Panthers tight end Greg Olsen hauls in a pass in front of Bucs safety Mark Barron Sunday.

Joe had flashbacks yesterday as the Bucs rallied to beat the Stinkin’ Panthers, flashbacks to when he was a baseball writer.

When Joe was a beat writer covering the Kansas City Royals — seems like another lifetime ago — Joe almost always worked on deadline, meaning for night games Joe had a short window to write and file a story so it made the next day’s paper.

Periodically, a team would make a comeback from a large deficit late in the game. This proved troublesome, as Joe often had his story(ies) all but written and would have to start from scratch with sometimes 20 minutes until deadline.

Joe had a mental list of stories he was going to write about from what appeared to be an uglier than ugly Bucs upset loss at Carolina yesterday. Josh Freeman struggling, the team had a rash of turnovers, a mortal sin in the New Schiano Order, and how awful of a day Bucs rookie safety Mark Barron had.

Of course, thanks to quite a few Bucs players, those stories were set aside. Except for Barron’s.

Joe changed his mind about writing of Barron’s struggles when he read Wolf Heard’s piece on Buccaneers101, where Heard basically asks out loud, “Has Mark Barron hit the rookie wall?”

Barron, who was drafted No. 7 overall by the Bucs in April, has struggled in the passing game as of late. He seems to be out of position way too much and has had trouble covering tight ends, which is something a fast, young player like himself should be able to do.

Barron also hasn’t learn a very simple principle that all defensive backs need to do – get your head around when the ball is coming. Last week, Barron got flagged for pass interference after he didn’t turn his head toward the ball while knocking down a pass. The flag was picked up so no harm was done.

But he got called for the same thing on Sunday against the Panthers while trying to cover Greg Olsen in the end zone, and this time it cost him. Running back Jonathan Stewart punched it in from 1-yard out to give the Panthers a 14-10 lead after Barron’s penalty.

Now Joe knows Barron hasn’t been the greatest defender of the pass, though he didn’t stink up the joint. Yesterday, Barron played pass defense badly. This has been a recurring problem that may or may not be worsening.

After all, it could be that teams are targeting Barron more on the pass, thus it appears on face value he is getting beat more only because he is being targeted more.

This doesn’t explain Barron’s sudden whiffing of tackles. Prior, Barron was an absolute rock on the run game and an effective blitzer (remember how he buried RGIII into the turf of the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway). Barron wasn’t as lethal against the run Sunday and in one play, Cam Newton juked Barron in the open field so bad, Barron’s jock was left behind. Joe thought sure it was Myron Lewis at first, and not Barron, but the eye in the sky of replays doesn’t lie.

Two weeks ago, Bucs coach Greg Schiano noted he was concerned about the “The Rookie Wall,” and said that right about now rookies have played essentially what amounts to a full season of college football, when one factors in training camp, preseason games and the NFL’s regular season.

Schiano said he was hoping to limit Doug Martin’s carries as a result and was keeping an eye on Lavonte David, who rarely comes off the field on defense.

Maybe Schiano ought to be paying attention to Barron as well? Perhaps he could use a little less work in practice, or maybe a half-day off or so to help rest his bones?

The Bucs are going to need Barron these next six weeks.

Giants fans were ready to run Eli Manning out of town when he was a young quarterback — his head coach along with him — and it was often for performing a lot like Josh Freeman did yesterday minus the near-miracle victory.

Popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging Peter King of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports fame takes note of this in his must-read Monday Morning Quarterback column on SI.com, though King seems to not realize that Freeman was just fine for the first 10 minutes against the Panthers yesterday.  

King spoke to Freeman after the win in Carolina and tries to put the QB’s performance into perspective.

