Bucs icon Derrick Brooks fired off a huge endorsement of Aqib Talib and explained that he’s personally seen Talib evolve into a significantly better person, so Brooks said during a powerful segment of his interview on the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620 today.

Brooks revealed he’s been in steady contact with Talib, his former teammate.

“Personally, you know, because I’ve personally seen the young man transition here the last eight months, I’m happy for him,” Brooks said. “I hope justice was served, and I’ll just take it at that. But personally, you know, I’ve been in steady communication with him and I’ve seen that he’s become a changed man at this point. And I hope, and I told him yesterday, ‘I hope that this continues to put you on the same road you’re on of redemption. Be the guy that you’ve been transitioning to be the last eight months. Make sure that’s the guy that’s moving forward.’ I honestly believe that he’s a changed man at this point.”

This was very interesting to Joe. Brooks twice mentioned “eight months,” which is a rather specific timetable. Perhaps this “transition” Brooks speaks of is Talib choosing to become more religious or involving himself in some sort of personal rehabilitation program? Also, Brooks makes it very clear he’s been part of Talib’s life and supporting him consistently.

Hopefully, Roger Goodell sees the same growth in Talib and passes on punishing him, much like the State of Texas passed on prosecuting him.

In Joe’s naive perfect world, all women would be akin to Rachel Watson or Jaime Hanna and Joe would have to fight through swarms of said women begging for his attention, just to get to Publix for a chicken tender sub (#FGU).

This somewhat juvenile mindset extends to football a little as well. After a gut-wrenching, grotesque 10-game losing streak last year to end the season, Joe so wanted a Bucs player to go completely postal, tear apart the locker room and threaten to rip off someone’s head for the schlap they called football last year.

But no, not all players are wired like that. Tanard Jackson had more important goals, such as left-handed cigarettes (allegedly). Kellen Winslow was more interested in having a good time at practice and spinning discs in Vegas to be bothered by wins.

But don’t include Donald Penn in that group. While many of the pen and mic club focused on Penn catching a punt to end a three-day mandatory minicamp last week — and it was a funny moment — Joe zeroed in on a few of Penn’s words buried in his audio recording of Penn’s post-practice comments that struck a chord.

Penn is downright bitter over how last season ended. He noted that new Bucs coach Greg Schiano told the team the sooner it buys in and learns the new ways, the quicker the team will win. That’s all Penn needed to hear, he said.

“Everybody is buying in, no one likes losing,” Penn said. “Last year was tough. Losing that many games in a row at the end was tough, real tough. Nobody wants that feeling again.

“At least I don’t.”

This reflection was music to Joe’s ears. That’s what irked Joe so much about Winslow’s tirade against Schiano and how Winslow quit on the Bucs — he admitted it in his own words last week.

In what fantasy world does Winslow live in that he expected no changes after such a horrible season? Joe’s glad there are guys like Penn on the Bucs roster who have some pride and dignity about themselves and are disturbed about by being saddled with losing.

One would think that the State of Texas dismissing charges against Aqib Talib this week should lead NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to wash his hands of Talib and let the Bucs know that no suspension for Talib is forthcoming.

However, Goodell is not necessarily a man of reason and consistency, as anyone following the current Saints scandal and past NFL suspensions knows too well.

So there is no reason to believe Goodell will do the honorable thing and pass on punishing Talib for the Jerry Springereque happenings among Talib’s family members last year in Texas.

Goodell’s got nothing on Talib anymore, optimistic fans might say, but Joe’s not so sure if Goodell will see it that way.

At some point, and Joe has no clue as to when, the video of Talib’s interview with police on March 25, 2011, will become public record. And in that  interview, per the arrest affidavit, Talib admits to lying to police about the whereabouts of his girlfriend on the day of the Texas incident. The statement that Talib “admitted that he had lied to detectives” comes from the written arrest affidavit, and that surely could be the police getting it wrong or misrepresenting Talib’s words when they transcribed the video.

But if Talib did lie to cops, is that enough for Goodell to suspend him?

The point is Joe’s wondering how deep Goodell will probe to find a reason to suspend Talib. Hell, Goodell might just suspend Talib for failing to call 911 and leaving the scene of a shooting that was clearly a crime scene.

