Horribly overrated Suzy Kolber, Mark Schlereth and Tedy Bruschi break down the Bucs-49ers game in this BSPN video.

Joe makes it through The Josh Freeman Show every Thursday on WDAE-AM 620 so he can share anything of interest with the roughly 10,000 daily visitors to JoeBucsFan.com. 

But it’s not always easy. Freeman might be the most politically correct Buccaneer to hit the airwaves since Derrick Brooks. And combined with gushing homer host Scott Ledger, The Josh Freeman Show isn’t exactly riveting.

Joe did perk up last night though when a caller asked Freeman about a future change at offensive coordinator and how hard that might be to handle.

Of course, Freeman gave the dude a serious and respectful answer, before subtly revealing that he thought the question was as ridiculous as it sounded.

“With that being said, the only reason for that would be sucking. And I feel like we’re finding ways to win and continuing to get better. And as a young team you want to keep that going,” Freeman said.

If Joe were to even consider the job security of Greg Olson, Joe could make a case that Olson’s gig as offensive coordinator is more secure right now that Raheem Morris’ job as head coach, considering the Bucs offense is carrying the team and this team is all about No. 5.  

But there’s no reason to even go there. This entire coaching staff is sure to return barring a second half meltdown of epic proportions. Or as Freeman called it, “sucking.”

You’ve all read THE PESSIMIST, who spews his Bucs-related anger like no other. But Joe also wants you to know THE OPTIMIST. 

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.

Trap Game? Only if Tampa Bay completely ignores its own deep dark history when it travels to San Francisco — that place where Buccaneers dreams go to die.

No, not Philadelphia, that was a three-year dungeon, and we blew the doors off that place in back-to-back, cross-season games (2002 NFC Championship at the Vet, 2003 Monday Night Football opening day at the Link). It’s not Carolina.

In fact, it’s not any place you can think of easily because this transcends timelines and teammates. It goes beyond presidential parties, because it goes back beyond “W” and his father even. George Bush, the father, was not even a vice president yet. Mount St. Helens still had its top, and AC/DC still had its Highway to Hell singer. The skyway bridge still had two spans, and Star Wars was one great movie. The Empire was just about to Strike Back!

That’s how long it has been since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have beaten the San Francisco 49ers IN San Francisco — 1-11 all-time at the home of the Golden Gate, which has not been so golden to the team from the Sunshine State trying to play in the OTHER Bay Area.

Now sure you can explain quite a bit of it just because the teams we’re talking about made double digits famous. The Bucs double digit losers from 1983-1994, and the 49ers who had double digit winning seasons around the same stretch of time.

But what about recent history when Tampa Bay has been a respectable team and the 49ers have been just trying to restore a once proud tradition?

The world champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers went into Candlestick and got beat down 24-7.

In 2005, the Bucs went into the land of sunflowers and dye t-shirts off a bye week in which their No. 1 defense would help Chris Simms feel his way around. The defense did its part holding the 49ers to five Joe Nedney field goals. Simms went 21 of 34 for 264 yards but it wasn’t enough. Only a Joey Galloway simple slant taken all the way for 78 yards got the Bucs score to look respectable. Once again, the Bucs left the Bay area with a loss like they have so many times before.

A playoff bound 2007 Bucs team kept their starters in for the first half against the 49ers, but a Christmas-clad San Francisco team wearing their old SuperBowl era uniforms made the best out of the Bucs backups in the second half.

Luke McCown led a comeback at the end of the game, but the team that hadn’t won in 28 years there was not going to make it look easy. Mike Clayton could not get both feet inbounds on the 2-point conversion; and now it’s 30 years.

So if you hear anyone say this is a trap game for the Bucs, just remember what a trap is. I’m not sure the Bucs are the ones with the trap to look out for.

St. Petersburg Times Bucs beat writer good guy Stephen Holder appeared on “The Opening Drive” this morning to speak with co-hosts Andrew Bogusch and Peter King, heard exclusively on Sirius NFL Radio, and gave the duo an update into the Mike Williams DUI arrest.

Stephen Holder: Mike Williams is going to travel with the team this afternoon and will play and likely start. That may be for a couple of reasons; it’s a little bit of a cloudy situation. His blood alcohol level was below the legal limit but he failed the field sobriety test. I’m going out on a limb a little but here, I’m taking some assumptions, that is why the team will let him play.

