Joe hears doom and gloom from fans regarding Sunday’s game against the Saints. But Joe thinks the Bucs could hang with the Saints Sunday if they only stay committed to the running game.

The Saints are allowing an average of 5.2 yards per rush this season, third worst in the NFL.

Think about that number for a moment. Throughout 2009, when the Bucs were gashed up the gut routinely, they allowed 4.8 yards per carry. In 2010, when things weren’t much better, they allowed 4.7 yards per carry.

The point is, the Saints haven’t showed they can stop the run. And the Saints got a gift in Jacksonville two weeks ago when the offensive coordinator over there decided to have Blaine Gabbert drop back to pass seven consecutive times to open the game. Blaine Gabbert! The Saints quickly got up by two TDs, and Gabbert finished 16-for-42.

The Bucs have got to let their high-priced offensive line earn its money and get a legitimate shot to control the game. Isn’t that why they’re paying those guys? Just pound it on first and second downs and see what happens.

At the end of the day, the Bucs’ chances probably lie in Josh Freeman turning in a Pro Bowl-caliber performance, but that’s going to be a hell of a lot easier if he can run on 3rd-and-short and the Saints defense is worn out in the fourth quarter.

Listen to former All-Pro defensive end Hugh Douglas talk about the Bucs, as well as some other guy that likes the Saints on Sunday.

Jason Horowitz and Pat Kirwan break down the Saints-Bucs game Sunday in this CBSSports.com video.

Sadly, the people that still are of the misguided belief that BSPN produces quality sports viewing (sans college football) are outraged over how the four-letter crucifies the local market.

At first, when Joe heard people whine how the BSPN types always mock the area for lack of attendance to baseball and football games, Joe’s initial response was, “Well, that’s what you get for watching BSPN. You should know better. Watch the NFL Network and MLB Network instead.”

But the more Joe heard from people whining about BSPN and their mocking of the Tampa Bay area, Joe began to smell an agenda.

Did BSPN ridicule Cincinnati not selling tickets to Reds games despite having a division winner last year? Does the same outfit howl about the Chargers and the Raiders and the Bengals having blackouts? Nope.

Did BSPN mention how Wednesday night, Game 3 of the NLCS in St. Louis wasn’t sold out, you know, the best baseball town in America if you are to believe some baseball pundits? Doubt it.

(For the record, nothing on radio makes Joe change the station quicker than people talking about attendance. Joe doesn’t give a whip if two people or 40,000 people are at a game. If Joe wants to watch said game, he’ll go to the game. It’s the game, not the seats, Joe cares about.)

NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell feels Bucs fans’ pain. Unlike BSPN, Goodell understands if the local economy was thriving, seats would be packed at Bucs games, so he told eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.

“Tampa’s a great market,” Goodell told The Tampa Tribune this week at the NFL’s fall meetings in Houston. “I know how passionate the fans are down there. I also know the team is doing everything it can to get people into the stadium.”

Goodell noted the effect a down economy is having on the region.

‘We have to recognize what fans are going through right now,” he said. “These are challenging times, and Tampa has been hit particularly hard.”

Would it be better for fans if they could watch games locally on TV? Of course. But Joe is of the mind that if you want to watch a game and money is tight, pick out a game or two when the schedule is released in April and squirrel away a few bucks here, a few bucks there, and pretty soon one can afford to go to a game or two.

It’s nice to have breakfast in bed. But sooner or later you have to get out of bed and pour the cereal in the bowl yourself.

Like St. Petersburg Times veteran columnist Gary Shelton has pointed out, when Van Halen comes to the Ice Palace, that concert isn’t even on HBO much less free TV. Yet no one complains, not one peep. But God forbid an NFL game is blacked out by the NFL.

Why the double-standard?

First, Joe must commend safety Tanard Jackson for staying in such top-flight shape during his substance abuse suspension that he can walk off the couch last Monday and be ready to play in the NFL on Sunday.

Kudos for him for staying clean through his consistent drug tests and for taking his latest second chance at his career seriously.

