Certainly every Bucs fan often ponders what is a satisfactory finish for the 2010 season.

Joe’s heard all sorts of takes in his face-to-face dealings, ranging from three wins to nine wins.

Joe is of the mindset now that the Bucs finished last year 3-6 after the bye week with two wins against playoff teams, Green Bay and New Orleans. So surely there’s no sound logic why they shouldn’t at least continue winning — or losing — at that pace in 2010.

So merely the continuation of that pace puts the Bucs at 5-10 entering their final game of the season in New Orleans. And a win there (or before) to get to six wins is at least hard evidence of improvement from 2009.

Gary Shelton, St. Pete Times columnist, is targeting a six-win minimum for 2010. He shared this during a live chat on TampaBay.com on Friday. A participant tried to pin Shelton down to make a prediction on the team and Raheem The Dream’s future.

Shelton responded that six wins is likely but that total will divide the fan base when it comes to retaining the head coach.

Keisha: How many wins for the Bucs this year, and whatever your answer is, is that enough to keep Raheem in his job? …

[Shelton:] Let’s see. I’m going to say six wins. And that’s going be a noisy finish between people screaming for his head and people wanting to stay the course. I think eight wins earns him another year without a question, but six is arguable.

Of course, a lot of it depends on how the losses look, don’t they? Were they in overtime? Competitive? Did the quarterback get a lot better?

Joe would even throw many more factors to this hypothetical six win season when it comes to assessing Raheem The Dream following the season. Did the Bucs get at least three wins in the second half? Did the defense at least maintain what it established when Raheem The Dream became defensive coordinator last year?

Joe’s quite confident Team Glazer would be very pleased with six wins and would’t invest any time considering a new head coach if the Bucs reach that level in 2010, even if half the fan base wants Raheem The Dream’s head on a platter.

Joe doesn’t mess around when it comes to food.

One look at Joe’s gut, and one can see that Joe has a lot of experience in the culinary arts.

So when Joe tells you that the food is downright outstanding at Mugs Grill & Bar in Clearwater, you must believe it and taste it for yourself. (Keep reading for a free gift certificate.)

What you’re going to get at Mugs is quality and cleanliness you won’t find anywhere else. (Trust Joe, he’s toured the kitchen and grew up in the restaurant business.) Their wings and homemade sauces are legendary, and their menu is expansive. Click on the logo to check it out. And if you want Joe to mail you a modest Mugs gift certificate that expires June 1, shoot Joe an e-mail today at joe@joebucsfan.com. (Subject line: Mugs) Supplies are limited.

There’s a reason why Bucs general manager Mark Dominik dropped a load of Team Glazer’s cash in the lap of Kardashian-chasing running back Derrick Ward last year:

Dominik wanted Ward to run the damn ball!

But the offensive sage that is offensive coordinator Greg Olson, for some reason, didn’t feed Ward the ball enough while running his Chucky-and-duck offense. Sensing that the more Ward got the ball the more the Bucs won, Raheem the Dream seems to sense that Ward’s production is tied to his job security.

More carries for Ward might equal more wins, which equals perhaps another couple of years for Raheem the Dream as the Bucs head coach. So Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times believes that Raheem the Dream wants Ward to get more carries.

“When we started to win games, he did get the ball more. Of course, you feel like you should give it to him even more. If I can get him the ball more this season, that’s usually going to result in more wins and more happy faces around here.”

Ward was a victim of Cadillac Williams’ re-emergence and mild success, something that ate into Ward’s opportunities. He rushed 114 times for 409 yards despite being one of the key additions in the ’09 offseason. Still, it’s more than fair to ask whether the Bucs could have made better use of Derrick Ward last season.

Joe knows via his sources that a very high-ranking Bucs official was peeved Ward didn’t get a high amount of carries last year. Something tells Joe that due to his contract and the belief that Ward’s success helped win a couple of games (Seattle and New Orleans in December), Ward will get the rock more often this fall.

