It’s a persistent theme when former Buccaneer defensive end Steve White (1996-2001) watches Adrian Clayborn play football; White is always impressed by the rookie’s high-speed, relentless motor.

White’s not one to sugarcoat stuff, so it’s worth noting when White can’t say enough about Clayborn’s intensity.

“He’s not just going to stay blocked,” White said on the Primetime show on 1040 AM yesterday.

White said Clayborn’s technique needs a lot of work but he will keep working moves if one doesn’t work. After film study of the Bucs-Dolphins game, White said Clayborn played very well and caused a lot of disruption. “He has incredible effort rushes,” White said.

On the other side of the ball, White said, “you’d be crazy to just disregard it” when asked about the Bucs’ struggles running the ball in preseason. To White, it’s concerning. He stopped just short of naming names and saying Jeremy Zuttah should replace Ted Larsen at left guard, but that was the thinly-veiled implication.

Joe’s not sure what has happened to Larsen, one of Mark Dominik’s successful “second draft” finds last year. But he needs to overhaul his game in a hurry if he wants to stay on the field.

Recently, Joe got a chance to interview vaunted Sports Illustrated NFL writer Peter King. The man is near omnipresent during football season. His Monday Morning Quarterback column on SI.com is a must-read for NFL fans to begin the ugly work week. He also is a devout Twitterer who often holds Tweetups throughout the country . He can also be seen on Football Night in America on NBC and he is a regular co-host of “The Opening Drive,” heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio.

King stopped in Tampa on his multiple-city tour of NFL sites during training camp and the preseason. King was sequestered by the Bucs at One Buc Palace starting his day with a one-on-one with Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik at 7 a.m. and continued his day with many Bucs players and coaches.

JoeBucsFan: Your impression on the Bucs thus far after meeting with so many executives, coaches and players?

Peter King: When you basically see a team a day you try to look at the overall team and where they are. To me, this is going to be a great example of a team’s scouting department being at one with the team’s coaching staff because what they have basically done is take four defensive linemen the last two years in the top two rounds. At the start of the year, it should be [Brian] Price and [Gerald] McCoy if they are healthy and sound and have [Adrian] Clayborn and [Da’Quan] Bowers if they are ready to go. That is as much talent as any team has in the NFL IF Brian Price’s weird sort of hip injury and surgery mends correctly and he is able to be the player he was in college and if Bowers’ knee can stay fine. It is fine now.

You think of those guys playing in tandem and being coached by a maniac like Keith Millard, especially in the pass rush game, they obviously have a tremendous opportunity to be good for a very long time. That is the first thing that jumps out at me.

If you look at cornerstone players of this team, with the exception of Ronde, every single guy that is vitally important for this team has been here three years or less. You think of Josh Freeman and you think of LeGarrette Blount and you think of Mike Williams and you think of all of those guys on the defensive line.

And again, there are other important players like [Donald] Penn and other guys on the line and linebacker, but to me, what they have built here and tried to build are a very young team with players they view as personally and professionally the long-term cornerstone guys, the way Derrick Brooks and [Warren] Sapp were in the last generation of Bucs.

Joe: Mark Dominik has spoken often of how he wants to build through the draft and is trying to emulate how the Packers and Steelers stock their rosters by building through the draft, a noble goal. But the fans have howled in outrage that Dominik won’t go acquire a top-of-the-line starter through free agency — sans a punter — to bolster the roster. Do you think Dominik may be putting way too much emphasis and pressure on guys he has drafted and perhaps the fans could be right in that a starter or two signed through free agency maybe isn’t such a mortal sin as some suggest?

King: I think this year is going to tell the tale of that. You will know at the end of this year… look, no team ever bats 1.000 on high picks. One of those guys on the defensive line won’t come through with the promise they thought he had. Football odds say that. But if you look at the Steelers, the Steelers have a philosophy both in terms of the kind of player they want and the type of players that fit in Dick LeBeau’s defense, so it’s admirable to have that trait because what happens is, by the time you have to pay for a free agent to be that guy, he is going to cost a lot of money.

