Despite a few spurts, Josh Johnson seems to be regressing rather than progressing. That is unless defenses have already figured him out. 

In the first half, Johnson was horrid, looked lost and out of it. Not long thereafter, he was removed when Josh Freeman made his NFL debut.

In some cases, quarterbacks will begin bickering when that happens. Jealousy sets it which Joe can understand.

But when pressed by Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times, Johnson said he understood the move.

“I told him, ‘You don’t have to say anything. I understand,’ ” Johnson recounted later. “(It was) the same situation as Byron (Leftwich). If we don’t win games, maybe Josh (Freeman) is going to play. I understood what was going on when I first was (named) the starting quarterback.”

Joe has written this before and will write it again: Josh Freeman at this point is not an upgrade so there’s no reason to rush him. None. Zero. So what’s the point?

If Freeman’s not ready, he’s not ready, unless fans are in a sinister mood and really want to hasten ruining the kid’s career and pissing away millions of the Glazer’s money.

Yet another loss. Yet more Caybrew for Joe.

As always, Joe brings you the highlights, courtesy of NFL Network, hours before your local news outlet gives you scant coverage in the middle of the night.

First are the highlights of the game, replete with Gene Deckerhoff behind the mic.

Next are the interceptions by Aqib Talib and Tanard Jackson.

Then there’s the lone touchdown by the Bucs, caught by Antonio Bryant. Also are the scant Josh Johnson highlights.

Also, courtesy of Buccaneers.com, there are postgame remarks by Raheem the Dream, Josh Johnson, Ronde Barber and Jeff Faine.

Raheem the Dream spoke on the Buccaneers Radio Network after yet another loss and spoke on many things including his groom finally getting some playing time.

“We almost played the Patriots to an even keel in the first half. Their quarterback absolutely stepped up in the second half. That was the difference in the game.

“We got to give [Freeman] a chance go get in there and get some experience against a very good defense and a well-coached defense. He got a chance to hear the calls. We felt good about getting him in there.

“We will evaluate over the next week. The evaluation of our team continues. You go back and look at yourself first. We will have the ability to look at everything. We will look at the decisions, the decisions, the coaching staff, the talent. We have nine games to see what our franchise is to become.”

Maybe fearing what could come, Raheem the Dream then went out of his way to thank Bryan and Joel.

“The advice [on the trip to England] by ownership was great,” Raheem the Dream said. “The advice on where we went, when we traveled over here, where we slept, it was great advice.”

Tom Brady runs like Josh Johnson.

Today, Brady had one rush for five yards against the Bucs. And the formerly scrambling Johnson turned in the same stat line.

Joe wonders who threatened to punish Johnson if he kept scrambling for yards.

It sure seemed to Joe that Johnson had numerous opportunities to run the ball and make a play — plays he would have made in his previous starts. But today he did none of that. Almost like he had no interest — or was thinking too much about not running.

So instead Bucs fans got a look at Johnson trying to play like Tom Brady. The result was a QB who looked more comfortable behind Sean Mahan in the face of Philadelphia’s endless blitzes.

Johnson finished 9-for-26 for 156 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions. The kid looked down on himself. Hardly the fired up leader he tried to be in his first couple of games.

Raheem the Dream was right. Johnson is Josh Freeman’s career backup.

"Man, it was so cool to meet Phil Simms. Did he sign your Simms jersey?"

Joe just about wet himself when Phil Simms said during the Bucs-Patriots telecast that he and Jim Nantz chatted with Joel and Bryan Glazer this weekend about the state of the franchise.

Joe was flabbergasted.

Since when do the Glazers talk to any media outside of their annual state-of-the-team address every winter? (And who could forget their last public blubbering?)

Simms said the Glazers were talking about how they feel about the direction of the team going young and building through the draft.

Is the the start of a new trend for the Glazer Boys? Maybe they really are at the other end of that sideline phone.

The Bucs most consistent, dependable wide receiver, rookie Sammie Stroughter, offered some pointed yet accurate and welcome words on the Bucs radio network after the Bucs loss to New England.

“You can’t keep spotting teams points and playing catch-up,” Stoughter said. “We want to pound the ball. But when  you are starting off in the hole, it’s hard to do that.

“We are not getting the breaks. You have to keep fighting.”

Stroughter noted how Johnson was having a terrible time against Bill Belicheat’s defense, not that a quarterback in his fourth NFL start ever would (cough, cough) but stopped short of saying Freeman should be the starter.

“Johnson couldn’t get it going,” Stroughter said. “But he stayed calm. That was a bright spot.”

Raheem the Dream’s groom, object of his lust and whose career his is pinned to, Josh Freeman, claims he is not the Bucs starting quarterback.

Asked on the Bucs radio network after the game if he was the starter, Freeman said Josh Johnson is, but didn’t deny he wanted the job.

“It’s business as usual. Josh is still the starter,” Freeman said of his teammate with the same first name. “I am looking forward to what I am doing. The decision [on who starts against Green Bay] is not mine. Josh is still the starter.”

Freeman seemed more bummed out by the loss than he was happy to take his first NFL experience.

“I hate to get my first snaps under these circumstances,” Freeman said. “But at least I got some game experience. It was good to get out there. I didn’t get things going like I wanted.”

Bucs starting (?) quarterback Josh Johnson spoke on the Bucs radio network after the game and took full blame for the loss.

“The [interceptions] were just unacceptable. I take responsiblity for that. My interceptions took us out of what we wanted to do. It hurt us. That’s been the story the past couple of weeks.I will do better and this is something I will learn from.

“AB [Antonio Bryant] was running great routes and getting open. All he asks for is the chance to make plays and it gave us an opportunity to put points on the board.”

Joe’s buddy Justin Pawlowski, on-air talent at 620 WDAE-AM and NFL draft guru extraordinaire, is inviting you to join him on the air shortly for some hard-hitting Bucs post-game talk.

Pawlowski will follow the Buccaneers Radio Network when it signs off about 5:30 p.m. 

Fun stuff, to be sure.

Joe’s really having a hard time figuring out the Bucs decision-making.

Who isn’t?

It was just a couple of weeks ago that the Bucs told the world Cadillac Williams would be their feature back, that they needed to get Caddy more touches, that a feature-back plan would replace the heralded three-man running backs rotation that never had a prayer.

Then, Derrick Ward refused to speak to the media this week, reported Anwar Richardson of The Tampa Tribune. And poof, Ward had 13 carries today against New England to just 11 for Caddy.

Joe hopes Caddy isn’t hurt. But it sure didn’t look that way.

Joe can only conclude that the Raheem The Dream and Mark Dominik, and/or whoever is on the other end of the sideline phone, wants to keep Ward happy so he returns next season.

Showtime, fellas.

Now Joe’s not going to be a jerk and harshly critique Josh Freeman in his NFL debut in garbage time of a blowout.

Sure, the kid failed to get a snap off on a 4th-and-2. Sure, he fumbled. Sure, he showed some mobility and made one nice pass. Sure, he didn’t exactly spark the Bucs like Josh Johnson did in his debut at the end of another blowout against the Giants.

All meaningless.

But make no mistake. This is it. Freeman will start after the mercy bye week at home against Green Bay in two weeks.

The Josh Freeman era has begun. Raheem The Dream and Mark Dominik are on the clock.

So there was Raheem The Dream shown on the CBS-TV cameras getting off the sideline phone and coming over to offensive coordinator Greg Olson saying “No. 5.”

That’s Josh Freeman’s number. And as Raheem The Dream yelled and gestured to Olson the CBS-TV broadcast team told viewers Freeman was entering the game.

Joe wonders, just who was Raheem The Dream chatting with on the phone?

Joe is downright scared to think he was calling Joel and Bryan Glazer who were sitting alone in their luxury box. Would Rah call Mark Dominik in the middle of a game?

Who’s really in charge of this team?

Pats 35, Bucs 7

* Moss catches a pass, sees Tanard Jackson and runs out of bounds. What a freaking menstruating woman! Joe wants to use stronger language but Joe also wants advertisers. Joe suspects his readers will get the point.

* Pats are now slicing up the Bucs defense with passes.

* Damn. No need to help the Pats with a penalty.

* OK, who hypnotized this Bucs run defense?

* Now Antonio Bryant, Wes Welker just showed you how to make that seam catch.

* Roy Miller with a nice stop to delay a touchdown.

* Too easy of a score but as Joe just wrote: it was only delayed.

* That clown from London that the Tampa Tribune is in love with for some reason and who also has sent nasty correspondence to Joe is now in the Bucs broadcast booth and Gene Deckerhoff has turned the mic over to him to do the broadcast. Joe has turned off the radio.

* The Josh Freeman era has begun with a pair of handoffs.

* Welcome to the NFL kid. Thrown down like a ragdoll. You’re not in Kansas (State) any longer Tito.

* Well, already Tito looks more comfortable in the pocket than Johnson. Not much but better.

* Garbage time. Pats seem content to run the ball. Brady’s out of the game too.

* Mostly safe passes for Freeman. Smart.

* Smooth run to the right by Freeman, nearly got the first down.

"He says one thing and does another. Who is he?"

Raheem The Dream’s self-proclaimed “fearless” Buccaneers were sitting at the Patriots 37 yard line down 21 points and in a fouth-and-long situation with about three minutes left in the third quarter.

What does fearless Raheem The Dream do? He punts.

C’mon, Rah.

What were you afraid of? There’s no wind in the nearly domed Wembley stadium. Give the kicker a shot?

Then “fearless” Raheem on the next series, still in the third quarter, punts again on 4th-and-6 from the Patriots 35 yard line.

Let Joe be the first to say that Raheem is playing scared. He’s coaching scared. And he’s riddled with fear right now.  

Joe will leave you with Raheem’s own words explaining a Bucs team philosophy earlier this month.

“We’re always going to play not cautious. We’re always going to play, you know, fearless, you know, not cautious,” Raheem The Dream said.

* Despite the Pats getting a first down, still the Bucs rush defense looks halfway decent which is shocking Joe.

* Anyone hear Ronde Barber’s name yet? That’s usually a good thing. The Pats are not passing his way.

* Tim Crowder was certainly held and Joe is glad the zebras saw the same thing. Brady was going down.

* This is clearly the best the Bucs pass rush has played all year. Easily.

* Brady is a freaking assasin. Just when it looks like he might be rattled, zing, completion, first down.

* Timely penalty by the Pats. Brady was slicing the Bucs linebackers apart.

* Man, that was quick. Touchdown Pats.

* Apparently the Brits must be Bucs fans. Dave Moore just said he can hear Johnson’s calls, so that speaks to the fact the crowd is pro-Bucs.

* A quick series by the Bucs. This could be the start of the blowout everyone expected.

* Nice job by Geno Hayes with getting a hand on Brady’s pass.

* Joe, for the first time all year, is impressed with the Bucs pass rush, chasing Brady out of the pocket and forcing a third down punt.

* Seems CBS is too busy with Goodell’s interview to show a replay of a blown interference call on New England. Sweet. Jackasses.

* Joe will write again: Sammie Stroughter has been the Bucs best receiver this year.

* Damn players are sliding all over the place. Break out the ice skates. Dave Moore claims it’s the dew. Makes sense. Joe forgot it is a night game over there.

* Once again: Sammie Stroughter. Draft steal.

* Geez. Antonio Bryant on the fleaflicker — Joe loved the call — was wide open and Johnson one-hopped the ball to him. Who does he think he is, Daryll Clark?

* Joe doesn’t blame Bryant for spiking the ball. The guy was all alone and Johnson horribly underthrew the ball.

* For the most part, Johnson looks like he is just heaving the ball and praying some Bucs receiver can get a hand on the ball.

* Barrett Ruud makes a tackle for a loss. How novel?

* Dave Moore claims Moss is dogging it only playing half-assed. Joe is shocked.

* Joe is still stunned at the traffic the Bucs are putting on Brady.

* Interesting. Earlier Pats owner Bob Kraft had a luxury box full of people with him. Later, CBS shows Bryan and Joel sitting by themselves in their suite. Wonder why?

* Non-catches like what Antonio Bryant just pulled will hurt his salary requirements for his new team next season.

* Ha! Scumbag Randy Moss got jacked up and had to leave the game, compliments of Tanard Jackson.

