It’s hard to believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving. How time has flown. It’s still harder to believe what Greg Schiano and the Bucs are doing.

This time last year, the Bucs were ready to beg for the season to end, almost like it pained to see an old relative suffer in their final days. The offense was often impotent. The defense was like a slap in the face to any sober fan it was so insulting. Calling the team a “trainwreck” didn’t aptly describe how bad things were.

Now, as Thanksgiving arrives in 2012, the Bucs are honestly in a playoff race. Kerry J. Byrne, the founder of the crazy yet informative “Cold Hard Football Facts”, while writing for SI.com, is so impressed with Schiano that Byrne believes Schiano is the NFL “Coach of the Year.”

Byrne breaks down the numbers from last year to this year to demonstrate how head and shoulders above his predecessor Schiano truly is.

Schiano’s greatest work has been on the defensive side of the ball.

The 2011 Buccaneers surrendered 494 points, shattering the previous franchise record for ineptitude set by the 2-14 Bucs of 1986 (473).

And they posted the worst Defensive Passer Rating in franchise history (97.21). For a little perspective, the Super Bowl champion 2002 Bucs posted a Defensive Passer Rating of less than half that number (48.4).

Bryne digs real deep to show Schiano has improved the Bucs and it is well-worth a few minutes of your day to read the entire column.

If somehow Schiano can wade this team through a dicey last six weeks of the schedule, with the NFL’s worst pass defense, to a postseason bid, it will be one of the NFL’s best coaching jobs in recent memory in Joe’s eyes.

There’s no denying the Falcons are soft against the run.

And Falcons beat writer D. Orlando Ledbetter already is sounding the alarm in Atlanta while exploring how the Falcons possibly will contain Doug Martin when they’ve struggled against lesser running backs.

Stephens-Howling was the third back to rush for more than 100 yards against the Falcons this season, joining Denver’s Willis McGahee (113 yards) and Washington’s Alfred Morris (115 yards).

Fortifying the run defense remains an ongoing construction project for the coaching staff. In eight of the Falcons’ 10 games, the defense has given up at least one run of 29 yards or more.

Kansas City’s Jamaal Charles had a 46-yard gain. McGahee had a 31-yarder. San Diego’s Jackie Battle broke loose for a 52-yard gain. Carolina quarterback Cam Newton had a 31-yard run. Morris had a 29-yard run. Oakland’s Mike Goodson had 40-yard gain.

Yes, the Falcons get gutted and gashed on the ground — 26th in the NFL against the run — but there’s also no denying the Falcons are a great football team. Hell, Mike Smith’s career regular-season record is 52-22! That’s better than a 70 percent winning percentage, which is simply amazing in the NFL.

The Bucs absolutely need a big day Sunday from Muscle Hamster. Thankfully, that seems likely. But the Bucs will need to be strong in all phases to pull out a victory.

Lord knows Bucs fans are still stunned by the Maurice Stovall non-tackle of Eric Weems that cost the Bucs a playoff berth in 2010. (Here’s the heinous video of that historic choke)

Joe loves when the leader of the New Schiano Order gets into Xs and Os. One day Joe hopes to talk real football with Greg Schiano over a baloney sandwich and a side of proper pasta and two drinks.

Last night the head coach talked a little offense with a fan and revealed why he expects to see significantly more work for his tight ends as the playoff hunt marches on. The revelation came down during an exchange on The Greg Schiano Show on WDAE-AM 620.

Caller: I thought it was a great adjustment when the fade was taken away to start hitting Dallas Clark. … Is he going to be more of a focal point of our offense now that teams are trying to takeaway the fade?

Schiano: I think you’re right. I think that, you know, as we move forward and people start doing some double clouded corners, which means rolling the two corners up on and having some help over the top, if you don’t use your tight end, you’re kind of out of luck. And we have some tight ends, not only in Dallas but in Luke [Stocker]. And we need to make sure that we utilize them in the pass game, and we will. I think we have to an extent ala the winning touchdown [Sunday], but there’s more. I think there’s more to come here as the offense continues to expand.

Joe agrees with Schiano’s premise that team’s will look to take away the Bucs’ explosive plays in the passing game. There’s no logic to doing anything else, especially considering that Josh Freeman’s weakness lies in the shorter throws.

Regardless, preparing to stop the Bucs offense is brutally tough duty for any defense.

Don’t look for Arrelious Benn on kick returns

It looks like Arrelious Benn will be limited to covering kicks rather than returning them.

During preseason, Greg Schiano made it clear that significant changes in the lineup would be reflected on the Bucs’ depth chart, and one such move was made public  when the Bucs released all the fancy data associated with Sunday’s Bucs-Falcons game earlier today.

Benn was booted to backup kick returner and cornerback LeQuan Lewis was promoted to top returner. Michael Smith sits at third on the chart. Lewis returned kicks against San Diego when Benn was hurt, and Lewis handled the duties Sunday despite Benn’s return. He’s had two chances with mixed results.

Between this move and the Bucs apparently (hopefully) banishing the heinous Benn’d Around play, these are tough days for Benn, whose career is nosediving.

To gain perspective on how far the Bucs have come in less than a year, one only has to be reminded of the 2011 horror show that was passed to innocent Bucs fans as NFL football.

The defense was worse than atrocious, franchise-worst. The offense couldn’t score in a Colombian brothel with a fistful of C-notes and privacy ensured by U.S. Secret Service agents.

It was as miserable as miserable gets. Raheem Morris, rightly, was jettisoned just hours after the final game. One could argue Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik was somewhat contempt as well, but he survived the purge.

Dominik knew he was on thin ice. General managers often get two chances (two head coaching hires) to work with to show some progress or they too are shown the door. Having put his neck on the line to draft Josh Freeman — he was guided in the pick by Morris — Dominik, as Chase Stuart of the New York Times points out, went out to save Freeman’s career which also saved Dominik’s gig and, in turn, saved the Bucs.

If Freeman’s career had continued on this downward trajectory, Dominik would have become collateral damage. So in the off-season, Dominik rebuilt the team with a clear vision: he wanted an offense built around a strong running game complemented by a deep passing attack.

So Dominik went out and got the best wide receiver on the market, a team-first guy who would teach the young Bucs receivers how to be professionals. Then Dominik went out to make sure Freeman would be upright, and got Nicks (thank you greedy Drew Brees) and finally, traded up in the draft to make sure Freeman had a reliable running back to take heat off him, Doug Martin.

When Dominik said last year that it was all about No. 5, he was right. Because if No. 5 failed, the Bucs would fail and Dominik would be left groveling for work.

Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik has a knack for pulling guys off the street that, with the proper coaching, excel.

There’s Donald Penn, there’s Demar Dotson, there’s Michael Bennett, all guys who were someone else’s trash, now Bucs treasures.

Could defensive lineman Daniel Te’o-Nesheim, plucked from the Eagles practice squad, be the next in line? If one wraps his arms around the analysis from the ProFootballFocus.com crowd, Te’o-Nesheim (can we just refer to him as “Teo?”) is a diamond in the rough, just based on his performance at Carolina Sunday.

There were few plays in this game when the Tampa defensive line didn’t disrupt the Panthers’ front. Pressuring Cam Newton on close to 60% of drop-backs, the combination of Michael Bennett, DaQuan Bowers, Gerald McCoy, and Daniel Te’o- Nesheim routinely took advantage of Carolina’s offensive line. They especially caused problems for the Panthers’ interior, though the damage wasn’t limited to the inside with five of the six Panthers who played snaps up front receiving negative grades in pass protection.

Te’o (+4.3) had the most complete game of the aforementioned linemen, with four quarterback disruptions and an additional three stops against the run. The bigger story, though, might be the play of Bowers. In just his fourth game back from an Achilles injury, the second-year defensive end recorded five pressures in just 22 rushes — that’s once every 4.4 snaps rushing the passer. If Bowers can keep this up and remain healthy, what’s been a formidable defense could become downright scary as they hit the home-stretch of the season.

Just like the offensive line has been greatly helped by backups filling in for injured stud players, so too has the defensive line been aided by backups. The loss of defensive end Adrian Clayborn stung the Bucs and greatly concerned Joe. But Teo’s play has sure eased the discomfort.

So finally someone decided to ask Bucs coach Greg Schiano about the moniker for Bucs running back Doug Martin that has caught the attention of the nation and beyond: “The Muscle Hamster.”

Appearing on “NFLAM” this morning seen only on the NFL Network, Schiano was corned by panelist Steve Wyche about what he thinks of Martin’s nickname, and Schiano broke out in a broad smile and gave the greatest political answer to date:

“I call him Doug.”

Schiano also talked about what the learning curve he has experienced coming from Rutgers to the Bucs.

“There is always a learning curve,” Schiano said. “Fortunately I had some experience coaching this league back in the late 90s so I had some frame of reference but it is a totally different deal when you are a head coach as opposed to a position coach.”

Schiano was also asked about the things that surprised him in his rookie season as head coach. “Two things: the talent level of the players, the quality of athletes and the [media] coverage that this league gets and all the outside calls on your time. But both of those things are easily manageable once you understand your time.”

Joe thought it was pretty funny how Schiano dodged the “Muscle Hamster” question, but Doug, embrace it. It’s cool and you could make loads of cash off of this thing.

