While Michael Clayton lives in denial about his inability to consistently catch the ball and arrogantly points to his bank account, Antonio Bryant is a man and confesses he’s screwing up, and hurting his teammates.

In talking with Joe Henderson of the Tampa Tribune, Bryant didn’t blame Chucky for his drops or try to big league Henderson at all. Bryant took the criticism of his dropped passes like a man.

“I personally had two big drops,” Bryant said. “If I get them, we probably win the game.”

Joe admires Bryant for speaking the truth, though Joe’s not sure the Bucs would have won had Bryant caught both passes he missed. Still, thank you Antonio for being upfront.

Joe only wishes No. 80 would be a man. Joe wonders if one lives in denial and blames others who are not even on the field for their mistakes, if said player is even motivated? If one doesn’t think one is in error, then there’s nothing to correct, right?

Doesn’t one have to come to grips with being in the wrong before they confront and repair their issues?

Fans in the past two weeks have been clamoring for Raheem The Dream’s head almost as much as they are for the Bucs to cut Michael Clayton.

Vacation Man of BSPN.com was the first Joe has read to suggest Raheem the Dream may be on thin ice.

Today, Gary Shelton of the St. Petersburg Times is the first local MSMer Joe has read to lob the first grenade, asking if Raheem the Dream is up to the task of being an NFL head coach.

For Morris, the man in charge of the answers, Sundays always seem to end like this. Five times he has coached an NFL game, and five times his team has lost. His defense is not getting better, and his offense is getting worse, and by now, double-digit beatings seem to be the norm. He is a winless coach, and for him and his team, Sundays are wasted afternoons.

All of this is on Morris, of course. Say what you will about the talent, and say what you want about his newness to the job, and say all you care to about how cheap the owners have become. It doesn’t matter. In the NFL, coaches are judged by the scoreboard, and when a team is 0-5 and has lost by an average of more than two touchdowns per game, a coach’s fingerprints are all over the disappointment.

Everything that Shelton writes is accurate but Joe has to be fair:

Was it Raheem the Dream’s decision to sign the walking turnstile Sean Mayhem to replace Jeff Faine? Was it Raheem the Dream’s decision to re-sign to a hideous contract a wide receiver who catches a cold more often than he catches a football? Was it Raheem the Dream’s decision to draft a defensive end who has had one decent half  in nearly 2 1/2 years?

Granted, Raheem the Dream deserves his share of blame in this mess. He’s the one who decided to fire his offensive coordinator 10 days before the season — a guy he hired in the first place. It was his decision to hire Jim Bates to oversee a defense with players that do not fit his style of defense.

And maybe more importantly, it was Raheem the Dream who lobbied hard and heavy for the Bucs to trade up to draft the object of his lust, quarterback Josh Freeman.

Joe just doesn’t see the need to call for Raheem the Dream’s head (yet). It’s premature. Is he blameless? Of course not. Who exactly expected the Bucs to compete for the playoffs this year? In Joe’s eyes, if you are not going to compete for a Super Bowl then compete for the worst record in the NFL so you can get a good draft slot.

Joe has listened multiple times to Raheem The Dream’s Sunday postgame news conference and has made a startling discovery.

The head coach couldn’t get the words “Michael Clayton” out of his mouth.

Joe is stunned. This is the same head coach who has made a reputation in his young tenure for passionately calling out players publicly  for positives and negatives.

Why yesterday he named Ronde Barber, Elbert Mack and Will Allen for getting beat. He also went out of his way to praise Kellen Winslow and Donald Penn, who the head coach said “played his heart out.”

But that Michael Clayton guy, the head coach lumped him together with Antonio Bryant when asked about critical dropped passes and then refused to say the words, “Michael Clayton.

From Raheem The Dream’s 8 minutes and 25 seconds news conference posted on Buccaneers.com:

“Both guys dropped a bunch of balls today.” 1:15

“It’s hard to grade Josh on some of those plays with some of those dropped balls he had today. He could have had a 80 yard bomb on the first throw of the game …if we catch the ball. ” 2:40

“Somebody’s got to step up and make a play for him. When you’ve got zero coverage on the back end and [Josh Johnson] puts the ball in, you’ve got to catch it, make somebody miss and go score.” 5:45

“I don’t think dropping a ball is mental. I think that’s physical. I think you’ve just got to catch the ball. You’re paid to catch the ball. You got to catch it. Everybody.”  7:58

“No. We’ve got to be a tougher team on ourselves. You’ve got to catch those balls. You can’t have that happen. We have to go to practice first. We have to go to practice and see who can step up and perform. Who can catch the balls? Throw it to those people. And that’s what we’ll do.” 8:05

Don’t worry, Rah. Joe has a hard time even thinking about Michael Clayton playing for the Bucs and reminding us his fat check is in the bank. It’s surely understandable that the head coach can’t even say his name.