* Tanard Jackson saves the Bucs. That would have been the fifth play of the drive that Joe predicted the Pats would score. Really lousy throw by Brady, not that Joe is complaining. 🙂

* Johnson again underthrows a pass. Is there any wonder why Freeman isn’t ready, this game is evidence of it.

* Johnson sacked. Rattled. Lost. Out of it. Johnson seems to appear the way Joes does the last time he attempted to watch Sportscenter some years ago: “What the hell am I doing here?”

* Joe thinks he is drunk because he sees the Bucs playing run defense. Yet Joe hasn’t (yet) had a Caybrew. Strange.

* Boom, 21-0. That quick. That’s why the Pats are the Pats. Joe is “this close” to hoping this game is 65-0. The Bucs need to be shamed on an international stage.

* Oh, and Barrett Ruud is supposed to be the Bucs best linebacker? (Cough, cough).

* Well, maybe if Caddy continues to run, the Bucs will only lose by 42?

* Maybe the Lightning can play better since the Bucs are playing on ice, slipping all over the place?

* Johnson is totally pathetic today.

* If Wes Welker reads his blocker’s ass and runs outside like he should have the score would be 28-0.

* Talib saves the Bucs. Secondary is playing well. Not great, but well. He and Donald Penn are playing Pro Bowl-type level this year. The rest of the team? High school level. Somewhere in Pinellas County, a cabbie is frowning.

* Davin Joseph absolutley got blown off the line on that attempt at a third down run. Joe has never seen Joseph thrown back like that. He was tossed nearly four yards back.

* A Tim Crowder sighting. Almost as rare as a Kyle Moore sighting.

* The defensive front — maybe the first time this year — is playing OK if not good at times.

* Joe happens to be at his favorite watering hole (Joe knows a high executive of said watering hole reads this so as soon as your organization cuts Joe a check he’ll start pimping it heavily) and Bucs fans here are so disgusted, they have turned to rooting for the Pats to run the score up hoping the Glazer Family will be so ashamed, maybe changes might be made. That’s how awful things have gotten for the Bucs.

* When’s the last time Derrick Ward had an eight-yard gain?

* Ward is looking sharp all of a sudden.

* Two minute warning? Wow, quick second quarter.

* Dave Moore ripped Johnson for not checking out of the jailbreak blitz that the Pats used on the first play out of the two-minute warning.

* Pass to Bryant from Johnson was the first time all day Johnson looked like he knew what he was doing, which is just what Dave Moore just said.

* What the hell all of a sudden got into Josh Johnson? Something clicked. Could this suddenly become a game? Nice job by Bryant on the play to get away from the defender.

* Dave Moore just noted Randy Moss has been pretty quiet since he got drilled by Tanard Jackson.

* A sack! A Bucs sack! This is nearly as rare as a blue moon.

* Speaking of which, Joe hasn’t had a Blue Moon beer in a long time. Hmmm?

* Joe thinks the Bucs are more than fortunate this game is only a two-touchdown game.

* As he came of the field at halftime, Raheem the Dream told the Bucs radio network, “We are killing ourselves with turnovers.”

* Great first down run by Caddy who needs to do that early and often today.

* Unless the Bucs radio network is playing with the audio, there are a shitload of Bucs fans at London.

* Johnson damned near had his first pass turn into a pick six. Be careful Josh.

* Nice juggling act there by Johnson.

* Here we go. The rout has begun. Pick six New England.

* Keep it up Caddy. You are the Bucs only prayer.

* Apparently one cannot cutback on the London turf.

* Caddy is doing it all! Can he play defensive line? Probably not a two-gap guy so Jim Bates wouldn’t couldn’t use him.

* Earnest Graham couldn’t block on that play so Johnson missed an open Antonio Bryant because he didn’t want to get killed with the ball.

* Is Sammie Stroughter the Bucs best receiver? Joe thinks he may be.

* Johnson didn’t throw into traffic, did he? Dave Moore on the Bucs radio network was quite critical of Johnson on that play. Said he either should have pulled the ball down and ran or checked down. He did neither.

* My God, strong pressure on Tom Brady and the guy still got positive yardage out of his first play.

* Wait a minute, the defensive front got pressure on the Patriots and stopped the run? Just what team is this?

* Holy spit, thanks to Geno Hayes, the Bucs stopped the Pats, forcing a three-and-out.

