Last winter when Joe first began banging the drum that Cadillac Williams could no longer be a go-to running back, Bucs fans recoiled in outrage at Joe calling him everything from a hater to a Panthers fan, and more.

None of which could be further from the truth. Joe loves Cadillac Williams but as Joe wrote at the time, “Father Time rests for no one.”

This season proved Joe correct. Currently, if Joe suggested LeGarrette Blount should be benched for Cadillac, Joe’s confident this very site would be hacked into in revolt.

Joe has always thought the world of Cadillac — still does. A piece typed by Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune is another example of what a great guy Cadillac is.

After being benched for Blount and basically used as a designated blocker to save quarterback Josh Freeman’s bacon — which Cadillac did on successive plays in the second quarter Sunday — Cadillac could have easily sulked and pouted and been a general pain in the arse like that Kardashian-chaser Mark Dominik jettisoned for the better of the team.

Instead, Cadillac said he’s all about wins and his teammates.

“But it’s team first with me. So I’m going to continue to support these guys and help get guys ready to play and be a leader. And whenever my number is called I just have to try to do the best I can with it.” It’s quite possible that Williams’ number will continue to be called simply in an effort to reward him for all the things he does when he’s not running the ball. After all, he’s done a lot that few know about, Morris said.

“If you don’t (think) Cadillac has helped LeGarrette Blount get to this point, then you’re sadly mistaken and you’re making a big mistake on judging that young man’s character,” Morris said. “Believe me, what you say as a coach to Cadillac and what you do as a coach with Cadillac is very important to (this) team because, believe me, they’re all looking. They all want to know what’s going on with Cadillac.

“There’s no doubt about that. That’s one of the things that will remain un-wavered by me, because Cadillac is the ultimate character guy on our football team and he means a lot to us.”

There’s only one word that fittingly describes Cadillac in Joe’s eyes:

Class.

Bucs fans have grown so angry over the lack of heat the defensive line has put on opposing quarterbacks, so unnerved they’re ready to toss a warm $7 beer onto the field of the CITS.

The fact the Bucs are dead last in the NFL in sacks from their defensive linemen — last! — may be on purpose.

No, Joe’s not hitting the bourbon this early in the morning. Joe’s completely sober. Joe gets this information from none other than Steve White.

In his recent “Bull Rush” column on his blog, “Passing on the Game,” White, who logged six years with Rod Marinelli as a Bucs defensive end, details how the Bucs are using a 3-3-5 defensive set on third downs and that formation simply cannot produce sacks from the front line.

Joe will let Steve explain:

First its obvious that all the talk about showcasing Gerald McCoy last week was just that, talk. The Bucs didn’t do anything new that could possibly be construed as “showcasing” his talents as far as pass rushing goes and if anything to me they just stayed the course.

Second because we are winning more than we are losing I am willing to accept that the Bucs will continue to feature a 3-3-5 alignment. What I am not willing to accept is the notion that they ALSO care about getting sacks. The two are just about mutually exclusive at this point. If they want to keep running the 3-3-5 that’s fine, but at least admit that the goal in that case is to cover, not pressure the quarterback.

Yesterday out of 14 non two minute 3rd down plays the Bucs used a 3 man line 9 times. That doesn’t mean that they only rushed 3, but it does mean only 3 defensive linemen were in the game. All year they have run the same thing and they had 1 sack to show for it from Quincy Black. Now they have 2 thanks to Ronde Barber. So you do the math, two sacks in 9 games, none by a defensive lineman, but they used it 9 out of 14 times on third down against the Panthers.

And there you have it. There’s the reason why the Bucs are so pitiful in racking up sacks. It’s the formation that Todd Wash (Raheem Morris?) is using. It’s the mentality: cover, not pressure.

Please click on the link above and read Steve’s entire column. Educate yourself!

Jim Mora, Charles Davis and Dick Stockton discuss the current state of the Bucs and if playoffs are a realistic goal in this FoxSports.com video.

Joe was reading an article by noted Tampa Tribune columnist Martin Fennelly who typed a touching story about how the Bucs are heartbroken over the declining, troubling health of former Bucs lineman Arron Sears.

Sears was arrested Saturday on an outstanding felony warrant for roughing up a cop. He was found “confused” and wandering the streets of Tampa.

The latest episode of Sears and his troubled mental state is hardly news. It’s why he’s not in the NFL much less playing for the Bucs. But what caught Joe’s eye reading Fennelly’s piece was how cursed the Bucs draft class of 2007 has become.

