As Joe wrote immediately following the Bucs’ loss in Tennessee, the Bucs’ secondary played a standout game Sunday.

Head of the class, per Raheem Morris, was Aqib Talib, so the head coach said on The Raheem Morris Show last night on WDAE-AM 620.

“I said Aqib Talib played his best game last week versus the Packers. He one-upped it this week,” Raheem said. “He came out this week and really played fine football. He caused a fumble, forced a fumble, got it back. He caught an interception. He scored. I believe he had five or so tackles, two knockdown passes. He’s playing lights-out right now.”

Raheem went on to note that Talib was covering Nate Washington, the Titans’ top receiver, who was held to one catch for 12 yards. In Green Bay, Talib clamped down on Greg Jennings.

On Talib’s strip of Chris Johnson, Raheem said, “I thought I was looking at Charles Woodson” and praised Talib for his “form-fit” hit “like a safety” to cause the fumble.

Joe’s happy to see Talib playing well, and Joe has to believe that Talib is finally healthy from a knee injury that slowed him earlier in the season. It was after the debacle in San Francicsco that Raheem said of Talib, “I don’t know how he played, but he did for his team.”

This final stretch of the season is huge for Talib. He’s got to stay healthy. Late-season injuries have knocked him out the last two years. It still pains Joe to remember cornerback Derrick Roberson replacing Talib in Atlanta back in 2009 and make a key penalty for Atlanta’s winning score.

If Talib can finish this season playing like he is now, then it’s fair to say he’s finally reached his potential. Next up for Talib is Steve Smith, who already has over 1,000 yards this season.

Bucs pre- and post-game radio host Ryan Nece is not the lone ex-Bucs player to suggest the Bucs defensively are an undisciplined lot. So too does Steve White.

The former Bucs defensive end breaks down each Bucs game as if he were a coach (and he was a coach, once serving time as a South Florida assistant).

The results aren’t as bad as one may guess on face value, as White Twittered this morning.

sgw94: On 13 plays where a D lineman was out of his gap AND the Titans backs decided to run through that gap they gained over 130 yds by my count

Damn, that’s damning. So it stands to reason that if the Bucs’ front line did what they were supposed to do, the Titans would have been neutered on the ground?

Seems like someone needs to bring the hammer down on some players.

Veteran Tampa Tribune scribe Martin Fennelly brings his brand of sarcasm to analyzing the Bucs’ latest loss in this TBO.com video.

The Bucs’ run defense fell apart nearly three years ago on Monday Night Football against Carolina. Chucky’s Bucs were cruising at 9-3 and clashing on the road with the Panthers.

But the Bucs were humiliated on the ground that night and it hasn’t stopped since.

Monte Kiffin couldn’t fix it. Jim Bates couldn’t fix it. Raheem Morris couldn’t fix it. And neither could the prayers of Bucs fans across the Tampa Bay area.

So what’s wrong with the Bucs’ current rush defense, which was gutted again Sunday? Former Bucs linebacker Ryan Nece, part of the Buccaneers Radio Network, offered a take yesterday on WDAE-AM 620.

Somewhat scary to Joe is that Nece says he sees players who simply don’t comprehend their roles.

“You have young players that don’t fully understand the gap principle and don’t fully go out there and execute their jobs,” Nece said. “And there were several times when you saw some players out of their gaps and you saw sometimes where players were missing tackles. And then not only that you couple that, to me, with a lack of intensity of trying to get all 11 guys to the football, which creates explosive plays [for the offense]. Because if one guy misses a tackle against Chris Johnson, he’s going to be gone because there’s not going to be enough guys around to be able to catch him.”

“You’ve got to find a way to get all 11 guys off the ground to the ball carrier to bring him down. They’ve got to be hunting. You’ve got to hunt the ball carrier to bring him down on defense. So I think a combination of lot of things have led to poor tackling and led to teams rushing the ball successfully against the Buccaneers.”

