Now for all Joe knows, Derrick Ward has some sort of horribly infected tooth and/or gums and should be commended for even having the strength and pain tolerance to call in sick for this week’s OTA practices at One Buc Palace.

And it is a dental issue keeping Ward away from practice, so reports The Mad Twitterer of the St. Pete Times from the scene of choppergate today.

Ward, 29, missed the first voluntary OTA two weeks ago. He said he was frustrated by the team’s 3-13 record and not by backing up Williams. He rushed for just 409 yards on 114 carries (3.6 average).

“With Derrick, it would be nice if he were here,” offensive coordinator Greg Olson said. “It’s not mandatory and he’s not here right now — for legitimate reasons. He’s seeing a dentist this week and taking care of some issues there. But it’s hard and you want to reward the guys who are here. They want to be here and be part of the solution.

Joe wishes Ward a speedy recovery and hopes he doesn’t have to go under the knife.

And Joe hopes this situation this isn’t indicative of Ward’s ability to fight through pain. Perhaps Cadillac Williams could help him fight through this ordeal.

The Bucs were back at One Buc Palace today, sweating through the latest round of OTAs.

Some players decided to hang out and talk with some of the pen and mic club. Good guy Backwards Hat, aka Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger, caught up with Earnest Graham, who currently is projected as a fullback.

Brown Twittered that Graham is hoping to be a weapon in the Bucs passing game and Brown believes that very well could happen, not unlike how Chucky used running backs as pass receivers.

@rickbrown91 Graham thinks he can catch 50-60 passes out of the backfield. Remember the years Michael Pittman was among the team’s leaders in catches?

Joe believes Graham could be a helluva good fullback and has shown flashes of being a solid fullback in periodic assignments in years past, even with Chucky.

The prospect of getting more touches for Cadillac Williams, Derrick Ward and Graham is a good thing. One way to do that is to have Graham play fullback.

In recent weeks, largely thanks to Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, Joe has learned that the RedZone Channel will be available in all NFL stadiums this season.

Don’t know what the RedZone Channel is? The RedZone Channel is a network broadcast on Sundays carried by upstanding, customer-friendly organizations like DirecTV, Dish Network, Verizon FIOS and Knology. Whenever a team enters the red zone, the RedZone Channel immediately goes live to said game.

Joe has to confess he has never watched the RedZone Channel. It costs a wee bit extra in addition to the NFL Sunday Ticket (for DirecTV subscribers like Joe) and Joe has really never had a burning desire to watch it because it appears geared towards those who participate in fantasy football.

As Joe has written several times, Joe’s idea of a fantasy has nothing to do with football and everything to do with Rachel Watson.

Joe has friends that do have the RedZone Channel and Joe is told the channel is crack-like addictive and, in some cases, better than watching an actual game.

As Joe has also written a number of times, NFL owners have to find a way to make fans get their arses off the couch and fight traffic and pay hideous costs to attend games and buy obscenely priced beers. With the advent of HDTV, more and more fans prefer to stay home on their leather couch in the air conditioning with colder, more inexpensive beer just steps away, as well as a clean bathroom with no lines at the urinal.

One way NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell has concocted to lure fans to the game is to offer the RedZone Channel at all NFL stadiums. This presents an interesting predicament for Team Glazer and the Bucs.

As you may have noticed in the list of quality cable carriers above, Out House Networks is not among them. For good reason. That syndicate would rather shake down customers into bankrolling an insipid yenta news channel that believes people would rather find out the temperature every 10 minutes than add the NFL Network. It would rather subject its prisoners (subscribers) to mindless traffic updates every 10 minutes, deliver so-called news about a backyard BBQ fire in Balm and ambush viewers to a kickball evangelist turned news anchor slander a solid All-American businessman like Larry Flynt by labeling him as a “pornographer.”

Yet this same outfit refuses to give innocent subscribers something they crave: the NFL Network. And without the NFL Network, a carrier cannot have the RedZone Channel.

