There are fewer hardcore Bucs fans who wear their emotions on their sleeves than Joe’s good friend Justin Pawlowski of WDAE-AM 620. In short, Justin is frustrated.

After watching the Falcons run up 17 points without much effort in the first half Sunday, Justins’ fed up with the Charmin Bucs defense and believes Bucs general manager Mark Dominik should have one goal and one goal only in the offseason:

Fix the defense.

In writing his weekly “What I Learned About The Bucs” column, Pawlowski believes Dominik should only draft defenders in the first two days  of next April’s draft.

1. I learned the Bucs must go all defense at the beginning of the upcoming draft. I’m not going to harp on the lack of competition this defense has faced in regards to opposing quarterbacks this year. I also won’t harp on the poor showings against those terrible quarterbacks. However, when the Bucs have faced decent quarterbacks (Brees & Ryan) this year, they have been torched on the stat sheet and on the scoreboard. The Falcons exploited the Bucs needs on Sunday at linebacker, defensive end, and possibly safety. There are always good players at each of those positions to draft in the first 4 rounds of every draft. The Bucs seem to have their nucleus set on offense, now it’s time to give the fans back their dominating defense.

Right now Joe believes no later than the second round Dominik needs an inside linebacker, a glass-eating brute. In short, Joe wants a guy from the wrong side of the tracks, a guy raised in a broken home who didn’t have two nickels to rub together. An angry, bitter young man with a thin skin on a mission, bitter with the world, hates people and loathes human beings wearing the wrong colors, even more so, motivated to turn the NFL upside down.

Falcons CB Thomas DeCoud gave Bucs running back LeGarrette Blount fits all day.

The Bucs found their first bruising running back since Mike Alstott, so Bucs fans had hoped.

LeGarrette Blount was going to run over the Dixie Chicks Sunday for a mere few inches to give the Bucs a first down deep in Dixie Chicks territory and perhaps a go-ahead touchdown.

But no! (Comparably) tiny Thomas DeCoud, Dixie Chicks cornerback, blasted through Bucs blockers and stuffed Blount and the Bucs comeback bid.

How could this be, a smallish cornerback dropping a brutish, bruising running back? DeCoud explained to D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution how he brought Blount, and the Bucs, down.

“We knew it was going to come down to the fourth quarter,” DeCoud said. “It was a chance for us to show up and make a play.”

Blount is a 6-foot, 247-pound battering ram of a back. DeCoud is 55 pounds lighter.

“Just not slowing down,” DeCoud said of his crucial stop. “I couldn’t go into the tackle with any kind of hesitation or fear. . . He’s a big guy, and he was not going to be able to move as well. If you come in with force and with confidence, you are going to make the tackle.”

Joe gets depressed just thinking of that stop. Damn.

It’s losses like this that often haunt teams late in December.

Veteran St. Petersburg Times columnist Gary Shelton was at the Georgia Dome Saturday. He saw with his own eyes the Bucs’ frustrating loss to the Dixie Chicks.

It’s obvious to Joe and it’s obvious to many Bucs fans and it’s also obvious to Shelton. The Bucs need a nasty, snarling, glass-eating, physical brute of a player on defense.

They need a Mike Singletary. They need a Jack Lambert. They need one of those snarling, snapping defensive players who, frankly, scares quarterbacks into wearing diapers. They need a Warren Sapp. They need a Bruce Smith. They need someone whom Roger Goodell keeps on double-secret probation. A vicious outside linebacker, maybe. A relentless defensive end. A ruthless safety. A Derrick Brooks. A John Lynch.

Did you see the Falcons cut through the Bucs defense for most of the afternoon? The Bucs could not stop the run, and they could not rush the passer, and they could not slow down the Falcons. Even in a good start, there has been too much of that for the Bucs. Too often, they just look like a team trying to hang on.

In other words, the Bucs need to spend next offseason adding defensive playmakers. They need someone to make a crunching stop at a crucial moment and add fire to his teammates.

Joe texted his good friend Justin Pawlowski of WDAE-AM 620 during the first half of Sunday’s game that if Ray Lewis was a Bucs linebacker, he’d be so infuriated he’d probably punch someone. But that’s the kind of guy the Bucs need: Someone who will punish an offense so bad that running backs seriously wonder if they should start selling aluminum siding to senior citizens.

Shelton may very well be onto something. Joe finds it very telling that last week Bucs general manager Mark Dominik put in a claim for Shawne Merriman.

