If Bucs fans are looking for some legitimate hope for a victory in Philadelphia on Sunday, there is one place to start.

Just don’t start with Eagles head coach Andy Reid’s record after his team has a bye week. That record would be 10-0. Ugh.

Look at the Eagles starting middle linebacker on Sunday, Jeremiah Trotter. Yes, that’s the same guy who played a handful of snaps for the Bucs in 2007, and then was out of football before joining the Eagles two weeks ago.

Sunday will be Trotter’s first start in years, after a four-time Pro Bowl career with the Eagles seemed to be ruined by knee injuries and led to him being cut after the 2006 season. 

Those knee injuries were still a problem only weeks ago, according to Jay Glazer of FOX Sports, but he signed with the Eagles regardless.

In Joe’s mind, Trotter, 32, has got to be a major weakness in the Eagles’ defense. Greg Olson has got to find ways to exploit it.

Boy, Joe’s got a treat for Bucs fans. Some 30 years ago, the Bucs were in their first playoff game, hosting Philthydelphia. Brent Musberger, Jayne Kennedy, Irv Cross and Jimmy the Greek were on hand.

Let’s just say any time someone drops the name of Gifford Nielson, it’s a quality reference. Please bear with Joe through the testy video quality. Normally, Joe wouldn’t post this as a result. But this is a jewel of a find.

Joe has been geeked the way Geno Hayes has played since he figured out how to read a clock (just kidding Geno). He’s been one of the very few bright spots in what already has been a horrid season.

Because the Bucs are so bad, with the exception of Donald Penn, Joe didn’t think any Bucs player would have a snowball’s chance of a trip to the Pro Bowl, held this year in south Florida.

However, eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune noted on the TBO Bucs Twitter account that there are whispers within the walls of One Buc Palace that Hayes is a Pro Bowler.

The Bucs are tempering their enthusiasm, but privately some in the organization believe LB Geno Hayes is a Pro Bowler in the making.

Joe believes this would be fantastic. Every time Joe sees Hayes flying across the field, it warms his heart and makes Joe want to reach for a cold Caybrew.

Joe is almost ready to vomit after hearing Antonio Bryant talk about the nastiness of his current knee injury on Total Access, the Buccaneers Radio Network nightly show on 620 WDAE-AM.

If fans ever questioned Bryant’s work ethic, Joe guesses they never will again after reading his comments. It’s really a must-read.

Joe has transcribed Bryant’s detailed injury report for his partners at 620 WDAE-AM and 103.5 WFUS-FM. Enjoy.

BSPN’s Trey Wingo, Mark Schlereth and former Bucs assistant coach Herm Edwards break down the Bucs-Eagles game. Schlereth thinks there’s but one way for the Bucs to win.

Aaron Sears is nearly as much a mystery as D.B. Cooper.

Earlier this week, Joe brought you the news, via Jeff Faine, that Sears, a Bucs starting offensive lineman who parachuted into hiding in Alabama in the offseason, resurfaced in Tampa recently, apparently willing to risk peeking out of the blanket of the Buccaneers Witness Protection Program.

Sadly, by trying to cover for Sears as if he’s some clandestine operative in the CIA working undercover to expose more animals that lop off people’s heads and fly planes into buildings, the Bucs have done nothing but fuel speculation about why Sears is AWOL.

And no, Joe doesn’t buy into the nonsense that Sears should be left alone when there are major questions to be asked. Sears chose to work in a very public, high-profile environment. If he treasures privacy so much, maybe he should have been an accountant?

Just issue a release as to specifically why he’s missing and that’s it. End of story. Real simple.

Joe’s made some phone calls and sent e-mails and learned that Sears’ return trip this week to Tampa has not been his first. Also, Bucs front office types were unaware he was in town.

In short, anyone expecting Sears to show up in a Bucs uniform in the near future should also expect Santa Claus to climb down the chimney this winter, and for a scantily-clad Rachel Watson to be waiting for them — drinks in hand — when they return home from work tonight.

Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune, in a question-and-answer post earlier this week, noted that Sears NFL career is all but finished.

Q: Any indication on what the resolution will be with Arron Sears? There is a shroud of mystery and silence and I’m just wondering if we’ve seen the end of it.

Kevin Nieto, San Francisco, CA

A: I think we’ve probably seen the last of Arron Sears in a Bucs uniform. We’ve probably seen the last of him in any kind of an NFL uniform. We’re still not sure what the details are but for him to miss an entire season and pass up a very large paycheck indicates that he is dealing with something very serious.