So what does Out House Networks have to do with the Bucs and the CITS broadcasting the RedZone Channel? Out House Networks is a Pewter Partner with Team Glazer and the Bucs.

So imagine going to the CITS this fall and, as mandated by Goodell, the CITS will offer the RedZone Channel, which will get innocent convicts of Out House Network angry they cannot receive the RedZone Channel at home.

Joe suspects this practice of broadcasting the RedZone Channel at the CITS will make for many a long day for Out House Networks mouthpieces trying to concoct more excuses for denying prisoners the NFL Network.

Good job, Goodell! Keep the heat up!

So this fall, Bucs fans will have something else to gawk while at the CITS other than the Bucs cheerleaders, such as the lovely Holly Sellers pictured above.

Manbeast-in-waiting Gerald McCoy is loose. Real loose.

Hell, Joe would be loose, too, if he was waiting on $30 million or so guaranteed fresh off his 22nd birthday.

God Bless America.

McCoy is enjoying good clean fun on Twitter, soaking up the Tampa Bay area, and always looks like the most relaxed athlete on the planet when the cameras are rolling. 

In this latest video on Buccaneers.com, McCoy says Beynoce better take notice of his dancing. And, of course, McCoy explains all this while dancing (this comes up late in the video).

Joe’s a big fan of McCoy. And Joe is very eager to see evidence of McCoy’s stated ability to transform into a savage when he steps on the field and buttons his chin strap.

Also, Joe would never pass up such an opportunity to post a Beyonce photo.

Most men think of the popular Wing House chain and envision cold beer, hot food and pretty, sometimes naughty young women serving them in a revealing uniform. While Joe shares those happy thoughts, Joe always remembers that behind the Wing House is one of football’s great work-ethic stories.  That would be Wing House founder Crawford Ker. 

A former standout guard with the Dallas Cowboys, Ker got his humble start in the restaurant business busing tables at Capogna’s Dugout in Clearwater, and he played just one year of high school football at Dunedin High before heading to junior college at Arizona Western as a walk-on. Hard work led him to transfer to the University of Florida and a seven-year career in the NFL.

Joe talked a little offensive line with Ker at the grand opening of the new Wing House on Gulf-To-Bay Boulevard in Clearwater.

Joe: Entering last season, I thought the Bucs offensive line was on the cusp of something special because they were full of good young players. But last year they regressed. They had injuries and personal issues and were incorporating zone blocking. Why do you think they took a step back?

Crawford Ker: I think on the offensive line it’s continuity, it’s working next to a person for a while. In the business world it’s the same thing. And, you know the left guard was out with personal issues, you’ve got a good center, you’ve got a really good nucleus. But you know they’ve got a new coach, a new offensive coordinator, a new scheme, so they just need a little time to gel. I like [Raheem Morris]. I like his enthusiasm, and I think he’ll be a great addition. But it’ll take some time. You know a lot of people don’t understand that Jimmy Johnson was 1-15. So then, over time, he started getting the right people on the team and rebuilding. So if you’re a Bucs fan out there, go Bucs.

Joe: Some have suggested Jeff Jagodzinski’s firing really messed up the offense. But would that really mess up the offensive line since they retained their position coach?

Ker: I think it does because it went to another scheme. Once you go to too many schemes, you know, it throws people in disarray. At the end of the day, with a little more continuity, the Bucs offensive line will be fine.

Joe: Who stands out for you on the Bucs’ offensive line? Does Davin Joseph jump out, Jeff Faine? Who do you like?

Ker: I think they’re a scrappy bunch, and I think they’ll get it done. Joseph is a big strong guy, and I think with some time he’ll be that All Pro. You know what I mean. But it takes some time. Trueblood is a great player, too, but you’re going to get beat now and then. So they just have to gel. They’ll be fine. I like the enthusiasm of Coach Morris. They just have to keep chippin’ away and move forward.

Joe: What’s the best thing on the menu?

Ker: I like the burgers. They’re excellent. But it’s the Wing House, so you better have good wings, and we do. The wings are our thing.

