Most Bucs fans, even those still with a blind rage against Bucs coach Raheem Morris, have warmed to Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman.

The way Freeman only tossed six interceptions while leading the Bucs to many last-minute wins and a race-to-10 was impressive.

But maybe not as impressive as what he is projected to be.

Jason Lisk of Joe’s proud Big Lead Sports Network partner, TheBigLead.com, decided to go all baseball stat geek on Freeman to try to gauge whether he is a good quarterback.

After number crunching quarterbacks in their second year as a starter, Freeman’s totals, manufactured in Lisk’s contrived, convoluted calculations (which bored Joe so much that Joe longed for the days he once covered zoning board meetings), are better than the following quarterbacks:

Michael Vick, Jay Cutler, Brett Favre, Kerry Collins, Joe Flacco, Boomer Esiason, Peyton Manning, Byron Leftwich, Bernie Kosar and John Elway.

All but one of those quarterbacks led their teams to a conference championship game. Of course three of those quarterbacks, Favre, Manning and Elway would go on to win Super Bowl rings.

So going by the spreadsheets, Freeman will lead the Bucs to a conference championship game someday, and perhaps beyond.

"Wash, I said sacks not sucks."

The Seahawks apparently liked what they saw from Todd Wash’s body of work with the Bucs and have made him their new defensive line coach, the NFC West champs announced this week.

Wash’s nude photos of  ties to Seattle defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, and Pete Carroll’s connections with Monte Kiffin, likely had something to do with Wash landing the new gig.

The Bucs have yet to name a replacement.

This will be such a critical hire for the Bucs. There’s a great chance 25-year-old Tim Crowder will be the elder statesman of the young 2011 D-line, if Stylez White is gone and the Bucs draft defensive end(s).

Joe would almost love to see the Bucs go back to two D-line coaches to make sure maximum attention is given to this young group that Wash was hardly turning into monsters.

Joe noticed that the colorful fellows at PewterReport.com found a mystery source to tell them that the Bucs offered Wash a multi-year contract to stay in his position.

Always skeptical of unnamed sources, Joe can’t fathom that the Bucs were courting Wash. Didn’t somebody see the defensive ends combine for just 10 1/2 sacks, hole after hole open up in the running game, and hear Gerald McCoy explain that he didn’t know how to play through the first five games?

Joe reminds all his readers to use Paradise Worldwide Transportation for their needs locally and around the country. 

Classy and affordable, for the airport or a night out, Paradise is going to be on-time and provide a professional chauffeur for the ultimate in service and style.

Locally owned, Paradise Worldwide Transportation is the official transportation provider for the Tampa Bay Lightning and all St. Pete Times Forum events. Plus they’re great guys and big Bucs fans, and deserve a big round of applause for making this season’s Blackout Tour fun and affordable.

Do the smart thing, and use Paradise Worldwide Tranportation.

Will he or won’t he? The question of whether Ronde Barber will return to the Bucs in 2011 really hasn’t been answered.

Earlier this week, Raheem Morris boasted Barber would indeed return.

Then, texting with Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune, Barber didn’t say “no,” but hinted announcing a return would be premature.

Now, talking to Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times, Barber said the final decision on whether he returns doesn’t come from Raheem and it doesn’t come from himself.

Rather, the man who will make the ultimate call is Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik.

“I just haven’t spoken to Mark (Dominik) about next year yet. I’m certain I will soon, though. Rah’s intentions are very clear though and I would be lying if I thought otherwise at this point. But nothing is done.”

In many recent interviews, Dominik has gone on record as saying his greatest tool in evaluating players is “the eye in the sky,” otherwise known as video tape. Judging by that, no question Barber can continue to play.

But what will Barber’s asking price be? And will Dominik believe it’s fair value for a senior citizen of a cornerback?

Joe thought the cool thing that Barber said, in what Joe took as a veiled shot at attention-starved Brett Favre, was that Barber explained he doesn’t want to “create any drama.”

Joe doesn’t give play by play on the legal mess of the potential NFL lockout of players on these here pages. But Joe is paying attention, and lawyer turned NFL guru Mike Florio, of ProFootballTalk.com, delivers easy-to-understand coverage of the situation.

Yesterday, Florio churned out what seems to be a plausible scenario: the owners won’t lock out the players in March and, subsequently, will pain them into a corner.

