Arron Sears playing hide-and-seek with the Bucs did nothing to help the offensive line.

Joe’s a bit late in getting to this, but it’s still relevent.

Backwards Hat, aka cool cat Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger, typed a column in which he details three key reasons the Bucs are toying with a winless season.

Angelo Crowell’s injury:  The linebacker is just two years removed from leading the Buffalo Bills in tackles. When healthy, he is that playmaker the team needed at strongside linebacker. But he struggled through training camp with injuries then was placed on injured reserve with a torn bicepsinjury forcing the team to play two first-time starters at linebacker. The inexperience has shown.

Absence of Arron Sears and injury to Jeff Faine: Let’s not downplay these. The offensive line was considered one of the Buccaneers’ strengths entering the season. The team wanted to use this strength to power its running attack. But with Sears not reporting (unknown reason) and Faine getting injured in the first game, the running game stalled. Faine has returned from his triceps injury so we’ll see if the running game will as well.

Suspension of Tanard Jackson:  This really hurt the team for the first four games. Jackson has always been a steady presence in the secondary. A converted corner, he had the speed and skills to cover as well as the ability to make the sure tackle. Add the team learning a new defensive scheme and it was chaotic in the secondary the first four weeks of the season. Now, Jackson has an interceptions in the last two games and is providing the stability the unit sorely missed.

Three solid points by Brown, though Joe is not sure he would list Crowell as part of the reason the Bucs crumbled. He was damaged goods to begin with. To expect him to play at a high level with 100 percent health was wishful thinking.

Joe really wishes Brown would cut some more Bucs videos. It’s been a while Rick!

Earlier this week Joe was wondering why the Bucs media relations staff kept Aqib Talib away from those pesky guys and gals with the Tampa Bay chapter of the pen and mic club.

Days after the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, “The Big Dog,” Steve Duemig of WDAE-AM 620, broke the news that Talib and Raheem the Dream got into a cursing contest with each other in the lobby of a London hotel at 2 a.m., Talib was nowhere to be found at One Buc Palace.

At the same time, Raheem the Dream was doing his best not to admit in his denial that the incident actually happened.

Well, Talib finally faced reporters Thursday and Tom Balog of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune wasn’t exactly buying what Talib was selling.

Talib did not take the opportunity to deny that he cursed at Morris, apologize, or set the record straight about the circumstances that led to their meeting of the minds.

His comment sounded like something he was advised to say from someone in the team’s media relations department, two days after Morris denied that Talib showed him any disrespect after he broke his coach’s curfew by two hours.

“Raheem already told you guys what happened so I’m not really going to get into that,” Talib said. “I’m sticking to football questions. ’Rah’ kind of already explained to you guys what happened, so I’ll leave it at that. . . . I’m not going to get into it all.”

Let Joe just say that he thinks if Talib was wronged by inaccurate reports about cursing out his head coach and blowing curfew, he’d be chomping at the bit to tell his side of the story so long as there were no legal ramifications involved.

Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy appeared on “The Blitz” on Sirius NFL Radio today with co-hosts Adam Schein and Rich Gannon.

McCarthy talked about the Packers upcoming opponent, the Bucs, and how the Packers are hoping to defend rookie Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman, who will make his first NFL start.

“The Bucs really have a different scheme defensively, it’s not one you play against every single day,” McCarthy said. “We have some familiarity with it since we had it the previous three years. The ability for us to be able to run on first down and get pass protection are needed to beat the bump-and-run coverage.”

On Freeman, it sounds like the Packers are poring over Freeman’s college tapes, just like Gil Brandt suggested they would.

“We definitely went back and looked at tapes and we cut down each pass he threw in the preseason,” McCarthy said. “We don’t have a whole lot to go on. We have to think of how [the Bucs] will use him. We’re focusing on the concept of their offense.

“[The Bucs] have good running backs and they run the ball well and we think that’s how they will play it.”

If it’s Thursday, that means it’s a Jenny Dell day for Joe. The gorgeous BSPN talking head talks Bucs football. Joe’s gotta be honest though: Does it really matter what Jenny has to say?

It’s time for Joe to start looking ahead to the Bucs next opponent, the Packers. While researching, Joe came across this tremendous video from — of all sources — the Green Bay Gazette! Tom Pelissero and Pete Dougherty provide both entertainment and a solid breakdown on the ills of the Packers.