The only other thing I would say is, I think more and more and more in the next few years, free agency is going to be used as Scotch tape instead of big solutions because if you look at what happened this year, 58 percent of all free agents signed — 200 and some odd free agents signed — have been one-year contracts. Usually about two-thirds of the contracts signed are multi-year. This year the majority are one-year contracts and that says to me, A) Teams are not spending in free agency that they once have been at times; and, B) Since the cap is going to be relatively flat in the next two years I think that is what is going to happen unless you are looking for, say, a Charles Johnson, a young defensive end who will be good for the next 10 years and he is on the market or if you are looking for a Nnamdi Asomugha, that is understandable.

But I think most teams are not going to use free agency as the big splash move way. They will use it mainly as caulking.

Joe: If Joe recalls correctly, right before the Super Bowl you wrote a feature on Ted Thompson …

King: Right.

Joe: …the Packers respected general manager, in Sports Illustrated and he summed up his philosophy on signing big-named free agents as “over-aged and overpriced.”

King: Well, what happens, traditionally most free agents — and the Packers either got lucky or brilliant with Charles Woodson because he was a seven-year guy by the time he got to them and has been a much better player with the Packers than he ever was in Oakland — most players by the time they become free agents you are paying them as much for what they have been than as what they will be. So you are better off developing your own guys. No team can develop all their own guys. You always need help from the outside but you are smartest by far in developing your own guys and letting the chips fall where they may.

Joe: Do you see any common denominator with the Bucs players, whether it is their personalities or whatever? It seems Dominik is looking for a certain quality or personality. He only drafts guys that are captains with the inference that they are leaders. It seems the guys he drafts are good people, generally good people.

King: I think even the guys who have had check marks or chequered pasts like Mike Williams and LeGarrette Blount are guys when you meet them and talk to them, you like. There is no element of thuggery on this team. I think the smart thing they have done, they have taken the guys at the most important positions and made them good, leader-type people. Josh Freeman is the best example. I was just talking to Freeman about — I learned this from Tony Dungy: When Freeman was drafted, his dad called Dungy and said, “Hey, my son is really young, would you mind keeping an eye out for him, reach out to him once in a while?” And gave him his number.

Dungy talked to him three or four times and said to him, “You can call me any time but you don’t need me. You are fine.” At the time the kid was 21 years old. I think Freeman is a really good long-term guy to build your franchise around because he wants it so bad.

This is a great time to be a Bucs fan, it really is. You have all of these young guys, and yeah, not all of them will pan out, but they won 10 games last year and no one thought they would win 10 games. And they are set up for the future.

Joe: You have been traveling around in a USO van, talk about it.

King: I was looking a month before training camp started, wanted to find a bus to take to all the training camp sites (though it’s not here today) and and a guy from the USO called and said, “Maybe we can help each other out?” The van goes to bases all over the country which don’t have USO [facilities]. I’ve been to maybe 13 or 14 camps with that vehicle.

They brought in troops everywhere we have been and they come and meet the players at each practice and it is fun for the players too. Jim Schwartz had lunch with them. Mike Munchak had 25-airman from Fort Campbell in Kentucky out and have a day with the Titans. It’s really been good and rewarding to know that the guys in the NFL really have not forgotten. Many people in the USA have no idea we are in an active war now and the guys int he NFL remember that and hopefully give something to these men to remember and maybe take home with them.

Candid Buccaneers radio analyst Dave Moore already has his eye on the Bucs’ linebackers come opening day, so Moore told local broadcast icon Rock Riley, via video on BHSN.com.

Moore says he expects gameplans to test the midde of the field against the Bucs.

“We saw the other night that Quincy Black, who was coming in as a third-down middle linebacker for [Mason] Foster, got beat for a big play up the middle that first series, which the next play led to a touchdown. And I really believe that’s an area opponents are going to attack.”

Moore went on to talk about how teams will try to “take advantage” of Black or Foster’s inexperience in pass coverage in the center of the Tampa 2.

Regarding attacking the linebackers through the air, it’ll be damn interesting to see if the Lions go there early. Though it’s hard for Joe to imagine a team not pounding the ball at the Bucs until they show they can stop the run. Last year, the Bucs turned little-known Lions running back Maurice Morris (15 carries, 109 yards in Tampa) into Mercury Morris for a day.

As for Thursday’s final preseason game in Washington, Moore said he’d like to see the Bucs put the starting offense on the field for a couple of series to establish the running attack, which the Bucs struggled with over the first three games. But don’t count on that happening.

The Commissars of Bristol offer up an NFC South preview with Tim Connors, Tim Hasselbeck and Merril Hoge discussing what to look for in the 2011 season.

Joe types this with a heavy heart. What the hell has happened to this football town?

Three weeks ago the Tampa Bay Lightning announced it had sold 5,000 full season tickets during its offseason, doubling its season ticket base to just over 10,000. Knowing that Lightning season tickets are significantly more expensive than Bucs’ season tickets — 42 games vs. 10 games — Joe was sure that the Bucs’ preseason attendance would reveal that the Bucs also had sold at least 5,000 more season tickets, and maybe closer to 7,000 considering they were coming off a 10-6 season.

No such luck.

The Bucs’ announced attendance on Saturday against the Dolphins was 44,732, per ESPN.com. That means the Bucs season ticket base is just less than that figure because season ticket holders must buy preseason game tickets and individual game sales for a typical preseason game (unlike against the popular Patriots a week earlier) is rather low.

In 2010, the Bucs’ lowest preseason home attendance was 41,386 against the Chiefs. So to keep it simple, if you subtract that Chiefs game from Saturday’s Dolphins game attendance, you come up with a net increase of roughly 3,400 season ticket sales. This is no exact science here, but it’s painfully obvious the Bucs didn’t add as many season tickets this offseason as the Lightning.

Joe is flabbergasted.

Joe’s throwing the economy explanation out the window here because comparing the two teams’ sales is a head-to-head matchup within the market. Both are competing against the same economy and the same entertainment dollars.

Joe’s readers are welcome to kick around their takes in the comments, but for Joe it’s about the scoreboard. The Lightning had a better offseason than the Bucs. The Bucs lost.

The Bucs’ sales staff seemingly fared better this offseason than their counterparts in Florida, so ProFootballTalk.com pointed out today, but Joe still can’t buy into any reason why the Lightning captured more wallets in town with a more expensive season ticket. Hopefully, Team Glazer is focusing a powerful microscope on these results.

Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik may have finally hit a sour note.

Ever trying to stock the roster with young talent, Dominik let team leader and fan favorite Cadillac Williams drive off to St. Louis.

From a bean counter perspective, this made a lot of sense. Cadillac simply was no longer able to be a first string tailback. He was playing on two bad wheels, and God love the guy, no one fought back harder than he did from two ugly knee injuries.

But the laws of physics are stubborn. Those surgeries took a lot out of Cadillac and the brutal punishment of being a running back in the NFL was also likely taking its toll. But Cadillac proved he was quite valuable coming off the bench for perhaps no more than a dozen runs a game, sort of a change of pace from LeGarrette Blount and being a solid blocker, keeping Josh Freeman’s jersey clean on blitzes.

Maybe in an effort to get a better concession in contract talks, maybe a wishful thinking state of mind that Kregg Lumpkin could easily replace Cadillac, Dominik waved goodbye to the former Bucs first round pick.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the regular season: Lumpkin hasn’t exactly set the world on fire. He has struggled enough that it appears the Bucs will anoint everyman Earnest Graham as the third down back, so writes NFL.com blogger Jenna Laine.

Earnest Graham is your third-down running back. The team just has to figure out what to do at fullback. There was hope Graham would stay in at fullback and Kregg Lumpkin would be a complementary back to LeGarrette Blount, but Lumpkin really hasn’t been that impressive this preseason. Neither has Erik Lorig. So this one’s a head-scratcher …

Graham’s hands and his ability to fight for yardage after contact make him an asset in the passing game, much like Cadillac Williams was last year. In fact, head coach Raheem Morris even said in his post-game presser, “Earnest is doing what Cadillac did for us last year.”

