"In Free We Trust"

Drinking a cold beer and watching the Man Channel, when its not reporting on the asinine lockout, is one of the few things that soothes Joe these days.

Thank you, Verizon, DirecTV, Knology and other patriotic companies that refuse to deny customers America’s game on NFL Network.

Last night Warren Sapp aroused Bucs fans when he sparred with Total Access pal Jamie Dukes about the greatness of Josh Freeman. Check out the video here. Sapp declared Freeman will emerge from the 2011 season as an MVP candidate.

Appalled that Dukes would question him, Sapp explained Freeman’s greatness and scoffed at the notion that Freeman was possibly a one-year wonder. “He got a full grasp on the both the handlebars,” Sapp said.

This was enough to get Joe fired up for flimsy chance that training camp could start in two weeks.

Think you’re burned out by the endless legal and labor chatter surrounding the asinine lockout?

Well, Barrett Ruud is getting worn out, too, so says Rick Stroud of the St. Pete Times. But Ruud’s fatigue is over the love-him-or-hang-him attitude buzzing everywhere about his play, Stroud said today.

“I think he’s tired of the debate. … He wants to be wanted,” Stroud said about Ruud during an interview on the Fabulous Sports Babe Show on 1040AM.

Stroud went on to call Ruud underrated and said Ruud is a goner from the Bucs “if he gets $1 more or the same” offer from another team.

If one were to have just heard Stroud’s interview and didn’t know much about Ruud, one might think Ruud was disgruntled, whiney and ready to cry at a moment’s notice, like an unstable 20-year-old hottie getting kicked off a reality show.

While Ruud staged a minicamp holdout a couple of years ago and made it clear he wanted a new contract, Joe doesn’t see Ruud as a guy holding a grudge or wanting to jump ship for an extra cup of coffee. Ruud obviously has the respect of his teammates and coaches, and Joe knows Ruud’s smart enough to realize the peripheral pressure from fans and media would be at least as tough if he went to the Giants, who some speculate are interested in his services.

Most intriguing to Joe was Stroud claiming “Raheem doesn’t want to play without him.”

Will the Coach of the Year get his way?

Well, Joe had a whole post scheduled to appear here now handicapping the odds of the 2011 Ring of Honor enshrinee by the Bucs. The team will make the announcement tomorrow.

But now the cat’s out of the bag. Rick Stroud of the St. Pete Times is reporting confirmation from Doug Williams that Jimmie Giles has gotten the nod.

At least Joe was on the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620 early this morning and named Giles as his No. 2 most likely selection. Joe thought Ricky Bell was the lead candidate to get the nod this year, as he’s a worthy choice and was one of four Bucs already honored by the team in the old Krewe of Honor at The Big Sombrero, along with Lee Roy Selmon, John McKay and Doug Williams.

Williams will get in one day, but Joe never thought Williams would get in this year simply because how could Team Glazer gamble that, if selected, the seemingly still bitter Williams would show up for the honor? Williams went public with his disgust about the team parting ways with him before this season.

Giles was good for four Pro Bowls in his creamsicle uniform (1978-1986). Surely deserving.

Joe’s got to hand it to Team Glazer for staying old school and not going for the money grab — as in ticket sales. Enshrining a modern era guy like Warren Sapp, Tony Dungy or Derrick Brooks likely would have meant huge cash and hype for a 2011 game. Sorry, but Giles won’t mean more than a teeny blip at the box office and little to the media.

Nice to see Team Glazer honoring men (perhaps forgotten by some) from a team it didn’t own. The owners seem commited to building a
meaningful Ring of Honor. They didn’t take the easy way out.

The Bucs have rolled out another phase of their excellent Xs and Os series on the team website. This time it’s secondary coach Jimmy Lake showcasing Cody Grimm’s sure tackling and instinctive play, and Lake breaks down every phase of Grimm’s interception against the Bengals.

The way Lake raves about Grimm — “Cody’s a tough hombre,” among other superlatives — one might think the 2010 seventh round pick is a new cornerstone of the Bucs defense.

