What the hell got into Adam Hayward?

Unless you were listening to the game or were away from the TV or perhaps in New Orleans (Joe apologizes), TV viewers were shown a near fist-fight between linebacker Adam Hayward and front seven coach Bryan Cox.

Hayward, for reasons unknown, went after Cox on the sideline screaming at him and then shoving him. Immediately, Cox began wagging his finger right in Hayward’s face as if to say, “You don’t want to screw with me, back off dude.” Then Hayward went after Cox physically and the two had to be seperated.

Welp, backup linebackers don’t often get to rough up a coach, especially when the player’s fellow defenders can’t stop a cool Brees breeze, coughing up 42 points in a shutout loss.

Cox may have done the best work of any of the Bucs assistants. The front seven, despite being ravaged by injuries, is pretty damned good, especially since most of the players started on one of the dregs of NFL defenses last year.

If Hayward wants to be employed come February, he may want to have a passionate apology to both Cox and Greg Schiano in front of all his teammates in the locker room.

First, let Joe get this out of the way: Josh Freeman will be your Bucs starting quarterback for the rest of the year and, barring injury, in 2013.

But the way Freeman has freefalled the past four weeks, seemingly growing worse by the week, Joe is beginning to wonder if the Bucs will just wash their hands of Freeman after his contract expires after the 2013 season. If Freeman plays next year like the past four weeks, it will be awfully hard to justify the Bucs re-signing him.

As of this typing, only two quarterbacks who have started this season, John Skelton and Chad Henne, have worse pass-completion percentages than Freeman who is at 54.7 percent, No. 34 in the NFL.

Here are some of the quarterbacks who have better accuracy than Freeman this season: Christian Ponder, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Carson Palmer, Kevin Kolb, Nick Foles, Michael Vick, Blaine Gabbert, Cam Newton, Matt Cassel, Jake Locker, Ryan Tannehill, Mark Sanchez.

Joe remembers when former Bucs quarterback Shaun King, one of only three quarterbacks to lead the Bucs to an NFL Championship game, suggested Freeman needs to see a shrink, and Bucs fans howled in outrage.

Joe remembers popular sports radio personality Adam Schein state he trusted Ponder more than Freeman, and again Bucs fans screamed in protest.

Looks like King and Schein may be onto something, huh?

And, don’t even suggest Dan Orlovsky should start. Only those who never watched Orlovsky (or are blind drunk on Jack Daniels) would think such nonsense.

Right now Joe has to wonder if Freeman is approaching Jason Campbell territory, where Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik just lets Freeman walk after his contract expires?

Last week Joe thought Freeman could be a serviceable quarterback, but not one to trust to win games. Joe’s reevaluating that thought after Freeman’s pathetic four-pick, 26-of-47 loss against one of the worst defenses in the NFL. Freeman didn’t put one point on the board and threw two picks in the red zone when the game was still in doubt.

Freeman is currently 23-31 as a starter.

Joe is hoping that with a full offseason to work with Freeman, perhaps Mike Sullivan can find the magic bullet. Joe is very confident that, barring a direct order from Team Glazer, the Bucs are not nor will not be shopping for a quarterback before 2014.

Freeman has all the toys in the world an NFL quarterback could desire. He has all the tangibles a team would want from a quarterback. The job simply is not getting done.

The Bucs were in the playoff hunt and Freeman’s lousy games the past month knocked them out. That is not acceptable from a starting quarterback.

It’s pretty clear though that Freeman’s career will hang in the balance next year. It’s do or die for Freeman. In 2013.

Who knew the Raheem Morris look would return for Christmas? Joe thought that was out of style. But it’s back.

The now third-place Bucs got absolutely dominated by the shabby Saints on both sides of the ball today.

For the second week in a row — and only the second time this season — the Bucs came out completely flat.  That can’t be a coincidence. And keep in mind the Bucs should have been in a playoff mindset having been mathematically alive entering the game.

 Josh Freeman looked 2011  lost. (That’s no coincidence).  The secondary was roasted at will, as expected. And to complete the Raheem flashback, the Bucs were gutted by the Saints running game. There was even finger pointing on the Bucs’ sidelines.

That’s four consecutive losses now, and the Bucs officially have transformed into a bad football team. It pains Joe to type that out, but that’s reality. The New Schiano Order is losing a percentage of what it accomplished this season with each passing quarter.

Why are the Bucs no longer responding? Schiano must find answers and a fix before the season runs out, otherwise this will be the longest, ugliest offseason in recent memory. There’s no possible way to spin a six-game, season-closing slide as positive. None whatsoever.

OK boys and girls, time to watch the Bucs at the Saints. What will Greg Schiano do? Will he go all Doug Martin or try to go with inconsistent Josh Freeman? Will the “good Josh” or the “bad Josh” show up today?

How many yards will Drew Brees put up on the Bucs’ rancid pass defense, 500? How many touchdowns will Jimmy Graham rack up today?

Discuss this and the ups and downs of the game in this here thread.

This is still an important game for the Bucs. There is still a thin chance at a playoff spot, but not without a win in New Orleans.

If the Bucs lose, it’s time to start worrying about the draft.

The Michael Smith inactives list has been released by the Bucs through their official Twitter feed. Of course, Michael Smith leads the list (if you are not going to play this guy the whole year, let him go home for the holidays, huh? What a joke).

Here are the inactives for the Saints game today:

CB LeQuan Lewis

RB Michael Smith

LB Najee Goode

G Roger Allen

WR David Douglas

DT Corvey Irvin

DT Matthew Masifilo.

Saints inactives are CB Corey White, RB Chris Ivory, LB Scott Shanle, T Zach Strief, DT Tyrunn Walker, TE Michael Higgins and DE Turk McBride.

Week 15

Bucs at Saints

Kickoff: 1 p.m.

TV: WTVT-TV Channel 13. DirecTV Channel 713.

Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM, 103.5 and WDAE-AM, 620); SiriusXM Channel 84.

Weather: Per AccuWeather.com, though the Saints play in a soulless dome, the weather for tailgaiting outside the stadium should be OK. Temperatures will be in the low 70s under cloudy skies.

Odds: Per Sportsbook.com, Bucs +3.5

Outlook: The Saints are reeling of late, but then again the Bucs haven’t been playing very sharp. This game could go so many ways. What may be important to watch is just how the Bucs come out on offense. Joe is of the mind the Bucs need to run Doug Martin at the Saints time and time again. If Greg Schiano goes this way, it is because the Saints defense stinks or that Schiano is losing trust in Josh Freeman, who the last three weeks has struggled, including a terrible game last week in which he had no accuracy and “this Joe” is convinced the reason why Schiano ran the ball on a critical third down was that he didn’t trust Freeman and wanted to put the ball in the hands of his best chance to a get a first down: Martin. Of course, Drew Brees will torch the Bucs defensive backfield. IF the immortal Nick Foles can rack up 381 yards, it is frightening to think of what Brees can do. In short, feeding Martin is the way to go. The Saints can’t stop the run and by running the ball it keeps Brees on the sidelines.

Joe still has nightmares thinking of Malcolm Jenkins’ heroic chasedown of Vincent Jackson in the last meeting of the Saints and Bucs in Tampa.

Jackson getting dropped about 50 inches from the end zone after a 95-yard reception — here’s the video — led to the Bucs’ most heinous 4-and-out in recent years, yet another series fans can point to that eliminated the Bucs from legitimate playoff chatter.

The good news is the porous Saints secondary won’t have Jenkins today. He was placed on injured reserve Saturday, per the Times Picayune.

Jenkins started the previous 13 games for the Saints after being listed as out for Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jenkins ranked third on the Saints this season with 94 total tackles and had one interception, which turned into a 55-yard interception return for a touchdown against Oakland on Nov. 18.

In other Saints injury news, their starting right tackle, Zach Strief, is officially out with an ankle injury. The odds of Michael Bennett recording his 10th sack of the season and adding to his free agency bankroll allure just went up.

The Tampa Bay Times Bucs beat brothers, Rick Stroud and Stephen Holder, chatter in this video about the state of the Bucs. Stroud says he senses “real frustration” from Schiano and relays a nugget about Schiano stopping practice to demand focus and no talk of bowl games and the NBA.

So what is Josh Freeman doing late on a Friday night?