Arguably the most upbeat, positive-messaging coach in the league, Raheem Morris dropped a stunning negativity bomb about his defense during The Raheem Morris Show on WDAE-AM 620 last night.

A week ago the Bucs were “the best team in the NFC,” now Raheem is on the record saying he won’t have a feared defense in 2010.

A caller into Morris’ radio show last night asked him what it would take to get the Bucs back to having a great defense like in the old days.

Here is Morris’ candid reply:

“Anthony, you gotta have some patience, bro. We drafted Gerald McCoy this year. We’ve got a young football team. They’re babies. We don’t have Sapp. There’s no more Brooks. Lynch is not here. Ronde’s still here but he’s 30 years older. These guys are all young pups, man. Back in 1996 when those guys were young pups, they didn’t finish No. 1 in defense. But that’s what we’re trying to go to,” Morris said.

“You know, the second halves we’ve been able to play this year have been really good. It’s been awesome. We gotta find a way to come out and be better up front. We gotta find a way to come out rushing the quarterback and doing a bunch of different things. But right now, Anthony, it’s about trying to find the best way to win the football game every single week. And that’s the only thing that you’ll be guaranteed. We are not a feared defense in the league yet. We will not be that this year. But there’s no reason that you can’t go out and win as many games as you can with that happening right now.”

This really stood out for Joe, especially on the heels of Raheem talking more reality about the Bucs troubles stopping the run during his Monday news conference.

“We’re not the Ravens yet. You know I’m not going to kid you there. We don’t go out there and stand up …  shed blocks and shed tackles all day. Limit you to minus-2 rushing or something like that. I’m not going to be unrealistic,” Morris said Monday afternoon. “But what you do have to do is you got to get off on third down to limit the amount times [Michael Turner] touches the ball, because that takes three snaps off your plate every time you get off on third down.”

For a head coach who was talking so much about his philosophy of “mentality before reality,” Raheem’s comments yesterday are stunning. He sounds down on his defense, and to voice that publicly is a big leap.

Unless there’s some sort of new motivational tactic being rolled out (Joe doubts it), it sounds like Raheem looked at the Bucs’ talent and film at linebacker and defensive line and decided mentality can’t overcome reality in 2010.

One reason Raheem Morris says locals “gotta have a buzz” about Bucs football is because of the exciting action the Bucs are delivering on the field.

Exhibit B on the list of excitement out of the Atlanta loss, per the head coach, was the onside kick the Bucs attempted trailing 27-21 near the end of the third quarter. Raheem detailed the play during The Raheem Morris Show last night on WDAE-AM 620.

“I went to [Rich Bisaccia] before we ran back the [Spurlock] kickoff [for a touchdown] and I told him, I said ‘hey, if we score here, an offensive touchdown I want to kick an onside kick.’ I said, ‘Get away from me because I don’t want to be caught talking to you when it’s that time and I’m not telling anybody else on the football team.’  He was about it. He’s an aggressive coach. He’s an aggressive player. He’s an aggressive guy. We both are,” Morris said.

“And that’s how we want to play around here. We want to play to win. We were on the road in a hostile environment, and we’re going to take something from them. And that was our mentality.”

Raheem went on to say it was Bisaccia and Raheem’s predetermined call that the onsides kick would be the “middle dribble” with Connor Barth squibbing it straight ahead.

Raheem praised the execution, even though the ball hit Barth in the ass a few inches before the 10-yard mark and the Bucs were penalized and turned the ball over to the Falcons. Heyward gave huge props to Adam Heyward for violently sacrificing his body to clear the area for Barth’s recovery.

Joe was all in favor of the call, even though it was a very risky move. The timing felt right.

It was a bitter loss for the Bucs to take in many ways. Questionable spots by the zebras. Giving up way too many points in the first half. Coming inches short of a first-and-goal late with a chance to win.

It didn’t take long for Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports to dump a load on Bucs coach Raheem Morris. In Robinson’s “Winners and Losers” he lumps Raheem in with the latter group.

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris
For a minute, the Bucs had you believing that maybe they were going to live up to Morris’ proclamation that they were the best team in the NFC. But while this one could be counted as a moral victory, you have to wonder why Morris took the ball out of the hands of his playmaker, Josh Freeman, when the Bucs had it first-and-10 at the Atlanta 11. The Bucs ran it four times and turned it over on downs. Freeman should have gotten the opportunity to finish. He has earned it.

Well, if one must nitpick, it was Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson who called the play in question, not Raheem.

There were a lot of places one could lay blame on this loss. Raheem wouldn’t be one of them.

Joe’s certain one can guage whether there’s buzz about an NFL team based on increased ticket sales and/or increased ticket demand for said team.

Now Joe’s not talking sellouts, just simply a significant bump in attendance or demand for tickets on the resale market (if a team is already sold out).

If there’s real buzz, people buy a lot more tickets. Plain and simple.

Raiders and Lions fans, both in seriously economically challenged markets that rival Tampa Bay’s plight, proved there is real buzz about their teams and sold out their home games Sunday, avoiding TV blackouts that had plagued those cities.

Today, Raheem Morris was asked about the buzz for the Buccaneers around the Bay area, and the head coach said he’s quite sure the locals are embracing the young Bucs and their exciting brand of football.

“I think the town’s really buzzin’. I think we’re starting to get a little national attention because of me [talking], to be honest with you. I’ve seen me on TV more than anything. My mom called me and told me she sees me more on SportsCenter than she sees me in person,” Morris said.

“I think the buzz is starting to happen from the young football team, the energy it brings, how we’re winning, how we’re calling games. You come to our game yesterday, you see a fleaflicker, you see an onside kick, you see a reverse, you see bonzai blitzes, you see all-out blitzes, all-out pressures, 60-yard touchdown runs, back-shoulder catches in the endzone, and a fourth-and-inches that we get stopped on, it’s just an exciting brand of football that Tampa’s trying to sell to people. And you gotta have a buzz about it.”

Frankly, Joe won’t believe there’s much of a buzz about the Bucs until Joe sees more ticket sales.

Again, Joe’s not talking sellouts, but Joe is talking about people actually using a much greater share of tickets already sold — 6,000 went unused for the Rams game — and an increase in ticket sales.

Official Bucs tickets-sold attendance for the last home game against St. Louis was 42,020. If that number doesn’t jump to 48,000+ on Sunday against Carolina, the biggest Bucs home game in 23 months, don’t ask Joe to believe “the town’s really buzzin’.”

See snippets of an edgy Raheem Morris and Father Dungy’s take on the Bucs in this NBCSports.com video.

"Is it me? Or are we down by two touchdowns again?"

The Bucs keep falling behind in the first half of games. It’s even worse in 2010 than during the Jim Bates era, when 14-0 deficits were as common as Michael Clayton drops.

Today during his news conference, aired on WDAE-AM 620, Raheem Morris was peppered with questions about why the Bucs struggle in the first half.

The head coach had a lot of answers — as in there are a lot of problems.

“Gotta get off on third down. [Atlanta] converted a third down and a fourth down on that first drive,” said Morris, who spoke multiple times of his team’s third down struggles and its devastating impact.

Why all season? the coach was asked.

“That’s a coaching thing. A plan thing. Somebody making a play. Could be youth. …A lot of things,” Morris said.

As Joe wrote earlier, Barrett Ruud said today that youth is the core of the problem.

Pressed today for what would make the Bucs defensive line significantly better during the Ron and Ian Show, former Bucs offensive tackle Ian Beckles said, “Experience. Period.”

It’s probably too late to fix the Bucs’ first-half defensive woes associated with youth. The challenge then lies with the defensive coordinator making the right changes with the available talent.

Hopefully it won’t take much, but it’s alarming that half a season has passed and Raheem Morris hasn’t found a fix.

Hey, whaddya know. At arguably the most critical point in the Bucs-Falcons game, the Bucs’ coaches headsests stopped working.

As a result, fans at home and at the Georgia Dome saw some frantic, disjointed stuff going on between Josh Freeman and Greg Olson with the Bucs on the cusp of scoring.

Sure it was a coincidence. Yeah, right. And Joe just happened to accidently toss a 12-pack of Becks in his shopping cart on Saturday.

Raheem Morris was drilled today at his news conference about why he didn’t challenge the spot on LeGarrette Blount’s third down run that brought the ball to about the Falcons’ 2 yard line. And Raheem explained there was a lot of trouble going down that forced the Bucs to burn their final timeout.

“We were in Atlanta. Somehow our headsets went out on that play,” Raheem said. “Never had the luxury of talking to our quarterback on that play.”

Of course, the Bucs need to be prepared for these kinds of mechanical shenanigans troubles. But it’s still suspicious and crappy nonetheless.

Perhaps Rich McKay just stepped on that funny orange button in his luxury box en route to the can.

Many Bucs fans are unsettled by the Bucs defensive showing this season. The Bucs have demonstrated a disturbing pattern of not showing up in the first half of games.

Joe documented that the Bucs defense is playing worse in the first half than last year’s heinous Jim Bates Experiment, as disturbing as that is to believe.

This was a subject of discussion with former Bucs Anthony Becht and Ryan Nece, who host a weekly Monday morning show on WHBO-AM 1040 when they welcomed Bucs linebacker Barrett Ruud today.

Nece claimed Michael Spurlock told him that, in short, some of the rookies seem to think they are still in college when it comes to preparation, that the week of film study and working out in the week preceding an NFL game is a different animal than the week leading up to a college game, and the rookies are still learning.

Ruud did not disagree, in answering Nece.

“When we arrived here, it was a veteran defense,” Ruud said. “I think the young guys need to have more of a General-type of mentality.”

What Ruud meant in saying “General” was a military-like focus. His statement seems dead-on.

What is the difference between the rookie defensive players and the rookie offensive players? The day of the draft this past April, Mike Williams and Arrelious Benn received a phone call from Josh Freeman, who told the wide receiver duo, in short, get your arse to Tampa and start working now.

Did we or have we heard or read anything similar about the rookie defensive tackles or for that matter, Roy Miller, and a Bucs defensive starter?

If you have, feel free to fill in Joe.

Ruud’s reference to veteran players struck a chord with Joe. Now Warren Sapp was gone by the time Ruud showed up but when Sapp was around there was no question who was the leader. Say what you will about Sapp’s boorish behavior, but if teammates did not put in their hours of preparation, Sapp made sure the world knew it.

In the fantastic NFL Network presentation of “America’s Game,” a significant portion of the Bucs feature flashed a spotlight on Sapp’s clashing with Meshawn Johnson. Sapp was morally outraged that Meshawn would not work out with the Bucs in the offseason. To this day that still irritates Sapp.

Sure, the Bucs have veterans like Ruud and Ronde Barber that could have showed the rookies and youngsters what being an NFL player is. That usually takes a vocal leader; both Ruud and Barber have many times confessed that’s not their personalities. If the youngsters ask Ruud and Barber for help, they gladly assist. But neither are the type that will grab a teammate by the facemask and forcefeed youngsters into the rigors of NFL life like Sapp did, and Freeman does.

Joe hopes that after the CBA is signed, Mark Dominik can sign a free agent defender (preferable a linebacker or defensive end) who is more of an in-your-face, workout warrior who will grab his teammates by the jersey and show them, force them to learn what it means to be an NFL defensive player.

And if needed, give them a swift kick in the rear end.

Cris Carter and Jon Anik break down the Bucs loss to the Dixie Chicks in this BSPN video.

It’s the play fans will be talking about all week. Joe, of course, has written plenty already. Fourth-and-1 on the Falcons’ 2 yard line late in the game and the Bucs called a counter play with LeGarrette Blount getting rock.

We all know how it finished. Ugh.

No fan of what he saw, Ian Beckles, former Bucs offensive lineman and co-host of The Ron and Ian Show, on WDAE-AM 620, was going a bit wild this morning because the Bucs called a “counter.”

“I’m not going to question the call to run [with Blount versus Freeman on a quarterback sneak], but calling a misdirection, to me, when you need one yard is ignorant,” Beckles said.

Beckles said the call should have been to  just block straight up and let Blount pound it.

Beckles went on to say he doesn’t “know if he ever saw a softer team up front” on defense than the 2010 Bucs.

There are few Bucs players, former or present, who Joe looks up to and respects more than former Bucs running back Warrick Dunn.

Why, the little guy with a big heart is such a good guy, Joe chose his number to represent when Joe was designing a logo for this very site (what, you actually thought Joe was choosing a logo influenced by Kardashaian-chasing Derrick Ward?).

So Joe was shocked to read last night on Twitter that Dunn, who means so much to this area not just as a football player but as a citizen, took to keyboard and bragged how pleased he was with his Dixie Chicks.

@WarrickDunn: Proud of my team, Falcons win!

