Stalinist BSPN and many other national media types are making a bid deal about Cowboys rookie wide reciever Dez Bryant refusing to abide by the rookie tradition of carrying fellow receiver Roy Williams’ sweaty pads after practice last night.

Joe couldn’t care less.

But Joe did see some commentary on the situation, and about rookie receivers in general, from Dallas Morning News columnist Tim Cowlishaw. He managed to dampen hopes of Bucs fans for Arrelious Benn and Michael Williams, and insult Michael Clayton in one paragraph.

Rookie wide receivers are mostly irrelevant figures in today’s NFL. Unless you have the unmatched skills of Randy Moss, unless you can pull off the total surprise of Tampa Bay’s Mark Clayton (never to be repeated), first-round picks just do not produce 1,000-yard totals in their rookie season.

Clayton’s been reduced to a trivia question and a guy who’s first name gets botched. These are humiliating times for the blocking icon.

As for Williams and Benn, as Joe has written before, if these guys grab 30+ balls each, show decent hands and make their share of big plays, Bucs fans should be quite happy. Don’t expect miracles from rookies.

You’ve all read THE PESSIMIST, who spews his Bucs-related anger like no other. But Joe also wants you to get to know THE OPTIMIST. 

THE OPTIMIST is Nick Houllis, a Bucs fan and an accomplished writer whose steadfast allegiance to the team goes back to the 1970s. Houllis is the founder, creator and guru of BucStop.com, a place Joe goes to get lost in time via Houllis’ stunning video collection.

THE OPTIMIST will shine that positive light in your eyes. Some will love it. Some won’t.

Now writing on a variety of websites, I find a common comment I get to my articles a little annoying. No matter what it is I’m saying about the Bucs, there will always be someone somewhere who feels the need to remind me that last year the Bucs won only three games.

“Anyway you look at it, this is a 3-13 team,” or something like that.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all against taking splits and counting them as is. I would never call the 2008 team an 0-4 team, nor would I call it a 9-3 team. They were 9-7; Jeff Garcia pretty much started each game, and you can’t really feel the team played that much different when Brian Griese started in his place.

Even though Luke McCown started a few games in 2007, it wasn’t that different of a team from Garcia’s to change the record of the ’07 Bucs; they were 9-7, too.

Well, let me tell you something, last year’s Bucs team had two different records because it was two different teams.

And NO, I don’t mean the team’s were split by their starting quarterbacks. You have the First team, which  was Byron Leftwich/Josh Johnson/Josh Freeman playing with Jim Bates’ defense, and then the Second team with Freeman and Raheem Morris as defensive coordinator.

You cannot even think about the 2010 Bucs’ chances against the Cleveland Browns and start thinking about the Josh Johnson-led Buccaneers playing against the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s just not the same team folks, and that is something a lot of people are going to have a hard time understanding; the difference.

The 1986 Bucs were a 2-14 team; they played the same way in the beginning and end of the season, and there was no mistaking the way they approached the game.

Last year, the Bucs teams that played the Saints and Seahawks would have easily handled the Redskins, Cowboys, and Panthers (at home), and probably would have fared a lot better against Buffalo, too.

Of course, you just can’t do that, this is the National Football League, and what you see is what you get.

There is going to be a Morris-led, Tampa-2 style defense taking the field in September that won’t be wondering ‘how do we play this new system?’ Instead, it will approach the gameplan like a defense that has been to war together before, and it should be better prepared than a 2009 Jim Bates defense to take over a Browns team that will look more similar to the ‘09 Bucs than anything else — a little green and a little like a team that only won a few games last year.

Joe took pause this weekend after reading the Tampa Tribune’s in-depth look at the declining health of the Buccaneers who played on the 1979 team that lost in the NFC Championship.

It’s sad that the NFL isn’t more aggressively taking care of these players.

How much the league should give and how much these guys’ problems are a result of football is up for debate. But it’s clear the NFL isn’t doing nearly enough.

The entire Broken Bucs feature package from the Tribune and TBO.com is quite good. Here’s just one excerpt that hit Joe in the gut.

A writer once described [Jimmy] Giles as having a Mack truck body and Corvette speed. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.45 seconds, remarkable for a 245-pound man. Now, 100 pounds heavier, he is unsure about walking to his mailbox.

His bad knees, four degenerative discs in his back and three in his neck are miserable reminders of a glorious but violent career. He finds relief in epidural injections. The Social Security Administration declared him disabled, but NFL doctors have repeatedly denied him disability benefits, saying he was capable of doing sedentary work.

Beyond the physical anguish, Giles forgets things. He abruptly shut down his financial services company in 2007 after becoming disoriented on the job.

“All of the sudden, one day, man, I couldn’t remember where in the heck I was,” said Giles, 55, who filed for bankruptcy in March. “I had to give that business up because it required a lot of thinking. I’m dealing with people … and their lives and fortunes.”

Giles estimates he had about a dozen concussions during his NFL career.

Had he known how his health would deteriorate, Giles, a four-time Pro Bowl player, wouldn’t have chased the NFL dream. “Absolutely would not play,” Giles said with conviction. “Absolutely would not.”

Ugly stuff.

About four years ago, Joe worked in an office with a 40-something former NFL player who played eight seasons and had a very solid career. This guy was in A+ shape, but he had one problem. He walked very gingerly, like a man 35 years older might move. 

One day, Joe asked him if he was OK. He replied, “I’m fine. That’s just playing on turf in the NFL.”

Joe knows there are Bucs fans outside Florida that read him. So Joe has good news, sort of.

Per Michael Hiestand, of USA Today, the NFL is set to announce today that for a nominal fee, all NFL preseason games not broadcast on a national network will be streamed live on NFL.com next month.

The NFL Network and NFL.com, says spokesman Dennis Johnson, will formally announce today that preseason games will air live online for the first time. Through a $40 subscription package, NFL.com will stream 54 games live, not including 11 games on national TV. NFLN airs 10 preseason games live.

Now Joe knows the NFL Network broadcasts all NFL preseason games on a tape-delay basis. Still for reasons Joe cannot comprehend nor fathom, some people actually prefer to have low-rent cable operations that don’t carry the NFL Network. Sad but true.

Joe can understand women not wanting the NFL Network, but if someone born with male genitalia does not have the NFL Network, they truly need to turn in their man card.

Happy Bucs fans and frustrated Bucs fans all have one thing in common: they’d love to be sporting a Gerald McCoy jersey.

So quit procrastinating and order a McCoy jersey today from Buccaneer Heaven. It’ll show up at your door before you know it — just in time to make you forget last season.

Not only is Buccaneer Heaven the official merchandiser of JoeBucsFan.com. It’s a longtime Tampa company completely dedicated and devoted to the fans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There’s no reason to shop at the mall or at NFL.com when you can give your money to the good guys and big-time Bucs fans at Buccaneer Heaven.

If this is truly the final season for Ronde Barber, Peter King believes he will finish his NFL career without a trip to the playoffs.

Bucs fans, if you have cleared your January weekends in hopes the Bucs make the playoffs, start making other plans.

Why? Because Peter King says so.

The vaunted Sports Illustrated reporter returned over the weekend to type his must-read “Monday Morning Quarterback” column and listed the Bucs as three NFL teams that have no shot at a postseason berth.

Today is time for hope. I tweeted the other day the reason this is such a fun time is because 32 teams think they have a chance to make the playoffs right now, and I think about 28 actually do. (Scratch St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Buffalo and probably Cleveland, though I guess it’s possible Jake Delhomme can be reborn and the Browns could eke out nine wins.) Detroit? Kansas City? Seattle? Not dead at all. They can all throw the ball, and all have made some defensive progress.

While Joe believes the Bucs will be better off down the road, there’s going to be a lot of growing pains for so many rookies the Bucs are banking on to succeed this season.

Yesterday on Tampa Bay Sports Central hosted by local electronic sports media czar J.P. Peterson, seen locally on WTOG-TV Channel 44, virtually the entire episode was devoted to former Bucs quarterback Shaun King.

The former star of Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg lived his dream being able to quarterback the Bucs. King joked about how he used to sneak out of his dad’s church services on SUndays (his father was a Baptist minister) so King could watch Bucs road games on TV (home games were virtually always blacked out in those days).

But amid his dream was a nightmare, Trent Dilfer. King, smartly, didn’t completely go off on Dilfer during the interview but it was clear that the two, despite at one time also being colleagues at BSPN, do not exchange Christmas cards.

“He wasn’t very helpful,” King chuckled about the Bucs former interception machine. In short, Dilfer saw King as a threat to his job and as a result, offered little to no assistance to the rookie, who indeed did unseat Dilfer.

Maybe if Dilfer didn’t create more turnovers than a Publix bakery, he wouldn’t have had to worry about King. Instead of worrying about his own putrid play, Dilfer was apparently worried about King. That may explain some things.

Interestingly, Peterson added that Dilfer was not a pleasant guy to deal with from a media perspective in his final years with the Bucs.

King also noted that Dilfer was so thin-skinned, he would be giddy prior to kickoff of home games when Dilfer would learn the defense, and not the offense, would be announced over the public address system in pregame ceremonies. This way, Dilfer wouldn’t be booed by the fans.

Joe finds it galling that Dilfer seemed more concerned about the fans’ reaction to him than, say, that day’s gameplan. How the fans react to you shouldn’t even been on your brain prior to a game!

Later in his Bucs days, King was told that he would no longer be a starter, after he succeeded Dilfer, when the Bucs acquired Brad Johnson.

“I remember that more than I remember the NFC Championship,” King said, referring to the infamous Bert Emmanuel catch/non-catch that may have cost the Bucs a trip to the Super Bowl.

King went on to laud Johnson as being “a great guy” and a solid teammate and King has absolutely no ill feelings toward Johnson.

“I learned a lot from Brad.”

King told Peterson that when he came out of Tulane University, he thought he was going to be drafted by the 49ers in the first round. That didn’t happen and he had a hunch the Bucs might draft him in the second round, which actually came true.

King was so excited when Father Dungy called him on draft day and asked him if he was ready to be a Bucs quarterback, King “threw the phone against the wall” and never was able to answer Father Dungy nor did King hear another word that Father Dungy said.

“I never thought I could be a cheerleader but at that moment, I would have made a major college cheerleading squad,” King said.

Another interesting nugget was that King damned near went to the University of Tennessee. He was about to sign with the Volunteers but balked when he realized Peyton Manning was the quarterback and even at that time, King knew he wouldn’t see the field much with Manning barking signals.

The other day Joe scoffed at those who are so sure Donald Penn will be at training camp this week and ready for opening day.

Now uber columnist Gary Shelton, of the St. Pete Times, has joined the ranks of those who believe Penn’s once inflated now shrunken stomach has enough strength left to skip the preseason.

Shelton opined about Vegas odds and the Bucs today, and he tossed in his own over-under line on Penn arriving at One Buc Palace.

Bodog wouldn’t put a line on it, but I think Donald Penn reports to camp Sept. 3.

Sept. 3 is the day after the Bucs final exhibition game in Houston.

Joe hopes Freeman’s ready to run for his life during the preseason.

Six days from the start of Bucs training camp and Joe can almost smell the sweat. This week, Joe’s going to bring you quite a few previews, both team and position. In this BSPN video, Trey Wingo, Cris Carter and Eric Allen break down the NFC South.

Carter, in short, believes Raheem the Dream has to rely on his coaching roots for the Bucs to be successful.

"Support is not going to come from the average fan," Raheem The Dream told The Tampa Tribune.

Raheem The Dream is back talking to the media again, as the MSM revs up for the start of training camp on Saturday. (Joe, conversely, is revved up 24/7 in a never ending quest to serve JoeBucsFan.com readers.)

Good guy Anwar Richardson, part of the Bucs beat team at The Tampa Tribune, caught up with Raheem The Dream and seemingly asked him a pointed question about fan support for his young squad coming off a putrid season.

Raheem The Dream delivered one of his trademark nearly non-sensical answers.

With only one week of training camp open to the public this year, Morris is not concerned about Bucs fans jumping off the bandwagon. Instead, he plans to use last year’s struggles as motivation for his players and to regain fan support.

“The support is not going to come from the average fan. The support is going to come from the Buccaneer lover,” Morris said. “The 3-13 will help us thrive. The 3-13 is what’s going to make us. The 3-13 is what we’re going to look at, set examples for, and go out and really punish people for it.”

Joe loves Raheemspeak season almost as much as he loves football season.

So what’s the head coach trying to say, that the average Bucs fan won’t get that the Bucs are rebuilding with a bunch of talented, unproven guys and therefore won’t support the team?

Hey, Rah, take Joe’s advice, when you’re inevitably asked about fan support again, try sticking with a response that explains how you know fans will support this team once they see how violent, talented and dynamic it is on both sides of the ball. Or talk about how the support will come quickly because you’re going to win more games and fans will quickly see that this team is way more mature and intense than it was last year, from the head coach to the guys at the end of the bench.

And there’s always the other option, Rah, just stop talking.

Hollywood got on the phone to Joe seeking crazed Bucs tailgate chefs for a new TV show.

So Joe is doing his part to make you famous. Read the details below. This is totally legitimate. There’s an open casting call this Sunday and Monday at Mugs Grill & Bar in Clearwater. …Be there. Joe also recommends you e-mail ahead, BackyardBlitzcasting@gmail.com, to possibly get a leg up on the competition.

Joe’s got a quick trivia question for you.

Who led the Bucs in solo tackles among defensive linemen in 2009?

[Insert Jeopardy music]. … OK. The answer is Tim Crowder. Yes, defensive end Tim Crowder, the former Broncos second-round pick who was snatched off the scrap heap last September after being cut by Denver.

Now Crowder, who just turned 25, impressed Joe with his motor and athleticism. The guy sure seemed like a solid backup end with good potential.

But in a feature penned by the St. Pete Times’ Stephen Holder today about the Bucs defensive line, Raheem The Dream’s published quotes omit Crowder and appear to label him a forgotten man. 

“You look at it and you have Roy, you have Kyle Moore, you have Brian Price and you have Gerald McCoy,” Morris said. “I’m not saying those are the only guys who are going to play, but that’s a nice core group of guys who can grow together.”

With the Bucs reporting for training camp Friday, the hope is that these linemen are mature enough to push each other and shorten their learning curves at a position that requires patience. Morris said he saw evidence of that in Miller and Moore last season as rookies.

“Kyle Moore had some growth and development to do,” Morris said. “His background and his serious demeanor coming from a winning program (USC), all those things kicked in, and you saw it at the end of last year and going into this offseason. Hopefully it keeps going on that upward (trend) for these guys because, you know as well as I know, not too many D-linemen come in this league and right off the bat become immediate contributors.”

Joe’s glad everything “kicked in” for Moore, so says Raheem The Dream. Joe assumes this was after Moore got past his habit of snoozing through meetings.

So where was Crowder in that Holder story? Not a mention at all by Raheem The Dream or Holder.

Former Bucs defensive lineman Steve White, a JoeBucsFan.com analyst, months ago predicted Crowder could be on the outside looking in entering the 2010 season. So it goes for guys like him, White explained in a detailed analysis of Crowder’s season and immediate future.

You would think that after the strong season Crowder turned in as a backup and with the injury to starter Jimmy Wilkerson, that he would be a lock to be on the roster next season. But having been a backup for most of my career, I can tell you that he is probably still on the bubble more than most fans would think.

For one thing the Bucs drafted Kyle Moore last year out of USC and they are probably going to be pushing him to get playing time this season. For another, its been widely acknowledged that we have to upgrade our defensive line. That means you can expect the Bucs to bring in some more ends either via free agency or the draft. And one thing you never can know or control as a player is how one of those other guys will perform.

It sickens Joe that there’s so much ego in the coaching/GM ranks that a guy like Moore is going to be all but gift-wrapped a starting job because he was a fourth-round pick of the present regime, versus an “outsider” like Crowder, who’s just one year older and seems more deserving. And by no means is it just the Bucs who have that attitude when it comes to players.

Joe just hopes Raheem The Dream runs the best starter out at left end on opening day.

In April, Joe was excited when Mark Dominik drafted a pair of wide receivers, Arrelious Benn and Mike Williams, in the second and fourth round respectively.

What Joe has found interesting is it seems Williams is getting all the run and not Benn. This phenomenon continues as Vacation Man, i.e. Pat Yasinskas of BSPN.com, writing in a recent NFC South chat, also lauds Williams.

Corey (D.C.)
I keep reading positive things about WR Mike Williams. Based on pure ceiling potential, who would you take between him and Benn?

Pat Yasinskas 
Both have high ceilings. Really liked what I saw out of Williams in offseason workouts. Seems like he can be a big play guy. But I’ll give you a better answer after I see them in pads. I’ve seen a lot of WRs look great in offseason workouts and disappear when it really matters.

Now Joe is not about to dispute what Pat Yaz, and many others, have written about Williams. But Joe just finds it odd that Benn has all but been forgotten.

Many have written about how Williams “looks” in offseason workouts, but people easily forget that football is not played in shorts and T-shirts. This may be one reason why Williams stood out: offseason workouts in shorts are glorified flag football, thus, it’s easy for one to stand out showing flash as opposed to one being physical.

Joe knows the following and it greatly intrigued Joe: In speaking with an out-of-town football writer this past week, said writer had talked to an NFC South coach not with the Bucs (Joe won’t mention the coach or the team as to blow the coach’s cover), and said defensive coach told the writer Joe spoke with that his team expects Benn to have “an impact immediately.”

Just file that little nugget away for, say, November, to see if this particular coach was trying to con a writer or if he was being sincere.

If Benn really does have an immediate impact, it’s just another example of not jumping to conclusions watching NFL players practice in shorts.

Davin Joseph and the Bucs offensive line should be better this season.

Prior to last season, Joe was confident the Bucs had a damned good offensive line and the unit was on the verge of becoming a dominant force.

Instead, the line greatly regressed amid the nightmare of a 3-13 campaign.

Part of this was likely due to the fact the Bucs were trying to implement some zone blocking, which is difficult to learn and takes time. The Bucs struggled as a result.

But eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune points a finger at the firing of former Bucs offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski prior to the start of the 2009 season, a move Kaufman suggests the Bucs never recovered from.

Jagodzinski’s abrupt dismissal as offensive coordinator of the Buccaneers on the brink of the 2009 season opener left a young line dazed and confused. The results were predictably disastrous as the Bucs went 3-13, failing to establish an offensive identity under Greg Olson, hastily promoted from quarterbacks coach to replace Jagodzinski.

With Tampa Bay players due to report to training camp Friday, the offensive line has new focus.

“We’ve got our offense in now,” line coach Pete Mangurian said. “It’s our offense … it’s not this guy’s or that guy’s. It’s our offense, and we’ve spent a lot of time doing that. Greg and I have spent a whole year together. My job is to make happen what Greg Olson wants to happen.”

Joe cannot believe the Bucs offensive line won’t be better this season. As Joe has pointed out several times, he’s very much underwhelmed with the Bucs rushing attack and that cannot be pinned on the Bucs offensive line solely.

Like Joe wrote yesterday, if Donald Penn, Jeff Faine, Davin Joseph and Jeremy Trueblood found themselves unemployed this morning, they’d be with another team by nightfall.

The national media assessments of the Bucs keep ranging from bad to worse.

Randy Cross, of NFL Radio and NationalFootballPost.com, thinks Tampa Bay is the worst team in the league. Adam Schein of FoxSports.com mocks the Bucs as the worst organization in the NFL. Mike Lombardi, of NFL.com, claims hope is a year away. And now John Clayton, “The Professor” of BSPN, flat out called the Bucs a bad team during an interview with The Fabulous Sports Babe on WHBO-AM on Friday.

Raheem is a “bright young coach with a bad young team,” Clayton said. “There are not enough players to speed up the process to getting better.”

Clayton went on to express his confidence in Raheem The Dream continuing the strides he made with the Bucs defense after the heinous Jim Bates Experiment, but Clayton doesn’t expect the Bucs to move the ball consistently. “Is there going to be enough offense?” he asked passionately and rhetorically.

Joe hates to pour negativity over the heads of Bucs fans, but the only thing Joe can disagree with Clayton on is Raheem The Dream being a “bright young coach.”

There’s just not enough evidence or wins yet to justify that assessment. Although Joe clings to hope that Raheem The Dream has it in him to turn things around.

There are quite a few Bucs that should be concerned about their immediate futures. Linebacker Barrett Ruud, for example, is in the last year of his contract amid rumblings from some circles that he’s not an elite middle linebacker.

Cadillac Williams may be under a little pressure, as the jury is still out if he can get through another season on his reconstructed knees.

