If eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribuneis correct, family members and friends of Raheem the Dream and Mark Dominik will be buying loads of season tickets for the 2010 season.

Kaufman, writing in a question-and-answer format, all but says that the job security of Raheem the Dream and possibly Dominik may depend on how many season tickets are sold for next season.

Q: It seems to me that the entire Bucs organization from the general manager and head coach to the assistants are in over their heads. The firing of the offensive coordinator one week before the season began is a symptom (in my opinion) of an organization in disarray or one that just doesn’t know what to do. The decision to make Byron Leftwich the starter is another poor decision and a colossal waste of time. I’ve been a Bucs supporter since the beginning, and the caliber of play this season harkens back to those years of 1 and 2 wins per season. Isn’t it clear to the ownership that they have made a fundamental mistake in the hiring of both the head coach and general manager? My season tickets won’t be automatically renewed next year. I’m waiting to see some infusion of qualified personnel.
John Chapin, Tallahassee

A: Your frustration is both obvious and understandable. This administration has made a string of poor judgments since the start of training camp and the results are there on the scoreboard for all to see. Buc fans sitting on the fence about renewing tickets for 2010 want to see progress as this season unfolds. And that’s exactly what the Glazers will demand as they decide whether to stick with Dominik and Morris to chart the future. If the Bucs are showing improvement in December, that will count heavily for ownership. If the arrow is flat, heads will roll.
— Ira Kaufman

Joe has heard that theory before and Joe believes it has merit. Think about it: If the Brutal Bucs finish the season at 0-16 and no moves are made on the coaching staff — just finishing winless should dictate massive changes on the coaching staff even if Raheem the Dream somehow survives — just how are the Bucs supposed to market the team if it hits rock bottom and no changes are made?

“Hey, come out and watch the worst team in football! We have the first pick in the draft who might be a player in three years, so buy your tickets now and avoid the rush!”

That won’t fly.

Apparently, the Rah, Rah act from the Bucs head coach isn’t getting through to defensive coordinator Jim Bates.

Raheem The Dream himself told the Green Bay media that the veteran Bates needs change in order to relish his new football life in Tampa.

During his Wednesday conference call with the Green Bay MSM, Morris was asked what it’s like to be a young coach (33) working with an elder statesman. Bates is 63.

“… We’re implementing his system,” Raheem The Dream said. “We’re getting the players in place that he needs to be successful. And once we have that opportunity to do that, Jim Bates will be feeling pretty good about being here, loving life. And we’re just glad we can work together.”

This quote is so packed with intrigue Joe doesn’t know where to start.

So does this mean Bates is depressed? Miserable because he’s lacking the horses he needs to run his defense and the savvy and creativity necessary to succeed with what he’s got?

Then there’s Raheem The Dream’s line about getting players for Bates, “once we have the opportunity to do that.”

What a joke. The Bucs are gazillions of dollars under the salary cap. They had the whole offseason to sign some “Jim Bates” players. Bates was all but begging for Jason Taylor to get an offer, but Czar Mark Dominik wasn’t interested.

There’s also no way Bates preferred the failed experiment of Jermaine Phillips at outside linebacker over Derrick Brooks in that role.

Bates better stock up on Alka Seltzer and Valium for next season. If his happiness hinges on the Glazers and Czar Dominik stocking his defense with top talent, the odds are he’s going to need medicinal relief.

Gil Brant, affectionately called “The Godfather” by his comrades at Sirius NFL Radio, took a call from a frustrated Bucs fan Wednesday who asked what the Bucs might do in next spring’s draft and what Brandt thought of rookie quarterback Josh Freeman.

The caller hinted the Bucs may need a running back — which surprised Joe — when he said, “we are lucking out with Cadillac Williams.”

The caller first asked Brandt if the Bucs should draft a safety with their first round pick, which is the advice Monte Kiffin had for the Bucs.

Brandt said the Bucs should use their first round pick on a safety unless the Bucs  “are determined to draft a safety they should trade down as there are going to be good safeties in the late first round and early second round.”

The caller asked Brandt about Freeman. Brandt, architect of the famed Dallass Cowboys teams of the 1970s, said he likes Freeman but warned the caller not to expect much Sunday.

“I hope for the Bucs’ sake the Packers don’t watch tape of Freeman against Nebraska from last year. Nebraska blitzed him like crazy and trapped him five times.”