Joe has had some good banter over the past few days about the Bucs running back situation. Many feel the Bucs offense must play well for the Bucs to win.

Herm Edwards doesn’t subscribe to that philosophy. The former Bucs secondary coach is now slaving for the Bolshevik cable network BSPN. A hard-core Twitterer, Edwards was asked for his outlook for the Bucs and his response didn’t surprise Joe.

@janimal45  Hey Herm your thoughts of the Bucs this season?

@HermEdwardsESPN  Tough sch(edule). the d will be the key, the qb is young

Joe would expect nothing less from a defensive coach. Defense wins games.

But Joe found it curious his little comment on quarterback Josh Freeman. Most pundits point to Freeman as being an asset. Apparently, Herm doesn’t think so.

Joe just isn’t about football. He likes other sports too, including baseball.

For some reason, likely because of fantasy baseball, it seems the calculator crowd has tried to take over the game of baseball.  In, oh, the past decade, all sorts of statistical nonsense has been invented largely because some clown who got bored at home and decided to play with an Excel spreadsheet and invent acronyms like OPN and WISP.

(In baseball, one statistic that greatly concerns Joe is AWLB: At-bats While in Line for Beer.)

And it’s godawful boring. There’s a reason why numbers geek Bill James is often credited with this phenomenon during his days as an overnight security guard. That factual sentence is damning on many levels.

As a result, some have tried to do this with football. Thankfully, this trend has not had great success. One such proponent of football statistical jibberish is something called ProFootballFocus.com.

Per the spreadsheeters there, Stylez White is an elite defensive end, so discovers Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.

What aided White is the fact that PFF looks at more than just sacks. Though it does so at a fraction of the value given to a sack, it also takes into account quarterback hits and pressures in accumulating its Pass Rushing Points total.

That total is then divided by the total number of regular defensive plays the player participated in during the regular season and is finally multiplied by 100 to get the Pass Rushing Productivity Rating.

In the final 2009 rankings, Dwight Freeney led all defensive ends with a 13.7 rating. He was followed by Robert Mathis (11.2), John Abraham (10.5), Leonard Little (10.2), Ray Edwards (10.1) and White (10.0).

Look, Joe doesn’t need some formula to figure out White is a good defensive end. Does he get pressure on the quarterback? Check. Does he lead the team in sacks? Check. That’s all.

Joe just prays he doesn’t read someday from some spreadsheeter about a football player’s OBGYN.

Last week Joe broke down the Bucs running backs situation, noting that the Bucs were 25th in the NFL in rushing average.

Seems as though Joe is not the only one underwhelmed by the Bucs rushing attack. Add Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports to the list. In analyzing the rushing attacks of each NFL team, Cole has the Bucs ranked No. 26.

26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers:  A tip of the cap to Bucs leading rusher Cadillac Williams, who came back last season after suffering through injuries for two years. Still, it’s not like Williams was all that electric, averaging only 3.9 yards per carry. Likewise, backups Derrick Ward and Earnest Graham(notes) were just roster flotsam. The Bucs have a bunch of guys who are nice backups at this point. They need somebody who can be a starter. 

This is just what Joe was trying to say last week. The Bucs have depth at running back. Deep, that is, with average backs, most of which have already seen their best days in the NFL.

One night last week, Joe had a chance to rub elbows with the likes of Cowboys greats Ed “Too Tall” Jones and Crawford Ker, plus former Bucs Chris Hovan and Chidi Ahanotu, as well as Stylez White. And Joe enjoyed talking to all of them. 

Luckily, Joe had his trusty recorder with him and pulled some of them aside for an interview. Here’s most of Joe’s chat with “Too Tall” Jones. The legendary defensive end shared some insight on the Bucs. … And yes, his friends call him “Too Tall.”

Joe: The Bucs drafted defensive tackles Gerald McCoy and Brian Price  in the first two rounds of the draft, and they expect to start those guys and have them be pretty decent right off the bat. Isn’t that a lot to ask?

