Jeff Faine, outside of being a good center, is notorious for his business savvy. The guy’s got seemingly successful restaurants in multiple states, a clothing store, and he’s been lauded in the media for his investments in domestic oil and more.

Listen to Faine talk and you hear CEOspeak flow on everything from branding to the “shared DNA” of his compaines.

Enter Gerald McCoy to the Bucs roster, the kid who’s about to score somewhere around $35 million guaranteed from the Bucs. For an entrepreneur like Faine, whose brain is in overdrive, McCoy has to look like some very fresh meat. 

So Joe had to chuckle when Faine told the Tampa Tribune that McCoy was planning to buy one of Faine’s homes.

“He’s actually purchasing my (two-story) house in Tampa,” Faine said. “I’m downsizing a bit.”

Joe couldn’t resist checking out Faine’s house in the property appraiser’s database. Mr. Faine paid $1.85 million for the Rocky Point crib back in April 2008.

Joe sincerely hopes McCoy does his homework and gets a fair deal. Joe can only imagine how much the value of the four-bedroom, five-bath home has plummeted in the last two years.

Hey, Faine. Joe’s going to watch for the sale price. Don’t take the kid to the cleaners.

You want straight talk and straight answers?

You’ll get it right here at 11 a.m from JoeBucsFan.com analyst and former Bucs defensive end Steve White.

Don’t be late.

There are guys on the Bucs with great dedication and work ethic, and then there’s Maurice Stovall.

Apparently, Stovall doesn’t know when to hit the beach, so Raheem The Dream said yesterday. And it’s gotten to the point that the Bucs have had tell him to give it a rest in the gym.

“You know the thing with Stovall, he always looks good this time of year,” Raheem The Dream said. “For whatever reason over the last couple of years, he’s had a couple of nagging injuries that held him back. …A back here, a hamstring here, things of that nature. So right now, [trainer] Todd  [Torriscelli] has been in communication with him. We have a nutritionist in house. [Strength coach Kurtis Shultz] has  been able to modify some workouts to where he should be. He had that ability to overtrain a little bit last year. He’s a hard worker. He’s one of those guys you have to pull back a little bit, too, and not let him work so hard that he works himself into an injury. He hasn’t done that this year. He’s very [reponsive] to our training, responding to our weight staff. He’s actually …took a week of vacation this year, which doesn’t really happen. It’s starting to show up more in daily practice. So he’s been going out there working with the receivers looking well, looking good.”

This intense work ethic stuff is nothing new for Stovall, who carried a football around town and around the clock through much of last season.

Joe’s pulling for the guy. He’s loaded with talent and he gives it up on special teams, plus he had a breakout season (for him) as a receiver last year with 24 catches. At 25 years old, in a contract year, add Stovall to the list of Bucs young veterans that must improve for the team to seriously make strides.

With all the hype 24-year-old Sammie Stroughter got last year, Joe hasn’t forgotten that Stovall caught 21 balls from Josh Freeman, while Stroughter snagged 15. Joe thinks the growing chemistry between Stovall and Freeman is all too quickly an afterthought.

By STEVE WHITE

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 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 every week in his must-read Bull Rush column. 

Today, White gives an X’s and O’s look at what Raheem Morris was talking about during his news conference yesterday following the final OTA practice of the week.

I will be the first to say I was a major critic of Jim Bates last year and with good reason. From the first preseason game on, what I saw was a defense made of square pegs trying to be jammed into round holes.

I know a lot of people have defended Bates by pointing to the fact that we didn’t have the players to run his defense, but if even the casual observer could recognize it, why couldn’t he?

You go into games with the defense you have, not the one you wish for, and the better defensive coordinators understand that. And in all reality, what sense did it make to try to teach a lot of these guys how to play his defense knowing that in a year or so many of them would be replaced?

Everyone knew that we would be upgrading our defensive line, so did we really get anything out of having Chris Hovan and Ryan Sims two-gap every play?

I think not.

At some point, in my opinion, Bates should have recognized that not only was his defense not working, but that it wouldn’t work with our personnel. And that should have been the time to adjust his game plans. The best coordinators on either side of the ball are adaptable because no matter how good your scheme is, even week to week you have to adjust to different opponents. But from my perspective all I saw were the same calls over and over again, and the same results, as well.

If the definition of insanity is truly doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome, our defense was bat shit crazy for most of last season.

