Once again, Joe brings you Chucky’s weekly press conference in its entirety courtesy of Buccaneers.com. Once again, Roger Goodell doesn’t have the courtesy of providing embed codes.

As you can expect, Chucky wasn’t in much of a giddy mood. Neither are Bucs fans to be frank.

But Chucky’s reference to “Jo Jo White or whoever the hell else we’re talking about here” made Joe laugh out loud.

Former BSPN talking head Sean Salisbury, who took cell phone photography to a new level, is now working for something called OpenSports.com. Here, he gives a video report and he suggests the Bucs will “respond” with a win over the Raiders.

Salisbury also suggests the Eagles will win which will put the Bucs in the playoffs. Bucs talk begins at roughly 1:40 into the video.

Enraged in a Tampa restaurant parking lot about 4 a.m. on Oct. 13, according to a Tampa police report, then Bucs offensive lineman Anthony Davis had electronic control devices (Tasers) pointed at him by Tampa Police while they ordered him to leave the scene of a large disturbance and other men tried to restrain him.

The report says Davis was yelling outside the International House of Pancakes, “Fuck the police, You can’t do nothing. I want my food mother fucker. I got food that I ordered.”

Investigating an alleged felony battery at the scene police subsequently interviewed Bucs players Michael Bennett, Quincy Black and Donald Penn, according to the police report, and Buccaneers Director of Player Development Eric Vance helped police attain interviews and was present when police interviewed Davis at One Buc Place.

There is so much more to this story that continues today with Brian Gordon, a man allegedly struck and injured at the restaurant, suing Bennett, Davis and International House of Pancakes ownership in Hillsborough County Civil Court. The suit was filed Dec. 15.

JoeBucsFan.com first reported the civil suit filing on Friday and discussed the story that day on 620 AM, The Sports Animal, during the highly rated morning and afternoon programming with Steve Duemig, Ron Diaz and Justin Pawlowski.

Since then, editors and reporters of the St. Petersburg Times, NewsChannel 8, TBO.com and the Tampa Tribune were alerted to the police reports and civil court filings. To date, it appears they have chosen to completely ignore the story.

This media cover-up should trouble every sensible person.

All media routinely reports stories with far less public interest. Also, civil court filings against famous people are reported nearly 100 percent of the time, with very few exceptions. Buccaneers players definitely meet the standard of famous. 

In addition, this case clearly is not a completely frivolous suit. The plaintiff was injured at the scene, according to police reports. And his Tampa-based attorney, Jack Gordon says his client’s jaw was wired shut hours after the incident at a local hospital.

Also, for Bucs fans, the incident – regardless of what actually happened at the scene – casts a shadow over the Bucs releasing Davis and Bennett from the team, in October and November, respectively.

The mainstream media completely ignoring this story – not even a four-paragraph brief to announce the suit and proclaim that no criminal charges were filed – brings to light one glaring question.

Why?

If the Bucs fail to make the playoffs, it will be the biggest choke job in franchise history.

The Bucs are on the verge of missing the playoffs. And that would be unsettling.

The Bucs need to win Sunday against Oakland and then hope Philadelphia beats Dallass later Sunday. If either the Raiders and/or the Cowboys win, the Bucs are toast.

If the Bucs win and the Cowboys win, the Bucs will miss out on the playoffs despite having a 10-6 record. In fact, that would be a continuation of a frightening fad that seems to have picked up this decade.

Since the playoffs were expanded in 1990, only five teams have won 10 games and missed the playoffs. If the Bucs and Cowboys win, the Bucs would be the sixth team to win 10 games and watch the playoffs at home, and the fourth team in the last six years to do so, as Chris Harry of the Orlando Sentinel points out.

Here are the NFL’s previous 10-win losers:

2007: Cleveland (10-6) — Lost division title tiebreaker with Pittsburgh and wild-card tiebreakers against Tennessee.

2005: Kansas City (10-6) — Jacksonville and Pittsburgh got wild-cards at 11-5, with Pittsburgh going on to win the Super Bowl from the No. 6 seed.