First round: Gaines Adams, dead.

Second round: Arron Sears, unable to play.

Second round: Sabby, back-up and special teams player.

Third round: Quincy Black, starting but with mixed results.

Fourth round: Tanard Jackson, gifted but has pretty much smoked his way out of the league.

Fifth round: Greg Peterson, out of work.

Sixth round: Adam Hayward, backup.

Seventh round: Chris Denman, out of work.

Seventh round: Marcus Hamilton, out of work.

Seventh round: Kenneth Darby, playing for the Rams.

Man, that’s just sad. Fennelly was absolutely correct. What a star-crossed draft class. Man.

After a solid rookie season, Bucs defensive tackle Roy Miller has regressed.

People from the drunk at the neighborhood bar to seasoned, educated, reasoned former NFL players like Steve White and Ian Beckles can see that the Bucs defensive line has been nothing short of inept this year, with the exception of stud rookie Gerald McCoy.

Joe’s good friend Justin Pawlowski has seen — and read — enough excuses. He’s fed up and he’s manning up and he’s being real. The WDAE-AM 620 on-air personality believes if not for the Bucs, the defensive line, sans GMC, would be working at Publix.

I learned that, other than Gerald McCoy, the Bucs do not have a defensive lineman that would start on another NFL team. Gerald McCoy was close to being great on Sunday. With that being said, the rest of the defensive line played 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage all day long. Stylez White is playing himself right out of Tampa. The rest of the defensive ends are non-existent. Roy Miller might be one of the bigger disappointments on the Bucs this year. I’m not looking for impact plays from Miller, but that dude has to hold his ground, and he is not. With that being said, the main point is that McCoy was very good and the rest of the defensive line will be replaced this off-season. Can you imagine how good Gerald McCoy would be with better players around him like Ndamukong Suh?

Now Joe thinks the world of Stylez White, but like GMC, if the guy isn’t getting any help, exactly how much can one expect from him?

Joe’s been saying it. Steve White has been saying it. Beckles has been saying it. Either Mark Dominik has swung and missed on each and every defensive line acquisition (except GMC and Stylez White), or quite simply the guys on the line are just not being coached up.

How is it that Miller put up some of the best numbers for a rookie defensive tackle last year and this year, he’s invisible?

It’s difficult for Joe to believe that Dominik has made that many mistakes in drafting/signing talent on the defensive front when Dominik has hit home runs virtually at every other position.

When Miller regresses this terribly, when Stylez White’s numbers drop off the cliff, when no one else can stop a cool breeze other than GMC, that speaks volumes to Joe.

Jay Glazer decides to interview Bucs coach Raheem Morris for his “After Party” segment in this FoxSports.com video.

Video: After Party: Raheem Morris

Seems as though the Panthers are outraged over a play late in the game when Aqib Talib flew in to stop Jimmy Clausen on his lunge to try to gain a first down on fourth-and-one.

The play ended the Panthers final drive and sealed the Bucs win, ending any hope of a Panthers rally.

The Panthers claim Talib drilled Clausen with a helmet-to-helmet hit that gave the rookie quarterback a concussion, so reports the Associated Press.

Receiver Steve Smith said Aqib Talib and Sean Jones “went head first into Jimmy.”

Replays showed Talib appeared to hit Clausen with a helmet-to-helmet hit. Smith then shoved Talib and was given a 15-yard penalty.

“Despite what people might think, actually I am a team player and I’ll do it again, and I’ll do it 10 out of 10 times, 100 out of 100 times,” Smith said of the penalty. “Guys going in there, he goes head first in there, so I’m going to follow.”

Joe thinks that the Panthers’ anger is rich. Where was this same outrage, this same concern for an NFL player, when thug Dante Wesley assaulted Clifton “Peanut” Smith, knocking him out cold on vicious, dirty blow to the head on a kickoff return that referees saw fit to throw Wesley out of the game on the spot?

Steve Smith, a dirty player known for thuggish behavior, sucker-punching his own teammate, Ken Lucas, in practice two years ago which resulted in a two-game suspension and lying to his own employer about how he broke his own arm, ought to keep his trap shut.

Anyone notice that Peanut Smith never fully recovered after Wesley’s battery? Peanut Smith was never the same player and it’s not difficult to connect the dots that the concussion he received on Wesley’s assault may very well have directly led to the end of his career?

Let’s just say had Wesley done that to a bystander on the sidewalk, he’d be doing time.

Even Rodney Harrison, who some suggest played beyond the boundaries of good taste, claimed Wesley’s hit on Smith “was one of the dirtiest, dumbest plays I’ve seen.”

Memo to the thin-skinned, short-minded Panthers: Shaddup!

It’s a bit too premature to talk playoffs but that hasn’t stopped Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports to write about playoffs, specifically the Bucs in the playoffs.

Robinson wrote late last night that the win over the Panthers puts the Bucs in the playoff chase.

After Sunday’s win over the Carolina Panthers, you look at the schedule and start to see some wild-card potential for this team. Could they still win the NFC South? Absolutely. Do I think it will happen? No. Not with the Buccaneers’ wins all coming at the hands of teams that have losing records. But when you look at the schedule, the road games against the Ravens and New Orleans Saints and the home tilt against the Atlanta Falcons look the toughest. Everything else is very soft. Sitting at 6-3, 10-6 is within reach, and so is the postseason.

Well, here’s Joe’s take on this: Sure, the Bucs mathematically are in the playoff hunt but that loss to the Dixie Chicks hurt and may come back to haunt the Bucs.

Had the Bucs beat the Dixie Chicks, Joe thinks playoffs would very much be in play. Now, the Bucs must win the games they should win. We all know that there are upsets in the No Freaking Logic league.

This is not to say the Bucs cannot make the playoffs, but it’s a tightrope walk. There cannot be any slip-ups. The Bucs cannot be upset and it may take a win over New Orleans to ensure a playoff berth.

Surely the Bucs should get to nine wins. Joe thinks 10 wins is reachable. It may take 11 wins to get to the postseason.

Time for some high comedy.

Joe turned to the website of the world-renowned 19th century news model based in Charlotte known as the Charlotte Observer and noticed a hysterical headline screaming at Joe.

Panthers’ young guns nearly pull off Tampa upset

Um, that might be a little bit of a stretch, no?

Now Joe knows first-hand copy editors — those charged with writing headlines — are not the authors of stories. So the lead paragraph of Joseph Person’s story wasn’t nearly as wild (if not inaccurate as is the headline).

In fact, Person’s lead paragraph was downright accurate.

At times Sunday it looked like the Carolina Panthers brought their JV offense to Florida.

Pretty spot on. Joe browsed the story and it was pretty accurate: that the Panthers made the Bucs break a sweat in the first half but the game wasn’t really in doubt.

Joe’s guessing that some non-sports chick wrote the headline and she’s more inclined to write about plunging necklines, open-toe shoes and some two-bit play 45 people may watch, and likely doesn’t know the difference between a goal post and a down marker.

This isn’t much different than — not to pick on her because Joe likes her but it’s a good example — when WTSP anchor Heather Van Nest has to speak sports happy talk in the buffer/transition when intro’ing the sports segments following a commercial break. She physically freezes and forces a smile with nervous laughter when she attempts to talk sports, no matter how vapid.

Don’t worry Heather, you’ve never come close to the world class, horrendous gaffe Bourbon Bob Hite once pulled when he called Mario Lemieux “Mario LEE-mewks.”

Oy!

(Hat tip to WTSP producer Mike Weber for this find.)

Jon Anik and Cris Carter break down the Bucs win over the Panthers in this BSPN video. Carter doesn’t think the Bucs are an elite team… yet. He explains why. Tell Joe what you think of Carter’s analysis.

Joe wrote yesterday how Bucs wide receiver Arrelious Benn is busting out to become a real weapon for quarterback Josh Freeman.

Well, it seems Benn hasn’t just caught Joe’s eye. It seems Peter King, finished wolfing down spaghetti, chili and hot dogs recently, also noticed how Benn is becoming a force, and mentioned the Bucs rookie in his “Monday Morning Quarterback” column, a true must-read for NFL fans.

Arrelious Benn, stuck in Mike Williams’ rookie shadow, with a good catch, move and stretch for a touchdown against the Panthers.

That’s two touchdowns in each of the last two games for Benn. Joe will take that kind of production any day.

As Joe told a member of the Bucs press corps yesterday, there are only three channels he listens to on his Sirius satellite subscription: Sirius NFL Radio, Rivals Radio and of course, the King of All Media, Howard Stern.

Virtually all day long, Joe flips between those three channels. On Sirius NFL Radio, when Bob Papa and Peter King co-host “The Opening Drive,” Joe’s locked in.

