Loyal JoeBucsFan.com reader “Paul” shot Joe a link to this homemade video at the Bucs-Bills game last week. Joe’s never met Paul, but he’d enjoy drinking a Caybrew with him one day.

This poor guy was hammered wearing his Bucs orange in the nosebleed section of Buffalo’s old stadium. That’s dedication.

Now Joe has run other interesting fan videos before. So why not one from this devoted member of Bucs nation, especially entering a big football weekend. The video made Joe laugh. And Joe suspects “Paul” is very typical of the tens of thousands of readers of JoeBucsFan.com.

Enjoy.

Joe knows Giants fans are extraordinarily overrated

It seems like 99 percent of the time Joe loves reading eye-RAH! Kaufman’s solid work for the Tampa Tribune. It also doesn’t hurt that eye-RAH!’s one of the coolest guys working in the local fourth estate.

But Joe’s eyebrow was raised (sort of like Derrick Brooks used to do) when he read eye-RAH!’s loving article today about the allegedly devoted Giants fan base.

Though Joe loved reading eye-RAH!’s article, Joe can’t quite swallow the premise that the Giants have such a devoted fanbase.

Joe is not as impressed by Giants fans selling out their stadium for decades, or that Giants fans are present on the road.  This doesn’t mean there’s some special fan base up there. The Giants are simply drawing from a metropolitan area upwards of 18 million people that happens to be the wealthiest in the country.

It’s strictly a numbers game. The Giants’ market dwarfs the combined metropolitan areas of the NFC South teams.

Yes, Giants fans historically have kept their tickets through tough seasons, but that doesn’t mean they showed up for games. Check the stats. The NFL used to publish no-show numbers for every game.

Oh, look, Joe has found a Giants beat writer who wrote just last year about scores of empty seats — in September no less!– replete with a photo. Some fan base, huh?

Joe fondly remembers performing with his high school marching band at halftime of a Giants-Cardinals game at Giants Stadium in 1982. Maybe the stadium was one-half full that day. Maybe.

On top of all this, New York is not even a football town, Neil Best of Newsday has written about this several times. So why should anyone be impressed with Giants fan? Half of them would skip watching Sunday’s game against the Bucs in exchange for a Yankees playoff ticket.

It’s a baseball town first. Arguably a basketball town second. College football is literally an afterthought (as Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News told Joe during a media function at February’s Super Bowl in Tampa, “College football? What’s that?”). And the Giants are almost completely on the back burner in their backyard now, with the Yankees front and center and the Jets winning their Super Bowl last week against Bill Belicheat, behind a new coach and new quarterback.

Giants fans aren’t worth the paper the Tribune is printed on.

As lunchtime approaches, Joe can’t help but think of Bucs center Sean Mahan.

He’s the fill-in starter who was so valuable to the organization that the Bucs cut his pay in the offseason, then cut him before the season, and then rushed to re-sign him with open arms after Jeff Faine went down with an injury in Week 1. 

Before Joe writes about food, Joe must rhetorically ask, if Mahan was the first-option at backup center, why did the Bucs send him to his living room a week or so before the regular season?

All together now, To Save Money. (But Joe, the Bucs are $30 million under the cap?)

Now Mahan was interviewed on the Buccaneers Radio Network last night on 620 WDAE-AM. He talked about his challenges maintaining weight throughout the season. It seems all that exercise peels the pounds off him.

So to remedy the situation he eats all morning and night, Mahan said. Host Scott Ledger asked him about his food choices, and Mahan said he “doesn’t discriminate.”

For breakfast, it’s “four eggs, omelettes, waffles, pancakes …,” Mahan said. “[On the couch at night it’s] “steak and ice cream. …Before practice it’s lots of fruit. … I eat all day long.”

Joe got a good laugh out of this. Joe eats all day long, too, minus the 2 1/2 hours on the practice field and time in the weight room.

As Joe tries to do each week, he brings you the NFL power rankings from around the web to see what national sports scribes think of the Bucs.

First up is former Bucs beat writer and current Sports Illustrated columnist Don Banks who has the Bucs ranked at No. 29.