A urine test could mean a couple of things: If cops suspect something other than alcohol, they ask suspect to submit to a urine test to maybe try to find another way [to nail a suspect for DUI]. Only the officer on the scene can speak to that and he has not yet been cleared to speak with us.

Peter King: It’s awfully hard not to jump to conclusions given his [college misdeeds].

Holder: He was weaving after drinking. Not smart.

King: With his collegiate rap sheet, you want to be clean.

Holder: He’s a good kid. He does have a past that he is trying to live down. You are right, a mature kid is going to be smart about this and not give people a reason to look in his direction. He already has lost dearly over what happened in college. He slipped to the forth round. He lost millions. Doing the smart thing? This isn’t it.

King: How will Raheem Morris handle this?

Holder: He needs to step up and be firm. Jerramy Stevens was arrested for possession of a considerable amount of marijuana and he was released a couple of days later. That won’t be the case here. Stevens was on his last chance but Raheem took an opportunity to make a point. He needs to make a concerted effort to make a point here: Be smart. There has to be a constant with this team. They have to stay on them. They are young and they can think they are invincible. They need to know if you stay out late and not make smart decisions, [there are repercussions].

[Update: Contrary to Adam Schefter’s Twitterings, at 10:20 a.m. TBO also reported that Williams will play per Bucs officials.]

Let’s just say Joe’s going to guess g@d damned Ed Werder won’t like this. It’s your weekly visit to the end zone of the NFL universe. It’s Cosmic Schein!

Video: Cosmic Schein: Week 11

Noooooo.

Bucs stud rookie receiver Mike Williams was locked up by authorities this morning after a 2:48 a.m. arrest for driving under the influence near the intersection of 301 and Causeway Blvd. in Brandon.

Here’s the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s report: While the report says Williams’ blood alcohol tests were below the legal limit (.065 & .061), Joe’s experience covering law enforcement tells him Williams could have failed field sobriety tests or the police suspect he was high on another substance. The report says “pending urine” but Joe is unsure whether Williams submitted to a pee test.

All that said, it is beyond Joe why a rich young football player wouldn’t take a limo in the wee hours after enjoying some hard-earned adult beverages.

Jeez. Joe’s partners at Paradise Worldwide Transportation will take anyone home in a limo in and around Hillsborough and Pinellas counties for only $69 one way, often cheaper than a cab.

Williams may be technically innocent of these charges, but it’s heinous judgment to be cruising around town just before 3 a.m. …Joe doesn’t care how fine the piece of ass might be.

Call for a ride.

Several offseason moves made Bucs general manager Mark Dominik a virtual rock star inside NFL circles.

There was the thievery of drafting Mike Williams in the fourth round. There was snagging Arrelious Benn in the second round. There was scooping up Cody Grimm in the seventh round.

But an argument can be made that signing Alex Van Pelt as the Bucs quarterback coach was the most important of all.

Under Van Pelt’s tutelage, Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman has skyrocketed to enter the conversation of NFL Offensive MVP. Joe even remembers interviewing Peter King at the Super Bowl where King stated hiring Van Pelt was a stroke of genius.

This move is also not lost on eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune who believes it was Dominik’s sharpest transaction as Kaufman Twittered on the TBO Bucs Twitter feed.

The Bucs have made a lot of smart acquisitions in 2010 and hiring Alex Van Pelt as quarterbacks coach might be at the top of the list.

The way Freeman has played, it’s hard to argue with this logic. Freeman has even hinted that last year he has little time with Greg Olson who was promoted from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator just before the season began.

So the dots can be connected that Freeman’s ascent into near-elite status can be directly related to Van Pelt’s hiring.

Rick Stroud and good guy Stephen Holder discuss how Panthers coach John Fox is still whining about Aqib Talib’s legal hit on Panthers rookie quarterback Jimmy Clausen in this shaky St. Petersburg Times video.

Now Joe is sure his readers fly to Vegas to wager legally, versus placing bets with the guy whose cell number changes every week. 

Regardless of how or why you wager, Joe knows there are many aspiring handicappers reading. So to please the gambling crowd, Joe has turned to superpicker Bob Fox. A writer for various sports publications over the years, Fox flashed his stellar picking skills back in 2008 on JoeBucsFan.com, when Joe had a contest here among sports media.

Fox gives you a handful of games here every week. To date, Fox is 25-15 on the season. Not too shabby.