Wha, what!? Did someone hack into Dunn’s account? Was he that disturbed that his Seminoles looked so wretched against North Carolina the previous evening? This is a moral outrage!

But then Joe got to thinking: Dunn played exactly half of his NFL career with the Dixie Chicks. It finally dawned on Joe that Dunn is in fact a limited partner/minority owner with the Falcons.

So Dunn has a reason to call the Dixie Chicks “my.”

Despite this evidence, it still depresses Joe. Hard pressed to find a better guy who played for the Bucs than Dunn.

Since Dunn still helps single mothers in the area purchase houses for their families, Joe will look the other way on this insult to Bucs fans.

Last year Joe hammered Bucs defensive coordinator Jim Bates for running one of the most wretched defenses in Bucs franchise history.

He was responsible for the Bucs defense setting an alarming record of most consecutive games allowing 25 or more points (six). When you factor in some of the pathetic teams the Bucs have fielded in their somewhat relatively short NFL history, that mark was pretty pathetic.

Yes, Joe has noted how the Bucs are nearly on pace to set an NFL record for fewest sacks in a season. But there is something equally troubling bubbling below the surface.

Bates was defrocked after nine games, left to eat chicken at a fast food joint while the Bucs practiced.

Sadly this season, the Bucs have developed a pattern of playing soft defense in the first half, only to play much better in the second half and — let’s be honest — Josh Freeman and the offense saving the defense’s collective backsides in the second half.

After the Bucs had another shameful defensive showing in the first half yesterday in the loss to the Dixie Chicks, Joe broke out his calculator and started doing some research.

Under the heinous Jim Bates Experiment, the Bucs defense gave up an average of 14.65 points in the first half through eight games.

2009
Opponent, first half points allowed, (result)
Dallas 13 (lost 34-21)
Buffalo 20 (lost 33-20)
New York Giants 14 (lost 24-0)
Washington 0 (lost 16-13)
Philadelphia 21 (lost 33-14)
Carolina 7 (lost 28-21)
New England 21 (lost 35-7)
Green Bay 21 (won 38-28)

Now let’s look at this year’s Bucs defense:

2010
Opponent, first half points allowed, (result)
Cleveland 14 (won 17-14)
Carolina 7 (won 20-7)
Pittsburgh 28 (lost 38-13)
Cincinnati 10 (won 24-21)
New Orleans 17 (lost 31-6)
St. Louis 17 (won 18-17)
Arizona 14 (won 38-35)
Atlanta 17 (lost 27-21)

For those who are quick at math and unlike Joe don’t need a calculator, you will likely notice the horrifying facts: The Bucs this season are allowing an average of 15.5 points per game in the first half through eight games.

That’s worse than the heinous Jim Bates Experiment!

Now before you jump to conclusions, no, Joe’s not calling for Raheem Morris’ head. That would be absolutely absurd. As Joe writes this, he still believes Raheem is the frontrunner for NFL Coach of the Year.

Bates was defrocked last year, largely, because he couldn’t or wouldn’t adjust. Teams absolutely lit up the Bucs in the third quarter under the heinous Jim Bates Experiment.

While the Bucs defense is struggling early this year, Raheem clearly is doing something right each game to shore up the problems and adjust on the fly.

So what does this tell Joe? That next year Raheem needs some help. Head coaches have many responsibilities and tasks that coordinators don’t have, which takes head coaches away from the focus of crafting a gameplan; away from the lab, as Raheem likes to call it.

In some circles, this is known as distractions.

While there are a few coaches who also serve as offensive coordinators, not too many serve as defensive coordinators.

Captain Lou Albano with the Jets is a defensive wizard, but he has a defensive coordinator. Mike Tomlin is a defensive guy through and through but he has Dick LeBeau run the Steelers’ defense. Lovie Smith has Rod Marinelli handle the Bears defense, and so on.

Joe doesn’t think he’s out of line in suggesting in the offseason, Raheem and/or Mark Dominik may want to hire someone who could wear the hat of defensive coordinator, someone who will help Raheem prepare gameplans while Raheem is off doing head coaching duties and tasks.

(If, as Joe suspects, the McCaskey family is going to clean house in Chicago, why not Marinelli? His specialty also is the defensive line and Joe doesn’t think he’s out of line in writing the Bucs defensive linemen could use some coaching up.)

If the Bucs hire a defensive coordinator, Joe certainly hopes whoever that guy is embraces Raheem making adjustments. If Raheem has shown any specialty, he’s turning into a savvy man with in-game adjustments.