Ed “Too Tall” Jones: First of all they’re rebuilding. You can do that when you’re rebuilding. If you’re a team that’s projected to make the playoffs and do well once you get there, you don’t start two rookie defensive tackles. Boy, [those tackles] have got a lot to learn. But also, if you’re going to start a rookie, that’s also a pretty good position to put him because he doesn’t have containment responsibiliites. All he’s got to do is learn the system, which now, with all the minicamps they have, they’ll know the system entering training camp. And rookies, you know, they’re excited, they’re going to get after people. And that’s all you ask a tackle to do, disrupt things. So they should do well.

Joe: At defensive end, the Bucs have some young, pretty inexperienced players and Stylez White, who’s going to be 31. That’s almost an old man in today’s NFL. What do you think about that? 

“Too Tall” Jones: I retired at 40. It all depends how your body holds up. … … Jim Marshall would still be playing if he didn’t get hurt hang gliding. …I played 15 years and never missed a game. The only practice I missed was when my mom passed. I’ve never had a serious injury, knock on wood. I was truly blessed. So I don’t think Stylez is old at all, but I don’t know how his body feels or what it’s been through and how he takes care of it. But if you’re pretty injury free, then that’s not old. He’s playing now on his knowledge and experience, and that can get him successfully through another four or five years.

Joe: Could you have played at 45, if back in your day they had pass rushing specialists or guys who just played on certain downs or in specific situations like you see today?

“Too Tall” Jones: Randy White and I joke about it all the time, that we’d be playing now if they had what I call situational players. I played every down. …Now guys now before the game know that they’ll play 25 run plays or 15 passing plays. And I’m going, ‘I would have played forever.’ …The way they play now, they’re keeping everybody fresh. It’s working. The game’s changed.

Joe: How else have things changed technically on the defensive line over the last 30 years?

“Too Tall” Jones: I’d say that’s it, really. You still have to have talent to win games, and you have to have good horses to run. And you have to have good coaching, and guys who fit the system, which is very important.

Joe: The Bucs spent all those years running primarily one system or slight variations of it under Monte Kiffin, then they brought in Jim Bates to run a system last year, then switched back when Raheem went to defensive coordinator. Talk about how that affected the Bucs, or would affect any team.

“Too Tall” Jones: I always say anytime you bring a new system in or a new coach, you gotta give it three years. You gotta give it three years, and then after three years, you have to see some progress. It’s always been that way. Again, the ones who are not patient, I don’t see them winning many games. 

Joe: Like Danny Snyder?

“Too Tall” Jones: I don’t see him winning many games. It was that way when I first broke into the league. You had to give players three years, and a new system three years. …It’s still that way today. If you look at the teams winning, with winning longevity, they’re teams with a coach that’s been in place who has had a chance to bring in his players to fit his system.

Joe isn’t about to tell you how to think or what to do. But in between beers, grilling and the beach, Joe just asks that you remember why you have the day off today. And, if you can, raise a glass at 3 p.m. to remember those who can never share a drink with you.

Joe’s dad was a naval officer in World War II on an aircraft carrier sunk by a kamikaze pilot, so Joe was brought up to learn the value of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so Joe could ridicule the horrid tackling of Sabby the Goat without fear of being thrown in a slave labor camp, forced to eat maggot-infested rice while being “re-educated” or flogged in public.

Joe hopes you can also remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice fighting those animals on the other side of the world who fly planes into buildings.

If it wasn’t for people who gave their all for our country, Joe (and the rest of us) might be forced to watch kickball on Sunday afternoons. Remember, Japan during World War II banned baseball because it was too American.

Imagine what other Axis nations, or those savages that behead people, would do to football if given the opportunity?

The way Kellen Winslow racked up the receiving yards last year, it’s hard to argue against him being an elite tight end.

Just don’t try telling Winslow that.

In a chat Friday on NFL.com, Winslow shrugged off compliments that he was one of the game’s best tight ends.

