Sammie Stroughter’s fourth season, and likely last season, in a Bucs uniform ends with him on injured reserve.

The Bucs started 2012 with Preston Parker as their punt returner, Michael Smith as kickoff returner and Sammie Stroughter as their backup at those positions.

Now all three of those guys are pretty much afterthoughts in the Bucs’ return game.

The Bucs placed Stroughter on injured reserve today with some sort of foot issue and signed speedster receiver/returner rookie Chris Owusu, who was on the Chargers’ practice squad. Owusu is a freakish athlete who wowed at the combine, but his draft stock plummeted after he had three concussions, per SFGate.com

Owusu’s 40-yard dash time (4.36 seconds) matched the fastest by a wide receiver. His broad jump (10 feet, 9 inches) ranked second among wideouts, and his vertical jump (40.5 inches) was third.

Despite those eye-popping figures, much of the predraft conversation surrounding Owusu concerns another number: three. That’s how many concussions Owusu had in a 13-month span during the latter part of his Stanford career. Owusu had two concussions in three weeks during his senior season and missed Stanford’s final four games.

With Greg Schiano expressing his confidence and excitement in Arrelious Benn as a kickoff returner, and the additions of Shipley and Owusu, Joe believes Smith’s stock has dropped considerably. Joe woudn’t be shocked if Smith is released. LeGarrette Blount can barely get on the field, and Smith is behind him and D.J. Ware.

As for the new receivers, Tiquan Underwood, Owusu and Shipley, they’re an interesting mix with plenty of speed. But at the end of the day, Joe doesn’t see them getting much work unless Benn, Mike Williams or Vincent Jackson are injured.

Seeing Cadillac Williams in a Rams uniform last season was awkward. It also was a bit frustrating considering unemployed Kregg Lumpkin was wearing Bucs colors.

Both are now unemployed, but Cadillac told the Ron and Ian Show today that he feels great and wants to tote the rock again in the NFL.

“Still hoping maybe I get that call here,” Cadillac said.

Interestingly, Cadillac, now 30, said when he wasn’t re-signed as a free agent by the Bucs he didn’t have any sort of good-bye chat with the team. “I actually didn’t even talk to Raheem or the organization. It was just one of those things. They just wanted to move on.”

On the New Schiano Order, Cadillac said he likes what he sees from the head coach.

Joe wishes Cadillac well. There may never have been a tougher and more inspirational Buccaneer. Multiple gruesome injuries couldn’t crush his love and spirit to play the game.

The ol’ ball coach, Raheem Morris, can take credit for a keen football eye when it comes to Bucs starting fullback Erik Lorig.

During an interview on WDAE-AM 620 Wednesday, rockstar general manager Mark Dominik praised Lorig’s play and said “credit our former staff” for seeing more in Lorig than what was on his college film from Stanford, where he was a high-motor defensive end who had played a little tight end. Joe was able to confirm that Dominik’s tip of the cap was for Raheem and company, rather than personnel staff.

Yesterday, Mike Sullivan also dished out love to Lorig before media at One Buc Palace.

“Insurance Lorig” doesn’t have a ring to it, but he’s proving to be very solid and versatile in the Bucs’ offense, which uses the fullback more than most in the NFL. Well done, Raheem.

An interesting nugget to come out of The Josh Freeman Show last night was No. 5 explaining how many more Buccaneers are at One Buc Palace watching film on Tuesdays, the players’ day off. It’s a widepread increase at all positions versus last season, Freeman told Steve Duemig on WDAE-AM 620.

Freeman said the common attitude among players is that they are hungry to learn faster on Wednesdays, when the Bucs begin to install plays and a gameplan for their next opponent during a typical week.

“It just shows you that guys are on it,” Freeman said. “The more they know the more prepared they’re going to be for the game.”

Many Bucs have told Joe there’s a lot more mandatory learning going on at One Buc Palace this season, especially on the defensive side of the ball where players are expected to have knowledge of what’s happening at all positions. So it makes sense that with more responsibilty comes more players eager to do more homework.

An increase in guys voluntarily showing up on their off day is impressive to Joe; iPads with game film are back in Buccaneers’ hands, so they can watch film from home yet many choose to feed their hunger for the game by coming to the facility. The New Schiano Order is inspiring its troops. Hopefully, it lasts.