Welcome To Revis Island

Now when Coach Morris took over there were noticeable improvements, but because he had to implement a defense that several of his starters had never played in, there were still some definite growing pains. But listening to his press conference yesterday I came away impressed with the direction he is going.

Morris singled out two guys and how he plans on using them in his defense. He first talked about Aqib Talib and gushed about his singular talents. The guy really is on the cusp of greatness, as long as he stays away from off the field problems.

Morris talked about how he plans on having Talib take one guy away at times in 3rd-and-long situations and shifting the rest of the defense accordingly. You can call it our version of Revis Island, if you will, and I can’t tell you how many more options that gives a defensive coordinator.

Having a guy with superior cover skills and allowing him to focus on just covering one guy by himself all over the field allows you to blitz more, double team secondary receivers and tight ends, roll the secondary to the opposite side of the field and really confuse the opposing quarterback.

Imagine for a moment that against the Saints Talib takes Colston all over the field and allows the rest of the secondary to focus on shutting down Jeremy Shockey and Devery Henderson. Imagine Talib blanketing Steve Smith and leaving whomever ends up as the Panthers’ secondary receiver to double coverage. If our defense can successfully pull this off it will likely lead to greater success in getting off the field on third downs in passing situations.

Quincy Black vs. Cato June

The other guy Coach Morris talked about was Quincy Black and how his talents allow them to play more under defense.

Under defense is when you kick your strong side or Sam linebacker down onto the line of scrimmage and outside the strong side tight end, and you shift the defensive line weak. Now you have three guys, the Sam LB, defensive end, and a nose tackle on the line of scrimmage to the strong side of the offense’s running formation.

I never thought Bates used Black well because he kept him off the line and in space.

For a guy who is as physical and as fast as Black, this was mostly a waste of his strengths. By putting him on the line you give him the opportunity to get physical with the tight ends at the line of scrimmage on passing plays. You also open up a plethora of blitz schemes with Black getting after the quarterback.

And obviously you make it a lot harder for the offense to run the ball to the strong side. Now back when we had smaller Sam LBs like Cato June playing, under defense wasn’t necessarily something that would play to their strengths. But with a guy like Quincy Black, it both allows him to let his natural abilities shine through and makes our defense stronger and more flexible.

None of this means we are going to be gang busters on defense this year. Coach Morris still will have to make the right calls at the right times and the players will still have to execute.

But at least I see what his philosophy will be, and it’s obvious that he is going to try to maximize the talent that he has.

That in and of itself is a step in the right direction if you ask me, and I’m a little more excited to see just how it works out once the Bucs put the pads on.

Joe has no doubt the cash machine that is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is very healthy, just not as healthy as Team Glazer wants it to be.

Forbes editor Michael Ozanian reports that in 2009 the Bucs fell from the elite earners among NFL teams for the first time in many years.

Malcolm Glazer’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers need to repair their ship before it sinks. Last year we valued the franchise at almost $1.1 billion but the value will fall well below $1 billion when we update our rankings in September. An NFL executive told me today that for the first time in several years the Buccaneers fell out of the top 10 in the league in revenue in 2009.

Joe’s impressed that the Bucs were even up there in the Top 10 for so long. Keep in mind that’s revenue, but not profit. Very impressive.

The Bucs’ willingness to have a low payroll, and their sweetheart stadium deal, should ensure that Team Glazer will keep the team indefinitely, or at least however long it takes to build a “lasting contender” and sell high.

Joe knows that some of his readers, for whatever reason, are hostile to Twitter. To Joe, that’s like being allergic to libraries.

Twitter is loaded with all sorts of solid information that just doesn’t make it in the 19th century news delivery service known in some circles as newspapers, or even on sport radio and maybe not even blogs.

That’s why Joe scours Twitter for Bucs tidbits.

To that end, Joe has noticed that former Bucs secondary coach and current Tass spokesman at BSPN, Herm Edwards, has become a Twittering fool, answering dozens of football questions a day from fans. 

Today, Edwards was queried who Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman reminds him of. Joe believes Bucs fans will be intrigued at his answer.

@dar268:  Coach what veteran QB does Josh Freeman remind you of?

@HermEdwardsESPN:  Former bucs qb Doug Williams. He’s big,strong & athletic.

Herm should know. Williams beat Herm and the Beagles in the Bucs first playoff game in 1979.