D,Jones, Detroit
Hey Kellen hows it going,I have a goog questoin here, Do you Believe your 1 of the top TEs in the game, And What do you think Tampa Bay need to do to make the playoffs?

Kellen Winslow
No, I’m not there yet. The top 5 are Jason Witten, Tony Gonzalez, Antonio Gates, personally I like Tony Scheffler and either Owen Daniels or Jeremy Shockey. As for your second part, the element with Josh and the young defense and receivers, we’re headed in the right direction. We’re not that far off.

Joe likes to see this. If a guy who strives to be the best like Winslow does, if he doesn’t consider himself among the game’s best, that means he has the drive and the fire inside.

In the chat, Winslow also noted that the Bucs are not rebuilding, but going young. Uh, OK.

Last year Raheem the Dream and all who spoke from One Buc Palace couldn’t talk enough about the Bucs revolutionary 2-2-1 Bucs running back rotation.

How’d that work out?

Well, clearly it didn’t. The Bucs realize as much. So much so that Stephen Holder, Bucs beat writer from the St. Petersburg Times, answering a question lodged to his Twitter account, believes the Bucs will use a two-man rotation of Cadillac Williams and Derrick Ward.

Whither Earnest Graham? Holder explains, and it won’t calm the frayed nerves of Earnest Graham fans.

And because I know someone will ask, yes, I realize I didn’t mention Earnest Graham. I’m not omitting him. I think he has a role, too, but I don’t know that it’ll be a big one. I think coaches see Graham as being effective in small doses but not necessarily as a featured back. I would, however, like to see Graham get the ball more as a receiver out of the backfield. He’s not exactly fast or quick, but he makes yardage in the open field when put in position. This is one area I would argue he is underused. Graham caught 14 passes last season and averaged 7.8 yards per reception. These are high-percentage passes that require less pass protection, so it seems like a win-win if more of these are incorporated.

Joe believes at times he’s the only person underwhelmed by the Bucs running backs. The Bucs averaged 4.0 yards a carry, 25th in the NFL last year. At the risk of angering Bucs fans  — something Joe is getting used to — let’s try to be objective here.

How can anyone be comfortable with Williams staying healthy for the season? Every time the guy runs around the corner, Joe holds his breath expecting Williams to blow a knee. Again. He’s already playing on two surgically-repaired knees.

Then there’s Ward. The Kardashian-chasing free agent pick up last year didn’t get that many carries and perhaps there may have been a reason for that?

That leaves Graham who will be 30, which is senior citizen age for running backs in the NFL. Yes, Graham may not have been beaten up as many running backs his age have, but 30 is still 30.

Joe is skeptical this trio of running backs will suddenly become a strong rushing attack. Deep? Sure, the Bucs are deep at running back.

Deep with average running backs.

You’ve all read THE PESSIMIST, who will return soon. Now, Joe wants to introduce you to THE OPTIMIST. Joe’s sought his services for a long time.

THE OPTIMIST is Nick Houllis, a Bucs fan and 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.

We all know the guy; the uncle who can’t give up the bottle, or the cousin who goes to Vegas like it’s a strip club that also has ‘a guy’ you know, too. They lived that way 10 years ago; they’ll be doing the same things 10 years from now.

People generally do not change.

There are some of us who have been Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans from the Days of Orange, and some for whom throwback weekend last year was more of a novelty.

The ones who were around for the days of the ‘Old Sombrero’ generally have a different view of the Glazers than those who became fans after 2000. That’s because the long-time fans remember.

We remember the news that Hugh Culverhouse had past away, and sadly and sickly some even cheered that news because they knew Hugh had been running the Bucs just to squeeze as much out of that orange as possible, instead of trying to build a winning football team.

Culverhouse claimed the Bucs needed to move half their games to Orlando because they were losing money, when years later papers showed that the Bucs were one of the 10 most profitable franchises every season. There was no love lost on Culverhouse in the early 90’s.

Unstable Times

Then the news started to get worse; some Culverhouse estate members wanted the team to be sold.