Seems as though some in the land of cheese are upset that Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers is trying to fit a square peg in a round hole with his 34 zone blitz defense where the Packers have historically been a 43 defense.

Hhhmmm? Where has Joe heard that before?

As for the video, now Joe is all too aware of the current state of the fourth estate. There really is no such thing as writers or producers any longer. To survive in this 21st-Century jungle, media types must be skilled at multitasking. Those that can’t, or refuse, have or will become roadkill.

This video may be the best Joe has ever seen from a gaggle of writers. Memo to the ink-stained wretches: This is how you do video, not some lazyassed, Max Headroom-type schlock that not even Joe would use. You guys are writers, be creative! You know, there’s a reason why NPR needs tax dollars to stay afloat.

John Cotey gets it! If he and Joey Knight can pull off solid video for prep sports, there’s no reason (other than sheer neglect and/or laziness) the same cannot be accomplished for the Tampa Bay area’s most important sports beat.

Somewhere, Jeff Faine is smiling. And right now the Bucs center might be a very popular guy amid the Bucs locker room.

A haberdasher by trade off the field, Faine must be giving out a lot of advice thanks to Raheem the Dream’s new edict.

Raheem the Dream is putting his foot down. No, it appears players can talk “football talk” to him in hotel lobbies. But woe is the Bucs player who dresses gangsta on the road.

Per Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune on TBO’s Bucs Twitter page, Raheem the Dream now requires all players to dress sharp on the road.

Raheem’s new team policy is players must wear suits to games. No more t-shirts and baggy jeans.

Joe has a bit of advice for Bucs players: Let Aqib Talib have the copies of GQ first unless you are wearing protective gear.

Joe can’t blame Bucs players for wanting to cling to anything that gets them their first win.

Even if that means wearing the throwback orange and white uniforms for another game, or more. 

Earnest Graham, during a Tuesday interview on 1010 AM, said he and some teammates believe Bucco Bruce should make more than a cameo, assuming the Bucs knock off the Packers on Sunday.

“We’ve actually been talking about if we won would we be able to keep playing in those [creamsicle] uniforms? I definitely would hope so,” Graham said. “I definitely would hope that if we won, we just of course could keep the uniforms on as a bit of luck. So we’re definitely looking for it, to winning the game. And if we win, keep the uniforms on. Definitely.”

Joe’s on board. Whatever works.

Besides, maybe that would cheer up Jim Bates.

While a number of Bucs fans are even more depressed than Jim Bates these days, Jason La Canfora of the NFL Network offers Bucs fans a slim ray of hope.

And Joe emphasizes the word “slim.”

La Canfora is of the mind that the Bucs will actually win a game this season. Which game, La Canfora wasn’t clear in a recent chat on NFL.com.

Oddly enough in the chat, the very first question was about the Bucs.

Josh, Wellington FL
Do you think that the Bucs will win a game this season?

Jason La Canfora, NFL Network
It’s going to be a challenge, but I do think they’ll manage to win a game, given the odds, how turnovers have a way of equalizing things out. I believe they will win, but asking for more than one win at this point may be a bit much for where this team is right now.

Right now about the only game Joe sees the Bucs having a chance of winning is at Seattle. Given the Bucs fortunes of regular season games on the west coast, that’s not very encouraging.

A lot of money spent, a lot of moves made, a few draft picks spent on building a run-first, throw-deep offense with Raheem the Dream so coveted.

Then in the first month of the season, (newer) offensive coordinator Greg Olson threw it out the window and reverted to Chucky’s playbook.

The biggest acquisition the Bucs made in the offseason was signing running back Derrick Ward. But he’s been nearly as invisible as Rachel Watson since Olson decided to revamp the offense midstream.

But Don Parr of ProFootballWeekly.com believes with rookie quarterback Josh Freeman making his first start, the running game will be more of a priority and Ward will return to the mix.

