Just after the asinine lockout was over this summer, Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik signed linebacker Quincy Black to a five-year, $29 million contract, of which $11.5 million is guaranteed.

This perplexed Joe. Now in his third season as a Bucs starting linebacker, Joe rarely remembers a linebacker more invisible than Black. Bucs fans used to howl at the moon over the alleged subpar play of Barrett Ruud, despite Ruud being a strong pass defender who collected 100+ tackles a year.

Since Black was named a starter to begin the 2009 season, the only splash plays Joe remembers seeing Black make were intercepting a deflected pass at Miami two years ago and a sack against Carolina in 2010.

Well, except for one play today. Black did make a splash play in the first half, getting a tackle for a loss. That very well have been the only play Black had.

It has long stumped Joe why Black is a starting linebacker. It puzzled Joe why Dominik threw such a was of cash at the guy. After today’s game, Joe is of the mind Dekoda Watson should be the Bucs starting outside linebacker opposite of Geno Hayes.

Think about it: In just his second game after signing a windfall contract, Black was benched in the second half after Vikings running back Adrian Peterson made Black look like a statue in a park time and again.

It was no coincidence that when Watson came in, the defense changed and suddenly, the Bucs were able to stop the Vikings and get off the field.

In Joe’s eyes, Black’s position should be open for competition right now, contract not withstanding. If Watson plays better, he should be starting.

At this point, there is no justification for Black’s contract.

It was quite a ballsy call for Raheem Morris to go with the onsides kick call after LeGarrette Blount’s 27-yard touchdown rumble put the Bucs on the board and cut the Vikings lead to 17-7.

If Elbert Mack doesn’t dive on that ball, the momentum the Bucs had finally wrestled back would have almost vanished. But Raheem pulled the trigger and the Bucs won the gamble. Sure, Josh Freeman tossed an ugly pick in the end zone a few minutes later, but it was a key play in the game and adding to the Bucs momentum and confidence.

On that note, the Bucs’ special teams have been pretty darn stellar over the first two games.

Rich Bisaccia who?  

Before final cuts were made this preseason, many, including Joe, wondered about Preston Parker’s job security. He was a bubble guy and sudden fan favorite Ed Gant was breathing down his neck for a spot on the roster.

Not only did Parker make the team, one could argue the Bucs don’t win today’s game without him.

Parker was simply sensational. Catching long passes, catching short passes, catching passes in traffic near the goal line, catching clutch passes.

Speaking on the Buccaneers Radio Network after the game, Parker seemed to shrug his shoulders.

“When your number is called, you have to make plays, this is the NFL,” Parker said. Parker is seeing playing time because of Sammie Stroughter’s injury. Parker admitted Stroughter, a favorite in the Bucs locker room, was very much on his mind.

“We knew Sammie was down and he told us to play hard and that he loves us,” Parker said. “We all played hard for Sammy.”

Parker seemed defensive when he was being lavished with kudos for his play, instead, talking up his teammates. Parker said he knew the Bucs would win when a certain No. 27 was on the field in the final drive.

“When we got the ball in LeGagarrette’s hands, we knew it was victory,” Parker said. “He gives us hope. With LeGarrette, we know we can win. He brings us together more.”

But Parker’s sudden blowing up may have as much or more to do with Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman as anyone else.

“Preston has been huge for us,” Freeman said. “We’re [developing] more chemistry, I’m getting more confident going to him with the ball. On the 10-yard line, he made a great play going for it.”

Parker again tried to deflect praise.

“I have three words for Josh,” Parker said. “I love him. I love No. 5.”

Joe was bursting with joy when the Vikings got away from Adrian Petesron on their final drive

So the Vikings get the ball back leading 20-17 with 6:39 left in the fourth quarter and the Bucs need a stop.

After Adrian Peterson runs for a first down on 2nd-and-4, Joe nearly wet his pants with joy when the Vikings went to the air on first down. How the hell did they get away from Peterson with a chance to run out the clock and/or drive for a put-the-game-out-reach score? Tim Crowder batted down the pass.

Then the Bucs held strong on Peterson on second down, before E.J. Biggers was flawless in downfield coverage to force what turned out to be a crappy Minnesota punt.

Joe’s hat goes off to Biggers and Crowder, two guys who routinely fly under the radar and do the little things very well. And Joe’s damn happy the Vikings didn’t ride their top horse to try and win the game.