Suits were filed that would have forced the trust to sell to the best first offer, regardless of the intentions of the new owner. Peter Angelos was a prime buyer in waiting who made it clear he had NO intention of keeping the team in Tampa, and would immediately take the team to Baltimore where his Orioles played baseball.

The NFL landscape was quite unsettling back then:

The Rams left Los Angeles for St. Louis.

The Browns ditched Cleveland for Baltimore.

Oakland welcomed back the Raiders.

There was no doubt that the Bucs could be lost forever.

And on Sunday, December 24, 1994, on Christmas Eve day, the Bucs sold out Tampa Stadium for a game against Green Bay for the opportunity to see the Bucs for the very last time. It was 50/50 at best that we would ever watch a Bucs game again.

But a buyer emerged, a restaurateur named Malcom Glazer came in and paid a record amount for an NFL franchise at the time, and vowed to keep the team in Tampa, but with a big “If.”

The ‘IF’ was locals building a new stadium because Tampa Stadium could not generate the revenue needed for such a record purchase amount. A new stadium would be required, one that could generate the kind of dollars that only a state of the art facility with club seats and aggressive pricing structures could generate.

The voters went to the polls, to decide on the future of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but they understood the economic impact of losing an NFL franchise, and voted to be taxed higher, to pay for a new stadium, and to keep the Bucs.

It passed.

Remember The Glazers Saved The Bucs

And so Raymond James was built; and while the Browns, Rams, Cardinals, Raiders all relocated, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers stayed in place, thanks to Malcolm Glazer, who paid a higher amount to keep the Bucs here in Tampa.

The Glazers and Bucs fans rewarded each other; They provided us a quality product on the field, and a state of the art stadium that is every bit the ‘experience’ in as much as it is a home, and we lined up 100,000 deep for season tickets.

The problem today is that most fans were not around for this; and it’s not your fault you were born at a later date, or moved to Tampa after the fact, nor does it make you a lesser fan if you were.

But if you weren’t around for this story, you wouldn’t know how the Glazers saved the Bucs, nor would you remember how the Glazers oversaw the building of the Bucs, with draft picks like Warrick Dunn, Mike Alstott, Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch, Ronde Barber, and more. THEN, and only then, were Simeon Rice, Keyshawn Johnson, Brad Johnson, Joe Jurevicius and others added as free agents.

If you weren’t around, you wouldn’t know the Glazers, like that drunk uncle, don’t change either, and are simply repeating what they gave us already.

Like the announcers said when Matt Bryant kicked the 62-yard FG to beat the Eagles, “all you have to do is watch and listen.”

Joe has the utmost respect for those who serve our country. And Joe will attend one of the many Memorial Day ceremonies on Monday to pay homage to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Joe will get choked up, and Joe will go home invigorated.

Every day, however, is a work day at JoeBucsFan.com. And Bucs fans on Monday can count on reading excerpts of Joe’s recent face-to-face chats with Dallas Cowboys standouts Crawford Ker and Ed “Too Tall” Jones.

The headline above, for all you sensitive headline Nazis, sums up what Joe is going to write, and Joe takes no pleasure in typing the following.

Pull the plug, Derrick.

Joe thinks the absolute world of Derrick Brooks, the future Hall of Fame linebacker who personified the Bucs in their heyday: Smart, fast, physical… integrity.

Last year, after the Bucs kicked Brooks to the curb — cynics boast that Brooks never played again so it was time; Joe points to the numbers of how the Bucs were the worst in the NFL in rushing defense without him — Brooks had a few nibbles for jobs but teams were not willing to meet Brooks’ salary demands for a guy who also was not going to play special teams.

So the only thing Brooks did football-wise last year was work for BSPN and Sirius NFL Radio.

It seems the Bucs were about to have a formal ceremony last year announcing Brooks’ retirement but Brooks called it off, thinking he still would get a gig. That’s the word from Vacation Man, of the Stalinist BSPN.com. Like many, Vacation Man believes it’s time for Brooks to get it over with and announce his retirement.