2003: Miami (10-6) — Denver won wild-card tiebreaker over Dolphins.

1991: Philadelphia (10-6) and San Francisco (10-6) — Chicago and Dallas got wild cards at 11-5.

If the Bucs win and fail to make the playoffs, as Harry points out, it will be the worst choke job in franchise history.

Jeff Garcia says the Bucs turnaround starts today in practice when the clowning around must end

Battered and bruised Jeff Garcia was kind enough to grant Joe some one-on-one time after Sunday’s beating at home by the Chargers.

Garcia was not among the many Bucs players hanging their heads after the game. He believes deeply in the team and its ability to put together a strong performance on both sides of the ball against Oakland, and in the playoffs.

Q. As a captain of the Buccaneers and a veteran of many playoff teams, what will you do specifically to get the Bucs ready for Sunday’s must-win game against Oakland?

It starts with the week of preparation on Wednesday. It starts with coming out on Wednesday with the highest focus possible. Putting all the clowning around and distractions aside and we focus on being better as a team, and that takes accountability from each and every player. I have to look in the mirror and look at myself and see what I can do help this be a better team and finish on a positive note. And I think it’s important that everybody takes that approach.

What does it mean to you to play against Oakland on Sunday and have San Francisco Bay area fans get a chance to watch you play on television?

I’ve been fortunate to have such great support from the Bay area throughout my career. For them to have an opportunity to see what I’m doing on the field, it is important to me. It doesn’t really change my focus to try to be better this week than last week, or the previous week. I always strive to perform at a high level. It will be a great opportunity for everybody back home to see what I’m still doing, and hopefully they see what I’m doing at a high level. 

Will you continue to play after this season? How do you approach your future as a player?

I really try not to focus too much on what’s going to happen in the future. I’m really trying to make the most of this opportunity right now. What’s in store for next season, I haven’t even thought about. Whether I’ll continue to play is even up in the air. Right now it’s wanting to finish this season off the best way possible. Hopefully, give ourselves a chance to continue in the postseason. When the offseason comes I will re-evaluate my situation. And I will take the input from my family, because that is most important for me, and go from there.

Can you believe the Buccaneers are 9-6?

It’s really unfortunate, to have been 9-3 at one point. We really had the season in the palm of our hands as far as what we were capable of controlling. We’ve let ourselves down. We let people down around the way that we’ve played unfortunately over the past three weeks. We just haven’t played good team football. We’ve exposed ourselves to mistakes or critical errors at unfortunate times, and we haven’t been able to overcome them. We’ve found ourselves struggling to find a way to win a football game. We are capable of better. And that’s what we have to focus on for this week.  

While the Bucs have lost three in a row, the offense has been improved in your last two starts. What’s better?

I think, at times, when we have an opportunity to spread the defense out and get a chance to go down the field, I think it opens up some opportunities for our offense to be a little bit more explosive. To have plays that get down the field and create positive results. We did that against Carolina. We did that a little bit [on Sunday against San Diego]. I think there were more opportunities that unfortunately we were a little bit off on that could have had great results. When you do those things, there is a potential for more explosiveness and touchdowns.

A local scribe masquerading as a columnist hints the Glazer Boys are not spending money on salaries so they can use the money for their soccer team in England. Consider the source: a guy who can't figure out how to write a different lead paragraph for his Monday column during the NFL season.

Tuesday, the newspaper of record in St. Petersburg ran a story typed by a columnist who has been writing the same tired lead paragraph each Monday of the NFL season for years. Said columnist decided to try his hand at finances.

He failed at that, as well.

Essentially, the columnist tried to add two and two together so the sum was five. In short, the columnist claims the Bucs have been significantly under the salary cap since the Glazer Boys bought a soccer team in England. A very expensive soccer team.

The columnist hints the Glazer Boys are siphoning funds from the Bucs operations to fund the soccer team. Joe has some observations:

* Good luck proving that.

* The Bucs have been under the salary cap because virtually each year the Bucs have tried to land a big fish on the offensive side of the ball in the free agent market. A home run hitter. This has never happened, largely because some speculate big name skill position players don’t want to put up with Chucky’s shenanigans.

