If the Bucs have a miserable season Raheem the Dream might find solace in the fact that former NFL coach Marty Schottenheimer has his back.

Co-hosting “The Red Zone” Thursday afternoon on Sirius NFL Radio with Solomon Wilcots, Schottenheimer spoke briefly about Raheem the Dream and didn’t sound as if he wanted to trade places with Raheem the Dream.

“[The Bucs] are in transition,” Schottenheimer said. “They lost a lot of players who have been terrific: Derrick Brooks, Warrick Dunn, Joey Galloway. It’s a very difficult situation to thrust a new head coach in.”

In some circles, Schottenheimer’s words mean a great deal. Producers of the NFL Network’s “Top Ten” series rated Schottenheimer among the NFL’s greatest motivational coaches.

Sports radio personality Mike North is not among this group.

Helmet-wielding Aqib Talib stuck to his fists last night and pummelled a cab driver in the back of the head multiple times from the back seat of the taxi as he and other men got a ride to the Bucs’ team hotel, reports Anwar Richardson of The Tampa Tribune.

That buzzing sound you’re hearing is the flurry of attorneys trying to track down the taxi driver, who sang like a bird to the newspaper.

So what’s next?

Now Joe knows a bit how this will be handled initially at One Buc Place.

JoeBucsFan.com was the only outlet to closely cover the October IHOP incident in Tampa, which left then Bucs running back Michael Bennett and offensive lineman Anthony Davis accused of severely beating a man outside the restaurant in the wee hours of the morning.

Bennett was accused of using a gun during the incident, and current Bucs Donald Penn and Quincy Black saw themselves roped into police inquries as witnesses. No arrests were made, but if you want to know what happened in the civil suit against Bennett, click here. You won’t find it anywhere else.

After the IHOP incident, according to police reports, the Bucs cooperated extensively with police and did an internal team investigation.

As for last night, Joe believes it’s a no-brainer the other guys in the cab with Talib were Bucs teammates. And Joe is confident the powers at One Buc Place already have demanded they step forward and tell Raheem The Dream, Mark Dominik and others what really happened.

Here’s the cabbie’s version, per The Tampa Tribune.

A few minutes into Duggan’s drive, it took a dramatic turn.

“I thought I was getting robbed. I thought I was going to die,” Duggan said. “I didn’t know these guys were Tampa Bay football players. I thought I was done.”

Duggan, 47, said he was assaulted by Talib while the player sat in the back seat of his cab. He claims Talib began punching him in the back of his head while he was driving on Interstate 275, prompting Duggan to swerve before stopping on I-275 at Gandy to call the police.

Duggan said he never spoke to Talib while in the cab and the attack was unprovoked.

Duggan believes Talib was one of three Buccaneers in his cab headed back into the hotel where the team stayed during training camp. He was unsure of the identities of the other two men.

“Talib began punching from behind and the car went from the right lane to the left lane,” Duggan said. “The guy in the front seat started telling at him, ‘Dude, you’re going to kill us. You’re going to kill us.’

“It felt like I got hit with a hammer. I thought I was getting robbed. Until the cops ran his ID, I had no idea who he was.”

Assuming the other Bucs in the taxi confirm Talib belted the cab driver while he was driving, look for the Bucs to suspend Talib for at least two regular season games. And look for the suspension to come quickly. The testimony of the other Bucs is all the team would need to feel justified.

Joe believes there is little other choice for Raheem The Dream. If one of your players assaults a citizen in this heinous manner and puts lives at risk on the road, you have to do something.

Then Raheem The Dream can get to the business of trying to field something resembling a first-team secondary against the Cowboys on opening day.

Recently, Gary Shelton of the St. Petersburg Times decided to take a detour after his coverage of the Bucs preseason game in Nashville to ride to Knoxville to profile former Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin.

Old Man Kiffin, 69, left the Bucs to coach with his son Lane at the University of Tennessee. And with Shelton in attendance, Kiffin had to try to break up a near-brawl.

After watching a few plays, all clearly won by the offensive line, defensive line coach Ed Orgeron stood and griped loudly about the selection of the plays shown to the team. Offensive coordinator Jim Chaney shot back that he thought the plays were typical of the way the offense had dominated the practice.