Brandt went on to say the biggest problem with rookie quarterbacks is sometimes they play on lesser teams which is not a good element for development.

“If you are not on a well-coached team, [rookie quarterbacks] won’t be able to pick up the blitzes and then struggle.”

Hhhmmm. A Dom Capers defense never blitzing? Nah, that’s won’t happen. Joe would be absolutely shocked at such a thing.

Raheem The Dream was peppered with questions by the Green Bay media today and was asked what Bucs are standout performers on his winless team.

Massive praise was heaped on Aqib Talib, Barrett Ruud and Tanard Jackson. “Three guys that’s really been dominant,” Raheem The Dream said about them.

The Dream also singled out Jimmy Wilkerson for his 5 1/2 sacks and “hustle and what he demands from his unit.” (No. not that unit.)

Donald Penn and Kellen Winslow also were praised heavily.

Lastly, and most curious to Joe, were comments about Cadillac Williams.

No suprise Raheem The Dream said Caddy’s play has been “inspired.” But he went on to say Caddy’s touches have been limited because of  concerns about strength and stamina.

“Coming back off those injuries nobody really expected anything from him,” Raheem The Dream said. “His running ability has been limited a little bit by me, and really by our coaching staff, because we don’t want to put him out there too much.  But he’s shown us more and more every week, that he’s getting stronger and stronger and ready to carry the load in some of those type situations.”

Joe is extremely surprised to hear this now after seven games, and four weeks after Greg Olson was out there telling the world Caddy was going to the Bucs’ feature back.

It saddens Joe that it appears now that Caddy possibly had his carries limited in England — just 11 to Derrick Ward’s 13 — because of injury concerns.

Is Caddy healthy or not?

With the Brutal Bucs barrelling down the road toward an 0-16 season (and 20 — 20! — consecutive losses) even the most caffeinated Bucs cheerleader has to acknowledge Raheem the Dream’s job would be on thin ice.

Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com types a column for SportingNews.com in which he looks at where teams might go if they change coaches.

If the Bucs don’t win a game, it would be difficult — if not impossible — for the team to give Raheem Morris a second season. The decision ultimately could hinge on whether Gruden and former GM Bruce Allen get new jobs, which would cut off the buyout obligation and make it easier to dump (but still pay) Morris, and possibly GM Mark Dominik. That said, the suddenly dysfunctional Buccaneers would likely encounter difficulty in attracting a high-end coach. The perception is that the team won’t spend enough money to be competitive, and until that changes, the job in Tampa won’t be regarded as an attractive one.

Here’s another thing about going after a high profile coach: If said coach (Bill Cowher, Mike Shanahan, Mike Holmgren) would be interested in the Bucs job, would they want to work with Bucs general manager Mark Dominik?

Earnest Graham says team rules weren't as strict when Chucky was around. Perhaps that's why Rachel left. Joe will never know.

Earnest Graham had a few laughs about the uproar over Aqib Talb’s swear festival in a London hotel with Raheem The Dream.

Speaking Tuesday on 1010 AM, the Bucs starting fullback said he believes it’s only a story because fans and media are so frustrated by the team’s 0-7 record.

“People are trying to find what’s wrong. So maybe they think we’re too loose, or, you know, discipline problems, but we’re just losing,” Graham said. “Actually, we’re probably a little stricter now than we were under Gruden. But of course when you’re losing, like I said, people try to find the source of the problem. [They think] you’re not practicing hard enough, you should have practiced more in the off week, we’ve got discipline problems.”

Joe agrees with Graham on one point: this would all be a whole lot of nothing if the Bucs were 4-3 right now.

However, Joe doesn’t think fans and media are searching for “the source of the problem,” as Graham said.

The “sources” are blatantly obvious: subpar talent, subpar moves by personnel Czar Mark Dominik, and subpar coaching.  Yes, coaching. The Bucs coaches have had enough to work with to win one game by now.

And don’t forget subpar commitment from ownership. That one is painfully obvious.

Joe is not one to promote Bright House Networks, the evil empire that denies its viewers NFL Network.

But Joe knows Out House Networks has a nightly sports news show that occasionally delivers some quality, such as whenever Roxanne Wilder appears on the screen, or Justin Pawlowski or Jeff Carlson.

This time, it was St. Pete Times columnist Gary Shelton making intelligent points about Raheem The Dream’s “wild child,” Aqib Talib.