The Buccaneers made the signing of RB Derrick Ward one of their top priorities in the offseason, and after scoring a four-year, $17 million contract, he was expected to handle the majority of the workload in the backfield for a team that figured to rely heavily on the running game. Through seven games, though, Ward has just 45 carries while Cadillac Williams has 76, and the Bucs are running the risk of wearing out Williams, who is not a durable player. What makes this situation more perplexing is that the Bucs’ coaching staff has been fairly consistent in saying it would like to get Ward more touches, yet he continues to get a relatively modest number of carries. The sixth-year veteran has yet to have more than 13 in a game. Observers say the team could make better use of its running game, and it finally might do so when rookie QB Josh Freeman takes over as the starter in Week Nine.

The only chace the Bucs have of beating the Packers is to pound the ball early and often on the ground.  There’s no question Ward should be a key element of this.

If eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribuneis correct, family members and friends of Raheem the Dream and Mark Dominik will be buying loads of season tickets for the 2010 season.

Kaufman, writing in a question-and-answer format, all but says that the job security of Raheem the Dream and possibly Dominik may depend on how many season tickets are sold for next season.

Q: It seems to me that the entire Bucs organization from the general manager and head coach to the assistants are in over their heads. The firing of the offensive coordinator one week before the season began is a symptom (in my opinion) of an organization in disarray or one that just doesn’t know what to do. The decision to make Byron Leftwich the starter is another poor decision and a colossal waste of time. I’ve been a Bucs supporter since the beginning, and the caliber of play this season harkens back to those years of 1 and 2 wins per season. Isn’t it clear to the ownership that they have made a fundamental mistake in the hiring of both the head coach and general manager? My season tickets won’t be automatically renewed next year. I’m waiting to see some infusion of qualified personnel.
John Chapin, Tallahassee

A: Your frustration is both obvious and understandable. This administration has made a string of poor judgments since the start of training camp and the results are there on the scoreboard for all to see. Buc fans sitting on the fence about renewing tickets for 2010 want to see progress as this season unfolds. And that’s exactly what the Glazers will demand as they decide whether to stick with Dominik and Morris to chart the future. If the Bucs are showing improvement in December, that will count heavily for ownership. If the arrow is flat, heads will roll.
— Ira Kaufman

Joe has heard that theory before and Joe believes it has merit. Think about it: If the Brutal Bucs finish the season at 0-16 and no moves are made on the coaching staff — just finishing winless should dictate massive changes on the coaching staff even if Raheem the Dream somehow survives — just how are the Bucs supposed to market the team if it hits rock bottom and no changes are made?

“Hey, come out and watch the worst team in football! We have the first pick in the draft who might be a player in three years, so buy your tickets now and avoid the rush!”

That won’t fly.

Apparently, the Rah, Rah act from the Bucs head coach isn’t getting through to defensive coordinator Jim Bates.

Raheem The Dream himself told the Green Bay media that the veteran Bates needs change in order to relish his new football life in Tampa.

During his Wednesday conference call with the Green Bay MSM, Morris was asked what it’s like to be a young coach (33) working with an elder statesman. Bates is 63.

“… We’re implementing his system,” Raheem The Dream said. “We’re getting the players in place that he needs to be successful. And once we have that opportunity to do that, Jim Bates will be feeling pretty good about being here, loving life. And we’re just glad we can work together.”

This quote is so packed with intrigue Joe doesn’t know where to start.

So does this mean Bates is depressed? Miserable because he’s lacking the horses he needs to run his defense and the savvy and creativity necessary to succeed with what he’s got?

Then there’s Raheem The Dream’s line about getting players for Bates, “once we have the opportunity to do that.”

What a joke. The Bucs are gazillions of dollars under the salary cap. They had the whole offseason to sign some “Jim Bates” players. Bates was all but begging for Jason Taylor to get an offer, but Czar Mark Dominik wasn’t interested.

There’s also no way Bates preferred the failed experiment of Jermaine Phillips at outside linebacker over Derrick Brooks in that role.

Bates better stock up on Alka Seltzer and Valium for next season. If his happiness hinges on the Glazers and Czar Dominik stocking his defense with top talent, the odds are he’s going to need medicinal relief.

Gil Brant, affectionately called “The Godfather” by his comrades at Sirius NFL Radio, took a call from a frustrated Bucs fan Wednesday who asked what the Bucs might do in next spring’s draft and what Brandt thought of rookie quarterback Josh Freeman.

The caller hinted the Bucs may need a running back — which surprised Joe — when he said, “we are lucking out with Cadillac Williams.”