OK, here are your standings thus far: The state of Florida is 0-6 in the NFL this season. Missouri is 0-4. And that longtime loser, Ohio, is a rousing 1-3. New York is the leader at 5-1, if you count the Jets, Giants and Bills as actually representing New York, rather than mostly New Jersey.

Second is Mike Sando of BSPN.com who believes the Bucs are also No. 29.

The Bucs have allowed 900 yards in their first two games. They even made the Bills look good.

Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com thinks the Bucs are only slightly better at No. 28.

Remember when the Bucs were good on defense? They sure aren’t now. They can’t stop anybody. The pass defense is terrible.

Adrian Hasenmayer of FoxSports.com is of the same mind, but likes Cadillac Williams.

NO WORRIES: It’s a great thing to see RB Cadillac Williams bouncing around the field after twice blowing out his knee during his young career. He’s already scored TDs in each game of 2009.

TIME TO WORRY: Beginning with last season’s December collapse that cost the Bucs a playoff spot and Jon Gruden his job, the once-dominant Tampa defense has given up 30+ points in five of the last six games.

Finally, Clifton Smith of SportingNews.com believes the Bucs are No. 29.

As long as the penalties and poor defense continue, so will the losses.

Vacation Man, aka Pat Yasinskas of BSPN.com, appears in this video talking about the gripping issues in the NFC South.

In short, he asks Bucs fans to have patience. Joe agrees, so long as he doesn’t have to see the Bucs pass defense cough up 400-plus yards again.

Joe got a chance to chat with Fox Sports Radio host JT the Brick, who can be heard locally on WDAE-AM 620 overnights Monday through Friday, 1-6 a.m. Though he is widely regarded as an Oakland Raiders fan, mostly because he worked for them, he grew up and is still a hardcore Giants fan. Joe and JT discussed the Giants-Bucs game coming Sunday.

Joe: It doesn’t appear Justin Tuck will play. With him out of the game, will that cause a domino effect resulting in the otherwise strong Giants front defensive line being neutralized? How concerned should the Giants be?

JT the Brick: Tuck is a beast and one of the best defensive players in the NFL. Without him the Giants have to rotate more players in and it takes away from the play of Osi Umenyiora who will be double teamed more. This is a big break for the Bucs.

Joe: Umenyiora was just about invisible Sunday night. One tackle and one quarterback hit. On the Cowboys final drive, it seems Dallas ran right at him, daring him to make a play. Was his play Sunday cause for concern or was it just a freak bad game for him?

JT: Umenyiora was fantastic in Week One and should have a big game on Sunday. If Leftwich can’t get rid of the ball quickly, Osi will look to take his head off. Kellen Winslow, Jr. will have to chip him at the line of scrimmage and also get open over the middle of the field and slow down the Giants pass rush.

Joe: The Giants in recent years have been dominant on the ground. But so far this year the Giants rank in the bottom half of the league in rushing and have yet to score a rushing touchdown. What’s your analysis on the drop off in the running game?

JT: Brandon Jacobs will try to wear down the Bucs defense and I expect the Giants to run more than pass. Eli was clutch against the Cowboys hooking up with his young wide receivers, but he wants to get back to the running game and control the clock.

Joe: The Bucs pass defense is beyond porous. They’ve given up 921 yards passing in two games and opponents average over 10 yards a completion. Granted, they’ve been exposed by some good receivers (Jason Witten, Lee Evans and Terrell Owens). Can Mario Manningham and Steve Smith burn the Bucs defense or will Eli Manning have to spread the ball around?

JT: Eli will take what the Bucs secondary gives him. He is great at getting all of his receivers involved. I think he will try to stretch the field with Manningham early and hope that Smith can help move the chains on third down. Eli is smart enough and has been successful in the past against the Bucs Cover-2 and he will look to hand the ball off to Jacobs and pick up first downs with short passes on third down. The Giants are the ONLY team in the NFL without a red zone touchdown so far in 2009.

Joe: From a Giants fan’s perspective, is there any element on the Bucs that concerns you? Is there any way you can see the Bucs winning? And from a national talk show perspective, just how much of a train wreck have the Bucs become?

