The Bucs are 2-0!

The offense made big plays. The defense made big plays. And the Bucs won the battle of halftime adjustments.

Joe’s pouring cocktails for everyone!

So what if the Bucs can’t run the ball. Right now, they now how to win!

And guess what? Steelers starting QB Dennis Dixon left their game against Tennessee injured.

Is 3-0 around the corner?

Don’t forget to stick with Joe all afternoon and through the evening for the best postgame coverage around.

All hail Josh Freeman.

Incredible poise and talent displayed by the young QB, who has been near perfect, and at times spectacular, since his bad opening throw today.

Joe’s concerned (not surprised) the Bucs can’t run the ball again (15 carries for 32 yards outside of Freeman’s scampers), nor can they stop the run (16 carries for 81 yards).

But hey, the Bucs are making plays and winning on the road. Some excellent play-calls by Greg Olson, too.

If Raheem can make the right adjustments at the break, the Bucs should be in good shape for a “W.”

Caught as he was exiting the field at halftime, as the Bucs led 14-7 over the Panthers, Bucs coach Raheem Morris shared his thoughts with the Buccaneers Radio Network. 

In short, Morris blamed himself for the Panthers’ score, a Steve Smith special over the middle, without going into detail.

“It was good that the offense is doing a great job for us,” Morris said. “If not for me [on the Panthers’ touchdown], we will really be doing some good things there.”

But Morris is not content. He fully believes John Fox and the Panthers will thrown the kitchen sink at the Bucs in the second quarter.

“We have to keep the pedal to the metal,” Morris said. “This team [Carolina] is not going to quit.”

The last minute decisions have been made on who will wear helmets for today’s Bucs game.

Kareem Huggins and his bum groin will be on the sidelines, so writes Woody Cummings, of The Tampa Tribune. He’ll join seven other Bucs.

CB Myron Lewis, RB LeGarrette Blount, LB Niko Koutouvides, C/G Ted Larsen, DL Michael Bennett, WR Preston Parker and QB Rudy Carpenter are the other Bucs inactives.

This means Kregg Lumkin gets the call as the No. 2 running back, although Joe expects he’ll see as much action as Huggins did last week — next to none.

As Raheem Morris said during the week, Myron Lewis is behind in the battle for the No. 4 cornerback position, and he obviously lost out to Elbert Mack.

This also means Maurice Stovall is back. Joe expects to see a lot of him throughout the day, although hopefully not too much, since that’ll mean the Bucs aren’t running the ball well.

Week 2
Bucs at Panthers
Kickoff: 1 p.m.
TV: Locally, WTVT-TV Channel 13, DirecTV Channel 710.
Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM, 103.5 and WDAE-AM, 620); Sirius Channel 158.
Weather: Per AccuWeather.com, it’s still summer in the south. Kickoff for the game will be warm with an expected temperature of 86 under sunny skies. The temperature is expected to rise to 90 by game’s end under humidity in the high 20s to lower 30s. There will be limited if any breeze.
Odds: Per Bodog.com, Panthers -3.5.
Outlook: The Bucs have been Carolina’s red-headed stepchild for too many years. If the Bucs are going to turn their fortunes around, it has to be with a win against the Panthers and it has to come at Carolina. Why not now? Carolina has never been more vulnerable, though still formidable. Quarterback Matt Moore stinks – at least by what he showed last week at New York in the season opener. In addition, he’s trying to recover from a concussion he suffered in that game. If Moore can’t go for some reason, rookie quarterback Jimmy Clausen will be behind center.
The Bucs simply have to get their running backs going. It sounds too simple but this is the key. Carolina’s defensive line is still good, its linebackers are very good and so too is the Panthers running game. But by the Bucs running effectively, it takes the ball out of Josh Freeman’s hands (i.e. no interceptions) and keeps the ball away from the Panthers.
Fun Facts: Carolina running back DeAngelo Williams has rushed for six touchdowns in his past four games against Tampa Bay, while teammate, receiver Steve Smith, has four receiving touchdowns during that same time frame.

Can the Bucs win without Kellen Winslow?

Joe surely doesn’t want to find out.