Joe also sees some similarities, aside from the obvious. Joe also knows if, like Williams, Freeman can lead the Bucs to an NFC title game, Bucs fans will be more than happy with the comparisons.

Oh, no.

Gerald McCoy has a hip strain. McCoy has a hip strain. McCoy has a hip strain.

Raheem The Dream’s “face of the franchise” has a hip strain, so the St. Pete Times is reporting. Apparently, McCoy walked off the practice field midway through today’s OTA session.

Barring some unforseen Bo Jackson-like disaster, Joe’s sure McCoy will be just fine. Surely the Bucs will update his status later.

With the popular Bucs FanFest just nine days away, some are wondering whether Team Glazer will emerge from its cone of silence to glad hand the unwashed masses at the C.I.T.S. (aka the community investment tax stadium some call Raymond James).

Joe would be surprised to see it. But the Glazers have done it before, and they were much more visible during the glory years of the franchise.

Tampa Tribune scribe eye-RAH! Kaufman thinks it’s important for Team Glazer to be there mingling with fans next week, so he told The Fabulous Sports Babe on 1040 AM yesterday.

eye-RAH! Kaufman: You got FanFest coming up, Babe. It’s at night this time. And we’ll see if the Glazers are sitting down next to Raheem and Dominik signing autographs. I’m very curious to see whether they show up at FanFest.

The Fabulous  Sports Babe: Do they usually show up at FanFest?

Kaufman: They have multiple times. I’ve seen them there. The last year or two I don’t believe I’ve seen them there. I think it’s an important statement to make.

Joe thinks it makes no difference in the world whether the Glazers show up or not. Fans don’t care, although Joe would love to sell a picture of Bucs fans embracing Team Glazer to a British tabloid for five figures.

Joe can see the headline now: “Glazers Dupe Foolish Americans”

Kaufman is not alone in the media when it comes to thinking the Glazers should be visible at FanFest. The oft-clueless St. Pete Times columnist John Romano lived up to his reputation by taking it all a step further saying the Glazers should step up to a podium and proverbially drop their pants.

So here’s a thought:

Try being honest.

The Glazers should show up at FanFest 11 days from now and actually answer unfiltered questions from fans. After all, these family members should be heroes in Tampa Bay. They saved the franchise from possibly being moved in the 1990s, and they won a Super Bowl in 2002. That kind of track record earns you a certain amount of goodwill.

Of course, Romano is misguided. Although it would be extraordinarily entertaining, there’d be nothing worse for Team Glazer than to stand up in front of drunk Bucs fans to field questions.

Joel Glazer: You in the Galloway jersey. Go ahead.

Dude in the Galloway jersey: Uh, why does salary spending go down while ticket prices go up? Don’t you have enough money?

If Joe were the Bucs’ new media pit bull, Jonathan Grella, he’d advise Team Glazer to lay low. All the Glazers need to do is win games and/or spend big money on players and the front office. Then Joe suspects they’ll be all smiles and heroes around the C.I.T.S. again.

Though some may cite Aqib Talib, Joe was of the belief the Bucs best player last year was left tackle Donald Penn.

Facing some of the game’s top sack artists, Penn totally shut these guys down and clearly was the light in what turned to be a someone dim performance overall by the offensive line.

Hoping to take advantage of his play, Penn, a restricted free agent, hopes to get a massive payday commensurate with his play. It’s not happening. Yet.

Penn is sitting out OTAs but per Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune, Bucs executives are not moved by Penn’s stance.

The team extended its restricted free agent tender offer to Penn, giving him until Tuesday to sign the one-year contract worth $3.168 million. But, if he does not sign, Tampa Bay will exercise its option to offer him 110 percent of last year’s base salary, which would be about $100,000 less than the current offer.

“Our hope and our intention is to get Donald signed by (Tuesday),” Dominik said. “We’re not asking Donald to show up for (voluntary workouts) and do anything other than be out in California like he has been. He has himself in good shape. We’ve been out there a couple of times.

“I’m happy and proud of what Donald has done, but in the league, 85 percent of free agents have signed their tenders.”

Joe has written this before — and been flamed as a result — so Joe is writing the same and prepared to duck as well.

Until the new CBA with the player’s association is signed by the NFL, Penn’s not going to see a payday from Team Glazer. He just isn’t. With the 2011 season very much in doubt to a potential labor stoppage, Joe would be shocked if Penn tried to hold out this season.

JoeBucsFan.com reader and former Bucs defensive tackle Chris Hovan is a proud new member of the St. Louis Lambs, BSPN reported yesterday.

Joe wasn’t going to report the happening, as it didn’t really interest Joe. Maybe if it wasn’t the worst team in the NFL that signed Hovan, Joe would have been intrigued. But so many readers e-mailed Joe the news, assuming Joe missed it, that Joe will comment.

Good for Hovan. Joe likes when veterans keep hammering away to keep their dream alive.

Hovan was good to Joe in the locker room on multiple occasions, and he surely gave everything he had to the Bucs, even if it wasn’t enough in recent years.

Joe ran into Hovan last month and that was when Joe learned Hovan was a JoeBucsFan.com reader.  Hovan is no fan of JoeBucsFan.com, but he’s here. And that works just fine for Joe.

The players love him, but he’s as raw as they come in the NFL head coaching ranks.

That was the gist of Tampa Tribune NFL writer eye-Rah! Kaufman’s damning assessment of Raheem The Dream during an interview on The Fabulous Sports Babe Show on 1040 AM on Wednesday.

While Joe can’t bring you the audio, only Kaufman’s words, Joe was struck by the sheer passion — almost disgust — in his voice when talking about the low expectations for the 2010 Bucs.

“I think [Raheem] feels compelled to give Bucs fans hope. I don’t think you and I believe that’s realistic for 2010. I think we’re looking more in the five- or six- win range, which under normal circumstances, Babe, should not be acceptable. Should not,” Kaufman said. “But coming off 3-13 you could spin it as improvement.

“Raheem’s learning as he goes, Babe. And the more I’m around him, and you and I both like him personally, the fact that he skipped that coordinator role people say, ‘Oh, What’s the big deal?’ You know what? It is a big deal. It is a big deal. It’s different responsibilities. It’s another level where you learn how to guide men, not just your particular defensive back group. He skipped it. Mike Tomlin did not. And coaches that don’t get that coordinator experience I think suffer. And we saw what happened the first few months, he looked overmatched no doubt on the field on gameday.

“I think he improved a little bit as the year went on. The players love him, no question. They play hard for him. He, among all the Bucs, might have the most room to improve in 2010.”

No question Raheem The Dream has a long way to go. The guy hit absolute rock bottom in 2009, after bungling his offseason and preseason quarterback plans, firing both coordinators, and opening the season 1-9. And he surely could use some polish in front of the microphone.

Raheem The Dream’s future, and in large part the Bucs’ 2010 season, will very much come down to how much the head coach improves.

After all, Bill Belichick won seven games in his second season with the Browns with an absolutely pathetic offense. And we know that Raheem The Dream likes to compare his situation with that of Belichick’s in Cleveland.

Not only was Derrick Brooks the best linebacker on the field, he was far and away the best Bucs player when it came to towing the company line to the media.

There was no tougher nut to crack than Brooks. He rarely, if ever, wavered from the cliches and didn’t speak candidy if it could remotely shine a negative light on the Bucs organization. For Joe, that was admirable but it made his weekly radio show rather maddening. Even after getting released, Brooks held his tongue quite well.

Until now.

Set your VCRs, DVRs and alarm clocks for Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m. Electronic media czar J.P. Peterson, host of Tampa Bay Sports Central on WTOG-CW44, had a sit down with Brooks that will air on Sunday during the half-hour sports magazine show. Part I is Sunday, and Part 2 goes the following week.

Peterson says Brooks opens up about his disgust and disappointment about the way his Bucs release was handled, among other topics, including how he his pushing Florida State to move to the SEC.

Not much for overhype, Peterson says Brooks got on a roll and just kept on talking in a way he’s never seen before.

Joe just wants to thank Dr. Long for being a savvy businesswoman and returning for another year of advertising on JoeBucsFan.com.

Dr. Long has a superior reputation and a successful long-standing practice. She also has an excellent website, which has enjoyed quite a bit of traffic from readers on this site. Check it out!

One thing Joe’s going to miss when cornerback Ronde Barber leaves the Bucs, likely after this season, is his smarts on the field.

Many thought Barber couldn’t play in the heinous stunt that was the Jim Bates Experiment because he is supposed to be too old and a system player (ahem).

