Now Joe is not one to quote former Buccaneer Dan Sileo, the morning drive time host on 620 WDAE-AM.

Sorry Dan, your show may be good for a lot of laughs and solid Lightning and Otis Smith interviews, but you’re not one the journalism world would call a “reliable source.”

But Jack Harris and Tedd Webb, the longtime hosts of AM Tampa Bay on 970 WFLA-AM are another story. They are reliable. Harris is a broadcasting icon in the Bay area and is part of the Buccaneers Radio Network. He’s not one for rumormongering.

So it’s noteworthy that on the AM Tampa Bay Web site, Harris and Webb referenced Sileo’s comments this morning that there is speculation the Bucs are for sale because of their massive losses in the whole Bernie Madoff mess.

Sileo rambled about the Bucs and Madoff today.

And Harris and Webb promise more information tomorrow.

**7:13am Dan Sileo ( 620 WDAE sports talk host ) 
Talked about the Tampa bay Buccaneers possibly being for sale ?
According to a source, the Bucs are leveraged to the hilt.
They have a note due in January 2010. If they don’t make it.
They will have to sell the team. For more information
Liten tomorrow to AMTB.

Here come the DeBartolo rumors all over again. Steinbrenner? Limbaugh?

The gorgeous Jenny Dell of BSPN talks about whether the Bucs can win a game this season. While the Bucs may be losers this year, Jenny’s very much a winner in Joe’s eyes! Joe is confident you will agree as well.

The Philly woman busted for trying to sell her body for World Series tickets

The wackiest news item of the day made Joe take pause and remember the glory years of the Buccaneers.

A few memories stand out:

Joe recalls literally circling the stadium on foot before a Monday night game against the Steelers. Joe had his rich uncle with him who was in town briefly and was willing to pay just about anything for a pair of tickets.

The Bucs were such rock stars that the pair of tickets was nowhere to be found.

Then there was the home game against the Jets during that era. Joe recalls a fabulous tailgate and then the skies opened up for a torrential downpour. Joe walked through waist high water from the Hillsborough Community College parking lot a couple hundred yards with lightning in the sky just to get to the game.

Then there was the time when Joe met a hottie wearing a Warren Sapp jersey and literally nothing else. THAT was a tailgate party.

Back to today’s funny news story. It involves a not-so-young lady in Philadelphia who tried to sell her body and its talents for World Series tickets.

Joe hopes the Bucs one day get good enough that such rabid fan passion will return here again.

The brutal Bucs are so putrid, one wonders if some guy off the street could make the team.

Jason Krupinski seems to think so. The Hudson resident has been hanging outside of One Buc Palace holding a cardboard sign with the message, “I WILL PLAY For FREE!“

While the salary offer may entice Bryan and Joel, NFLPA rules frown on such a practice.

Krupinski isn’t just an ordinary slug, writes Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune. He played fullback for the Austin Wranglers of the Arena Football League and played college ball at Middle Tennessee State.

“I’ve played a little tight end, too, and I’ve played outside linebacker,” Krupinski said. “I don’t see them doing worse with me or without me. I don’t think I can do them any harm.”

No word yet on whether the Bucs will take a look at Krupinski. His chances seem slim, though, seeing as they just signed Chris Pressley away form the Cincinnati Bengals practice squad.

What’s the harm of hiring the guy for the practice squad? Or at least give him a tryout? It would be a great public relation’s move by the Bucs. Then again, public relations isn’t a priority for Bryan and Joel.

Cadillac went from "full-time guy" to part-time in a matter of hours

Joe noted Sunday that Cadillac Williams inexplicably went from heralded feature back to part-time guy only a few days after Derrick Ward stopped talking to the media seemingly because he wasn’t getting many carries.

Then magically against New England, a healthy Caddy had two fewer carries than Ward. Perhaps the Czar on the other end of the sideline phone made that call.