SI.com columnist Peter King has a cushy gig Sundays.

He gets to sit in the warm, comfy studios of NBC in Manhattan, stuffing his face all day with catered grub, all the while gawking at multiple monitors watching every NFL game.

The lone drawback is that every place he sits, he has to wipe off the chairs due to all of Dull Patrick’s mousse.

So King, for whatever reason, was fixated on the Bucs loss to the Eagles. As a result, King is now a major Josh Johnson fan and suggests that Raheem the Dream has found his starting quarterback of the future.

I don’t care that Josh Johnson’s stats (26 of 50, 240 yards, two touchdown, three picks) were pedestrian Sunday at Philadelphia. If you saw much of the game, which I did, you saw a bold quarterback with growing confidence. I’d start him not just one or two more weeks — I’d give him the rest of the year.

Joe wouldn’t be opposed to this. Joe’s biggest short-term wish for the Bucs offense is that Greg Olson forget about using an option.

Alex Loeb and Cris Carter give their takes on the Bucs loss to the Eagles Sunday. Carter wonders aloud about Raheem the Dream’s job security.

Joe suspects Michael Clayton has direct deposit. He wouldn’t want to risk dropping his weekly paycheck with all those zeros.

Clayton, in an effort to explain his attitude toward his many critics, reminded Bucs nation that his $10 million of guaranteed money is safe and secure.  

When asked his reaction to critical fans who point to the team’s decision to re-sign him to a five-year, $26 million contract, Clayton accepted there would be some. But he doesn’t agree with them.

“I ain’t worried about that,” he said. “People who say stuff, they’re not out there on the field. Nobody who writes (stuff) or says (stuff) can say anything about a player because they’re not on the field. It’s real serious out there. That’s why I don’t pay any attention to that stuff because the mentality is that you make up for it and you come back and catch the next one. I mean, regardless of what they say, the check is in the bank. That’s not changing. It’s about this team right now. Nothing can break that or make me feel bad or worry because somebody’s talking about me in the paper. We just have to keep our heads.”

Forgetting for a moment about Clayton all but putting the dirt on his Buccaneers grave with this comment and his performances, Joe finds it absolutely hilarious that Clayton has the genitalia to say nobody is going to “make me feel bad.”

This is the same guy who said 100 different ways that Chucky made him feel bad, broke his confidence, etc.

Before this quote, about 72 percent of readers of JoeBucsFan.com were in favor of cutting Clayton today.

Joe suspects that number would be much higher if there was a new vote.

Just based on the feedback Joe gets from readers, Raheem the Dream is on thin ice. The natives are more than restless.

Some are so psychotic in their frustration with Raheem the Dream, they are suggesting Bryan and Joel bring Chucky back.

While Joe is of the belief that Raheem the Dream is safe this year, and Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune has gone on record as saying Raheem the Dream is safe through the end of next season, Vacation Man of BSPN.com points out that may not be the case.

Vacation Man, who covers the NFC South, resides in Tampa and was once a Bucs beat writer for the Tampa Tribune. So it’s not like some schmuck without a clue to what he is talking about like Mike Lupica screaming from upon high. Vacation Man is somewhat intimate with the inner workings of the Bucs.

The Bucs are 0-5 and there really haven’t been any signs of progress. Raheem Morris has some time because the Bucs don’t want to fire a coach they just hired. But 0-16 or 1-15 without any signs of hope is enough to get any coach fired.

Morris had a plan when he took this job and it’s got to start showing through just a little bit.

While Joe doesn’t think Raheem the Dream will be fired this year, and Joe will go on record to suggest he shouldn’t, one has to wonder what Bryan and Joel might do if the following takes place:

1) Chucky is hired by Washington or Dallass. Jim Zorn and the Redskins lost to the previous winless Carolina Panthers Sunday. The death watch has begun in the district.

Dallass had to go to overtime to beat Kansas City. Jerry Jones has to be going nuts and no one expects Wade Phillips to be retained short of an incredible postseason run.

Both owners love splash and big-name coaches and Chucky seems the perfect fit for both organizations: strong ownership willing to put their foot down on Chucky but with bottomless wallets willing to pay for any player; a concept that would give Chucky a wet dream.

2) With Chucky’s salary off the Bucs’ books and, say, Bill Cowher’s agent calls Bryan and Joel explaining his client is interested in getting back in the game while the Bucs are in the hunt for the top overall pick in next year’s draft, just how safe is Raheem the Dream?