— Roy Cummings

Joe just doesn’t get all this cloak-and-dagger nonsense from the Bucs. If Sears is suffering from some anxiety disorder or depression, say it. This is not the 1950s when one stricken with such an ailment was thought to be subhuman. Joe is confident whatever is wrong with Sears, Bucs fans would assist in some way, financial if not spiritual, in droves.

What, does this guy have the ebola virus or something?

Since Greg Olson wants a one-back set with Cadillac Williams getting the majority of touches, big-name free agent acquisition Derrick Ward now watches from the sidelines.

Raheem The Dream didn’t like the direction of the offense under one of his biggest hires, offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski. Yet the offense has pretty much been a shambles since Jagodzinski’s departure.

Former Bucs beat writer and current SI.com columnist Don Banks believes Jagodzinski was a scapegoat.

Buffalo, Kansas City and Tampa Bay, the three teams that fired their offensive coordinators just before the season began, haven’t exactly fixed their issues. The Bills, Chiefs and Bucs are a combined 1-11, with that lone win coming in head-to-head play (Buffalo beat Tampa Bay). Turk Schonert, Chan Gailey and Jeff Jagodzinski obviously weren’t the whole problem.

Joe also wonders about changing the offense on the fly and the ramifications. So new offensive coordinator Greg Olson wants a one-back set with Cadillac Williams yet the Bucs big-name offseason free agent acquisition Derrick Ward sits on the sidelines collecting a big check.

So much for that power-running, throw-deep offense.

How bout that huge Vegas line on the Bucs game. The Eagles are giving the Bucs 15 points, a whopping spread in the NFL.

Joe’s offering up here an analysis of the line from SportsBook.com. Of note is how well the Eagles play after a bye week (they were off last week) and all the action heading to the Eagles, which means the Bucs are likely to get more points before the end of the week.

A: …However, after looking into this one a bit more, it is obvious why the Bucs are getting so many points. They have really only been competitive in one game so far, last week against a bad Redskins team. In their other three, they suffered double digit losses, with a point differential of 16.7 points per game. They have thrown for a total of 158 yards in their last two games and could be in for another long day in the air as the Eagles have the second stingiest pass defense in the league, allowing just 156 yards per game. Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook are back so the Eagles’ offense should be back at full strength even though it was quite impressive without them two weeks ago. McNabb, Westbrook, LeSean McCoy, DeSean Jackson, Brent Celek, etc. That’s a lot of weapons on the field against a Tampa team giving up 26.7 points per game. I think Michael Vick will actually make an impact this week. Finally, you can’t ignore how important bye weeks are for teams. Look no further then the fact that the Eagles are 16-6 against the spread in their last 22 games following a bye week — very impressive indeed. The early bettors obviously agree because after checking our trends page, 76 percent of the early action is on the Birds.

Joe can’t remember when the Bucs were this great an underdog? It’s been many, many years.

Despite what some suggest, Joe’s not a cold-hearted man. To prove that, Joe has an idea that he is sure will help out the Glazer Family.

Joe has read countless articles that Bryan and Joel have some nasty payments on their loan to buy some English kickball team. This saddens Joe, but he’s willing to help.

Joe read this morning a positively brilliant idea that could help Bryan and Joel rake in a few Benjamins to ease their monthly payments on the kickball team, and energize Bucs fans in the process.

Joe has a love-hate fascination with Washington Redskins tyrant owner Danny Snyder. His heavy-handed ways with the fourth estate infuriates Joe (Danny, why be mad at the Washington Post for running photos of fans with bags on their heads? The paper isn’t ruining your sorry team. Should the paper also not report your team’s record? How come you don’t get mad about the TV shots of those drag queens in your stadium, huh?).

And Joe takes some perverse pleasure in the fact that Snyder hired that jackass that ruined ESPN and put this buffoon in charge of Snyder’s Six Flags empire, only to see that operation run into bankruptcy. Nice.

But then Joe warms to Snyder when Joe reads about Snyder’s latest scheme:

Redskins fans have the opportunity to enter a contest, sponsored by a district car wash joint, to not only win tickets to a Redskins game, but have the opportunity for their vehicle to be hand-washed by the Redskins cheerleaders.

BRILLIANT!

If Brian and Joel were of such a mind, not only could they (easily) find a sponsor for such a contest, Joe is confident Bucs fans would pay to enter the contest, sort of like a raffle. $10 per entry.

Too bad this couldn’t have been created last year. Joe’s mind races at the thought of Rachel Watson washing his truck. Sigh.

Whether the Bucs have enough talent to win four or five games this year is debatable.

But what’s not open for debate is the challenge the team is having adjusting to new schemes on both sides of the ball. For helmet-wielding Aqib Talib, that adjustment period is everything — and it’s ongoing.