By BOB FOX
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Miami Dolphins 20, Chicago Bears 17
 
Da Bears don’t have a great history in Miami. The only blemish on their magical 1985 Super Bowl winning season happened in a 38-24 loss to Dan Marino and the Fins on a Monday night there. Speaking of Super Bowls, the Bears lost Super Bowl XLI to the Indianapolis Colts 29-17 a few years back…also in Miami. The Bears are 6-3 so far in 2010 and share the NFC North lead with the Packers. The reasons why? Defense and special teams, as the offense is ranked a putrid 29th in the NFL. The Chicago defense has been exceptional, as the Brian Urlacher led squad is ranked fourth in the NFL. Devin Hester is becoming a force again in the return game, plus the Bears are always solid on special teams. The offensive line of the Bears has been horrid in protecting QB Jay Cutler and also in run blocking as well. That does not bode well against the 5-4 Dolphins. Cutler has been sacked a NFL leading 30 times, and OLB Cameron Wade of the Fins is third in the NFL with 8.5 sacks, and overall Miami is 11th in the NFL in sacks and No. 8 in total defense. The Dolphins will most likely be starting third-string QB Tyler Thigpen after injuries last week to Chad Pennington and Chad Henne, but he should be able to utilize his weapons on offense like RB Ronnie Brown and WR Brandon Marshall, without making the mistakes that Cutler is prone to. Expect to see the Wildcat offense used quite a bit tonight by the Fins as well, even though the Bears play the standard run game very well (2nd in the NFL).
 
Ohio State Buckeyes 28, Iowa Hawkeyes 24
 
Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City is always one of the toughest places in the country to play college football. The 7-3 Hawkeyes are very tough at Kinnick, but they lost a bit of that luster after Wisconsin came there and beat them with a late touchdown four weeks ago. Except for their 37-6 thrashing of Michigan State three weeks ago (also at home), the Hawks have been very inconsistent. They lost to Northwestern last week at Evanston and almost fell to Indiana at Bloomington two weeks ago, only spared that distinction because a dropped TD pass by a Indiana WR. The 9-1 Buckeyes meanwhile, have bounced back from their loss to the Badgers in Madison by winning three straight games in convincing fashion, although Penn State scared them for a half last week in Columbus. The Buckeyes are 17th in the nation in offense led by QB Terrelle Pryor and are also second in the country in defense, while the Hawkeyes are ranked 45th in offense and 16th in defense. QB Ricky Stanzi of Iowa has had a great season thus far (22 TD passes to just 4 picks), but it was a late interception he threw last week against Northwestern that turned the game around. The Buckeyes are also 4-1 in their last five games at Iowa, and I expect them to stay at least even with Wisconsin and Michigan State for bragging rights in the Big Ten.
 
New England Patriots 27, Indianapolis Colts 23
 
The Patriots proved last Sunday night in Pittsburgh that they are indeed a team to be reckoned with in the AFC this year. QB Tom Brady was brilliant, as he threw for 350 yards and three touchdowns without being sacked. The Pats keep improving on offense behind Brady, as WR Wes Welker is now catching a lot of passes again, the rookie tandem of Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski have been superb at TE, and the running game has been solid behind BenJarvus Green-Ellis. The New England defense is only ranked 29th in the NFL, but it has a bend-but-not-break persona, as the Pats are 7-2 and lead the AFC East with the New York Jets. The Colts are 6-3 and are trying to stay afloat after a slew of injuries that has seen TE Dallas Clark (wrist) lost for the season, S Bob Sanders (biceps) not having played a down yet in 2010 and RB Joseph Addai (neck-shoulder) being held out for three games. In addition, the Colts also have many players questionable for the New England game, including DE Dwight Freeney, WR Austin Collie and RB Mike Hart. QB Peyton Manning has once again had a fantastic 2010 campaign, as he has thrown 16 TD passes to just four interceptions for a 93.9 QB rating, even with all the injuries around him. The Colts are ranked fourth in the NFL in offense and 18th in defense, but I see the Pats continuing the momentum they created last week in Pittsburgh as they will win another classic battle vs. the Colts.           
 
New York Giants 23, Philadelphia Eagles 20
 
Last week before their game against the Cowboys, the Giants were considered the toast of the NFC by the “experts.” Then the G-Men were embarrassed at home by the hapless (but talented) and one-win Dallas squad 33-20. The new flavor of the week in the NFC seems to be the Eagles (at least to the “experts” again), who really made the Redskins look ridiculously amateurish in a 59-28 beat down Monday night. A lot is at stake in this contest, as both teams are 6-3 atop the NFC East. Michael Vick has been near flawless this season. However, the Giants have the type of defense that can keep Vick somewhat in check. The Giants are fourth in the NFL in pass defense, plus are tied for eighth in the NFL in sacks and have the top ranked defense in the entire NFL. Look for a bounce back game for the Giants this week, as their performance last Sunday was disconcerting to say the least. Offensively, the Giants still have plenty of weapons to stay with the Eagles, led by QB Eli Manning, who has the Giant offense ranked No. 2 in the league. Philly can cause issues defensively, as the Eagles are ranked sixth in sacks and are 11th overall defensively in the NFL. But the Philadelphia offense is the main calling card of the Eagles, as they are ranked third in the league behind Vick. Still, I see the Giants getting a close win and confusing the “experts” once again.

Joe’s quick peek at Sunday’s weather forecast at Candlestick Park shows 57 degrees and rainy at kickoff. And there’s usually a good breeze at the ancient ballpark on the water.

Not exactly conditions the Bucs are used to and surely not ideal for the youngest team in football.

No use hoping for a revised forecast. It’s now rainy season in Northern California, where Joe lived a couple of years, and it’s pretty much cool, breezy and soggy every day out there through February.

Joe only got thinking about weather when he heard the Bucs-Ravens game the following week was bumped to a 4:15 p.m. start.

While many fans rejoiced because the Bucs would subsequently get more national attention with the later start in Baltimore, Joe headed for the liquor store thinking about the Ravens game now becoming virtually a cold weather night game, another tough new experience for the team.

And whaddya now, the current forecast for that game in Baltimore is 44 degrees at kickoff.

No excuses for the Bucs, of course, Joe’s just leery of any additional challenges facing the young Bucs on the road.

Joe was ecstatic to see Earnest Graham returned to practice at “full participation” yesterday.

That’s the team’s official term for running around and doing everything without checking in with the training staff every few minutes.

Indications are Graham will be back starting Sunday in San Francisco after missing two games because of a hamstring injury. He also was dealing with the recent death of his mother.

In Joe’s mind this is a huge upgrade for the Bucs not to be ignored.

While reserve rookie fullback Erik Lorig’s story is another feather in Mark Dominik’s cap, and surely the Bucs’ running game was just fine with him in the game, Graham is a weapon. Lorig is not.

Before the season, Joe wrote numerous times about how one of Greg Olson’s great challenges this season was to find ways to get production out of Graham, who was rarely used on offense in 2009.

Graham had busted out some big plays this season out of the backfield — running and catching — and seemed to be on the cusp of more before the hamstring injury.

Joe has no clue how the hammy might plague Graham through the season, but the Bucs just got better and deeper for the biggest game of the year.

If it’s Thursday that means it’s time to gawk at watch gorgeous Jenny Dell with her weekly statistical gibberish on the Bucs-49ers game in this BSPN video.

Earlier this week Joe brought word of the high irony of the Carolina Panthers, a team which has committed assault and battery both on the football field and among themselves, whined that Aqib Talib had what they perceived as an illegal hit on rookie quarterback Jimmy Clausen.

Clausen was trying to score a touchdown late it the game when he was stopped by Talib. Clausen received a concussion in the hit and likely won’t be available this Sunday.

The Panthers, John Fox in particular, cried and thus far the NFL has turned a deaf ear though Fox is doing his best to see that Talib is fined, or worse.

Well, hearing the wails of Fox, Bucs coach Raheem Morris took to the microphone and had Talib’s back, reports cool cat Joe Smith of the St. Petersburg Times.

“When we play our game, our job is to not let people score,” Morris said. “My guys play within the confines of the rules; we go out there, we play. I know the league right now is emphasizing concussions, but you’ve got to understand, the league is trying to protect defenseless players, not guys trying to score a touchdown. When you run sneaks and those things, people get hit. It’s a violent football game.”

Joe just thinks it’s beyond rich that of all teams to whine and bellyache about perceived illegal hits, it’s the Panthers. Again Joe asks, where was their outrage when one of their own all but ended the career of Clifton “Peanut” Smith with a filthy hit?

As the U.S. government keeps printing money at an alarming pace, Team Glazer apparently will go in the other direction and pay down some of its massive debt.

A story in the Wall Street Journal says Team Glazer has found $354 million to pay off the nastiest of its Manchester United loans.

The U.S. owners of Manchester United, the fabled English football team, will repay roughly £220 million ($354 million) of high-interest loans without using club funds, the team’s parent company said on Tuesday.

Joel Glazer, United’s co-chairman, issued a “voluntary free-payment notice” on Monday informing lenders that Red Football Joint Venture Ltd., the club’s holding company, is poised to pay off 100% of its expensive payment-in-kind facility on Nov. 22, seven years ahead of its maturity date.

In a statement accompanying its first-quarter results, the team’s holding company confirmed that the Glazer family, who bought the 18-times English champion in 2005 in a £790 million leveraged buyout, have not taken money out of the club to pay off the loan. PIK debt is where interest is paid via the issuance of new debt, rather than in cash.

Of course, it’s unclear how Team Glazer came up with the money, though they may be forced to reveal the sources next year in financial filings related to the soccer team.

Did they merely find a lower interest loan to pay off this one? Or did they sell a piece of Manchester United? Did they simply drain other holdings? Did they have Michael Vick last week in a covert $10 million-a-head fantasy league among NFL owners?

Do Bucs fans care?

Joe assumes this can be filed under “Trying To Cover Up A Dumbarse Move.”

Titans coach Jeff Fisher, due to a string of injuries, has been relegated to trying out the likes of Larry Johnson. Instead, he cut a guy who has single-handedly jump-started the Bucs offense, LeGarrette Blount.

Fisher cried to TitansInsider.com that he “gambled” in cutting Blount, hoping all other 31 NFL teams would pass and then Fisher would sign Blount to his practice squad.

Whoops.

Asked if he now wishes he had not let Blount go, Fisher said, “Every day. I thought we could get him to the practice squad, get him on practice squad, knowing that when and if there was any kind of interest, we could bring him back to the active roster. That didn’t happen, but I’m very, very happy for him.”

Oh, well. Tennessee’s loss is the Bucs huge gain.

Joe had a chance to chat with Bucs wide receiver Mike Williams recently. Williams, a rookie, has a shot at being named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year if St. Louis quarterback Sam Bradford slips up. Williams spoke with Joe about adapting to life in the NFL.

JoeBucsFan: How much did it help you when you got the call from Josh Freeman after you got drafted when he said, “Come down here, let’s go to work.”

Mike Williams: It helped me out a lot. At first, I didn’t know what to expect coming down here. I didn’t know if [Bucs players] were going to like me or what. That let me know they wanted me down here and they were ready for me. It helped a lot. It helped in learning the playbook and stuff too.

Joe: What was the biggest transition for you coming into the NFL form Syracuse?

Williams: The speed of the game. Reacting to the speed and seeing the blitzes and cutting off my routes in certain coverages. The speed of the game was so different for me. Once I adjusted to the speed I was able to go out there and play my game.

Joe: It didn’t seem like you struggled at all with the adjustments.

Williams: Oh, the first two weeks I had a little struggle.

Joe: Was that the first two weeks of preseason or regular season?

Williams: Regular season, but the first two preseason games, that’s how I was, adjusting. I adjusted as I went.

Joe: You’re playing like a veteran now.

Williams: Nah, I’m still a rookie.

Joe: How much has it helped you that Arrelious Benn is starting to blossom and coming up with big plays?

Williams: It’s great. It’s great for him and now, teams can’t double-up on us all the time.

Bucs fans are so fed up with the putrid production of the defensive line while watching games, they’re just about ready to wing a shot glass at an ugly bartender after throwing down a drink to try to numb the pain.

In fact, many believe any defensive lineman on the Bucs active roster who doesn’t go by the last name of “McCoy” should be given a one-way ride by Paradise Worldwide Transportation — at cost! — to the front steps of the UFL franchise in Orlando.

Hold up! says Steve White. The former Bucs defensive lineman who started at defensive end on one of the greatest defenses in Bucs history and played six years for the Bucs under Rod Marinelli, believes the Bucs do have talent on the defensive line not named McCoy.

Joe will let Steve explain, as he breaks down each player and explains what the problem on the defensive line is.

Accepting that draft status isn’t necessarily a good arbiter of talent, still I don’t think there is anybody that the Bucs have on their current roster that couldn’t make most other teams roster providing they also run a 4-3. I’ll point out that last year people didn’t think much of Jimmy Wilkerson but the Saints signed him as a free agent when he was still rehabbing a torn ACL.