This is all very troubling to Joe. Shouldn’t the youngest team in the league have no problem with intensity and hunting the football?

And as Nece says, “players don’t fully understand the gap principle.” Is this yet another thing to blame on the lockout shortened offseason? Joe’s not buying that, especially from guys like Geno Hayes and Quincy Black, who have been in the same defense (minus the Jim Bates insanity), for many years.

Titans wide receiver Damian Williams celebrates his game-winning touchdown catch.

Now as Joe pointed out yesterday, what killed the Bucs was the drive of death, when LeGarrette Blount was pounding the ball down the throats of the Titans and, sadly, the yellow hankies began filling the air. That doomed what very likely would have been a game-winning drive.

But Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean believes the play that clinched the game was Matt Hasselbeck’s touchdown pass on fourth-and-two that gave the Titans a fourth-quarter lead and killed the Bucs, all but putting their playoff dreams on ice.

Yet when Hasselbeck rolled to his right on the critical fourth-and-2 play with 3:08 left in Sunday’s game against the Buccaneers, there was a big problem. The defense had sniffed it out, and neither of his primary targets was immediately open.

The Titans then turned “uh oh” into “oh my!” in a dramatic win that kept their 2011 season alive. Hasselbeck found Williams in the back of the end zone for a touchdown, giving the Titans a 20-17 lead that soon became a 23-17 victory.

“One thing our coaches talked about this week was finding a way to win the game,’’ Hasselbeck said. “It wasn’t pretty — it was pretty ugly at times — but we found a way to win.”

The Bucs did sniff out the play… initially. But what the Bucs weren’t able to do was snuff out Hasselbeck. He had so much time to throw the dude could have ordered a pizza and had the thing comped because it arrived late.

The thing is with the Bucs in their current state, when the offense is less than stellar as it has been, the defense has to play damned near perfect football for the Bucs to win. The Bucs were decent on defense Sunday (16 points allowed and a defensive touchdown), but not good enough to overcome the offense shooting itself in the proverbial foot.

Granted, the Bucs have invested a helluva lot in recent drafts on the defensive front and Gerald McCoy and Brian Price were not on the field during that play. Still, when the Bucs needed a pass rush with postseason hopes on the line, it didn’t happen.

Yes, the Bucs need to play almost perfect on defense for the team to win. Joe’s not entirely sure the current defensive roster is capable of that kind of a lockdown game.

When the Bucs hired Raheem Morris in January of 2009, he was one of 11 new coaches inked by NFL teams that offseason, more than one third of the league had new coaches.

Not quite three years later, the track record of those coaches is grim, so documented Kent Babb of the Kansas City Star while musing on Twitter.

@kentbabb: Haley took over in 09, one of 11 new NFL coaches. Five have already been fired. Three (Haley, Spags, Caldwell) on hot seat. … Only ones safe are Schwartz, Rex and Raheem Morris. This is how tough it is to find a great coach. 09 teams are batting .272 for sure thing.

And later, though he was writing about Chiefs coach Todd Haley and writing directly to Chiefs fans, he offered what could be a cautionary tale for Bucs fans who have set aside their personal schedules for the month of January in order to help Morris move.

@kentbabb: I’m only saying the chances are better of KC getting a Josh McDaniels than a Bill Cowher. Keep this in mind when leading Haley to guillotine

That’s an interesting thought on several levels. If the Bucs do jettison Morris, they could wind up with the second coming of Ray Handley.

Also, wasn’t it Morris who allegedly so charmed Broncos owner Pat Bowlen he nearly beat out McDaniels for the Denver coaching job which, urban rumor has it, motivated Team Glazer to hire Morris pegging him as the next Mike Tomlin, or otherwise the Bucs would lose him?

Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck unloads a pass just before getting drilled by Bucs defensive end Da'Quan Bowers.

OK, OK, OK, Joe knows that today many of you have the torches lit, the pitchforks sharpened and the guillotines polished.

Joe’s not going there right now.