“I think we’re constantly trying to find the runs that are going to be the wear-the-opponent-down runs. And not necessarily glamorous or exciting for the fans, per se, they have the chance to go through and those serve a purpose and they might break, but it’s trying to wear down a defense, a cumulative effect which is going to set up some of those shots [downfield.] And there’s others that we can get out on the perimeter, and those could be some of our bigger plays. And I think it just comes down to having the patience to see it through because eventually the big runs are going to happen. You know, historically, a lot of those big runs occur when the offense is in a one-back, three-wide-receiver type of a set. You know you spread out the defense a little bit more. But we’re focused more on just making sure that we’re productive with the run. We don’t want to have the negative run. Getting four yards, five yards, that would be ideal. And the big runs will take care of themself. We just gotta focus on doing our job.” — Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan speaking today on the state of the Bucs’ running game.

Joe’s watched the Bucs-Giants game a few times at this point, and Joe continues to be sick to his stomach that the Bucs couldn’t — and didn’t — run the ball with an 11-point lead on first down with only 39 seconds left in the third quarter.

Joe bought in months ago that the Bucs were going to run the football as much as any team in football. Greg Schiano has said multiple times that his goal was to run the football “when we want to.” And for Joe, that was the textbook moment to impose the high-priced offensive line’s will on the Giants, much like they closed out the game on the ground against Carolina.

Joe typed up the full Mike Sullivan quote above in hopes of finding some peace of mind, but Joe remains unsettled.

It’s only two games into the New Schiano Order, but Joe sincerely hopes the Bucs find a commitment to the running game. To use Sullivan’s words, “the patience to see it through.”

As this post hits the Internet, the Bucs are exactly seven days from calling a television blackout for the Sept. 30 home game against the Redskins.

Raheem Morris returns with Washington. Dezmon Briscoe comes back with his baby-mama drama, and RGIII will run around the chewed up turf from the USF-FSU game the day before. The weather should be tolerable with a 4:25 p.m. start, and the New Schiano Order will deliver its second performance for the home fans.

Joe’s not telling anyone how to spend their money, but if you’re going to drop $50 on stupid stuff this weekend, think first about buying a ticket and helping get the game on the tube.

There are plenty of $30 tickets (including fees) available now on Ticketmaster.com.

Fun video found here from well-groomed Scott Smith on Buccaneers.com.

It’s Warren Sapp at One Buc Palace Monday sharing some takes on Gerald McCoy and Greg Schiano.

Sapp heaps hefty praise on McCoy and says of his meeting in Schiano’s office, “He’s one of us.”

Dallass Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo has a well-documented penchant for blonde starlets, which Joe greatly admires. Whether it was Jessica Simpson or Carrie Underwood or his wife, current TV reporter and former Miss Missouri, Candace Crawford, Romo is clearly getting the job done off the field.

On the football field, Romo may have an equally-burning lust. That is the Bucs. In three games against the Pewter Pirates, the pride of Eastern Illinois University has lit up the Bucs defense for 11 touchdowns without a pick. Given how Cam Newton and, in particular, Eli Manning have ravaged the Bucs’ pass defense, Romo must have a significant drool stain on his notepad after watching that film.

Not so, says Romo, who believes that the Bucs defense, which is averaging over 400 yards a game allowed, is a victim of selective statistical gibberish.

“Some guys have made some great plays on them but I think they are a real sound defense that does some different things,” Romo said in his conference call with the Tampa Bay pen and mic club yesterday. “After seeing so many yards and points put up on them, I was expecting to see something different on tape but they are a very sound defensive unit. They play well together.

The [stats] “are skewered a little bit because the Giants got behind in the game,” Romo added. “I think this defensive unit is good and showed it on tape a bunch of times. It’s too quick to point out they have given up a ton of pass plays and think that will be duplicated over and over again.”

But Romo has over and over again raked the Bucs’ pass defense over the coals, whether it was against Chucky or Rah, the result was always the same. Romo waved off any notion of a pattern.

“No specific reason, I think we just executed well,” Romo said.