* The fact the Bucs are under the salary cap in some circles is called “flexibility,” in case Bruce Almighty is able to land the big fish. That way said player won’t cripple the team in regards to the salary cap. As a result, the Bucs can add a player and do so without incurring the wrath of the salary cap gods.

Anyone remember the Bucs flirting with a fairly high-priced veteran quarterback who lives in Mississippi this summer? Thanks to Bruce Almighty’s flexibility with the salary cap, the Bucs could have landed said quarterback and not been crippled by the salary cap. That wouldn’t have been remotely possible if the Glazer Boys did what the columnist wants them to do.

Look, this not maxing out the salary cap would be an issue if the Bucs sucked. Last Joe has checked the past couple of years the Bucs have done well. No right-thinking Bucs fan can blame the team’s lack of recent postseason success (or December swoons) on not spending money.

Simply put, Bruce Almighty is a wizard with the salary cap. Joe thinks what the Glazers Boys are doing (or more specific, Bruce Almighty) is pretty darn responsible if not smart.

Maybe said columnist should spend his days off this Christmas polishing his Monday lead paragraph. The same tired, weak, lame paragraph he’s been writing for lo’ these many years.

If the columnist must crunch numbers, maybe he should look at his paper’s rapidly dwindling relevance much less plummeting ad revenue and then take a look at his lame Monday lead paragraph.

Could be an indirect connection there, ya’ think?

BSPN analyst Tim Hasselbeck, better known as the husband of the woman to the immediate left, helps break down the NFC playoff picture with Trey Wingo and Michael Smith.

Hasselbeck likes the Bucs chances of clinching a playoff spot. He thinks the Eagles will throttle the Cowboys and the Bucs will clean up against the Raiders. The Bucs talk begins at about the 4:45 mark.

Sadly, Hasselbeck’s wife does not make an appearance. Yeah, Joe agrees she’s annoying. But she’s not talking in this picture.

The great thing about the Lions going 0-15 is that it may have finally put the Bucs winless 0-14 season of 1976 to bed. If the Lions can cough up just one more loss this week at Lambeau Field, it should forever put the Bucs original season to the back of football fans’ memory banks.

Formers Bucs offensive lineman Tom Alward was a member of that Bucs team. The Michigan resident discusses with the Flint (Mich.) Journal how terrible it was in 1976. Alward actually feels sorry for the Lions but can understand how an NFL team can lose its first 15 games of a season.

“Losing can become kind of contagious,” he said. “It’s so hard to win a game in the NFL, and a lot of games come down to a handful of plays that really determine the outcome.

“If you’re worried about losing, then you’re always wondering when the ax is going to fall and you don’t make those plays.”

Trust Joe, he will be a not-so closet Packers fan this Sunday, if only for a day.

Pass the cheese, please.

It’s not unusual that several times each Sunday at the CITS during the NFL season, a young Bucs fan gets to attend his or her first game. But WTSP has a touching story of a young Bucs fan from Alabama who got to see the Bucs in person for the first time Sunday.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Tammie Fields introduces and closes the piece. Joe is rather fond of her.

Here he is for his weekly thoughts, Backwards Hat, otherwise known as Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger. He discusses with his cohort Dick Scanlon the Bucs’ loss to the Chargers. This week Backwards Hat is back to wearing his trademark hat in his trademark fashion: backwards.

If the Bucs lose Sunday or fail to make the playoffs, Chucky's record in December games may give the Glazer Boys a reason to look for a new coach.

With the Bucs on the cusp on a historic collaspe, Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune points out how rotten the Bucs have played in the month of December since Chucky led the Bucs to the Super Bowl following the 2002 season.

Like grooming young quarterbacks, winning in December has never been a strength of the Bucs under Coach Jon Gruden. Since winning the Super Bowl, Gruden’s Bucs are only 9-16 in what is arguably the season’s most important month.

“It’s on me obviously,” Gruden said. “It’s not good enough. I take pride in preparing a football team. If you want to evaluate all 25 games I’m sure I can defend myself a little bit better. But statistics are what they are.”

