then following up with Brian Price. McCoy may have a Warren Sapp-like impact in that he could make those around him much better, making it easier to find good ends.

Whoa! Talk about being generous!

Joe just can’t see how Cole has the Bucs defensive line ranked so high. Arguably, the Bucs had one of the worst defensive lines in the league last year with one tackle (Chris Hovan) already jettisoned and another (Ryan Sims) all but benched. So your starting defensive tackles will be rookie Gerald McCoy and either rookie Brian Price or second-year tackle Roy Miller.

Joe will have a post tomorrow about how rookie defensive tackles struggle. Joe hopes the rookies play like veterans, but Joe just can’t see how Cole has the Bucs front line ranked so high.

Either that, or the NFL as a whole has dismal defensive fronts.

"Jimminy Christmas! You want to know why I went to Orlando? How am I supposed to lead a bunch of #@$%$ men to win nine games with a pile of piss poor fans hovering over them every day."

Esteemed Tampa Tribune Bucs writer Woody Cummings dropped a pretty powerful hammer down yesterday on the Buccaneers’ decision to limit fan access to training camp in 2010, when compared with the rather all-encompassing access fans had last year.

Instead of limiting the number of open practices so that fans won’t be disappointed by what they see, the Bucs would have done better by opening all the workouts and increasing the information available about each one.

By opening every workout and providing greater detail on Web sites, in newspapers and at the training facility itself about what will happen during each workouts, the Bucs could have greatly reduced any chance of fan disappointment.

By initially limiting the number of open workouts, though, the Bucs have greatly limited fans’ ability to see their team. And this at a time when they are supposed to be rebuilding – not only their team, but their seemingly dwindling fan base.

Cummings had many more strong opinions, too.

It’s hard to argue with Cummings’ logic. Access is always better than no access. Communication is critical. And you can’t please everybody, but you can surely try.

But Joe doesn’t lose sight of the fact that even limited access to training camp right in the team’s home city is a blessing, especially the way the Bucs invite fans practically on the field at One Buc Palace.  That’s not the norm in the NFL.

And Joe wouldn’t be surprised if Raheem The Dream requested fewer distractions (no fans) during some of these sessions, especially with a painfully young team. Perhaps Raheem The Dream is planning on some very tough love not suited for young onlookers.

Joe can’t clobber the Bucs on this one. But Joe sure hopes the fans do get additional dates to watch practice.

Joe sat back to listen to the highlights of Cadillac Williams “mic’d up” at an offseason practice, part of a video dedicated to Caddy’s unscripted commentary on Buccaneers.com.

Sadly, Joe didn’t hear anything remotely interesting in the just under three minute segment. Cadillac revealed he played special teams in high school, and that Earnest Graham has a new helmet. Oooooh!

Joe only mentions this video because the Bucs in-house productions are usually top flight and interesting. This one is way out of left field.

Frankly, Joe almost feels like the Bucs threw Cadillac under the bus with this video. It surely doesn’t shine some sort of pretty spotlight on one of the most dedicated and inspirational football players in the history of the organization.

To be fair, Cadillac  isn’t one to give interesting commentary.  He’s not that kind of speaker. What’s in this video is probably the best the Bucs had to work with.

Joe received an e-mail early this week from a highly respected member of the Bucs press corps asking Joe why he has deviated from posting eyecandy on the site.

Indeed!

This was just the excuse Joe needed to share a photo of fetching Bucs cheerleader Marlana Aref.

At any rate, by the time this post appears, Joe hopes to be on (at least) his second pint of a cold, draft adult beverage.

This weekend is like Christmas to Joe. Summertime is fun time, and a three-day, Fourth of July weeken — Joe is stoked. Beers and babes and beaches and bikinis and fireworks and babes and beaches and bikinis and beers. …

Did Joe mention babes and bikinis?

Joe hopes all of his readers enjoy a well-lubricated, ribs and corn-on-the-cob-filled weekend. Please remember Joe never takes a day off, somehow finding a way to post stories between bottles of beer and trips to the beach.

Also note you can still follow Joe on Twitter and Facebook.