It’s a pattern. It’s a problem. And it’s no coincidence. The Bucs continue to get outcoached and outmuscled to open games. It’s happened throughout the Raheem Morris regime.

Today in Minnesota was no exception, with Jared Allen sacking Josh Freeman for a six yard loss on the first play from scrimmage. Three of the Bucs’ first four possessions of the first half were three-and-outs en route to a 17-0 haftime deficit.

It’s just impossible to win games consistently starting like that. The Bucs did it last year, and they did it today, but it’s not playoff football.

Joe continues to hope the Bucs find a way to rid themselves of this craziness.

And so the streak continues. The only team to really stop LeGarrette Blount in his career is the Buccaneers.

Before Joe gushes over Blount, Joe thinks it was very telling that Raheem Morris and Greg Olson had the confidence in Blount to hand him the rock in the red zone with the game on the line. And Blount delivered with a touchdown up the gut.

Blount wouldn’t have touched that ball last year, almost inexplicably in the loss to Detroit in 2010.

Finally in second half the Bucs decided to give No. 27 the rock more steadily. It’s not rocket science. This offense runs off Blount — and the threat of him, which means he has to be on the field. He wasn’t used enough for Joe’s taste, but who can complain after this comeback win.

Blount ripped off a 27 yard TD with his first touch of the second half. Then he was back hurdling through air again — this time in tight quarters — for a 13-yard gain with his next touch.  

The final line was 13 carries for 71 yards and two touchdowns. 

Joe’s fired up for an entire season of this guy.

As Preston Parker said following the game on the Buccaneers Radio Network, “When we got the ball in LeGarrette’s hands we knew it was victory.”

Bucs 24, Vikings 20

Typical Bucs win with two different teams on the field in each half.

What has Joe excited is the Bucs’ quick-strike offense. You rip off 24 second-half points on the road on the ground and in the air and you’ve got a Bucs offense that hasn’t existed in history.

Kudos to Donald Penn for grinding out a win against Jared Allen and for the defensive standing up in the second half. Joe will be churning out all kinds of quotes and takes. Keep coming back through the day.

In Free We Trust.

OK boys and girls, have at it. Let your feelings be known about how the Bucs are playing against the Vikings today. Now behave! 🙂

Week 2
Bucs at Vikings
Kickoff: 1 p.m.
TV: WTVT-TV Channel 13 locally, DirecTV 710.
Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM, 103.5 and WDAE-AM, 620); Sirius Channel 104.
Weather: Per Accuweather.com, fall has hit the northwoods of the Midwest. Though the game is played in a soulless dome, tailgaters will be greeted with fall weather of temperatures of 56 degrees under cloudy skies. Following the game, the afternoon will warm up to 62.
Odds: Per Sportsbook.com, Bucs +2.
Outlook: There are are two schools of thought here. One is that Bucs running back LeGarrette Blount should be used early and often and even more. It was borderline inexcusable as he only got five touches. The holes were there yet he was barely used. This, as always, keeps the ball out of the hands of your opponent and more importantly in today’s case, it keeps the ball out of Adrian Peterson’s hands. The Vikings running back averages over 100 yards a game on the turf of that pit of a domed stadium in Minnesota. Over the hill Donovan McNabb will not beat the Bucs and Joe will be just fine if a rookie playing in his first NFL game (Christian Ponder) takes the field. But Peterson scares Joe because if last week’s game against the Lions is any window upon the season, the weakest link thus far on the Bucs is the linebackers. If Peterson is able to get a crease from the Vikings front wall, it could be a very ugly day (again) for the Bucs defense.

What better way to kill off the final hours of an NFL Sunday morning than with a pleasant, calming episode of Cosmic Schein? Back for his weekly trip to the end zone of the NFL universe, popular radio personality Adam Schein travels through football space and time outs. Consider yourself sucked in to the latest episode of Cosmic Schein!

<a href=”http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=ca237727-886d-4824-998a-47e3e9071a18″ mce_href=”http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=ca237727-886d-4824-998a-47e3e9071a18″ target=”_new” title=””>Cosmic Schein: Week 2</a>

Let Joe say first that he doesn’t think it makes much difference at all what comes out of Gerald McCoy’s mouth — not yet anyway. The guy is harmless and simply being himself when interacting with the media.

