Joe thought it was a curious quote coming from Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib earlier this week when he said he jumped off the couch while he watched his replacement, E.J. Biggers, play so well, during the Bucs’ blacked out game against Cleveland.

Indeed Talib was watching the (blacked out) Bucs on TV from a couch. The couch just happened to be in his luxury box at the CITS. Per St. Petersburg Times’ Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud’s Twittering, this is an NFL violation.

Talib was sitting out the season-opener, per his one-game suspension for his cabbie-slugging incident last summer, and was in his own luxury box at the CITS Sunday, paid for out of his own pocket.

It is not unusual at all for players to have luxury boxes. It’s a safe haven to bring family and friends from out of town to watch them play, and visit with for the weekend.

Doing a bit of research, Joe learned Talib was under the impression it was all good to be in his luxury box.

Per NFL rules, Talib is not allowed to participate in any team activities for the week he is suspended; which he abided by. He was not in the locker room, did not attend any team functions.

Joe has learned Talib had no idea he was not allowed to be in the same stadium as the Bucs, as a paying customer among the 47,211 others attending the game, a win over Cleveland.

What next, a Bucs player, if suspended, should serve time in an Orient Road jail cell during a Bucs game, per the NFL? Sheesh.

Talk about a technicality.

Oh, no. Poor Aqib Talib. It looks like his wallet might get a bit lighter, and he might want to find a more thorough agent.

Using his nimble fingers on Twitter, St. Pete Times Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud says Talib busted NFL policy by serving his one-game suspension last week in the cozy confines of a C.I.T.S. luxury box.

Bucs CB Aqib Talib violated the terms of his suspension by watching Sunday’s game in a suite at Raymond James Stadium

Joe suspects NFL Commissioner Goodell will simply slap Talib on the wrist with a fine for failing to follow the rules. Joe hangs the blame for this screwup on the Bucs, Talib and his agent. They all bear some responsibility.

Joe wonders whether Talib goes to the game if the Bucs were not blacked out off local television?

Update: 3:51 p.m. – Stroud is now reporting Talib signed autographs for fans Sunday but when confronted at practice Wednesday Talib said he watched the game in Texas.

The lack of chaos for Mark Dominik and the Bucs this offseason already means the Bucs will be better this year, Gary Shelton writes.

It’s easy to feel better about the Bucs this season. Winning the first game of the season is a good reason, for starters.

Veteran sports columnist Gary Shelton suggests there are good reasons to feel better about the Bucs, and it has nothing to do with last Sunday’s win over Cleveland. In a St. Petersburg Times chat this week, Shelton said last offseason was such a mess, the Bucs can’t help but be better.

Comment From ATLRick:
OK, I was seriously embarrassed to be a Bucs fan last season. It wasn’t the record (rebuilding happens), but it was the coach firtings, the articles about the Glazers being broke, Raheem seeming to be in over his head, etc. Everything just feels different this season, at least to me up here in Atlanta. Am I crazy or is there a possible glimmer of hope? Does the whole atmosphere around the Bucs feel different?

Gary Shelton
It’s better, Rick. There isn’t the chaos of a year ago. I wrote the other day that the worst season the Bucs have had in the last 20 years was last year’s off-season. They hired two coordinators who didn’t make it through the season. They spent the off-season deciding between two quarterbacks who never played after week three. They cut their veterans. They chased Jay Cutler and Albert Haynesworth. They signed Clayton, Ward and Nugent to big contracts.

Compared to that, this is a walk in the park. There at least seems to be a plan in place. Whether than plan works, we don’t yet know. But things do feel better. Not good yet, but better.

Rich McKay used to say all the time: It doesn’t matter what your plan is, but you have to have one.

In retrospect, it seems the Bucs’ braintrust didn’t know what they wanted last offseason. They purged veterans but ran after high-priced veterans which, thankfully, Mark Dominik failed to land.

If nothing else, the fact the heinous Jim Bates Experiment was put out to pasture means this season is better.