Still, Romo kept referring to the Bucs defense as an obstacle, not a sieve.

“They are definitely aggressive but they play everything, just don’t hang their hat on one thing,” Romo said. “They are Well-coached and players are in the right spot.”

The Bucs better be in the right spot this week. There should be enough on tape for defensive coaches to figure out a way to prevent Romo and other NFL quarterbacks from throwing up arena league-like numbers on the Bucs secondary.

The jettisoning of Preston Parker today is quite intriguing. Parker is young (25), and had an inexpensive contract, a rather fresh extension through the 2013 season.

And Parker is coming off a 2011 season in which he had 40 catches, three touchdowns and was one of the more reliable targets in the NFL on third down.

Joe gets that Parker didn’t fit into the New Schiano Order after fumbling away his special teams value, and that the organization likely is higher on Jordan Shipley (55 catches in 2010), but Joe’s a bit surprised that the Bucs couldn’t find a taker willing to part with a seventh-round pick for Parker.

Joe suspects Parker will have a job real soon, regardless. And Sammie Stroughter might want to get back on the field immedately to secure his job. The Bucs now have six receivers on the roster, one more than they had on opening day.

As time passses, Joe suspects he’ll remember Parker most for explaining how missing barbecue sauce at KFC helped change his life.

OK, Joe for weeks couldn’t understand why the Bucs cut wide receiver Tiquan Underwood, who performed well if not solidly through training camp and preseason games.

Well, it seems Bucs rock star general manager has agrees. Underwood was re-signed by the Bucs this morning, which helps the Bucs stretch the field. However, to make room for Underwood, the Bucs waved goodbye to to Preston Parker, per the Bucs official Twitter feed.

@TBBuccaneers: The Bucs have brought back WR Tiquan Underwood. To make room on the roster, the team released WR Preston Parker.

While a decent slot receiver, Parker had secured a spot on the roster the past couple of season because of his special teams talents. But this season, Parker put the ball on the ground on returns, a mortal sin in the New Schiano Order.

In Joe’s eyes, this is good news for the Bucs offense.

Chris Collinsworth, Phil Simms and Chad Johnson talk about the Bucs-Cowboys game Sunday in the Showtime video below (second game breakdown in). Simms believes the Cowboys can’t be for real if they don’t beat the evolving Bucs.

On the Man Channel (aka NFL Network, which will carry tonight’s Panthers-Giants game), Warren Sapp has been a proponent of the New Schiano Order.

However, Sapp, much like Greg Schiano, is a details guy. And Sapp doesn’t like all the details of the Bucs defensive line play he’s seeing on film.

In a piece penned by Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Stroud notes that Sapp was at One Buc Palace Monday poring over game tape with Gerald McCoy and Sapp says he’s advising McCoy to dismiss questionable coaching.

“I told Gerald, the orders come from the sideline, but the general on the field has to be able to direct that stuff. Sometimes you do like this here: “Nah, I’m not doing it,’ Sapp said shaking his head. (Click through above to read the whole take.)

It seems Sapp has a different interpretation of “Trust, belief and accountability,” Schiano’s core beliefs.

The Bucs did have their share of success without blitzing Sunday, but they kept after the blitzes (20+ times by Joe’s count) and D-line stunts even with a lead and even after getting burned repeatedly. Two of the three Giants’ interceptions came when the Bucs did not blitz. Regardless, it’s one game and there’s a lot more to why the Bucs lost than failed blitzes.

As for Sapp, Joe can only assume he got to have meet-and-greet with Schiano at One Buc Palace. Joe would pay good cash to hear that conversation.

When was the last time a Bucs linebacker had an interception and drilled two offensive players so fiercely their next big moves were on the trainer’s table?

Of course, that’s what Mason Foster did against the Giants — in the first half. (If Ray Lewis accomplished such a feat, he’d be heralded on every major network over and over and over)

It’s clear — at least after two games — that Foster is a new man under the New Schiano Order. He’s playing faster, more downhill and shedding blocks much better.

Foster was a huge X-factor entering this season, on the heels of struggling as a rookie dropped into the middle linebacker role last season without the benefit of much experience at the position or a full offseason thanks to the asinine lockout. Foster still led all NFL rookies in tackles, but the jury was out on whether he was decent linebacker.