Apparently, the Bucs have not been before Sunday. Rather than listening to The Opening Drive yesterday, Joe saw it. The Bucs opening drive that is.

For the first time all season, the Bucs scored a touchdown on their first possession, documents good guy Stephen Holder of the St. Pete Times.

All you need to know about the manner in which the Bucs have started games this season is that they did not have an opening-drive touchdown before Sunday. The best they managed was a field goal on their first possession against the Steelers in September — a drive that started at the Pittsburgh 31 after an interception by CB Aqib Talib. Otherwise, the Bucs have been painfully slow in starting games this season — until putting together a 47-yard touchdown drive Sunday for an early 7-0 lead, setting the tone for the rest of the day.

This is absolutely unbelievable to Joe. We are into the second half of the season and the Bucs are through nine games and Sunday was the first time all season the Bucs scored a touchdown to open the game?

This is simply stunning to Joe. Stunning. Have opposing defenses figured out Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson that well or is Olson not putting that much emphasis into the Bucs first drive of each game (which Joe cannot fathom is the case)?

Joe sits at his computer on this sunny Monday morning stunned by learning this, as if Joe just received a “Dear Joe” letter from Rachel Watson.

Since the Arizona game, Joe has noticed one thing: the Bucs have weapons.

Joe has noticed that because offensive coordinator Greg Olson has enabled a chapter or two of his playbook. As a result, the Bucs offense has jump-started, writes eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.

“He’s doing a great job with his play-calling,” tight end John Gilmore said about Olson following Sunday’s 31-16 triumph against the Panthers. “There’s still some things we need to tighten up, but we’ve got defenses off balance right now.”After averaging 5.0 yards per offensive snap in their first six games, the Bucs have improved their productivity markedly in the past three weeks, averaging 6.8 yards as Olson opened up the attack.

In Joe’s eyes this needs to continue. As Joe has written before, the Bucs defense is simply undependable and there’s no way of fixing it now. Jack Lambert of Reggie White not walking through the front doors of One Buc Palace.

If the Bucs are to reach that “Race to 10” and perhaps a playoff berth, it’s going to have to win shootouts. The Bucs clearly have the horses to do just that.

There was Babe Ruth’s called shot. There was Deion Sanders’ called shot (Joe knows a guy who was on the field for Clemson on that very play).

Now add Cadillac Williams to the list.

With the Bucs looking to finish off the Panthers late in the game yesterday, Williams told the Bucs offensive huddle he would score if he got the ball, reports Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.

So what happened? Williams got his touch and rambled in from 45 yards out. Ballgame.

“And he pretty much called his shot there,” said tight end John Gilmore, who got the offense rolling by catching the first of quarterback Josh Freeman’s 24 passes and covering 29 yards with it to set up the Bucs’ first score.

“We were in the huddle there and we called the play and Cadillac just said, ‘You guys get out of my way because I’m going to score on this.’ And that’s exactly what he did. That was absolutely Babe Ruth-like.”If the Bucs have a Babe Ruth in their midst, it’s Freeman. He’s their home run hitter and he hit one Sunday, throwing 20 yards down the middle of the field against a blitz to hook up with Winslow on his late first-half touchdown.”

Way cool story but perhaps the Bucs have found the right way to use Cadillac other than blocking. There was a two-play sequence early in the game when the Panthers had a clean shot at Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman’s blind side but at the last moment on both plays, Williams picked up the rush and kept Freeman’s jersey clean and ribs intact.

Maybe Williams can again become the closer for the Bucs?

Veteran columnist Gary Shelton talks about how the Bucs are winning ugly but the offense is starting to gel well enough that maybe the Bucs are good enough to “buy a ticket” in this St. Petersburg Times video.

You want ’em, you got ’em. Bucs highlights courtesy of the good people of the NFL Network.

Arrelious Benn dives to the pylon for the Bucs first score.

LeGarratte Blount goes airborne to score.

Josh Freeman to Kellen Winslow for a crazy touchdown pass.

Cadillac Williams ices the win with a 45-yard run.

Gerald McCoy forces a fumble.

Jimmy Clausen gets stuffed like a turducken.

A whole bunch of Bucs highlights in one video.

A series of Freeman highlights.

Raheem Morris and Freeman in their postgame news conferences.

A string of Blount highlights.

John Gilmore comes through with a rare big play.

Bucs force a fumble.

The Bucs get a sack!

Blount with a big run.

Mike Williams and Freeman hook up.

It didn’t take long for the Bucs to hit the scoreboard today and it came from a receiver who is starting to blow up.