Joe’s excited to see Maurice Stovall back on the field. It’s likely to happen on Sunday.

Now Stovall is hardly an upper echelon receiver, but among the Bucs’ wideouts he’s the elder statesman. And he did catch more balls from Josh Freeman last year than any other wide receiver.

Today, Raheem Morris said Stovall is looking good and he might activate five receivers for the Panthers game, so says the Bucs Twitter feed.

WR Maurice Stovall (ankle) looks a lot better this week, coach says, and the team could keep more than 4 WRs active this week.

Considering Kareem Huggins’ injury, it’s even more likely the Bucs will want Stovall in the game and available on special teams. Regardless, they could use more options for Freeman.

For the second season in a row, it seems Kareem Huggins has an injury that will hold him back from a breakthrough opportunity, assuming the Bucs were actually going to hand him the ball in the first place.

Last year, Huggins injured his knee as he was ascending up the depth chart during preseason games.

This afternoon, the official Buccaneers Twitter feed says Huggins’ tweaked groin is not getting better.

Coach says K.Huggins had a bit of a setback with his injured groin Weds. & if he can’t play either K.Lumpkin or C.Blount would get a shot.

That’s a shame for Huggins. Yesterday, Raheem Morris admitted that he and his staff were probably too apprehensive in getting Huggins carries against Cleveland. And Morris vowed to be more trusting at Carolina.

Joe suspects rookie running back LeGarrette Blount gets the call to replace Huggins.

It’s too bad Dante Wesley now plays for the Lions. He’s the Panther who dropped a major cheap shot on Clifton Smith last year and left him out cold on the Bucs’ home turf. Joe would have enjoyed wondering whether Blount might throw a haymaker at Wesley on Sunday.

A JoeBucsFan.com tradition is the gorgeous Jenny Dell’s statistical take on every Bucs game.

Joe never pays attention to what she’s talking about because it doesn’t really matter.

You’ve all read THE PESSIMIST, who spews his Bucs-related anger like no other. But Joe also wants you to know THE OPTIMIST. 

THE OPTIMIST is Nick Houllis, a Bucs fan and an accomplished writer whose steadfast allegiance to the team goes back to the 1970s. Houllis is the founder, creator and guru of BucStop.com, a place Joe goes to get lost in time via Houllis’ stunning video collection.

THE OPTIMIST will shine that positive light in your eyes. Some will love it. Some won’t.

Don’t look now, but it’s happening right in front of our eyes. While your at it, don’t leave Raymond James early this year. You’re going to have to stay to the end no matter what the score because your Tampa Bay Buccaneers are turning into a fourth-quarter team.

You don’t have to be a statistician to see that this coincides with the arrival of Josh Freeman as starting quarterback.

We can find the beginning of this pattern last year under the direction of the other Josh, Johnson that is, in the Week 6 battle with Carolina in Tampa. With just a few minutes left in the 3rd quarter, Sammie Stroughter returned a kickoff 97 yards to bring the Bucs to within one touchdown. Then, going into the fourth Quarter, Tanard Jackson intercepted a Jake Delhomme pass and took it back for the game-tying score.

But a porous Jim Bates led defense allowed Carolina to score and end that particular attempt. Two games later, however, the Josh Freeman era began, as the Bucs wore their throwback Bucco Bruce uniforms and Mr. Freeman became the youngest QB to win an NFL game since 1970; and yes, he did it in the fourth quarter.

Now I’ve asked Mr. Sabol to hold off on the “NFL Films Josh Freeman’s 4th Quarter Comebacks” DVD, at least for the momet. But all the magic began right there. Down 28-17 to the Packers, the Bucs under Freeman’s guidance scored 21 unanswered points in the last stanza and they have been making a habit of it right on up through last week’s game against the Browns.