If the Glazer Boys are looking for a reason to cut ties with Chucky — provided the Bucs fail to make the playoffs — this just might be it. It’s difficult to argue the merits of a coach who has such a terrible record in December.

The final month of the season is when a playoff team should be peaking; not tanking. A historic collaspe this December isn’t really something Chucky wants on his resume. It certainly won’t be a bargaining chip when his agent next sits down to negotiate a contract, no matter what NFL team it may be with.

The PTI Duo, otherwise known as Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon of BSPN’s Pardon the Interuption, gloat over how tough Jeff Garcia is for playing through his bloody face Sunday. The Garcia discussion begins at about the 3:00 mark.

Who is Y.A. Tittle? He is a Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback in the old NFL when men were men. It was an age where quarterbacks were not coddled. If they didn’t want to get hit they stayed on the sidelines or sold lingerie. A photo of him with blood gushing down his face is one of the more famous NFL photos from a time long passed.

Chucky's antics have been enough to make Bucs fans scream. But the losses to Carolina and San Diego can't be blamed on him.

Joe is on record as being of both minds with Chucky: At times, Joe thinks he does a fine job. Other times, Joe thinks Chucky would be a downgrade from Largo High School coach Rick Rodriguez, the successful Packers coach.

Don Banks, a former Bucs beat writer and longtime SI.com columnist, thinks Chucky’s job will be in serious jeopardy if the Bucs fall to beat the Raiders.

Look, we can’t render a final verdict on Tampa Bay (9-6) just yet, but you can’t say things look good for Jon Gruden’s club about now. For the second consecutive December, the Bucs are going in reverse at the worst possible time of the year. With the meltdown at home against the Chargers on Sunday — their first loss of the season at Raymond James Stadium — the Bucs are 0-3 this month, and in danger of missing out on a playoff berth that 13 days ago seemed almost assured…

And know this: If Tampa Bay does miss the playoffs after starting 9-3, Gruden’s job security will become a legitimate topic of debate. Gruden hasn’t won a playoff game for the Bucs since his Super Bowl win in January 2003 — and that was six long seasons ago.

Joe isn’t so sure if Chucky would be gone if the Bucs miss the playoffs. There are already rumblings that, due to the economic downturn, owners will be more patient with coaches this season because they don’t want to get stuck with an outstanding contract. Also, coaches aren’t usually shown the door with two years left on their contract unless they are truly wretched.

At times, Joe wouldn’t be sorry if Chucky was tossed out of One Buc Palace for good. But to be honest, the losses against Carolina and San Diego can’t be pinned on Chucky. It wasn’t the offense that let the Bucs down in those games.

Joe also knows that Father Dungy was booted for lesser offenses.

The Glazer family must flex its muscles and get the NFL to move the Cowboys-Eagles game back to 1 p.m on Sunday

No surprise to learn the NFL is doing its Monday best to make sure the Dallas Cowboys make the playoffs and the Bucs stay home. Today the NFL announced that the Cowboys-Eagles game has been moved to a 4:15 p.m. start in Philadelphia on Sunday.

How convenient.

If the Bucs beat the Oakland Raiders at 1 p.m. in Tampa on Sunday, the Eagles will enter their Dallas game eliminated from the playoffs, and significantly less motivated to beat the Cowboys. In that scenario, the Cowboys would make the playoffs with a win in Philly and Tampa Bay would be eliminated. 

If the NFL cared more about the integrity of the games than TV ratings, it would not have made the switch. The Glazers need to scream loudly at this injustice. And Roger Goodell must be shamed into doing what’s right for the fans and players.

Isn’t Goodell’s primary job to protect the integrity of the league?

Everybody moans when officials are too involved in the outcomes of games. The league intentionally affecting results is unforgiveable.

Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf of CBSSports.com look back at the Bucs loss. Dierdorf shows a lot of love for Bucs quarterback Jeff Garcia. But not the kind of love jackarse Terrell Owens would suggest.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Chucky revealed this morning that Jo Jo White has come out of retirement and is playing for the Bucs

In Chucky’s Monday press conference (not the one in the previously posted video), Chucky had a great, if not biting comment about the vanishing Bucs pass rush. In his complaints, he took a shot at Greg/Stylez (sic) White and his recent name change, per eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.