Joe’s very excited. Arguably the weakness of the defense entering the season, the linebackers appear to have outperformed the defensive line and the secondary this far.

The talking points out of the Raheem Morris regime included how much the Bucs’ young players suffered by missing the offseason and how much players grow from Year 1 to Year 2, if they have time with coaches. Foster seems to be Exhibit A.

The Bucs have more Pro Bowlers and more Pro Bowl talent walking around One Buc Palace than they’ve had in many years.

But a guy among that group probably would surprise most fans.

Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik took to the WDAE-AM 620 airwaves tonight and proclaimed  he believes Dekoda Watson is “Pro Bowl caliber special teams player.”

Dominik is not one to go overboard publicly assessing a player like that, so Watson and his agent are probably out celebrating about now, as Watson will hit restricted free agency after the season.

This is welcome news about Watson. Joe can’t claim to be poring over specials teams film, so this is truly fresh information. And as closely as Dominik and Greg Schiano work together, it’s certain that the leader of the New Schiano Order shares the same feelings about Watson.

The journey for new Bucs starting right tackle Demar Dotson is really just beginning. That’s the word from Dotson’s fellow offensive linemate, center Jeremy Zuttah.

Dotson was named the starter yesterday at right tackle, taking over for underwhelming and dinged up Jeremy Trueblood.

Zuttah isn’t exactly shocked by the move. Not so much that Zuttah predicted that Trueblood would be benched, but Zuttah could see how Dotson, a former college basketball player with scant football experience, was progressing the past couple of seasons.

“‘Dot’ has always been a great athlete,” Zuttah said. “Now he is focused on becoming a football player. Before, he was just relying on his athletic ability, the whole time, pure athletic ability.

“The sky is the limit for him.”

Dotson learned of his promotion when his agent called him last night to alert Dotson he was elevated to the top of the depth chart.

Dotson noted that it has been a “tough road” from being a basketball player full-time to his lone year of football prior to the NFL, that was his final year in college at Southern Miss.

Whoa!

In this CBSSports.com video, Phil Simms claims he’s heard that Buccaneers defensive players let Giants players know they were lining up to come after the football on the most famous kneel-down in history at the close of Sunday’s Bucs-Giants game.

If Simms is accurate, a move like that would a major breach of trust in the New Schiano Order.

Simms also said he had no problem with Schiano’s decision on the kneel-down. Rich Gannon, Steve Beuerlein and Adam Schein have contrasting views.

Earnest “Insurance” Graham checked in on the first two games of the New Schiano Order, and Graham didn’t mince words: “I love what I see,” Graham said on WDAE-AM 620 yesterday.

Graham went on to talk about LeGarrette Blount and Doug Martin, and about his beloved Gators and how the Giants winning the Super Bowl last season with a low-ranked running game has further devalued the running back position. Enjoy below.

Joe’s made it extraordinarily clear for many months that LeGarrette Blount is a dangerous offensive football player who needs a coach that understands how to maximize his talents.

Greg Olson failed at that in 2011, and to date the New Schiano Order is in the same boat.

Monday on his radio show on WDAE-AM 620, Greg Schiano offered insight into Blount’s role and acknowledged that the Bucs’ staff must challenge their minds to find a way to better incorporate Blount.

“LeGarrette Blount, you will see run again,” Schiano said. “He’s going to be a part of our offense. He did play a couple of plays [Sunday], but you know in that game when there’s only 52 plays, and I never felt like our running back, Doug [Martin], got at all winded. And, you know, we have to figure a way to work him in there better, even in a situation like that. Because he brings a unique skillset to that position and definitely can complement Doug and make our run game better.”

Frankly, Joe was left rather speechless by the coach’s comments and choice of words. That Schiano had the mindset to talk about Blount’s role in relation to the aerobic fitness of “our running back” is mind-boggling. First, Martin isn’t exactly setting the league on fire, and the right call, as Schiano said, is to get the most out of Blount and Martin to maximize the rushing attack.

Joe hopes the Bucs have learned their lesson moving forward. Using all your weapons makes the offense less predictable and more dangerous.