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson writes the weekly QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson has TV gigs in the Bay area and trains quarterbacks of all ages via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

As the Bucs took some time off after their return to the U.S.A. to reflect on the first half of the season, I thought about it as well, but decided at 0-7, I needed to keep working to find hope for success as their retro uniforms return for the very first time on Sunday.

The obvious comparisons to the early days of the franchise are too easy right now.  But come Sunday, they will be honoring their only Hall-Of-Famer, who suffered through that first winless season and also led them to division titles shortly thereafter and all the way to the NFC Championship game in 1979.

So, no matter how bleak it looks today, there is hope in sight. Isn’t there?

With the extra time, I decided to crunch some 2009 QB numbers, and see what it might look like on Sunday for Josh Freeman, when he takes the reins of this franchise.

The two other first round rookie QBs (Lions’ Matthew Stafford and Jets’ Mark Sanchez) have started from the first game of the season and have posted mediocre results. The Jets started 3-0, but have fallen to 4-4 as his passing efficiency has dropped significantly. The two top picks average .85 TD passes per game (less than 1 per game), while throwing 1.13 INT’s. They combine for a 64.8 passer efficiency rating.

I also looked at teams in the NFL with just a single win thus far (Titans, Chiefs, Rams, Cleveland) and found eerily similar numbers with or without a veteran quarterback under center. The average passing efficiency of 62.65 is almost identical to the rookies’ and their TD-pass average per game is slightly lower (.73) than the rookies’. The INT rate is 1.1. 

If Josh Freeman keeps up with his more experienced peers, he is not likely to throw a touchdown pass on Sunday, but will absolutely throw a pick.

Most of those QB’s have had a pick returned for a TD and Freeman’s pick will also have a decent chance of that or at least leading to points for Green Bay.  By the way, the combination of Leftwich and Johnson put up 1.14 TD’s per game, but are up a bit higher than their competitors’ INT rate at 1.57. Their efficiency rating is 61.05, right on the number for the other QB’s having rough seasons.

On the other hand, Aaron Rodgers (one of my favorites in the league) of the Green Bay Packers has put up some of the best numbers in the NFL with 14 TDs and only 2 INT’s. His 110 QB rating is tops in the entire league, just ahead of Peyton Manning.

The +12 difference between his TD’s and INT’s is only surpassed by guess who? Brett Favre is at +13, leading the 7-1 Vikings. The only thing not working for the Packers offense is their pass blocking. Against the Vikings last weekend, Rodgers got dropped six times and leads the league in getting sacked. When he gets some protection or creates some for himself, he has very good agility. The Packers offense is very good through the air averaging 2 TD’s per game, with only a .28 chance of throwing one to the other team.

To sum up all of these numbers, the Bucs are likely to throw a pick, possibly for six, so we’ll give the Packers 3 points for that. The Bucs are unlikely  to throw a TD, but the Packers should expect to throw two, another 14 points. So, the QB differential going into Sunday is 17 points for the Packers, based solely on QB stats from other teams with similar records and on the two other QB’s picked ahead of Josh Freeman.

The Bucs running game hasn’t proven to put up 17 points yet, so it doesn’t look good for our boys in orange this weekend, regardless if you like Bucco Bruce or not.

Good luck Josh — and I mean that sincerely.

While a number of Bucs fans are giddy that rookie Josh Freeman is being thrown to the wolves, don’t count “The Professor,” John Clayton of BSPN, among those applauding. He explains why in this NFC South breakdown.

Super Bowl-winning coach, NFL Network and Fox football analyst Brian Billick appeared on “Happy Hour with J.P.” on WQYK-AM 1010 Tuesday. Billick broke down why he felt the Bucs were having a tough time this season and what the future may hold for the Brutal Bucs.

J.P. Peterson: I want to get your take on why the Bucs are struggling so much.

Brian Billick: When you go through a transition where you have a new head coach, a new general manager and you have transitions in personnel and philosophy… just on defense, you had principles in place there for a long, long time with Monte Kiffin. That is a major transition that you just don’t do overnight.

On offense, there are a lot of reasons for it. This is a quarterback-driven league. If you have one you are one of the haves; if you don’t have one you won’t [succeed].

With Josh Freeman in Tampa Bay, it will take a while to find out what kind of a choice that was. This league is a have and have nots.