In Miami, Freeman threw a 33-yard TD to Maurice Stovall, and then led the Bucs down the field for a Cadillac Williams TD run with under two minutes left in the game. Problem was that defense again, as Miami was allowed to go downfield to kick a FG and take the victory away from our Bucs.

In the upset win on the west coast against the Seahawks, most of the second half points were already on the board after three quarters, but the very next week in New Orleans against the would be Super Bowl Champions, the good guys were down to the Men in Black 17-3 when the final period started.

Even in the loss to Atlanta in the season finale, the tying touchdown was scored in, you guessed it, although it wasn’t enough to preserve a victory and make it three in a row to end the year.

Fast-forward to the Browns on Sunday a sloppily played game in the first half did not get these Buccaneers down one bit. They kept clawing away, bettering their field position with good defense until the opportunity sprung a perfectly laid pass right into the open arms of Run Micheal Run Spurlock.

Whether they’ll be ‘Comeback Kids,’ or be Dungyesque and play games close for three quarters and then make a move to win it in the fourth through the season, no one knows. But so far, the 2010 Bucs look like they plan to continue their trend of delivering interesting finishes, by making plays in the end.

Of course, Joe listened to Tuesday night’s Gerald McCoy Show on WDAE-AM 620.

There’s nothing earth-shattering to report, but Joe did compile some interesting nuggets from No. 93.

• McCoy lives with his sister in Tampa. His grandmother died last week, but he is staying in Tampa while his close-knit family is together in Oklahoma. “They know I’m out here, and I have to work.”
• McCoy tried to play basketball his freshman year of high school but his dad didn’t allow it. “My father was like, ‘Nope, no injuries for you.’ We got to play football.'”
• He plans on being in the playoffs.
• He had no problem with the speed of pro game.
• The Bucs team nutritionist helps him out with a meal regimen.
• He plays lots of video games. He’s not a big Madden player, but he plays it now “because I’m in it. ” Outside of video games, in his free time McCoy says, “I read my bible a lot.”
• McCoy was quite pleased Florida State fans were brought down to earth after losing big to his beloved Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday. “We have a 32 home game winning streak for a reason.”

McCoy definitely is comfortable behind the microphone. He doesn’t play like a rookie there, either.

Old man Ronde Barber was on the Bucs radio network last night as the players shows began in earnest (not Graham) this week.

Of course, Barber took a lot of ribbing – good natured of course – from host Scott Ledger and various callers for that piano on his back, which appeared when he failed to house Jake Delhomme on an interception that turned the game around into a Bucs victory against Cleveland Sunday.

Even with that piano, Barber admitted he needed help.

“I was looking at the JumboTron,” Barber said, confessing he tried to use the giant replay board in the north end zone to get a better read on who was chasing him and what angle to use.

“Then I tried to kick it into another gear, but I lost that gear about five years ago.”

While Barber may not have the wheels he once did, he still has the smarts. Often, that’s equally important, if not more so.

Good guy Maoist Michael Silver, of Yahoo Sports, had a curious quote about the Bucs in his first “32 Questions” of the NFL season, in which he rhetorically ask a question about each NFL team.

In his question about the Bucs, Silver seems confused or perplexed by Bucs tight end Kellen Winslow.

Does anyone even remember that Kellen Winslow is still in the league?

If Silver is suggesting people are forgetting about him because he played on one of the worst teams in the NFL last year, OK, Joe gets that. But if Silver is implying that Winslow’s skills have slipped, well, Cleveland found out the hard way that certainly is not the case.

If anything, Winslow could be more dangerous this year because of the emergence of Mike Williams and Sammie Stroughter.

The Bucs’ head coach says he’s going to stick with good old fashioned flying chest bumps to motivate his team.

There will be no Joe Maddonesque fashion statements, Raheem Morris explained earlier this week on the Buccaneers Radio Network.

A caller to the Raheem Morris Show on WDAE-AM 620 asked Morris whether he was planning any of the bizarre fashion statements the Rays manager uses as bonding exercises.  