Per the Buccaneers official Twitter feed this afternoon, Jackson was placed on the active roster today. Allen Bradford was waived yesterday, presumably to make room. There’s no reason to think the Bucs would have activated Jackson — they had another week or wiggle room — if he wasn’t going to play Sunday.

It’s just a pretty wild concept to digest that Jackson can get back on the field successfully after all that time away and a few days of practice. Forgetting about the physical side, there’s the mental part of picking up new nuances in the Bucs’ defense and reacting during live play.

A myriad of former Buccaneers took to the sports radio airwaves this week and threw a ice water on Jackson having any kind of success on the field Sunday, if he even played so soon.

Joe hopes Jackson can shock the world.

Back for his weekly trip to the end zone of the NFL universe, popular sports radio personality Adam Schein travels through football space and time outs. Check out what Schein has to say about the Bucs this week. Consider yourself sucked in to the latest episode of Cosmic Schein!

<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=0d1cace8-5eb0-4bda-9e41-cd689b6d79bd" target="_new" title="">Cosmic Schein: Week 6</a>

Sunday is a really interesting spot for Earnest Graham with LeGarrette Blount on the shelf with a knee injury.

Frankly, Graham’s career could be on the line. Graham’s in the final year of his contract and, at 31 years old, he can’t afford to turn in any clunkers with this shot at reviving his glory season of 2007, when the Bucs locked up the NFC South with two weeks remaining.

Old and old-looking running backs won’t be in demand around the NFL come March.

Joe’s pulling for Graham, who’s really a class act.

Graham was buried inexplicably on the Bucs bench in 2009, though Greg Olson sort of said otherwise to the St. Pete Times yesterday.

“If we felt that way, we wouldn’t put him in there,” offensive coordinator Greg Olson said. ” … We have all the confidence in the world in Earnest, and we always have in the time that I’ve been here.”

The Bucs handed the ball off to Graham just 14 times in ’09, even though they went into the campaign with a stated plan of having a three-headed monster backfield of Derrick Ward, Cadillac Williams and Graham and the famous 2-2-1 rotation that never got off the ground. Graham kept his mouth shut, played a little fullback, and then bulked up and showed up for 20 carries and the fullback job last year.

As a regular listener of Graham’s former radio show, Joe suspects Graham will come out as the prototypical “angry worker” Raheem Morris likes to have on Sunday. There were numerous times over the years when Graham nicely implied on the air that he wanted the damn rock again.

Whether he’s successful or not Sunday as the Bucs hopefully try to pound the ball and keep Drew Brees off the field is anyone’s guess. Joe’s wouldn’t bet on what happens, other than fans will see the absolute best Graham has to offer.

Listening to Raheem Morris’ radio show Monday, there was one point when Joe rewound the tape.

It was when Raheem was talking about the heart — and presumably the knee — of Aqib Talib.

“I don’t know how he played, but he did for his team,” said of Talib’s performance at less than full strength against the 49ers.

It was a pretty dramatic comment from the head coach, so Joe was looking to see whether Talib hit the practice field at full-go Wednesday and Thursday. He did, but he is on the official injured list. Though given Raheem’s comment, how healthy is Talib?

LeGarrette Blount and Gerald McCoy have gotten plenty of attention for their injuries what will knock them out of Sunday’s game against New Orleans, but another guy banged up is Mason Foster, who came out of the 49ers game with a messed up ankle. He’s been limited in practice and there’s still no word on whether he’ll play Sunday.

Quincy Black seems to be just fine, though, a fact not very soothing to Joe.

Some guy named Brees out of New Orleans talks in this Times Picayune video about what he expects from the Buccaneers.

In the wake of the alley-beating the Bucs took in San Francisco, Joe was concerned the mood of Bucs fans would be so downtrodden that they would not seem moved to buy tickets to the New Orleans game this Sunday.

Joe’s fears were realized as the Bucs failed to meet the NFL’s mandated sellout 72 hours prior to kickoff. Hence, again, the Bucs will be blacked out this weekend. This was documented by eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune using the TBO Bucs Twitter feed.

It’s official. Sunday’s Bucs-Saints matchup will be blacked out in the Tampa Bay market. That makes 11 blackouts in last 12 home games.