Last year, lawyer David Cornwell was the first to suggest that the NFL’s plan won’t be to launch a work stoppage.  Instead, Cornwell explained that the league will declare an impasse in the talks and impose on the players the terms of the last, best offer made by management.  The players, who have been accusing the NFL of trying to take football away from the fans, would then have to decide whether to accept the rules or to go on strike, which would amount to the players taking football away from the fans.

Joe finds this very exciting from a Bucs fan perspective. Joe’s not sure the player’s have the stomach and the unity to go on strike, which means a better chance of football continuing uninterrupted.

Look, Joe just wants to to see the football season run smoothly. The rich guys on all sides should be able to figure out how to carve up the many billions and take care of the players left disabled by the game.

At noon today, Florio will interview NFL chief labor attorney Rob Batterman on his Internet radio show. It can be accessed at ProFootballTalk.com. Surely, this possible tactic by owners will be explored.

Hold up! The news that Ronde Barber will again suit up for the Bucs in the 2011 season — if there is a 2011 season — may be a bit premature.

That’s the word from the man himself, Ronde Barber.

Yesterday, Joe brought word that Bucs coach Raheem Morris loudly, proudly boasted Barber would come back. But Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune actually got a hold of Barber, via text, and while Barber hasn’t closed the door on the return, he hasn’t made his mind up quite yet.

“That’s just my good buddy, Rah, being my good buddy, Rah,” Barber said in a text message. “You know for a fact that he wants me back. I haven’t said no, that’s for sure.”

Barber admitting he wants to come back probably made his agent spit out his coffee. Barber’s not a dumb man. By playing hard to get, he’ll put himself in a better bargaining position.

In a significant move to ramp up season ticket sales, Team Glazer has signed off on cheaper prices and discounted parking and food for season ticket holders. 

The Bucs announced the move today and posted all the new deals on their website. Team Glazer says it’s responding to their beloved throngs of Bucs lovers.

“Our organization has spent a lot of time listening to our fans at this time when our team is thriving and our economy is not.  As a result, we are now offering several pricing changes in response to our community’s needs,” said Buccaneers Co-Chairman Joel Glazer in a release issued by the team.

Part of the new pricing is a slashing of youth seats in the upper deck on the east side of the stadium. Kids tickets are now half the price of their adult counterparts. The cheapest seats remain at $35 ($17.50 now for kids), and better ones nearby were cut considerably down to $52 and $26 for kids (medium blue in the image).

The excuse that you can’t get a decent seat at a reasonble price is now out the window. A father and son, for example, can now sit on the 50 yard line in the upper deck — and park — for less than $100 a game.

Joe’s been informed that the Bucs’ monthly payment plans apply to all season tickets. So the regular guy who just wants to get into the games can cut back on the pornography and midnight fast-food runs and use the savings to pay the Bucs monthly.

At this point, Joe’s not sure what else Team Glazer can do — beyond significant cuts to single-game pricing — and still remain intelligent businessmen. The Bucs are coming off a 10-6 season and they’ve got big time firepower in the offense, plus a great home schedule and the economy has improved.

It will be a truly sad day if the 2011 home opener is blacked out.

One of the Bucs’ big offseason questions seems to be answered.

Not mincing words, Raheem Morris said Bucs icon and soon-to-be free agent Ronde Barber will be returning to start at cornerback for the 2011 season. Morris apparently chatted about this with St. Pete Times beat writer Rick Stroud in Orlando today.

“He’s playing. Now it’s just a matter of what he’s playing for. I’m really confident that he’s playing and I feel great about it.

“It’s just a matter of deciding how much he’s worth and all that. But our starting right cornerback will be back. He’ll be our starting right corner as long as he keeps playing at a high level. “

As recently as last week on the air with J.P. Peterson on 1010 AM, Barber said he was unsure of his return. But Barber did say he felt suprisingly great and came through the season without getting too banged up.

These works from Raheem should kill the goofy chatter about the Bucs making a play for stud free agent corner Nnamdi Asomugha, as Joe wrote about earlier today.

It seems though that Barber now has the Bucs over a barrel in contract negotiations. The head coach is on the record saying he’s coming back. That’s a tough one to back out on over money.

With literally hundreds more  free agents than usual on the market this offseason, and a possible long delay of unrestricted free agency because of a player lockout  in March, it’s nearly impossible to predict how free agency will play out in 2011.

Instead of signing guys in March, teams could be scrambling in August or September to interview and sign players in a super small time window.

Players could end up jumping at offers faster for fear of missing out, and teams might be throwing mad money around if there’s a higher salary cap, a rookie pay scale and massive time pressure to build a roster.

Crazy fun times are coming, for sure.