There was one bright spot in the Bucs loss, no, really. And that bright spot was Da’Quan Bowers.

The Bucs rookie defensive end got his first start Sunday and played for Michael Bennett at left defensive end.

The way Bowers played yesterday, he may not lose his starting gig.

Previously, Bowers had been pretty much invisible. The Bucs — and many throughout the NFL — crowed how Bowers was a steal in the second round as he dropped due to knee injury concerns.

But of the two defensive ends drafted by rock star general manager Mark Dominik, the better of the two was Adrian Clayborn by light years.

But slowly, Bowers was improving. He showed little in preseason but in the past couple of weeks, there were flashes.

Yesterday Bowers got a lot of penetration and his speed was evident, more than once rushing Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck to rush a throw.

If Bowers keeps improving, with Clayborn on the other bookend, quarterbacks for the next 10 years in the NFC South should be afraid, very afraid.

The official word from the Bucs is that Brian Price has some type of ankle injury. Fans saw him carted off the field in the first half yesterday.

Per Roy Cummings, speaking today on The Fabulous Sports Babe Show on 1040 AM, Price was walking around with a boot but regular footwear after the game and was strolling around One Buc Palace this morning. Cummings speculated that Price would be questionable for Sunday. 

Price’s absence ushered in the John McCargo era in a big way, and Joe’s not impressed. Joe wonders whether Frank Okam will be off the practice squad in a matter of hours. Joe would wager a few bucks on that happening.

Joe must take a moment to commend Tim Crowder’s performance yesterday. He had a couple of tackles for loss and seemed to be effective rushing inside, which is hardly his strength. The Bucs sure could use a veteran backup type like Crowder at other positions.

Raheem talked about yesterday's run defense but wasn't too interested in big-picture chatter at his Monday news conference

The Bucs getting gutted and gashed in the running game yesterday, along with all things defense, were discussed at Raheem Morris’ postgame news conference today, one of the shortest of the season.

So what happened coach?

Raheem praised Chris Johnson and the Titans’ O-line, and praised his secondary in run defense in preventing further damage from Johnson’s stunning day. Raheem said his linebackers made splash plays, but they need to make more of those and do better shedding blocks. Raheem said “it all starts up front,” seemingly referring to failures of his defensive line in stopping the run.

One reporter, Joe believes it was Roy Cummings of The Tampa Tribune, hit Raheem with the in-your-face question of the day. “With all due respect. What has happened to your defense?” he asked.

“We gotta play better,” Raheem said. “We don’t make excuses. No excuses. No explanations.”

Without fast improvement on the field for the Bucs serious changes will be in store for next season, says Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud.

During an on-air chat with Dan Sileo on WDAE-AM 620 this morning, Stroud offered a scathing assessment of Tampa Bay’s all around play.

“It’s just all bad,” Stroud said of the Bucs’ defense. “It’s one of those deals where they’re not performing to their level. You can’t lose five in a row, six out of seven, and call yourself a good football team. I mean, you know, not many teams go that many weeks. … And, you know,  that’s problematic for your coaching staff. You know, we’ll see how they finish out. But I think you can start to see the writing on the wall; there’s going to be some changes after this year. If they don’t start winning a few games, Raheem might be one of those changes.”

Stroud went on to heartily agree with Sileo’s assessment that Arrellious Benn isn’t a good receiver and said Bucs fans will see an organizational effort to “save Josh Freeman” with an influx of more talent around him next season.

These were hard words from Stroud. Joe still needs to see more to wave the white flag on the regime and the talent level. As Joe’s written several times, the coaches aren’t getting nearly the most out of what they have, which is the essence of their jobs. Joe pegged this as a 9-7 team (leaning toward 8-8), so there’s still time to salvage jobs and respect.

Alex Loeb and Cris Carter discuss the Bucs’ loss to the Titans yesterday and Carter explains why he believes Josh Freeman and the Bucs are struggling this season in this BSPN video.

