Joseph Looks Ready To Go On Sunday

Update: 3:30 p.m. – Joseph sat out Thursday’s practice

Pewter TV at PewterReport.com gives us a look inside Bucs practice and interviews with Davin Joseph, Chris Hovan and Gaines Adams. Nearly as important, the report gives us a quality look at Emily Gagnon, Joe’s favorite Bucs beat writer.

Joseph looks healthy on the video and says he feels good, too. He should have more to say regarding his comeback from a broken foot this evening at 6 p.m., during his radio show on 620 AM WDAE.

The Colonel Sanders-looking character in the background of the Joseph interview is Lightning and Orlando Magic PA announcer Paul Porter. He works as the morning newsman on 1470 AM ESPN Tampa Bay.

As a weekly feature, Joe brings you this week’s power rankings.

As usual, Joe leads off with Pete Prisco of CBSSports. He’s not a big fan of the Bucs but after the overtime win over the Bears, he bumped them up eight spots to No. 11.

“Brian Griese threw 67 passes and they won? At 2-1, they face a stiff test this week from the Green Bay Packers.”

Pat Yasinskas isn’t as kind as he has the Bucs slotted at No. 13.

“At this pace, Jon Gruden will make Brian Griese into a Pro Bowler.”

Adrian Hasenmayer of FoxSports.com ranks the Bucs at No. 16.

For better or worse, Jon Gruden has always had a thing for Brian Griese, who showed why Chucky loves him so in the Week 3 comeback win over the Bears. Is your glass half full or half empty, looking at Griese’s three touchdown passes and three interceptions? COOL STAT: While Griese threw 67 passes (tied for second most all-time in a single game), he was not sacked once by a ferocious Bears defense.”

And finally, we end this week’s power rankings with the great Paul Zimmerman of SI.com, more popularly known as Dr. Z. He has the Bucs at No. 16.

“I’ve never liked offensive RT Jeremy Trueblood that much but he won them a game Sunday. The Bucs were stopped on their own 10-yard line in overtime, Trueblood comes into the pile late, as usual, goes after somebody, a fight breaks out, naturally, Bears cornerback Charles Tillman runs over to avenge the perceived wrong, and we know what the result will be, right? Tweet! Referee Tony Corrents flags Tillman. New set of downs on the 25, and Griese drives the Bucs the length of the field against the exhausted Bears for the winning field goal. Now here’s my point. Officials almost always blow the call in this instance. Use the replay camera in situations like this. Make it a call from the booth. That way they’ll find out who the real culprit is, and who should get the flag. It’ll never happen, of course. Much too sensible for the monolithic world of the NFL.”

The NFL is investigating the King of Turds. Again.

Last week when “The King of Turds,” Jerramy Stevens, scored the game-tying touchdown with seven seconds left to send the game into overtime, Joe though that the King of Turds was mimicking what many people think of him.

Well, Joe wasn’t the only one who saw this. Apparently, the NFL is investigating as to what the King of Turds was doing. eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune noted the NFL is trying to determine if a punishment is warranted.

After Tampa Bay’s embattled tight end caught a 1-yard scoring pass with seven seconds remaining to send Sunday’s game at Soldier Field into overtime, Stevens made a chopping motion with his right hand toward his inner thigh.

“It was just being excited,” Stevens said Wednesday of his unorthodox end zone gesture. “That’s all it really was. It was a big play for me personally coming back. It was just emotion.”

Hey, King of Turds, were you just showing emotion when you allegedly raped a woman in Seattle? Was it just emotion that caused you to dump your used condoms over your balcony that got your condo association all bent out of shape?

Or is it possibly because you are simply a turd?

Joe provides one last look at the Bucs dramatic overtime win over the Bears last week. This time, the knuckleheads at BSPN, let by class clown Chris Berman.

Whenever Joe hears or reads the name Chris Berman, he cannot forget arguably the greatest line from Norman Chad, which is saying something.

“The fact Chris Berman attended Brown proves there was a hole in the fence near the chemistry lab.”

Anyway, here’s the video (which features the worst Buccaneer quarterback in the past decade, even worse than Son of Bob.

(Fun fact: The win broke the Bucs streak of 50 straight losses in which they trailed by more than seven points, dating back to 1999. That was the longest such streak since the Jets lost 59 in a row from 1971 to 1978.)

Bucs kicker Matt Bryant has been active in charitable affairs in the Tampa Bay community including a recent visit to All Children's Hospital.

Joe is pasting the statement in its entirety:

“Melissa and I are overcome with the amount of support we have received from the community during this difficult time. We would like to thank our Buccaneers family and the Glazers for their support and outpouring of love.