Offensive coordinator Greg Olson was the company front man weeks ago talking about how Cadillac was the No.1 guy and the three-man running backs rotation was old news.

“I think it’s time we become more committed to Cadillac Williams as a full-time guy,’ Olson told the media this month.

Now Olson has done an about face, per Stephen Holder, of the St. Pete Times.

“We’d like to (get Ward involved) but what happened is, in the previous game, we only had three series in the second half,” Olson said. “(We said) ‘Hey, Derrick, it’s your turn.’ Well, we only had two possessions, now all of a sudden, it’s the fourth quarter.”

Joe has no doubt that Bucs management had a panic attack when Ward showed signs of coming unglued after Caddy got promoted.

Somebody made a phone call.

Former NFL head coach Jim Haslett apparently doesn't think much of Raheem the Dream.

Former NFL head coach Jim Haslett dropped in on Ron Diaz and Ian Beckles Wednesday morning on WDAE-AM 620 and dropped a bit of harsh words on the NFL, documented by the always evasive “Times Editor” of the St. Petersburg Times.

Haslett, who coaches the Florida Tuskers of the UFL, which is partially owned by the Tampa Bay Rays and will play a home game Friday night at the Fruitdome in St. Petersburg, opened fire on the NFL.

Questioned about how his kicker, Matt Bryant, could be released by the Bucs, Haslett released some venom upon the NFL, specificaly the Bucs, when he said:

“I think [Bryant is] an excellent kicker, but there’s a lot of things that go on in the NFL. Why did the Rams trade Will Witherspoon? Why do you hire Raheem Morris?

Ouch!

You know things are getting bad for Raheem the Dream when a minor league coach is taking shots at you.

Pure and simple, Raheem the Dream naming Josh Freeman the Bucs starting quarterback — “and beyond” — is nothing short of a panic move by Raheem the Dream.

The Bucs drafted Josh Freeman, an admitted project, as a key future cog of a run-first, throw-deep offense.

Now, with scant few weeks under a Chuck(y)-and-duck offense, an offense he was not drafted for, Freeman is thrown to the wolves. His first game (ironically, fittingly, in creamsicle unis) will come against Dom Capers and the Packers.

Capers, the architect of the famed Steelers zone-blitz defense (which Dick Lebeau later perfected) will throw so much at Freeman next week that the unsuccessful Kansas State product will be so dizzy he likely will think he’s on some ride at Busch Gardens.

Nothing like rushing a rookie quarterback who came out early from college into an offense he likely barely has a grasp of. Oh, well, offensive coordinator Greg Olson likes to practice plays in games so this might be fitting.

Joe can just see it now: Freeman will struggle mightily and possibly be ruined. The Bucs will win one game and, as Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune suggested, assistants will be tossed aside. Hey, it’s a cheaper move than paying for three head coaches.

So Freeman will be on his third offensive coordinator in less than a year. The Bucs will likely suck next year and with Chucky’s salary off the Glazers’ books, it’s not unlikely Raheem the Dream will be let go.

Then, Freeman will be working with his fourth offensive coordinator in three years.

That is not the way to develop a quarterback the organization admitted needed some developing.

Think not? Just ask Jason Campbell.

Naming Freeman as the Bucs starter way too early is not just a panic move, but another reach, which is also fitting since Freeman was a reach in the first round.

Obviously, Joe hopes for the best and his promise still holds true: If Freeman makes a Pro Bowl Joe will buy his jersey, happily.

But Joe fears rushing and thereby ruining Freeman will set the Bucs back six years.

Joe is very depressed.

Caybrew, please!

Well, the speculation can end.

Josh Freeman is the Bucs new starting quarterback.

Per the TBO Bucs Twitter account via Anwar Richardson (this is officially the Anwar Richardson Day on JoeBucsFan.com), Raheem the Dream announced that his groom is the new Bucs starting quarterback.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris has just announced quarterback Josh Freeman will take over as the team’s starter.

Joe wonders how long the two will enjoy their honeymoon?