Winslow and his messed up knee, which has been under the knife several times and kept him out of a lot of practice this week, made the trip to Carolina for today’s game, reports Woody Cummings, of The Tampa Tribune.

But the Bucs will make the official call on his availability just before kickoff.

Kareem Huggins is in the same boat with a groin injury. Joe’s not too concerned about Huggins.  While he might have gotten some carries, he doesn’t represent a key to victory.

All other Bucs made the trip to Carolina except for LB Niko Koutouvides, who stayed home with an ankle injury.

Yesterday’s ProFootballTalk.com report about 2010 NFL salaries puts the Bucs at the bottom of the league payroll this season.

No surprise that Tampa Bay is one of the teams taking advantage of the demise of the salary cap floor.

Per the NFL, the Bucs checked in last in the league in player spending from 2004 through 2008. And 2009 was another year spent at the salary cap floor.

So the Bucs have been bottom-spenders now for seven seasons.

Now does this mean Team Glazer is running the franchise with money being more important than winning?  Have they become cheap after being among the NFL’s big spenders before 2004?

Those answers really come down to how one personally chooses to define cheap, frugual or whatever other word one can use to describe an ownership group operating with a low payroll.

One could make the argument that the Bucs drafted so poorly over the past several years that the team didn’t have its own players to smartly sign to fat long term deals. One also could make the case that the Bucs invested heavily in coaching and were eager to spend $13 million to land Brett Favre, whose signing likely would have changed the numbers a bit.

But many take a more bottom line view and see Team Glazer spending the least on players for so long, and therefore have no choice but to believe they’re being the cheapest owners in the NFL.

Of course, Joe knows the timing of Team Glazer buying Manchester United in 2005, and accruing massive debt in the process, adds a new dimension to the perception.

Where does Joe stand in all this? Frankly, Joe’s not 100 percent sure. Joe knows there are many factors at play, including several Joe didn’t reference above. But Team Glazer has, in fact, spent the very least for seven years, which doesn’t feel good to Joe, or any fan he knows.

The defense that made the Bucs world famous, thanks to former defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, is dead.

Well, maybe not dead, but on life support. That’s what Carolina coach John Fox said in a phone conference interview, documented by Tom Balog of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

”The ‘Tampa 2′ is kind of dying out in all the teams,” Carolina head coach John Fox told the Buccaneers’ media contingent on a conference call Wednesday. “I’m not saying nobody ever has it, or uses it. Like all coverages, there’s no perfect one. Otherwise, everybody would run it every play.

”I think that’s kind of true around the NFL. Tampa still uses it. We still use it,” Fox said. “I think everybody in the league uses it, just not exclusively.”

Fox said the new wrinkles, featuring varied blitzes and front combinations, that Buccaneers head coach-defensive coordinator Raheem Morris has added to the former Tampa 2 of his predecessor, Monte Kiffin, is not radical.

Interestingly, earlier this week while speaking on the Buccaneers Radio Network, Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber claimed the Bucs ran a Cover-2 defense on one play, and that was late in the second half of the win over the Browns last week.

Barber, who coined the phrase, “Tampa 2.1,” suggested the defense the Bucs are running is a “Tampa 2.5.”

Among other topics, Micheal Spurlock talked about cursing Italians and what it's like to personally rack up 11 touchdowns in one game and still lose.

Sitting down last night for an hour with the Buccaneers Radio Network was speedster wide receiver/returner Micheal Spurlock. And Joe can definitely say Spurlock turned in one of the more interesting Total Access shows in recent memory.

You can hear it archived on Buccaneers.com.

Some highlights:

Spurlock shared a story from his high school days when he threw for a nine touchdowns and ran for two more in one game. Now immediately Joe was thinking, ‘Big deal. His team ran it up against some patsy.’ But Spurlock then revealed that his team LOST the game. Amazing!

Spurlock on why he doesn’t trash talk: “It’s one thing to talk noise to another guy, but when you’re whoopin’ his head and you don’t say anything, that really hurts.”