Joe hopes so. This kid almost single-handedly brought the Bucs run defense from putrid to almost average for a stretch of the season before he broke his leg.

One has to wonder whether Grimm’s small frame can handle his level of violence long term. Joe has a good feeling.

The Bucs came “this close” to the playoffs last season, losing in a playoff tiebreaker to the eventual Super Bowl champion Packers, a fact not lost on Josh Freeman.

Some pundits believe the Bucs have a shot not to just make the playoffs, but to make a run in the playoffs if only the defense can improve. eye-RAH! Kaufman isn’t convinced that improvement will happen overnight.

The longtime NFL columnist for the Tampa Tribune spoke on WHBO-AM 1040 Monday afternoon with “Prime Time’ co-hosts Ronnie Lane and Tom Krasniqi, explaining the many areas on the Bucs defense that he finds lacking.

“When was the last time we had more confidence in the Bucs offense than the defense?” Kaufman asked. “There are a lot of questions on this defense. They can’t stop the run. There’s no pass rush. Now you are asking two rookies with health issues to make an impact? That’s asking a lot.

“Gerald McCoy is fine. Brian Price is not looking good for this season. Roy Miller has something to prove. For every disruptive play Geno Hayes makes, he takes a bad angle. There are are real questions about this defense.

“I believe Talib will face some kind of punishment, even with his trial postponed to next year. Let’s face facts: The Bucs have not been able to stop the run with Raheem in
charge of the defense the past two years and with Barrett Ruud as the middle linebacker.

“At some point, you run out of things to say.”

All are valid points from Kaufman. But call Joe naive but he believes the defensive front will be much improved, if for no other reason they will have decent coaching with Keith Millard, something GMC and Miller haven’t had since both became Bucs. That very well could be a domino effect: Better play up front means better linebacker play, etc.

And even if Talib is suspended — clearly, not a given — Joe has considerable confidence in E.J. Biggers

Yes, the Bucs do have question marks on defense. But it’s difficult to see the defense regressing.

The Bucs coulda, shoulda been in the playoffs. It’s one of Josh Freeman’s favorite sayings.

But it is because of Freeman that the NFC South may just be the best division in the NFL. That doesn’t come from Joe, that comes from “The Professor,” John Clayton of BSPN.

The longtime NFL scribe fielded questions recently and suggests if the NFC South is not the best division in the NFL, it should be shortly.

Q: In the NFC South, the Saints seemed to hit a stumbling block. With Matt Ryan guiding the Falcons to a 13-3 record and only getting better, as well as Josh Freeman being called the most promising QB since, well, Matt Ryan, the Saints aren’t the only good team in the South anymore. The Saints have Drew Brees, but no running game and an inconsistent defense. Are they legitimate this year?

Cal in Los Angeles

A: The NFC South is turning into a marathon, not a sprint. It’s becoming the best division in football because of Brees, Ryan and Freeman. It’s only going to get better once Cam Newton develops. Part of the problem for Brees and the Saints last year was that the Saints played their toughest games on the road while the Falcons’ toughest games were at home. Don’t be surprised if the Saints win the division this year, and Ryan and the Falcons get a wild card. We’ll see where the Bucs finish, but I think you’re going be seeing at least two teams make the playoffs from the NFC South.

If one is to believe the suits Clayton works for, one would be brainwashed into thinking the NFC East is the beast of the NFL. Not only is this unadulterated propaganda, it simply isn’t true. Just off the top of Joe’s head he can think of four divisions better than the NFC East, yet those teams are pounded into innocent viewers’ subconscious as the best division in football, year in and year out by the four-letter outfit.

Yeah, when Joe Gibbs, Bill Parcells, Jimmy Johnson, Buddy Ryan and Gene Stallings were coaching in the NFC East, it was a beast of a division, but not since.

Joe doesn’t think it’s outrageous at all to suggest the NFC South is the strongest division, though the NFC North is likely the best, but not by much.