Joe is still amused how hateful Bucs fans spread venom at quarterback Byron Leftwich.

The guy, at the time he started for the Bucs, played behind a sieve of an offensive line (remember Sean Mayhem?) and had no receivers to throw to. (Antonio Bryant wasn’t healthy.)

Leftwich came from a Super Bowl-winner with a decent offensive line and one of the deepest sets of wide receivers to throw to in the NFL. Leftwich was a key cog in that championship season for the Steelers, coming off the bench, leading Pittsburgh to a road win at Washington as the Steelers eked out the AFC North title and home field advantage for the playoffs.

So it wasn’t surprising to Joe to hear Leftwich say how happy he is to be back in Pittsburgh and playing for one of the NFL’s elite teams. And by all accounts he’s the Steelers starting quarterback until horny sleazebag Ben Roethlisberger, who gets way to handsy with drunk college chicks, comes back from his four-game suspension.

“It was tough,” Leftwich said of his departure from Pittsburgh to Tampa Bay last offseason in a video posted on Steelers.com. “I never really wanted to leave. But [Tampa Bay] was an opportunity as a professional I had to take advantage of. It didn’t work out but I’m happy to be back” in Pittsburgh.

Let’s see if Joe can do some math:

Leftwich is good enough to suit up for a team with a front office largely regarded league-wide as having the best group of talent evaluators in the NFL.

Leftwich was good enough to be a backup to one of the game’s top quarterbacks on an eventual Super Bowl winner.

Leftwich was good enough to come off the bench to win a crucial road game for said top quarterback.

Leftwich is good enough to return — and start — for said team that has serious postseason aspirations.

But in hateful Bucs fans’ eyes, Leftwich is not even good enough to backup a still unproven quarterback on a team that last year had a shaky offensive line with a poor set of receivers and an at-best average rushing attack.

OK, Joe thinks he understands… well, not really!

After the NFL draft, late round picks typically drift into obscurity as they sit at the bottom of depth charts and try to overcome the odds to make an opening day active roster. Former Virginia Tech linebacker and special teams ace Cody Grimm was the first of the Bucs three seventh-round selections in 2010. The son of soon-to-be Hall of Fame inductee Russ Grimm, Cody spent much of his time during the Bucs recent OTA sessions last week making the transformation to strong safety. Joe talked to Grimm after those practices and found a humble and focused young man.

Joe: Growing up around the NFL and having a father who was a Pro Bowl player and is an accomplished coach, do you feel that gave you an edge coming into the OTA sessions?

Cody Grimm: Yeah, I mean it gives me a little extra advantage, knowing how you have to handle yourself and what you have to put into the game to be successful, just knowing how much you have to study and work. I’m sure other guys figure that out quickly, I don’t know. But I feel I understand what it will take for me to be successful. 

Joe: You were a linebacker in college. Talk about your move to strong safety.

Grimm: There’s a lot to learn. We played a different defense in college, but I’m comfortable in coverage and with it. A lot of the stuff is similar, like here we come out 12 yards deep and buzz out to the flats. …At college. it was six yards deep. There’s a lot to learn but there are a lot of similarites.

Joe: I saw one interception on film you had during OTAs on what looked like an overthrow by Josh Freeman to Mike Williams, and I understand you had another one. Tell me about those.

Grimm: We were in three-deep zone coverage. I was in the hole and I pretty much kept backpedaling. Freeman threw it up a real long way. Real long. I saw it up there and I thought, ‘I can’t let this get caught behind me or I’m going to get yelled at.’ So I went 180 and sprinted back. I had to take my eye off it for a moment, but luckily when I looked up it was over my shoulder and I made the catch. …The other one I was in man on the tight end, and basically [the throw] came into my leverage and I cut it off. 

Joe: The Bucs have a very talented secondary. Have any of the veterans, like a Ronde Barber, sat you down or pulled you aside yet to give you much advice?

