By STEVE CAMPBELL
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Steve Campbell from time to time writes a column for Joe, often dealing with the offensive line. Campbell once upon a time in a different life was an offensive lineman on a prominent BCS college team.

With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2010 training camp set to open this weekend, there are plenty of things to look forward to. One thing Bucs fans may not be looking forward to is the blindside protection of franchise quarterback Josh Freeman by a converted basketball player who has never started a game.

While the physical attributes of Demar Dotson (6-9, 315) are definitely intriguing, throwing an inexperienced player in at left tackle is suicide in the NFL. And that is exactly what is staring in the face of the Buccaneers right now because of the situation with Donald Penn and his contract.

Penn is not expected to be present Friday when the rest of the Bucs report. The left tackle skipped the entire offseason workout program. He was tendered as a restricted free agent for $3.168 million and when the June deadline passed, the Bucs reduced that offer by $100,000, the most they were allowed to slash it.

The impression I get from the Bucs fans, is that the Bucs are being “cheap” and they ought to break the bank on Penn, because he is a “great” or above average player at a premium position. Unfortunately, when I watch tape of Penn from last season, I don’t see a great or even an above average player.

Looking back, the Buccaneers have had some really poor players manning left tackle. I’m old enough to remember Ed ‘Too Tall’ Jones and Harvey Martin abusing Gene Sanders in the 1981 divsional playoff game in Dallas. From 1988-1999, the Bucs had a very good left tackle in Paul Gruber. Had he not played on such poor teams, Gruber would have been a more household name, but he was more than solid every year he played here. Since, it has been really bad.

Pete Pierson and George Hegamin took turns playing there in the 2000 season. The Bucs then drafted Kenyatta Walker in the first round in 2001 and actually tried to make him a left tackle in his rookie year, even though he played right tackle all three years in college. 

Roman Oben played decently there in the Super Bowl season of 2002 and just average in 2003 before he was on his way to San Diego. The 2004 season brought us the failed Derrick Deese experiment. In 2005 and 2006 it was (gulp) Anthony Davis. Luke Petitgout signed a big deal in 2007, but he hurt his knee in the fourth game and was done for the year.

Which brings us to Penn.

Penn has been the starting left tackle since the fifth game of the 2007 season. Initially, Penn played pretty well for an undrafted free agent with little to no experience. In the first half of the 2008 season, Penn along with the other members of the offensive line, played above average football. The line as a whole regressed as that season went on, and they carried their below average play into the 2009 season. In particular, Penn’s play has regressed over the last couple of years. In both 2008 and 2009, Penn has noticeably gained significant weight in both seasons. Penn was reportedly over 360 pounds at the end of the season.

I’m not a huge fan of statistics to value offensive lineman, but unless you’re watching game film, that’s all you have to go on.

Two websites, ProFootballFocus.com and FootballOutsiders.com do a nice job at breaking down the offensive lines. Here’s what I discovered about the Bucs left tackle holdout: Penn only gave up five sacks in 2009, which is dead middle of the pack for all offensive tackles. But where it gets ugly is allowing quarterback pressures, allowing quarterback hits, and penalties. Of the 75 offensive tackles listed, Penn was ranked 66th, 63rd, and 67th respectively. As a team, the Bucs had the highest yards-per-carry average when they ran off left tackle and around left end. So, Penn is underrated as a run blocker, but way overrated as a pass blocker.

Forgetting all the statistics, I definitely side with the Bucs in this debate.

I don’t really want to invest in a player long term who has the propensity to gain weight as the season goes on. What does it say about a player who gains 60 pounds in a contract year? How much weight would he gain once you broke the bank on him and signed him to a long term deal? Is he really a great left tackle? Sometimes I think we’ve been blinded by so many bad players at that position in Tampa that we think average is great. I keep hearing that we’re going to get Freeman killed. Can Dotson or Xavier Fulton do much worse than 63rd on allowing quarterback hits?

The numbers say Penn is an average player. I think Bucs general manager Mark Dominik wants to see Penn play a whole season at 320 pounds and play well, before he does the long term dance with him.

With outstanding left tackle prospects Gabe Carimi (Wisconsin) and Anthony Castonzo (Boston College) lurking in the April 2011 draft, and the potential for the Bucs to be drafting in the top 10, Penn may want to re-think his stance.