“Our fans are our stockholders. They’re what we play for — the people in our stadium and the ones that watch on TV. That’s what it’s all about: winning and how they feel about the team. If they don’t feel good about the team, then there’s something wrong. . . I think you all know the sense that’s out there. It was time for a change.” — Bucs owner Bryan Glazer following the firing of Chucky in 2009.

As Joe ponders the future of Raheem Morris, as many fans are now, Joe comes back to the above quote from Team Glazer following Chucky’s surprise firing in 2009.

Team Glazer essentially made it clear that the pulse of Bucs fans was a critical element to ending the Chucky era. So Joe must assume that same pulse still matters to the owners, especially as they’ve become more fan-friendly and fan-conscious since 2009, and as they struggle to sell tickets.

That written, Raheem’s approval rating is no doubt at an all-time low with only five games to right the 2011 ship.

After this season, Joe wholeheartedly believes Team Glazer will do what they do following each campaign; evaluate everything and set a direction for the following season. But how will fan feedback shape the course?  

Readers of JoeBucsFan.com often confuse what Joe believes should happen versus what Joe thinks will happen. Those are two unrelated animals that unfortunately get blended together by some. Make no mistake. Joe is always clear about what he’s writing about and, when Joe has a take, he trumpets it loud and proud.

At this point, Joe’s 100 percent certain Team Glazer brings back Raheem for a fourth season if the Bucs win seven games. If it’s six wins or less after a 4-2 start, Joe’s pretty sure there will be such widespread fan outrage that Team Glazer will be forced to act on how fans feel — something we already know they hold dear.

After a promising game against the Super Bowl champs last week, the Bucs have reverted to their ugly habit this season of playing a bad fourth quarter.

The Bucs couldn’t keep their heads on straight when they seemed to be in the middle of a potential game-winning drive, nor could the Bucs stop the Titans.

Veteran sports columnist Gary Shelton of the St. Petersburg Times breaks down just how miserable the fourth quarter was for the Bucs Sunday.

Time was, these were the situation that defined Freeman. He was the king of the fourth quarter, and he seemed to have a knack for snatching away a game from the other team in the final seconds. In the final 21/2 minutes Sunday, however, Freeman had two chances to rescue his team, and he failed both times.

No, no quarterback pulls his team out in the fourth quarter every time. But Freeman has had four shots at a comeback this year, and he has succeeded once. It’s another instance where this team has not improved on last year’s performance.

Yeah, yeah. You could blame this on turnovers if you want, because the Bucs had five. On the other hand, the Titans had four. You could blame it on an official who wouldn’t measure before a fourth-and-1 play at the end. On the other hand, the Bucs couldn’t even handle the center snap on the ensuing play.

The team is in a tailspin. It is not tackling well. It fancies the pass over using one of the NFL’s better running backs behind a bruising run-blocking offensive line. It makes mind-numbing mental errors week after week depsite the head coach’s weekly insistence it is a priority to stop it.

Right now the Bucs have too many issues to try to solve in scant weeks. There are only five games left. A playoff berth now is akin to Santa Claus coming down the chimney.

In Joe’s eyes, the next five weeks should be used to figure out who remains on this team for 2012 and who should be jettisoned and what positions should be focused on for next year’s draft.

If certain people continue to make the same mistakes game in and game out that the head coach rails about weekly, maybe said players should be making these same mistakes next season wearing a different color uniform in another city?

Josh Freeman’s 16th interception of the season late in the fourth quarter against the Titans today felt a lot like many others.

It was a needlessly forced throw into Kellen Winslow, followed by Freeman saying in his postgame news conference that it was a bit of a “miscommunication.” Hmm, Joe’s heard that song before.

But it was clear communication for the Titans, so reports The Tennesseean. Titans linebacker Colin McCarthy, who plucked the ball in the middle of the field, said he was ready for what was coming.

“It’s a play we saw all week in practice,” McCarthy said. “When they needed it, we knew they’d try the shake route. (Defensive coordinator Jerry Gray) had a great call and put me in a great situation to make the play.”