Grimm: No, I haven’t had one-on-one time with Ronde or anything like that with anyone, where we’ve broken down film or had that kind of discussion. But all the starters, pretty much across the board, are throwing out advice here and there. …For example we were in deep middle the other day and the offense had one receiver. I was lined up middle and they were telling me to cheat over when there’s one receiver. …Everyone is quick with advice as it comes up. It’s really across the board from the veterans. It’s a real team atmosphere.

Joe: You came into the draft with the repuation of being a special teams ace. Did you work on special teams much in the OTAs and how did you think you fared? And do you feel there’s more pressure on your special teams performance versus with the secondary, since the Bucs likely drafted you for that role? 

Grimm: We did some kickoff work as a unit, and some drills, but not too much. …That’s where Coach Bisaccia has to evaluate. I thought I did pretty well, but it’s not like we sat around picking apart film on that yet. It’s early. …Really, I’m not even begining to try and think about [how I’ll make the team]. Obviously, I’ve got a reputation at special teams, but we just haven’t done much there yet. If I just work my hardest and learn everything I can, that’s about all I can do now.

Joe: On a personal note, how are you going to spend the next couple of months? Are you looking for an apartment? Do you have any personal plans to get settled or scout out the area, or anything unique going on in your life?

Grimm: Really, I’m just staying quiet in the team hotel until I make the team. This is the NFL, you never know. I’m not taking anything for granted at all.

Joe: With your dad as a famous “Hog” on the Redskins and then a coach for years there, are you a big Redskins fan? Does that just go away know that you’re a Bucccaneer? How does that work?

Grimm: Yeah, I grew up a big Redskins fan because of my father and lived up there. But I couldn’t even tell you much about the Redskins anymore, except for some names of the veterans there. I’m just not a fan at that level.

Joe: So you don’t have a bunch of Redskins gear or bumper stickers, or spend time reading Skins blogs?

Grimm:  (laughing) That’s not me. No. So it’s not any adjustment. I’m not a fan like that at all for any team.

The full description of the acronym OTA is “organized team activities.” It’s supposed to be voluntary. Despite that, they are important.

In this NBCSports.com video, Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com describes just how important OTAs truly are.

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

"Hey Rah, you better make sure that kid Freeman starts checking his tires. If he pulls the same stunt on gameday as he did tonight, you're gonna get the Ziggy... bay-BEE!"

Some of the heaviest of heavy hitters in the world of sports descended upon Sarasota last night.

There was Rick Pitino, Tom Izzo, Magic Johnson, Derrick Brooks, Doug Williams, Roy Williams, Erin Andrews, Tommy Lasorda (but not Jack Clark), Isiah Thomas and more. These heavyweights were in Sarasota to help raise funds for the Jimmy V Foundation at the Dick Vitale Gala.

Seems a certain second-year Bucs player was also invited to rub elbows with the elite: Josh Freeman. But the Bucs quarterback seemed to be late, and not fashionably. Joe knows why.

Among the elite was one of the nation’s top investigative sports journalists, Joe’s good friend and former colleague Brett McMurphy. An avid Twitterer, McMurphy documented the goings-on last night at the gala and explained why Freeman was running late.

Flat tire.

@BrettmcmurphY Bucs QB Josh Freeman late to Dick Vitale gala. Had a flat tire but fixed it himself. Hopefully Bucs offense doesn’t breakdown this year.

Wow. Multi-million dollar quarterback not only drives himself to a soiree like that, but changes his own tires? Hope he’s got a good dry cleaner.

What better for Bucs fans to start a Saturday morning than word of manbeast-in-waiting Gerald McCoy possibly being better than advertised?

That could drive many a fan to head to BucGear.com and buy a McCoy jersey immediately.

Vacation Man, of BSPN.com, in a live NFC South chat for the Soviet-loving Disney icon, told a participant that the whispers at One Buc Place during OTAs last week were that McCoy was more of an impact player than first thought.

… I say McCoy for the Bucs. I heard this week Bucs now think he’s even better than they thought when they drafted him.