Suddenly, the two men were in each other’s faces, shouting and gesturing. The players spilled onto the floor to separate the men, some of them bouncing up and down from the testosterone and the adrenaline.

The story has a bizarre ending. As promised, Joe had three Bucs-related posts for Gators fans. This is No. 3. What does this have to do with the Gators?

Well, Kiffin’s daughter-in-law, Kayla, has made quite an impression upon college football fans as well as Joe. She’s a Gator and was a sorority sister of Erin Andrews.

Joe’s mind races.

And whatever Gators fans think of her husband Lane, and it isn’t much, no matter the score of the game on Saturday, Lane Kiffin still goes home to his wife Layla.

As Jim Rome would say, “Scoreboard!”

Yeah, you guessed it. Shelton’s story was just enough of an excuse for Joe to post a video of Kayla Kiffin. You are welcome.

You are welcome.

Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune suggests Brian Clark is locked in a battle with Sammie Stroughter for the No. 3 wide receiver position.

The TBO twins Dan Lucas of WFLA-TV and Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune discuss two vital positions for the Bucs in this TBO video.

With Tanard Jackson being gone for four regular season games, Cummings talks about his possibly replacement and why Raheem the Dream feels Will Allen is the answer.

Also, Cummings talks about who will be the No. 3 receiver. Though a lot of receivers are battling for that gig, few have won Raheem the Dream over. Cummings thinks it’s down to Brian Clark and Sammie Stroughter.

Former Bucs and Gators linebacker, fan favorite, sports radio personality and overall great guy Scot Brantley checks in for the second time today.

In this post, he writes about the Bucs defense making the transition from Monte Kiffin’s Tampa-2 to Jim Bates’ two-gap system.

Joe is beyond proud and humbled that Scot will offer his insights occasionally on the Bucs (and sometimes Gators) for JoeBucsFan.com readers.

By SCOT BRANTLEY
I’m not a huge fan of preseason games. I know it’s important and vitally important for players who are on the edge or maybe for players to get important time on the field like [running back Kareem] Huggins. For players like that, you make the most of it.

I’ve known Jimmy Bates for 20 years. I knew Jeremy Bates at Florida. That is tough shoes to fill when you try to replace Monte Kiffin. But [Bates defense] is a big change and a different style. It’s not the Cover-2 or the Tampa-2. They’ve worn that out.

The Cover-2 has been around since I played. John McKay and Wayne Fontes ran that in the 60s and 70s at USC. It’s not like you discovered gold or something. It’s a pretty basic type of coverage. Everyone has played a variation of it. It’s now overrun.

Now there’s no more defensive gap contain where you needed smaller linemen to penetrate the gap. Now you have to have bigger guys. Chris Hovan is now up to 310 pounds and he is put together. You have to have massive guys going head-to-head with the offensive tackles and guards.

It’s a little bit different. I was talking with Barrett Ruud. The defense is not all that different but there are more pass responsibilities. You have to walk up and be darned good at keeping the wide receivers off the line of scrimmage. There’s more press coverage. You need speed to do that.

The responsibility of the defensive line is to get penetration on running plays and penetration in the passing game and put pressure on the quarterback.

It’s a little different but sometimes different can spur a team to be that much better.

Hovan and Roy Miller and Ryan Sims, the young guys, played well against Tennessee and I was pretty impressed. Chris Hovan is so right. He is a very talented, good player. He understands the game. He’s a tough guy. Give me five or six guys like Chris Hovan and you will have a championship.

Chris is so right. I mean, it’s football. I see this year after year and this burns me up: The complexity of the offense and the complexity of the defense. Why is it so hard? Gruden was a great example having such a complex offense.

When the whistle blows and the ball is kicked off, you can throw that complexity out the window. It’s all about executing. It boils down to who wants it the most on that day. I’d rather be good at a small amount than half-assed at a lot.

Coming ready to play, that is the key. If you are not ready, you’ll get your head knocked in.

You need to get to a point with a new defense where you don’t think. He who thinks is lost. Defense is about lining up and reacting to what you see in front of you and going to the football. When everybody is on the same page, that is when it is special.

Bates cracks the whip but you need that and you see the response in the Bucs in just the short amount of time with Bates. That will only grow.