Aside from Kellen Winslow and Sammie Stroughter, the Bucs receiver with the best hands Sunday wasn’t a receiver.

It was tackle Donald Penn.

Penn showed some savvy for a bulking 300-pound receiver, including instinctively switching hands to carry the ball as he rumbled downfield. Joe would still love to find out where Penn learned that from.

So impressed was Penn with his first NFL reception, he’s already pestering Bucs coaches for more chances, even though his reception was hardly planned, so reports eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.

The burly left tackle provided a brief second-quarter spark when he latched onto a Josh Johnson pass deflected by Eagles defensive end Darren Howard and lumbered 15 yards to Philadelphia’s 8-yard line, where he was tackled by defensive end Trent Cole. Penn quickly got to his feet and gave the first down signal – twice.

“I told (offensive coordinator) Greg Olson he needs to make me a tackle-eligible,” said Penn, listed at 6-foot-5, 305 pounds. “Once I broke that first tackle, I thought I was gone.”

Hey, Penn showed he has some offensive skills besides blocking. Joe’s first thought after watching Penn roll for 15 yards was to try him at fullback in goal line situations, much like the Chicago Bears did with Refrigerator Perry.

Raheem the Dream was not in a good mood after the game speaking on the Bucs radio network. In short, Raheem the Dream nearly started naming names but stopped just short.

To be specific, Raheem the Dream is tired of players talking big but not backing up their big words with big plays.

“There’s not enough fight out there,” Raheem the Dream said. “We have to have more fight from both sides of the football out there. Jeremy Maclin was the pill we just didn’t need to see.

“We have to help out our young quarterback. When you get your hands on the ball, you have to make the catch. To Josh’s credit, he did the right checks but we have to execute. We have to make the catches for him. If we win the battles for him he will feel better about himself.

“Winslow was catching everything for him and when that happens you have to feed him the ball. But he needed some of his buddies to come up and help him.

“Everyone is saying the right thing but are you doing the right thing? Do you care about your team? We have to self evaluate.”

The NFL Network has your Bucs-Eagles lowlights.

Therefore, Joe has your Bucs-Eagles lowlights.

First are the game lowlights replete with Gene Deckerhoff calling the plays.

Next up are the many highlights produced by Kellen Winslow, Jr. Winslow’s plays are broken down in detail here, here and here .

Interestingly, 300-pound Bucs tackle Donald Penn showed Michael Clayton how catching the football is done. Note the nifty switching the football to the proper hand by Penn. When did he learn that?

The NFL Network scoreboard team has their take of the Bucs loss.

First it was Davin Joseph all but saying backup center Sean Mahan isn’t up to speed.

Now Raheem The Dream appears to have jumped on the bandwagon during his postgame press conference.

“We’ve got to have better protection up front …to not allow some of those pressures to be as inviting up the A-gaps as they were. The guys got to get it. We’ve got to stop making excuses for ourselves.”

Now last Joe checked the A-gaps are those around the center position now occupied by Sean Mahan. And last Joe checked, the only excuses the Bucs have been making on the O-line is the loss of Jeff Faine.

Put those together, and you have a coach saying his center is stinking up the joint.

One could hear the frustration if not desperation in Roy Miller’s voice after the game. Speaking on the Bucs radio network, Miller, despite playing a good game and being a stud rookie, was grasping for words as to why the Bucs are making a run at the top overall pick in the NFL draft next spring.

“You have to give Donovan [McNabb] credit,” Miller said. “We let up a few big plays and that cannot happen. We have to go to work. That’s all there is to say. Sure, [the Eagles] are great players on the field, but we cannot let that happen.

“We started out we were in the game the whole time. Jimmy [Wilkerson] was able to get on the edge and get some sacks. Got to give him credit. He had some great [offensive] tackles to go up against.”

Violence. Joe likes it with hockey. Raheem the Dream likes it with the Bucs. Front office types at One Buc Palace do not.

That said, it was violence that propelled soon-to-be new daddy defensive end Jimmy Wilkerson to play like a beast today while too many of his defensive teammates took the day off (Gaines Adams, anyone?).

While he is hours (minutes?) away from the birth of his third child, Wilkerson was an angry man Sunday.

“I was just playing with a lot of aggression and anger,” Wilkerson said. “I wanted to win so bad I had to do whatever I could to get our offensive back on the field.”

Joe suspects these will be on the clearance rack for Christmas

No tackles today for Gaines Adams. But he did have a nice rush that led to a batted down pass.

Good job, Gaines!

