Joe’s not sure if this is hitting the panic button or a smart thing, but the Bucs just announced through the team’s official Twitter feed that defensive end Da’Quan Bowers has been activated and will play tonight against the Vikings.

@TBBuccaneers: The Bucs have just activated DE Da’Quan Bowers from the PUP list. He should play tonight against the Vikings.

Bowers blew out his Achilles working out at One Buc Palace in May. Generally, this is an injury that takes a year to heal properly.

Yeah, the Bucs’ pass rush could use some help now that Adrian Clayborn was put on the injured reserve list. But was it the Bucs didn’t have a pass rush against the Saints because Bowers and Clayborn weren’t on the roster, or because Bucs coach Greg Schiano gave the blessing to only rush Drew Brees with three men, basically allowing him to get his oil changed before having to throw the ball?

If Bowers reinjures his Achilles, it will be one helluva debt to pay by rolling the dice. Joe’s not of the mind that the gamble is worth it.

Adrian Peterson likely shouldn’t be playing. His knee injury was so severe last season, 2012 seemed a pipe dream. Peterson told Vikings officials he would be ready to start the season and they scoffed.

And look who started the season at running back for Minnesota.

It just goes to show the attitude that Peterson has, and runs with. Bucs coach Greg Schiano mentioned, specifically, how Peterson “runs with an attitude.” Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy agreed and tried to explain to the Tampa Bay pen and mic club what that running attitude is.

“He is unmatched,” GMC said. “I think he is the best running back in this league. Only thing he needs is a tiny seam and he will embarrass you. He is a freak of nature. He has superb athletism. The thing about Adrian Peterson, when he tore his ACL, and how he is already back, running as fast and as hard as he is, he is a freak of nature. He’s a machine. I don’t even think the dude is human.

“He runs like, ‘You should be ashamed of yourself if you think you can stop me.’ That’s how he runs. He runs like, “Shame on you for attempting to tackle me. I will show you why you can’t tackle me.'”

The Bucs will have counter Peterson with an attitude of their own defensively, as they rank atop the NFL in yards allowed per rush, a run-stuffing attitude that is growing in reputation around the NFL.

The Bucs will have to demonstrate that attitude tonight by blasting Peterson before he gets to the line, and making him pay physically, dearly, for even crossing the line.

Shuan King dishes out a wide range of opinions.

Former Bucs QB Shaun King might just be the most loathed media member analyzing the Bucs nowadays. Frankly, this puzzles Joe, and Joe can’t figure out how King became a villain. 

Joe thinks whatever drives King’s haters would make for a fantastic sociological study.

King, one of only three quarterbacks who led the Bucs to the NFC Championship game, is a local kid from St. Pete, a truly lifelong Bucs fan, who was a college standout that gave his all for the Bucs. Was he a Pro Bowler? No. But he wasn’t supposed to be.

King now works for NBC Sports Network as a NFL studio analyst, and he calls college games for FOX. He also reguarly checks in on the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620.

Today, King had high praise for Mike Sullivan transforming the Bucs offense on the fly, specifically playing to the strengths of Vincent Jackson and Mike Williams and away from a run-first mentality.

However, King said the Bucs blew their goal-line scoring opportunity against the Saints by “trying to prove a point instead of just trying to score a touchdown.”

King is also concerned about the effects of the hard “my-way-or-the-highway disciplinarian approach” in place under the New Schiano Order.

King says players may be “teetering” now on rejecting the hard discipline from Schiano because of the losing. “It’s imperative that we have success, and that we have success quickly,” King said. Enjoy the entire interview below.

It’s time to get a little loud and bond with your fellow Bucs fans while watching the New Schiano Order Bucs in Minnesota tonight at Tilted Kilt in Clearwater.

This is going to be the place to be for this game. The Bucs on Thursday Night Football!!

Tilted Kilt has it all, indoor and outdoor seating, great food, the sizzling Kilt girls, a classy layout, and great viewing. The game audio will be heard everywhere, and Joe’s got lots of jerseys and hats to giveaway. There’s nothing better than the energy of a great sports bar scene rocking for the home team. Be there!