So Joe found it a bit surprising that Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports, in a list of NFL players under the most pressure, has included Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman.

20. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, QB Josh Freeman

In Detroit, Matthew Stafford showed people enough that the fans are starting to believe they finally have an answer at quarterback. Same goes for Jets’ Mark Sanchez. As for Freeman, the third of three first-round picks in the 2009 draft, the Bucs did a good job to get Freeman 10 games of action last season, which he desperately needed. The problem now is that the Bucs haven’t done as good a job as the Lions and Jets of surrounding their young QB with offensive talent. That means that Freeman (and the Bucs fans) must be patient. Fortunately, Freeman is a kid with his head on straight and has a good family foundation to get him through tough times. But there’s no question, it’s going to be a test.

Joe is surprised by this. While Cole is absolutely correct in that Freeman doesn’t have much to work with (this year) as Stafford and Sanchez, in Joe’s eyes this doesn’t or shouldn’t put any pressure on Freeman.

It’s not like anyone is expecting a playoff run this year. So why should there be any pressure on Freeman? Greg Olson, yeah, he should be under pressure if Freeman doesn’t progress.

Freeman shouldn’t be under any pressure this season.

In what is sure to be a comment extraordinarily overblown by Bucs fans that cheered the departure of Antonio Bryant, Chris Mortensen, of BSPN, informed his Twitter followers last night that Bryant had knee problems this offseason.

When I mentioned watch for Bengals & TO earlier, one factor to watch is Antonio Bryant, whose knee was still a problem this off-season.

Now Joe doesn’t know Mortensen’s source, but surely Bryant’s knee history is an open book. One can refresh his memory on that by reading Bryant’s own chilling explanation of his knee problems.

Joe can say that Bryant participated fully during Bengals’ OTA sessions and received rave reviews for his veratility, per the Cincinnati Enquirer, whose archives don’t mention Bryant’s knee being a problem this offseason.

Kellen Winslow’s got permanent knee problems, as do many successful players.

Joe still would have kept Bryant in Tampa to provide stability and playmaking ability for the Bucs’ young quarterback.

Bucs fans concerned that manbeast Gerald McCoy might not sign with Tampa Bay before training camp as part of a sinister ownership plan to squeeze rookies seeking outrageous paydays need not worry one bit, so says “The Professor,” John Clayton, one of the senior NFL analysts at BSPN.

Speaking today on The Fabulous Sports Babe show on WHBO-AM, Clayton shrugged off any notion there would be a rash of draft picks unsigned come Aug. 1.

“The owners didn’t spend money in the offseason. All the money is sitting there to sign the draft choices,” Clayton said. This should be “no different” than any other season, he said.

Clayton spoke on a variety of topics. And Joe will bring you his take on Raheem The Dream tomorrow.

Joe was intrigued by Clayton’s confidence that NFL owners will approve an 18-game season later this summer. He was certain that owners have the votes to pass it. And he said he was quite sure players would embrace “swapping a $1,000 a week preseason game check for veterans for a game check,” which would represent “roughly a 14 percent pay increase.”

Joe would love an 18-game season, even though it surely would shorten careers and likely affect the quality of the product.

Joe laughs every time he hears fans say that Donald Penn will be in training camp or that Penn would never sit out part of the 2010 season.

Why, for some, is it so hard to believe Penn might have the stomach and desire to sit out?

First off, Penn should not be broke. He earned $2.8 million last year. And he couldn’t have eaten that much food.

Second, no fans, or even media, can say they know what makes Penn tick. Is he a gambler? Many people are. Today alone there will be tens of thousands combined at Derby Lane,  the Hard Rock casino and other wagering outlets in the Bay area putting their money on the line.

Penn might look at Demar Dotson and Josh Freeman and like his odds of squeezing the Bucs for a better contract by waiting to report. Maybe even waiting as long as Week 3 of the season to sign his $3 million+ tender.

If he sits out that long, he spares his body the risks and wear of training camp and preseason, and he forfeits roughly $600,000 in pay (before taxes).  The Bucs have a bye in Week 4, and perhaps Penn is giddy at the thought of earning $2.5 million for three months of work and a crack at unrestricted free agency.

Joe has no clue what Penn’s going to do. But Joe knows he wouldn’t bet a dime that Penn’s in training camp.