As usual, this only pertains to the Bucs primary TV market, Tampa Bay, and the secondary TV market, Orlando.

LeGarrette Blount goes down and out with a knee injury and the Bucs cut rookie running back Allen Bradford?

It’s true, so Twittered Rick Stroud, the St. Pete Times beat writer.

@NFLStroud – Bucs release RB Allen Bradford has been released by the Bucs.

Presumably, the move was made to create a roster spot for safety Tanard Jackson so he can play Sunday against the Saints, only six days after ending his 56-week suspension for substance abuse.

Perhaps the Bucs bring back Bradford on their practice squad, but as of now 2010 fifth-round pick Ahamad Black is on the practice squad despite the Bucs’ multiple injuries in the secondary, Bradford is in limbo, and seventh-round tight end Daniel Hardy was cut long ago.

It’s a lot harder to make the young Buccaneers and/or rockstar general manager Mark Dominik didn’t belt late-round home runs this year.

Wondering whether Tanard Jackson will go from a yearlong NFL league suspension Monday to staring down Drew Brees in the Bucs’ secondary in only six short days? St. Pete Times beat writer Rick Stroud has the answer for you.

“He’s absolutely going to play this week [against the Saints],” Stroud told J.P. Peterson on WQYK-AM 1010 this afternoon.

It’ll be interesting to see how much Jackson actually gets in the game. Of course, the Bucs still must officially add Jackson to the roster.

If he plays a lot, what does that say about the value of Corey Lynch? And what would it say about the value, or lack thereof, of training camp and practice?

With LeGarrette Blount out, this is going to be one wild Sunday.

J.P. Peterson, of WQYK-AM 1010, is reporting that LeGarrette Blount will be out several weeks with a Grade 2 MCL tear in his knee.

Peterson offered the doctor’s name on the air and said it’s a source he’s known for years.

Wow! Joe is speechless and miserable.

Earnest Graham now returns to his old role as No. 1 tailback, one he gave up during the 2008 season. But Graham is no Blount.

Joe will update as more information becomes available.

Saints beat writers offer their takes — and some historical perspective — on how the Bucs might perform coming off their humiliating defeat in San Francisco.

When last offseason Joe broke out JoeBucsFanTV, it was met with rave reviews. One reason was insight offered from Joe’s good friends Justin Pawlowski of WDAE-AM 620, former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson and musings from NFL.com blogger Jenna Laine.

But the person who was the glue as both a co-host of the studio shows and reporter of on-site videos was none other than Sarah Tyson. As a result, Joe is confident his readers would want to help her, and see more of Sarah.

Sarah is a finalist to be the official host for the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl held at the Fruitdome in St. Petersburg Dec. 20 pitting a team from Conference USA against a Big East squad.

Joe’s readers can help Sarah, a former reporter for the Sunshine Network, secure this gig by voting for her. It’s free. Just vote at this site.

Anyone want to guess who the official host of the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl was last year? It was none other than Jenna Laine!

So let’s keep up the streak and see to it another of Joe’s friends gets the gig.

Joe, and of course, Sarah, thanks you for your support.

Plenty of Bucs fans were tossing and turning last night wondering how the Bucs can win Sunday at home against the Saints, especially without LeGarrette Blount and his wounded knee.

(Joe must inject. Will Blount really sit out a huge game with a knee bruise/knee sprain/the Bucs aren’t really saying what it is? There’s been no talk of any MRI, and Jeff Faine said Blount looked fine. Could the Bucs be rest/rehabbing Blount and confusing the Saints at the same time?)

Well, it seems Bucs icon Derrick Brooks is confident Tampa Bay can knock off the Saints. He offered a how-to guide during his weekly appearance yesterday on WDAE-AM 620 on The Steve Duemig Show.

“Win on your early downs, making it 3rd-and-short, 3rd-and-3, 3rd-and-4, you have a chance to convert against this defense and you keep them out of all these exotic blitzes that [defensive coordinator] Greg Williams likes to dial up,” Brooks said.

“We’ve had a formula to beat’em. You know, we’ve beat’em before. And that formula was running the football and scoring in the red zone and not turning the football over. That’s how you beat the Saints. You protect the football. You don’t turn it over. Stay in manageable downs on offense, and defensively don’t give up the explosion plays.

“Make Drew Brees drive down the field and stay patient … because Sean Payton, if you make him do that sometimes he gets a little impatient trying to dial up the big play, and then sometimes he gives you a chance to burn him.”

Somehow the Bucs need to find a way to move the chains from the opening whistle, as they did in New Orleans last January. Having Brees off the field is the best medicine for the Bucs’ banged up defense and the Bucs’ best chance to be in a tight game in the fourth quarter, when they usually play their best football.

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

THE OPTIMIST is Nick Houllis, a Bucs fan and an accomplished writer whose steadfast allegiance to the Buccaneers 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.

I work at a local restaurant (soon to be unemployed, anyone know who’s hiring a kitchen manager?) and after the 2010 Super Bowl when the Saints beat the Colts, we had an awful lot of chicken wings left over.

“Super Bowl sales were down for the first time” was the report, as every year for the four previous years each Super Bowl Sunday resulted in an increase in wing sales from the previous Big Game.

But it turned out the wing sales were right where they were supposed to be. The year prior, the Super Bowl was in Tampa, and with all the local excitement of having a Super Bowl in our backyard, sales were inflated.

It holds true for the progression and expectations of our quarterback Josh Freeman. Many have the beleaguered QB “regressing” in his third season. All of a sudden, the pre-draft concerns are coming out of the woodwork again. 

The truth is, Josh Freeman is right where he is supposed to be for a third-year QB — if it weren’t for such a spectacular 2010 season, where Freeman tossed an amazing 25 TDs to six interceptions. That was a record for a second-year QB and rightfully so; it’s a great set of numbers for even a veteran signal caller.

So good that you can’t help but expect Year 3 to be even better, but just like our wings situation, if you take out the incredible number, the end result of growth in the third year is exactly where it should be.

Wings Cases Sold

2006  10
2007  14
2008  17
2009  29
2010  23

Year 3 in the Josh Freeman Franchise project, he is still learning and doing the things he is supposed to in his third season of growth. But our expectations of Freeman, and perhaps the Bucs in general, is that there should be growth from last year year when that may not always happen.

Of course, a win cures everything. We were still amazed with Freeman and the Bucs after their comeback over Minnesota in Week 2, even Ronde Barber had a career day last week in the win over Indianapolis.

Yet how many people after Sunday want Barber to retire because he looked too old. In truth, the whole team looked guilty of not being ready, and when every single player and facet of the game is played so poorly, you can’t do anything but look forward to the next game and write it off as an aberration.

As long as it doesn’t happen again!

The lovely Tiffany Simons and Gregg Rosenthal discuss how the Bucs will recover from the seal-clubbing in San Francisco last week in this NBCSports.com video.

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

If Aqib Talib is to be considered a Pro Bowl corner, he simply has to make plays, grab interceptions when he gets his hands on the ball.

Joe gets pummeled on Twitter during games when Joe states that Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib is not a Pro Bowl player much less an elite player.

Does Talib have skills? Of course. But time after time Talib gets his hands on a pass, only to see the ball fall to the ground, or Talib volleyballs the pass to an opponent for a touchdown (remember the infamous Steelers game last year when he turned two interceptions into Steelers scores?).

If Talib was a Pro Bowl player, he’d make those interceptions. Pro Bowlers make plays and Talib does not.

This malady has also caught the eye of dapper Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger. Brown points out that the Bucs are one of the worst teams in the NFL for dropping would-be interceptions.

This year, the Bucs’ secondary has had a hard time holding onto what appeared to be easy interceptions. Even Aqib Talib has had some of the balls bounce off of his hands and onto the turf.

Defensive back’s coach Jimmy Lake said the Bucs have dropped at least four interceptions in the last two games. That is way too many.

In fact, the Bucs have just two interceptions this year and only the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers have less.

Joe often gets the retort that if defensive backs could catch they would be receivers, and there is a nugget of truth to that. But if that is the case, then don’t try to prop up Talib as an elite corner.

Joe wishes there was some way receivers coach Eric Yarber could work with these guys.