JT: I have always liked and respected the Bucs but believe the Glazer family made a huge mistake by letting go of Jon Gruden and Bruce Allen. I worked with them both in Oakland and they didn’t deserve to get fired a few weeks before the Super Bowl in Tampa. That mistake will live with this team for the next several years and the current coaching staff is not ready for the challenge ahead of them.

One of the main reasons the Bucs acquired Byron Leftwich and later named him the Bucs starter was his ability to wing the ball downfield.

But some number-crunching geeks say he is better throwing short, so reports Vacation Man of BSPN.com, known in some circles as Pat Yasinskas.

Vacation Man says the geeks have crunched the numbers and have come to the conclusion Leftwich isn’t that good at throwing the long ball.

Matt Lyon of ESPN Stats & Information just passed along some numbers that suggest Leftwich might be better suited for Jon Gruden’s horizontal offense than he is for the offense that allegedly was going to be vertical when Jeff Jagodzinski came to town and was supposed to remain that way when Jagodzinski was fired and Greg Olson is supposed to be carrying on a slightly more sophisticated model of the play pamphlet Jagodzinski designed (in 15 minutes).

Of course, this spreadsheet warrior breaks out the knee-jerk quarterback rating, which is one of the most worthless stats in the game.

Can’t these geeks let people enjoy sports? If Joe was so into numbers he would have been a math major. One of the joys of football is that it hasn’t been hijacked with incessant numerical graffiti like baseball.

Let’s keep it that way, shall we?

UPDATE: As if almost on cue, the great Phil Mushnick of the New York Post writes this morning about how asinine quarterback ratings are:

Interesting graphic on MNF: Peyton Manning, with 118 wins, is sixth on the all-time list behind, first to fifth, Brett Favre, John Elway, Dan Marino, Fran Tarkenton and Johnny Unitas. Then why, if ESPN thinks QB Passer Ratings (Please, someone make them go away!) are so expletive significant, is Manning only in the career Top 10?

For what these ratings are worth, Tarkenton is 43rd, Elway is 47th, Unitas is 56th. All are rated behind — Ready? — Jake Delhomme, Byron Leftwich, Jeff Garcia, Chad Pennington, Daunte Culpepper, Marc Bulger, Dave Krieg, Brian Griese, Neil O’Donnell, Ken O’Brien, Jeff Hostetler, Mark Brunnell, Trent Green, Jeff George and Brad Johnson.

Let’s be frank: The Bucs have been horrible the first two weeks of the season. So much so some even invoked the name of the putrid Detroit Lions.

But as Joe Henderson of the Tampa Tribune points out, Bucs fans cannot pin the losses on Byron Leftwich.

Sure, Leftwich had a pathetic pick-six last week that helped put the Bucs in a hole they couldn’t climb out of. But the loss was hardly Leftwich’s doing.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as we know, have many problems – many, many, many problems.

Byron Leftwich, however, is not one of them.

This may come as a shock to those screaming for the head of the Bucs’ starting quarterback because, as we all know, the backup can always do better than the guy who is actually playing. It’s an understandable sentiment because fans are angry with the 0-2 start. But it ain’t Leftwich’s fault.

Joe does know this: Few quarterbacks can take the beating that Leftwich has taken without collapsing at some point in pain and injury. If the Bucs don’t get better up front for Leftwich, Joe is frightened to think what might happen if Josh Johnson, or worse, Josh Freeman has to play.

Interesting little nugget from a BSPN chat with their new employee, former (cough, cough) Bucs great Derrick Brooks.

A fan claimed he read where Chucky thought so highly of Brooks’ intelligence, that he wanted Brooks to succeed him as the Bucs coach. Brooks didn’t deny it, but it seems as though coaching is not in Brooks’ future.

Brad Reinert (Tampa, FL)
I read once that Jon Gruden wanted you to succeed him as Head Coach in Tampa. He spoke very highly of you and your football IQ. If the opportunity were there, would you consider coming back to Tampa to coach?

Derrick Brooks
I have considered the coaching profession as an option when I decide to retire. But it would be hard for me to do with a young family.

While Bryan and Joel want Brooks to work for them, let’s just say it wasn’t in the cards that Chucky was going to pick his successor.

Wonder what Raheem the Dream thinks of this?

In this SNY video, Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News discusses the Giants injuries and the concerns Giants coach Tom Coughlin has about the Giants being 27th in the NFL in rush defense.

Given the fact the Bucs like to run the ball, this could be an interesting matchup.

Defensive coordinator Jim Bates singled out just one Bucs player for good play during his Wednesday news conference.

That somebody was second-year linebacker Geno Hayes.

While speaking on 1010 AM on Tuesday, Hayes credited some of his success this season to film study and admitted, “Last year I wasn’t into watching film.” Hayes went on to say Derrick Brooks advised him, “The film room is your lion’s den. This is where you feed yourself.”

Hayes said this year he’s been watching film for weeks and is positive about doing so.

Now Joe can’t help but wonder how a rookie linebacker like Hayes was allowed to be a slacker in the film room apparently his entire rookie season. What was going on over at One Buc Place?

Even worse in this scenario is Hayes was placed on injured reserve for the final third of the season. Outside of rehabbing his knee, what else was there for him to do but watch film?

Add this to Gaines Adams being allowed to “boycott the squat rack” in the weightroom under the Gruden-Kiffin regime, and something really doesn’t smell right.

The Bucs aren’t tackling.

But defensive coordinator Jim Bates knows they can.

Why? Because they did it so well in the preseason, Bates said yesterday at One Buc Place. Bates referenced strong preseason tackling multiple times.

Joe can’t disagree. The Bucs horrendous tackling wasn’t an issue in the preseason. Yes, they gave up big plays, but at least the tackling was largely sure.

Joe remembers when the first-team defense came off the field after its opening three-and-out series against Houston in the final exhibition game.  At no point after that game was Joe thinking, ‘They better fix their tackling before opening day.’

Bates talked about a few positives coming from his defense, including Buffalo going 0-4 in the red zone and the Bucs’ defense performing well on third down.

Yes, Joe is confident Bates knows those are largely meaningless stats when your team is getting torched deep and for huge chunks of yardarge on first and second downs.

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Offensive coordinator Greg Olson says his unit needs to better prepare for crowd noise on the road. Joe thinks they also should prepare for what's coming at home Sunday.

Speaking to the media yesterday, Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson shook his head thinking back to false start penalties and a fumbled snap against Buffalo.

Olson said the Bucs weren’t as focused as they needed to be in the hostile environment.

“We didn’t handle the noise. We went into the game saying that would be a critical component in order for us to win,” Olson said. “We have to work on that certainly, before we go on the road to the next away stadium.”

Joe believes the Bucs should start working on that right now. Don’t wait another moment. The sad reality is that the Bucs can expect about 20,000 Giants fans at Sunday’s home game. And last Joe checked 20,000 people can make plenty of noise.

Throw in the distraction of the visiting team being cheered on your home turf and the huge pockets of blue in the stands, and the Bucs might want to get serious about recognizing the new home-game climate at the CITS.

Earnest Graham already acknowledged the expected volume of Giants fans, and Jermaine Phillips apparently was not prepared to handle Cowboys fans.

Joe’s calling on Olson to get his offense ready to hear a lot of noise on third down if the game is tight.

Joe has stated before he’s not into fantasy football. Joe has nothing against fantasy football, it’s just that Joe has trouble connecting big, sweaty dudes to a fantasy. It’s not Joe’s cup of tea.

That written, Tiffany Simons, who through rigorous research Joe believes was a Florida State cheerleader, and somebody named Gregg Rosenthal, discuss in this NBC Sports video how Bucs quarterback Byron Leftwich would be a good pickup for one’s fantasy football team.

This video didn’t hold much value for Joe, other than for him to gawk as the lovely Ms. Simons. Now, about fantasies…

Joe belatedly came across a story from Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune that Raheem the Dream went to bed Sunday night with the expectation that Gaines Adams would be benched.

But Raheem the Dream changed his mind after consulting with his coaches.

Morris wouldn’t say what his plans are should Adams fail to respond, but a reduction in playing time and a demotion to the second team are possibilities.

Both of those options were discussed during Morris’ meeting with Adams, where the prime objective was to learn precisely how the Bucs can get the most out of their third-year starter

“It was more to find out how to help him,” Morris said. “Whether he’s getting too many snaps and maybe needs to be a part-time player right now and have success doing that first.