Now I understand that none of the guys has had what you would call a dominant year this year, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t have talent. I know people who will claim Stylez isn’t a good pass rusher because he only has 3 sacks but if I point out that Justin Tuck and Jared Allen only have 4 sacks then they will claim that it isn’t just about sacks. Look there’s a lot in this world I don’t know, but I DO know defensive line talent and the Bucs have it. I can’t account for how they are using it though.

I want everyone reading this blog to seriously think about this question though. What defensive lineman for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the last 5 years would you say got better and progressed as his career went on?

Please educate yourself and read Steve’s entire article. It’s riveting if not detailed analysis for any Bucs fan.

My friends, it’s quite simple. The Bucs defensive linemen simply are not being utilized correctly or they just aren’t being coached up. Joe has written this before: If Stylez White’s numbers are down, if Roy Miller is a shell of his rookie self due to his regression, it’s fairly easy to connect the dots.

It’s simply difficult for Joe to believe that Mark Dominik can find all sorts of hidden gems at virtually every position other than defensive line.

In this BSPN video, “The Professor,” John Clayton, explains what’s working for the Bucs.

Joe’s loves hearing “Run Micheal Run” from Gene Deckerhoff as much as the next guy, but a few big plays don’t take away from a lot of substandard stuff Bucs fans have seen from the return game this season.

What was a major strength of the Bucs last year — possibly the best return unit in the NFL — has lost its consistency.

Raheem Morris talked about the questionable decision making on special teams and lack of consistency on Monday during his news conference. And it was Micheal Spurlock himself who fought off the usual barrage of Scott Ledger softballs Friday evening on the Buccaneers Radio Network to express disappointment.

Despite his big returns against Atlanta, Spurlock talked about how the return game hadn’t done much before that and about how he hoped success against the Falcons would give them a spark.

Of course, fans hardly saw the Bucs best Sunday against Carolina.

Surely, Rich Bissacia hasn’t forgotten how to coach these guys at a high level.

Without watching coach’s film, Joe must assume that so many rookies on special teams is causing some problems, although poor communication and decision-making between Spurlock and Maurice Stovall is not a rookie thing.

Joe hopes Spurlock can add some Clifton Smith-caliber consistency to his homerun returns, and the Bucs can figure the whole thing out.

The Bucs’ special teams kept the team in games last season, and it’s an area that seems like it could be improved very quickly.

Intelligent baseball fans know Joe wears his heart on his sleeve after every Rays game on JoeRaysFan.com, the best damn Rays site known to mankind.

So Joe is very plugged in to everything Rays.

Raheem Morris is a Rays fan, too, and an admitted fan and friend of the Rays’ maddening skipper, Merlot Joe Maddon.

Several weeks ago Morris told the story during a news conference of how he planned to keep his famed “Race To 10” motto only among the Bucs, but after a fireside chat with Maddon was advised to tell the world about the 2010 Bucs’ rallying cry: “Race To 10.”

And Raheem went for it.

Raheem said Maddon inspired him to let the catch phrase infest the community and take a life of its own, a little Bucs “mentality before reality” for everyone to share.

At that point, Joe was worried Maddon would start trying to convince Raheem to play all kinds of different bizarre lineups, get all mad scientist with his playbook, and make the offensive linemen walk around town in plaid jackets, among other assorted unorthodox behavior.

But Joe shrugged it off.

On Monday, however, during the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620, co-host and former Bucs guard Ian Beckles relayed a story of how he met Raheem on Friday at a swanky South Tampa restaurant.

Beckles said he entered the restaurant for a casual business meeting when he saw Raheem, Maddon, Rays president Matt Silverman and Bucs receivers coach Eric Yarber bellied up to the bar enjoying adult beverages.

Beckles said he took advantage of the chance to chat with Raheem one on one and left the head coach impressed.

That’s all lovely, but Joe is now increasingly worried that Maddon is trying to play some sort of mentor role with Raheem.

Of course, Raheem is his own man, but Joe is quite sure that Maddon’s stats-focused/psychoanalyst approach to baseball doesn’t translate to the NFL, and Joe is leery of Raheem entertaining such thoughts while consuming a few hard-earned cold ones.

After all, Maddon “wants to be the smartest guy in the room,” and he might just feel the urge to play a little fantasy football on a grand scale.

Joe’s going to keep an eye on this. If LeGarrette Blount is sat down because he’s reached some concocted maximum number of carries, or Todd Wash gets a Derek Shelton pass, Joe will know something’s up.