Well, per Dan Orlovsky’s comments on the Buccaneers Radio Newtwork yesterday, Freeman and Orlovsky sit down with Ron Turner for a weekly test.

Orlovsky said Turner will quiz them on base plays in the Bucs offense, “On this play versus this defense, what are you doing?” Orlovsky explained. Third down and red zone questions are also testing categories, as are alerts and reads installed for a specific game earlier that week.

Joe found this to be interesting insight. Orlovsky didn’t elaborate on how the QBs perform in testing.

After listening to Orlovsky, and knowing of Freeman’s routine, Joe can safely say that work ethic is not an issue with the Bucs’ quarterbacks.

If Joe wrote for the Buccaneers’ official team “Captain’s Blog,” Joe would toss around all kinds of phrases like “internal data.” That sounds awfully cool.

And Scott Smith did just that in an analysis of Donald Penn’s greatness yesterday. Smith dove into Penn’s 2012 season and the performance of the offensive line.

However, according to internal data, Penn has been personally responsible for allowing only 3.5 sacks this season.  That’s a fine number made all the more impressive by the fact that he has faced a killer lineup of pass-rushing ends and 3-4 linebackers this season, from Jared Allen to John Abraham to DeMarcus Ware to Greg Hardy to Von Miller.  Those pass-rushers haven’t come off the left edge on every single snap, but Penn was certainly played a big part in the overall effort to slow them down.

And he’s a big part in the team’s ability to allow just 19 sacks all season while propelling rookie RB Doug Martin to instant superstar status.  The Bucs have not allowed fewer than 30 sacks in a season since 2003, and Martin has already broken the team’s rookie rushing records with 1,234 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Penn also was quoted explaining how offensive line coach Bob Bostand is a technique freak and what that’s meant to the versatility of the offensive line.  Definitely click through above to read more.

It hasn’t been Penn’s finest season, but it’s been another strong one for sure. And Penn hasn’t missed a start since the middle of 2007. Joe thinks Bucs fans should take pause this morning and appreciate how lucky the team is to have Penn. Through all the past years of fat bashing, Penn consistently has been an exceptional, durable player.

In this ESPN video (you’d think Mothership Disney would invest in a better camera), NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas talks about Sunday’s Bucs-Saints matchup and rolls out scary data about both teams’ YAC (yards after catch) allowed.

It’s amazing that the Bucs are allowing only five fewer yards per game than in 2011. It’s a stat that seems almost impossible given how spectacular the current Bucs are against the run and how the Raheem regime made second rate running backs look like Hall of Famers, from Ryan Torain to Maurice Morris, Jason Snelling and beyond.

But what’s even more sobering is that the Bucs are on pace to have the statistically worst secondary in NFL history, so reports ESPN NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas.

A record they don’t want: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are allowing 311.6 passing yards per game. At that pace, they would give up 4,986 passing yards by the end of the season, which would be an NFL record. The current record was set last season when the Green Bay Packers gave up 4,796 yards.

Joe’s going to play math geek here and re-arrange the ESPN data. Bucs opponents over the next three games only need an average of 249 passing yards per game to give the Bucs the dubious honor of the most porous secondary in league history.

Ouch!

This mark shouldn’t stain Ronde Barber’s Hall of Fame credentials, but it sure could offer ammunition to a contrary Hall voter when Barber’s name comes before the voting committee one day.

Also, Joe has to believe Bucs’ cornerback play must at least improve soon, otherwise there’s going to be a warm seat under defensive backs coach Ron Cooper come January.

Remember how the Bucs coughed up a lead to the Giants in the fourth quarter? How about the Dixie Chicks? Perhaps the Redskins? Maybe the choke job to the Beagles is still fresh in your memory?

Oh, and didn’t Drew Brees have his way with the awful Bucs secondary in the fourth quarter?

Well, Joe may have some salve for those wounds. In recent weeks, the Saints may be playing worse in the fourth quarter than the Bucs, difficult as that may be to fathom.

This information is sent via the interwebs by Mike Triplett of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. In the past six weeks, the Saints have been outscored 43-6 in the fourth quarter.

Quarterback Drew Brees has particularly struggled late in games. His fourth-quarter passer rating of 66.6 ranks 33rd in the NFL among all quarterbacks with at least 34 passing attempts.

Brees has completed 54 percent of his passes in the fourth quarter with four touchdowns and six interceptions.

Of course, those numbers are skewed by the fact that Brees has been playing catch-up in a lot of fourth quarters, throwing several desperation interceptions. Regardless, the performance hasn’t been anywhere near his usual standard.

Joe wants to be confident, wants to believe that with the Bucs’ potent offense (provided quarterback Josh Freeman is having a “good-Josh” day) and the rotten Saints defense and the trend the Saints have established, that the Bucs can win if they need a couple of scores late in the game. And maybe even keep whatever faint hopes of a playoff berth alive.

Then Joe quickly flashes back to a Bucs’ pass defense that that has played so terribly of late it would have a struggle stopping Robinson High School’s passing attack.

In his weekly exclusive video for JoeBucsFan.com readers, veteran Ch. 10 sportscaster Dave Wirth wants fans to keep their perspective on this Bucs season, and he talks about how the New Schiano Order needs to avoid “limping” against the Saints and into 2013.

On two key 3rd-and-long scenarios in the Bucs’ tight loss to New Orleans in October, Tampa Bay threw three-man rushes at Drew Brees and were carved up by the immortal Saints wide receiver Lance Moore. And there were other occasions that day when the three-man rush didn’t work

The Brees three-man rush was only slightly less heinous than the two-man rush rolled out against Atlanta, which led to Matt Ryan comfortably tossing a 20-yard pass for a first down.

Greg Schiano said he has learned a lesson when it comes to the Saints.

“[Brees] is so good at seeing what you’re doing. We’re going to have disguise better than we did. And, you know, one thing he did is when we gave him a three-man rush, he held the football. And you know, young guys maybe sometimes don’t get that, but obviously this guy, he’s as experienced and as good as there is. And you know, third down, he just, that was a real weakness in the first game,” Schiano said on the Buccaneers Radio Network on Monday.

That sure sounds like Schiano knows his coaching missed the mark in the last Saints game. Joe severely doubts there wasn’t a truckload of film available entering that game showing how Brees reacted to a three-man rush.

Schiano went on to say his primary concern for Sunday is the Bucs’ red zone defense and third-down success. The Saints converted 60 percent of third downs in Tampa.

Tired of being a football loser? Looking for entertaining and educational fun? Joe’s got just the afternoon for you.

Circle your calendar. The classy Tradewinds Cruise Lines and The Big Dog, Steve Duemig, of WDAE-AM 620, are hosting super handicapper Todd Fuhrman, the former oddsmaker at renowned Caesars Palace, on Saturday, December 15. Fans can enjoy Fuhrman’s handicapping seminar where he will break down EVERY bowl game, the next day’s NFL games, and much more. The ship sails from John’s Pass Village in Madeira Beach into international waters, where you can wager legally in the sports book on board!!!

The cost is only $10 for the cruise and seminar! A sweet buffet lunch is just an extra 10 bucks.

Reservations are required. Multiple parking options are available. Click above or call (727)-394-1000 today.

The Tradewinds ship also boasts an exciting array of Vegas-Style table games, including slots, Blackjack, Roulette and poker.

Veteran Tampa Tribune scribe Woody Cummings has uncovered that Michael Bennett is sending messages via hula dance. Rather than pull a pineapple from his pants after a sack, Bennett decided that a quick hula following one of his two sacks Sunday against Philadephia was the best way to help him get a ticket to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl.

Bennett told Cummings he deserves to be mentioned among the elite defensive ends and offseason work helped him get there.

“I worked on a lot of little things,” Bennett said. “I did a lot of yoga and some boxing to help get a little leaner and just worked on my pass rush skills a lot, anything to get that extra edge.”

Pro Bowl voting ends Monday for fans, and players and coaches vote next week. It’s one of the NFL’s stupidest policies, to have the Pro Bowl chosen with two games remaining.

Joe doubts Bennett will make it, unless he can crank out another big game Sunday in New Orleans. There’s so much political BS and popularity-contest nonsense associated with a Pro Bowl nod, Joe doubts Bennett has caught enough attention — even with the dance.