But Joe does find the many takes on McCoy’s style of communication interesting. It was up for debate again this past week after McCoy gave a detailed account of Detroit Lions’ linemen sitting back — possibly illegally —  serving up what many called excuses.

Derrick Brooks, who clearly finds it legitmately painful to speak a negative word about the Bucs. was down on McCoy for talking about opponents versus talking about his own performance and that of the Bucs as he did after recent games against the Patriots and Lions. Speaking on WDAE-AM 620 Wednesday, Brooks said McCoy speaking out in detail before watching game film isn’t wise and Brooks said it’s best to focus on your own performance or your team’s only.

Brooks acknowledged McCoy says the “right things” among all his chatter but, overall, Brooks is not on board with McCoy’s open style before he reaches a high level of performance.

Also speaking on WDAE-AM 620, former Bucs defensive tackle Brad Culpepper was more direct about McCoy.

“They need to take a microphone a way from that guy for a little while. He doesn’t know that he doesn’t know,” Culpepper said.

Culpepper said McCoy’s comments about the Lions offesnsive linemen flashed some of his greenness about the game. If the O-line is sitting back on you, Culpepper said, then you need to know how to take advantage of the space.

On the flip side, Tampa Tribune scribe Woody Cummings said fans and media”need” Gerald McCoy to keep talking “from the heart,” so he said on The King David Show on WQYK-AM 1010.

Cummings said there are so many players in the NFL that won’t say anything meaningful to the media and, subsequently, to fans. And McCoy may be the only guy in the Bucs’ defense that will, Cummings said.

“It’s just Gerald’s way of saying what happened’ [in a game,] Cummings said, acknowledging “those end up sounding like excuses when they lost.”

For weeks, former Bucs Shaun King and Ian Beckles have clobbered McCoy on the sports radio airwaves for talking too much and not producing. Basically, they want him to shutup and perform. King has been particularly, critical, which Joe has documented.

This week, King said the Bucs brass got on his case for blasting McCoy. King said he told the Bucs to “to kick rocks” and emphasized that he wouldn’t censor his commentary for anyone at One Buc Palace.

King also stressed his concern early this week that Raheem Morris and McCoy’s public comments after the Lions loss were far off the Father Dungy path.

“Tony Dungy’s motto all through his time in Tampa was, No Excuses. No Explanations,” King said. “I get worried as a lifelong Bucs fan when I hear excuses and explanations from coach’s and players.”

Again, Joe doesn’t think there’s any problem or issue at this point. Raheem surely doesn’t have to play Father Dungy, and McCoy can be himself. If McCoy becomes a problem and guys want him to shutup, then Joe suspects captains like Jeff Faine and Ronde Barber will make that happen.

On a more important note, former Bucs DE Steve White — who disagrees with the kvetching over GMC’s open personality — seems far more concerned with McCoy’s performance. And to that, speaking on WQYK-AM 1010 Tuesday, White said McCoy was excellent against the run in Week 1. Though he says McCoy’s pass rush has a good ways to go.

Joe can only hope the next media buzz surrounding McCoy is about a crushing sack on Donovan McNabb.

Pat Kirwan and Jason Horowitz of CBSSports.com break down the Bucs-Vikings game Sunday. Hear (and see) what they have to say. (Joe ran some quotes from this the other day, but now CBS has made the video available.)

Now Joe isn’t buying much of what’s coming out of Minnesota, but it seems the Vikings are kicking themselves for not throwing the ball enough last week and are talking about working the ball around the field — the opposite of the Bucs’ takeaway from Week 1.

BSPN blogger Kevin Seifert spit out this observation early this week. 

Most revealing, an unofficial review of the play-by-play showed that offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave called running plays on 15 of the team’s 19 first-down plays. Of the four passing plays, one ended up as a 23-yard scramble by quarterback Donovan McNabb.

And Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com fame notes Musgrave on local radio accepting the playcalling heat and talking about opening up the offense, even if Donovan McNabb might not be up for it.

It’s unclear why the Vikings were so obvious and predictable.  It’s possible that Musgrave got a little skittish after McNabb threw a first-and-10 interception on the team’s first play from scrimmage, with the Vikings up 7-0 but quickly in a tie game after the Chargers drove six yards in three plays.