Just having new faces coaching is a wonderful transition. I see a lot of good things. They have a long way to go, I’m not going to kid you. But I think they can get there. I think the chemistry might be special. It’s hard to get a flow in preseason games because there are so many players coming in and out of the game.

For the second day in a row, the Bucs gave away free tickets to next week’s preseason home opener against Miami. No less a figure than Bucs general manager Mark Dominik was handing out tickets to fans who attended the final Bucs training camp practice at One Buc Palace.

eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune reports Dominik had tickets in wads of 50 and was giving them out as if they were business cards.

First-year GM Mark Dominik, standing in the blazing sun, shook hands, signed autographs and reached for a thick stack of ducats on Freebie Wednesday, as Tampa Bay supporters lined up for tickets to the Aug. 27 home preseason game against Miami.

“How many do you need?” Dominik asked, quickly thinning out a stack of approximately 50 tickets before reaching into another pocket to reload. “Are you definitely going to go? OK, take these.”

It’s an unsettling image since this scares Joe into believing there might be blackouts.

To that end, WTSP-TV has a report on the possibility of blackouts and what that may mean both for fans who can’t afford tickets as well as businesses.

Updated 10:45 a.m. Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib was arrested by Florida Highway Patrol and booked into Pinellas County Jail at 12:47 a.m. and released on $300 bond about 6 a.m.

According to jail records, Talib was arrested for misdemeanor simple battery and resisting arrest without violence.

Per the St. Pete Times:

An FHP report said Talib hit David Duggan in the right ear and neck with a closed fist. The incident happened at Gandy Boulevard and State Road 93 at 11:10 p.m.

When Officer John Ryan arrived at the scene, Talib was in a taxi cab, the report said. Ryan told Talib three times to get out of the car and Talib was uncooperative.

The report also noted that there was an “indication of alcohol influence.”

The Bucs had no immediate comment on the matter.

No word if a helmet was used in the incident.

Joe finds it a bit strange that Ryan had to document there was an “indication of alcohol influence.” Talib was in a cab. What’s it matter? He was taking a cab! Joe doesn’t care if Talib was so drunk he couldn’t talk so long as he was in a cab.

The neo-prohibitionists are out of control.

From Joe’s experience as a cops reporter, there are little boxes on all arrest affidavits for officers to check if they want to note some additional specualtion or facts from the scene — everything from alcohol use to weather. Now whether those observations, not usually backed by concrete evidence, hold any water in court is another story.

 Talib’s “indication of alcohol influence” is probably meaningless to his case. Although warden Roger Goodell may say otherwise.

Great special teams player. Not much of a wide receiver.

That’s long been the scouting report on Maurice Stovall. And it doesn’t look like much has changed.

Tom Balog, Bucs beat writer for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, takes a look at Stovall’s struggles and the competition for the No. 3 receiver spot.

On another play, Stovall ran a go route instead of a hitch (stop) route, which resulted in quarterback Luke McCown throwing an incompletion to the spot where Stovall should have been.

“He didn’t do what he was supposed to do,” said Buccaneers wide receivers coach Richard Mann. “We’re looking for consistency. That could have very easily been a pick and he knows it. That can’t happen.”

Stovall, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound athlete who is a workout addict, needs to have a big game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday to regain the confidence of the coaching staff.

Joe hope Stovall can turn it around quickly. But how much would one good game against Jacksonville really say about him?

Joe is eager to see what wide receiver Kelly Campbell has to offer on the field. The Bucs could benefit from a real speedster in the lineup.

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OK Gators fans, Joe’s thinking of you. This will be the first of three Gators-related Bucs posts today.

First, Joe has a special announcement. Joe wants to extend a warm greeting to a Bucs fan favorite and an overall great guy, Scot Brantley, the former Bucs (and Gators) linebacker and sports radio  personality.

Scot will offer his insight on the Bucs for JoeBucsFan.com readers. Naturally, he will focus on defense but Scot, who was “known for his ferocious hitting,” will chime in on everything Bucs. Scot even promised to work in some Gators talk from time to time.

Though he hasn’t been on the local talk radio airwaves in recent months, Scot still works for the Gators radio network. And these days when he’s not home in Tampa, he’s traveling throughout central Florida on the rubber chicken circuit getting football fans ready for the upcoming college season. This week Scot has been at various Gators football functions in Ocala and Gainesville. Today he has the task of hanging with Urban Meyer.