Remember, Tuesday when most of us will be dragging our arses back to work, Joe will have two major announcements that Joe is confident all of his readers — and all reasoned, intelligent  Tampa Bay area sports fans — will have significant interest in.

Until then, have fun and stay safe and don’t be a stranger.

UPDATE:  Joe strongly recommends wasting a few quality minutes by monitoring this video of the fetching Ms. Aref.

Joe has written too many times to count that he believes that the Bucs blocking icon, wide receiver Michael Clayton, will be on the Bucs roster this fall.

Joe came to this conclusion because he feels Bucs general manager Mark Dominik will give Clayton one last opportunity to justify the $26 million contract he threw at the blocking icon last offseason.

Stephen Holder is of a different mindset. A Bucs beat writer for the St. Petersburg Times, Holder thinks the only way Clayton remains (though Holder is certain he will report to One Buc Palace for training camp) on the Bucs roster this fall is if there are injuries to Clayton’s fellow wide receivers.

Another reason Clayton will stick around is because the Bucs still would trade him if the opportunity presented itself, giving general manager Mark Dominik a chance to salvage something out of what has been an unpopular and, ultimately, unwise decision to re-sign Clayton to a $26 million deal last year. This might sound like a pipe dream, and maybe it is, but it doesn’t cost the Bucs anything to hang on to Clayton during the preseason and shop him, hoping another club finds itself in a dire situation at receiver.

I often ask myself whether there is anything Clayton can do to find a place on the final roster this fall, and it’s hard to come up with an answer. Even if he has a brilliant camp and preseason — and he often has — its hard to think it’ll be enough to get the Bucs to look beyond all the past disappointments. Consider that last season, after inking his new contract, Clayton had just 16 receptions, the fewest in his career. Frankly, injuries to other receivers that greatly affect the depth might be the only thing that can keep Clayton around.

Former Bucs defensive end Steve White, who writes a weekly “Bull Rush”column for Joe, also believes, like Holder, Clayton won’t be on the Bucs roster this fall. White says it has a little to do with money but everything to do with numbers, as he wrote on his own blog recently.

It’s been a rough week for Jeremy Zuttah. A certain publication, behind the cloak of paid content, all but called him a cocky, overmatched loafer, and then Stephen Holder, of the St. Pete Times, passed on an opportunity to say something good about him and/or challenge that critique.

In a live chat with readers Wednesday, Holder wrote that Zuttah must step up because there’s not going to be much behind him.

Bob – I’ve read elsewhere the Jeremy Zuttah has been a real disappointment. Is there anybody who currently replace him or are the Bucs going to have to look elsewhere?

Stephen Holder: The answer right now is NO. Xavier Fulton, a 2009 draft pick, is a possibility, but I have no clue what to expect from him because he’s been hurt since he’s been here. He’ll probably get a long look though. Basically, Zuttah is going to have to step up. This will be a very telling season for him I think.

Like most players entering their third NFL season, Zuttah is at a turning point.

After a good rookie season filling in for Davin Joseph at right guard and getting known for learning multiple positions along the O-line, Zuttah was thrust into the starting left guard role last year when Arron Sears went missing.

Joe recalls Zuttah talking during an interivew last year on WDAE-AM about how he was a right tackle in college and the transition to the left side represented a big challenge for him to change his football instincts.

Zuttah’s an extremely smart dude, and Joe has faith that he knows what’s at stake this year in his football career. Frankly, the Bucs have much more pressing concerns.

As for their depth at the position, just add O-line to the list of areas where the Bucs are painfully void of experienced reserves.

Throughout OTAs and minicamp, several Bucs beat writers made the point that free agent safety Sean Jones and incumbent Sabby the Goat each had equal playing time with the first-string defense.

One day Jones started; the next day Sabby the Goat started.

Stephen Holder, of the St. Petersburg Times, seems to believe this may be a front, that the Bucs have already decided behind closed doors who the starter will be.

And it’s not Sabby the Goat.