Stuck in this seemingly endless asinine lockout, Bucs fans have to come up with other things to chatter about with the absence of transactions.

That would be hypothetical transactions. And few things Bucs fans enjoy talking about more is the value/drag that middle linebacker Barrett Ruud is to the Bucs.

There is no guarantee Ruud will be back. So Bucs fans have had to dream of who may replace him.

Not long ago, Joe threw out the name of underrated linebacker Paul Posluszny who, like Ruud with the Bucs, is in the same boat with the Bills.

The Poz, the personification of a Penn State linebacker in college, spoke with popular sports radio personality Adam Schein and former NFL quarterback Rich Gannon today on “The Blitz,” heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio, and invoked the Bucs as a potential landing spot for him, if everything shakes out properly.

“There are several teams that may have a need [for a linebacker],” Posluszny said. “There are some 43 [defenses] that I can be a good fit in. I hear a lot about the Giants. The Bucs would be a good fit too but it depends on what they do with Barrett Ruud. There are several teams that may have a need or may not, it depends on who they bring back.

“The more you think about this, you drive yourself crazy.”

Joe thinks The Poz would be a good replacement for Ruud, but not perfect by any means, if Ruud were not to return. Poz is very much a student of the game and the guy is not just a ballhawk but a solid tackler and not shabby in pass defense. The guy is also very much a leader with the Bills, just like he was for JoePa, which is no surprise.

Joe would feel a helluva lot more comfortable with The Poz at middle linebacker than rookie Mason Foster, who may not even be a good middle linebacker fit on the NFL level.

But if Joe would have to guess, unless Ruud is totally PO’ed at Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik and has already made up his mind he won’t be back, Joe’s of the belief Ruud will be back starting for the Bucs at middle linebacker whenever this asinine lockout ends.

After the interview, Schein went on to say that Posluszny is the No. 2 free agent linebacker on the market, behind only Ruud. And to be honest, Joe thinks the Bucs would be better off with Ruud.

What does a mentor do in the National Football League? Joe believes a mentor is a player who dumps his knowledge of the game on a younger player at every opportunity, sets a solid example and is eager to answer said player’s questions.

Per Pat Yasinskas, NFC South blogger for ESPN.com, Byron Leftwich wasn’t a mentor for Josh Freeman. Yasinskas makes this assertion in a post about whether rookie Cam Newton should have a veteran quarterback at his disposal.

Look at how Tampa Bay handled Josh Freeman. They had Byron Leftwich there as a (very short) bridge in Freeman’s rookie year. But Leftwich wasn’t a mentor. Freeman’s development came because he worked hard and because he got some very good coaching from offensive coordinator Greg Olson and Alex Van Pelt joined the Bucs as quarterbacks coach last season. Freeman frequently credits Olson and Van Pelt for his progress. It was kind of the same thing with Matt Ryan in Atlanta. Chris Redman might be an extra set of eyes and ears for Ryan, but offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey and former quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave were the ones who developed him.

It seems a bit harsh to say Leftwich wasn’t a mentor to Freeman. Perhaps he wasn’t?

If so, (Joe’s not buying it) then the Bucs really missed the mark in not simply keeping good guy Luke McCown as their 2009 starter.

Whenever the asinine, torurous lockout is over, the Bucs will report to training camp in a relative hurry and re-unite with trainers and coaches after several months away. Some players will come in fitter than ever; Some will be downright soft.

That’s going to be an inevitble byproduct of guys being out of touch: wild ranges in fitness.

In an interesting look at how a team is affected by all things lockout, Houston Texans general manager Rick Smith shares an insider look into various ,as he stepped in for the vacationing Peter King and penned his Monday Morning Quarterback Column for SI.com. One of Smith’s takes was on planning for the fitness gap. Here’s an excerpt:

Though some publications wrote off Aqib Talib from the Bucs before his wrists healed from being pinched, the crowd at The News Center was much more cautious in its assessment of Talib’s job security. Here, Anwar Richardson and Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune discuss Talib and the Bucs in this TBO Bucs video vlog.