Joe is depressed and fears this move will set the Bucs back possibly six years.  Joe is in dire need of mass quantities of Caybrew.

The Bucs are so awful, somewhere, Steve Spurier is grinning.

The march to a winless season is on and Joe just can’t see where the Bucs can steal a win, especially if Josh Freeman is the quarterback, as The Professor, John Clayton of BSPN, spoke about earlier.

Vic Carlucci of NFL.com documents just how bad things will get for the Bucs.

Biggest problems:1. No legitimate starting quarterback. The Bucs had hoped to wait longer before turning to first-round pick Josh Freeman, but he saw his first action against the Patriots and might wind up taking over for Josh Johnson — who replaced Byron Leftwich — after their Week 8 bye. 2. Coach Raheem Morris, who had been the Bucs’ secondary coach, needed more development before being put in charge of an NFL team.

Outlook: If Freeman starts, he’s going to experience a great deal of growing pains because he won’t get much help from his supporting cast. Morris has more lumps to take as well. And climbing out of the basement of the NFC South, with the Saints and Falcons in the top two spots, looks extremely difficult.

Right now the Bucs are so miserable, Joe considers a loss less than six points to be a victory.

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

In July I wrote a note to Raheem Morris with my analysis of his QBs.

Don’t know if he ever read it or not. He never called.

Of Josh Johnson, I wrote: 

1. Has the best whip of any of your QBs, but plays with his thowing elbow in front of his ball too much. Watch his ball in “pat and go” warm-ups. His ball will float with the tip up in the air most of the time, giving DB’s more time to react. It will also be less
accurate with any kind of wind. 

2. Needs to loosen up his upper body while he drops back. He is very robotic on the drop-back and should bring his elbows back down closer to his sides and bring the ball back down to the middle of his chest (keep the tip of the ball down below the back of the ball through the whole delivery–this will cure his floaters).

After Johnson’s four-start stint as the starting QB, I wouldn’t change much of my early assessment, but Johnson did get a bit more fluid in general. He did throw quite a few wobbly balls that floated with the front tip in the air and he would do better to learn to keep the tip of the ball down before release to get more accurate.

I believe Johnson he has very good potential in this league.

Some will write him off because of his draft status and the head coach trying to label him a career backup. Of course, he could have made better throws and better decisions in some cases, but overall I critique the play-calling of Greg Olson for not taking advantage of any of Johnson’s physical attributes.

How bout a rollout?

Pat White was a second round pick to the Dolphins and is getting spot play in the “Wildcat.” Johnson is a better passer and probably a better runner, as well. Could the Bucs not have had a receiver or back go in fast motion (like Ricky Williams for Miami) and create some deception and roll Johnson out the opposite way and help create space for their recievers?

Could they not have intentionally rolled him out on just ONE play in his four games of getting chased from the pocket?

Johnson’s interception returned for a TD on the fifth play last Sunday against the Patriots was his fault, but I heard it explained on radio this week as a “hot” read from a blitz. It wasn’t.

It went back to my last QB Blast and the Bucs lack of throwing the ball down the field.

The Patriots did their film homework. They left the middle receiver of a “trips” set “uncovered” by a safety 10 yards off the ball. This would have been a completion for the Bucs if Johnson had been under center — Tom Brady picks these plays up all of the
time — but Johnson was in shotgun, took his eyes off that area to catch the ball, took an extra step and the safety “sat” and then timed it perfectly.

This is one of the reasons Jon Gruden was so late in using the shotgun formation.  It gives up a lot of quick passes to uncovered receivers.  The Patriots and Colts are still under center quite a bit to take advantage in this situation.

Unfortunately for the Bucs, both QB and coach are inexperienced in those situations.

I don’t know if Josh Johnson is smart or if he knows the offense very well as has been published, but he has physical tools that few have had in this league — ever.

With some technique training to his delivery and more film study, he could be a very good starting QB in this league one day.

I hope Josh Freeman took copious notes, because there were plenty of inexperienced mistakes that Freeman does not need to make.

But it all looks quite different from the sideline compared to behind the line — trust me, I know.

Richard "Batman" Wood sometimes gets lost driving near his Tampa home, a result he believes is from the constant beating he took as an NFL linebacker.

Have a cold adult beverage sometime with former Bucs linebacker legend and radio analyst Scot Brantley and he’ll tell you how years of pounding running backs have left his body pounded.

Despite not wearing a neckbrace, Scot rarely turns his head to talk to you, he turns his body his neck is so stiff, like someone who has a perpetual neck injury.

Brantley, who periodically writes an article for Joe, is just one of many former Bucs and NFL players who are suffering the ill effects of playing all out for the sport they loved.

Once the crowds file out of the stadium, the klieglights of the TV cameras turned off and most reporters moving on to other stories when the players’ careers have ended, the game lingers on for many former NFL players the rest of their lives, often with painful if not tragic results.

Gay Culverhouse, daughter of former Bucs owner Hugh Culverhouse and former Bucs president, is trying to do the right thing, writes Alan Schwarz of the New York Times. Culverhouse will testify before Congress offering an insider’s look at to how NFL teams years ago often treated injured players as chattle.

Culverhouse is lending a helping hand to former Bucs, but she has limited time. She has blood cancer and doctors fear she has scant few months left.

Every former player Culverhouse called had debilitating physical problems, she said. A stunning portion had cognitive ones, even in their mid-40s, and most of them lacked the short-term memory or concentration required to seek medical assistance or slog through the disability paperwork. One player told her, “I’m headed for the 88 Plan.”

“The thing that I always admired about Gay is that she’s a rebel with a cause,” said Brantley, 51. “Football was a man’s world. Still is. I’ve always said, if you want something done and done right, get a woman involved. No one else has shown any interest in us for a second. We might as well have the plague.”

Schwarz’s piece is a moving look at how NFL players sacrifice their bodies if not lives for football. Other former Bucs featured are Richard “Batman” Wood and the late Jeff Winans.

The Professor, John Clayton of BSPN, talks about the Bucs in this NFC South roundup. In short, if you are pining for the Josh Freeman era to begin, Clayton suggests you are also pining for blowouts. He explains:

Of course, Joe is having his daily say on JoeBoltsFan.com about all things Tampa Bay Lightning.

At 1 p.m., Joe will unleash his hockey-crazed sister Amanda Harris for another live chat on JoeBoltsFan.com.

Don’t miss it!

Amanda is far and away the top Lightning analyst in town.

NFL Network's Warren Sapp is tired of BSPN's Trent Dilfer's rants.

Joe has made it abuntantly clear he is not a BSPN-kinda guy (though Jenny Dell has somewhat opened his mind).

One of the reasons Joe hates BSPN is the agenda those clowns always have, and always pound the same half-dozen teams down a viewer’s throat. So Joe generally stopped watching years ago, sans for college football and basketball games.

On the rare occasion that Joe has been channel surfing and seen former wretched Bucs quarterback Trent Dilfer talk on the NFL, he seems polished, knowledgeable and well-researched.

Then Joe remembers what a horrible quarterback he was and whatever Dilfer says is lost on Joe.

Apparently, Warren Sapp is of the same mind. The former Bucs great, now an analyst for the far superior NFL Network, apparently is getting tired of Dilfer — of all people — crushing Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell.

So Sapp blasted his former teammate on his Twitter account.

I See Trent Dilfer Has Forgotten All Those Pick 6’s He threw In Tampa!! WOW!!

That’s pretty much what Joe thinks. How can Dilfer fire on a quarterback for being horrible when he was equally as horrible?

It reminds Joe of when alleged sexting practitioner Sean Salisbury used to unload on quarterbacks. What the hell did he ever do in the NFL?