There are all sorts of battles to keep an eye out when training camp begins Saturday for the Bucs. Obviously the biggest one may be safeties Sean Jones and Sabby the Goat. But another battle that piques Joe’s interest is who will start at defensive tackle between second-year Bucs stud Roy Miller and rookie Brian Price.

It seems eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune is of the same mind as Joe. In listening various battles for starting positions, Kaufman also includes the Miller-Price duel.

Roy Miller vs. rookie Brian Price: Miller flashed enough skills in his first pro season to excite Buc coaches about his potential as a 310-pound run stuffer. The former Texas standout will need a strong camp to hold off Price, a disruptive force at UCLA who has a knack for making stops behind the line of scrimmage.

Miller had a pretty solid year last year for a rookie, better than the three defensive tackles drafted in the first round last year. Price is supposed to be an absolute stud. If Price can somehow beat out Miller, Joe believes it’s safe to assume that defensive tackle will be a power position for the Bucs for some time.

Joe’s research as to where “blacked out” Bucs home games would air in greater West Central Florida has hit a road block.

Joe has confirmed from FOX-TV in Cape Coral that the station will air blacked out Bucs games to the greater Fort Myers TV market. As for the Orlando or Gainesville television markets, the Bucs media relations team has not given Joe an answer as to whether fans will be able to view a blacked out game in those regions.  

Joe knows many fans are eager to know how they can watch their beloved Bucs, especially fans who can’t afford to go to a game, let alone enjoy themselves there.

The Bucs are trying their darndest to sell tickets in a tough economy coming off a 3-13 season. But it’s a tough proposition, especially with the Rays poised for an exciting pennant race and very likely a playoff run.

The Bucs have slashed ticket prices for many seats down to as low as $35 for adults, but per Joe’s conversations with the team’s ticket office, those seats are on the east side of the stadium in the upper deck. In other words, those fans will battle the sun in their eyes in addition to heat on many game days.

Those discount seats are still available, and Team Glazer twice mentioning a likelihood of television blackouts publicly should be an indicator that it’s going to happen for the first time since the 1990s. 

Joe will keep pressing to get answers on the blackout parameters for his readers. And Joe also will be rolling out some blackout relief next week.

The great performance X factor for most NFL teams, especially those as painfully thin as the Bucs, is injuries.

A few key guys on the shelf can nearly destroy an entire defense or offense (See Sean Mayhem circa 2009).

JoeBucsFan.com analyst Steve White, author of the heralded Bull Rush column and his own Passing On The Game blog, breaks down the Bucs defense in advance of training camp and is quite certain the 2010 edition will be give teams “major headaches,” if it can stay healthy.

White analyzes position by position on his blog. Joe’s giving you an excerpt of the look at linebackers, but you can check the whole thing out here.

The three starters at linebackers are pretty entrenched right now. It appears that Coach Morris has big plans for Quincy Black as the starting Sam linebacker, Barrett Ruud is primed to have a career year, and Geno Hayes in his second year as a starter may be on the cusp of big things. I like all three players and I think Hayes in particular may have a break out year. But after those guys there are a lot of question marks.

Adam Heyward is probably the most versatile of the backups and a guy the Bucs actually would trust if he were pressed into action. But while he is physical he doesn’t have the kind of size nor speed that you look for in a starting NFL linebacker. Then you have Jon Alston and Niko Koutouvides who will probably get first dibs on the other two backup linebacker spots but neither guy is anything special. I know a lot of people are high on late draft pick Dekoda Watson but I am not sold on how quickly he will transition from the college game. Instead I think he along with fellow rookie Rico McCoy will have opportunities to make their name on special teams this year.

Last year we kept seven linebackers and at the moment we have nine on the roster. Only two guys are going to be cut, but at this point that could be anybody not named Black, Ruud, or Hayes.

In 2009, Mark Dominik proudly pronounced that linebacker was where the greatest competition was on the Bucs.  “It’s probably our strongest position on our football team, suprisingly I bet to a lot of our fans. That our depth and our talent is pretty good there,” Dominik said. “So that’s a good battleground to watch during training camp if you want to see some real competition.”

Joe remembers those days, when Jermaine Phillips was in line to take over for Derrick Brooks and never-was-healthy Angelo Crowell was the big offseason free agent signing on defense and poised to be the strong side linebacker.