This is very high praise, considering Raheem The Dream has been calling McCoy “the face of the franchise” since before the first OTA.

If this guy can really be a first-year manbeast, Joe suspects the Bucs run defense is going to climb far out where it sat in the NFL cellar last year. See, Joe can dream without the aid of cheerleader photos.

Vacation Man, aka NFC South beat writer Pat Yasinskas of BSPN.com, cornered Falcons kicker Matt Bryant, the former Bucs fan favorite, for a feature story posted late this morning.

Vacation Man nearly got Bryant to spill the beans about his somewhat suspect exit from the Bucs last September. But Bryant resisted his urge to talk yet made it clear he’s no fan of Mark Dominik and somehow Team Glazer was involved at the end of his Bucs tenure.

The Bucs spent $2.4 million (more than double Bryant’s salary) to bring in kicker Mike Nugent.

“That was their guy,” Bryant said. “It was very clear and obvious. I’d love to tell you the whole story and if I do it would actually accomplish something. If I thought it would do any good, I would. But it would probably actually hurt me. Let’s just say it was a very frustrating situation that could have been easily resolved. All the way from the top, from the owners to the GM, it was a frustrating situation that I wish I never had to have been a part of it. My family and I loved Tampa and the fans were absolutely great. But there are some situations you can’t pick and choose.”

The Bucs kept Bryant through training camp as he dealt with a hamstring injury. He said he was healthy enough to kick by the final preseason game, but the Bucs didn’t let him. They released him in the final cut and the perception around the league was he still had hamstring issues.

Bucs fans remember that Nugent stunk up the joint before Dominik cut him and went with young stud kicker Connor Barth, who proceeded to nail three 50-yard field goals in one game and cemented the job.

Aside from the black mark on Dominik’s record for paying Nugent a fortune for no production, it all seems to have a happy ending for the Bucs.

For standup Bryant, Joe’s just beyond curious how the “owners,” as Bryant said, were somehow involved in circumstances surrounding the release of an aging, injured kicker. Joe always thought Team Glazer didn’t get invovled at that level.

Maybe they do. Maybe they don’t.

As the weeks slowly tick down to training camp (roughly two months away), nothing gets Bucs fans worked into a froth like the mere mention of wide receiver Michael Clayton.

The Bucs blocking icon, who since his rookie season has come nowhere near to living up to his first round draft pick expectations, is clearly the most hated Bucs player by fans, if not the most loathed athlete in the Tampa Bay area now that Pat Burrell was jettisoned last week by the first place Rays.

It seems that Clayton, who Joe believes to be a good guy, has blamed more people for his lack of catching ability than he has made receptions in his career. Joe truly believes many Bucs fans would be content with another losing season so long as Clayton is not on the Bucs roster this fall.

So it was moderately suprising to Joe to read veteran St. Petersburg Times columnist Gary Shelton, in a chat on the paper’s Web site yesterday, suggest there’s no logical reason to cut the blocking icon.

Now.

Next question: Jemal wants to know when we are are going to cut dead weight like Michael Clayton.

First of all, Jemal, “we” don’t do the cutting. And to be honest, there is no advantage for the Bucs to cut Clayton in May. They aren’t paying him now. The Bucs need to be patient to see what they have in Mike Williams, Reejus Benn and even Reggie Brown. They should be willing to cut Clayton if he isn’t good enough – and in recent years, he hasn’t been – but you don’t toss away players until you have to.

Shelton has hit the nail on the head: Clayton is not being paid now, so there’s really no viable reason to cut the blocking icon as we approach late-May. Now if the Bucs feel that Arrelious Benn, Mike Williams, Reggie Brown, Sammie Stroughter, et al, are meeting or exceeding expectations through training camp and preseason and are healthy, of course Clayton’s time is up.

If there are injuries or the rookies are dropping passes worse than Clayton, the Bucs may be better off keeping the blocking icon and hoping (praying?) that he somehow becomes a mult-dimensional receiver, not just a blocker.