The Tampa Bay Times sought comment yesterday from Goodell on whether he will suspend Talib. The response the newspaper got was that it’s still under review. Joe’s just afraid the review is merely an effort to find a widely tolerable reason to suspend Talib, rather than a fact-finding mission.

There were few bright spots for the Bucs in the dismal 2011 campaign, highlighted (lowlighted?) by the grotesque 10-game losing streak to close the season.

One bright spot was Adrian Clayborn. In Pat Yasinskas’ countdown of the 25 best players in the NFC South on ESPN.com, Clayborn comes in at No. 24.

What he did in 2011: Clayborn was one of the very few bright spots in Tampa Bay last season. As a rookie, he claimed a starting spot immediately and picked things up very quickly. He played the run well right from the start and got better as a pass-rusher as the season went on. Clayborn finished his first NFL season with 7.5 sacks, but 4.5 of those came in the final seven games. Clayborn also forced three fumbles and finished the season with 42 tackles.

Why he’s No. 24 in 2012: Clayborn should only continue to get better and could quickly become the NFC South’s best all-around defensive end. Tampa Bay didn’t lead often last season, so it wasn’t like Clayborn had a lot of sack opportunities and was falling into them. He’s had an entire offseason program for the first time in his career. With a new coaching staff comes a new defense. But Clayborn’s job isn’t changing that dramatically. He’s supposed to make things happen at the line of scrimmage and behind it. Clayborn could be helped greatly if defensive tackles Gerald McCoy and Brian Price are able to stay healthy and generate a pass rush from the interior.

Joe knew Clayborn was special watching him play for Iowa. In two games alone, Clayborn owned Penn State and in one game at Happy Valley literally took over the game himself, blocking a punt and returning it for a score.

So when Clayborn showed early last season when he nearly decapitated Matty Ice it was clear that Clayborn was going to be a fine Bucs player.

There’s no reason to believe Clayborn cannot continue to shine for the Bucs.

One thing Joe has noticed since prior to last season is that the Bucs are looking for teachers, as much as coaches.

Joe remembers one reason for the dismissal of former Bucs offensive line coach Pete Mangurian was because the Bucs wanted more of a teacher, not a doctrinarian.

So when the Bucs jettisoned Raheem Morris after a 4-12 season punctuated by a grotesque 10-game losing streak, it seems only natural that the Bucs would hire a teacher.

That’s what Ian Rapoport of NFL.com believes Schiano is. And unlike Kellen Winslow, Rapoport is all in on the New Schiano Order.

Schiano is teaching. That’s it. Just teaching. Doing what a coach does and providing a basis for learning. Instead of starting from Calculus, Schiano is teaching the multiplication tables. Years of coaching college players make college coaches cognizant that not all stars learned everything along the way. It was Schiano’s job to teach them, and I love how his approach hasn’t changed in the NFL.

He’s using the same desire to mold 18-year-olds on 25-year-olds. He’s teaching them football, starting with McCoy. It’s a young team anyway, and this will help. There’s no way this will be bad. Create a base, set your team up for the future, and move on from there.

Schiano is in for the long haul, and this goes to show that. It may even take a year to give the team solid footing. It will pay off. Really good coaches are always teachers, and he’s showing he is.

If anything jumped out at Joe last year — aside from the grotesque 10-game losing streak — it was the poor fundamentals, whether it was simply tackling to the linebacker play to… Joe’s not going to beat this dead horse.

If a team is 4-12, sometimes you have to go back to the basics and rebuild from there.

The Bucs have at least one cold weather game this season in Denver, and hard-working Josh Freeman is ready.

Sure, he’ll still have to prepare for Von Miller, but Freeman already has secured the necessary lip protection — peppermint-flavored.

Thanks to the world of Twitter, Freeman was able to share that he has secured a fancy, expensive organic balm that provides “soft, smooth and supple lips with cooling peppermint and a twist of eucalyptus,” which “provides protection from harsh elements and inclement weather.”

@JF5X guys at @nardosnatural hooked me up! pic.twitter.com/YQxCUMEZ

Hey, Joe’s not mocking Freeman. Joe’s got an old fashioned unflavored Chapstick in his car ashtray. It’s a good sunscreen and it’s a bonus on dry, cold winter days. Joe just found Freeman’s new balm rather funny.

And Joe prefers the old days when you could pretend that quarterbacks (minus Joe Namath and Dan Marino) and other players chewed nails and ate raw meat 24/7.

Joe’s drooling at the thought of enjoying this amazing deal tonight at Hooters on 4th St. in St. Pete and at the Tyrone Square Hooters in St. Pete. What a great way to feast and watch baseball. Don’t miss it! Click here to get the exact locations.

About 10 days ago Joe was told of Brian Price connecting with at least one punch to the head of Mark Barron after Barron verbally snapped at Price during a players meeting, shortly after Price returned to the Buccaneers following the accidental death of his sister.

Joe sniffed around about the story and was able to confirm that the core elements of what Joe was told about the altercation are accurate: Barron was seated in a seat that apparently was Price’s, Price says something like, “get up,” Barron says something along the lines of “F-you,” and Price proceeds to punch him in the head and Barron wasn’t seriously injured.

Frankly, Joe didn’t find the incident all that crazy and, since Joe didn’t have quotable sources or see what happened, Joe didn’t run with the story.

It seems clear that Barron is rather Warren Sapp–like with his rookie attitude and has an alpha-dog style among all his teammates, and he just caught Price on a horribly bad day. Given how early this was in the offseason, it’s even likely that Price didn’t know who Barron was and vice versa. It’s not like these guys are wearing game jerseys in meetings.

Joe brings this up now because former Bucs beat writer Charlie Campbell, now of WalterFootball.com, has penned a long story citing anonymous sources on the Price-Barron altercation. Frankly, Joe thinks Campbell went a little over the top with the alleged significance of what happened.

Across the NFL, there are veterans putting rookies in their place in locker rooms and on practice fields. No, Joe doesn’t condone teammates belting each other, but given Price’s personal situation at the time, Joe finds this all to be simply a heat-of-the-moment thing that got overheated because Price was grieving.

Price was given an excused absence for the Bucs’ mandatory minicamp last week, and all indications are that he’s simply out in California to be near his family — he’s reportedly adopting his late sister’s children — and train and get his head right out there before reporting for training camp.

Price’s long road back from a horrific injury has earned him the respect of fans, teammates and the Bucs organization. Joe doesn’t believe there’s some read-between-the-lines reason behind Price missing minicamp.

It’s official per the Dallas County court system, case number F1126192, State vs. Aqib Talib, was dismissed today in advance of Talib’s scheduled trial date next week.

That means the state’s felony assault with a deadly weapon charge against Talib is gone.

Perhaps the State took a look at the motion filed by Talib’s legal team on June 7 and realized they had no shot? Or perhaps Talib’s accuser changed his tune, as often happens in cases that involve domestic violence?

Joe will update more as he secures more data. But now Talib is free and clear and must only wait to hear from Roger Goodell, if the commissioner chooses to pursue scouring Talib’s soon-to-be-closed case file for reasons to suspend him. Also, Joe can’t wait to read what some loyal JoeBucsFan commenters who were so confident in the state’s flimsy case against Talib will have to say.

This is a great day for the 2012 Bucs.

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Joe’s pal Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski let it fly on Kellen Winslow today in what was a quality tirade during his noon to 3 p.m. show on WQYK-AM. For those who missed Kellen Winslow’s anti-Schiano blast job this weekend, The Commish resets that with well-carved audio and rips off a bunch of great takes tapping his experience as part of the Buccaneers Radio Network last year.

Pawlowski even floats why he thinks Raheem Morris might now be pissed at Winslow. Joe especially enjoyed when Pawlowski called out to Winslow, “You freaking baby!” Quality listening for your evening pleasure. Just click to access below.

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Joe sure hopes the same eyesores at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, and which may be installed at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami don't come to the stadium on Dale Mabry Highway.

Joe has been to a handful of NFL stadiums, including a few trips to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville (Joe’s not sure what that place is called now, and frankly doesn’t care — it will always be the Gator Bowl).

That place may be one of the most underrated tailgating facilities in the country. But it also has the NFL’s worst eyesore: tarps in the upper deck.

Joe had only seen tarps in an upper deck once before, that was at a Pirates game in the old Three Rivers Stadium.

Then, as now, empty seats look better.

Now the great Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, by way of Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, reports the Dolphins are seriously considering added tarps to the upper deck of Joe Robbie Stadium (or whatever the hell it’s called now).

Well, I don’t know how the Dolphins would add seats in the lower level without actually adding seats physically, but they can definitely adjust the numbers of seats in the upper deck without actually touching the place. They can simply ask the NFL to consider certain seats basically invisible. The Dolphins can just lower capacity by giving the NFL a new capacity number and then not selling, say 10,000 seats in the upper deck, for at least one season.

Other teams — Jacksonville for example — have done it. Unable to fill an extreme number of seats, the Jaguars just threw a tarp over whole sections of seating. The Hurricanes do it at Sun Life for their home games. The Miami Heat did it for a couple of years before LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade on the roster and seating demand skyrocketted.

The Dolphins can simply pick out a section of seats and cover the area. Or they can just black out certain seats or sections from being sold and those would simply be empty on game day.

So, let’s do some math here: In a state where the economy is still in the dark recesses, where selling tickets to just about anything is a task given few have expendable income, where two of the three NFL teams have or are seriously discussing tarps in the upper deck, could the third team, the Bucs, be far behind?

Joe sure hopes not. Those tarps are just painful to look at.

An interesting item Florio wrote about is that Dolphins officials confess their stadium is too big. That’s the way society is going in regards to football games. Fighting the convenience of watching games on your 50-inch HDTV on the leather couch in the mancave at home, with replays via DVR at your fingertips, and ample cold beer just steps away, getting people off that leather couch to is becoming harder and harder for NFL teams (and college teams as well) to tackle.

Yeah, sure, the Rays have tarps too. Those aren’t so much eyesores as they are well out of public view and to be honest, the Fruitdome has a whole lot more problems than a few tarps (that foster few sellouts) out of view.

From the moment Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik inked free agent wide receiver Vincent Jackson, it seemed common knowledge Bucs receiver Mike Williams would go from No. 1 to No. 2 receiver.

In the aftermath of the Jackson signing, Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman all but bragged how defenses couldn’t roll coverage to Williams any longer and asked rhetorically, “Who are you going to double now?”

But Dan Parr of ProFootballWeekly.com seems to believe Mike Williams playing opposite of Jackson as the No. 2 receiver isn’t locked in.

Two third-year players are vying to start at wide receiver for the Buccaneers opposite marquee free-agent addition Vincent Jackson, and we hear there is no true front-runner for the job at this point. The Bucs are promoting a competition for the “Z” position and Mike Williams and Arrelious Benn will enter training camp, when the battle really could intensify, on a fairly even playing field.

The new coaching staff is not making promises to any of the contenders for the starting job and wants the best target to have the opportunity to emerge.

However, Williams, who has started all but one game over the past two seasons, and Benn are both expected to be involved in the offense no matter who starts. We also hear that Dezmon Briscoe, Preston Parker — who typically plays in the slot — and even Tiquan Underwood, who has only 11 career catches, also could get looks with the first-team offense at the “Z” position in camp.

True, under the New Schiano Order, Bucs coach Greg Schiano isn’t promising starting jobs to anyone, and that is smart. Make players earn their keep, earn their jobs. After a gutless 4-12 season, no starter’s job should be etched in stone.

But from everything Joe has seen and heard at Bucs minicamps and OTAs, and from talking to Williams himself, unless Williams completely melts down, playing the No. 2 receiver is Williams’ to lose.

After nearly a generation at Rutgers coaching and recruiting, the leader of the New Schiano Order has had to work hard to get up to speed on all things NFL personnel since taking the Bucs job.

It’s a huge learning process, and Greg Schiano didn’t hesitate to acknowledge that during an interview last week with the Evan & Phillips In The Morning show on SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio. Schiano talked about taking guidance from rockstar general manager Mark Dominik and building consensus on personnel decisions.

Schiano didn’t sound like one of the NFL’s most powerful dictators who has reduced Dominik to servitude, as some say we must assume has happened.

“There’s no doubt there’s really two learning processes. First you need to learn your own personnel and the team you take over, and then as we got into free agency first then the draft, but I think where I’ve been blessed is our general manager Mark Dominik has been great in getting me up to speed. You know he and Dennis Hickey, who is the head of player personnel, have just been, you know, spoon feeding me since the day I took the job with video and write-ups and certainly I’m willing to put the time in. It’s been a really good relationship. We’ve been able to really build a consensus on who are the guys we need to target.

One of the things that’s just paramount to us is guys who love the game of football. That’s what’s going to work with us. I know my personality. I know how we do things. That passion to play the game, when the business side is done and all the financials are decided, the guy just loves to go out and play and practice. That’s critical to us.

Joe found Schiano’s loving words for Dominik especially interesting, considering Schiano wasn’t asked about Dominik, as well as Schiano using “us” repeatedly and talking about “consensus.” It also intrigued Joe that Butch Davis wasn’t part of Schiano’s commentary above.

For Joe, it’s clear that the Bucs’ decision-making dynamic between owners, GM and head coach hasn’t changed very much.

A bounce back season by Josh Freeman would prove the Bucs were the most improved team in the NFL offseason.

The unofficial “dead period” in the NFL calendar, from the end of the final minicamp to the start of training camp, offers time for reflection on each team, much like spring training does baseball.

How have teams improved or taken steps back? This question was posed to a bevy of NFL.com writers recently and Daniel Jeremiah, a former NFL scout who is best known for his thoughtful NFL takes on Twitter under the moniker of @MoveTheSticks, believes the Bucs were the most improved team over the past few months.

The one team that has improved the most this offseason is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After a disastrous 2011 season, they have made several impactful moves to improve their squad.

First of all, they hired a very discipline-oriented head coach in Greg Schiano. Then they were extremely aggressive in free agency, bringing in premier players like WR Vincent Jackson and OG Carl Nicks. Finally, they hit a home run in April’s draft. Safety Mark Barron and RB Doug Martin are both instant-impact players who will provide upgrades on both sides of the ball.

The NFC South is one of the NFL’s toughest divisions, but the Bucs are now in position to compete for a playoff spot.

Are the Bucs an improved team? Joe has no doubt. It doesn’t take a whole lot to improve on a woeful 4-12 debacle.

Are the Bucs improved enough to make a run at a playoff berth? Whew, Joe’s not so sure about that. Aside from possibly the NFC North, no division is tougher than the top-heavy NFC South (please spare Joe about the annually overrated and horribly over-hyped NFC East).

For the Bucs to make the playoffs, the team will likely have to leapfrog Carolina with an improved defense, an already stout running attack, and Cam Newton, who appears to be a total stud of a quarterback.

For the Bucs to improve enough to play in January, the defense has to be strong and quarterback Josh Freeman must somehow reverse his awful 22-interception season last year.

Marcellus Wiley, Herm Edwards, Eric Mangini and Gulf High School’s Sara Walsh discuss the lay of the land in the NFC South in this BSPN video.

The leader of the New Schiano Order is obsessed with fundamentals, details and everything else he can control. And Greg Schiano is proud to lead in this fashion.

Control what you can control, Schiano says, and staying on top of those details gives you an edge. But Schiano is a realist. Speaking on Mad Dog Radio on SiriusXM last week, the Bucs head coach was quick to say he’s learned through his long college coaching career how to delegate and trust the people in his organization and he’s not a micromanager the way many might imagine.

But his obsession with fundamentals on the field is clear to all, even Bucs icon Ronde Barber who’s seen more than most since he was drafted in 1997. Woody Cummings, of The Tampa Tribune, documented Barber’s perspective and checked in with John Lynch, who recalled Monte Kiffin pressing daily fundamentals.

“Everybody talks about fundamentals, but [Schiano] hammers it,” CB Ronde Barber said. “We get fundamentals every day. He’s definitely a teacher and that’s a good thing. He takes that coach moniker to a whole other level.”

… The constant attention to fundamentals can be annoying.

Former Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin ran a daily cone drill to remind players of their gap assignments that one-time Bucs S John Lynch described as “tedious.” Lynch also described the drill as invaluable because it produced muscle memories that kicked in naturally on game days.

Joe hopes the Bucs’ defense can craft some of this muscle memory in time for opening day. Instinctive tackling, guys in gaps, and great hand technique at the line of scrimmage would be glorious to watch. Joe has almost forgotten what that looks like.

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