J.P.: Do you think Freeman, given his pedigree, that the odds are stacked against him? Do you think he can be a franchise quarterback?

Billick: There is no reason he shouldn’t be. But that’s the magical combination of ability and transition into an NFL starter. It’s a crap shoot.

Of the last 46 quarterbacks taken in the first round, only 13 or 14 had any kind of success. Does Josh fall into that category? You hope so. You don’t know until they stand up to the rigors of Sundays.

J.P.: Freeman has the physical ability but how long does it take for a guy who didn’t have many reps? How much can we expect from him?

Billick: You certainly have to look at what is wrapped around him. There’s no reason he can’t but you look at how good Flacco and Ryan were. They had good people wrapped around them. There are other [quarterbacks] who had nothing there who struggled.  It’s not an easy equation to figure out.

J.P.: Talking to players and coaches, the defense transitioning from the old Tampa-2 to what they have now, it’s drastically different and personally, it doesn’t fit [the personnel]. How hard is it to make that transition?

Billick: You always try to get the best athletes you can but when you are so engrained in that system and done such a great job and feed the personnel into that system with Monte Kiffin being there… it’s a unique combination of athletes to transition to a different style of play. It is very hard.

Then the question is, what is our style of play and what should we look for? This is the age of free agency and draft choices. There’s no reason it can’t happen quickly.

Again, when you have a first-year coach, a first-year general manager, a new coaching style, when you have all of that layered upon the other, it’s tough.

J.P.: What would be your plan if you were the coach?

Billick: Well, the good thing in today’s NFL — that before free agency, when you were bad, you were bad for a long time. But now, whether it’s scouting or coaching, there has to be a partnership. You have to be unified. There is an understanding it will take time. You look at Cleveland, well, it’s not happening quick enough and they are starting to pull the trigger on people. You have to be more faithful and supportive of your people than that.

Prior to Billick appearing, J.P. had two things to say about the Bucs that Joe found more than interesting.

J.P. thought the hiring of defensive coordinator Jim Bates was a worse move than the hiring of former offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski.

“You just can’t change a defense unless you have the personnel to do so,” Peterson said.

Also, Peterson said he’d be more comfortable with either Christian Ponder or Tim Tebow at quarterback for the Bucs this Sunday against Green Bay than Josh Freeman.

While Raheem the Dream denied he and troubled cornerback Aqib Talib got into an F-bomb war of words in a London hotel lobby at 2 a.m., Raheem the Dream must have channeled his youth (possibly watching Soul Train as he did some dancing) when pinned down about the specifics of catching Talib and unnamed other Bucs blowing curfew.

Raheem the Dream claims the vernacular he and Talib may have used in the wee hours, was, well, normal for football men, as reported by eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.

Morris didn’t say profanities weren’t uttered during the Oct. 25 incident with Talib, who was not made available for comment Tuesday.

“We’ve used swear words to each other every day,” Morris said. “I wouldn’t necessarily call it disrespect. That’s talk on the football field. It’s a form of communication. He (Talib) has always been as respectful as can be to a coach. Has he had some issues? Yes, there’s no doubt about it. We’ve got to control that. We have to help him get better.”

Joe’s trying to figure this out: So Raheem the Dream is the type of fellow to commonly use “football language” with his players in a swank if not posh London hotel lobby at 2 a.m.?

Also, as Kaufman pointed out, Talib was not made available by the Bucs media relations staff yesterday. If nothing truly happened, why is now Talib in hiding?

Or did he have to rush to a meeting with his legal counsel?

The Brutal Bucs are so miserable, they have grabbed the attention of virtually all the NFL, sort of like a twisted version of the New Orleans Saints.

The Bucs winless record at the bye was not lost on Steve Silverman of NBCSports.com. In handing out midseason grades, not surprisingly, he flunked the Bucs.

What they’ve done well: Zilch. There is little receiving talent and poor blocking for new quarterback Josh Freeman. The Bucs have played hard on defense, and they are just average, allowing 214.0 yards per game, 15th in the league.

Needs improvement: The Bucs struggle to block whether it’s for the running game or the passing game. That’s a tough way to try to win football games. Tampa Bay is averaging 272.3 yards per game, (28th overall) and just 4.6 yards per play.

This is one of the more disturbing things about the Bucs. The offensive line was the most impressive element of the team last year and seemed it was on the cusp of greatness.