For weeks, the Bucs billboards around town have read, “Unite and Conquer.”

It’s very football-sounding. Something to fire you up to buy a ticket. Not bad.

Now, a new catch phrase apparently has emerged. Raheem The Dream rolled out “lasting contender” during his news conference following the final OTA practice this week at One Buc Palace. And Joe suspects we’re going to hear that compact message quite a bit during the 2010 season.

“Trying to build that lasting contender is what we’re trying to do around here,” the Bucs head coach said unprompted just 20 seconds into his Wednesday news conference. 

“Lasting contender.” Remember that phrase. It’s very neat and tidy, and it smells of the Bucs shiny new media relations wizard out of the high-profile Washington political scene, Jonathan Grella.

Joe’s been watching to see what subtle changes would appear under Grella’s regime, and Joe thinks this is a prime example.

Compassionate conservative. … Hope and change. … “Lasting contender.”

If nothing else, the new phrase will save Raheem The Dream a lot of breath trying to explain how the Bucs are rebuilding, and it might keep him from coming up with Bill Belichick analogies to make a point.

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages and writes a quarterbacks blog via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

I did a speaking engagement this past weekend and talked about experiences growing up and getting to the NFL.

As some of the words came out of my mouth, I knew I did not say them exactly as I wanted and may have communicated something other than what I had planned.  So, as I read Greg Olson’s comments about the Bucs’ backup quarterback job on JoeBucsFan.com, and then saw them again in the newspaper a few days later, I could understand if Olson was trying to give his rookie free agent QB Jevan Snead some hope in his effort to make the squad come September.

But Olson defined the lack of difference between Josh Johnson and Snead so clearly:

“The good thing is we have two younger players in Josh Johnson and Rudy Carpenter that aren’t that much older than him and haven’t been in the league that long, so development wise, they shouldn’t be much further along,” Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson said. “He has an opportunity to come in and compete with those guys as opposed to a four-, five-, six-, 10-year vet guy. He should be on equal footing with those guys.”

It was quite disturbing to know that Olson sees so little difference in his third year QB with starting experience and the free agent from Ole Miss. 

We can all relate to walking onto a high school campus as a freshman and how much energy can be used by acclimating yourself to the new campus, teachers, etc.  There is a world of difference between starting your freshman year and your junior year. 

And if there is no difference between Josh Johnson and Snead, then there is certainly no differentiation between Josh FREEMAN and Snead, since their franchise QB is only going into his second year and first offseason as a pro.

Unfortunately, the Bucs expect and need Freeman to take leaps and bounds forward in his play this year, but why not Johnson?

These comments by Olson were ill-worded at best or downright offensive and certainly wrong in all aspects.  There is not a player in the history of any league that would say he was not a better, more polished and prepared player in his third year than his rookie year, except for maybe Ryan Leaf.

 So much to analyze after the first round of minicamps across the NFL! And there’s that brewing HGH scandal that is sure to have an impact. One man surely has incredible insight:  he is Chris Landry.

At 4 p.m. today, Landry will join the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, “The Big Dog,” Steve Duemig on WDAE-AM 620, for non-stop football chatter for a full hour. Ah, football, glorious football. Landry will even field your calls.

Joe watched Raheem The Dream spew serious Roy Miller love yesterday.

It was a comprehendable but still trademark ramble by the head coach, and it made Joe revive that lingering question, “If Miller is so good, then why did the Bucs draft Brian Price early in the second round when the team had other areas it could have addressed with that pick?”

Here’s what Raheem The Dream had to say about Miller:

“You go back and look at tape, and you’re just, you’re shocked how he jumps off the film. And what he was able to do last year, and how we ended that season was a major part becuase of what he was able to do. …He’s a part of that youth movement, as well. We told Roy, really he was the first defensive cog added to this new regime. He was that, that guy. And I pulled him into my office and let him know and said, ‘Hey, we picked you because of your leadership, your background, how you are, your serious, that you’re detailed and all those types of things.’ And that warrior type of attitude that he brought to the table, that he was able to present during the game last year as a rookie, we all forgot about that. And now he’s coming to his second year. He’s fired up to get back. He’s not an easy guy to keep off the practice field because he will absolutely lie to you right to your face because he wants to play. You got to love that. You got to respect that about the guy.”