The caller first asked Brandt if the Bucs should draft a safety with their first round pick, which is the advice Monte Kiffin had for the Bucs.

Brandt said the Bucs should use their first round pick on a safety unless the Bucs  “are determined to draft a safety they should trade down as there are going to be good safeties in the late first round and early second round.”

The caller asked Brandt about Freeman. Brandt, architect of the famed Dallass Cowboys teams of the 1970s, said he likes Freeman but warned the caller not to expect much Sunday.

“I hope for the Bucs’ sake the Packers don’t watch tape of Freeman against Nebraska from last year. Nebraska blitzed him like crazy and trapped him five times.”

Brandt went on to say the biggest problem with rookie quarterbacks is sometimes they play on lesser teams which is not a good element for development.

“If you are not on a well-coached team, [rookie quarterbacks] won’t be able to pick up the blitzes and then struggle.”

Hhhmmm. A Dom Capers defense never blitzing? Nah, that’s won’t happen. Joe would be absolutely shocked at such a thing.

Raheem The Dream was peppered with questions by the Green Bay media today and was asked what Bucs are standout performers on his winless team.

Massive praise was heaped on Aqib Talib, Barrett Ruud and Tanard Jackson. “Three guys that’s really been dominant,” Raheem The Dream said about them.

The Dream also singled out Jimmy Wilkerson for his 5 1/2 sacks and “hustle and what he demands from his unit.” (No. not that unit.)

Donald Penn and Kellen Winslow also were praised heavily.

Lastly, and most curious to Joe, were comments about Cadillac Williams.

No suprise Raheem The Dream said Caddy’s play has been “inspired.” But he went on to say Caddy’s touches have been limited because of  concerns about strength and stamina.

“Coming back off those injuries nobody really expected anything from him,” Raheem The Dream said. “His running ability has been limited a little bit by me, and really by our coaching staff, because we don’t want to put him out there too much.  But he’s shown us more and more every week, that he’s getting stronger and stronger and ready to carry the load in some of those type situations.”

Joe is extremely surprised to hear this now after seven games, and four weeks after Greg Olson was out there telling the world Caddy was going to the Bucs’ feature back.

It saddens Joe that it appears now that Caddy possibly had his carries limited in England — just 11 to Derrick Ward’s 13 — because of injury concerns.

Is Caddy healthy or not?

With the Brutal Bucs barrelling down the road toward an 0-16 season (and 20 — 20! — consecutive losses) even the most caffeinated Bucs cheerleader has to acknowledge Raheem the Dream’s job would be on thin ice.

Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com types a column for SportingNews.com in which he looks at where teams might go if they change coaches.

If the Bucs don’t win a game, it would be difficult — if not impossible — for the team to give Raheem Morris a second season. The decision ultimately could hinge on whether Gruden and former GM Bruce Allen get new jobs, which would cut off the buyout obligation and make it easier to dump (but still pay) Morris, and possibly GM Mark Dominik. That said, the suddenly dysfunctional Buccaneers would likely encounter difficulty in attracting a high-end coach. The perception is that the team won’t spend enough money to be competitive, and until that changes, the job in Tampa won’t be regarded as an attractive one.

Here’s another thing about going after a high profile coach: If said coach (Bill Cowher, Mike Shanahan, Mike Holmgren) would be interested in the Bucs job, would they want to work with Bucs general manager Mark Dominik?

Earnest Graham says team rules weren't as strict when Chucky was around. Perhaps that's why Rachel left. Joe will never know.

Earnest Graham had a few laughs about the uproar over Aqib Talb’s swear festival in a London hotel with Raheem The Dream.

Speaking Tuesday on 1010 AM, the Bucs starting fullback said he believes it’s only a story because fans and media are so frustrated by the team’s 0-7 record.

“People are trying to find what’s wrong. So maybe they think we’re too loose, or, you know, discipline problems, but we’re just losing,” Graham said. “Actually, we’re probably a little stricter now than we were under Gruden. But of course when you’re losing, like I said, people try to find the source of the problem. [They think] you’re not practicing hard enough, you should have practiced more in the off week, we’ve got discipline problems.”

Joe agrees with Graham on one point: this would all be a whole lot of nothing if the Bucs were 4-3 right now.

However, Joe doesn’t think fans and media are searching for “the source of the problem,” as Graham said.

The “sources” are blatantly obvious: subpar talent, subpar moves by personnel Czar Mark Dominik, and subpar coaching.  Yes, coaching. The Bucs coaches have had enough to work with to win one game by now.

And don’t forget subpar commitment from ownership. That one is painfully obvious.

Joe is not one to promote Bright House Networks, the evil empire that denies its viewers NFL Network.

But Joe knows Out House Networks has a nightly sports news show that occasionally delivers some quality, such as whenever Roxanne Wilder appears on the screen, or Justin Pawlowski or Jeff Carlson.

This time, it was St. Pete Times columnist Gary Shelton making intelligent points about Raheem The Dream’s “wild child,” Aqib Talib.

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson writes the weekly QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson has TV gigs in the Bay area and trains quarterbacks of all ages via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

As the Bucs took some time off after their return to the U.S.A. to reflect on the first half of the season, I thought about it as well, but decided at 0-7, I needed to keep working to find hope for success as their retro uniforms return for the very first time on Sunday.

The obvious comparisons to the early days of the franchise are too easy right now.  But come Sunday, they will be honoring their only Hall-Of-Famer, who suffered through that first winless season and also led them to division titles shortly thereafter and all the way to the NFC Championship game in 1979.

So, no matter how bleak it looks today, there is hope in sight. Isn’t there?

With the extra time, I decided to crunch some 2009 QB numbers, and see what it might look like on Sunday for Josh Freeman, when he takes the reins of this franchise.

The two other first round rookie QBs (Lions’ Matthew Stafford and Jets’ Mark Sanchez) have started from the first game of the season and have posted mediocre results. The Jets started 3-0, but have fallen to 4-4 as his passing efficiency has dropped significantly. The two top picks average .85 TD passes per game (less than 1 per game), while throwing 1.13 INT’s. They combine for a 64.8 passer efficiency rating.

I also looked at teams in the NFL with just a single win thus far (Titans, Chiefs, Rams, Cleveland) and found eerily similar numbers with or without a veteran quarterback under center. The average passing efficiency of 62.65 is almost identical to the rookies’ and their TD-pass average per game is slightly lower (.73) than the rookies’. The INT rate is 1.1. 

If Josh Freeman keeps up with his more experienced peers, he is not likely to throw a touchdown pass on Sunday, but will absolutely throw a pick.

Most of those QB’s have had a pick returned for a TD and Freeman’s pick will also have a decent chance of that or at least leading to points for Green Bay.  By the way, the combination of Leftwich and Johnson put up 1.14 TD’s per game, but are up a bit higher than their competitors’ INT rate at 1.57. Their efficiency rating is 61.05, right on the number for the other QB’s having rough seasons.

On the other hand, Aaron Rodgers (one of my favorites in the league) of the Green Bay Packers has put up some of the best numbers in the NFL with 14 TDs and only 2 INT’s. His 110 QB rating is tops in the entire league, just ahead of Peyton Manning.

The +12 difference between his TD’s and INT’s is only surpassed by guess who? Brett Favre is at +13, leading the 7-1 Vikings. The only thing not working for the Packers offense is their pass blocking. Against the Vikings last weekend, Rodgers got dropped six times and leads the league in getting sacked. When he gets some protection or creates some for himself, he has very good agility. The Packers offense is very good through the air averaging 2 TD’s per game, with only a .28 chance of throwing one to the other team.

To sum up all of these numbers, the Bucs are likely to throw a pick, possibly for six, so we’ll give the Packers 3 points for that. The Bucs are unlikely  to throw a TD, but the Packers should expect to throw two, another 14 points. So, the QB differential going into Sunday is 17 points for the Packers, based solely on QB stats from other teams with similar records and on the two other QB’s picked ahead of Josh Freeman.

The Bucs running game hasn’t proven to put up 17 points yet, so it doesn’t look good for our boys in orange this weekend, regardless if you like Bucco Bruce or not.

Good luck Josh — and I mean that sincerely.

While a number of Bucs fans are giddy that rookie Josh Freeman is being thrown to the wolves, don’t count “The Professor,” John Clayton of BSPN, among those applauding. He explains why in this NFC South breakdown.

Super Bowl-winning coach, NFL Network and Fox football analyst Brian Billick appeared on “Happy Hour with J.P.” on WQYK-AM 1010 Tuesday. Billick broke down why he felt the Bucs were having a tough time this season and what the future may hold for the Brutal Bucs.

J.P. Peterson: I want to get your take on why the Bucs are struggling so much.

Brian Billick: When you go through a transition where you have a new head coach, a new general manager and you have transitions in personnel and philosophy… just on defense, you had principles in place there for a long, long time with Monte Kiffin. That is a major transition that you just don’t do overnight.

On offense, there are a lot of reasons for it. This is a quarterback-driven league. If you have one you are one of the haves; if you don’t have one you won’t [succeed].

With Josh Freeman in Tampa Bay, it will take a while to find out what kind of a choice that was. This league is a have and have nots.

J.P.: Do you think Freeman, given his pedigree, that the odds are stacked against him? Do you think he can be a franchise quarterback?

Billick: There is no reason he shouldn’t be. But that’s the magical combination of ability and transition into an NFL starter. It’s a crap shoot.

Of the last 46 quarterbacks taken in the first round, only 13 or 14 had any kind of success. Does Josh fall into that category? You hope so. You don’t know until they stand up to the rigors of Sundays.

J.P.: Freeman has the physical ability but how long does it take for a guy who didn’t have many reps? How much can we expect from him?

Billick: You certainly have to look at what is wrapped around him. There’s no reason he can’t but you look at how good Flacco and Ryan were. They had good people wrapped around them. There are other [quarterbacks] who had nothing there who struggled.  It’s not an easy equation to figure out.

J.P.: Talking to players and coaches, the defense transitioning from the old Tampa-2 to what they have now, it’s drastically different and personally, it doesn’t fit [the personnel]. How hard is it to make that transition?

Billick: You always try to get the best athletes you can but when you are so engrained in that system and done such a great job and feed the personnel into that system with Monte Kiffin being there… it’s a unique combination of athletes to transition to a different style of play. It is very hard.

Then the question is, what is our style of play and what should we look for? This is the age of free agency and draft choices. There’s no reason it can’t happen quickly.

Again, when you have a first-year coach, a first-year general manager, a new coaching style, when you have all of that layered upon the other, it’s tough.

J.P.: What would be your plan if you were the coach?

Billick: Well, the good thing in today’s NFL — that before free agency, when you were bad, you were bad for a long time. But now, whether it’s scouting or coaching, there has to be a partnership. You have to be unified. There is an understanding it will take time. You look at Cleveland, well, it’s not happening quick enough and they are starting to pull the trigger on people. You have to be more faithful and supportive of your people than that.

Prior to Billick appearing, J.P. had two things to say about the Bucs that Joe found more than interesting.

J.P. thought the hiring of defensive coordinator Jim Bates was a worse move than the hiring of former offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski.

“You just can’t change a defense unless you have the personnel to do so,” Peterson said.

Also, Peterson said he’d be more comfortable with either Christian Ponder or Tim Tebow at quarterback for the Bucs this Sunday against Green Bay than Josh Freeman.

While Raheem the Dream denied he and troubled cornerback Aqib Talib got into an F-bomb war of words in a London hotel lobby at 2 a.m., Raheem the Dream must have channeled his youth (possibly watching Soul Train as he did some dancing) when pinned down about the specifics of catching Talib and unnamed other Bucs blowing curfew.

Raheem the Dream claims the vernacular he and Talib may have used in the wee hours, was, well, normal for football men, as reported by eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.

Morris didn’t say profanities weren’t uttered during the Oct. 25 incident with Talib, who was not made available for comment Tuesday.

“We’ve used swear words to each other every day,” Morris said. “I wouldn’t necessarily call it disrespect. That’s talk on the football field. It’s a form of communication. He (Talib) has always been as respectful as can be to a coach. Has he had some issues? Yes, there’s no doubt about it. We’ve got to control that. We have to help him get better.”

Joe’s trying to figure this out: So Raheem the Dream is the type of fellow to commonly use “football language” with his players in a swank if not posh London hotel lobby at 2 a.m.?

Also, as Kaufman pointed out, Talib was not made available by the Bucs media relations staff yesterday. If nothing truly happened, why is now Talib in hiding?

Or did he have to rush to a meeting with his legal counsel?