Then the Bucs decided to flip to a zone blocking technique. Right now, the cliche, “Don’t fix something that’s not broken” springs to mind for Joe.

To read Joey Johnston of the Tampa Tribune, former Bucs great Lee Roy Selmon was little more than a gentle giant.

That is, besides his massive football skills.

Johnston got a hold of a few of Selmon’s former teammates to talk about Selmon, the lone Bucs player to be elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the first to have his jersey retired. The teammates all talked about how they never saw Selmon get mad.

“He’d knock a guy down, then pick him right up,” said former Bucs linebacker David Lewis, now defensive coordinator at Tampa Catholic High School. “Me and (fellow linebacker) Cecil Johnson would look at him like he was crazy. ‘Lee Roy! Why are you picking him up? Leave him down there!’ He’d just smile.

“If we weren’t playing well defensively, he would just say, kind of softly, ‘Come on, guys.’ Cecil would roll his eyes and glare at him. ‘Lee Roy! Is that all you got to say!’ Lee Roy would scrunch up his face and say, ‘Oh, Cecil.’ We’d bust up laughing. We’d be laughing so hard, we couldn’t even remember what defense we were supposed to be in.”

Even when Selmon was rarely moved to anger, it was an unusual sight.

Once at Dallas, Selmon was grabbed by the legs and literally tackled by his blocker. The official did nothing.

Selmon popped up and vented his rage: “Heck! Heck! Dang! Dang!”

Maybe Aqib Talib could use a one-on-one session with Mr. Selmon?

And it’s more than fitting that a guy like Selmon will be the first memorialized in the Bucs’ new Ring of Honor.

A lot of fans are geeked at the prospect of the Bucs breaking out the creamsicle uniforms this Sunday when the Bucs face the Packers.

Some fans are a bit more cynical, thinking it’s prophetic that the Bucs would be wearing the creamsicles as they face a winless season square in the face.

But Bucs center Jeff Faine simply doesn’t like the creamsicles because, well, they are not fashionable, readers are informed by Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.

“I think there’s a reason they changed the color scheme,” Faine said of the Bucs’ switch from their old orange and white uniforms.

The Bucs, of course, will be shedding the pewter and red this weekend for the Creamsicle look they bore in 1976. While most players seem excited about the change, Faine is not.

“It’s an opportunity to go out there and hopefully sell a couple more jerseys for the Glazers,” Faine said, referring to the Bucs owners. ” But I’m not a huge, huge fan of it.

“It’s part of the legacy of the Buccaneers and it’s a throwback game and we’re honoring Lee Roy Selmon, so it’s a good opportunity to wear them.”

Joe was geeked to learn the creamsicles were coming back. He still remembers Doug Williams falling down, sitting on his rear end, and hitting a wide open tight end Jimmie Giles in the end zone for a touchdown, all wearing the creamsicles.

Now that the Bucs are on a horrid losing streak, Joe doesn’t like the idea of wearing the creamsicles. It’s like a bad omen or something.

A lot of eyebrows, Joe’s among them, were raised when Raheem the Dream gave his winless team so much time off on the bye week.

Hardasses, like Joe can be at times, believe a winless team should not be rewarded in any such way. If anything the whip needed to be cracked.

Throw in the fact that a rookie quarterback will be making his first start against a defense prone to release numerous complex zone blitzes not likely seen in the Big XII, Joe was perplexed.

But, as documented by the Mad Twitterer, Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times, the Bucs couldn’t practice because so many players got the flu on the return trip from London.

“We definitely felt better going to London, being over there, going how our owners recommended,” Morris said during his weekly radio show on 620-WDAE Monday. “Coming back it hits you when you wake up in the middle oif the night,. It was tougher to adjust coming back, especially fighting the bug that hit our plane. We had 15 or so guys that were unable to practice because of the bug that hit our plane.

“We were in a tube for eight hours with the ability to get sick.”

While Joe can understand that, Joe wonders why the rest of the squad couldn’t hang back and hit the film room, work out, whatever, do anything to improve? Was Freeman so ill he couldn’t throw passes to Sammie Stroughter or an otherwise healthy receiver at One Buc Palace?

Again, Joe has to qualify this as Joe is not privy to the NFLPA contract which may require X-amount of time off during a bye week.