It’s a new season, though, and the Bucs have no competition for their young starting linebackers. 

White’s spot on when he expresses concern about depth at that position.

As the sobering reality of a Bucs preseason without Donald Penn to protect Josh Freeman sets in, Mark Dominik offered some soothing words for Bucs fans, so documented The Mad Twitterer, of the St. Pete Times.

Dominik reminds Bucs fans that there’s likely a great battle to begin at left tackle come Saturday’s first day in pads at training camp.

“Penn still is considerd a teammate and a member of our football team and I hope there is a resolution sooner rather than later. But we’re looking forward to seeing what Dotson, Xavier Fulton and James Lee can do. It’s an open competition.”

See, wasn’t that soothing?

Joe’s just not sure how Freeman can develop like he needs to in preseason games without a legitimate left tackle. Hopefully, it won’t get that far.

Taking a break this morning from ascribing motives — what some suggest Joe does — Joe came across an interesting piece by Anwar Richardson, of the Tampa Tribune, who detailed five Bucs players with something to prove.

Predictably, blocking icon Michael Clayton was atop the list. The former first round draft pick has, in Richardson’s words, vanished from his studly rookie season and is on the verge of not making the squad this year.

Clayton’s main objective should not be becoming a starter this season, but actually making the 54-man roster. Clayton has done a vanishing act since his 2004 rookie season. In April, Tampa Bay drafted rookie receivers Arrelious Benn and Mike Williams to compete for a starting spot, and they traded for Reggie Brown. Clayton typically shines during camp, but he could be the odd man out.

This intrigued Joe. Clayton may very well get caught in a numbers game but Joe believes Bucs general manager Mark Dominik will give Clayton one more chance. Perhaps Clayton could help himself, as Richardson believes, by changing his goals?

Clayton is clearly a physical player as evidenced by his solid blocking. Maybe he could be a special teams warrior, a demon coming down on kickoffs or someone who could blow up would-be blockers on the punt return team and block some punts?

Maybe there is still hope for the Bucs blocking icon?

For those obsessed with Team Glazer’s financials and how that may or may not relate to the Bucs, Joe provides occasional updates on all things Glazer kickball.

Manchester United is touring the U.S. right now. Its last stop in Kansas City turned out a cool 53,343 to Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday. Quite a shame that NFL icon and crazed soccer junkie Lamar Hunt didn’t live to see that. (Uhh, thanks for not bringing Tampa a game and boatloads of tourists and cash for the local economy).

And now Manchester United moves on to play tonight in Houston against a Major League Soccer all-star team at a nearly sold-out 71,000-seat Reliant Stadium.

Last week, a report from the Telegraph, an England fishwrap, said Team Glazer already had sold 50,000+ season tickets for the upcoming Manchester United season and was in-line with its ticket sales goals despite threats of a boycott by angry fans.

So that’s your morning Team Glazer news.

Many Bucs fans can now continue resting comfortably knowing that “money will never be an issue” when it comes to building the Bucs into a lasting contender.

Dave "Big Poppy" Ortiz

As Joe is confident most of you know, he has a working relationship with Clear Channel Radio that Joe is quite proud of if not humbled by. Joe trusts that the good people on Gandy Blvd. will let him speak warmly of a couple of employees at a CBS station today; just this once.

Today is a somber day for local sports radio, and for Joe in particular. “Big Poppy,” otherwise known as Dave Ortiz, the producer and sidekick of J.P. Peterson’s “Happy Hour With J.P.,” is leaving the Tampa Bay area. His last day on the air is Friday but he will be working a celebration of sorts today.

That is, if you call drinking at Hooters “work.” Ortiz’s final remote is at Channelside Hooters today which will also serve as a going away party.

Joe is somber because a great deal of the success Joe enjoys is indirectly if not directly due to Ortiz.

Not quite two years ago, Joe started out with no traffic and scant people even knew this site existed. But Joe started to become known widespread because of Ortiz. Joe now boasts millions of visitors.

Joe first met Ortiz before JoeBucsFan.com was created when J.P. invited Joe to do a radio spot on a May afternoon. Just hours prior, Joe had broken a national story concerning then-Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden and current Bucs rookie wide receiver/return man Preston Parker that appeared on TBO.com.