Joe is trying to figure out which Bucs coaches will not be back in 2010

Anwar Richardson’s question-and-answer column with the Tampa Tribune contained so many gems, Joe couldn’t just hold it to one item.

When a reader asked if Raheem the Dream will survive this season, Richardson pointed out it depended on several factors. However, Richardson wrote with no qualifiers that there will be changes to the Bucs coaching staff.

Q: When will the Glazers finally fire this sad excuse for a coach and get someone who knows what they are doing to coach this team? I have been a fan all of my life and at this point it’s sad to see a once Super Bowl team doing so poorly. I know that teams have their off seasons but come on, even when Gruden was the coach we still WON some games but this guy “RAH” as the team calls him sucks in ways that are just sad to see in the NFL period. Glazers, do everyone a favor FIRE this rotten coach and get someone who can do the job. I mean, come on, throw out the vets for players that have no clue? How sad.
Jeanette Denson, Dewitt, Va.

A: If it makes you feel any better, many Bucs fans just like yourself are frustrated. Raheem could lose his job if the team goes 0-16, but if the Bucs squeak out some wins, expect some assistant coaches to be let go instead. There will be coaching changes in the offseason, but they may not include the one you’re hoping for.
— Anwar Richardson

Notice that phrase, “will be?” Those are not Joe’s words, those are Richardson’s. Not “may be,” but “will be.”

OK, Joe asks: Who will get run?

Ready… set… go!

"I know you've never run this play before. It doesn't matter. That's what games are for Tito. Now get out there."

Joe thought it was nuts that offensive coordinator Greg Olson decided to scrap the Bucs offense that the team had been working on all offseason and training camp, and try to revert to Chucky’s playbook in the first month of the season.

All the time practiced for a run-first, throw deep offense and the money spent on players for such an offense (Antonio Bryant, Kellen Winslow, Michael Clayton, Derrick Ward, Byron Leftwich) has been all thrown away.

But what Joe read Tuesday night from Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune was so mind-numbing Joe nearly dropped his blackberry.

In a question-and-answer article by Richardson, he drops the bomb that for many Bucs players, the first time they actually practice a play from Olson is in the middle of a game!

Q: Do You think that the big changes 10 days before the season’s start has come back to haunt the Bucs? Very rarely has this ever been done before, it’s almost like it was planned to ruin the season. Is this a way for Glazers to save or make money?
Richard Denney, Ruskin

A: I think Tampa Bay’s handling of its offensive coordinator position is the major reason this offense has played so poorly. The Bucs should have done a much better job of pre-screening Jeff Jagodzinski. They should have known what his strengths and weaknesses were long before offering him the job. The team practiced a new scheme throughout the offseason and training camp only to have it ripped up 10 days before the season. Now, the first time many offensive players practice plays is during games. I don’t think the Glazers were trying to sabotage this season. They just oversaw the development of a bad team.
— Anwar Richardson

Joe did a little more digging and found the exact damning words of Jerramy Stevens in an Oct. 21 story by Richardson.

“One thing people don’t realize is one of the main reasons we’re struggling on offense is because we practiced one offense all off-season, training camp and the preseason,” Bucs tight end Jerramy Stevens said. “We fired the offensive coordinator and we’ve got a whole new offense being put in on the run.

“People don’t realize this is the NFL. It’s damn near impossible to put a new offense in and practice it during the game. A lot of the first time we’re running it (plays) is in the game. It’s not anybody’s fault.”

This is simply outrageous! Any two-bit high school coach knows better than to pull a stunt like that. To think an NFL coordinator would stoop to such a level, Joe is at a loss for words. No wonder this offense has been beyond dismal.

What the hell is the purpose of having a practice squad?

The Bucs are such a mess, Peter King isn't sure the Bucs can turn things around quick enough to spare Raheem the Dream.

Having fun this year Bucs fans? Joe isn’t, but he’s trying to have fun with it in-between crying in his Caybrew.