* A Derrick Ward sighting. Joe’s wondering: If Cadillac is so hot, why pull him?

* Johnson looks totally rattled. Joe believes Bill Belicheat is throwing so many different looks at him, combined with the pressure, and Johnson is dizzy as a result.

* The way Cadillac is running, Joe would give this guy the ball 30 times today.

* Though everything Joe has heard and read is that Josh Freeman is not ready, and Joe would be loathe to see Freeman today, the way Johnson is totally lost — he again threw behind Stroughter on the third down incompletion — Joe can see Freeman playing today. Johnson is rattled, inaccurate and is simply out of his element. Putting Freeman in against Belicheat’s defense would literally be throwing the kid to the wolves.

* Turf was be slick as hell. Players are slipping and sliding all over the place. Of course, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will argue it is perfect.

* Moss wide open. Joe expects to see that quite often.

* What the hell is going on? The Bucs defensive front stopped the run. Again. Who are these imposters?

* How many touchdowns will the Pats score in the first half? Joe believes five.

* Gee, you think Belicheat has adjusted to stop Caddy, knowing he doesn’t have to worry about the pass as bad as Johnson is today?

* Kellen Winslow may let the ball through his fingers but he was going to be tackled for a loss so that was a case of addition by subtraction.

* OK, Pats have the ball at the Bucs-30. Joe says give plays and the Pats are in the end zone.

Set up to take a shot at NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell for only slapping the hands of dirtbag backup Panthers cornerback Dante Wesley, Bucs general manger Mark Dominik passed on the chance given by the hillbilly with a bad thesaurus, Jack Harris, on the Buccaneers Radio Network pregame show. Dominik watched the fastball go by. This after Wesley’s callous assault of Bucs return specialist Clifton Smith earned just a one-game suspension.

Dominik is smart enough not to fire on the warden commission even when accurate. Harris asked Dominik if he thought Wesley’s one-game suspension was fair and Dominik tap-danced.

Outside of that, Dominik said little noteworthy on his pregame talk with Harris. He did note that he thought traveling on a Friday to London “worked out well” for the Bucs and that the travel jet lag should not be a factor.

“Flying in on Friday worked out well,” Dominik said. “We let the players sleep in each day. The players seem energized.”

FOX Sports NFL writer John Czarnecki, an old timer who is one of the Pro Football Hall of Fame voters, dropped the C word in a brief preview of today’s Pats-Bucs game.

That C word is Cowher.

As in Bill Cowher. As in Czarnecki is hearing rumblings that Cowher could be a candidate to replace Raheem The Dream. 

New England vs. Tampa Bay in London: Even without RBs Fred Taylor and Sammy Morris, plus LT Matt Light, the Patriots definitely appear to be hitting a solid stride because Tom Brady is looking better and more comfortable every week. Ex-Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher’s name has started popping up with the Bucs for two reasons: 1) he doesn’t want to coach the Redskins and 2) the Glazers strike him as owners who could meet his hefty asking price. Word is that Panthers owner Jerry Richardson wouldn’t pay Cowher’s price, either.

As Joe has written before, the Glazers have a history with being enamored by big-name coaches.  And Joe doesn’t doubt the Glazers are exploring all of their options.

Fans can believe all they want that the Glazers don’t have the money to pay Cowher. Joe’s not in that crowd. Second, based on plummeting  ticket sales and growing fan apathy, at some point the Glazers need to do something to jumpstart the community.

If that jump start is not the play of Josh Freeman, then hiring a guy like Cowher might be the least expensive way to revive the fan base.

Though they made the trip to London, return specialist and fumbling running back Clifton Smith and alleged Bucs defensive end Kyle Moore have been declared inactive for today’s game with New England.

Smith, when he isn’t putting the ball on the ground as a backup running back, was an assault victim last week by dirtbag Dante Wesley and is still feeling the effects of a concussion.

Moore is more a figment of Bucs fans imagination than a member of the Bucs squad. Outside of a few sightings in practices at One Buc Palace, Moore has never donned a Bucs uniform in a regular season game. Either put the guy on IR or admit this guy is some kind of a Kreskin mirage and he doesn’t exist.

Byron Leftwich is the third string quarterback.