Spurlock on people commenting on him gaining weight since his 2007 stint with the Bucs: “Honestly, I’m lighter. I think I’ve just done a better job, I’d say my wife has helped me do a better job staying away from sweets because I love sweets. … She’s a vegetarian, so we eat healthier now than we did in the past. In 2007, I was probably 210 or 212 (pounds); I’m 205 now. Everybody tells me, even my mother tells me I look heavier. I’m just leaner, and it’s pretty much more muscle. That’s all.”

Spurlock on a returner’s mentality: “I think the key to any return is no fear.” He went on to explain that during his NFL regular season debut he was ” hit as hard as I ever want to think about getting hit.” After that play, he realized he got through it and belonged in the NFL.

Spurlock said baseball is his favorite sport, even ahead of football. “Honestly, I never wanted to play football. Eighth grade was my first time playing football.” He explained that he played in eighth grade and then quit, but later caved in to relentless pressure from football coaches. 

Spurlock talked about how Bucs special teams coach Rich Bissaccia recruited him to Ole Miss in 2001, and Spurlock went on to explain how Bissaccia is a raging maniac on the field but immediately turns into a loving, caring leader off the field.  “We had another Italian [coach], and they were the only people I ever been around that could curse so well that they made a whole sentence with nothing but curse words and it sounded good.”  Then we’d got off the field and it was “‘How you doin’?’ How’s school?’ And I was like, you just cursed me out for two hours?”

Spurlock talked about the key to winning a roster spot is about having a daily mentality of competing against not just the receivers in your own training camp, but understanding that every day you’re battling against every wide receiver on every NFL team.

Derek “Old School” Fournier, of WhatTheBuc.net, has just the answer for the Bucs’ ills against Carolina. Run the damned ball!

Joe only needed to see Mike Williams’ circus catch Sunday to know the Bucs made a steal getting him in the fourth round.

What the Bucs may not have known was they landed a receiver who had a burning desire to make a lasting impression in the NFL, so unearths Chris Harry of Fanhouse.com.

As if the Bucs weren’t feeling good enough about the pick in April, Williams validated his new employers by winning a starting spot — not during training camp — but during OTAs and minicamps.

“We got a guy with a chip on his shoulder who didn’t believe he was a fourth-round draft pick,” Tampa Bay receivers coach Eric Yarber said. “The day we drafted him, he assured us we hadn’t made a mistake, that he was going to come in, win the spot and make us proud — and make a lot of people pay in this league.”

This is great to read but for Williams to continue to shine he must continue to adjust. Now that a defensive-minded coach like John Fox has tape on Williams to work with, it’s not a shock to learn he might try all sorts of wrinkles to confuse the rookie.

"Oh, Joe. This is reason to cheer."

After a conversation today with a knowledgeable insider at One Buc Place, JoeBucsFan.com is pleased to report that the Bucs-Steelers game on Sunday, Sept. 26, is expected to be televised in the Tampa Bay area.

The Bucs are within about 4,000 tickets of selling out the game, sales have been brisk, and the game will be televised, JoeBucsFan.com was told under the condition of anonymity.

Fans searching for tickets on Ticketmaster.com now will find limited groups of paired tickets available and no pairs available in the lower three price ranges, $40, $55 and $75.

This is great news for Bucs fans and the community.

Plenty of good seats remain for the two home games following the Steelers-Bucs contest, Oct. 17 against New Orleans and Oct. 24 versus St. Louis.

Now Joe is sure all his readers fly to Las Vegas to wager legally, versus calling some guy whose phone number changes every week.

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

Fox will be here to give you a few games every week. Last week, Fox was 3-1.

By BOB FOX
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Iowa Hawkeyes 20, Arizona Wildcats 17

The No. 9 Hawkeyes travel to Arizona to face the No. 24 Wildcats. The Hawkeyes beat the Wildcats 27-17 last year in Iowa. This game, like so many others, could come down to quarterback play. Iowa is led by senior QB Ricky Stanzi, who can run hot and cold, but usually produces a big play in every game. Iowa also has a very solid running game, led by Adam Robinson. But the calling card of the Hawkeyes is all about their stingy defense. Arizona is led by QB Nick Foles, who will have to be elusive versus the Iowa pass rush. The running game is led by Nic Grigsby, who is off to a fast start. Iowa will definitely key on him. I see Stanzi and the Hawkeye defense making enough big plays to beat the Wildcats in a close game in the desert.

Baltimore Ravens 24, Cincinnati Bengals 20

The Bengals were embarrassed last week in New England, as they got off to a horrible start, before scoring some garbage points. The Ravens meanwhile, showed a national audience on Monday Night Football how the game of defense should be played, as the New York Jets’ offense looked absolutely amateurish. I look for the Bengals to bounce back, but not enough to get a key win against their division rivals. The Ravens are working with a short week, but they also have revenge on their mind, as the Bengals swept the season series between the two teams last year. I see QB Carson Palmer having a pretty good day, but he will be forced into a mistake or two. Joe Flacco has the best weaponry he has ever had at WR, and between that and RB Ray Rice, the Ravens will win a close one on the road.

New England Patriots 20, New York Jets 14

The Jets showed a lot of bluster this summer with their HBO show Hard Knocks, and with all the boisterous comments by head coach Rex Ryan. All that confidence led to the Jets’ offense being embarrassed by the Baltimore Ravens’ defense Monday. The Patriots got off to a fast start last week against the Bengals at home in their convincing victory. The Jets are on a short week, plus have second-year QB Mark Sanchez and fumble prone Shonne Green behind him at RB, who is also in his second year. I’ll take QB Tom Brady and his assortment of weapons any day over what the youthful Jets have to offer on offense. The Jets’ defense is very solid, and will keep the Jets in the game, but I see the Pats making more big plays and forcing more mistakes in their victory.

Indianapolis Colts 27, New York Giants 23

Are the wheels finally coming off the Peyton Manning express in Indianapolis? Uh, no. The Colts’ offense is just fine, thank you, but the Colts’ defense has sprung a big leak, evidenced by the 231 yards and 3 TDs it gave up to RB Arian Foster last week in their loss to the Texans in Houston. The Giants meanwhile pulled away from the Carolina Panthers, who made some youthful mistakes in the game. It makes sense, however, as the Panthers are the youngest team in the NFL right now, followed by the Bucs. Anyway, I see Peyton and the Colts being able to withstand the running game prowess of both Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw with a close victory at home.

The Bucs should need all their weapons, if they plan on beating the Panthers at Carolina on Sunday. And it appears Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman’s favorite weapon may be less than 100 percent, if he even plays at all.

Bucs tight end Kellen Winslow’s ugly knee is acting up again. So much so that Winslow has missed practice today. Again.

And it raises a red flag, as reported by eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune on the TBO Bucs Twitter feed.

For the third consecutive day, Bucs TE Kellen Winslow did not practice. Winslow’s chronic knee problems obviously remain a concern.

This is very much a concern. If Winslow missed much of the preseason games because of his knee, and is already missing significant practice before the second game of the season, just exactly how healthy is he going to be come November?

UPDATE: Winslow, as well as Kareem Huggins, are listed as questionable for Sunday’s game. Roy Miller has been removed from the injury report.

Pat Kirwan and Jason Horowitz, of CBSSports.com, take a look at the Bucs-Panthers game, and predict who will win and why.

In an interesting interview with Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman and other NFL quarterbacks, Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com asks a variety of questions to the various quarterbacks to try to read their minds.

In a question about whether he would rather be blitzed or have time to throw, Freeman noted that he’d rather face an all-out blitz.

Prisco: Third and long: Would you rather face a blitz or coverage?

Freeman: “It depends on what team it is. All in all, I’d say blitz. You’re more likely to get the matchup you want.”

Other items that Freeman touched upon in the article are that he’d prefer the Bucs use a running game to win rather than him throwing several touchdowns, and that he believes Raheem Morris is the best defensive coordinator he’s ever faced.

Joe has almost tired of typing that the Bucs’ rushing ills are not because of a subpar offensive line, but because of a mediocre set of running backs.

If Jeremy Trueblood, Davin Joseph, Jeff Faine and/or Donald Penn were cut this morning, they would be signed by someone by midnight.

The TBO duo of Anwar Richardson and Woody Cummings, both of the Tampa Tribune, discuss the merits, or lack thereof, of the Bucs’ offensive line in the latest edition of the TBO Bucs vlog. It’s a good watch. Let Joe know your feedback on their talking points.

Oh, nice shirt Anwar! Dude looks like he’s about to go to a luncheon at a country club. Sharp.

OK, Joe just can’t stay silent about this subject, even though it has nothing to do with the Bucs but it has something to do with the CITS.

By now, Joe assumes you may have read about the notorious Ines Sainz of TV Azteca, a Mexican sideline princess who last week got various members of the New York Jets aroused by her revealing attire.

Joe and Ms. Sainz’s paths crossed not quite two years ago, however brief. Sainz, a former Miss Universe contestant, seems to enjoy wearing jeans that appear to be spray painted on, and not-so modest tops.

Joe sees nothing wrong with this. She works in television which, Joe assumes most people know, is a visual medium. As the late Chicago Tribune columnist Mike Royko once wrote, “When I watch TV I don’t want to look at ugly. I see ugly every morning in the mirror.”

Is it fair that people that are not born with Sainz’s, um, features, can’t get a job on TV, no matter how qualified? No more or less fair than someone with a voice like a table saw can’t get a job on radio.

At any rate, at Super Bowl Media Day when the Steelers played the Cardinals, Joe was able to get a few shots of Sainz. She noticed Joe shooting pictures of her — hell, Joe stood right in front of her at one point shooting photos — and clearly she could care less and actually seemed bored by it. Joe was hardly the lone person getting pictures of her, there were hundreds of photographers on hand doing the same, not to mention the members of both Super Bowl teams ogling over her.

Joe even framed a photo to make sure she was in the background, which is a critical element in photography.

Sainz was working on such hard-hitting journalism, such as measuring players’ biceps.

Joe’s going to take a stab and suggest Sainz doesn’t know the difference between a down marker and a field goal post. That’s not her gig; that’s not what she does. She’s not Erin Andrews, who actually works at her craft and knows the sport of football, in addition to being a magnet for men’s eyes.

Sainz’s craft is getting reactions. She does this quite well.

In another picture, featuring Sainz’s most noted feature, you will see a dork in sunglasses and a cheesy goatee in the background. This guy was her producer and he went after Joe seconds after the photo was shot, nearly threw a punch at Joe for taking a photo of Sainz’s famous, um, feature.

Joe basically told the guy to shut the hell up and if Sainz didn’t want a photo of her, eerr, asset taken, she wouldn’t be wearing a second skin disguised as jeans.

Having got what Joe wanted (photos), Joe walked away, pleased with himself, laughing at Sainz’s producer for being so naive, having the gall to try to protect a swimsuit model from dudes with cameras.

Now if Sainz actually did her homework and really knew about football and asked intelligent questions about football, somehow Joe doesn’t think we’d be hearing anything about her and the Jets.

But Sainz played the part of a provocateur — beautifully, Joe might add — and the Jets played along, as if it was scripted.

This whole episode is no more complex than that.

Now one of the Joe’s is not much of a gambler, the second Joe enjoys a wager now and then.

Even the non-gambling Joe would jump at any NFL game, no matter the combatants, if Joe was getting 20 points.

That’s the kind of spread Sports Illustrated columnist Peter King is giving to the Carolina Panthers. In his weekly picks, coffee-slurping, popcorn-shoveling King believes the Panthers will beat the Bucs this week by nearly three touchdowns.

I’d make the argument that, with Cincinnati and New Orleans on the schedule in the next two weeks, no 0-1 team with the playoff prayer has a bigger game on the docket this weekend than Carolina. Because if you can’t beat Tampa Bay at home, you know you’re going absolutely nowhere this year.

King believes Carolina wins 33-13. Maybe King is still bitter at the Bucs for serving salty oatmeal?

Now before people start piling on, please note that there is a difference between a handicapper and a writer. A brilliant writer could be the worst sucker at a casino and the greatest gambler sometimes couldn’t put three coherent words together.

Never confuse the two.

Still, Joe hopes to wager with King — at anything — the next time he crosses paths with the Red Sox lover.

And yes, Joe admires King, likes King, and King has been more than kind to Joe in the past.

Update 10:39 a.m.: King has more gambling advice today. He has his beloved Ohio Bobcats beating The Ohio State by a field goal.