Talib was a guest on Total Access last night, a Buccaneers Radio Network show that airs weekdays at 6 p.m. on 620 WDAE-AM.

He was asked by former Bucs tight end Dave Moore whether the Bucs improvement on defense, specifically making plays in the backfield against Washington, was a result of “something [coaches] were teaching as far as getting through your gap rather than just protecting, or a higher energy.” 

To Joe’s surprise, Talib didn’t pick either of Moore’s assumptions.

“Me personally, it’s just repetitions,” Talib said. “Everything is totally different from last year.”

Joe is searching desperately for positives as much as the next fan. Perhaps Talib is right and the Bucs just need more time to be successful on defense.

Tonight is the Tampa Bay Lightning home opener and the coach of the winless Bolts harshly criticized the mental makeup of his team on 620 WDAE-AM this morning.

JoeBoltsFan.com, of course, has all the stunning quotes.

Joe’s got you covered with daily Lightning coverage. Check out JoeBoltsFan.com today.

With Josh Johnson as the starting quarterback, Greg Olson wants offensive linemen to remember Jeff Garcia. Joe prefers to remember Carmella Garcia, for obvious reasons.

Offensive coordinator Greg Olson told the media yesterday how Josh Johnson needs to be more patient in his progressions before pulling the ball down to run.

But Olson did reference two plays in which Johnson made good decisions to run but had significant gains negated by holding penalties.

Those mistakes were on the offensive line, Olson said, whose minds were not focused on the scrambler under center.

“That creates problems for the [offensive line], Olson said. “That was the case really on both of the holds where Josh [Johnson] was scrambling. That’s an issue, but again I kind of preach to them and I preach to Josh, You’re in kind of a Jeff Garcia mindset. The guys up front need to understand that. You got a scrambling guy there so understand the guy might be running by you and that’s when you’ve got to resist the temptation to grab and pull him when you feel color going by you there. …It’s really a very similar style to what they’ve been playing the last couple of years in my opinion.”

Joe wonders whether these penalties and the way Olson talked about them reveal a coaching oversight during the week of preparation leading up to the Redskins game. Was the switch from a statue, Byron Leftwich, to a rabbit, Josh Johnson, a major focus in practice?

Perhaps Olson assumed his experienced line remembered how to play with Garcia.

Regardless, sloppy holding calls are not something these Bucs can afford.

The gorgeous Jenny Dell of BSPN has an inside-the-numbers look at the Bucs-Eagles game. If Dell is talking, Joe is gawking. Listening? Not so much.

Jeremy Trueblood's penalities are hampering an already stagnant Bucs offense.

The Bucs are brutal. Anyone who suggests otherwise is either a fraud or Rachel Watson.

Part of the reason the Bucs stink out loud has nothing to do with athletic ability or football acument but simple common sense, Tom Balog of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune points out. In short, penalties are crippling the Bucs already impotent offense (are you reading this Jeremy Trueblood?).

The Buccaneers (0-4) have committed 27 penalties for 197 yards in four games, which is slightly above the league average of 23 penalties and 190 yards per game.

The costly nature of the Tampa Bay penalties is most reflected in the Buccaneers’ third down conversions, a statistical category that offers some explanation of why Tampa Bay has scored just 13 points in its last two games, and 54 points overall, 28 below the league average of 82 points.

The Buccaneers are last in the NFL on third down conversions when they have six or more yards to pick up.

It’s hard enough to win in the NFL even with good players. No matter how good a team is, eventually penalties will catch up with them. Penalties for a bad is a virtual death sentence.

The phasing out of the 2-2-1 running back rotation means more carries for Cadillac Williams.

A lot was made in the preseason that Raheem the Dream’s running attack would be “2-2-1,” meaning the first string tailback would play two series, the second string tailback would play the next two series and the third string tailback would play once series.

It was a rotation Raheem the Dream hoped would keep the stable of Bucs running backs both rested and healthy.

That plan, like throwing downfield, has all but been scrapped, documents “Backwards Hat,” better known as good guy Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger. This means, more carries for Cadillac Williams.

But after the first four games, in which Williams is leading the team in rushing yards with 191 (as well as a 5.0 yards per carry average) and is second in receptions (12 for 81 yards and one TD), the Bucs are considering using Williams as the exclusive back.

“We’re going to get him involved more (with the passing game)” said offensive coordinator Greg Olson. “Clifton (Smith) has been our guy because of his threat as a pass receiver. Cadillac has proven he understands the protections and he’s a real solid pass protector and he’s developed as a receiver. Now, let’s work Cadillac in. Let’s rotate him with the other backs but the way he’s looked in the season, I think it’s time we become more committed with Cadillac as a full-time guy.”