6. This Josh Freeman’s pretty good. The game Josh Freeman played in Carolina Sunday reminded me of a few Eli Manning games we’ve seen over the years. Stink it up for the first 50 minutes, dig a hole, then find a way to coolly get out of it. “We were way too sloppy for a long time,” Freeman said from the team bus to the airport after the game. “I was way too sloppy.” The Bucs made up 11 points?a field goal, a touchdown, a two-point conversion pass?in the last five minutes of regulation, then won it on a beautiful Freeman-to-Dallas Clark pass in overtime. The play of the day, though, was the 24-yard dart from Freeman to Vincent Jackson with 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter?with 280-pound defensive end Greg Hardy steaming in on a stunt in Freeman’s face, with two defenders buzzing around Jackson. “You don’t really have many options,” said Freeman, considering the pass rush and the clock and the need for a touchdown and not a field goal and the physicality of Jackson to fight off defenders to make the catch if he needs to. “You just gotta go. It was remarkable.” We forget Freeman is 24 years old. He’s six months younger than Ryan Tannehill. He’s with a new head coach, Greg Schiano; a new quarterback coach, Ron Turner; a new offensive coordinator, Mike Sullivan; with a new franchise receiver in Jackson and a new tight end in the rejuvenated Clark and a new franchise running back in Doug Martin. And here comes Freeman off a terrible 2011, playing the best football of his pro life. “What we’ve learned so far this year,” said Freeman, “is all that matters is battling. Games are 60 minutes, longer sometimes, and we knew we’ve got the players to make sure we can win in the end.” 

King goes on to look at some statistical babble on Freeman, and elightens the nation of Freeman’s greatness throwing deep and struggles throwing short.

Regardless, the Eli Manning analogy is interesting, given that Mike Sullivan was credited for helping Manning mature into the guy who won a Super Bowl last season. It’s comforting to Joe that Freeman’s wild day yesterday won’t faze the offensive coordinator.

Dallas Clark and Vincent Jackson celebrate Clark’s game-winning catch yesterday over the Stinkin’ Panthers.

To hear Bucs coach Greg Schiano on the Bucs radio network Sunday afternoon, the Bucs may not have won in overtime against the Stinkin’ Panthers had it not been for Dallas Clark.

Sure, Schiano waxed poetic about the catches from Vincent Jackson, the throws later from Josh Freeman and the running of Doug Martin. But Schiano seemed to go out of his way to knighting Clark with the win.

“It was a great throw, and a great catch,” Schiano said of Freeman’s toss to Clark for the win. “Dallas is a cagey vet and he knew where he was and to get his feet in bounds, maybe a younger player wouldn’t have that but a guy like Dallas Clark does. he’s a leader on this football team.”

The catch sure looked difficult on TV. Clark was wide, wide open and had to stop and come back to the ball, all the while keeping his feet inbounds, which he did deftly, channeling his inner Mike Williams.

It’s one thing to be able to catch the ball but yet something else to tap dance like Paula Abdul for the touchdown.

Throw in the fact that Freeman claims he threw the ball much sooner than he wanted to, which caused the ball to be thrown a bit behind Clark which forced him to come back to the ball.

What an incredible win by the Bucs and it would never have happened without big-time plays made late by big-time players.

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Veteran sports columnist Gary Shelton suggests the Bucs win over the Panthers Sunday may have been the greatest comeback in team history. And, in this Tampa Bay Times video, Shelton explains it was because of the play of one player.

Today’s heinous two interceptions tossed by Josh Freeman, one a pick-6, definitely stunned Joe, as Joe swilled beer and bonded with fellow Bucs fans and staff at Tilted Kilt in Clearwater.

All Joe could think about was doom and gloom. Freeman had gotten so out of sync in between the early and late minutes of the comeback win against Carolina, Joe began to wonder whether the 2011 Freeman had returned from the dead.

While no elite quarterback throws a senseless pick-6 like Freeman’s was, the most comforting part of this game for Joe was Freeman’s ability to bounce back and play with elite confidence and precision to force overtime and win.

Ironically, Freeman had company today from Matt Ryan, who tossed five interceptions in the Falcons victory.

The Falcons and Bucs, who square off in Tampa next Sunday, both looked very beatable for much of today. Yes, good teams overcome shaky performances, but Freeman (and/or Ryan) likely will have to do so much better next week to score a W.

Joe did have issues today with the Bucs’ conservative playcalling at times and the Bucs’ continued obsession with using D.J. Ware so much on third down.