While Joe can see the Vikings looking to get Mason Foster to bite on the run and work the middle of the field early in the game, Joe has no illusions that somehow the Vikings won’t look to drive Adrian Peterson down the Bucs’ throat.

Historically, Peterson runs his best on the home turf, and the Vikings didn’t just write him a massive contract extension last week to get cute in the home-opener.

Good luck, Mr. Foster.

Bucs fans were livid after the season-opening loss to the Lions because Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson didn’t give the rock to LeGarrette Blount enough. The Bucs’ 1,000-yard rusher from last season had a grand total of five carries Sunday.

Fingers were even pointed at Olson from the BSPN crowd. In a recent NFC South chat, even ESPN’s Pat Yasinskas joined in.

GurS (Edgware, UK)
I’m convinced the person at most to blame for the Bucs’ loss to the Lions last week is
Greg Olson. Agree or disagree?

Pat Yasinskas
I’d have to agree with you there.

The NFL Network crew also befuddled by the play-calling. Brian Baldinger demonstrated with video that when Blount ran from an I-formation, not only were there holes to run through, but there was also room for Blount to run.

But as we found out earlier this week from no less than Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman, it was Bucs coach Raheem Morris who directed Olson to ditch the running attack.

Joe found it interesting this week listening to Pat Kirwan, who along with Tim Ryan co-hosts “Movin’ the Chains” heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio, suggested the Bucs offense is at its best in a no-huddle therefore if he was Olson, he would have the Bucs run no-huddle as much as possible tomorrow against the Vikings.

Carve up the pregame analysis of the Bucs-Vikings game as you wish, but the answer to the question above is the major key to the game. In this TBO.com video, The Tampa Tribune lines up their veteran duo of eye-RAH! Kaufman and Woody Cummings to explore this subject.

Jeremy Zuttah was the man at left guard in 2009. Then Mark Dominik shot that down and bought a veteran free agent, Keydrick Vincent, to play the position in 2010.

Vincent was cut halfway through the season, while Zuttah was starting at center for Jeff Faine and Ted Larsen took over left guard.

Now Larsen is back on the bench following a heinous preseason and an opening day that saw the offensive line play below its pay grade. Per the Twitterings eye-RAH Kaufman, of The Tampa Tribune, Zuttah will replace Larsen against the Vikings on Sunday.

@TBO_Buccaneers: Bucs make a switch at left guard for Sunday’s game at Minnesota, with Jeremy Zuttah starting instead of Ted Larsen.

Longtime readers here know Joe has always been in Zuttah’s corner. The fourth-year Mr. Versatile on the Bucs’ O-line should do very well. After all, aren’t linemen supposed to fully mature only after a few years?

Interestingly, Zuttah is an unrestricted free agent after this season. A 2011 for Zuttah from here forward would put the Bucs in line for another huge payday along their high-price line.

Slow starts have plagued the Bucs throughout the Raheem Morris era. It’s been a constant point of emphasis, and it seems the Bucs continue to get creative to find a way to stop the madness.

Speaking on The Mike Williams Show last night on WDAE-AM 620, the Bucs’ No. 1 receiver explained that a significant alteration was made after the loss to the Lions. 

“We kind of changed this week how we practice, too. As soon has we come from stretch, we usually go to individuals (drills). But now we go to offense and see if we can get it started right away. We go to five quick plays, five hurry-up offense plays, and see if we can go 5-for-5 everyday,” Williams said. “And if we don’t, they say, ‘See, that’s our problem.’ But we actually did it this week. We actually went out there and excecuted. So we’re going to see if that works.”

Hmmm, if the Bucs practice a hurry-up offense all week to get jump-started, will they come out like that in Minnesota?

Williams went on to give his two cents on why the offense usually sputters out of the game. It’s a “mixture of nerves, everybody pumped up. [We]  just got to calm down and relax and get started fast. That’s just how I look at it,” Williams said.

As for Williams stunning catch in the end zone, and the rest of his game, Williams said he’s completely in the zone and the game is very slow for him. “Just how you see it on NFL Films,” he said.

If you watched one of the award-winning sportscasts on WTSP, Channel 10 last Sunday, then you learned the results of the world famous JoeBucsFan/WTSP-TV 10 News Poll. Here’s your Week 2 shot at shaping public opinion: