So Chucky claims he’s in for a few years at BSPN, not wanting to coach? Yeah, right.

When news “broke” Monday that Chucky was staying at BSPN, agreeing to an extention of his BSPN contract, Joe yawned. No where did BSPN say Chucky didn’t have a buyout clause if he wanted to coach.

Let’s be honest, if Redskins tyrant/owner Danny Snyder comes waving an eight-figure contact in his face, trust Joe, there’s a clause in that contract.

So Joe didn’t do anything with the story because, in Joe’s eyes, this wasn’t a story.

Yesterday, Peter King of SI.com got Chucky to talk on the record. Chucky claims he’s done with coaching for a while.

“Look,” he said, “I went into this with an open mind. They’ve told me they want me to stay around, and it’s nice to be wanted. I was in Oakland for four years, then got traded away from there. I was in Tampa for seven years and got fired. That’s a little bit of an open wound, to be honest. So it’s nice to be wanted. I’ve got a great crew. I love working with Ron Jaworski and Mike Tirico. They’re teaching me a lot about this business.

“I’m 46 years old. I probably will coach again. I miss the opportunity to coach players, to help them get better. I really miss the competition. But I don’t miss the agony.”

Again, no mention of a buyout clause. At least Chucky was upfront with King and didn’t close the door on coaching again.

One of the many reasons Joe is skeptical of this “story” is that Chucky less than a year ago agreed in principle to work this season for the NFL Network. Once BSPN came calling, Chucky bolted.

With Chucky, talk really is cheap, bro.

Once Chucky is off the Glazers’ books, Chucky’s gone.

For now, Raheem the Dream can rest easy at night.

Well, the Bucs dropped a bombshell on Joe and just about every Bucs fan when it was announced this evening that Arron Sears is no longer playing hide and seek and has been reinstated by the Bucs.

Yet the Bucs still are mum as to why Sears was in hiding. Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times once found Sears at his home in Alabama but Sears refused to get out of his car or roll down the window to talk.

Very solid, reliable sources told Joe a few weeks ago that Sears was spotted around Tampa, but he never showed his face at One Buc Palace.

To Joe, this screams that Sears was dealing with a chemical imbalance issue of some sort and the Bucs should at least address this publically for a couple of reasons.

1) Whether Sears likes it or not, he makes very good money working in a very public profession. There are tens of thousands of people spending thousands of dollars on the Bucs in part due to Sears playing. Those paying customers deserve a right to know where their cash is going.

2) If, as Joe guesses, Sears is dealing with a chemical imbalance issue or depression, this is not the 1950s. People with such illnesses are not pariahs or lepers or worse, felons. Think not? Look no further than one of the best guys on the Bucs roster, Sammie Stroughter, who himself dealt with a severe case of depression in college.

Often, depression is caused by a chemical imbalance. Not much different than diabetes or a heart condition. Something’s not wired right in the body. These types of ailments have various effects and an effect of a chemical imbalance can lead to strange things and feelings. There’s no shame in that.

If, as Joe guesses, Sears does have such an affliction, he can help all sorts of people by saying, in short, “Look, I have this issue, I dealt with it, but I’m back to playing in the NFL. If you think you have the same problem, go to the doctor. If I can be helped and still play in the NFL, there’s no telling what you can do if treated.”

This would be a public relations coup and people would embrace Sears.

Granted, the Bucs are likely handcuffed by federal laws dealing with information about medical conditions. But if Sears could be coaxed into taking the podium at One Buc Palace and explaining what is wrong and how he overcame whatever troubled him, it’s a win-win for everybody.

Listening to Total Access last night on 620 WDAE-AM (Joe’s sports radio partner), Joe learned Maurice Stovall is taking his season extraordinarily seriously.

Raheem The Dream was co-hosting his Monday night show when co-host TJ Rives asked the head coach about Stovall’s new season-long habit: carrying a football with him wherever he goes.

Raheem The Dream confirmed that Stovall takes the football “everywhere” as part of his renewed commitment to being a great receiver. “He’s probably home bouncing it on the floor right now.”

Stovall’s focus has paid off, Raheem The Dream said, though the head coach said Stovall not holding on to a touchdown throw from Josh Freeman prevented the wide reciever from having “a great game on Sunday,” rather than just “good game.” 

Joe was pleased to learn of Stovall’s dedication.

One thought that quickly came to mind: Perhaps Raheem The Dream should insist Michael Clayton perform the same ritual.

Former Bucs DE Steve White

By STEVE WHITE
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Steve White spent every season of the Tony Dungy era playing defensive end for the Bucs. He’s spent countless hours in the film room with the likes of Warren Sapp, Rod Marinelli and more. Joe is humbled to now have White, also a published author and blogger, as part of the JoeBucsFan.com team. Below is White’s weekly Bull Rush column that breaks down all things defensive line. It’s simply a can’t-miss read for the hardcore Bucs fan.

We were average up front Sunday. Not good, not bad, but average.

The problem is that as a team the Bucs can’t win when our defensive line is average.

Now I actually had to think long and hard about how to write this column because I know there will be some who look at the stats — pretty close to 200 yards rushing by the Dolphins — and conclude that we must have played horrible up front. And of course, if I don’t say that in this post, there will be some who think I am covering for the defensive line.

I can only tell you the truth. And the truth is nobody on the defensive line had a really bad day. But you see the real problem is nobody had a good day, either.

There are gonna be games when guys are called on to do more than just play their blocks correctly and stay in their gaps. Yesterday was one of those days. With Greg (Stylez) White out we needed somebody or somebodies to step up and do more than what was expected of them.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

Our pass rush collectively was average. Our run defense collectively was average. Our effort, normally a constant, was even just average.

Now out of the big running day by the Dolphins, I would put one crucial run at the end of the game in particular on our guys. On that play at the end of the game, Jimmy Wilkerson basically got done in by what I was say was a perfect play call.

With the Dolphins driving down to score and win, they gave Wilkerson what looked to be a rollout pass look. In reaction he went up field to try to pressure the quarterback Chad Henne. In reality they were running what turned out to be a lead isolation play strong with Williams. Because Wilkerson was upfield, the hole opened up and made it much harder to fill. Really though there wasn’t much he could do. If he had played run and it was pass, then Henne would have had all day to throw.

On that same play Ryan Sims got double teamed initially and then one guy came off to block a linebacker. But he wasn’t able to recover and make the tackle on Ricky Williams running through his gap. Because the gap was so wide and he was coming off a double team, it wasn’t an easy play to be sure. But its a play we have to have if we want to win that game.

Other than that play, I would actually say we were ok up front against the run. But again ok just isn’t good enough. We needed guys to make plays in the backfield. We needed guys hanging all over Henne whenever he dropped back to pass.

That didn’t happen, and we didn’t win.

I do have some major questions about this game plan though.

Why in the world would you move Wilkerson, the starter at left end all year, to play right end for this game?

I know some people don’t think it’s a big deal but I certainly beg to differ. I don’t believe that Wilkerson has played right end much if at all this whole season, but Tim Crowder has and he has looked decent doing it. So why wouldn’t Crowder instead start at right end and let Wilkerson stay at left where he has shown the ability to really get after the passer?

Not only that, but then we bring in Michael Bennett on third downs yet kick him inside to rush the guard? This is a kid who has shown a good ability to pass rush against offensive tackles. But it’s a whole different world trying to pass rush inside and it showed yesterday over and over.

Another question is why would we finally allow our weakside tackle to play on the edge of the center but ONLY when the Dolphins were in Wildcat formation?

If putting him over the center against the Dolphins’ most potent rushing formation makes sense, then why wouldn’t it make sense to do it against their second or third or fourth most potent rushing formation? I am having a very hard time trying to figure out how keeping our weakside tackle lined up on the guard all game is beneficial to our defense.

Not only that but if the weakside tackle is lined up on the guard, there is no way for the tackles to ever slant across the face of the center. That’s not even to mention how letting the center up on our linebackers is still creating running lanes up the middle.

I also can’t understand why we are still using a 5-man defensive line on the goalline. How many times do teams have to score on us before somebody admits it’s a bad scheme for our defense? Don’t get me wrong, it’s always going to be tough to keep a team out from the 1 yard line. But jeebus man, can we at least get in a 6-man line and give ourselves a chance?

And somebody, for the life of me, explain why we aren’t running more pass rush games on 3rd and long. Especially Sunday, when we were missing our best pass rusher up front, you have to work together as a defensive line to put pressure on the quarterback.

Yet time and again I saw four guys making one-on-one moves. And the proof is in the pudding, no sacks and very few pressures against a Dolphins team that threw it 31 times.

Now you can say that on many of the third downs Henne threw incomplete passes, and that’s all fine and good. But when you get a sack on third down you can potentially change field position by making the other team punt from farther back. You also have the opportunity for a turnover whenever you get a hit on the quarterback. But you aren’t going to get any of that done when you are not working together as a unit.

This loss was disappointing for a lot of reasons but for me the biggest thing was that nobody up front stepped their game up.

When your bell cow is down then somebody else has to take the reigns. Now I don’t know how long White is going to be out, but regardless we are going to have to play much better to even have a shot at beating the Saints next week.

At 1-7 its time for our defensive line to adopt a “by any means necessary” mentality. If not, well get ready for another long day.

The Football Moron of BSPN claims the Bucs might be able to run the ball on the Saints. If this guy says it, Joe is scared the opposite will be fact.

If the spreadsheet warriors can be trusted, a dubious premise if there ever was one, than Bucs fans can take comfort that in the foreseeable future, there should be no reason to leave the CITS or the bar before the fourth quarter begins.

Tom Balog of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune has been crunching the numbers and he has discovered there are only two quarterbacks the past two weeks who were more dangerous in the fourth quarter than Bucs rookie quarterback Josh Freeman.

1) Drew Brees

2) Brett Farve.

After just two starts, Freeman has elevated his name among the company of the game’s best passers.

He is the third-rated quarterback among fourth-quarter passing leaders in the NFC, fourth in the NFL this week.

Freeman’s sterling 117.9 fourth-quarter rating ranks the Buccaneers’ first-round draft choice from Kansas State right behind only Drew Brees (124.2) of the New Orleans Saints and Brett Favre (119.3) of the Minnesota Vikings, according to the latest NFL statitics released Monday.

Joe isn’t big on quarterback ratings but if nothing else, this gives Joe hope that the Bucs stumbled upon a franchise quarterback.

Joe was doing a bit of research last night and noticed that the Bucs are on the cusp of an alarming record:

At no time in the Bucs history has the team given up 25 or more points in six consecutive games.

With the gutless collapse of the Bucs defense in the final 70 seconds Sunday, allowing the Dolphins to reach 25 points, it marked the fifth straight game the Bucs have allowed 25 or more points.

Up next is the high-octane New Orleans Saints and Drew Brees.

Think about it: The Bucs have had some of the most godawful teams in NFL history, at one point losing 26 straight games. But at no point did the Bucs cough up 25 points in six consecutive games.

At what point does someone, anyone, not start pointing a finger at defensive coordinator Jim Bates? To not at least lay partial blame for this atrocious defense on Bates is to be dishonest.

Joe doesn’t buy this nonsense that Bates doesn’t have the players. Arguably, the Bucs have one of the best secondaries, talent-wise, in the NFL. Aqib Talib and Tanard Jackson are playing Pro Bowl-level. Ronde Barber still has gas in the tank.

So the problems lie in the front seven. And Jim Bates is still using that g-damned two-gap system.

Far wiser football minds than Joe, including Warren Sapp and Pat Kirwan, said from Day One that Bates’ two-gap system would not work with the players he has.

Yet stubbornly, Bates continues to try to force feed this system onto the Bucs.

Uh, Jim, news flash: It ain’t working.

Now Joe has noticed how Bates has incorporated the Tampa-2 pass coverage to better utilize his secondary. Smart move.

If Bates can do this with the defensive backs, why the hell cannot he adapt to his players with the front seven?

Joe also found this quote from Raheem the Dream a little disturbing yesterday.

“We’re just not made right now to knock people back. That’s not how we’re cut,” Raheem The Dream said. “We don’t have big intimidating linebackers or big intimidating linemen. We gotta hit you. We gotta be perfect. …We don’t have the big people, the big personnel that you need to knock out runs. The physical person up front who just absolutely dominates the block and gets a tackle for a loss for a 3rd and 13. Which we’ll get there. We’ll find them guys. We’ll go out there and get them.”

Uh, Rah, you had all offseason to find guys walking the streets who could play a two-gap system. They may not have been All Pros but could they have been worse in a two-gap system than the guys you have now?

Local scribes noted earlier this year it would have been hard for a number of reasons for the Glazer Family to retain Raheem the Dream had the Bucs had gone winless. The same writers suggest Raheem the Dream would still be on thin ice if the Bucs only win one game (Joe doesn’t neccesarily agree, but that’s another story).

If that premise is accurate, Joe simply asks how you can bring a defensive coordinator back whose defense sets a putrid franchise record yet, like Captain Edward John Smith of the Titanic, barrels full steam ahead with his defensive front scheme that fails game after game after game yet doesn’t try to mold another scheme that might get the best out of the players he currently has?

Joe thinks that’s a fair question.

Again, to ignore Bates’ responsibility at some level in what very likely will be a terrible franchise record, is being dishonest.

Head coach Raheem The Dream dished out a sobering assessment of his shoddy run defense

Joe had a moment of pride in his colleagues down at Raheem The Dream’s news conference at One Buc Place today.

Raheem The Dream was absolutely cornered by a couple motivated members of the MSM to explain why the Bucs’ run defense is allowing five yards per carry on the season and consistently getting pounded at key moments.

Raheem The Dream was quick to explain. He said the Bucs don’t have the talent.

“We’re just not made right now to knock people back. That’s not how we’re cut,” Raheem The Dream said. “We don’t have big intimidating linebackers or big intimidating linemen. We gotta hit you. We gotta be perfect. …We don’t have the big people, the big personnel that you need to knock out runs. The physical person up front who just absolutely dominates the block and gets a tackle for a loss for a 3rd and 13. Which we’ll get there. We’ll find them guys. We’ll go out there and get them.

“Right now, we have to play with the guys we have. They gotta to continue to play like they did yesterday as far as having five series three-and-out, having two series four-and-out, and having two big turnovers. …We gotta get the big guys in there and let them play a little bit. …We’ve got to make decisions at the end of the season once we get there. Right now. That’s who we have. That’s the guys. They’ve got to get better. We’ve got to get better with technique. We’ve got to get better. We’ve got to see somebody make a play that we talk about like that. We’ve got to see somebody make a splash play. Hopefully we will this week.”

Joe is quite certain the Bucs will find the studs to overhaul the defensive line and upgrade the linebacker corps quickly.

But once they find them, will they pay them?

Peter King of SI.com claims bratty Bears quarterback Jay Cutler has played no better than Bucs career backup Josh Johnson.

Joe has already written about how happy he is that Bucs general manager Mark Dominik failed to land bratty quarterback Jay Cutler.

In the long history of the Bears often poisoned by some of the most horrid quarterbacks known to man (Rick Mirer, Bobby Douglass, Kordell Stewart and Mike Tomczak spring to mind), Cutler is on pace to set a Bears franchise record for interceptions.

Peter King of SI.com was so horrified watching Cutler throw five interceptions against the 49ers, King claimed Cutler, who the Bears traded their starting quarterback and two first round draft picks to acquire, was no better than a “career backup.”

Goat of the Week
Jay Cutler, QB, Chicago.
I hear the natives in the Loop are beyond restless, and they’re not naming sandwiches after Trader Jerry Angelo anymore. Cutler has been at his worst in prime time — 12 night quarters on national TV, 11 interceptions — including the five-interception game at San Francisco on Thursday night. There’s no question Cutler’s not alone in the Chicago blame game; his offensive line is helping kill the Bears offense. But a couple of Cutler’s Thursday night interceptions, such as the one on the 49ers goal line to nose tackle Aubrayo Franklin, were absolutely careless, the kind of throws you see from a Josh Johnson. Very bad sign. Oh, and the next game is in prime time. At home. Against Philly. Wear a fur coat, Jay. Reception will not be warm.

Joe will state again: The best move Dominik made in the offseason was “failing” to land Cutler.

Ron Pitts and John Lynch of Fox Sports discuss the Bucs loss to the Dolphins.

It’s an ugly statistic that shouldn’t surprise anyone.

The Bucs are giving up 167.3 rushing yards per game, which would be their worst effort since the winless 1976 season, reports the St. Pete Times.

Six of the Bucs’ last seven games are against strong running teams: Atlanta (twice), New Orleans (twice), Carolina and the New York Jets, which are ranked No. 1 in the NFL.

Memo to Jim Bates: Try something new, brother. No matter who deserves the blame. It ain’t work’n.

Joe always enjoys when professional athletes refer to themselves in the third person. Retired baseball great Rickey Henderson made it an art form. Antonio Bryant does it at times, and now Joe can add Donald Penn to the list of those who get the job done.

Penn got his big left mitt up and blocked a Dolphins extra point early in the Bucs loss to Miami on Sunday.

The play added to the Bucs seemingly endless special teams accomplishments this season, and likely added to Penn’s free agent pay day in the offseason.

The Bucs left tackle talked about “Donald Penn” to Anwar Richardson, of the Tampa Tribune, after the loss.

“There is no personal achievement in a loss,” Penn said. “My motto coming into this year is to take care of what Donald Penn can take care of, and if Donald Penn takes care of Donald Penn, we’re going to be a good team. In my position, I can’t go and catch passes. We got guys to do that.

“I’m just making sure Donald Penn makes sure his guy doesn’t make the tackle, make sure his guy doesn’t get past him. That’s all I’m trying to do, make this team better by controlling me.”

Penn will be an unrestricted free agent after this season and starting left tackles at his age (26) are highly coveted.

Although his consistent play could reap huge financial benefits this offseason, he is more concerned about helping Tampa Bay win now.

“We had it. We fought our butts off,” Penn said. “I’m mad right now, but I’ve got to look at how the team played. We never quit. That’s the only bright spot we have right now. Some people grew up today.”

The Glazers need to let the moths out of the company vault and ink Penn to a long term deal. With as many holes as the Bucs have, they’ve got no reason to shop around for a left tackle to protect their franchise quarterback. The guy’s already here.

"Don't be so sensitive, mother f**ker, I talk like this to my players all the time."

Joe’s got no problem with Raheem The Dream going wild on the zebras after the Michael Clayton catch turned interception yesterday.

But Joe can’t pass over the irony that just days ago Raheem The Dream was telling the media how dropping F-bombs is no big deal.

That was his response to the story broken by Steve Duemig, of WDAE-AM, who reported Aqib Talib and Raheem The Dream got into a F-bomb-filled confrontation in a London hotel lobby.

On Sunday, Raheem The Dream picked up a 15-yard penalty after the Clayton play for what apparently was a profanity-laced tirade at an official, so Raheem The Dream told St. Pete Times.

“At the end of the half, getting a personal foul is totally unacceptable. I’m taking those points, that’s on me, that’s how much we lost by. I should be given all the blame for that. That’s a discipline issue on my part and I didn’t do the right thing. That’s a great lesson for me as a young coach, that’s a great lesson for my team.

“I used the wrong type of language to the official. It was a little bit of a taunt deal. But I used the wrong type of language. I’m completely guilty. It’s my fault.

Joe knows there’s a difference between the heat of the game and communicating with players in the real world. And again, Joe’ s got no problem with Raheem The Dream ripping into the refs.

But maybe Raheem The Dream just lost sight of right and wrong for a minute. Joe suspects dealing with Talib regularly could lead a guy down that path.

Chucky was known for his vile mouth on the sidelines with vitriol often directed at officials. Joe can’t remember Chucky every getting an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

East Lake High School's defense puts forth a better effort each week than what the Bucs showed in the final minute against the Dolphins.

It wasn’t just Joe, nor the local scribes, who wanted to throw up at the “defense” the Bucs trotted out onto the field needing one stop — ONE! — to win Sunday’s game.

Instead, with 1:10 to go in the game and the Dolphins starting on their own 16, the gutless Bucs defense allowed Miami to drive the length of the field and kick a chip shot field goal to win the game.

This certainly didn’t fly pass the radar of Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports who called out the Bucs for such a shameless display of “defense.”

The last defensive series was remarkably feeble. After taking an emotional 23-22 lead with 1:14 left, the Bucs allowed plays of 25, 16 and 27 yards on Miami’s ensuing possession. Tampa Bay also committed a nine-yard pass interference penalty on the drive. The Bucs look far more competitive with Josh Freeman at quarterback, but the collapse at the end of this one has to be extremely deflating.

After watching that disgusting display in the past minute of the game, it’s no wonder the Bucs are on the cusp of setting a putrid record for defensive futility in franchise history.

Alex Loeb and Cris Carter take a deeper look at the Bucs loss to the Dolphins. Carter isn’t too fond of the Bucs receivers.

One of the reasons Joe hasn’t totally gone off on the zebras — though he is hardly absolving them — is that the Bucs had their fate in their own hands Sunday, despite the second quarter robbery.

Last time Joe checked, a guy lying on the ground on his back with the ball in his hands and a defender touching him is known in most football circles as a tackle.

Yet, some delirious official must have been watching Fabiola instead of the replay, because said zebra decided to give the Dolphins the ball deep in Bucs territory late in the first half.

The result was quick and predictable: Dolphins touchdown.

Joe doesn’t have to be Stephen Hawking to figure out that with that touchdown taken off the board, the Bucs win.

Not so fast my friend.

The Bucs made a great comeback in the second half and took the lead with under two minutes to play. They only needed a defensive stop. One!

Instead, the Phins ran through the Bucs defense like it was some two-bit high school defense. Even if one was to take away the gift touchdown by the referees, the Dolphins likely would have scored a touchdown and only needed a two-point conversion to tie the game.

No, Joe cannot pin the blame on the zebras.

The defense in the final minute? Yep, Joe is looking right at you Jim Bates.

Last week, Joe made the case for Maurice Stovall to replace Michael Clayton in the starting lineup.

That wasn’t an issue Sunday, with Stovall starting in place of Antonio Bryant. But regardless, with his play against Miami, Stovall must knock Clayton from the lineup when Bryant returns.

Stovall caught a touchdown bomb from Josh Freeman, caught four of five balls thrown his way, and further illustrated why he’s a more dangerous player than Clayton. His apparent chemistry with Freeman shouldn’t be discounted.

Last Joe checked, Stovall also is a heck of a blocker. Again, the Bucs already know what they have in Clayton, and it’s not pretty when you look at the price tag.

Referee Tony Corrente claimed Jason Taylor intercepted the ball on the controversial Michael Clayton play.

You saw it.

Joe saw it.

Damned near every Bucs fan saw it.

Except the clown that was watching the peep show when he should have been looking at the replay.

The zebras, shockingly, called the Michael Clayton fumble an interception.

Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune actually got quotes from referee Tony Corrente about the play.

“Because the player in question (Clayton), the player who was possessing the ball in the air, as he started to come down, was hit,” Corrente said. “As he is coming down, he is now going to the ground to complete a catch and, by rule, if he’s going to the ground to complete a catch, he has to maintain possession of the ball completely through the entire process of hitting the ground and thereafter showing control.

“As he went to the ground, basically right when he went to the ground, the ball popped out, and went right into the arms of the Miami player. The ball had never touched the ground.”

This just flabbergasts Joe even more.

Of course Joe will bring you the top plays of the Bucs sad loss to the Dolphins.

First, the most important play of the day is the fumble on Michael Clayton’s catch and subsequent tackle that was overturned. You can watch the clip from a variety of angles as often as your stomach can take it, thanks to the good folks of NFL.com.

The top plays of the game replete with the calls from Gene Deckerhoff are here. In addition, the NFL Network has a compilation of Josh Freeman highlights.

Some of the top plays include Maurice Stovall’s touchdown along with Quincy Black’s interception. Not to be forgotten is Cadillac Williams’ touchdown.

Lastly, there is Raheem the Dream’s postgame press conference along with Freeman’s press conference.

Make one 50-yarder in a game and maybe it’s luck.

Make two, that’s top notch.

Make three, and you’ve got serious Pro Bowl potential in the NFL.

Matt Bryant never would have nailed the three field goals from 50+ yards that new Bucs kicker Connor Barth drilled today. Mike Nugent would have missed them all, and Shane Andrus would have come up well short if they actually trotted him out on the field to kick.

A 23-year-old undrafted free agent signed a couple of weeks ago after the Dolphins cut him in the preseason, Barth is making Mark Dominik and Raheem The Dream look like they found the Bucs their kicker for the now and the future. 

He was 10-of-12 last year with Kansas City.

Part of the equation in successfully building around Josh Freeman is a strong kicking game, to help the kid feel like he doesn’t have the whole team on his back and to keep games closer so he’s not thrust into too many pass-only situations.

Joe’s feeling like the Bucs really have something good here with Barth.