For those keeping score, that’s one sack on the season and 10 tackes for Mr. Adams. That puts him on pace to officially be a draft bust of historic proportions in Buccaneers history.

Joe’s going to bring you hard-hitting analysis of Adams and the Bucs defensive line with the debut of the weekly “Bull Rush” column, written by former Bucs defensive end Steve White.

Check back tonight or tomorrow for the Bull Rush. White’s chosen that name because he “doesn’t plan to hold back.”

As he has been in his short time with the Bucs, Kellen Winslow, Jr. was humble when interviewed after the loss on the Bucs radio network.

Despite having his best game as a Bucs player, Winslow just couldn’t take credit for the plays after a humbling loss.

“We didn’t execute,” Winslow said. “I was just trying to do my job and make plays for my team. [On his first touchdown] I don’t even remember it. I was just playing football. It was a good throw by Josh.”

Winslow seemed at a loss for words as the Bucs stretched their winless streak to five games (and nine counting last year’s December meltdown).

“All you can do is continue to fight and go from there,”  Winslow said. “This is my dream and I am living it. We are really not executing as a team.”

Living a dream? Joe thinks it’s more of a nightmare.

Josh Johnson was showered by a sea of green all game long

Bucs nation watched the Eagles throw massive pressure at Josh Johnson. Play after stinking play.

Quite a shift from the largely vanilla defense of the Redskins last week. In all, Johnson held up pretty well in Philly and did a lot of good things.

But in the face of all that pressure, he still wasn’t taking a lot of shots down field.

Joe’s friend and former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson puts some of that on the receivers.

“These receivers have to help the poor guy out once in a while. Tough sledding if you can’t beat one-on-one coverage with all those blitzes,” Carlson said just after the game.

Johnson found Winslow late, but what was happening earlier when the game was still in reach?

Questions like this make Joe wish he was at the game being so he could see the whole field, even if it meant sitting next to slimy Philly fans and not drinking Caybrew.

Though he appeared to be much more comfortable and productive than he did in his first start at Washington, Bucs quarterback Josh Johnson was not a happy camper after the game. Sure, one can point to the lopsided loss. Others obviously, and with merit, will point to his three interceptions.

Either way, Johnson, speaking on the Bucs radio network after the game, was not pleased.

“From an offensive standpoint, it was a physical game,” Johnson said. “We handled it well in the first half. We thought we were going to soften them up but we were not able to capitalize.

“I am very disappointed in myself with all of those turnovers, especially when I had chances to put points on the board.”

“You have to give [Philadelphia] credit. They forced us to throw how. I knew I would be under pressure. They made the plays in a very a very physical game.

It’s tough when you have bad breaks like I had. It’s very disappointing. I have to watch the film and see where we can do better.”

Johnson also raved about the play of Kellen Winslow, Jr., who had his best game as a Bucs tight end.

“He’s great. He’s a natural matchup problem,” Johnson said. “That is the luxury of having a Kellen Winslow against a nickle corner. He can physically beat them up and that’s what he did.”

Johnson feels a win coming on.

“We have yet to play a complete game, offense and defense and special teams,” Johnson said. “Once we do that, we will win. It’s just a matter of putting it all together.”

The humiliating Eagles safety with one-minute remaining was just further evidence that Raheem The Dream and Greg Olson are second-rate.

First, why was Cadillac Williams even in the game? Why? Why?

If the guy’s your No. 1 back and he’s got a fragile history, why are you giving him the ball to run off tackle from the end zone knowing the Eagles are going to do whatever they can to rip his legs off to get those two points. They were in the backfield all day. Absolutely stupid, if you ask Joe.

Second, Raheem The Dream could have just had Josh Johnson sneak up the middle once and then take a knee.

If the coaches can’t make the right calls with the game out of reach …

Enough already.

Somebody needs to come out and say the Bucs’ secondary stinks. Let Joe be the first. Now Joe’s talking about the unit as a whole.

The excuses seemed to finally be all gone against Philadelphia. Tanard Jackson was back. Aqib Talib and Ronde Barber were coming off strong games, and Sabby Piscatelli had settled down after a horrific start to the season. The Bucs’ defense was even playing better as a whole.

But all that didn’t mean crap. The Eagles immediately went after Elbert Mack for a 51-yard touchdown to Jeremy Maclin, and came back again to Maclin who caught Will Allen with his pants down for a 40-yard TD. And Joe can’t remember any big hits by the secondary today.

Every week it’s a big play or two, or three.

Joe’s going to cover his ears when Raheem The Dream and Jim Bates talk about the secondary this week. There’s really not much to say, other than these guys aren’t very good right now.