For his first post, Scot talks about training camp at One Buc Palace. He attended a Bucs alumni gathering there this week.

By SCOT BRANTLEY
The great thing I’ve seen is training camp at One Buc. I’ve seen training camp in Orlando. Man, that’s Mickey’s world. That is a five-star hotel world. This is training camp? You’ve got to be kidding me?

People from all over the world go to Disney.  You mention Florida to people all over the world and they say, “Disney.” But they don’t know football. They don’t care about football. You’re in the middle of all that in the heat of the summer. I didn’t like it.

Training camp at One Buc, that was first class. You play the game for the fans. Having that first night practice as the stadium I thought was genius. It gave everyone an opportunity to see what goes on, how the offensive line works, how the defense works on goal line stands, everything.

At One Buc you had your own locker, it was football. Training camp over there was class.

The alumni function at practice was wonderful. We got to talk to the coaches and players. That’s something that didn’t happen with [Jon] Gruden. I was glad to see the Bucs embrace the team’s history.

Tampa Bay has signed safety Steve Cargile and made a few cuts.

The Buccaneers also waived three players on Wednesday: safety C.J. Byrd, wide receiver Joel Filani and cornerback Mike Hawkins. Filani was waived/injured; Hawkins had been claimed off waivers from the Dallas Cowboys earlier in the day.

Hardly a ringer to replace Tanard Jackson, Cargile is no stranger to the Bucs, having been in their camp back in 2006..

He also bounced around with the Cowboys, Browns, Broncos and Giants. Probably most impressive on his resume is Columbia University. Of course, fitting of Raheem The Dream’s apparent philosphy of only targeting players younger than he, Cargile is 27.

Joe must apologize for not posting this sooner. He had a radio engagement this morning with Ron Diaz and Ian Beckles on WDAE-AM 620, where Joe and Ian talked mostly about the offensive line.

Afterwards, Joe was stuck in a long meeting (fighting to stay awake while struggling without any aid from coffee). Now that Joe has sprung loose, it seems Joe isn’t the only one wondering about Luke McCown.

So to is Jason La Canfora of NFL.com. Citing sources “inside [the Buccaneers] organization,” La Canfora claims there are movers and shakers in the Bucs front office that want to let McCown go in favor of keeping Josh Johnson.

The Tampa Bay Bucaneers raised some eyebrows when they gave unproven QB Luke McCown a $2.5 million signing bonus this offseason. By all accounts, he has struggled, and some within that organization believe that it might be time to cut their losses with him so reps can open up for others.

The development of rookie QB Josh Freeman, the team’s first-round pick, has been well chronicled, and team sources have indicanted to me for months that Byron Leftwich has been the front-runner to land the starting gig for Week 1.

No one talks much about second-year QB Josh Johnson, but had Jon Gruden stayed as head coach, it’s Johnson who would have been the favorite to be the starter, sources said, and he remains highly regarded by the organization. Johnson was sharp in the preseason opener, and flashed his elite athleticism on a 43-yard touchdown dash on a busted play.

Joe pointed out this same scenario yesterday. Johnson’s workload has increased; he’s taking more snaps in practice. Coaches don’t do that just to make a kid feel good. Also throw in the fact there were whispers this spring that McCown wasn’t exactly lighting things up in the OTAs, and the way he struggled against Nashville, all these signals point to McCown being the odd man out, not Johnson.

If McCown has an equally erratic performance at Jacksonville on Saturday as he did in Nashville, the bell may begin tolling for McCown.

Bucs fans should get their first good look at Angelo Crowell in a Bucs uniform on Saturday in Jacksonville

It seems like ancient history when the Bucs signed Angelo Crowell to a one-year, $3.5 million deal in March.

He was the team’s top free-agent signing on the defensive side of the ball. Now he’s an afterthought.

Crowell’s been sidelined for most of the preseason with a hamstring injury, which comes of the heels of him not seeing live game action last year because of a major knee surgery.

Raheem The Dream was hardly his typical excited self when talking about Crowell yesterday with “The Big Dog” on 620 WDAE-AM, The Sports Animal.

“We need to just see him do it. …He’s healthy now,” Raheem The Dream said.

Joe was betting against Crowell months ago. But make no mistake, the Bucs desperately need him to turn it around and return to the form that made him a stud with the Buffalo Bills. Otherwise he’s sure to be a budget cut.

Another body was added to Raheem The Dream's prized secondary, reports the Dallas Morning News.

Looks like the Bucs have added another cornerback, albeit a guy who hasn’t played much in four seasons with four teams.

The Dallas Morning News is reporting the Cowboys cut Michael Hawkins and the Bucs snatched him off the waiver wire.

Joe’s not reading much into this signing, other than the fact that it’s clear Tampa Bay needs more depth at cornerback.

 Raheem The Dream’s a great secondary coach. Perhaps he’s seeing something on film. 

The TBO Twins are back! Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune and Dan Lucas of WFLA-TV join forces again to talk Bucs football.

Cummings discusses how and why Jermaine Philips practiced at safety in yesterday’s morning practice. This video was cut before the Bucs announced that starting safety Tanard Jackson was suspended for four games.

Cummings also speaks of the elusive battle for the No. 3 wide receiver position. A lot of guys are fighting for the gig but no one is winning.

Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com takes a moment to chat with Bucs (starting?) quarterback Byron Leftwich. He loves the weapons he has to work with and labels training camp “exciting.”

Raheem The Dream said the starting quarterback must have standout leadership, skill set and mental approach.

Might Raheem The Dream flip-flop on his starting quarterback decision after it’s made next week?

No chance, so Raheem The Dream told the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig, on 620 WDAE-AM on Tuesday.

Raheem The Dream said his three key factors for picking a starter are “leadership, skill set and mental approach to the game.”

“When we pick the guy, I gotta say that’s the guy,”  he said.  The head coach went on to explain that the final decision on a starter is his and it’s not in his makeup to name a starter and retain any thoughts of making a change.

Joe believes Raheem The Dream on all but one point: when the Bucs actually name a starter. In Joe’s eyes, it’s quite likely that the Bucs will wait another week if Luke McCown outplays Bryan Leftwich against Jacksonville, or both quarterbacks stink up the field.

There’s no reason not to be sure.

Scott Smith of Buccaneers Inside takes a look back at the Bucs first training camp at One Buc Palace and what if any progress the team made as a result.

Also, the good people of Buccaneers.com have their daily press briefing from Raheem the Dream.

Joe was out at One Buc Palace yesterday at a largely subdued Bucs practice. Seemed as though Santa Claus came with many gifts, among them were cloudy skies, nice breeze, no pads or helmets.

On top of that the Bucs largely worked on special teams for their final afternoon workout of training camp two-a-days.

The only things that jumped out at Joe were an interception by Aqib Talib when he cut in front of Kellen Winslow, and a routine catch made by Cadillac Williams out of the backfield. The play wasn’t significant but what got Joe’s attention was the way the crowd roared just because Cadillac touched the ball.

Cadillac is certainly a fan favorite.

Oh, and then there was this little item:

The Bucs were giving away game tickets. No, Joe has not had too many Caybrews (is there such a thing?). You read that correctly.

The Bucs were handing out free game tickets!

About halfway through the practice, Bucs employees, armed with handfuls of tickets to next week’s Miami game, began wandering through the stands asking, “Want any tickets?” If you said, “Yes,” you received a pair. If there was a family in attendance, the employees made sure each family member received a ticket.

The Bucs employees were handing them out as if members of a band were handing out flyers touting their next gig in Ybor City or at Jannus Landing.

This blew Joe’s mind. The Bucs employees must have dished out hundreds of tickets. Good tickets, too! Joe got sixth row in the 200 level.

What’s this tell Joe? First, it was an extremely generous and kind gesture by Bryan and Joel. Joe wants to thank them personally.

But this also tells Joe that fans should expect to see plenty of season ticket sales commercials during Saturday’s televised game from Jacksonville.

The free ticket giveaway for Joe was icing on the cake on what a wonderful camp it was for fans. Each day the players mingled with the fans and fans got as close to the practice fields as the coaches. Concessions were very reasonable, the facility easy to get in and out of, and, of course, the daily appearances by the cheerleaders.

Whoever was responsible for setting up Bucs training camp at One Buc Palace needs to get a raise or a promotion from Bryan and Joel. Job well done!