Joe’s guessing had Cadillac not been pulled for Clifton Smith late in the game, Cadillac likely would have gotten a key first down in the final minutes and — more importantly — not fumbled.

The Bucs defense doesn't exactly gang tackle too many people near the line of scrimmage on first downs.

Buried in a notebook column co-penned by eye-RAH! Kaufman and Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune was a couple of numbers that made Joe shudder.

The Eagles lead the NFL in yards on first down averaging 7.18 yards.

The Bucs are No. 31 in the NFL in yards allowed on first down, giving up 6.84 yards.

Joe was no math major (thank God) but for Joe, that adds up to a lot of empty bottles of Caybrew.

Joe has tuned in to the passionate blubbering known as Philadelphia sports radio the past two days.

As angry, grotesque Philly fans go, they’re a pretty jovial bunch right now, with the Phillies rolling into the playoffs to defend their World Series title, the Flyers undefeated after three games, and the Eagles in good shape.

Of course, those fans could turn on their teams in a matter of seconds.

The buzz up in Philly is that Donovan McNabb returned to practice today after missing weeks with a rib injury. And the other buzz is that Michael Vick is likely to be activated not as the No. 2 quarterback on Sunday but as a rostered player. The talk is he might get a dozen or so snaps in a Wildcat formation, and even line up on the field with McNabb.

Joe’s feeling queasy about the Bucs defense this week. Joe’s also smiling at the thought of Tanard Jackson hitting Vick so hard he feels for a moment like one of his tortured dogs.

If you’re into sappy, hometown-boy-returns kind of stories, Joe’s got one for you about Maurice Stovall from the Philadephia Daily News.

Stovall was a Philly-area kid who hasn’t played a game there since high school. Nothing too exciting in the story, other than we learn that as a kid Stovall dressed as Randall Cunningham for Halloween and, more important, Stovall is healthy as ever.

The 6-5, 220-pound Stovall just changed his approach. Instead of working on getting larger and faster, he has focused on flexibility and maintaining. He didn’t want to overwork himself, just sharpen his foot quickness and hand speed.

“I relaxed, which is something rare in the offseason,” he said. “I wanted to make sure my body was healthy coming into the year, and this is the healthiest I’ve ever been as a pro. I used to think it was one thing after another, from my rookie year, to the broken arm and the hamstring problems.

Joe is glad Stovall is geeked about returning home for a game. Given that the playoffs are just a fantasy this season, Joe prefers the Bucs throw Stovall the ball over Michael Clayton.

This pathetic excuse for a quarterback has as many rings as the almighty fraud Brett Favre, a true creation of MSM hype.

If anything, Joe is anti-hype. Joe’s always been a team-kinda guy, a coaches-kinda guy.

Only rarely does an individual player merit the hype that the majority of the MSM manufactures.

Joe can name a handful of players worthy of hype. Ray Lewis and Tom Brady spring to mind. So too does Derrick Brooks. In other sports, Albert Pujols and Alex Ovechkin warrant every ounce of hype they get, as does Rachel Watson.

Joe has made no secret of the fact that he loathes BSPN. Rarely if ever does Joe watch it unless it’s college football or college basketball.

The self-glossing and hype that BSPN is known for gives Joe acid reflux worse than a warm, stale beer.

Joe walked to his local watering hole Monday night, replete with a nine-foot HDTV (not a typo). Joe knew the place would be so packed he wouldn’t be able to hear the audio of the Green Bay-Minnesota game and therefore (thankfully) miss all the verbal masturbation over Vikings quarterback Brett Favre.

(Joe is told that Chucky received a very ugly cleaning bill from the Minnesota Vikings over the drool [?] stains he left on the carpet of the BSPN broadcast booth).

So at lunch today, Joe was reading TBT (hey, it’s free) and read an otherwise outrageous, lengthy, rambling letter-to-the-edtior about the Bucs where the author made a salient point about MSM hype of athletes.

In short, the author asks, if Favre were this otherworldly superstar of which reams of copy and countless hours of broadcast content has been spent upon in recent months, why then does Farve have the exact same number of rings as the truly heinous Trent Dilfer: one?

It made Joe think what a horrible waste of manpower all this hero worship over Favre is. If Joe didn’t know better, he’d think many in the MSM are walking billboards for erectile dysfunction products the way they genuflect over Favre when in fact, he has just as many rings as the worst starting quarterback in Bucs history.

Which leads Joe to a kind request to the sports MSM: stick to X’s and O’s and hard news please and let the oh-so whacky, talentless, Howard Stern-wannabe FM morning disc jockeys handle the “personalities.”