Hey, fans are allowed to dream, right? Of course. And that’s the premise Dave Scheiber of FoxSportsFlorida.com took recently.

Scheiber decided to put fingertips to keyboard and pound out six things the Bucs must accomplish for the Pewter Pirates to advance to their second Super Bowl. Of the six is a dominant defensive line.

A disruptive D-line: The Bucs were among the league’s worst in stopping the run last season and finished second-to-last in sacks, but they have the makings of a much-improved defensive line heading into the season. Last year’s No. 1 draft pick, tackle Gerald McCoy out of Oklahoma, suffered an arm injury and didn’t get a chance to develop into the impact player the team expects he’ll be now that he’s healthy. And in the recent draft, general manager Mark Dominik tapped a pair of promising linemen: defensive ends Adrian Clayborn of Iowa in the first round and Da’Quan Bowers out of Clemson in the second. Second-year tackle Brian Price remains a question mark, trying to return from a rare surgery that repaired a torn hamstring and broken pelvis. But the defensive line features a promising blend of youth and experience (such as Roy Miller, Stylez White and Tim Crowder). And the unit, in spite of a poor turnout at Freeman’s minicamp, is positioned to turn up the heat on quarterbacks and rushers in 2011. For the Bucs to go far, it’s a must.

Just a hunch for Joe, but sans Miller, Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik is going to go all youth up front when the season begins (if it begins).

But Scheiber is correct: Dominik has spent much cash and collateral on the defensive line and it’s about time it starts to show results. Joe firmly believes Keith Millard will do wonders with Gerald McCoy and he certainly won’t hurt the rest.

It’s not farfetched to think the Bucs could be in a Super Bowl (no, Joe’s not saying the Bucs will be in the Super Bowl). Josh Freeman likes to talk about how the Bucs lost a playoff tiebreaker to the Packers. And it was the cheddar cheese and green that won the Super Bowl.

For the Bucs to accomplish such a feat, the defensive line has to dramatically improve.

Doug Farrar of Yahoo! Sports catches up with Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman at some 7-on-7 camp. Freeman explains why he doesn’t compare himself to Mark Sanchez and Matthew Stafford, and he talks about what made the Bucs offense click last year and how the Bucs have handled the asinine lockout.

Everything Joe’s read from many media outlets and heard directly from Bucs players claims Aqib Talib has been a regular at Josh Freeman’s offseason workout sessions in Tampa, plus Talib was at Freeman’s minicamp in Bradenton two weeks ago.

So Joe was surprised to read beat writer Rick Stroud’s offering today that paints a different impression of Talib’s offseason whereabouts. It’s in a St. Pete Times story about Ronde Barber commenting on what’s best for Talib. Here’s a snippet:

Barber said he and coach Raheem Morris have implored Talib to spend his offseason training in Tampa. But Talib has chosen to return to his hometown near Dallas, where his mother and two sisters live.

It was there, in Garland, where Talib and his mother, Okolo, were arrested in connection with a shooting involving the live-in boyfriend of one of Talib’s sisters March 21.

“He has his life in Dallas, and I don’t know what that life is,” Barber said. “Aqib is a person that should be … the confident Buc.

“But he’s got to embrace Tampa the way Tampa as the team wants to embrace him. (Former Buc great) Warren (Sapp) was great with that. He knew the team atmosphere was better when everybody is around. There’s a culture, a spirit, and nowadays (players) want to go back and train wherever they are.

“That’s different than from when I was coming up. We always wanted to be around.”

Joe suggests you read Stroud’s entire piece linked above. There’s no mention of Talib working regularly with his teammates this offseason, and there’s no source that backs up “Talib has chosen to return to his hometown.” Very strange.

And how about the irony? Talib is being advised, via a St. Pete Times story, to build roots in Tampa, when the same newspaper reported the Bucs already have decided to cut Talib when the lockout ends.

Joe gets Barber’s desire for Talib to immerse himself in the Tampa community, which likely would keep him away from his troubled family, which led to his recent legal troubles. 

However, Joe’s not about to advise Talib to distance himself from his loved ones. Like Barber said, he doesn’t know what Talib’s Texas life is like.

Neither does Joe.

For all we know Talib has great relatives and friends there who offer him real support. Regardless, Talib needs some form of regular counseling first and foremost.  As Talib knows, he can find trouble regardless of his address. Joe can only hope he’s getting that counseling.

In many respects, Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik is hoping to see some payback on his investments the past three years on the defensive line.

Dominik has spent much collateral (and Team Glazer cash) on the defensive line in three drafts. Roy Miller, Kyle Moore, Gerald McCoy, Brian Price, Adrian Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers. Only Miller (third round) and Moore (fourth round) were not high draft picks.

That’s six defensive linemen in three drafts. Yet the Bucs continued to stink the joint up on the defensive front.

Part of this was inexperience, part of this was bad coaching (Todd Wash), part of this was injuries. And it may be the latter reason why the Bucs and Dominik still may not see the corner turned on the defensive line, so writes eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.

The Bucs have struggled to generate an effective pass rush or establish a credible run defense during the two years of the Mark Dominik/Raheem Morris regime. Tampa Bay has used four premium picks in the past two drafts on defensive linemen, adding tackles Gerald McCoy and Brian Price in 2010 and ends Adrian Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers in April.

McCoy (biceps) and Price (pelvis) suffered significant injuries as rookies and third-year defensive tackle Roy Miller has yet to develop into a force against the run. Bowers was bypassed in the first round because of lingering questions about the health of his knees.

One of the league’s youngest defensive lines hasn’t had the benefit of organized team workouts under the guidance of Tampa Bay’s staff, which includes new defensive line coach Keith Millard. Even Dominik sounds unsure just how much playing time the Bucs can expect from Bowers in 2011 and Price may not be ready to contribute much in his second season as he continues his recuperation.

Joe believes the Bucs will flourish under Millard, but it will take time, as Kaufman suggests. GMC, during Josh Freeman’s minicamp last week at IMG, said he met Millard just before the lockout and Millard showed GMC many, many clips of how GMC had his man beat, time after time, but because of lousy technique and fundamentals, GMC couldn’t finish the play.

GMC said that has been his offseason goal, along with getting healthy, to work on the fundamentals that Millard pointed out before this asinine lockout began.

Joe believes that was also why GMC was such a coach to his fellow defensive linemen, specifically Clayborn, last week. GMC knows what he did wrong, thanks to Millard, and how to correct his mistakes, also thanks to Millard.

And it was cool to see Clayborn soaking up each and every word GMC spoke.

"You see Dominik's post-lockout scenarios? I like No. 41c"

Joe had an unexpectedly great Bucs free agency conversation with a grumpy old dude/stranger at Target last night.

Forgetting about the guy’s bad breath and misguided rage, it got Joe focused on how much the Bucs will have to spend to meet — at minimum — the new salary cap floor, whenever it’s revealed following the end of the asinine lockout.

NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas, of ESPN.com, tapped his team of stat geeks weeks ago and came up with the Bucs needing to spend $50 million over what’s already committed for 2011, in order to reach what could be the new real-cash salary cap floor (not capology funny money). 

A lot of Bucs fans, Joe NOT included, seem to think the Bucs could and should sign Nnamdi Asoumgha for around $19 million a year and still re-sign all their free agents and leave themselves in good position for future years.

The Bucs could probably do it. Here’s the expected Bucs free agents, per eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune:

LB Quincy Black
DL Tim Crowder
TE John Gilmore
LB Adam Hayward
G Davin Joseph
LB Niko Koutouvides
LB Barrett Ruud
WR Micheal Spurlock
WR Maurice Stovall
T Jeremy Trueblood
DE Stylez G. White
RB Cadillac Williams

If the Bucs signed Joseph and Ruud and half the other guys, that probably leaves more than enough dough to break the bank on one “outsider.” But would the Bucs want to sign a big-name guy from outside the organization? Joe’s not seeeing it, unles they’re really forced into it if Joseph and Ruud are gone.

It seems more Dominik-like, if the rules allow, to heavily frontload some of the homegrown free agency deals in 2011, in order to free up plenty of cap room next year when the team can be assessed all over again.

Speaking on the usually rancid Dan Patrick Show this week, rockstar general manager Mark Dominik again stressed he wants to re-sign the homegrown Bucs and build through the draft. But Dominik added he’s “gone through all the scenarios” at it relates to the salary cap.

Surely Dominik is prepared, but the number of scenarios for the Bucs has got to be beyond extraordinary because of the fat wad the team will be forced to spend — and it’s probably going to be extremely complex in a tight time window. Joe suspects the Bucs’ 2011 free agency/salary playbook looks as complicated as anything Chucky ever produced.

Loud, sweaty, and crazy is on display in this cut from the JoeBucsFan TV studios, as Joe comes after WDAE-AM 620 personality Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski for his A grade of the Bucs’ 2011 draft.

(Disclaimer: Yes, Joe’s aware The Commish calls Joe another name.)
(Disclaimer II: The Commish is not ill. There is no air conditioning blowing during taping in the JoeBucsFan TV studios.)

Bucs backup quarterback Josh Johnson isn’t shy about his loyalties. He’s a dedicated Buccaneer who seems equally eager to play for his former college coach, Jim Harbaugh, now head man of the 49ers, which just happens to play nearby where Johnson makes his home.

This isn’t fresh news. Johnson has expressed his love of the Bucs and Harbaugh in previous interviews. But he seemed to kick it all up a notch in a story by Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday. Johnson was at an event promoting his charity foundation.

Joe just doesn’t get Dull Patrick, never did.

His show is literally no different than BSPN radio schlock. The same lame, predictable topics (GASP! — Tom Brady was spotted with Gisele instead of working out… hey, LUH-bron dribbled a basketball… OMG, Derek Jeter farted!), only in a delivery that would make insomniacs want to chug a 24-ounce Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. Throw in how he just slurps guests worse than a Tijuana businesswoman and acts like he’s some intimate of his guests, it makes Joe just want to vomit on his keyboard.

Look, Dull Patrick is so lame, the only time his show was remotely interesting was when he had Rob Dibble of all people as a co-host. Joe’s last attempt to listen to this feces was the day Indiana University fired Bob Knight, truly a sports news item of historic proportions. Dull Patrick whined like the little girl that he is, “I don’t want to talk about Knight, I want to talk about TY-gggeeerrr.”

(FACEPALM!)

And to think that someone in a position of decision-making authority actually was of the mind that the Tampa Bay area would prefer to listen to Dull Patrick over Bobby Fenton if you can imagine such a thing.

It drives Joe nuts seeing Dull Patrick — only because he’s an NBC employee — working the Stanley Cup Finals on NBC. This guy Dull Patrick likely wouldn’t even know what the hell a plus/minus is!

(And there are actually people out there that wonder why satellite radio exists.)

Anyway, Dull Patrick’s show got infinitely better yesterday when instead of Dull Patrick invoking traffic accidents by boring people to sleep, the great Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, hosted the show. Florio had Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik as a guest and Dominik had many interesting things to say.

One piece of speculation from Dominik was about how free agency will play out. Now when/if this asinine lockout ends, there will likely be a landrush to sign free agents. Dominik, so he told Florio, projected that the NFL could offer a window to target undrafted free agents immediately because the process wouldn’t have a lot of rules and is “a fairly simple process to get through.”

Then Dominik said the process could move to traditional free agents and, subsequently, put drafted rookie contracts on the backburner.

The reason for this would be that with a small window to sign players, getting rookie draft picks signed is not a priority. Thus the process for signing a rookie will be delayed. What is interesting about this is, as ProFootballTalk’s Gregg Rosenthal suggested, there could be a lot of holdouts when practices begin, perhaps more than usual.

Basically, Dominik and other NFL general managers will have about three months of work to do in about three weeks.