But before that happens and players and owners reach some sort of new labor agreement, NFL clubs can re-sign their own players before the expected March lockout.

Gregg Rosenthal, of ProFootballTalk.com, notes that the Seahawks already have re-signed two receivers.

NFL teams can hide behind waiting for a labor agreement before making plans for 2011, but it’s ultimately a copout.  The Seahawks are proof.  They’ve already re-signed receivers Mike Williams and Ben Obomanu to long-term deals this month.

During a postseason interview on WDAE-AM 620, Mark Dominik acknowledged that locking up some free-agent-to-be Bucs before a lockout was being considered.

Logistically, one would think the Bucs would be wise to try. Why run the risk of losing key players in the wild frenzy of what will be 2011 free agency? Per the Tampa Tribune, the Bucs have 13 unrestricted free agents and more that are restricted. What a challenge it would be to negotiate with all those agents and check out players on other teams in a very tight timetable.

Joe wouldn’t be shocked at all if the Bucs make a play this winter on the guys they absolutely want back. Joe would think Cadillac Williams and Micheal Spurlock would be on the short list.

The Bucs race to 10 was so improbable, Joe, sober, actually thought he had a shot at Rachel Watson.

[Post intermission: Joe has learned Rachel now goes by the legal name of “Rachel Clark” and sports a monstrous piece of ice on her hand. Sigh!]

The Bucs had their biggest turnaround in franchise history and became only the 15th team in the last 20 years to post such a turnaround.

History suggests a let down next year, documents eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.

The Bucs are one of only 15 teams since 1990 to improve by at least seven wins from the previous season. Out of that group, only the 1997 New York Jets managed to increase their win total again the next season, so Tampa Bay players and coaches will be dealing with a daunting legacy in 2011.

The other 14 clubs all went backward by varying degrees after their big surge and teams such as the 2006 Ravens, 2001 Bears and 1998 Falcons fell by at least eight wins in the season after their huge jump.

One reason the Bucs were able to do a virtual 180 from the 2009 dreadful season was taking advantage of the abysmal NFC West. That was a virtual lock of three wins right there.

The Bucs have a tougher schedule next year. So winning 10 or even 11 this season — provided there is a 2011 season — will be a formidable challenge.

The positive way to look at this would be the Bucs should learn from their choke jobs against the Dixie Chicks (twice) and the Lions. Throw in the fact that all the injured players should be healthy, if there is a season, 10 wins may not be out of the question.

Sometimes Bucs fans crack Joe up.

The race to 10 was barely hours old and all of a sudden the name Nnamdi Asomugha started appearing in the comments of this here site as if the man himself said he’d work for free in Tampa Bay.

Joe’s not sure how it got started, where it got start or who started it, but it’s now like a runaway train, despite the premise being as logical as Joe choosing the lucky lady between Rachel Watson, Jamie Hanna or Nina Stauffer who he will bed with tonight.

This crazy rumor has even reached the e-mail in-box of Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune who similarly dismissed the notion, as well he should.

Q: Should the bucs get Nnamdi Asomugha in free agency to play along side Aqib Talib I then think they would have two shut down cornorbacks. then I think you could put more in the box to help the run defense

Eddie Turks, Alton, Ill.

A: Adding Asomugha would be great, but the Bucs believe they have two very good young corners in E.J. Biggers and Myron Lewis. There’s also a good chance they’ll have Ronde Barber back for next year, so I don’t see them making a play for Asomugha.

— Woody Cummings

Joe just doesn’t know where to start with this rumor. Generally, if a team is going to throw a wad of cash at a player, it’s generally a position of need. Secondary may be the Bucs’ deepest position on the team. Only Matt Millen would go out of his way to get a stud free agent at a position said player is not needed.

As Cummings points out, if Barber comes back, where does Asomugha play, is Aqib Talib to be benched?

The Bucs need help — some would suggest dire help — at linebacker and there is no question defensive end is an area of concern. Cornerback is not one of these areas.

Also, when is the last time Team Glazer broke the bank for a young free agent, Simeon Rice? How many years has that been, nine, 10?

Additionally — for reasons unknown to Joe  —  fans just will not accept it and choose to ignore it despite it being the elephant in the room — it’s foolish to go all George Steinbrenner on a player if no one knows what the salary cap will be when the CBA is agreed upon. Foolish unless one doesn’t have a problem painting themselves into a salary cap corner.

Sure, Dan Snyder will go out and throw his bankrupt Six Flags money at a player — is this the type of owner Team Glazer should pattern itself after? When’s the last time Dan Snyder’s team won a playoff game despite him throwing money all over creation?

Jerry Jones is also unafraid to spend money on free agents. When has he last won a playoff game?

The Steelers don’t go out and buy free agents. All that team does is win Lombardi trophies.

If one still believes the Bucs will sign Asomugha, Joe will let you have the leftovers between the three aforementioned lasses when Joe’s through with them.

In one of his many postseason radio interviews on WDAE-AM 620, Raheem Morris said Quincy Black is a player “I covet.”

Joe’s ears perked up when Raheem briefly singled out Black. That was strong love for a player who has never proven himself for a season and will soon be an unrestricted free agent.

Raheem likes to rush Black off the edge on third down, but Joe expects that would change signifcantly if the Bucs pursue new defensive ends, which appears to be a priority of Mark Dominik.

Black obviously is a physical specimen who has done great work on special teams over the years. But Joe isn’t buying his overall value as a linebacker. Surely, Black isn’t much against the run.  

If Raheem truly covets Black, Joe expects other teams would, too. Heck, Bucs castoff linebacker Matt McCoy was on the field making plays for Seattle the past couple of weeks. 

But Joe can only see the Bucs getting into a modest bidding war for Black if they were to lose Adam Hayward in free agency first. Special teams and depth at linebacker would take a big hit without both of those guys.

Also, the combo of Dakoda Watson and Hayward surely didn’t have Joe pining for Black after he was lost for the season with a broken arm in Washington.

THE OPTIMIST says paying out the nose for a free agent like the Bears did for Julius Peppers could be catastrophic for the Bucs.

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

Let’s hope Bucs fans don’t have complete amnesia after this successful 2010 season. I’m concerned by the grumblings I’m hearing/reading about the front office’s recent comments regarding free agents in 2011. As in, there won’t be many, if any at all.

How anyone can find fault in that is beyond me, given what we learned about our team this past season.

The Bucs came out in the 2010 offseason and said straight up: We will NOT be getting expensive free agents this season. Instead the Bucs picked up players via the draft and other formats, and struck gold with them.

They didn’t do that as a stop-gap measure, they did it as a pattern of things to come. And we should be fine with that as the results were nothing but miraculous. Practice squad players like Frank Okam, Al Woods, LeGarrette Blount, and others.

The draft is now two years deep full of talent, and there is no reason to believe that’s going to be any different in 2011’s selection tool.

High priced free agents are fools gold. They sound like they woud get rid of all of your troubles, but the problem is on a team like the Bucs all they would do is take away valuable playing time from a younger up-and-coming player. And that young guy more than likely would be here for a decade as opposed to a free agent who will probably be signing a new contract in a few years.

Sometimes they help, but what the Bucs have going on right now, expensive free agents would just ruin that.

Besides, go over the list of 2010 Free agents, notice their contributions don’t really add up anywhere near to the totals they signed for? Yes, this year’s list is more impressive, but the Bucs havn’t finished putting their foundation together yet. Once they do, I’m sure that’s when they will make a little more of a splash into the pool.

Just don’t expect a Belly-Flop!

BSPN, proving when it wants to can actually be useful, profiles what makes Bucs coach Raheem Morris the man he is today.

Enjoy the next three NFL games Bucs fans. Because they very well could be the last three games for some time, and not just until September.

Unless something drastic occurs, the storm clouds of a labor stoppage of some sort are gathering like a Florida summer afternoon thunderstorm. It doesn’t look pretty.

Cool cat Joe Smith and good guy Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times have decided to wade into the ugly mess that is the potential work stoppage of 2011. From their research, the duo infer that Team Glazer may want to play hardball with the NFLPA as Team Glazer has its coffers stocked and less financial drag than other NFL teams.

The impact of a lockout that results in games (and revenue) being lost is different for each team. It’s determined by the financial commitments of the club and its ability to address them without its normal cash flow. In a lockout, the Bucs obviously wouldn’t be responsible for their payroll, which was the lowest in the NFL this season anyhow. But what makes their situation more sustainable than some other owners is the lack of stadium costs. Whereas the Cowboys, Jets, Giants and other clubs have invested heavily in recently-built stadiums — and others are attempting to line up funds to build stadiums — the Bucs have state-of-the-art Raymond James Stadium, a facility built courtesy of tax dollars in the mid-90s.

Teams that have stadium debts will be required to make those payments even in the absence of football. The Glazers have no such issues that we’re aware of. Here’s something else to remember: the Glazers make significant profits from events held at Raymond James Stadium, particularly USF football games. Those are profits that will roll in lockout or no lockout. Yes, the Bucs did spend roughly $30 million to build the new One Buc Place a few years ago, but those costs pale in comparison to billion-dollar stadiums.

Think of it this way: You have a house and a mortgage and you are out of work with no income and your savings are tapped out. The mortgage company is sending you some very ugly communiques because you don’t have the scratch to make the payments. At that point, you’re going to be a helluva lot less picky about any job opportunity.

Team Glazer has their house paid for, in so many words. So, unlike Jerry Jones, et al, they may not be itching to get a less than desireable deal done with the NFLPA just for the sake of having games.

It appears the Bucs’ first choice to replace departed defensive line coach Todd Wash won’t be in Tampa anytime soon.

Last week the Star-Tribune reported the Bucs offered a contract to Karl Dunbar, the Vikings’ D-line coach whose contract was up, but now the newspaper says he’s staying put.

Frazier said there is no truth to rumors that defensive line coach Karl Dunbar and wide receiver coach George Stewart were looking at other jobs.

Frazier said that Dunbar and Stewart were going to remain on the staff.

Hardly good news for Bucs fans. Dunbar had great coaching experience and success, and had played in the NFL.

Joe wonders whether the Bucs might go back to having specific coaches for defensive end and defensive line, as they had in the past.

Joe is NOT starting any Steve White rumors here. But Joe thinks it would be pretty darn cool if the Mark Dominik and Raheem brought in the former Bucs defensive end to chat.

Ike Hilliard and Keenan McCardell got interviews last year, so it’s not like talking to a former Buccaneer is unprecedented for this regime.

The facts suggested it. The video confirmed it.

“It” is Bucs wide receiver Mike Williams’ innocence.

Joe would be seething at the abuse Williams was put under by those allegedly protecting us from enemies both foreign and domestic, if Joe were under the same circumstances.

Joe also suspects any of his right-thinking readers would have been similarly outraged as well.

So it comes as no surprise to Joe to learn, via good guy Stephen Holder, that Williams was “very upset” at the ordeal he was wrongly put through by the long arm of the law, so his lawyer Andrew Schein told Holder in the St. Petersburg Times.

Williams won’t face charges, but this all took a bit of an emotional toll, Shein said, considering the questions about his history at Syracuse and his attempt to walk a straight-and-narrow path since being drafted.

“He was obviously very upset at the fact he was arrested because he had come to the Bucs and was having a great year and working real hard and didn’t want anything to detract from the team because of team goals and also for himself,” Shein said. “It really hurt him. But he was confident from the beginning that all the facts would come out and he thanks the Bucs organization, teammates and fans who all stood by him during this incident. He was just glad that it was able to be resolved quickly.”

The video proved how not only disgusting this episode was, but how the arrogance and closed-minded approach of someone in uniform can drastically alter if not ruin an innocent man’s life.

Joe loves nicknames. And there have been some great ones on the Bucs in recent years, such as Sabby The Goat, Blocking Icon (Michael Clayton) and Cadillac, but perhaps none is more meaningful to Bucs fans than A-Train.

The A-Train even had his own in-stadium whistle that fired up Bucs fans to no end when Mike Alstott completed a punishing run.

Joe’s getting chills just sitting with his eyes shut and trying to hear that whistle again.

Now lots of folks have tried to put a nickname of B-Train on LeGarrette Blount, for the obvious comparisons to Alstott. But for some Bucs fans that’s the equivalent of denouncing God and praying to idols, as Justin Pawlowski, of WDAE-AM 620, talked about yesterday on the air.

Pawlowski has taken calls from listeners who believe calling Blount “B-Train” is an act of heresy. They want the legend and grandeur of Alstott to remain as is.

Pawlowski thinks that’s insane.

B-Train fits like a glove, he says, and lots of fans like it. Pawlowski even suggested the Bucs should use the fabled A-Train whistle for Blount over the public address system, as was done in the Alstott era.

Joe’s all in favor of the B-Train nickname, too. Frankly, it’s a tribute to Alstott and a nice linking of the two eras. And it’s a nickname, if people like it, let them have it. Joe’s encountered far too many anti-nickname, tight-asses in his day. The world doesn’t need more of that.

But Alstott’s train whistle? Joe thinks that’s got to be sacred. The sound conjures up visions of Alstott, and that shouldn’t change.

Get Blount his own sound, and let the B-Train roll.