“Whether he’d be better off coming in fresh, or if he just needs to play as hard as he can in practice and take that to the field on Sunday. We’re really just trying to figure out how he can use all his tools, all his weapons.”

It’s possible that Adams is a one-trick pony: third down specialist in passing situations where he can run around the opponent’s offensive line by way of Seffner and get to the quarterback just as he releases the ball.

That’s an awful huge chuck of Bryan and Joel’s cash to give to a part-time player.

Derrick Ward better hope he has a good game Sunday. Because if he doesn’t, he’s going to hear about it from his ex-Giants teammates.

That’s because they’ve been hearing it from him this week.

Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News reports that Ward has been trash talking with members of the Giants defense. Let’s just say whatever motivation they needed, they seem to now have.

When Justin Tuck was talking a little while ago about how much he wanted to play on Sunday in Tampa, he had one very specific reason:

“Derrick Ward has been calling me, calling guys around here talking a little trash,” Tuck said. “So I would love to be able to out there and shut him up a little bit.”

Apparently Ward, the ex-Giants running back (nicknamed “Wind”) who signed with the Bucs as a free-agent, has been calling his old Giants buddies with trash talk since earlier this summer. And Tuck said “He’s been very consistent with his message.”

And what was that message? “He’s going to run all over us.”

It sounded like Ward’s trash talk was some good-natured jibes between old friends. Then again, as well as he knows the Giants’ defensive players, it’s a wonder why he’d want to risk riling them up.

Joe hopes that Justin Tuck doesn’t play. If he does, could be a long day for the Bucs. If he doesn’t, it may just be a domino effect of subpar play by the Giants defensive front, which is what the Bucs will need to pull out a win.

Yesterday Joe brought you news of what one of the Newsday scribes thought of the Bucs.

Now, Paul Schwartz of the New York Post joins the chorus.

Last night doing research on the Bucs opponent this week — know your enemy! — while enjoying a cold bottle of Caybrew, Joe came across this piece typed by Schwartz.

The columnist writes that the Chiefs are the only team that comes close to the Bucs for being putrid.

Next stop, 5-0. Well, maybe not the very next stop, but that’s the destination the Giants should be headed, starting with Sunday’s soft landing in Tampa, followed by a cushy trip to Kansas City then a comfy return home to meet and greet the Raiders, whose fan base is more fearsome than the team they love.

The Giants are out of the gates with a flourish at 2-0, alone at the top of the NFC East.

Sure, the next two games are on the road, but are there less-imposing teams to meet up with than the Bucs and Chiefs?

Joe is starting to get the impression that the Bucs just might cover.

Let Joe be upfront: He likes Eli Manning. Always has, ever since he carried Mississippi to the Cotton Bowl in his senior year. (Quick, name another Rebels player that year.)

Joe even thought Eli would make a better quarterback in the NFL than his older brother Peyton Manning.

But after reading a recent story by Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune, Joe has to wonder if Eli has been on so many late-night talk shows he’s auditioning for one himself (couldn’t be any worse than Joe Buck), or if possibly Eli is watching adult films when he’s supposed to be watching game films.

In a conference call with the Tampa Bay pen and mic club today, Manning spread it out quite thick about how dominant he thinks the Bucs pass rush is.

(Yes, you read that last sentence correctly).

When asked Wednesday during a conference call with the Tampa Bay media what it was about the Bucs defense that concerned him, Manning started by lauding the pass rush.

“They have talented players obviously, and they can get a great pass rush just by bringing their front four,’’ Manning said. “They’re very disciplined, and doing the right things have guys that can make plays.’’

Uh, Eli. Joe believes you were asked about the Tampa Bay defense, not Dallass. Or Washington. Or Philadelphia.

As Cummings points out, the Bucs have a grand total of three sacks so far this year and the Bucs defensive front’s lack of pressure is one of the main reasons why the Bucs have been scalded for over a combined 900 yards by opponents.

Maybe Eli is still on a long bender from his day off yesterday?

If, in fact, Eli was trying to use some dry humor, Joe Buck better be careful. The King of All Media, Howard Stern, however, is still rather safe in his lofty position.