(Last Joe checked Doug Martin was heralded by Bucs brass before and after the draft as “a versatile, three-down back.”)

But that written, today’s game definitely was yet another big positive for offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan. You can’t hang Josh Freeman’s ugly interceptions and Doug Martin’s costly goal-line cough-up on Sullivan. And “Sully,” as he’s called, had his offense and playcalling raring and ready to open the game, ready when the game was on the line, and ready for the kill in overtime.

The man knows how to make adjustments, and clearly the Bucs are very well prepared on offense.

As Joe’s written previously, Joe’s not sure how Sullivan won’t be in consideration for a head coaching gig after this season, assuming the Bucs offense keeps rolling. He’s got rings. He’s coached under disciplinarians. He’s got a military-officer background. He’s molded quarterbacks. And he’ll have playcalling prowess on his resume.

No, the Stinkin’ Panthers did not win, Chris Myers.

Joe’s not sure how many Bucs fans heard this — Joe didn’t — but it was amazing that Chris Myers, who was calling the Bucs game on FOX with Joe’s favorite, Tim Ryan, declared the Stinkin’ Panthers a winner the moment Dallas Clark got two feet down in overtime for — all together now — a Bucs win.

Joe’s good friend Jason McIntyre of TheBigLead.com has the video of Myers’ terrible gaffe.

To use one of Greg Schiano’s favorite phrases, the Bucs’ defense “bowed their necks” late in the thrilling win against the Panthers today.

The Panthers got the ball back with an eight-point lead and 4:03 left on the clock. But the Bucs dug in and forced a punt with a minute left to set up Josh Freeman’s aerial heroics.

Gerald McCoy, speaking in the Bucs locker room on FOX-13 after the game, gave a loud hat tip to Bucs strength coach Jay Butler, a guy who spent 11 seasons at Rutgers in the same role before Greg Schiano brought him to Tampa. McCoy said the Bucs’ fast and hard training “three or four days a week” left them very ready to be strong in the closing minutes and dominate overtime.

“In the end, we got that extra edge,” McCoy said.

Interestingly, during a separate interview on FOX, Michael Bennett said the Bucs being “one of the most well conditioned teams in the league” was key to the victory.

Before the season, the leader of the New Schiano Order made it clear the Rutgers way was coming to Tampa. In the realm of fitness, it seems the Rutgers model is doing just fine.

Bucs stud running back Doug Martin seemed a tad relieved with the Bucs win as even he offered that his fumble on the goal line could have doomed the team. Like the rest of the Bucs, he was on Cloud-9 after the come-from-behind win.

“It was a grind for four quarters and overtime. We had to fight and grind till the end. It was not a pretty game but we stayed through it and ground it out.”

On game-tying drive and overtime: “Just like practice. Situation practice. Everybody was calm and collected and had their minds right and we took off from there.”

On OT: “Awesome for this team. Man, everybody was just zoned in and the line did a good job of staying on blocks. Even though I had a fumble earlier, I had to place that out of my mind.”

On the game-winning catch by Dallas Clark: “ Relief. Awesome catch and throw by Dallas and Josh. Relief. Thrilling victory.”

On Vincent Jackson: “Vincent had a fabulous game.”

On what the win means for the season: “We just go week by week. Preparing is the main thing. Preparing for the game and it shows.”

After the Bucs rallied from the dead to beat the Stinkin’ Panthers in overtime today, Bucs player after Bucs player on radio and on TV talked about how Bucs coach Greg Schiano has the team prepared for just about anything. Daily the team goes over various scenarios whether it is a four-minute drill or a two-minute drill, they said.

But preparing for overtime?

Bucs defensive linemen Gerald McCoy and Michael Bennett both spoke out on WTVT-TV’s Bucs postgame show that for the first time all year, Schiano, Wednesday, gathered the team and explained how the Bucs would go about things if they found themselves in the first overtime game of the season.

Four days later, the Bucs are in overtime. This preparation helped calm the players down, as both GMC and Bennett said they knew what to expect and what to do.