“Tryson enriched our lives for the short time that he was with us and we will never forget his smile. We know Tryson’s death has deeply touched the community and we appreciate the love and prayers from our Buccaneers fans.”

The family would also like to thank Hillsborough County Fire Rescue and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Tryson’s name to March of Dimes, 405 North Reo Street, Suite 105, Tampa, FL 33609. For more information, please call (813) 287-2600.

Hey, Stu, we’ll never confuse you with Malcolm Glazer and his $1.1 billion Buccaneers empire. You’re going to leave 9,000+ empty seats in your building and then have the balls to ask taxpayers to help you build a new stadium because you aren’t making enough money?

If you were a Glazer, Joel and the boys would have you whacked.

The Devil Rays closed the upper deck for games years ago to save a few bucks and make the atmosphere, uh, more intimate. Sure, a small percentage of seats up there are obstructed view, but the majority would be a freakin’ great place to catch a buzzing playoff game.  Apparently Sternberg hasn’t seen footage of the Final Four and the Devil Rays opening day in 1998.

No, the Rays are going to keep a big plastic bag over those seats, shortchange the businesses surrouding the Trop, piss off iced out fans, and wonder why they don’t have more of a home field advantage.  

Good luck with the new stadium, Stu.

Bryant will not play for the Bucs on Sunday. Chucky, naturally, wouldn’t comment today on who will replace Bryant.

“This puts things in real perspective,” Gruden said. “We’ll deal with it from a football standpoint. We’re just worried about Matt’s personal standpoint. He and Melissa. They’re great friends.”

It appears Rod Marinelli's days in Detroit are numbered. Could the former Bucs defensive line coach return to the Bay area?

In case you are stuck at work and The Man won’t let you listen to a radio and the IT Nazis have the major sports sites blocked, then you may not have heard that Detroit Lions embattled general manager Matt Millen was shoved out the door this morning.

With a new GM soon to come to the Lions, how long will he put up with coach Rod Marinelli? The Lions coach, a former Bucs stud assistant, could be looking for a job, too. Not only has he been a failure at Detoit, but most GMs are impatient with struggling coaches hired by their predecessor.

Could this lead to a return to Tampa by Marinelli? By any and all accounts, Marinelli was an outstanding defensive line coach. Bucs defensive tackle Chris Hovan, for example, has given Marinelli credit for turning around his career. Former Bucs great Warren Sapp raves about Marinelli.

Is there a chance that Bruce Almighty lands Marinelli when he is unemployed, likely in December?

Joe doesn't care how solid Jerramy Stevens plays, he's still the "King of Turds" and should not be in the NFL much less playing for the Bucs.

While Joe has no use for the “King of Turds,” Joe can see the guy makes big plays. He just wishes the “King of Turds” would be making those plays during filming of a real life version of “The Longest Yard.”

Despite the fact “The King of Turds” is a piece of human debris, Joe Smith of the St. Petersburg Times writes that Chucky may be giving “The King of Turds” more playing time due to his clutch play.

But if Stevens continues to make big plays like he did in Sunday’s overtime win over the Bears, he could find himself featured even more in the Bucs offense.

The Bucs have sought consistency in their receivers. Stevens can help there, as the 6-foot-7, 260-pounder boasts a skill set akin to a receiver, with his speed and pass-catching ability. But his size creates matchup problems, as Stevens showed Sunday.

While Joe (not Joe Smith) was beyond giddy at the Bucs overtime win Sunday, he cringed when he heard the name “Jerramy Stevens” called. The guy is a dirtbag and has no business being in the NFL, much less the Bucs.

Oh, Joe wanted to remind fans that Stevens is the “King of Turds.”

Joe wonders what Rachel Watson thinks of pat-downs?

Thanks to some judge, Bucs fans entering the CITS will have to subject themselves to being fondled again.

The NFL likes to use the term “pat-downs.” Try using that practice with some hot chick at the bar this weekend and see how far that gets you with the cops.

Word is the Bears tried a “pat-down” with Jeremy Trueblood a few times in last week’s game. He wasn’t too fond of it either.

Per Mike Salinero of Tampa Tribune, the Tampa Sports Authority won’t begin the practice of fondling, eerr, pat-downs, for a few weeks as it takes time to train people to properly fondle, eerr, pat-down Bucs fans (including scantily clad women).

The next home game for the Buccaneers is Sunday, when the team hosts the Green Bay Packers. Logistically, that’s too soon to begin the searches, said Tampa Sports Authority spokeswoman Barbara Casey.

“We have a lot of people we need to contact to make this happen,” Casey said. “We had been knowing it was going to happen, but we needed a little more lead time” to be ready for Sunday’s game.

Where can one volunteer for this job? How often, outside of an airport, can one feel up a chick and get away with it, not even have to worry about a slap?

Who said Al-Qaeda was no good? We can thank them for legal fondling. I mean, pat-downs.

Outbidding George Steinbrenner for the Bucs in 1995, was one of Glazer's finest business decisions. Forbes reports the team is worth about six times what he paid for it. .

In its annual story on NFL team values, Forbes magazine reports the Bucs are worth a cool $1.1 billion, the 12th most valuable team in the league.

The Bucs value is up about 10 percent from last year, Forbes says, with the average ticket cost of $72 among the highest in the league for smaller market teams.

Joe loves cash. And he’s an admirer of the Glazer family’s business savvy. But Joe would have loved to see how George Steinbrenner would have run the Bucs. The Glazers outbid Steinbrenner by about $20 million when they bought the team for a reported a $192 million in 1995.

Bill Parcells probably wouldn’t have jilted Steinbrenner, like he did the Glazers, and he and Belichick would have been coaching here in 1996. It would have been a wild ride, but likely not as successful as the foundation Tony Dungy built.

Fun to think about, though.

Rick Brown and his backwards leather hat of the Lakeland Ledger discusses the Bucs overtime win over the Bears last Sunday in the paper’s weekly video report.

Jeremy Trueblood claims the Bears gave him the wrong kind of hand job last Sunday.

It seems getting burned on touchdowns and making moronic personal foul penalties weren’t the only things Bears cornerback Charles Tillman was up to Sunday. Bucs offensive tackle Jeremy Trueblood claims that Tillman was playing with his crotch.

In blunt terms, Tillman — and other Bears — grabbed Trueblood by the balls, per the Chicago Tribune.

Trueblood accused the Bears of grabbing his genitals, according to a report. The replay didn’t exactly back his claim, though it remains unclear what transpired before he started launching his fists.

This really isn’t news to Joe. One can only imagine what gets grabbed when in a pileup, especially for a fumble.

What is it about football games and a man’s genitalia?

Joe asked former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson to analyze Brian Griese’s play in the wild win against the Bears. The performance wasn’t the stellar one Coach Gruden is selling,  Carlson says.

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson Says Chucky Is Infatuated With Griese

Catch Carlson every week on ESPN 1470 AM. He hosts the Monday Morning Quarterback Show from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., and a Bucs tailgate show Sundays at 11 a.m. He also is the analyst on Bright House Sports Network’s high school game of the week.

Carlson trains aspiring quarterbacks with America’s Best Quarterback. His firm also manages football- and golf-themed charity events.

Kudos to the Bucs for playing 60+ minutes for the win Sunday and to Brian Griese for a comeback win against one of his many former teams. That said, it wasn’t quite the incredible performance that Jon Gruden tried to get us to believe. I think he was patting himself on the back a little for justifying what he did to Jeff Garcia – kind of an “I told ya so” moment.

Garcia was so right when he said Gruden likes to date QB’s, not marry them. He sure is infatuated with his boy right now, but he sure could have lost that lovin’ feeling if the last half of the fourth quarter didn’t turn around for No. 8. Until :07 left in the game, the Bucs offense had generated a single touchdown and a field goal, just about their per-game average, and Griese had three interceptions, all his fault, even though Gruden took the blame for every one of them.

Griese does look good in the pocket, a calming influence, as opposed to the frenetic feeling you get with Garcia dancing around. Griese’s side-armed throwing is going to keep getting him in trouble for the rest of his career, but what can you say about the highest percentage passer in Bucs history?

We aren’t going to get many first downs by Brian’s legs, unlike Garcia, but we are certain to get a few more throw-aways, which isn’t always a bad thing. But without Tillman’s stupid penalty, we aren’t celebrating the big road win against a team with a very meager QB in Kyle Orton. And we better hope the defense keeps putting up the first seven points for the Bucs, as well.

Jeff Carlson was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in 1989 out of Weber State. He played for the Bucs in 1990 and 1991, and retired in 1994 while under contract with the Broncos. 

Warren Sapp's debut on Dancing With the Stars evoked memories of Fred "Rerun" Berry

Old No. 99 hit the Dancing with the Stars dance floor last night, and the results were too funny.

Seeing the footage on YouTube this morning immediately had Joe thinking of one late, great man, Rerun. … If you don’t know who that is, well, that’s what Wikipedia is for kids.