In short, Peter King of SI.com cautions Bucs fans they better get used to years like this because it may be a while before winning returns to the CITS.

King breaks down what’s wrong with the most putrid of the rotten NFL teams, the Bucs among them. His analysis is blunt and disturbing.

Cassel and Stafford are their teams’ quarterbacks of the future and are going through growing pains. Anderson and Bulger are almost certain to be replaced long-term with draftees or free-agents in 2010. Johnson is an interesting prospect, but Josh Freeman has the best shot to be the Bucs’ long-term quarterback. When young quarterbacks struggle, rebuilding teams are almost always awful. It’s a fact of NFL life.

Which team will turn it around in 2010? My guess is Detroit and Kansas City have the best chances because they have what appear to be strong GMs, strong coaches and quarterbacks who look like they have a chance. I don’t expect Mangini to make it long-term, and I’m dubious about Morris because Tampa’s going to lose for awhile longer — maybe quite awhile.

Now Joe has stated before he thinks the Bucs reached for Freeman in the first round. King suggests the Bucs in fact reached for Raheem the Dream.

At Tampa, Raheem Morris probably got his job a year too soon, but the Bucs were worried about losing him to another team in 2010.

Sean Mayhem, the walking turnstile center whose pay the Bucs cut in the offseason who then was released and then later re-signed to rave reviews from Raheem The Dream, was released again today.

So here the Bucs are with a starting center, Jeff Faine, who’s on the record saying his healing tricep won’t be 100 percent this year, and they’ve gassed Mayhem.

That leaves rookie undrafted free agent Jonathan Compas as Faine’s backup on the roster.

If Faine goes down again, will the Bucs try to sell fans again on the virtues of Mayhem, who was shredded in his handful of starts? No way the Bucs leave a rookie center in the game for Josh Freeman or Josh Johnson.

The Bucs also made other bottom-of-the-roster moves today. Joe wishes he had confidence in Czar Dominik, the guy masterminding all this shuffling.

Roughly eight hours after Marcus Johnson was busted for DUI when caught sleeping at the wheel of his new car just a matter of feet from One Buc Palace this morning, likely returning from his London trip, Marcus Johnson has been cut by the Bucs, so reports the great Mike Florio, the creator,  curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com.

Since teams technically aren’t permitted to impose discipline on players who run afoul of the league’s substance-abuse policy, Johnson could file a grievance in an effort to recover the balance of his base salary of $620,000.

As Florio points out, if this were Donald Penn falling asleep after a couple of belts combined with jet lag, you think he’d be cut so quick? Joe doesn’t think Johnson has had time to sober up yet, much less get someone to bail him out.

Bucs fans are a frustrated lot.

Eleven losses in a row will do that to any fan base.

Throw in the low budget operation of the team, the ugliness of the losses and a glorious Super Bowl just 6 1/2 years ago, and Joe is expecting loud boos to rain down soon on the Bucs from the remaining Bucs fans at the C.I.T.S. (community investment tax stadium).

Those jeers didn’t come down too hard on the Bucs against Carolina. But that’s likely to change quickly.

Joe doesn’t expect the boos to be heard over the cheers of tens of thousands of Packers fans in two weeks. But after that it should get ugly unless the Bucs win some games, which is highly unlikely.

Do the Bucs want Josh Freeman to take that sort of emotional beating?

Imagine the Saints are leading the Bucs 27-7 at halftime on Nov. 22, and the Bucs run into the locker room to a chorus of boos. And then what happens when Freeman throws a second half interception, or the Bucs have an ugly 3-and-out?

Freeman will hear some language and venom that may scar his 21-years-young self.

It would have been one thing if Freeman would have started this season. Fans might have been more patient with his development. But at this point Joe believes Bucs fans are nearing angry mob status.

If Freeman takes over soon, he’ll need to be mentally strong way beyond his years. Joe wonders why Raheem The Dream, given all the talking he does, never describes Freeman as mentally tough.