Veteran Ch. 10 sportscaster Dave Wirth assesses the state of the Bucs and looks at tonight’s Bucs-Vikings game in this exclusive preview video for JoeBucsFan.com. Wirth isn’t convinced the Bucs’ coaching staff has a “firm grasp” on what it takes to win.

As the Bucs’ league-leading run defense (3.1 yards per carry) hits the national stage tonight against beastly Adrian Peterson and the run-first Vikings, more and more is Roy Miller getting front-line credit for the defensive turnaround.

Woody Cummings, Tampa Tribune beat writer, penned a feature today explaining the change in Miller’s positioning and responsibilities this season with reaction from players and  coaches.

Many Buccaneers defenders said the move of Miller sparked the improvement.

“That’s been the whole key to it,” defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said. “When Roy gets his hands on the center and basically chokes him out (of the play) it just allows everyone else to run through more freely and make plays.”

(Definitely click on through above to read the whole thing.) Miller has had extraordinary revival, from a guy who just couldn’t get much done and was repeatedly in the heart of the Bucs defense when it was getting gutted and gashed the past three seasons.

Miller’s contract is up after this season, and who could have guessed in July that Miller might be in line for a giant paycheck come February.

If he continues to produce and stay healthy, the Bucs will have to pay handsomely for No. 90 to return.

The returns are quite early thus far, but it’s hard to argue with the top three players Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik hand-picked in April’s draft.

Running back Doug Martin may have finally turned the corner, safety Mark Barron seems to be the next coming of Ed Reed, and how can anyone be chagrin with the play of linebacker Lavonte David?

The outside linebacker has been a terror and the numbers crunchers at ProFootballFocus.com have proof, so types Nathan Jahnke.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Lavonte David (2-58) is leading all 4-3 outside linebackers in Run Stop Percentage at 14.7.

Whoa, now. That’s pretty strong stuff. Outside of coaching, David may be the biggest reason the Bucs defense has improved.

(Joe still stands by his conviction that the most improved Bucs player is Mason Foster, and Joe believes he may have some pineapple in his belly in February.)

Just think of last year (provided you are sitting down). Once running backs got around the edge on the weakside, it was like an on-ramp to I-275 for running backs. The way the defense scrambled, it must have been what it looked like with the Union army retreating in the first Battle of Bull Run.

David has simply put a stop to all of that nonsense and is a major cog in the NFL’s top rush defense.

It’s time to get a little loud and bond with your fellow Bucs fans while watching the New Schiano Order Bucs in Minnesota tonight at Tilted Kilt in Clearwater.

This is going to be the place to be for this game. The Bucs on Thursday Night Football!!

Tilted Kilt has it all, indoor and outdoor seating, great food, the sizzling Kilt girls, a classy layout, and great viewing. The game audio will be heard everywhere, and Joe’s got lots of jerseys and hats to giveaway. There’s nothing better than the energy of a great sports bar scene rocking for the home team. Be there!

Joe knew it was just a matter of time that the Bucs would miss electric right defensive end Adrian Clayborn — who Joe saw limping around in the Bucs locker room this week.

Clayborn brought heat off the edge and could punish quarterbacks, like the time he nearly tore Matty Ice in half last year.

So when Clayborn went down with an ugly knee injury, Joe feared it would really hurt the Bucs.

Already, the Bucs can feel his void. That’s what Gerald McCoy told Joe yesterday when discussing all things defensive line. Joe asked him if he can tell opponents have changed their blocking schemes knowing they don’t have to worry about Clayborn racing around their left side.

“Yeah, yeah, the doubles are coming,” GMC said. Though he was almost embarrassed to admit it, he said he and fellow defensive tackle Roy Miller are seeing more double-teamed coverage as offenses don’t have to worry about Clayborn. “I’m not the first person to get doubled on this team. I’m just working hard to be able to get some one-on-ones and utilize my talents. One one-on-ones, I haven’t gotten that many [of late] but I have to work my best.”