Joe had his doubts about Lumpkin from the start. The Packers last year, a team desperate for running backs, let him go. That to Joe raised a red flag. Teams that need players at a certain position generally do not let players at said position walk if they value said player at all. Given the fact it was sage talent evaluator  Ted Thompson making that decision — not someone playing a general manager like, oh, Jerry Jones — further reinforced Joe’s fears.

In many interviews this preseason, Dominik threw bouquets at Lumpkin, but Joe tried to dismiss this as, at times, Dominik’s habit of bragging up guys who are buried on the depth chart and rarely see playing time.

Perhaps Dominik will be scouring the free agent lists of available players in the coming days for a running running back who could replace Cadillac? If we can trust two things, it is Dominik finding a gem on the scrap heap and that running backs, by and large, are a dime a dozen.

Bucs fans love what Josh Freeman is all about: work ethic, supreme confidence, winning, and good values.

So it’s no suprise that Freeman won’t be sold on the value of preseason games. They don’t count and he and the Bucs’ offense got what they needed from them, so the Associated Press reports. 

“It really is practice. You want to get tuned up and ready for the regular season,” said Freeman, who will not play in Thursday’s preseason finale at Washington. “You want to work on your base stuff, get the offense gelling together. As far as what the preseason is for, we got that accomplished.”

Joe loves the confidence and has loads of faith in Freeman, even if he looked scary and Dilferesque at times on Saturday.

Joe’s always been a you-play-how-you-practice guy, but Joe can’t be too concerned by the Bucs many mistakes. There’s just no correlation between preseason success and making the playoffs.

Last week there was all sorts of news about the possibility of NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell throwing the book, kitchen sink and hot tub at troubled Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib, the villain in a  case of a Texas man allegedly being pistol-whipped and shot at while fleeing a scene earlier this spring.

Cooler heads prevailed, as Talib and his legal counsel arrived at Goodell’s chambers to hear their case, and Goodell postponed any sentence until after Talib has had his day in a Texas courtroom.

Now Joe is fully aware Goodell did not have to wait. He could have suspended Talib if he so chose. But it was prudent of Goodell to wait for the facts to be heard in a court of law, as opposed to, say, cutting Talib loose.

Having written that, Joe would like to know where Goodell has been involving the case of Cincinnati running back Cedric Benson.

The former University of Texas star and former Bears running back (boy, what a memorable Super Bowl he had) settled Monday in a case where he agreed to plea guilty on two misdemeanors and serve 20 days in a cage, as documented by FoxSports.com.

Benson was arrested in 2010 for allegedly punching a bar employee in Austin, an incident that earned him a meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell last year but resulted in no punishment. He pleaded no contest to a charge of assault with injury in that case.

He also was arrested last month for allegedly punching a former roommate in downtown Austin. He pleaded no contest to a charge of assault with bodily injury with family violence, and that will be dismissed if he performs 30 hours of community service and pays an undisclosed amount of restitution to the victim.

Resulted in no punishment!

This is simply outrageous to Joe. Now Joe has no problem at all with Goodell suspending miscreants if he sees fit. Hey, don’t want to get in trouble with Goodell? Don’t be a moron. Real simple.

But what confounds Joe is the rank inconsistency of Goodell’s sentences. Talib was suspended for speedbagging a cabbie’s head. Fine, no problem.

But Benson blasts a dude in a bar in full view of patrons and employees and Goodell just shrugs his shoulders, really?

What a difference a week makes.

When the Bucs played the Patriots, the Bucs didn’t scheme, which Joe dug up evidence to prove that was the case despite what the haters had to say.

Donald Penn even noticed a difference as he kindly gave Joe a few minutes after the game.

“I thought we came out with good intensity, overall,” Penn said. “We were hungry and more focused than last week.”

Though Penn was happy with the start, he understands there’s more work to be logged before the Bucs are ready to throw down with the Lions Sept. 11.

“We still have to minimize our penalties,” Penn said. “When we are out there playing, I don’t see [the big picture] so I’ve got to look at the film but I do know penalties will always hurt an offense so we definitely have to work on that.”