So Roy Miller, per Raheem The Dream, was a “major part” of the revitalized Bucs defense last year, yet the Bucs couldn’t pass on Price. 

Yeah, Joe gets that Price was the top guy on their draft board. Joe understands that whole philosophy. And surely Price wasn’t a reach.

But ultimately, Joe’s having a hard time swallowing the Price pick given that the team views Miller as a true standout player and leader.

It’s a fun argument, and one Joe suspects will rage on for years, especially if both players, and Gerald McCoy, pan out.

It’s not even the end of May and eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune is so giddy over the (OTA) play of Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib, that Kaufman is ready to cast his Pro Bowl ballot.

Posting on TBO.com’s Bucs Twitter feed, Kaufman waxed poetic about Talib’s skills, stopping just short of calling Talib the best cornerback in the NFL.

The more I watch Aqib Talib, the more convinced I become that he has the skills necessary to rival Darrelle Revis as the NFL’s top CB.

If Talib truly is on the threshold of greatness, Talib certainly couldn’t have been frustrated by Mark Dominik drafting a pair of defensive linemen to begin last month’s draft.

If the Bucs can only get some decent push up front, it has to help Talib and Ronde Barber.

Earnest Graham won't be among those surprised if a Buccaneer is involved it a high-profile HGH scandal

Joe pays attention to the sports world, so Joe’s very aware that Canadian doctor Anthony Galea was charged by authorities for smuggling human growth hormone (HGH) into the United States.

And the big kicker is the reports that three (maybe more) NFL players are involved in his allegedly shady HGH dealings, and some of his activity was allegedly in Tampa.

That means there’s at least a chance that a member of the Buccaneers is involved. The Redskins’ Santana Moss already has been fingered by the Washington Post.

Joe sure hopes not. Considering warden Roger Goodell probably will make a huge example out of any NFL player whose name surfaces when all the details inevitably leak from court records still not released.

Joe can’t imagine a bigger distraction to the Buccaneers, if it were to come down that a prominent Bucs player is involved. Especially since a lot of other Buccaneers could potentially start sweating getting outed by said player.

Now Joe’s not saying Bucs are using HGH, but Earnest Graham gave his powerful “30 percent” are using take on that last year, which Joe brought to light on a grand scale and turned into a national story. Surely, anyone would be foolish to think there aren’t HGH users on every NFL team.

Joe sincerely just hopes the Tampa connection to this HGH scandal is on Dale Mabry Highway — in the bowels of the New York Yankees’ Tampa headquarters.

This calendar year has not been a good one for former Bucs great Warren Sapp.

First, he got locked up briefly in a South Florida cage for allegedly slapping around his girlfriend, a charge which was later dropped.

As a result, Sapp was removed, temporarily, from his gig at the NFL Network as the suits and lawyers worked things out.

Now it appears Sapp has been a victim of a scam, which has allegedly cost him six figures.

In short, it appears Sapp had cash in an account that was seized by the feds in an investigation of a Ponzi scheme racket, so reports the Associated Press, via TBO.com.

Retired Tampa Bay Buccaneers star Warren Sapp is asking to recover more than $100,000 in a trust account left by the law firm of a man who pleaded guilty to running a Ponzi scheme.

Attorneys for Sapp filed a federal court petition Monday in Scott Rothstein’s criminal case. The attorneys say Sapp has interest in money the government is seeking in a forfeiture action.

The seven-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman had nearly $103,000 in a trust account with the law firm when it collapsed after financial fraud came to light.