It seems Parker, then an incoming junior at Florida State, was pinched with a handgun at home in South Florida. Parker’s sin was that the weapon was not registered.

Earlier that day Bowden was golfing in Tarpon Springs and told Joe he wasn’t offended by Parker’s actions. In so many words, Bowden said he was under the impression law-abiding adults in Florida can legally own handguns, though adding Parker should have registered the gun.

Bowden went on to say he didn’t blame Parker for carrying a gun because “in some areas you have to. You have to protect your family.” This of course made national headlines and it was Joe who broke the story first on TBO.com.

After Joe’s appearance with J.P., Ortiz came up to him and told Joe how much he liked Joe’s interaction with J.P. and asked Joe if he could come on the air from time to time to talk sports. Joe agreed.

Fast forward three months and this very site was born. Joe called Ortiz to ask if he and J.P. might be looking to kill airtime amd talk about this site. Ortiz said he’d study the site and call him back. Ortiz did. Joe explained this site isn’t exactly MSM and Ortiz said, “That’s just what I’m looking for. I don’t want to produce a show that’s just like everybody else. I’m looking for a different perspective.”

(Joe is confident his many displays of Carmella Garcia is what won over Ortiz.)

And Joe began weekly spots with J.P. to talk Bucs, often on Fridays.

It was those spots, and Joe’s content, that helped pique the interest of Clear Channel, which spawned Joe’s current exclusive working relationship that Joe has today.

Joe started with very little. He grew quickly thanks to Ortiz. Joe is a lot of things but being an ingrate isn’t one of them. Joe doesn’t forget when people help him out.

Ortiz has taken a position as a producer with The Sporting News Radio Network where he will enjoy a substancial raise. The only drawback is that Ortiz has to move to Houston. At least now, with a newborn baby son Dominic Brooks (named for Derrick Brooks), and his wife Karla, Big Poppy (that’s how Ortiz spells it) will now have health insurance for the star linebacker in Florida State’s recruiting class of 2029.

Strangely, Ortiz’s main duty will be as the executive producer for the Todd Wright Show, which is broadcast out of the St. Petersburg studios of WQYK, yet Ortiz will be moving from Pinellas County to Houston to produce a show broadcast from St. Petersburg.

Yeah, Joe knows. Odd.

At any rate, Big Poppy, Joe does not and will not forget. Joe will also keep in touch. Big Poppy is one of the true good guys in the media business. He’s a teddy bear of a guy. In a genre with posers and out-and-out con artists, two locally in particular that Joe won’t name, Ortiz is the polar opposite, just a genuine nice guy. Joe doesn’t know if Big Poppy has a cross word to say about anybody.

If anyone is in the neighborhood of Channelside Hooters this afternoon, there will be a going away party for Ortiz. Please stop by and say goodbye to Big Poppy.

He will be missed.

Now here’s a reason to click on this darn link to visit BucGear.com and buy a Gerald McCoy jersey:

Mark Dominik is negotiating to sign the defensive tackle rookie manbeast and doesn’t think Sam Bradford’s deal needs to get done first, so reports the Mad Twitterer, of the St. Pete Times.

Dominik said Tuesday that he is in ‘active negotiations,’ with McCoy’s agent, Ben Dogra, on either a five or six year deal.

Dogra’s firm, CAA, also represents Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford, the first overall pick by the Rams. Dominik dismissed the perception that Bradford must be signed before McCoy, who was selected third overall. But he admits Bradford’s deal could serve as a baseline for the market.

Who is Joe to quibble with Dominik thinking he can get a deal done with McCoy, the No. 3 pick, before Sam Bradford or Ndamukong Suh get signed?

Good luck, Dominik. Joe hopes it’s a swift process.

Bucs fans are getting buckled up for a painful season, and McCoy missing a chunk of training camp would surely make things feel worse.

The countdown to the start of Bucs training camp continues. Saturday is scheduled to be the first day. 

But looking across the NFL landscape, few first round draft picks have signed. Yet.

It’s a leverage tug-of-war between agents and owners. Agents are trying to get long-term deals for their clients. Cash-starved owners are trying to sign first round picks to shorter contracts.

This has not escaped the keen eyes of the TBO.com gang, specifically Anwar Richardson and Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune. In the latest TBO Bucs vlog, the duo discuss McCoy’s contract negotiations.

Just don’t expect him in camp for a few days.

First, Joe has to caution you: the audio in the vlog is not of a high quality so don’t go beating up your computer thinking it’s on the fritz. Second, is that some sort of Chad Pennington Jets shirt Richardson is wearing?

There’s going to be gobs and gobs of Donald Penn chatter in the coming days. Joe just hopes it’s not as ridiculous as the stuff St. Pete Times’ beat writer Rick Stroud, aka The Mad Twitter, is trying to sell today.

Fresh off an extended vacation, The Mad Twitterer tries to tell fans that left tackles won’t be in demand in 2011, in part because teams are pretty well set at that position.

But like any NFL team, the Bucs place a higher value on the left tackle position, especially after investing so much in Freeman.

The 2011 draft class is believed to be rich in left tackles and there could be more than 300 unrestricted free agents next year if a new collective bargaining agreement is reached. Only a handful of teams are expected to be in desperate need of a left tackle next year.

Joe suspects that rather than Stroud doing exemplary research on the subject of 2011 left tackles, he got this line of hooey from Bucs executives who are trying to scare Penn.

No reasonable football observer would dare publish leaguewide need at the left tackle position a year in advance, when guys routinely go down with injuries, lose their effectiveness and insist on getting paid more than their team will pay.

Of course, one year ago, no football expert would have predicted the Bucs would be concerned about their left tackle position because the team had a young, effective player at that spot.  

That would be Donald Penn.

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

With no more World Cup futbol/soccer and only baseball highlights to choose from, ESPN recently ran a three-day special on Jon Gruden’s days as the assistant offensive line coach at Carrollwood Day School.

It was much needed feel-good programming at a time when there isn’t much fooball news — unless it’s bad news.

ESPN went back to the gold mine that they got pre-draft, when their Monday Night Football star brought us four days of QB meetings he had with the top prospects in the draft. I anticipated that show greatly, as coaching the quarterback position is my passion as well, but nowhere near the same planet of passion as Gruden. Nobody can match that.  I enjoyed the peek inside the QB meeting room with these soon-to-be millionaires and was entertained, as well, but probably not for the same reasons as most.

Gruden became infamous because of his “Chucky” faces and profane sideline language, and now he is working with 14-18 year old young men.

There are sure to be a lot more “Jiminy Christmases” in his vocabulary now than his other well-known catchphrases on his pro practice fields and game sidelines. The “Jovial Jon” was certainly on display during the camera’s visit to the North Tampa campus and seemed to be on his best behavior, likely since it is the offseason and the game intensity isn’t turned up during these “mic’d up” sessions. 

If you ever wondered why some players might have grown weary of Gruden and turned their ears off over time, just listen to the total number of words that are said and the percentage that actually have something to do with the play or concept. 

Young guys can really be dazzled by the volume of words, but the older you get the more you look for substance over quantity. And all those words just become “blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada”.

After doing the QB segment before the draft, I bet Colt McCoy and his agent weren’t too happy about Gruden talking about him being extremely small or how hard his southern accent that is to understand. Neither of those things is football-related, as he lead Texas the national title game calling plays and he is just as tall as the current Super Bowl MVP.

Players can only handle so much between their ears. Too too much extraneous nonsense starts getting tuned out or taken offensively.

Two things stood out to me in the first installment of Gruden with the high schoolers. The first is just how much fluff is thrown out there (e.g. patting the blocking sled, telling it how well it did stopping two players from pushing it down the field). There is a fine line between coaching and demeaning players.

I have always said I liked John Robinson as a head coach because he could “call you out” for not getting your job done and pat you on the back when you corrected your mistake without ridiculing the player(s). Constant jawing, if it doesn’t help the player improve technique, can really wear players out. Old married guys can relate to this as their wives just keep talking and talking, even though they got the point long beforehand and turned the volume switch off long ago.

The second thing is Gruden’s offense, which the Bucs may be much closer to running these days than they were a year ago at this point.

Remember, in July and August of last year, Jeff Jagodzinski and Raheem Morris had decided to be a hard running and down-field passing play-action team. It wasn’t until September that the offense went into Greg Olson’s hands.