The fact the Bucs had 135 yards in penalties made Joe look on the Bucs roster for Kenyatta Walker.

(Hat tip Jenna Laine).

What is it about the behomoths of the NFL that causes fans, broadcasters and coaches to fall in love with them?

Joe’s not sure. Maybe it’s just the sheer awesomeness of men checking in at 325+ and still being gifted athletes, a completely foreign concept to the average Joe on the street.

So in what is sure to further fuel his exploding popularity, Frank “Mount” Okam is tearing up offensive linemen while weighing in at a relatively lean 370 pounds, so Raheem Morris said with a big grin at his news conference this afternoon.  

Yes, that’s 370 pounds.

“Some days he’s 370, man, he’s huge,” Raheem said after a reporter questioned Raheem’s claim of Okam’s weight.

Raheem went on to relay a story of how Okam contacted the Bucs’ training staff to let them know he was reporting at 370 pounds this season. Raheem was concerned, he said, but after he and staff studied Okam’s body, they decided he was fit for duty.

Remember, two weeks ago Raheem raved about Okam’s fitness and small stomach.

“He’s just a big man. He doesn’t get tired. Man, I don’t know. He’s one of those guys. ‘Is he out of shape?’ Then you look at him and you’re like, ‘No. No. He just looks like a refrigerator.’

“There’s no stomach. Look at him. … He’s not fat. He’s just big.”

Like defensive line coach Keith Millard told Joe the other night, Raheem praised Okam’s ability at nose tackle and at the 3-technique. “He’s a space-eater, a penetrator, a problem,” Raheem said.

Joe chatted with Mount Okam after the Dolphins game Saturday, and Okam doesn’t want to be typecast as just a nose tackle.

“I’m a football player. I’m a defensive tackle. Whatever they need me to be, I can be. I think that’s one of my strengths. I don’t want anyone to put me in a box. … I have a high standard for myself wherever they put me,” Okam said.

It’s interesting. And Joe’s not sure what kid of “box” would fit Mount Okam anyway.

Raheem wears a massive grin when talking about Mount Okam and his size combined with his effectiveness. Buccaneers Radio Network reporter T.J. Rives was cracking jokes with Mount Okam after he talked about successfully flipping his hips on the defensive line.

Everybody loves the big guy.

And at 370, Mount Okam has an opportunity to become the most popular Buccaneer on the defensive side of the ball, and score himself a massive contract when he hits the unrestricted free agent market next year. All he has to do is keep producing.

Now that the next chapter of the Aqib Talib saga has begun, Bucs fans and players are left to pray that Talib can stay out of trouble indefinitely, or at least through the 2011 season.

But ESPN NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas wants more than prayer from Talib’s veteran teammates. In a blog post today, he calls on Bucs veterans to step up and counsel Talib.

They can be a bit more aggressive in taking an active role with Talib. He doesn’t have a lot of margin for error and the veterans on this team need to do their part in helping him. They need to reach out to Talib and do their best to make sure he stays focused. The situation with Talib is one where his veteran teammates can do a lot more good by being proactive and vocal. They need to provide strong support and not try to stay out of his way.

This is way too much for Joe’s taste and a bit off the wall.

First, how does Yasinskas know what Ronde Barber has said and done for Talib over the years?

In fact, Joe would prefer the veterans stay far away from Talib so they don’t risk setting him off for some reason. With serious trials for himself and his family looming, there’s no doubt Talib is under a lot of stress.

Talib has serious anger management issues. Joe doesn’t need a degree to make that call. And Joe hardly thinks the Bucs veterans are licensed shrinks who can get into Talib’s head enough to keep him out of trouble.

It’s safe to assume that would have already happened when Derrick Brooks was in the Bucs locker room and Talib walked in after his rookie symposium shenanigans. And 2009 veterans like Chris Hovan, Jeff Faine, Barber and others surely would have been successful, if they could have, after Talib attempted to club Donald Penn with his helmet that spring and subsequently bloodied Torrie Cox.

Talib needs professional help, and Joe sincerely hopes the Bucs are forcing him to get it. Considering all the medical staff associated with the team, and the fact that teams in many sports have hired sports shrinks, it would seem a given that Talib would be subject to time on the couch.

For Joe, Talib’s troubles are way beyond team captains giving him supportive pep talks.

Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik is in the process of trimming the Bucs roster.

Joe just learned via really good guy, Bucs offensive guard Brandon Carter, via Twitter, that he was just cut.

bcarter60: Just got released from TB buccaneers.

Joe is really bummed to learn this. Brandon (and his dad) have always been way cool to Joe and damnit, Joe thought Carter played really well Saturday night.

Carter had an angry streak that Joe loved in offensive linemen.

Brandon, you are a good guy. Keep your chin up dude. You will get another NFL gig man.

UPDATE: More cuts have taken place. Here’s the full list from Buccaneers.com:

• WR Aundrae Allison
• CB Vince Anderson
• G Brandon Carter (waived/injured)
• TE Collin Franklin
• DE Brandon Gilbeaux
• WR Detron Lewis
• P Robert Malone
• WR Jock Sanders
• FB Rendrick Taylor
• CB Ashton Youboty

Sanders, who played high school ball at St. Petersburg Catholic, showed Joe enough that he will likely get a look from another team.

For the many Bucs fans who were at Saturday night’s Bucs game at The CITS or couldn’t stay up until the wee hours of Sunday morning to watch the fourth quarter or who were otherwise occupied Sunday afternoon, these same Bucs fans missed a rare live TV appearance by Bucs co-chairman Bryan Glazer during the fourth quarter of the Bucs-Dolphins broadcast on WTSP-TV Channel 10, one of Joe’s proud media partners.

Naturally, Joe had a recorder handy to document this interview:

Bryan Glazer’s opening statement: We have a lot of good skill position guys that are young players that will be with us for a long, long time.

Chris Myers: And of course the decision with young guys, to go with Raheem Morris and Mark Dominik, the head coach and general manager, seemed like a gutsy move at the time.

Glazer: No, we have known Raheem for seven or eight years and we knew Mark for 15 years. To us, it was not a risky proposition. We knew these guys. We knew what they were all about. We knew with their patience they would put together a great team.

John Lynch: Bryan, it is clear to me and I think to everyone that you are building something here. I know the goal is not 10 wins but the goal is to win another championship. To me it is kind of nostalgic being here because there are a lot of themes with this team that harken me back to the days with our team growing up.

Glazer: The plan today is no different than the plan in 1995. We are putting together a young team that will grow together and not having to keep adding older players. We will have a young tem that will play together and grow together.

Lynch: I think the difference you guys have with this team is, I think I would have a handful of Super Bowl rings if I had a guy like No. 5 on my team. You put him with our defense, you’d have something awesome.

Glazer: Having like No. 5 out there, well, it’s something fantastic to have. It was all on you guys. It was all on the defense. Now, we have a balanced team. We have great players on defense, great players on offense, it’s really exciting to watch.

Myers: Bryan, let’s talk about the non-sellouts, the blackouts and the non-sellouts. I know the team is trying [to sell tickets] but is there something the league can do? Is this because of the lockout? Is it the economy? What concerns you the most?

Glazer: Well, in the offseason, we lowered some ticket prices to — we know the economy is very difficult here in Tampa. We are aware of that. So we have ticket prices as low as $35 for adults and $17.50 for kids. We made it very affordable for people to come. They can afford to come to the games.

Viewers could sort of tell how Glazer — and perhaps the rest of the Bucs hierarchy — was growing weary of the constant temporary hole-plugging of Chucky with gum and duct tape, hoping older, over-priced players (that’s a Ted Thompson reference to free agents) try to fill gaps for a year.

With Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik stocking the roster with solid young talent, such a practice shouldn’t be needed for some time.

Jeremy Trueblood has drawn the ire of a former Bucs offensive lineman

Former Bucs offensive lineman Ian Beckles (1990-1996) is grumbling about what he’s seen from the offensive line this preseason.

Last week, speaking as co-host on The Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620, Beckles said he was troubled by the Bucs’ O-line failing to pick up vanilla “mike linebacker” blitzes from the Patriots in addtion to getting manhandled.

This morning, Beckles unleashed more frustration at the O-line after watching the Bucs-Dolphins game. It wasn’t a Ruudian blast, but powerful nonetheless.

“LeGarrette Blount hasn’t seen a hole yet,” Beckles said.

Beckles chided the whole team for being “too chippy” and for “too much mouthy going on,” in addition to “too much pushing going on.” Beckles said that shows a lack of discipline and will lead to more “stupid penalties.” Trueblood is a prime offender, Beckles said.

“Block somebody,” Beckles barked at the Bucs’ right tackle. “Trueblood was getting beat clean.”

Ted Larsen didn’t escape Beckles’ tirade.

“Don’t put Ted Larsen on Ndamukong Suh. It would be ugly. He was getting beat clean [against Miami],” Beckles said.

Joe can’t argue with Beckles too much, though Joe has to watch the tape again to study Trueblood’s play. At least there’s an alternative to Larsen, as Joe wrote about yesterday. As for Trueblood, James Lee has had a subpar preseason.

Lost a bit in the shuffle has been Da”Quan Bowers moving well and looking pretty good without hearing a peep about his famous knee.

With Michael Bennett locked in at left defensive end, Joe wonders whether Bowers might start getting action on the right side of the line.

Peter King, of Sports Illustrated, spent time at Bucs camp recently and learned from rockstar general manager Mark Dominik that the leash is off Bowers when it comes to his healing knee.

So far this summer, Bowers has missed one practice and complained of no pain in the knee, his left. “He’s like any other player now,” said GM Mark Dominik. “The governor is off.” The big issue for him could well be beating out the surprise of camp for the starting left end job — defensive end Michael Bennett, a waiver pickup from Seattle two years ago. They each had a sack Saturday night against Miami; Bennett added two more tackles for loss. Each will play at lot at left end, and Bennett’s strong play will let Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris ease Bowers into the games early if that’s how he chooses to play him.

The great thing about all this is the Bucs not having to force Bowers, who might still need time to get back to 100 percent. While it may seem a foreign concept around One Buc Palace for a high draft pick to play sparingly as a rookie, that might be very well be the case with Bowers. And Roy Miller could be in that same boat, as well.

When news got out about a week ago that troubled Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib was summoned to the chambers of NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell, it didn’t look good for Talib.

Then, when good guy Maoist Michael Silver published a report on Yahoo! Sports revealing that in the final minutes of the asinine lockout, NFLPA frontman DeMaurice Smith sold out Talib and a handful of others in a last-minute cave in order to bring the asinine lockout to an end, it looked even worse.

So when Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik broke news in the press box of The CITS Saturday that Goodell had decided not suspend Talib for the 2011 season, it was very much a surprise to many if not all Bucs fans.

While the Bucs beat the Dolphins just hours later, the Bucs were celebrated the win. No, not on the field, but for Talib’s newfound freedom, so reports Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune.

“It’s good for Aqib,” cornerback Ronde Barber said. “How the legal system plays out next year, I’m sure we’ll revisit it then. Aqib is a heck of an asset to our football team.

“You hate that he gets in trouble sometimes. It being over helps everybody. We can stop talking about it, though I’m sure (the media) will find a way to continue talking about it. We just want to get moving on. I know he wants to get moving on.”

The key issue is that Talib will not be suspended this season. If Talib skates in his court case in Texas, he likely will have nothing to worry about. If he is found guilty, he not only will have to face a Texas judge but Goodell again, who at times makes a Texas judge look like a priest in a confessional.

Roster cuts are a focus as the final preseason game approaches on Thursday in Washington. And one guy on the bubble is Daniel Hardy, the Bucs’ rookie tight end out of the University of Idaho, a late seventh-round pick. He’s slugging it out for the third tight-end role with Ryand Purvis and Nathan Overbay, who spent much of last year on the Bucs’ practice squad. 

Joe caught up to Hardy yesterday to chat about his NFL experience.

JoeBucsFan.com: How do you feel about your chances of making the team? How have you played? Have you shown the team what you’re all about?