“I’ll start with Joe Maddon, man. That’s my guy, man. Joe comes up with some great ideas for his team,” Morris said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a plaid jacket on before. But, you know, Joe Maddon is a great dude.

“Whatever I can give these guys as far as positive energy, which I get highly criticized about a lot of times with our chest bumps and stuff. But hey, that’s what my team feeds off of. That’s what I feed off of, and that’s how we’re going to plan to play.”

Joe really doesn’t care how Raheem motivates the Bucs, as long as they win.

If the Bucs can somehow squeeze a win out of Carolina on Sunday, Joe vows to chest bump the person nearest to him when the final whistle sounds. Hopefully, she’ll be a buxom blonde — just to cushion the blow, of course.

Fantasy football guru Justin Pawlowski, of WDAE-AM, serves up his weekly fantasy update in this odd/funny/informative video.

Yes, Joe is quite sure The Commish is not using any controlled substances.

America’s most famous assistant high school football coach is off to a rough start with the local referees. 

On Sept. 3, during the first quarter of the season-opening game for Carrollwood Day School in Tampa, assistant coach Jon Gruden incurred a 15-yard penalty for chewing out officials and Chucky was so tormented by the call that he abandoned his teenage roster and left the field for the remainder of the game.

“Whether or not it was his celebrity, I don’t know, but the officials made the call,” Carrollwood Day School athletic director Frank Mabry said Wednesday. “I was right there myself. In all honesty, he was upset with the officials and he did receive a sideline penalty and a warning, but it was definitely overblown.

“He was not ejected. He left the sidelines on his own volition and watched from the stands. [Gruden] has been absolutely awesome with our students and accommodating with our coaches. It’s a shame that people were saying that he was ejected and making a big deal out of that. That’s not what happened. He chose to remove himself from the situation.”

Mabry said he will not file a complaint with the West Coast Officials Association, which employs the referees that worked that game. “I have the highest respect for the officials, and this is not that kind of situation,” he said.

Former high school football official George Robertson, of Tampa, was at the game cheering on his son who played for the opposing team, Cambridge Christian School.

Robertson said Chucky continued to berate officials while watching from the stands, calling them “Forrest Gump” and questioning calls.

Joe thinks it’s very weak that Chucky chose to leave the field in the first quarter.

Perhaps the officials had a quick trigger for Chucky, but why would he not just stop talking and be there for his players?

It was a great opportunity to teach the kids some sportmanship, rather than running away — like Forrest Gump loved to do.

It was an unusual weekend for Bucs stud cornerback Aqib Talib. Normally playing lockdown defensive back, Talib instead channeled his inner Rachel Watson and cheered on his Bucs teammates, so reports Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times.

Talib had been suspended for a game as a result of his clubbing a cabbie — allegedly — last summer as it sped down I-275. Because he was not in uniform didn’t mean he was disengaged, especially watching E.J. Biggers fill his shoes so well.

Talib said he watched the Bucs’ 17-14 win over Cleveland Sunday on television and was impressed with the play of the defense, particularly his replacement in the lineup, second-year pro E.J. Biggers, who had a game-clinching interception.

I just was jumping off the couch, really excited to see him come out and have a great game,” Talib said of Biggers.

That’s way cool for Joe to read but Joe has one rhetorical question: In what town was said couch located that Talib could watch the game?

At any rate, Talib confessed sorrow for putting himself in a position to be suspended and vowed not to let himself be suspended again.

All in all, good stuff to read there.

"We can't sell any tickets to a good team here in San Diego!"

Much was made in recent days of the Tampa Bay area not buying tickets to Bucs games. Why, how horrible of an area this is, how dare Team Glazer not allow the games to be on TV… yada, yada, yada.

Joe first smelled feces when he heard the loud and proud crowd boast even St. Louis sold out its Rams game. Originally from that neck of the woods, Joe knows what a lousy football market that is. In fact, third parties had to buy up tickets to donate to charitable organizations in order for that game to be televised locally.

Now there is this little nugget: Seems as if the pearl of the Pacific Coast, San Diego, is in real danger of having a blackout, KNDS-TV in San Diego notes that its game with Jacksonville this week will “most likely” be blacked out.

Chargers president and CEO Dean Spanos told our media partners at the North County Times that the game, which is a week from Sunday against Jacksonville, will “most likely” be blacked out.

Spanos blamed the bad economy in an interview with the paper.

“I think Southern California is still suffering, and in some ways the region may be worse off today than it was a year ago,” Spanos said in the interview.

So for all the haters out there who bag on this area as a rotten sports town, either start screaming about San Diego (or Cincinnati) or shut the hell up! Last Joe checked, the Chargers are expected to win the AFC West. Can’t blame their (lack of) attendance on rebuilding.

Raheem Morris gives his take on blackouts and details how he helped a family of strangers go to Sunday's game.

Nobody likes blacked out games, and the subject is clearly one that stirs passion inside the Bucs’ defensive mastermind/head coach.

Raheem Morris volunteered his thoughts on the Bucs being off local television for their home opener and playing before 20,000+ empty seats, during The Raheeem Morris Show, on WDAE-AM 620 on Monday.

Morris told a story of how he helped a local family go to the Bucs-Browns game and put blame for the blackouts on the rough local economy.

“The economy right now is rough. We understand that. And I’m very sensitive to that. I actually was in a mall this week, and ran across a young man in the mall in the Apple store and gave him and his family four tickets to the game,” Morris said. “And I was fired up about that and received a beautiful e-mail today from their family. And, you know, I wish I could do more. I wish I could buy all the tickets myself. But I can’t do that yet.”

“I don’t think it’s a lack of fan support. …You would like the NFL to change the [blackout] rule with the economy with what we got going on right now.”

Bravo to Raheem for helping a family of strangers. Classy move.

Joe despises blackouts, too. That’s why Joe runs The Blackout Tour, so fans can spend just $24.95 to travel and watch blacked out games at Lee Roy Selmon’s in Fort Myers. The thought of fans not being able to watch a home game because of financial constraints (or not wanting to break the law and watch online) was too sad for Joe to just to sit idle.

However, Joe can’t pin all of those empty seats on the economy by any means.

The sheer number of empty seats speaks to frustration with ownership and a lack of quality on the field. Fans are in “show me” mode right now, and it could take awhile to get games on TV, with or without a significant economic upswing.

Joe was surprised as a bean counter when Bucs general manager Mark Dominik not only let go of Kardashian-chasing running back Derrick Ward, but also wide receiver Michael Clayton.

Why? Because, in short, Dominik took a bath with their contracts/signing bonuses.

But could it be the two were dismissed for reasons other than lack of production? That seems to be the inference from a quote by safety Tanard Jackson, unearthed by eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.

The Buccaneers swallowed hard on the brink of a new season and went with their gut instead of their wallet. And by releasing running back Derrick Ward and wide receiver Michael Clayton, Tampa Bay’s brain trust gained respect from those left behind.

“That meant a lot,” safety Tanard Jackson said. “We’re all men in here and we know this is a cutthroat business. They were true to their word in making those decisions and we got a sense of what direction they wanted to go – that’s to create the best winning environment possible. And that’s a credit to the guys upstairs.”

Well, that doesn’t exactly seem that Jackson was crying crocodile tears over Clayton and Ward’s departure.

Now let Joe be blunt: Joe has never, ever heard anything negative about Clayton and his relationship with his teammates. Every encounter Joe had with Clayton was nothing less than pleasant; he couldn’t have been nicer.

Did Clayton get emotional at times and have a quote or two he wished he could take back? Of course, and he quickly apologized.

Clayton also seemed to take pride in working with younger players, helping them get their feet wet in the NFL.

Ward is a different story. By all accounts, Ward was not a pleasant fellow. He was often short if not surly with members of the fourth estate, and as we all know seemed to blame everyone but himself for his shortcomings, most notably playing on a baseball infield that never seemed to hinder Ricky Williams or Ronnie Brown.

Ward also seemed to mope and pout a lot.

Not to ascribe any motives, just judging by the two high-salaried players who were let go, and their personalities, Joe’s going to guess Bucs players weren’t that broken up with Ward finding employment elsewhere.

The Bucs’ defensive mastermind/head coach was very pleased the way the manbeasts along his offensive line protected Josh Freeman on Sunday.

Speaking on the Buccaneers Radio Network on WDAE-AM Monday, Raheem Morris wasn’t asked about pass blocking by host and noted Twitterer TJ Rives, but the head coach felt the need to interject  some love for his O-line.

“Usually these guys, the only time you notice them is when something goes wrong, your breakdown in protection, it’s something obvious that we can all see with the naked eye where it goes wrong. But the protection, blocking wise, as far as the offensive line yesterday was outstanding,” Morris said. “They had three sacks, but two of them were not the fault of the offensive line. You know, whether we missed a hot throw, or whether we got held on a route and it wasn’t called so [Freeman] had to hold the ball in his hand.

“But protection, knowing who to block and where to go, you want to talk about being on the same page; those guys were great.”

Joe’s glad to hear how great the O-line looked on film in pass protection.

But it makes Joe wonder just how bad they looked on run blocking since the Bucs are considering replacing left guard Keydrick Vincent with Jeremy Zuttah.

As Joe and just about any Bucs fan who got to watch the game knows, it was a pleasant surprise the way the Bucs’ run defense manned up in the second half and controlled the Browns.

Quite possibly the worst area on the Bucs’ roster last year was the interior defensive front. Whether that has been solved with rookies Gerald McCoy and Brian Price, well, a lot will be learned this Sunday.

It seems Tampa Tribune Bucs beat writer eye-RAH! Kaufman is of the same mind. He believes how the Bucs defense handles the rugged rushing attack of Carolina will be a robust early test.

Despite tightening up against the run in Sunday’s season-opening victory against Cleveland, Tampa Bay’s revamped defensive line faces a far different challenge heading to Charlotte, where the Panthers come off a 31-18 road loss to the Giants.

Carolina’s ground attack has embarrassed Tampa Bay in each of the past three meetings, averaging 241 yards per game. The barrage began on a Monday night in December, 2008, when the Bucs and Panthers met on national TV in a matchup of 9-3 clubs vying for NFC South supremacy.

The Panthers ran for 299 yards that evening, triggering a shocking 4-game slide that ultimately cost Coach Jon Gruden and GM Bruce Allen their jobs.

How cool would it be if the Bucs were able to stuff the Panthers on their own turn in their own stadium? Yes, a lot of will be learned this weekend. Joe hopes it’s not a flunked pop quiz.

Somewhere, Woody Hayes is rolling in his grave! And Bill Cowher is rolling his eyes.

Joe mocks and snickers when he sees NFL teams using indoor practice facilities, basically mini-versions of the Fruitdome. Why does Joe laugh? Because big, bad NFL players can’t practice in the elements?

Hayes used to love having practices in the rain because he said it gave his team a chance to learn how to play with a wet ball. Cowher used to say it gave his teams advantages they couldn’t hope to otherwise prepare for.

So Joe finds it interesting that good guy Stephen Holder, of the St. Petersburg Times, believes the Bucs are wishing they had an indoor facility when he noted the Bucs again this week will practice at the Fruitdome.

Last week, the Bucs made a last-minute change to their practice schedule and held a practice at the Trop in an effort to give players a break from rigorous practices in the sun at One Buc Place.

Whether this becomes a regular occurrence or not remains to be seen. But all this does certainly underscore how the Bucs could definitely take advantage of an indoor practice bubble like many teams around the league use.

Eh, unless there’s a lightning storm, practice outside! Football is played in the elements so why not practice in the elements?