Joe is really amazed how a defense can be so completely porous in the first half and so stingy the second half. That’s largely due to Raheem’s in-game tinkering.

Joe has never seen a yellow first down marker off by this much.

Pretty clear contact was made near the six-yard line.

Look, the Bucs lost. No amount of kvetching and hand-wringing and b!tching about referees will change that.

But Joe sure thought the Dixie Chicks were getting quite a few favorable spots all day, not just in the two plays in question above.

Joe must point out that in the call in the first photo, the yellow first down line is not official. Understandable. But Joe has never seen the first down line be off by that much, what appears to be a full yard.

In the second photo, Joe wrote yesterday he thought this call was trivial. The Bucs got a huge first down. Huge. A first down in the red zone. On the 11. If the Bucs couldn’t get a first down when they had only inches to go, what makes people think they could have scored from the five-yard line?

Still, sure seems like the Bucs were getting raw deals on spots all day yesterday. Joe continues to be confused as to why Raheem Morris didn’t ask for a measurement on the LeGarrette Blount fourth-down run late in the game.

Joe sends out heartfelt thanks and a hat tip to reader Ken Boehlke of TalkingChicagoBaseball.com, who provided Joe the photos.

Joe hates to go here, but it’s halfway through the season and the Bucs have dialed up six sacks.

Six!

They need five more to make sure they don’t tie the NFL mark for heinous pass rush units.

One could get aroused by the Bucs’ defensive line having at least a little success against the run today. Stylez White opened the game with two good stops, and Michael Bennnet had some good penetration and a tackle for a loss, and even rookie DT Al Woods got into the act. But Joe’s not aroused, the Bucs were barely average against the run at the end of the day.

And then there’s the pass rush. Yeah, Gerald McCoy got a shot on Matt Ryan and they got some pressure, but the pass rush is still horrid compared to the rest of the league.  Six sacks does not cut it over eight games.

Joe has no illusions that the pass rush will improve this year. As Joe has written, the Bucs will need to pile up points and rack up turnovers to beat most teams. Thankfully, they’re more than capable of that.

The zebras are really pissing off Joe.

It seems week after week that Josh Freeman scrambles, lines up a slide and gets into the slide, and then proceeds to clocked by some cornerback flying across the middle. And the zebras ridiculously won’t throw their flags.

Freeman then gets up to complain to no avail. It happened again in Atlanta today. The zebras are clearly prejudiced against Freeman because of his size.

What the hell has to happen for the zebras to throw the flag? Mark Dominik, if he’s not already, really needs to start pounding Roger Goodell’s phone to get the word out. Put together a video and send 100 copies to New York.

Joe would absolutely love to see Freeman fake a slide and then tuck the ball and behead one of these late-hitters with his shoulder.

It won’t happen (maybe?), but it would send a ferocious message to the rest of the league and the zebras.

Since the Bucs offense has opened up the past two weeks there were two glaring demonstrations:

1) LeGarrette Blount.

2) Arrelious Benn.

Joe believes Benn’s growth was on full display today in the painful loss to the Falcons. Sure, he only caught one ball for 14 yards, but Benn made a truly heady play when he was able to lure the Falcons into a pass interference call on an underthrown ball by Josh Freeman, which was actually a cool call: fleaflicker.

Had the pass been on target, Benn likely would have had a touchdown and the Bucs a win.

If there was a bright spot to come out of this game, it is that Benn continues to shine.

The NFL’s most popular leaper — after last week anyway — stayed on his feet at the wrong time.

Now Joe’s already written he didn’t like the play call on fourth-and-inches late in the game on the Falcon’s 1 yard line. But Joe’s watched the play now several times, and it seemed beautifully set up for LeGarrette Blount to either hammer behind Roy Miller or simply go airborne over the line.

After all, everyone knows Blount can fly. And Blount admitted that he was supposed to. Blount screwed up.

“It was a dive play, I bounced out,” said Blount in a postgame interview aired on FOX-13.

But this is part of the problem with giving the ball to Blount with the game on the line. The Bucs were relying on the most inexperienced guy on the field to win the game.

Joe recalls Josh Freeman talking on the Buccaneers Radio Network earlier this season about how he has never failed on QB sneak on fourth down. He was succesful again on that today.

Painful stuff for every Bucs fan. Joe’s heading out for more Tums.