Rob in Sarasota, Fla., writes:  Any word on the relations between Derrick Brooks and the Bucs? Was there an official announcement that he retired after no one picked him up last year? Has the dust settled enough to honor him as the second inductee in the Ring of Honor? Or at least something similar to what they did for Mike Alstott?

Vacation Man:  There has been no official announcement on Brooks’ retirement, even though it’s pretty obvious his playing days are over. This is kind of unfortunate because Brooks deserves a proper sendoff. He’s the best player in the history of the NFC South, although Drew Brees is gaining ground fast. At one point last season, the Bucs were starting to prepare some sort of major ceremony, but Brooks backed off because he thought he might end up playing somewhere else. It didn’t happen and I don’t think anything’s going to change this year. Quite frankly, Brooks is a guy with a tremendous amount of pride and it’s difficult for a guy like that to admit it’s over, but Brooks needs to accept the facts. The Bucs will give him a sendoff at least on a par with what they gave Mike Alstott and John Lynch and they’ll probably do even more for Brooks, but they’re waiting for him to give them clearance.

Joe was under the impression Brooks was still miffed at the Bucs, understandably so. It seems, though, Brooks and someone at One Buc Palace have mended fences.

Of course, Brooks is due the greatest retirement bash the Bucs have ever thrown.

If Bucs video guru Scott Smith keeps up the quality interviews on Buccaneers.com, he’s sure to be horsecollared by BSPN in a matter of days.

Smith’s ultra laid back style just works very well in the cozy chat sessions the team is doing with various players. In the latest sit-down, lightning fast Geno Hayes strolled into the spotlight.

Among the many highlights, Smith confonts Hayes with the interesting fact that three of the Bucs’ 2010 draft picks are older than Hayes, who enters his third season and turns 23 in August. Viewers also get to watch Hayes get hazed during a previous season; The ritual had him taped to the goal post and harmlessly abused by Matt McCoy and Adam Heyward.

Hayes also gave his take on Raheem The Dream and the post Jim Bates defense.

“Raheem’s a great chess player. You know, he understands the game,” Hayes said. “He’s taken what he’s learned from guys like Jim Bates and Monte Kiffin and he’s making his own little, you know, concoction with it. So it’s coming out good. And when he took over last year, it was good because everybody knew what to do. …Read and react. Read and react. It’s quick. You know, you get one step, one read, and you’re gone. He puts you in the right position to make plays. It’s up to you to make the play.”

Hayes, along with Aqib Talib and Tanard Jackson, is one of the guys the Bucs surely are counting on to up his game to the next level and maximize his immense talent.

While the young trio of defensive tackles must mature quickly, Joe believes Hayes, Talib and Jackson equally need to improve and take a step closer to their first Pro Bowl-caliber season for the Bucs to show significant improvement.

Joe’s esteemed colleagues over at the three-headed monster of Tampa Bay journalism, TBO.com/WFLA Ch. 8/The Tampa Tribune, have finally tapped their video resources to launch a new video Bucs blog that is sure to be a year-round hit.

Joe suggests you check it out.

Beat writers Woody Cummings and Anwar Richardson slug it out in the first installment. And there’s more on the way for this regular feature.

Cummings drops a bomb out of left field proclaiming, “I think we’re going to see a lot of Earnest Graham at running back.” And there are plenty of other choice nuggets, as Richardson and Cummings struggle to agree. 

Fun stuff.

Joe just wonders why it took so long for the good people at Media General to take this plunge? Joe has spoken at social gatherings with movers and shakers at The News Center years ago strongly advocating more video segments for the TBO Bucs gang. It’s not like Mother Tribune didn’t have access to a TV studio!

After watching the inaugural TBO Bucs vlog, Joe rises and gives — albeit, a far too belated — standing ovation to the powers that be at The News Center. Well done. Well done.

Bucs fans, brace yourself. FoxSports.com’s Adam Schein has decided to break down each NFL team as training camps are less than two months away. In this video, Schein pulls no punches on the Bucs. Better take a tight grip on your chair for this.