What really happened? Barber played solid, not like some guy who was in the waning days of his career.

Newly minted Twitter madman and former Bucs secondary coach Herm Edwards believes Barber is his clone. Asked on Twitter what player is his double, Edwards didn’t hesitate.

@e_man: What current player reminds them of you? If any?

@HermEdwardsESPN: Ronde Barber

Of course, Joe will always remember how Ronde Barber terrorized quarterbacks whether it’s with interceptions or sacks. Joe wonders if Donovan McNabb still has nightmares over Barber?

The man best known for false starts, who was dubbed “Dunderhead” by a wiseacre copy editor at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Bucs offensive right tackle Jeremy Trueblood is trying to put those troubles behind him.

Though Joe loves the guy’s nasty streak, he sometimes took it too far, getting flagged for stupid personal foul penalties. Add that to his league-leading false starts, and there were untold number of drives killed by Trueblood’s penalties.

Trueblood told eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune he will make a specific effort this fall to not let the zebras throw yellow hankies his way.

“I know that I need to keep it between the whistles, but sometimes that’s hard to do because you want to go get the guy right now when he hacks you off,” said Trueblood, who has made 61 consecutive starts. “It’s something with age and wisdom that I’ll be able to fix. When you look at the film and see a penalty or two that hurts the team, it really puts things in perspective. At the end of the year, you watch all the tape and I see how those flags kills our drives. It’s something you have to learn from … and I have.”

An offensive line that was touted as a team strength struggled often last year, but all five starters figure to return.

“Even if you thought you were a great offensive line, you went 3-13, so you weren’t that good,” Trueblood said. “There was a lack of consistency overall and my season wasn’t good enough. We were all very disappointed because 3-13 isn’t nearly good enough. That’s why we’re out here working our butts off.”

How refreshing! Unlike other teammates who claim they are better than what they showed on the field last year, Trueblood comes right out and says they need more work.

Bravo, Jeremy. Bravo! To paraphrase the recently departed John Wooden, Joe hopes Trueblood plays angry; but don’t be a dunderhead.

Bucs fans began to wonder last year if, in fact, the Bucs made a mistake in signing Kardashian-chasing running back Derrick Ward, as his numbers did not come close to meeting expectations.

Joe does know a high-placed executive at One Buc Palace was livid Ward wasn’t getting enough touches.

So after missing the first Bucs offseason OTA, then talking a good game when returned, but then disappearing last week with dental issues, suspicious fans again began to raise an eyebrow toward Ward and his desire.

Consider eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune amid that group. Kaufman, for what ever reason, doesn’t see a motivated player while watching Ward take part in OTAs, so Kaufman wrote on the TBO.com Bucs Twitter feed.

I’m looking for the fire in Derrick Ward’s eyes, and I don’t see it yet. If he expects to unseat Caddy, he’ll need more intensity.

Joe has to keep telling himself this is June and not August, and that the Bucs are practicing in shorts and hitting tackling dummies, not wearing pads and hitting fellow teammates. Joe can sort of understand how it’s hard for a guy with money in the bank to get worked up over OTAs.

Now if Ward is still going through the motions come training camp? Far different story.

Earlier this week, veteran sports columnist Gary Shelton of the St. Petersburg Times dropped in on the Hebrew-themed King David Show (sorry, it doesn’t sound very Catholic or Hindu to Joe) with co-hosts Toby David and Shaun King heard on WQYK-AM 1010.

Naturally, the talk was about the finances of Team Glazer after the BBC dropped a bombshell of a report pushed by an agenda-driven source claiming Team Glazer is so choked with debt that their creditors are carrying around graphics showing how to perform Heimlich maneuver.

It was during this conversation that Shelton invoked the notorious name of former Philadelphia Eagles owner Leonard Tose, a man who lost his team due to massive gambling debts, largely to an Atlantic City casino.

(In an ironic twist, Tose countersued said casino claiming staffers there got him drunk and made sure he stayed so well-lubricated and so inebriated that he couldn’t think straight, thus placing nothing but bad bets. Tose died a penniless man.)

“This isn’t a government organization where you can request papers and do an audit. These are private businessmen and you don’t get anything beyond their word. They insist they are not in any financial straights.

“If you put a gun to my head — do I believe the debt and the economy has limited their spending with the Bucs? Yes I do.