I’m not sure what the offensive verbiage was during last season, but they couldn’t haven changed all the language and lingo back just a couple days before the season.  Olson may now have a split between his Rams days in “The Greatest Show On Turf,” under Mike Martz’s timing offense, and his more recent time with Gruden’s version of the “West Coast Offense.”

Hearing Gruden try to get an offensive lineman to understand the concept of “razor and lazer” line calls was interesting, as you hear how closely the two sound and how they could be misheard with a little crowd noise. I’m sure the Bucs used “Razor” and “Lazer” calls on their way to the Lombardi Trophy, so missing those calls probably hasn’t been a big issue and everyone on the defensive line of the opposing team knows what those calls mean anyway, but rhyming words aren’t a great habit to make in calls at the line or in the huddle.

Not everyone can see the QB’s mouth in the huddle and could miss that first sound of the word. Other common calls are “Roger/Louie, Rip/Liz, Ricky/Lucky”.  Each of these calls tells a player to block left or right based on the first letter in the word.  As you see in the other examples, each word starts with an “L” or “R” for right or left, but ends with a different sound.  It only takes one person to hear “razor” when it was a “lazer” call to have bad things happen.

Anyway, the videos are great entertainment for guys that love the HBO “Hardknocks” series or anything football in July when programming is minimal. And checking in on the most famous high school assistant offensive line coach in the world every once in a while is pretty good stuff, too.

It’s Tuesday morning. In four days the Bucs will be sweating in the heat of a Florida summer sun at One Buc Palace and football season in the Tampa Bay area will unofficially be underway.

And Donald Penn will not be there.

The Bucs stud offensive left tackle, embroiled in a contract dispute with the Bucs, sat out all offseson workouts and the man who arguably was the Bucs best player last season may not show up for some time.

That’s the word from eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune as he Twittered a cautionary tale on the TBO Bucs Twitter feed that Penn won’t be around for some weeks.

Four days until players report and the Bucs have to be resigned to the likelihood that Donald Penn won’t be showing up for duty.

Frankly, Joe doesn’t expect Penn to show up either. Oh, he will return to the Bucs in time to play the opening game. Penn just won’t show up for two-a-days.

Joe can’t really say he blames Penn.

This is not a joke. And Joe thinks this is pretty cool.

A swanky Hollywood outfit is coming to town soon to shoot a new football tailgate chef reality TV show, and it needs people in the “audience” to act like crazy Bucs fans and gorge on barbecue.

Tough job, huh? Read below to get in the audience.

Just FOUR more days til the pads come on at training camp!

That makes Joe wonder, are the Bucs going to “sell out” the first practice or what? Jimminy Christmas! Where are all the football-starved fans? How are free tickets still available?

Now if you’re fired up for training camp like Joe, and you’re seeking a fun, in-depth (and free) look at the Bucs offense, look no further than former Bucs defensive end Steve White’s blog.

White, also a treasured JoeBucsFan.com analyst, calls it as he sees it, and he’s got some real interesting takes on Earnest Graham, the Bucs receiving corps and much more.

Here’s some of his tight ends breakdown:

The last few years Jerramy Stevens has been a fixture on offense. Last year however he might as well have been a hood ornament. On the one hand I lay blame at the feet of offensive coordinator Greg Olson who rarely used Stevens as a pass catching option, even in obvious situations near the goal line where he could have used his size and athleticism to out jump the defender. But on the other hand his blocking was piss poor. I mean it was frustrating to watch him get dominated game after game by defensive ends who weren’t much bigger than he was. I said it last year and I stand by it, the biggest problem with our running game wasn’t our offensive line, but instead it was our tight ends. Unfortunately Winslow is who he is, he ain’t gonna turn into a road grater over night. That means whomever backs him up is going to have to assume that role.

Maybe Stevens will come out with a better attitude this year and commit to being a dominant blocker. If he does that’s great. If not then its time to move on and let the next guy get a shot. I like John Gilmore but his technique was all screwed up last year. He obviously had the will to block but not the way. I think Ryan Purvis also has some potential as an inline blocker. I don’t really care who wins the job but SOMEBODY is going to have to be willing to put their face on people if we intend on running the ball this year.  Last year we kept three and I personally would rather the two after Winslow be big time blockers and good special teams guys.