Arrelious Benn got off to a slow start to his NFL career because he was learning a whole new offense, a whole new scheme. Going from one of those junk spread-option offenses (an offshoot of high school gimmicky run-and-shoot things) too many colleges use because of inferior coaching, Benn pretty much had to learn how to speak Latin coming from Illinois.

Now that he’s comfortable and having a chance to play more due to Sammie Stroughter’s bum foot, Benn is really starting to shine which has Joe almost as geeked as cold, wet Rachel Watson seeking warmth and comfort from Joe.

Right now Benn looks almost as good as his fellow rookie wide out Mike Williams which is saying quite a bit. Seeing Benn lunge for the pylon to put the Bucs up 6-0 got Joe so fired up he could have gladly coughed up cash for an $8 CITS beer.

Dude can block. Dude can catch. Dude can ball.

Yet another toy for Josh Freeman to play with. Friends, if the Bucs could find a defense, this could very well be a scary, scary good team.

Sleep on that tonight with a buzz from the many beers you have thrown down today instead of pining for a Bucs cheerleader to nuzzle up to.

Josh Freeman.

Mike Williams.

Kellen Winslow.

Arrelious Benn.

Sammie Stroughter.

LeGarrette Blount.

Michael Spurlock.

What do those names mean? To Joe, those names mean weapons. Weapons like a Bucs offense may have never seen before.

Folks, this team has a chance to be explosive, and they have been. They exploded against Arizona. They exploded against Atlanta and they exploded against today. Josh Freeman is like an ADD-afflicted kid turned loose in a candy store after chugging two Mountain Dews, with the options he has to chose from.

This offense could drive opposing defenses batty. That’s just what the Bucs will need if they are to reach the magical “Race to 10.”

The defense is, well, suspect. They can’t stop a strong breeze on the ground. They get limited to zero pressure on the quarterback. Guess what? We are now entering the 11th week of the season. Jack Lambert and Reggie White are not walking through the front doors of One Buc Palace. No one off the street is going to be much better if any better.

The Bucs are going to have to win with what they have. That means offense. Let the offense breathe Greg Olson. Let ‘er rip. The only way the Bucs can make the playoffs is to play pinball football: burn up the scoreboard.

It can be done with the aforementioned weapons. 

Joe admits his head is spinning right now with the Bucs at 6-3, so it’s hard for Joe to collect his thoughts about Tampa Bay’s defense.

However, Joe knows it stinks and it’s probably not going to improve by leaps and bounds over the last seven games. Joe held out feint hope that the Bucs’ D would clamp down and squeeze the undermanned Panthers at home, but that fantasy didn’t exactly play out.

Yet the total package of this year’s Bucs is surely good enough to beat Seattle and Detroit at home, as well as San Francisco on the road.

Plus maybe steal a win in Washington or against division rivals Atlanta or New Orleans.

10-6?

What a wacky season that could even turn into a playoff berth, and maybe even a winnable playoff game at the house of the NFC West winner. Long way to go, of course, and Joe isn’t counting chickens.

The Bucs aren’t good on third down, and have a bunch of no-name, no-experience guys lining up. And Joe expects offenses to continue playing away from the strengths of their opportunistic secondary.

Stopping the run against a good team seems about as likely as Joe shaving the Bucs cheerleaders before a big game.

Winning this season really is going to be all about No. 5 and the Bucs’ offense.

Sure, the defense will have its moments. Hopefully, they come at just the right times.

In recent games, Bucs tight end Kellen Winslow has been seen, but his name has not been heard from the lips of Gene Deckerhoff much. This past week, chatter from One Buc Palace seemed to infer that the Bucs were going to get K2 involved in the offense a bit more.

Boy, that wasn’t misinformation.

Winslow may have had his best game of the season since the Bucs first played Carolina in September. He had six catches for 65 yards but two in particular came in the second quarter.

Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman looked like he was forcing a pass to Winslow when the Bucs veteran had Panther defenders draped on his back. Luckily, the Panthers got called for interference.

In nearly a repeat of that pass, Freeman found Winslow in the end zone sandwiched between two defenders. Somehow, Winslow fought through the interference and still caught the ball for a 20-yard score.

Joe is starting to get concerned. Concerned for opposing defenses. With LeGarrette Blount opening up the running game and Arrelious Benn now showing why he was a high draft pick, if Winslow gets hot, that just means defenders will have to play more honest, meaning more single coverage for everyone.

That my friends is a good thing.