Just the thought that the Bucs might be in the playoffs is mind-boggling to Joe after such a rancid display of football last year. Jim Basquil and Eric Allen discuss Bucs playoff possibilties in this ESPN video.

Greg Schiano and the New Schiano Order has been widely lauded these past two days for their intense, detailed preparation leading to success in a brutal situation Sunday — needing eight points to tie with the ball on the Bucs’ 20 yard line, no timeouts and 1:02 on the fourth-quarter clock.

Of course, every fan knows how the happy ending went in Carolina.

But hearing all the love for Schiano reminded Joe of Raheem Morris’ words this summer. Raheem was asked about the knock on his teams being undisciplined. And Raheem responded by laughing that theory off and proclaiming that only highly disciplined teams have success late in games in the two-minute offense like the Bucs did repeatedly in 2010.

It was a fair point by Raheem (though it doesn’t explain 2011), and one that applies to what the Bucs pulled off Sunday.

Joe attends all training camp practices and many other practices, and the Schiano Bucs work on situational football details to the extreme. It’s a common sight to see Schiano with his bullhorn barking out scenarios, “Men, 26 seconds left, we got the ball at our 47 yard line with no timeouts and down by two points. Let’s go.” And needless to say everything ramps up to full speed immediately, much like Joe moves when the pizza delivery guy rings the doorbell.

While Joe is quick to blame Raheem’s lousy leadership for dragging the Bucs into the toilet last season, Joe will credit the former coach for what his team accomplished late in games in 2010. Amazing plays like this in Cincinnati weren’t luck. And Joe has no doubt those experiences helped drive the confidence of Josh Freeman and many other Bucs on both sides of the ball Sunday.

Before this season, Ronde Barber said he was confident the Bucs under Greg Schiano would be able to build on the successes that led to a 10-6 record in 2010 and block out the collapse of 2011. That was very much on display Sunday.

NFL Network already is going deep into potential NFL playoff scenarios (video here), and their latest analysis has the Bucs tying the Seahawks at 10-6 for the final NFC Wild Card spot.

And per NFL Network “researchers,” the call is that “the Bucs have the tiebreaker” against Seattle.

So there you have it, the Bucs are playoff bound. Now all they have to do is find four more wins among games on the road in New Orleans, Denver and Atlanta, plus from home games against Atlanta, St. Louis and Philly.

Joe’s going to put a big fat “maybe” out there. A win Sunday against Atlanta, however, and the Bucs’ playoff drive goes from a dream into something that should happen.

In the video linked above, former Pro Bowl defensive lineman Willie McGinest is convinced the Bucs will be able to run the ball against Atlanta and win Sunday, as well as in Atlanta in Week 17. He claims the Falcons, with a playoff bye locked up, will be resting starters for that final game with the Bucs.

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It has been so long, Joe can’t remember a more exciting finish to a Bucs game then the overtime thriller Sunday when Dallas Clark caught a game-winning pass from Josh Freeman to beat the Panthers.

Clark appeared on “The Sunday Drive” following the win, heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio to recount how the Bucs came back on the Stinkin’ Panthers.

“It was a fun one, I just lulled them to sleep,” Clark said of his part in the game-winning drive. “I ran four or five arrow routes and caught them sleeping a bit and got a step past the Sam linebacker. It was weird. Never ended a game before like that. Fun feeling.

“It was getting late. We were down 11 with like six minutes left and I started to wonder, ‘Are we going to do something or are we going to pack it in and get prepared for next week?’ We kept doing our job even though we were playing horrible but we were able to rally last six minutes.”

Joe wonders if this is a harbinger of things to come or not. No, the Bucs should not have been losing to a garbage team like the Panthers.

But consider, Josh Freeman had a bad day. The offensive line sure looked like the injury-riddled unit it is. Doug Martin couldn’t get on track. Mark Barron looked like the Rookie Wall hit him.

But that was the beauty of this game. Players who were not playing well for most of the day but found a way to find their stride and, voila, a win happened!

Hey, it’s midnight, and Joe wants to share one of the better pick-6 returns you’ll see, courtesy of helmet-wielding, cabbie-slugging, Adderrall-popping, coach-cussing, referee-charging, pistol-friendly, granny-hassling Aqib Talib yesterday in the Patriots’ romp over Indianapolis.

Here’s the video. It’s pretty rare to see a guy zig-zag the field like Talib did and not run out of gas.

Joe’s confident the Bucs made the right move in ditching Talib, but it will, as always, be interesting to see what direction his career and life goes.

Maybe the Bucs beating a division foe in dramatic fashion in overtime has moved some Bucs fans to buy tickets. Per a missive from the Bucs official Twitter feed, the game with the Dixie Chicks is some 7,400 tickets short of the 85 percent non-premium plateau for lifting the NFL-imposed local TV blackout shroud.

@TBBuccaneers: About 11,000 non-premium tickets left to sell out Sunday’s game against Atlanta and about 7,400 short of reaching the 85% to lift blackout

Joe will be interested to see if these tickets move on a holiday week. That might be a tough sell with so many fans out of town or already with a full docket of weekend plans.

Now before anyone uses the weak sauce, knee-jerk cry of “Why don’t the Glazers buy the tickets?” How about asking a better question:

Often in other markets when a team needs to sell tickets, the local business community steps up and buys the remaining tickets left just before the deadline (Thursday, 1 p.m.) to ensure a local broadcast. Why hasn’t the local Tampa Bay business community stepped forward to not just help fans, but countless bars and restaurants which will be otherwise packed with fans watching the game?

To date, that has never happened to Joe’s knowledge in the past three years.

Or an even better question:

In other markets when a blackout looms, the local FOX/CBS affiliate will buy up the tickets. Since WTVT-TV Channel 13 is a FOX owned-and-operated station, that means Rupert Murdoch, the head honcho of FOX who makes Teams Glazer look like Joe he has so much cash, wouldn’t even miss the paltry thousands it would cost to broadcast the game locally.

Again, neither the local FOX nor CBS affiliate does this. Joe has an idea why: if either station thought it could make some cash doing this, they would have pulled the trigger to lift a blackout already.

So instead of being lame and whining about the Bucs owners, why not direct your ire at those in the community that, unlike in other NFL markets, haven’t/won’t step up to the plate to help out local Bucs fans.

Sometimes, it’s just too easy blaming the local pinata, Team Glazer.

Peter King’s back-handed compliment of Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman notwithstanding, Joe knows many Bucs fans want national media types to give the Bucs a big ol’ bear hug as much if not more so than a win.

This has always puzzled Joe, but he just shrugs his shoulders. This is too nice of a day to ponder such heavy subjects.

So Joe brings this little nugget from Maoist Michael Silver for your dancing and reading enjoyment. Unlike King, Silver is starting to drink the Freeman Kool-Aid, so he wrote on Yahoo! Sports this morning.

4. The Bucs, who fought back from a 21-10 deficit with six minutes remaining in regulation, have won five of six to join the Indianapolis Colts as the 2012 season’s most pleasant surprises. Even better, Josh Freeman is starting to resemble the cool, consistently clutch and dripping-with-potential passer we saw in 2010.

Yes, as we saw yesterday, the Bucs will go as far as Freeman can take them. When he is hot (last few minutes of the game and in overtime), the Bucs offense is lethal.

When Freeman struggled, it was shades of 2010 and the offense was impotent.

Vocal Bucs critic Ian Beckles, who manned the guard position for Tampa Bay from 1990 to 1996, was a little unhappy this morning on the WDAE-AM 620 airwaves because he felt the Bucs didn’t stick with the running game enough when it was clearly working in the first half and Carolina was on the ropes.

The funny thing is Greg Schiano agreed with Beckles. Speaking before media this afternoon, the leader of the New Schiano Order was asked to identify what ailed his offense much of the day.

“We probably could have ran the ball better in the first half, or just more, you know, more opportunities,” Schiano said.

That was an interesting public critique of Mike Sullivan. But Joe can only speculate as to what/when Schiano was referring.

Perhaps Schiano would have preferred a run on 2-and-8 from the Carolina 30 yard line with the Bucs leading 10-0 with 58 seconds left in the first quarter? A positive run there puts the Bucs in better field-goal range and gives Josh Freeman a more manageable third down. Freeman threw his ugly pick-6 on the next play.

Or perhaps Schiano, after Doug Martin popped a 20-yard scamper to close the first quarter, would have preferred not to see three straight incompletions to open the Bucs’ next series?

Regardless of the specifics, it’s interesting to see the head coach and Beckles unknowingly bonding.

A couple of lovely lasses show off their wares. These customers won Josh Freeman throwback jerseys at Joe’s game-watching event at Tilted Kilt yesterday. There were four jersey-winners in all, but these were the most visually soothing.

Joe had a blast yesterday and it just wasn’t because the Bucs won. Joe had a blast because he watched the Bucs’ thrilling win while dining and having an adult beverage or two gawking at the lovely employees of Tilted Kilt in Clearwater.

Joe loves the bonding that goes on at these Joe-sponsored, game-watching events. Joe enjoyed mingling with loyal readers and giving away gear and exploring new angles to view the famous Kilt girls.

Tilted Kilt is a great place to watch all NFL and college games, with indoor and outdoor seating and superior food.

Joe hopes you can make it out to the next game-watching event.