“This is a 4-3 defense here,’’ Gruden said, “and the engine of it is the guys up front. We also need more from Greg White, Stylez White, Jo Jo White. We need these men to step up. It’s a key ingredient.’’

That is great! Nice one, Chucky. Joe is so impressed that all future references to Greg/Stylez (sic) White will be “Jo Jo White.”

For those unfamiliar, Jo Jo White was a point guard for the Boston Celtics in the 1970s and won two NBA rings. This was back when the NBA was watchable.

Even though the original Jo Jo White is 62-years old, he’d probably bring just as a good of a pass rush as his namesake did yesterday.

Joe has obtained hidden video of Chucky’s press conference this morning that will not be seen via any other Tampa Bay medium. No mention of the White Tiger but there is a reference to “Buck Wing.”

(Disclaimer: We all need a laugh today.)

Last week Bucs defensive end Greg White changed his name to Stylez G. White. Why? He was infatuated with the character Rupert “Stiles” Stilinski from the movie “Teen Wolf.”

Joe is still numb from thinking that anyone would legally change their name to a character from a cheesy 1980s flick. If forced to pull such a stunt, Joe supposes he would change his name to “Thornton Melon.”

Even more confusing to Joe is that White didn’t have the common sense to even do a simple Google search to spell the name correctly.

The good people of Extra Mustard were also amusing/confused with this event as well. So much so they decided to compare Stylez G. White to Rupert Stilinski, and even compare Chucky to Michael J. Fox.

Strange.

Just like Antonio Bryant's critical fumble against the Chargers, the Bucs are watching their playoff hopes slip away.

How bad was yesterday’s loss? Well, consider the Bucs are about to make history as pointed out by eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.

And it’s not the type of history a team wants to make.

Since the NFL realigned into eight four-team divisions in 2002, all 36 of the clubs that opened at 8-3 or better went on to earn a playoff berth.

But since starting 9-3, Tampa Bay has dropped three consecutive games and now the Bucs need a win Sunday, plus some brotherly love from Philadelphia, to secure the NFC’s final postseason seed.

As Joe wrote early (very early) this morning, Bucs fans now must become Eagles fans for a day, if the Bucs are to make the playoffs.

Please, someone pass Joe the Pepto Bismol.

Joe is sad to see Monte Kiffin go. But he's not going to be overly dramatic about it.

Joe loves Monte Kiffin and hates to see him leave but understands why. Who can blame a guy who, in the final years of his career, for wanting to work with his son?

Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune is already missing the Monte Kiffin era. So have the Bucs; they’ve been missing Kiffin apparently for the past three weeks.

Joe thinks Cummings is going a bit over the top in waxing poetic about Kiffin.

We have no idea who will replace Monte Kiffin. It could be Raheem Morris; it could be Rod Marinelli or Joe Barry if one of them suddenly becomes available. It might be someone we haven’t considered.

Whoever it turns out to be, he has an almost impossible task ahead of him. It’s something akin to replacing Steve Spurrier at Florida or Chuck Noll in Pittsburgh or, dare we say it, Vince Lombardi in Green Bay.

First rule of thumb for any writer: when comparing any coach to Vince Lombardi or Chuck Noll, it’s best to check yourself. Before invoking Lombardi (who won five NFL titles in nine years and lost only one playoff game in that same time frame) or Noll (who led his Steelers to four Super Bowl titles in six years and built one of the great teams in NFL history), it’s best to push away from the keyboard, take a deep breath, maybe go for a two-minute walk or grab a cup of coffee.

Is Kiffin one of the best defensive coordinators in recent NFL history? Sure.

Is Kiffin a Lombardi or Noll? Of course not, not even close. When invoking the name of Lombardi or Noll, there are only two coaches Joe can think of whose names should be uttered in the same breath: Paul Brown and/or Bill Walsh.

Kiffin is none of the above.