Writing on TampaBay.com, The Mad Twitterer, Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times, reports that the Bucs deny Aqib Talib dropped a wave of F-bombs on Raheem the Dream when confronted in a London hotel lobby after missing curfew.

But Stroud writes that it’s not unreasonable to believe Talib did drop F-bombs.

Yes, he was met in the lobby at the team hotel by coach Raheem Moirris.

No, Bucs officials say, he did not curse out Morris, as reported by 620-WDAE.

If you know Talib, profanity is part of the way he speaks. It’s unfortunate, but true. Let’s say he disagreed with the notion that a grown man requires a curfew on what would normally be his free time.

Stroud also documents Raheem the Dream, on his radio show yesterday on WDAE-AM 620, stated Talib is no different than Warren Sapp was at the same age.

Joe didn’t know Raheem the Dream was working for the Bucs when the team drafted Sapp?

One of Joe’s favorite Bucs beat writers, eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune, had an interesting “Twit” yesterday on the TBO Bucs Twitter page.

Last week Joe wrote extensively how WDAE-AM 620 morning host Dan Sileo, who has a track record of playing with the truth, was suspended for spouting misinformation about the Glazer family’s finances and the prospects of selling the team.

Kaufman hints there will be collateral damage on local sports radio.

Joel Glazer’s blistering response to Dan Sileo’s report on the family’s finances could have a chilling effect on local sports radio.

As an avid sports radioaholic, Joe wishes eye-RAH! would have been more detailed. Joe doesn’t see Joel Glazer’s response as being “chilling” at all.

From Joe’s understanding of some of the details about the Bucs agreement with WDAE, let’s just say from a journalist’s standpoint, the Bucs requirements for WDAE, the team’s flagship station, are fair.

What Sileo did last week on the air not only wasn’t fair, it was beyond the pale. As Glazer himself wrote in a statement released last week, it bordered on “slanderous.”

Compared with the contract Clear Channel had with that monster Vince Naimoli, the former managing partner of the (nee Devil) Rays, and his brownshirt, brutish if not outright despicable tactics towards the fourth estate, the Bucs contract with WDAE is downright libertarian.

How exactly was — or will — Glazer’s missive “chilling” to stations not associated with the Bucs? Would this statement by Glazer somehow silence J.P. Peterson? Would this statement somehow force Nancy Donnellan to be a cheerleader?

Of course not.

In fact, Joe fully endorses if not encourages any Glazer statement that would torment the douchebag in the afternoon that can’t pull a 0.1 rating.

All the Bucs ask for is for people to be fair in reporting, which, at worst, is reasonable.

You have to see this to believe it: The Football Moron of BSPN.com thinks the best chance the Packers have of beating the Bucs is to throw at Aqib Talib.

Seriously, Joe cannot make this stuff up.

As good as Matt Ryan is, he wasn't the best quarterback on the field for last night's Falcons-Saints game. And still Ryan is light years better than anything the Bucs have.

Watching the Falcons-Saints game last night, Joe realized the Bucs are about as close to competing with those two NFC South division rivals as Joe is being able to lure Rachel Watson into his lair.

This wasn’t lost on BSPN’s Adam Schefter as he twittered last night.

Watching Matt Ryan and Drew Brees has to be completely sobering and nearly outright depressing for the Bucs and Panthers.

“Depressing” is the right word. With the exception of a handful of positions, few in the Bucs starting lineup would start for either the Falcons or Saints.

Though the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, “The Big Dog,” Steve Duemig of WDAE-AM 620, first reported last week that helmet-wielding, (alleged) cabbie-puncher Aqib Talib blew curfew and confronted Raheem the Dream with F-bombs in a London hotel lobby, the Tampa Bay area MSM is finally picking up on it.

Or have they?

The Mad Twitterer himself, Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times, twittered Monday night that indeed Talib blew curfew. However, he did not mention any confrontation Talib had with Raheem the Dream.

Bucs CB Aqib Talib among several players breaking curfew following the Bucs 35-7 loss to Pats in London Oct. 25.

Granted, Stroud was using a new media format to break the news. Or was he breaking news? Joe gets confused with how Stroud dictates what format is a vehicle for news and what isn’t. So Joe isn’t sure if Stroud is actually rumormongering or not.