How’s that for a kick in the groin. (Here’s the video replay.) A rookie backup linebacker and the Titans’ defensive coordinator won a critical mental game with the Bucs’ offensive coordinator and the Bucs’ franchise quarterback.

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One reason Joe so enjoys Bobby Fenton, aside from his sarcasm, is that Fenton is a voice of the fan. He is a regular at Bucs home games and Lightning home games and is not a stranger to the Fruitdome either.

Fenton, a proud graduate of the University of Florida, rarely misses a Gators home game either.

But he admitted during the monologue of his Sunday night show, “The Free Stretch,” which can be heard until 8 p.m. on WDAE-AM 620, that he nearly lost his cool he was so aggravated.

In short, Fenton is fed up with football after watching his beloved Bucs and Gators each week.

“I don’t have the will any more,” Fenton said. “It’s the weekend of Suck and will be treated accordingly. We have to look at other things in our life to pick us up.

“I don’t have the will any more, I just dont have the will any more, to watch aboslute crap week after week after week.”

Fenton then went on to describe just how frustrated he was watching the Bucs loss to the Titans this afternoon.

“I was watching the game on my laptop with my baby in my lap,” Fenton said. “I could have thrown the baby against the wall I was so frustrated but I didn’t. I could have thrown the laptop like a frisbee against the wall, but I didn’t. It’s too valuable — not as valuable as the baby.

“I guess I could have thrown the remote against the wall because [Out House] would have given me a new one.”

Joe never had a doubt, but Joe at least hopes now the Bucs will acknowledge the obvious and let LeGarrette Blount be the primary back on third down and in the four-minute and two-minute offenses.

To continue to take your most dangerous offensive weapon off the field is a crime against the franchise. It makes Joe want to punch the nearest wall.

Blount has proven himself to be more valuable than Kregg Lumpkin on third down. He caught three balls today for big yardage, and Joe’s really not seeing Blount being a liability in those scenarios.

If nothing else, the Bucs’ hopes for the playoffs have evaporated. They’re done. So why not let Blount learn and grow in the fire over the next five games.

Next week against the sad Carolina defense is the perfect time to get it going.

Despite many Bucs players playing so much better defensively, the same result occurred thanks in large part to Titans running back Chris Johnson.

You know what was one of the more frustrating things about the Bucs game today? There were defenders who Joe was convinced were near invisible that actually made splash plays.

And still the Bucs got gashed defensively, giving up 352 total yards, 202 on the ground and Chris Johnson, who has struggled all year, had the third-best game of his career by barging through the rain and the mud for 190 yards.

Joe actually saw Quincy Black make a play, and hurried to find a calendar and a pen to document the feat. Aqib Talib actually made a splash play and returned a pick off 27 yard for six. Geno Hayes played so much better. Sean Jones made some key plays. And still the defense was Swiss cheese.

That sums it up for Joe just how depressed he is about this loss. Despite players playing well, the result was the same.

With five consecutive losses following a 4-2 start, it’s painfully clear that the Bucs have regressed in many areas, as well as failed to progress (see defense).

For Joe, it’s a no-brainer that Raheem Morris should be on the proverbial “hot seat.” Seemingly, Raheem’s got to win games over the next 35 days to return next season, and the Bucs aren’t winning. This is the NFL, and when your team is fading in Year 3 of a regime, job security has to be tenuous.

But Joe thinks the bigger question is whether there is, in fact, a hot seat for Raheem? Would Team Glazer bring Raheem back no matter what happens through the next five games?

It’s a question only Team Glazer can answer. Joe has no clue.

Logic says there has to be a magic number hanging in the bowels of One Buc Palace that Raheem must hit, but so much of this regime has defied convention.

Of course, Joe hopes it’s a moot point with the Bucs finishing the season strong — at least beating the losing teams on their schedule.

There’s plenty of football to play, plenty of time for the Bucs to salvage some respect, but the pressure has to be building.