What a change from last year this team is. Imagine, coaching people up, preparing players as opposed to moving to the beat of rap music?

It was obvious the Panthers came into this game looking to run the ball more than they usually do, and again the Bucs’ No. 1 ranked run defense stepped up.

Cam Newton was averaging 5.6 yards a carry before today. The Bucs held him to 40 yards on 11 carries.

Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams combined for just 61 yards on 22 carries.

It’s such a team effort on the Bucs’ run defense. The question is who isn’t making plays, versus who is.

Gary Gibson, Daniel Te’-O Nesheim, Roy Miller and Gerald McCoy were in the backfield, as was Ronde Barber on a savage run blitz, and the linebacker corps was punishing.

Thankfully, a handful of mistakes in the Bucs secondary — a particularly rough day for Mark Barron — weren’t exploited.

Should-be Hall of Famer Ronde Barber, the graybeard of the Bucs, seemed as happy as a high school kid on prom night after the Bucs’ thrilling overtime win as he spoke on the Bucs radio network moments after the game.

“This one is at the top of the list,” Barber said of the win, a victory snatched from the jaws of defeat. “We didn’t play well, we had three turnovers and we didn’t match up on defense well, and we win. We put ourselves in a tough situation at the end but we have proved to be a resilient team all year and proved that at the end.”

On the final defensive stand that set up the game-tying drive: “We knew going out there it was our one opportunity to do something right today. Without that (last stop), this game is obviously different.”
On Vincent Jackson: “I tell you what, Vincent Jackson is worth every penny we paid him. And I will give it to [quarterback Josh Freeman]. He will admit he was not at his best but at the end, I will tell you I wouldn’t want anyone else throwing the ball for us.

“We will take the ‘W.’ It was a hard-fought win. Hope we can build on it.

“The confidence has been there. We just have to continue to do our job. Coach Schiano puts a lot of emphasis on doing things right and that paid off at the end.”

How happy was Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman after the Bucs’ thrilling, come-from-behind, overtime win? Just minutes after the game while appearing on the Bucs radio network, Freeman was panting like Joe would just after a sheet-thrashing tryst with Rachel Watson.

“This is a great team win. Just one win, just like any other win. I think we came together as a team. I sure as heck didn’t play my best game, we were struggling but guys sacrificing their bodies, whatever it took to make plays at the end. Defense did the job at the end. Nobody flinched. Everybody kept playing. Tiquan got blasted but held on. Dallas Clark stepped up and make two huge plays for us. We have to learn from our mistakes and learn not to make these games so close.”

On the winning play: “It was a play we put in earlier this week. I had to go to [Clark] earlier than I wanted to but I’m glad I did.”

On the two-point play to send the game into overtime: “It was a run-play option. Initially [the Stinkin’ Panthers] came out in a blitz and we switched to a pass. We didn’t flinch. We didn’t move. Vincent came up big and split a double-team look.”

On the win: “The Carolina Panthers, they are a good football team. You don’t want to give Cam Newton the ball back. Our focus was to run our offense, one play at a time. It was an all-around team effort.

“It’s a big win on an emotional scale, but it’s just one win. We have to go out and execute better.”

Doug Martin has 1,000 yards rushing on the season after today’s 24 carries and 138 yards.

Think about that for a minute. That’s 1,000 yards in 10 games.

TEN GAMES!

There was no LeGarrette Blount sighting today, no pretending that the Bucs aren’t going to ride the Muscle Hampster hard on the march to the playoffs (maybe). Yeah, there’s the lurking rookie wall to look out for, but it seems the New Schiano Order isn’t concerned regardless of what they say.

And Joe’s fine with pounding the Muscle Hampster. Let’s see how much the new bell cow can take and prepare to shut him down if the Bucs fall out of the playoffs, or limit him later in the season if necessary. Right now, this season is about winning. The postseason is in reach. Frankly, the Bucs control their own destiny with six games to play.

Keep milking the bell cow.

Yes, Josh Freeman rose to the challenge at a time when he couldn’t fail, but Joe’s got to hand out a game ball to the Muscle Hampster. And yes, Joe’s convinced Muscle Hampster’s goal line fumble was a lousy call that thieved a touchdown from the Bucs.

This Carolina stinker turned into one glorious rose. 

The Bucs left no room for error in the fourth quarter, and it turned out they didn’t need any against the stinkin’ Panthers. Vincent Jackson earned his $11 million and change, and Josh Freeman channeled his 2010 wonderboy magic to pull a great finish and overtime dominance out of an otherwise ugly performance — and a horrendous theft job by the zebras.

Now 6-4, the Bucs are legitimately in the playoff hunt and conversation.

And that guy Doug Martin, well, by Joe’s math, the kid’s now a 1,000 yard rusher in just 10 games.

Stick with Joe through the night for so much more on this wild game.

All right Bucs fans, time to get your Gene Deckerhoff on. It’s the Bucs at the Stinkin’ Panthers and the Bucs are do to deliver a beatdown on an inferior opponent.

If the Bucs are truly a good team and are trying to make a run at the playoffs, this is the kind of game you win. Show the Stinkin’ Panthers who their daddy is. Make Cam Newton bury his head in a towel and bawl.

If the Bucs can pull off a win today, they will be 6-4 for Thanksgiving. Who here would have guessed that in August?

Week 11
Bucs at Panthers
Kickoff: 1 p.m.
TV: Locally, WTVT-TV Channel 13. DirecTV Channel 705.
Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM, 103.5 and WDAE-AM, 620); SiriusXM Channel 136.
Weather: Per AccuWeather.com, it will be chilly but not too awful. Kickoff temperature is expected to be 54 with winds around 10 mph under mostly cloudy skies. It won’t warm up much after that as the temperature near the end of the game will climb to 56.
Odds: Per Sportsbook.com, Bucs -1.5
Outlook: OK, so the Bucs are in a playoff run. Logically speaking, that means the Bucs are a good football team, no?? If one believes in this premise, then the Bucs should knock off the Stinkin’ Panthers. Good teams beat the teams they are supposed to beat. The Stinkin’ Panthers are lousy. Superman has ingested quite a bit of kryptonite. Cam Newton, though dangerous, has proved to be mortal. Peyton Manning or Tom Brady or Eli Manning or Ben Roethlisberger he is not. Oh, the Panthers have some talent on the field. Steve Smith is as dangerous as any receiver in the NFL and we all know just how stout the Bucs pass defense is (cough, cough). Then there are the Panthers linebackers who who are as good as any linebacker unit in the NFL. This, Joe believes, will be the key to the game. The Bucs’ offensive line has been ripped to shreds by injuries and now backup Jamon Meredith is a monster question mark. The Panthers linebackers have to be licking their chops at the chance to face such a depleted offensive line. Panthers stud rookie linebacker Luke Kuechly all but said as much, stating this week the Panthers’ objective was to try to stop Doug Martin and make the Bucs a one-dimensional team. They know the Bucs, to be polite, are thin up front.
The enemy speaks: Below are some quotes from Panthers coach Ron Rivera and Kuechly about the Bucs-Panthers matchup today.
Kuechly: “We have to finish games, that’s been a trend. We play well at first but haven’t been able to finish a team at the end. We need to play well all four quarters. … [The Bucs] are clicking right now. They are running the ball extremely well right now and when you run the ball, your offense jumps. … [Moving from Will linebacker to the middle] I have become more comfortable as the season has progressed and the more reps I get, the more comfortable I get. I’m still not 100 percent comfortable. … We have to make a team one-dimensional and stop the run. So we have to take care our gaps.”
Rivera: “[The Bucs] offense is on track. Their quarterback is playing extremely well right now. He is limiting his mistakes and making great decisions. Doug Martin is becoming the running back that I think Coach Schiano envisioned him to be. I think [the Bucs] receivers are in sync. Their offensive line, despite injuries, have solidified themselves and look good. … Doug Martin is playing the way a lot of people thought he would be. He doesn’t play like a rookie. He makes a lot of good decisions. He is the complete running back.”