Former Bucs DE Steve White

By STEVE WHITE
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Steve White spent every season of the Tony Dungy era playing defensive end for the Bucs. He’s spent countless hours in the film room with the likes of Warren Sapp, Rod Marinelli and more. Joe is humbled to now have White, also a published author and blogger, as part of the JoeBucsFan.com team. Below is White’s weekly Bull Rush column that breaks down all things defensive line. It’s simply a can’t-miss read for the hardcore Bucs fan.

One thing I prided myself on as both a player and later a coach was film study. Watching opponents on tape can reveal all kinds of tendencies, as well as strengths and weaknesses.

Since the Bucs did not play this weekend I decided to check out the Vikings-Packers game yesterday to study the Packers’ offense in action and give a sort of mini scouting report, so fans can see the kinds of things players and coaches look for.

Here are a few things I picked up on:

As a unit the Packers’ offensive line plays well. They don’t really have a bell cow, meaning one guy that really stood out in the game. But they do seem to be a well-coached group, and I didn’t see very many busts in their blocking schemes.

In the running game they aren’t really a come-off-and-knock-you-off-the-ball kind of offense. Rather, they run quite a bit of zone scheme, and with formations they try to spread the defense out and then run the ball between the tackles.

If there is one guy who looks weak to me on the offensive line it’s the center, Scott Wells. Admittedly, you won’t see a lot of centers perform well against the Vikings’ Pat Williams, but still Wells seems like more of a finesse guy who tries to either position-block a guy or tries to release quickly up to the linebackers.

If there was ever a game for us to put our weakside tackle back over the center it would be this one against Green Bay on Sunday. The Packers pride themselves on getting up on the linebackers of the other team either with the center or the guards. So much so that even though Wells isn’t that great, generally the guards don’t give him much help on run blocking when he has a shaded nose tackle.

On the other hand, when Wells isn’t covered he gets up on the middle linebacker quickly and he is athletic enough to either block him high or cut him low. I don’t think that’s what Barrett Ruud would like to see. I think any of our three defensive tackles could dominate that guy and make a lot of plays in the backfield if given the chance.

Nobody on the Packers’ offensive line is particularly physically imposing, so I don’t see a match up where we should get blocked in the run game consistently. The tight ends aren’t all that great at run blocking either.

If I had to pick the best guy, I would have to say it’s No. 86, Donald Lee. But even he doesn’t look strong on film and is mostly just an effort guy. If our ends get their hands on him, they should really be able to take advantage of that match up.

Now the one thing about the Packers offense is that they do a lot of misdirection plays and bootlegs so this will be a game in which the entire Bucs defense must read their keys and not get caught guessing.

As for the Packers’ pass blocking, I think we have some good matchups there as well.

One of the things I noticed right away is that the guards both want to quick set their guys on the line while the offensive tackles both want to get depth and make the defensive ends run a wide route around the outside. That creates two different blocking levels for their offensive line. What this means is that both sides are very suceptible to EX games (End penetrates, tackle loops for contain) in the passing game.

I think their right tackle and right guard are especially vulnerable to all kinds of pass rush games. If the defensive end gets up the field three steps and then chops his feet causing the right tackle to get his normal depth, the “TEX” game (tackle penetrates, defensive end loops inside to A-gap) will be WIDE open.

If it were me, I would tell the left ends and left defensive tackles that they would be wasting a rush if they didn’t run some kind of pass rush game on third downs.

As for the Packers’ left tackle, he is a guy I think we can really get after on passing downs. He is athletic but relatively weak and his set opens him up to inside moves. He punches his hands a lot, which means a guy like Greg (Stylez) White can really work him if he knocks his hands down.

The one thing I think you wouldn’t want to do is just run around the guy because all he will do is wait for you to get deep and then ride you past the quarterback. If one of our right ends wants to make a speed rush, I would suggest that they get into a bull rush first and then rip off outside. I wouldn’t run any TEX games on the left guard and left tackle because they keep a better relationship in their pass sets than the guys on the right side do.

Now as a reminder this is just from watching one game so its all subject to change.

For one thing the Packers have a few guys out with injuries, like starting left tackle Chad Clifton, who might return on Sunday. And normally I would be watching all of the games this year to get a good idea of what I would be facing. Still, I think that all things being equal this scouting report will hold up on Sunday. If not I invite everyone to come back and tell me how wrong I was.
 
Here is hoping we get off the snide this week and kick the Packers while they are down.