The report went on to document that Sapp’s cash was in no way connected to the Ponzi scam, rather, a lawyer who was overseeing the account was up to his elbows involved in the racket.

Allegedly.

In this BSPN.com video, Bucs players Josh Freeman, Sabby the Goat, Sammie Stroughter, Xavier Fulton and Mo Stovall went fishing in the Bahamas.

Wonder who sprung for the trip? Joe’s guessing Freeman since his contract is likely higher than the rest of the aforementioned Bucs combined.

Hey Josh, in case you didn’t know it down there, you aren’t in Kansas any more.

The mystery of Barrett Ruud continues. One of the nicest guys around, Ruud, sadly, has been a target of some, including a handful of vocal critics, who claim he’s not a run-stuffer and his tackle totals are misleading.

Ruud has heard the critics. He reads blogs (gasp!). He recently decided to defend himself with veteran St. Petersburg Times columnist Gary Shelton, claiming he had a better than average season.

“I read the bloggers,” Ruud said, grinning. “I read that I make all of my tackles 7 yards downfield. But a lot of times, a tackle 7 yards downfield is a great tackle, because you can keep a guy from going 60 yards. When I evaluate the great linebackers of the NFL, I see a lot of guys making tackles 7 yards down the field. They’re making a great play when a guy looks like he’s about to break it outside…

“Last year? I was … good. I wasn’t great, but I wasn’t bad.”

Ruud is right on target in that analysis. But was the fact this happened seemingly far too often a reflection of subpar play upfront from the defensive line, or as Joe’s good friend Justin Pawlowski of WDAE-AM 620 (often) claims, that Ruud can’t shed a block?

Or perhaps is it a combination?

Ruud is an enigma. He will go for stretches of games where he plays like a beast of a middle linebacker, even making some of the best pass coverage plays Joe has ever seen a middle linebacker make.

Then, when he’s chasing guys down from behind, Ruud looks more like a track relay team member in a baton-exchange than a run-stopper. Given the fact Ruud is one of the best standup guys Joe has ever had to deal with and by all accounts a great teammate, Joe’s willing to give him rope.

Let’s be honest, it’s hard for any linebacker to make plays when he has offensive linemen crawling all over him, just ask Brian Urlacher. There’s also a reason the Bucs selected two defensive tackles with their first two picks of last month’s draft, and released starter Chris Hovan.

If all Ruud needed was help upfront with the defensive line, the improvement in Ruud’s play may not come soon enough. Ruud’s contract is up this year and let’s remember, the Bucs are counting on a lot of young guys on the defensive line, second-year tackle Roy Miller being the “veteran” of the group.

Will Miller and the two rookies develop quick enough this season to save Ruud’s Bucs days?

Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson doesn't believe the Bucs need need a veteran backup quarterback.

Joe has wondered aloud several times how it is backup quarterback Bryon Leftwich was good enough for the Steelers (and won a critical road game in the team’s march to the Super Bowl), not good enough for the Bucs, but once again not only good enough for the Steelers but likely to start for the team with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations?

Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson scoffs at the notion. Talking to Tom Balog of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Olson claims the Bucs don’t need no stinking veteran quarterback.

”No, I don’t believe that,” Olson said. “We made a hire in Alex Van Pelt, who was a quarterback in the league for a number of years. Alex can be that sounding board for him.

”So we’ve got that in place right now in the quarterback coach position. We’re excited about Josh Johnson as the No.2 quarterback. So rather than bring someone in there to be that third guy, we just felt like with Alex’ guidance and with the athletic player we have in Josh Johnson, at No.2, we feel comfortable, right now at this point at the quarterback position.”

Counting on Josh Johnson to save the franchise if Josh Freeman goes down is about like Joe staying up all night waiting on a booty call from Rachel Watson. In other words, it’s wishful thinking bordering on foolish thinking.

Balog doesn’t buy what Olson is selling. Balog believes Olson chose his words very carefully, qualifying his comments leaving the door wide open for the Bucs to acquire a veteran backup.