Gotta give Sapp some credit. He looked like he put in the effort. And it’s clear he’s got a good agent who has hooked him up with the broadcasting and dancing gig.

Joe eagerly awaits Sapp angrily saying,”Next question,” when the Dancing with the Stars judges start getting tough with him.

Peter King of SI.com also works for NBCSports.com. He’s on a Brian Griese kick. Here’s a video of King taking about how Son of Bob put together the comeback to beat the Bears in overtime.

Remember when it was widely reported last year that Jeff Garcia convinced Chucky to add the shotgun to the Bucs offense?

Prior to that the Bucs didn’t use the shotgun under Gruden. As a student of Bill Walsh and Mike Holmgren, Chucky used to say, that wasn’t part of the curriculum.

But now the Bucs use the shotgun on nearly every passing down. Even with Garcia as third-string quarterback and Griese The Statue in the pocket.

Would the Bucs have pulled off Sunday’s comeback without the shotgun? It’s a stupid question. But it does give us a way to keep Garcia’s name alive and get a look at his lovely wife Carmella below.

Mrs. Garcia is proud that Jeff brought the shotgun to Tampa Bay

Between drops, Michael Clayton also seemed to benefit from the no-huddle offense.

Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger, whom Joe likes so long as he isn’t slurping Son of Bob (and Brown does some slurping in this piece), writes this that the difference in the game was Chucky going to a no-huddle offense .

Tampa Bay’s offense was not only able to get into a rhythm but the attack seemed to wear down the Bears.

One wonders why Chucky didn’t use this tactic earlier? And since it worked so well Sunday, will Chucky use it more often against the Packers?

Peter King of SI.com honored Ruud as the "Defensive Player of the Week."

“He’s one of the three or four best young middle/inside linebackers in the game today.”

That’s very high praise from one of the top football writers in the country.

King also enjoyed Gaines Adams’ interception.

“Gaines Adams made about as athletic a play as a defensive end can make.”

Sure, Son of Bob did a good job of digging himself out of a hole Sunday. But Joe hasn't changed his mind about him.

If a football fan does not read SI.com’s Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback, a staple for football fans each Monday, why not? All sorts of good tidbits of information is included.

This week, King leads his column with a piece on Son of Bob. King, who Joe likes a great deal, is acting as if Son of Bob is Lazarus and has risen from the NFL dead.

“Early in the third quarter, I came off the field after we had a drive stall and Jon said, ‘We can’t run the football. I need you to go out and win this game.’ I said, fine, if you want me to throw it every play, I will. We just couldn’t run it at all. I never expected a day like today. None of us did. We wanted to run it because that’s the kind of team we are. But Chicago’s good, real good, against the run.

“It helped us to go to the no-huddle in the fourth quarter and overtime. We’re down 10 with about five minutes left and went hurry-up, and we got a field goal. Then we got the ball back, went to our two-minute drills, scored a touchdown, and got to overtime. We didn’t run it right away, but then we figured we’d go back to it, just to get back in a rhythm and give us a good tempo — and to prevent them from substituting and blitzing much. It worked.”

It worked — Sunday.

Let’s not get carried away yet. Joe again tips his cap to Son of Bob for the comeback. But if he doesn’t throw three picks, that comeback is not necessary.

Just get it over with already. It’s time to cut Dexter Jackson. The guy literally can’t stay on his feet. He takes more dives than a Honduran soccer player.

Send him home and promote Michael Spurlock off the practice squad.

Dexter Jackson continues to slip and fall whenever he touches the ball

All the Bucs are asking Jackson to do right now is catch punts and kickoffs and use his 4.3 speed to get positive yardage. He can’t do it.

He slipped on the turf in the Superdome, at RayJay, and put on a freakin’ diving clinic at Soldier Field. During his first two returns Sunday, he wiped out on invisible banana peels. After Chucky sat him down, Jackson returned in the fourth quarter to catch a punt and run backwards for a loss.

Where do you go from here with the guy? Running is essential in sports. And he can’t run without falling. What, are they going to work on that in practice? “Good job, Dexter. Way to stay on your feet. One more time. One foot in front of the other. Attaboy. Let’s try it again.”

On top of that, on a day when Chucky serves up 67 passes, not one falls into the hands of the second-round pick out of Appalachian State. If he can’t crack this below-average receiving corps, and he can’t return kicks, then what is his future?

Cut your losses, Bucs.

In case you forgot what a kick return looks like, here’s a look at Spurlock’s historic run last year. Spurlock Takes It To The House