Daniel Hardy: I feel like I’ve made plays when I’ve gotten the opportunity. But there’s always a lot more I can work on. You know, I just try to do what the coaches tell me. That’s what my whole focus has been. I feel good about how camp has been going, about how preseason has been going. I feel I’m improving and learning more and more. That’s really been my whole focus.

Joe: What is your biggest improvement since becoming a pro?

Hardy: I’d say attention to details. There’s so much more that goes into it at this level in terms of off the field in terms note-taking, learning from watching the veterans in front of you, trying to pick up something new every day. And the tempo, the tempo is faster, you really have to be on your cues. You gotta study what the defense is doing. Everything is sped up, the mental and the physical part of it.

Joe: Talk about Kellen Winslow’s influence on you.

Hardy: It’s been huge. Going in I was kind of anxious just to see what kind of guy he was. You know, you hear different things. But he’s been everything and more than I could have asked for me as a rookie at the position. He is so knowledgable. People don’t understand what he goes through every day just to be able to play, in terms of getting physically ready. And his mental approach to it — he’s such a professional seeing how he approaches the game and what he does on and off the field. He’s a physical beast but the mental part of his game I think people on the outside underestimate. Just having someone like that I can look up to is a blessing?

Joe: What are you doing on special teams?

Hardy: I’m on just about everything. They got me at kickoff return, kickoff, punt and punt return. And it’s something that I embrace. A lot of guys, and even for me, it’s a great chance to make a team, just to show them I’m willing to do it and that I’m versatile. … I’m excited because in high school I got to play safety and on special teams you get to be a defender. You get to hit somebody. I love it. I embrace it.

Twice last night during his postgame news conference, Raheem Morris talked about how he wanted a running back to emerge to take over the “Cadillac role” on third down. 

Third-down back is still a competitive situation with Earnest Graham, Kregg Lumpkin and all the fellas, so said the head coach. And Raheem said he’s seeking “the guy who’s going to come up there and give you that spark, big time player. A guy that comes up and gives you a little bit of something, Cadillac role.”

“I’d like one of these guys to step up and take it,” Raheem added before he mentioned the “Cadillac role” again.

Of course, that got Joe shaking his head again. The Bucs simply could have had healthy homegrown Cadillac Williams, who signed for peanuts with the Rams, rather than still seeking his replacement. Cadillac had 12 carries for 54 yards last night and a 19-yard reception. Last year, Cadillac rushed for a whopping 6.4 yards per carry in the second half of the season (33 carries for 212 yards) when the Bucs put him in the third-down-back role that suits him.

Raheem says Graham is his No. 1 fullback, but he wants Erik Lorig to be sharp to keep Graham fresh and healthy and free to be as versatile as possible.

Considering Cadillac’s huge production during the second-half of 2010, when the Bucs offense was good, fans can only hope that “Cadillac role” is filled successfully.

Longtime readers of JoeBucsFan.com know Joe’s not shy about his admiration of Jeremy Zuttah.

The guy did everything the Bucs asked of him in his first three seasons along the offensive line. Zuttah was successful jumping into the starting lineup as a rookie at right guard for Davin Joseph in 2008. Though some disagree, Joe believes he was solid at left guard in 2009, and the 25-year-old started at center in place of Jeff Faine when the Bucs O-line was dominant during the second half of 2010.

Joe never got the Keydrick Vincent signing to replace Zuttah. How un-Dominik-like that was.

This season, it was obvious Zuttah was tossed back into his supersub role, but that might have changed last night.

After the Bucs played New England, Raheem Morris called out Ted Larsen for having a rough game. And Larsen was not sharp last night. Holes were not to be found on the left side of the first-team line, and Larsen was beaten badly on the Bucs’ second possession on third down. Freeman ran for his life and was forced into an incompletion.

By the second quarter, Zuttah replaced Larsen, and a pulling Zuttah had the key block to spring Earnest Graham to an easy touchdown run, the Bucs’ only TD of the night for the first-teamers.

Joe’s no psychic, but it’s not a big leap to suggest the starting left guard job is still up for grabs.