Joe couldn’t agree more regarding Stevens. Aside from Joe hoping he never lives near one of his female relatives, Joe is doubtful that Stevens makes the team if Winslow proves to be as healthy as he was last year.

Olson doesn’t know how to use the King of Turds, and he is an absolute waste product on special teams and in the run game.

It seems Mark Dominik is about to ink yet another drafted player. Joe’s good friend Jason La Canfora, of NFL.com, is reporting via his Twitter feed that a deal with wide receiver Arrelious Benn is about to happen.

@JasonLaCanfora: Bucs making good progress with 2nd round pick Arrelious Benn. Deal could be done today. WR could start right away.

This is very good news in Joe’s eyes. Joe believes that Benn is a sleeper and it seems others do too. The sooner Benn can be signed, the better.

When Team Glazer decided the Bucs needed a youth movement and said goodbye to Bruce Almighty and Chucky, Mark Dominik was handed the franchise.

Like many men responsible for rebuilding the team, he decided to go the smart route and build through the draft.

This philosophy seems to get the nod of approval from one of Raheem the Dream’s predecessors, former Bucs secondary coach and NFL head coach Herm Edwards. Twittering Tuesday morning as he is wont to do, Herm wrote about the best way to build a team.

@greiner3:  what’s their best way to do it the draft or free agency?

@HermEdwardsESPN:  Build your foundation threw the draft& use FA as a filler.

That’s exactly what Dominik has preached for the past year but few are listening. Dominik wants to build the Bucs like Rich McKay did: good drafts and when the Bucs get over the hump, go out and get free agents to fill holes to have a team that competes for a Super Bowl year after year.

Two things Joe enjoys about sports are strategy and athletic ability. Also, the fact sports by and large is devoid of algebraic formulas also helps.

That’s what has saddened Joe about baseball, which Joe is also fond of. In the past decade or so, the calculator crowd has tried to take over the game. Why, if you don’t subscribe to their convoluted, made up stats like OBGYN or some such tripe, you are some ignorant neanderthal.

Yet, if the spreadsheeters actually knew as much about baseball as they would have people believe/conned, they’d all be drunk on their private beach in the Caymans with a harem of babes after having rendered Vegas bankrupt and broken.

In short, these guys suck the life out of baseball.

That’s why Joe is leery at times of the good guys at FootballOutsiders.com. They do some good stuff but tend to lean too heavily on made up stats.

Football, like baseball, is played on the field, not on Excel software. So Joe was dubious when he read a piece from Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune citing FootballOutsiders.com’s 2010 almanac, in which they claim the Bucs will finish with a .500 record.

The folks who put together Football Outsiders Almanac, a highly-detailed and well-researched volume that some NFL teams refer to regularly, have the unheralded Bucs winning eight games this year.

They base their conclusion on a number of factors, including a relatively soft schedule, the development of players and up down the roster and the belief that quarterback Josh Freeman will throw fewer interceptions.

This is where Joe has to do a Mike North and yell, “Time out… time out… time… !”

Exactly how is Josh Freeman supposed to make leaps and bounds when he has no running game to speak of and limited targets? Those targets will become thinner if Kellen Winslow’s knee can’t hold up for the full season, not an unlikely proposition.

At least last year Freeman had Antonio Bryant to throw to.

Softer schedule? OK, Joe buys that. And Joe also agrees the rest of the young Bucs will develop, but not in the 2010 season; not yet.

Bucs fans often debate what the team must accomplish to have a “successful” season in 2010.

Of course, coming off a 3-13 season and lacking proven talent and experience means expectations are low.

For many, ultimately, every season is all about the wins and losses. But improvement — or failure — won’t be that simple to measure, explains former Bucs defensive end Steve White, a JoeBucsFan.com analyst.

On his Passing On The Game blog, White touches on evaluting the Bucs’ improvement. He  explains that losing by single digits, as well as winning, will be important. Joe recommends you read his piece.

13, 13, 24, 19, 28, 31, 23,

No those aren’t the lottery numbers from last night.  Those are some of the margins of defeat from last year.  In 5 games we were outscored by 19 points or more. Twice that number was 28 or higher.

Joe agrees with White’s take.

And Joe might also express it this way: that for Raheem The Dream to keep his job the Bucs need to lose games because they are short on talent, not short on coaching, desire and preparation, which was far too often the case last year.