Poor Gerald McCoy, the dude can’t seem to win.

Earlier this week Joe brought you news, via GMC’s own Twitter feed, that the Bucs first round draft pick had to leave a Rays game earlier than expected because so many fans were hounding him for photos while he tried to just sit back and enjoy the game (hard as that debacle was to enjoy).

Joe also noted how amused he is with GMC’s Twittering, that they were mostly fun and were hardly malicious or hurtful.

Well, it seems the suits at One Buc Palace are unnerved with GMC’s use of microblogging. Though Joe’s just connecting the dots, as GMC didn’t cite the Bucs, he did post that he is getting in hot water with someone over his Twitter musings.

Apparently my tweeting is getting me in trouble and I can’t be myself

This, however, was a short-lived self-imposed ban. GMC later threw caution to the wind and grew defiant at whoever is trying to censor him.

Man forget that! I’m tweeting ain’t nobody gone stop me from being me. I don’t do anything wrong or stupid!! So I’m back!!

GMC is right. He’s not doing anything wrong. It’s not like he’s pulling a Santonio Holmes writing about waking and baking or encouraging suicide, among other things. GMC’s Twitter posts are harmless as a kitten and often humorous.

That is, unless the Bucs (?) believe GMC asking where he should go out and eat because he’s new in town is somehow a threat to the state.

Free advice to GMC from Joe: If you want to keep Twittering, make sure that’s in your conteact, son.

"Now I see why Joe calls them BSPN."

Surely the result of exhaustive research, Vacation Man, aka Pat Yasinskas of BSPN.com, has concluded that there’s a sizable contingent of Bucs fans who have no interest in hearing from the team’s head coach.

In a post on his NFC South blog about an upcoming Falcons scrimmage, in which fans will hear a miked-up Atlanta coach Mike Smith, Vacation Man chose to take a shot at Raheem The Dream’s popularity, or lack thereof.

Can’t quite imagine Carolina’s John Fox or New Orleans’ Sean Payton doing this. If Tampa Bay tried it, some of the audience probably would tune Raheem Morris out.

Joe is perplexed. Joe enjoys listening to Raheem The Dream talk football, and about Bill Belichick, and about being your best self. In fact, Joe is always at the edge of his seat when Raheem The Dream starts talking.

It seems, fairly or unfairly, Bucs offensive lineman Jeremy Zuttah’s performance in his two years with the team mirrored the entire offensive line’s play.

As a rookie, he filled in for injured Davin Joseph at right guard and did a fabulous job. Rarely was Zuttah’s name mentioned, which is the highest honor an offensive lineman can receive.

Last year, when Arron Sears when AWOL, Zuttah again filled the role of replacement, this time playing left guard. However, Zuttah didn’t quite play to the level he had when he filled in for Joseph the previous season.

How much of this had to do with a new coaching staff or learning zone blocking, Joe isn’t sure. But like Zuttah taking a step back in 2009, so too did the Bucs offensive line as a unit.

Fielding a question from Bucstats on his Twitter account, Stephen Holder, of the St. Petersburg Times, explained what Zuttah is trying to do in the offseason to bounce back from a disappointing year.

I think he’ll be better in his second season as a starter. I think he’ll spend a lot of time this offseason working on strength, which should help him. It’s too early to determine what these offensive linemen are going to be. We need to seem them in training camp with pads on to know whether there’s a concerted difference. No matter what anyone on the coaching staff says, I’ll reserve judgment until then. In any case, I totally agree with your argument that Zuttah was a weak link on the line last year and needs to step up.

Zuttah was the weak link only to the extent that he was not even projected as a starter. There was a reason he was a backup. Sure, the Bucs, remembering Zuttah’s play the previous season, had high hopes when Zuttah replaced Sears, but Zuttah played more like the backup he was projected to be.

Some players just play better on specific sides of the ball and that may be the case with Zuttah. Joe doesn’t think it’s unfair to suggest if Zuttah has a solid year, so too may the Bucs offensive line as a whole.