Here are the facts. Jones was one of just a handful of roster additions this offseason, and he just happens to play the same position as Piscitelli, who had a very long 2009 campaign in his first year as a starter. Jones has the better resume’ and his strength is an area in which Piscitelli struggles (being physical and making tackles). But Jones, a former Eagle and Brown, also has proven himself adept at getting his hands on the ball, with 16 interceptions and 35 pass deflections in the past four seasons.

To be fair, it should be pointed out that Piscitelli has had some good moments during the offseason. But what worries his coaches is his history of slow decision-making and incorrect decisions when in coverage or when providing help to cornerbacks. Many of those instances have resulted in long gains or touchdowns for opponents.

Piscitelli can still close the gap with a strong preseason. And the Bucs have repeatedly said they plan to play a three-safety rotation that includes Jackson, Jones and Piscitelli.

Holder makes a very, very salient point. The Bucs made very few offseason additions to the roster. Jones was one of the very few. Since the Bucs seemed to have all but given up on signing free agents unless to fill a hole, which Mark Dominik has stated several times, it stands to reason Jones wasn’t added just to fill a roster spot.

Given the fact there was no bigger hole on the defense last year than Sabby the Goat, Joe’s math adds up to Jones tentatively being the starter.

The key to the Bucs improving greatly in 2010 won’t be playing defensive line or catching passes. The key will be under center, so says former Bucs offensive lineman Jerry Wunsch.

Speaking on 620 WDAE-AM yesterday, Wunsch talked about a variety of subjects, including attending offseason practices at One Buc Palace. “I think they’ll improve a lot. The key is [Josh] Freeman’s maturity,” said Wunsch, who claims to have spent some time with Freeman. “He’s a top notch quality man.”

Sure, Freeman improving is key, but Joe sees improvement along the defensive line and in the running game — and finding someone that can truly replace Antonio Bryant — as just as important.

Wunsch, along with WDAE-AM host Ian Beckles, said the Bucs’ offensive line should be the least of the team’s worries in 2010. And neither was concerned about a Donald Penn holdout.

Man, Joe can’t remember the last time a nondescript draft pick is getting so much love.

Guess it helps to have your old man going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

NFL Network’s Steve Wyche catches up (again) with Bucs rookie safety Cody Grimm. This is the second video feature in as many weeks about Grimm.

Nothing of substance really in this video other than how much he seems to like Gerald McCoy and that, if he makes the Bucs final roster cut, he plans to do a lot of fishing.

Joe finds it a little bit rude of Wyche to interrupt Grimm at the trough at the NFL Rookie Symposium. Couldn’t Wyche let the dude eat first?

That’s almost as bad as a damned annoying, overly perky though well-meaning college-aged waitress when she asks Joe how everything is when she clearly saw Joe just shovel food in his mouth. What’s Joe supposed to do, spit the food on the plate just so he can say, “Fine, thank you?”

Friday is perhaps the greatest event of the year for hardcore greyhound racing fans. It’s the Night of Stars, when 17 tracks across the country feature a top race, and it’s all coordinated with the races going off one at a time. So anyone can enjoyably watch and wager on each one.

Of course, Derby Lane in St. Petersburg, arguably the premier track in the country and one of Joe’s favorite hangouts, is participating.

Click on the image below to learn all about the Night of Stars.

You know it’s coming. Joe knows it’s coming. The only question is, how many?

That would be a blackout.

With the local economy in the dumpster, the Bucs coming off a nightmarish season and no real prospects for a playoff run this year, it’s only too obvious that Bucs ticket sales are struggling.

So for the first time in the history of the CITS, Bucs games are likely to be blacked out. Team Glazer has talked about it — twice. 

Woody Cummings and Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune tackle the subject of home Bucs games being blacked out in this latest installment of a TBO.com Bucs vlog.

Late in the video, Richardson has a surprise offering for Cummings. Tell Joe what you think of Richardson’s suggestion.

After you have watched the video, it’s quite possible that the video below from The Scorpions will be the theme song of the Bucs 2010 season.

While Randall Cunningham never played for the Buccaneers, the former superstar quarterback did touch Joe’s life. So upon hearing of Cunningham’s tragic loss of his 2-year-old son yesterday, Joe felt compelled to post his condolences.

Back in 1993, a very young Joe was working on a children’s educational game show called Scramble, which was hosted by Cunningham, who at the time was one of the biggest names in the NFL.

Without all the sortid details, the syndicated TV show was managed by an ethicly challenged sports marketing representative whose true colors came out as he ran short of money during production. Upon learning of the complex situation, Cunningham stepped up and personally worked to right all the wrongs.

Surely, at the time, Cunningham probably wished he had never gotten involved, and he surely could have had his people handle it. But Cunningham stepped up and handled himself with a world of class. Joe subsequently learned a lot about doing the right thing.

Years later, Joe wasn’t surprised to learn that Cunningham became a minister and deeply involved in his Las Vegas community.

Joe’s heart goes out to Cunningham and his family. Joe can’t imagine their great pain.

As Joe counts the exciting hours before the unveiling of a new JoeRaysFan.com merged with an established powerhouse of a Rays website, Joe is taking pause to thank his many readers.

Thank you!

June was another strong month for JoeBucsFan.com.

Traffic continues to be strong in the Bucs offseason, with more than 30,000 unique visitors (different IP addresses) coming here in June. And those good folks delivered many hundreds of thousands of actual visits and page views. Joe expects all those numbers to double later this year.

Also, Joe’s new message board venture will be live in July. As for August, Joe’s looking forward to that month in a big way. Right after the start of training camp, Joe will roll out a unique service for Bucs fans that will generate quite a bit of media coverage. Joe can’t drop hints for fear the concept will be copied.

Again, Joe sends his thanks to all, with an extra special thank you to the advertisers you see here, Joe’s partners at 620 WDAE-AM, Steve White, Jeff Carlson, intern Kyra Hallett, THE OPTIMIST, THE PESSIMIST, and Joe’s many sources in and around One Buc Place.

Now Joe likely had the same reaction as most Bucs fans when he read that the Bucs will only — tentatively — hold seven practices open to the public during training camp which gets underway later this month (hard to believe it’s July).

But once Joe started peeling back the onion skins, he noticed there are actually some good things about the seven public practices.

Last year, Joe remembers going to a steamy Saturday morning practice. The stands, naturally, were full of thousands of fans. Problem was the Bucs were practicing special teams. The drills mostly consisted of a punter catching a ball from some mechanical apparatus, then punting the ball to a return man who never returned the ball. He just caught it.

Who the hell wants to watch a punter?

These drills took place at the far southeastern corner of One Buc Palace, far away from the vast majority of fans. Most of those same fans were begging, pleading for something, anything, to happen near them.

They left wanting.

That will not happen this year.

All of the practices open to the public will be full pads. This did not happen last year; it was pretty much luck of the draw. Also, all of the same practices will be held at Field No. 3, which is closest to the stands along the west sidelines.

So fans will be assured to see some hitting. In short, there may be scrimmages as well. That’s what fans want to see.

Still, with seven practices at One Buc Palace, Bucs fans have it better than most NFL fans.

Joe recently read about the Kansas City Chiefs and the city of St. Joseph, Mo. touting how Missouri Western State College is opening a new practice facility this summer for the Chiefs new local training camp site, after the team trained in Wisconsin for 14 years.

St. Joseph is a far northern suburb of Kansas City. If one pushes it, a fan might be able to make it after a 40-minute interstate drive from Arrowhead Stadium (ignoring speed limits of course). This would be like the Bucs holding training camp in Bartow. (Joe knows: He once was a beat writer covering the Kansas City Royals).

Shoot, we all know how the south Tampa crowd cries as if they just learned they are to face an IRS audit the way they whine about driving 20 minutes to the Fruitdome in St. Petersburg.

The Bears and the Giants, for example, hold their training camps hours away from their home facility. The Cowboys train halfway across the country.

It also appears the Bucs will have sort of a second fanfest Aug. 7 with a Saturday night practice at the CITS. Last year, the Bucs held a similar practice, and it was pretty much a pep rally. This year there will even be fireworks for kids, and the kids at heart.

So, yeah, at first it was depressing that only seven practices — for now — will be open to the public. But it seems the practices will deliver fans more bang for their… Buc.

Remember when the Bucs were great?

Remember when the Bucs won the Super Bowl?

Remember when Derrick Brooks, returning to the sideline following his Super Bowl-clinching touchdown, was unable to keep his composure, crocodile tears streaming down his cheeks before he buried his head in Chucky’s embrace?

Remember John Lynch holding his little boy, exclaiming, “We did it!?”

Remember Chucky deliriously dancing over a fallen opponent along the sideline with his arms held high in victory?

Remember Warren Sapp dancing like a man who lost his mind?

Remember Chucky, soaked with Gatorade, hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy aloft in victory?

Relive those moments tonight at 9 p.m. when the NFL Network will rerun “America’s Game: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers.”

For those who have not seen the America’s Game episodes, it’s a series of documentaries produced by NFL Films which devotes an hour to each Super Bowl-winning team. It’s one of the best things Steve Sabol has done and given his body of work, that’s saying something.

The documentary begins with Sapp and Brooks being drafted, right through to Father Dungy being hired and fired (both Lynch and Sapp explain it was time for Father Dungy to go), the hiring of Chucky and each game through the 2002 season, ending with Chucky rocking to Jon Bon Jovi in the postgame celebration.

There’s even a Rob Johnson sighting.

For those innocents subjected to the callous, vile Out House Networks syndicate, there’s still plenty of time to run to an electronics store and buy DirecTV, hook it up, watch America’s Game and liberate yourself by joining a free and just world.

Last year, per eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune, the Bucs had 23 practices open to the public.

This year there will be seven practices open to the public.

Though the Bucs stated additional practices could be made available, only practices the first week of training camp can fans attend. The last practice scheduled for fans will be held at the CITS at night, Aug. 7.

2010 Bucs public training camp practices

July 31: 10:20 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Aug. 1: 2:30-5 p.m.

Aug. 2: 10:20 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Aug. 4: 10:20 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Aug. 5: 2:30-4:35 p.m.

Aug. 6: 10:20 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Aug. 7: 7-9 p.m. at the CITS.

Former Bucs offensive lineman Jerry Wunsch, proprietor of the upstart Big Mike’s pizzeria chain — an establishment that would be well served by investing in Joe’s advertising — spent a little time today in studio on the Ron and Ian Show, on WDAE-AM 620.

Chatting with host and former Bucs teammate Ian Beckles about the NFL labor situation, Wunsch explained that he’s had recent discussions with bigwigs on the owners’ side of the table and the players’ side. Wunch said from the owners’ perspective “there’s a 100 percent” chance of a lockout, and he characterized the players’ current resolve as “150 percent” chance of a lockout.

“So that’s a 250 percent chance of no football in 2011,” Wunsch said.

Wunsch talked a lot about the NFL’s need to take care of retired players as a big issue for the players’ association. He offered the example of former Packers and Dolphins tight end Marv Fleming, whose 12-year career wrapped up in 1974. Wunsch said Fleming has health issues from playing football, never earned more than $60,000 a year, and his NFL pension is now $149 a month.

Wunsch’s comments, specifically the “250 percent” line, were a real slap in the face to Joe.

There’s a part of Joe that can’t imagine those involved in the cash machine that is the NFL would ever be so stupid as to lose a season.

Last year the Bucs held a training camp practice/pep rally (replete with cheerleaders and cold draft beer) at Community Investment Tax Stadium, commonly referred to as the C.I.T.S.

(If representatives of the financial firm in St. Petersburg that owns the naming rights to the C.I.T.S. wants Joe to call the stadium by its official name, Joe will be happy to, for a price. Just e-mail Joe at Joe@JoeBucsFan.com for details.)

Per Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times, who had a Bucs live chat this afternoon, the Bucs informed him while the chat was in progress, that there will be another training camp night practice/pep rally open to the public this year.

steve t
do u know if the bucs are gonna have a pract at ray jay at night like they did last yr..any talk goin on

Stephen Holder
I’m told now that, yes, there will be a night practice at RayJay. Breaking news from the Bucs! Thanks to the PR staff who apparently are reading this chat!

Joe believes this is very cool. It was a pleasant night from what Joe remembered last year, and Joe certainly enjoyed the lesser priced cold adult beverages.

Blogger, author and former Bucs defensive end Steve White, author of the highly acclaimed Bull Rush column on JoeBucsFan.com, has spelled out a refresher course in “under defense” for all to enjoy.

Click here to check it out on his blog. It’s a sweet, big gulp of Xs and Os to help you get through a football-starved June afternoon.

But I think that there is a misconception that Black blitzes every play in this defense. He doesnt. On passing plays unless a blitz is specifically called Black still drops back in coverage. It actually gives him and our defense an advantage at times in that by being on the line he can jack up the tight end a make it hard for him to get out on a route. In our division with Shockey and Gonzales thats huge. And we can still play cover 2 out of an under shell so being physical with the tightend also helps our middle linebacker who often times will have to cover them deep down the seam.

This is especially timely given Raheem The Dream recently gushing over Quincy Black after the opening day of minicamp. (You can watch Raheem The Dream’s first minicamp news conference and hear him talk about Black on Buccaneers.com, and those who care can notice that one of his quotes is cleaned up for a story about Black posted earlier this week on Buccaneers.com. )

White also wrote about under defense previously right here, and Black vs Cato June several weeks ago.

Reading all this Xs and Os stuff has Joe yearing for opening day of training camp — just one short month away!

One of the excuses floated when future Hall of Fame linebacker Derrick Brooks was jettisoned like a used beer cup was to get Quincy Black more playing time.

With few exceptions, Black didn’t exactly remind Joe of Brooks, unless fans wished Brooks was back.

Things should look better for Black this season, so the Bucs linebacker said. That’s because Raheem the Dream has learned how to utilize his skills, so reports Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune.

While Black played strongside linebacker, he often was asked to play far off the line of scrimmage. Once Tampa Bay realized Black (6-foot-2, 240 pounds) was better utilized closer to the ball, Bucs coach Raheem Morris changed his strategy.

“We went a little more under front because of a guy like Quincy Black,” Morris said. “I don’t know if we ever had a linebacker with Quincy Black’s physique, rush ability, how big he is, how strong he is, how physical he is and also fast.

“We were able to take advantage of some of his strengths.”

Bucs fans are hoping that now that Raheem the Dream has a season under his belt he has learned quite a bit. Joe hopes one of these lessons is how to get the most out of Black, which could go a long way to improving a subpar defense.

Bucs general manager Mark Dominik has always impressed Joe as a cooperative, straight-shooter kind of a guy. Unlike his predecessor who considered the fourth estate a form of the Ebola virus, Dominik was and has been always friendly and forthcoming.

That seemed to change recently when Dominik told the Bucs press corps that he would fine Donald Penn for not showing up to OTAs. Problem was Dominik had no such authority to pull off a stunt like that and, later, through a team spokesman, claimed his proclamation was nothing more than a ruse to coerce Penn into signing.

Given the already testy relationship the NFLPA has with owners, FoxSports.com columnist Alex Marvez claims Dominik’s stunt has actually hurt negotiations between the owners and the NFLPA who are bargaining for a new CBA.

We’ve had the ugliness of other players who’ve already earned millions of dollars kvetching about not making more millions. Darrelle Revis is so unhappy with his deal that the cornerback removed himself from drills to protest at recent Jets practices. Tennessee running back Chris Johnson told The Tennessean he can’t play for $550,000 this season after a 2,000-yard rushing campaign in 2009.

Revis and Mankins believe they were misled by team officials who promised new contracts. Mark Dominik went one step further. Tampa Bay’s general manager told Donald Penn the left tackle could be fined for missing minicamp if he didn’t sign his restricted free-agent tender. Dominik was fibbing, which further adds to the growing mistrust between labor and management.

Joe was disappointed to learn of Dominik’s failed ploy on several levels, including the fact that Dominik did himself no favors in a number circles by trying to con Penn’s agent as well as conning the same people he may need some day to keep his job secure.