That’s the task of Bucs defensive coaches now: They have to devise schemes up front in order to help GMC and Michael Bennett from getting double-teamed and lost in the wash.

That happened less with Clayborn giving left tackles fits.

In the NFL Network video linked here, former head coaches Denny Green and Brian Billick break down the Bucs’ failures on 1st-and-49-inches against the Saints on Sunday.

Green wags a finger at the Bucs offensive line, “They did not get the line of scrimmage at all.” And in a write-up of the sequences, Billick explains why he agreed with Schiano’s calls.

What troubles Joe most in the video linked above is watching LeGarrette Blount give up on the fourth-down play.

Josh Freeman rolls right and is scrambling for his life, and before Freeman hits the 10-yard-line number, Blount clearly plays spectator after getting off his block on the play-action fake. There’s no excuse for Blount not darting into the end zone to try and help his quarterback. Make yourself a target, draw a defender. Do something.

Eric Wright cannot have another upside-down game tomorrow like he had Sunday.

For the Bucs to win against the Vikings tomorrow night, the Bucs defense has to turn the Vikings into a one-dimensional team.

In short, that would be to have Samantha Steele-bedding Christian Ponder beat you.

Ponder, a former Florida State star, is a promising quarterback for the Vikings. But he is not as likely to beat a team as running back Adrian Peterson is.

But for the Bucs to dare Ponder to beat them, there must be a clean-up done in the Bucs pass defense, demands Alan Dell of the Bradenton Herald. He points out that last week, in particular, cornerback Eric Wright, had a long afternoon.

As for Dominik, he has a bigger problem justifying why he poured all that money into acquiring cornerback Eric Wright, who has never had good coverage skills.

He was abused Sunday by Brees, who targeted Wright nine times and completed seven passes for 147 yards, including a 47-yard TD to Joe Morgan on a play in which Wright missed a tackle.

Wright looked like a lost shepherd trying to find his flock, falling victim to Brees’ pump fakes on numerous occasions.

While Dell has a valid point about Wright, Joe has to stick up a little but here for Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik.

Dell, a good guy and a helluva columnist, is outraged Dominik would sign Wright for the price he shelled out. Dell believes Dominik woefully overpaid for Wright, and frankly, Joe doesn’t have a problem with that.

Last year the 4-12 Bucs were no less than wretched on defense and there was a void at cornerback the size of a Hernando County sinkhole after Ronde Barber was moved to safety. Something had to be done.

About the only way Dominik was going to plug that hole was to overpay to get a cornerback here. Just what cornerback wanted to come to the Bucs, then a low-rung team with a new coach? The only way Dominik — or any general manager — was going to upgrade a position through free agency on a team like the Bucs was to overpay.

Cornerbacks are so valuable, their pay scale is overpriced to begin with, thanks to the seven-on-seven style football the NFL has morphed into under the watch of NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell.

As Joe has asked Dell, he asks his readers: Would Myron Lewis have been an upgrade at cornerback after Barber flipped to safety rather than coughing up big bucks for Wright?

Yes, Wright — and everyone in the Bucs secondary — had a rough day last week. That cannot continue tomorrow night if Mr. Steele Ponder is to be shut down.

Bucs defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan explained what went wrong

Within 10 minutes of the final whistle Sunday, Joe had already deatailed the struggles and bang-your-head-against-a-wall use of the three-man rush against the Saints.

It didn’t work, and the Bucs were burned repeatedly. In a candid moment yesterday at One Buc Palace, Bucs defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan laid out what was going wrong.

“They blocked us up,” Sheridan said of the Saints offensive line.

“We weren’t able to pressure [Brees] well enough on three where he was going to throw on timing. In my mind, and it’s easy to say this after the fact watching the film, when he felt it was a three-man rush, he held on to the ball and waited for the down-the-field routes to get open. And even though we had eight guys back there and the windows were very, very small, he still fired it in there and hit, you know, 10-to-15 yard hits on those. And, so yeah, shoulda, woulda, coulda, throw the house at him and at least the ball’s going to come out sooner and the issue will be declared early in the down. You know what I mean? So, yeah, some of those definitely backfired on us.”

Joe appreciates Sheridan’s detailed breakdown. Jimminy Christmas! That three-man rush must have smelled like fresh-baked doughnuts to Brees, and it wasn’t just “10-to-15 yard hits” Brees was nailing down field.

To be fair, Brees is Brees, and there’s no great way to stop him if you can’t generate a pass rush. The Bucs didn’t do that with four men on Sunday.

Oh, how Joe longs for Jenny Dell to return to ESPN and break down all the statistical nonsense associated with Bucs games every week. She’s been gone for almost two years and Joe still hasn’t gotten over it.

Dell would have had a field day with the sad odds for the Bucs tomorrow night in Minnesota, per the Star-Tribune. Home teams on Thursday Night Football are winning at better than a three-out-of-four clip historically.

Thursday night home-field dominance is nothing new. Going back to last season, home teams are 13-4 on Thursday nights. That’s a .760 winning percentage compared to a .615 winning percentage (64-40) enjoyed by home teams overall this season. 

In a league of parity, a seemingly small thing such as a condensed schedule favors the home team.

It’s time to get a little loud and bond with your fellow Bucs fans while watching the New Schiano Order Bucs in Minnesota tomorrow night at Tilted Kilt in Clearwater.

This is going to be the place to be for this game. The Bucs on Thursday Night Football!!

Tilted Kilt has it all, indoor and outdoor seating, great food, the sizzling Kilt girls, a classy layout, and great viewing. The game audio will be heard everywhere, and Joe’s got lots of jerseys and hats to giveaway. There’s nothing better than the energy of a great sports bar scene rocking for the home team. Be there!

If anyone thought stud Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was washed up after an ugly knee injury last year, well, Peterson put all of that to rest by racking up 153 yards last week against Arizona.

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier had a hunch before the game that Peterson had overcome the hump of rehabilitation, writes Brian Murphy of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press.

Frazier looked him in the eyes and realized his superstar was not just physically ready to shoulder the offensive burden against a tough defense but confident he would get the job done.

The resulting 153 yards on 23 carries in Minnesota’s 21-14 victory Sunday, Oct. 21, validated the run-heavy strategy and signaled Peterson has graduated from recovery to the next phase of his career following Dec. 30 reconstructive knee surgery.

“I really believed that we were going to need him to have a big game for us and he said, ‘Coach, I’m ready. If that’s what you feel like we need to do, give me more carries, whatever, I’ll be ready,’ ” Frazier recounted Tuesday. “Then he had a great practice on Friday. The way he moved I knew what he said was not telling me something I wanted to here. And then he went out and played that way, and we needed to have that type of game.”

This is the daunting task the Bucs face tomorrow night at the big baggie in the northlands, the Minneapolis Metrodome (Joe knows it’s called something else these days; some non-descript,forgettable corporate name).

The Bucs are stingy against the run. Peterson makes defenses look like fools. Something has to give.

This just might be an old-fashioned cat-and-mouse game: Keep the ball out of Josh Freeman’s hands by pounding the ball with Peterson.

But if the Bucs can contain him, the ball will be in Freeman’s hands much more often.

This type of drama is why a higher authority invented beer.

Even Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder’s girlfriend, cutie ESPN sideline princess Samantha Steele, is stunned to learn Adam Schein would prefer her beau to quarterback his team over Bucs signal-caller Josh Freeman.

Joe has heard some wild tales in his life, but the following is right up there with the best.

As regular readerd here know, Joe loves — loves! — SiriusXM NFL Radio. Joe may listen to that station more than he watches the NFL Network, which is saying something.

Monday when discussing the previous day’s games, the subject of Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder came up (and no, it had nothing to do with the tryst he is currently involved in with ESPN hottie college football reporter Samantha Steele).

Ponder had a rare day Sunday in which he threw for a grand total of 58 yards, and won. This provoked popular sports radio personality Adam Schein, who co-hosts “The Blitz” with Rich Gannon, to invoke Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman’s name in the discussion.

(And no, Steele’s name still didn’t come up.)

“Rich, yesterday, Josh Freeman throws for 420 yards and three touchdowns,” Schein said. “If I had to pick right now who was quarterbacking my team, Christian Ponder or Josh Freeman, I’d have to pick Christian Ponder.”

Gannon, a big Freeman fan, seemed to be at a loss for words right away, but admitted it’s an interesting choice, though he is still a Freeman guy and he also thought Ponder will continue to grow as a starting NFL quarterback.

The key with Ponder, Schein pointed out, is he wins, despite pedestrian statistics.

Ponder and the Vikings are currently 5-2 and have their eyes set on a sprint for a postseason berth. The Bucs are 2-4 and staring at 2-5 with an always difficult Thursday road game in a stadium the Vikings have yet to lose in this season. If those trends continue, next spring’s draft will become a popular subject around the greater Tampa Bay area.

Joe brought Schein’s thoughts up for discussion with Ponder during a conference call Tuesday with the pen and mic club.

Adam Schein

“That’s one guy’s opinion,” Ponder said, sort of dismissing Schein’s thoughts. “I think Josh Freeman is a very good player. He was a first round pick a couple of years ago. I know him. He’s extremely talented and a good guy and works hard. To throw for over 400 yards and three touchdowns, yeah, it was a loss, but that’s playing at a high level. He’s going to be a quarterback in this league for a long time.”

Now Joe knows where Schein is coming from, sort of the Chris “Mad Dog” Russo of sports philosophy. Wins trump stats. Sort of like the banter of comparing Brad Johnson to Jeff George. Johnson won and has a ring to prove it; George had mind-boggling stats but few wins.

Still, despite Ponder’s eye for talent, Joe would take Freeman, who has much more of a body of work than Ponder.

If Joe’s readers would like to share their thoughts on Schein’s choice in quarterbacks, feel free to call “The Blitz” at 1-877-NFL-KICK between 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

With controversy swirling over the head of Bucs coach Greg Schiano in certain NFL cirlces, first over his kneel-down defense and now his field goal defense, Schiano is receiving public support from an unlikely source: Joe Theismann.

The Super Bowl-winning quarterback for the Redskins and popular NFL analyst had Schiano’s back when he appeared on the “Ron and Ian Show” today on WDAE-AM 620.

“I don’t have a problem,” Theismann said. “Our league continues to evolve from coaches and situations and to try to do something different. If you look at the victory formation, Herm Edwards’ play looms in everyone’s mind. You never know what is going to happen and it put everyone on alert: That when you play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers you will play to the last snap.

“Greg is going to find there are certain things that will be accepted and not be penalized for and some things you are going to want to do and realize, ‘I can’t do that.’ He’s not alien to professional football. “

Theismann then went on to say many of the plays and formations that are common in the NFL today were hatched plans as experiments by NFL coaches not that long ago, and what Schiano is doing is no different. As for his dust-up with Giants headmaster Tom Coughlin, Theismann said, “Coaches are always going after each other and that is not going to change.”

To hear the full interview, click on the little arrow below.

“No. he doesn’t [look a step slower], just as violent as he was before he got hurt, as far as the type of runner he is. He looks like he would prefer to run through guys, not necessarily over ’em, but run through tackles. He can make you miss, as you know, and run away from you as well. But, yeah, he looks as good as I’ve seen him.” — Bucs defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan on Vikings RB Adrian Peterson today.

The Bucs allow 3.1 yards per carry, best in the NFL.

Peterson is averaging 4.8 yards per carry and has 652 rushing yards and 22 receptions in seven games.

This should be a hell of a lot of fun to watch.