“You are 3-13 and you are telling me there isn’t more help for you out on the free agent market than Sean Jones? I just don’t believe that.

“Lets face it: every sports owner is in debt just because of the size of the payment of the team purchase and they will tell you they have plenty of money, but the public doesn’t see any of that.

“It would be an easy thing for [Team Glazer] to sell ManU but they don’t want to do that. What I would want to know if I was [NFL warden commissioner] Roger Goodell is if this franchise is in any financial threat because of ManU. So far the NFL offices have said they are not, but they also didn’t say that when Leonard Tose of the Eagles went bankrupt either. “

Now before we go any farther, Joe knows Shelton was in no way, shape or form insinuating Team Glazer has debts due to any gambling — and neither is Joe inferring that whatsoever. Don’t even go there. The comparison to Tose ends right there.

What Shelton did infer was that there is no way Goodell is going to stand before members of the pen and mic club and claim Team Glazer can’t buy jock straps because their kickball team has syphoned all of their cash.

From a business standpoint, there really isn’t anything dumber than for Goodell to pull a stunt like that, and Goodell is anything but stupid. So if Bucs fans hoping Goodell will shed truthful light upon the Bucs finances, it ain’t happening.

As Shelton stated, he reinforces what Joe has written several times already: the only people who really know if Team Glazer is fluid or not are their accountants. Any talk of their finances is pure guesswork.

One can make an argument that both Team Glazer is cheap and is not cheap.

But it’s sure fun to speculate.

The veteran NFL writers for the Tampa Tribune, eye-RAH! Kaufman and Woody Cummings, square off on the question of the day in their latest Bucs Video Blog on TBO.com.

This edition has a simple title: “Are The Glazers Cheap?”

Joe’s not going to spoil their answers for you, especially not the part when Kaufman talks about the Glazers’ panhandling and smirks about their Harbour Island condos.

Joe likes this new TBO.com feature. Check it out.

Never at at loss for words, Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson talked to Tampa Tribune columnist Martin Fennelly for a feel-good story about rookie wide receiver Mike Williams.

It seems Olson believes Williams has what it takes to become a 100-catch-a-season monster and a punishing runner after the catch.

“We look at him as one day being a Brandon Marshall type, potentially with that kind of impact,” Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson said. He noted the instant chemistry between Williams, fellow rookie Arrelious Benn and Freeman, admitted the potential, but tempered Instant Feel Good.

“We can’t just totally rely on young players; any time you have a second-year quarterback and possibly two rookie receivers, that’s not necessarily a recipe for success.”

Joe finds it odd, and amusing, that Olson referenced Brandon Marshall. For many Bucs fans, he’s the big 26-year-old fish that got away — for two second round picks — this offseason. And wasn’t Arrelious Benn supposed to be more of the Marshall type?

NFL.com scribe Steve Wyche also picked up on the excitment surrounding Williams at One Buc Palace during his visit there this week.

As for Freeman’s targets, the wide receivers are a physically imposing group, especially rookies Arrelious Benn (6-1, 219) and Mike Williams (6-1, 221). Williams is the more vertical threat of the pair and based on things people in the organization told me, the Bucs have big plans for him if what he’s doing in shorts and a practice jersey translates when the pads come on.

Joe gets the excitement. Watching the receivers’ workouts at the NFL combine, Joe was stunned by what a standout natural talent Williams appeared to be among his peers.

Of course, Joe’s going to hope and cheer for Williams to set the league on fire. But Joe just can’t expect much out of a rookie fourth-round receiver. If he catches 30 balls and shows he can get into the endzone, Joe will consider that a good rookie season.

You’ve all read THE PESSIMIST, who will return soon. Now, Joe wants to introduce you to THE OPTIMIST. Click here if you missed his first column last week.

THE OPTIMIST is Nick Houllis, a Bucs fan and an accomplished writer whose steadfast allegiance to the team goes back to the 1970s. Houllis is the founder, creator and guru of BucStop.com, a place Joe goes to get lost in time via Houllis’ stunning video collection.

THE OPTIMIST will shine that positive light in your eyes. Some will love it. Some won’t.

Sometimes, we just worry too much! Second-guessing can be a fun part of being a football fan, and a curse for general managers and head coaches.

Case in point: January 2007, and the Bucs just completed a terrible 2006 season. It was a season on the heels of an optimistic ’05 playoff campaign that looked like we had retooled the team. Instead, by the finish of the ’06 season, Tampa Bay looked like a team that needed a complete overhaul instead.

At the heart of the matter, a secondary that had simply the worst safety play the team had seen in years. Jermaine Phillips and Will Allen were simply awful, and there was no doubt replacements were needed.

Another issue was the loss of quality coaching in that department. While guru Monte Kiffin was still on the job, Mike Tomlin had left to become the Vikings defensive coordinator. Before Tomlin left, secondary assistant coach Raheem Morris bolted to become the defensive coordinator for Kansas State, not aware at the time that Tomlin would be leaving, too.

Tampa Bay hired Greg Burns to assume the position, but later on several Bucs reported having a hard time adjusting to the coaching style of Burns. So changes would be made.

Raheem Morris, after his one-year stint as D-Coordinator, was coaxed back to the Buccaneers and assumed the position as defensive backs coach; but no one assumed that would be enough to turn around such a poor safety duo.

Bucs fans waited when free agency started, hoping to hear about acquisitions that would help out in a time of need.

Nothing.

Nada.

The Bucs made NO moves. Mike Adams, Deion Grant, Ken Hamlin, Todd Johnson, Michael Lewis, and Omar Stoutmire, all available free agent safeties to name a few, and Tampa Bay did not sign one single safety, instead going into the 2007 season with only a coaching change.

…And a rookie.

Safety Tanard Jackson from Syracuse was the only player picked up to address the situation, but surely the Bucs had to realize that both safeties needed replacing, not just one? Bucs fans couldn’t believe that the front office could be so shortsighted on the glaring need on this team.

Coaching Was The Difference

Opening day at Seattle, Jermaine Phillips and Will Allen started at safety, but by the second half Tanard Jackson had replaced Allen permanently, establishing himself as one of the first rookies to start on a Monte Kiffin defense since 1996, when Donnie Abraham did so. Jackson shined and, in fact, the position as a whole, and the secondary too, excelled during 2007 under the leadership of Raheem Morris and his assistant, Jimmy Lake.

Sound familiar? The two are reunited again in 2010.

The Bucs had realized that the problem wasn’t so much the players, but the coaching the players were getting. Burns was not up on the intricacies of teaching the Tampa-2, thus Philips and Allen suffered lapses in fundamentals. The front office was convinced that with proper coaching, the safety position could be a strength on the team.

2010 Is For The Patient

Switch to offseason 2010, and Bucs fans were equally up in arms over the lack of wide receiving talent. Several receivers were out there available to be picked up along with their baggage, but the Bucs decided to start anew with their corps — highlighted by a receiving tandem of rookies to grow together with quarterback Josh Freeman.

Will it be the right move? Do the futures of Arrelious Benn, Mike Williams and Sammy Stroughter outshine the tail-end careers of some of the high-priced free agents that the Bucs passed up on? It depends on if you need the Bucs to win next year, or if you’re patient enough to build a team that goes beyond 9-7 year in and year out.

We’ll stay tuned!

Derrick Ward seems to have landed in his coaches' doghouse, perhaps taking the spot vacated by Antonio Bryant.

Sure, Derrick Ward was back at Monday’s OTA practice after some sort of extreme dental makeover that caused him to miss all of last week’s OTA festivities.

He’s all peachy now at the voluntary workouts, but it seems damage has been done. That’s the word from St. Pete Times Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud, aka The Mad Twitterer, who claims Greg Olson and others say Ward’s no-show act has consequences.

“If Derrick Ward has any more reasons not to come, legitimate or not, I just don’t know,” Stroud said to J.P. Peterson on WQYK-AM 1010 on Friday evening. “You know, in talking to Greg Olson and other people, they’re just like, ‘Well, you know we’re going to be loyal to who’s here.’ And you can’t really blame them for that.”

Sure sounds like Olson and the Bucs brass don’t consider dental work enough to keep a guy out of three practices — voluntary or not.

Joe’s not surprised by any of this. It would be hard for an offensive coordinator to avoid giving preferential treatment to the players who sweated it out every day with him installing the offense in June.

Joe’s only surprised (but not really) that Olson and company are spilling all this to the media, saying those in attendance at OTAs would earn loyalty from the coaches. The Bucs new media czar really needs to send Olson a stern message, or at least some fresh duct tape.