Watching the Saints-Seahawks game nearly made Joe want to cry.

If you were like Joe you watched the wild card playoffs this weekend. If you were like Joe you were ill.

Of course, gawking at/visiting with Courtney the Bartender Saturday helped Joe as did the Vicodin Joe is currently prescribed. In fairness, Joe needed to chug Pepto Bismol.

The Saints-Seahawks made Joe want to vomit. Not because it was wasn’t a good game. It was a helluva good game. But the Bucs should have been in it.

Peter King understands Bucs fans queezy feeling this weekend, writing in his must-read Monday Morning Quarterback.

Bucs had to be sick watching that game Saturday in Seattle. In the last two weeks of the season, they beat the Seahawks by 23 and the Saints by 10.

Exactly! The Bucs, had they played their cards right, should have been in that game and easily could have won. The Bucs would still be alive in the playoffs.

Good thing for Joe that Coutney the Bartender is just a short walk from Joe’s abode, and Joe still has Vicodin left on his prescription.

Entering the 2010 season, it was pretty well understood that the Bucs were counting on huge contributions from four of their top five draft picks, Gerald McCoy, Brian Price, Arrelious Benn and Mike Williams.

Sure, they got good looks at Benn, McCoy and Williams, but what would McCoy have delivered down the stretch? His season was cut off early in Game 13 against Washington. Would Benn have shown up big throughout the Seahawks game and against New Orleans?

Of course, Price was hurt since training camp and barely got through half a season.

Mark Dominik was asked to identify negatives from the season during an interview on The Fabulous Sports Babe Show on 1040AM last week.

Dominik was quick to reply,”our first round pick and our second round picks didn’t play as much as we wanted them to.” He also went to lament Aqib Talib’s “lost season” that he thought would have put Talib in the Pro Bowl.

Joe can only imagine the level of competition along the defensive line entering training camp next season.

Obviously, young Al Woods and Frank Okam believe they belong on the field based on their performances late in the season, and Price, McCoy and Roy Miller are coming back. Plus Kyle Moore returning, who the Bucs liked to rush inside on third down, but Joe hopes that ugly experiment is done.

Along with the upgrades coming at defensive end, Dominik will have rough decisions on the D-line  if everyone is healthy.

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.

I’ve always been amazed by how the first game of the season sets the tempo for what kind of a year it’s going to be. Think about what kind of team we had here in Tampa Bay;

A bunch of young guys that came out and started a little slow, but usually scored before the half. Then the Bucs would come out and play better in the second half and either put points on the board and put a team away in the third quarter, or they would squander some chances but get it all together for a final drive and win the in the last two minutes.

Week 1 saw Ronde Barber step in front of a Jake Delhomme pass and return it to Cleveland 3 yard line. The Bucs scored to come within 14-10 of the Browns. Bucs won the game in the 4th quarter. It was a recipe the Bucs would re-create pretty much all year.

Equally remarkable is how the final game can sometimes be a bookend to the first game. Ronde Barber having key plays in both and in between.

So the question is, where do we go from here? One of my fondest memories of the offseason last year was during on-air draft coverage by Justin Pawlowski of WDAE-AM 620. I was at work listening when he went absolutely nuts announcing the Bucs fourth-round pick Mike Williams. I did not know who Williams was, so I had to look him up, and I joined “The Commish” and his exuberance.

The bookend to that moment was something Pawlowski said after the season ended when talking about the 2011 drafting.

He said judging on the moves the Bucs made in 2010, he had nothing but trust that Mark Dominik and Raheem Morris would make the right picks in the upcoming draft, and that he had complete confidence in their ability to do so.

What a contrast that is from a year ago when perhaps incorrectly we did not trust this organization to draft responsibly after its dismal history over the last decade!

To me that statement meant more than anything I had heard all year; in a season of blackouts and pessimism even after a 2-0 start, someone admitted this was moving in the right direction.

On my blog the day the Bucs beat the Saints, after 4:30 p.mm until midnight, I had three times more hits than any full day since I’ve been in operation. Closer analysis shows that 95 percent of visitors came from Google searches using the following key words;

Can Bucs make playoffs?

Did Bucs make the playoffs?

What do the Bucs need to do to make the playoffs?

It was almost as if all of a sudden, a proverbial light switch came on around Tampa Bay, perhaps once the Bucs finally beat a winning team, or maybe it was just because the win was over the Saints. Either way, it was nice to see the recognition.

In a few months, if CBA’s and other offseason distractions go the right way, the Bucs will be practicing with a host of players who did not get to finish off their 2010 seasons. Players like Aqib Talib, Cody Grimm, Brian Price, Gerald McCoy, Arrelious Benn, and Davin Joseph to name a few will be adding serious depth to a Bucs roster that never really had that before, at least not to this extent. The schedule won’t be overly daunting with games against the NFC North and AFC South and a couple of equal third-place finishers in the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers.

The biggest difference will be what the players read — if they do pay attention — to what we all say about them. There won’t be any more Peter Kings talking about two wins, in fact there will be some who talk about 12 victories, and playoff appearances instead.

How they handle that attention, how they deal with that pressure, will be equally important as how they dealt with the adversities of 2010, and will end up being directly responsible for the library of work they put up between next year’s bookends — games we will scrutinize that much closer.

The rock star general manager’s tour has at least one more year to go in Tampa.

Roy Cummings, of The Tampa Tribune, has made the call on TBO.com that Team Glazer has picked up a one-year option on Mark Dominik’s contract.

No stunning news there, but perhaps it’s suprsing Dominik did not get an extention.

Joe will have more on this through the day.

He was anointed “quarterback of the defense” by the head coach and led the Bucs with 100+ tackles again, but Barrett Ruud drives many fans to fits of internal rage rivaling the Michael Clayton era.

Barrett Ruud is a lightning rod. Is he softer than Joe’s gut? Or is he a sound, smart player paying a price for playing among second-rate talent the past two seasons?

Former Bucs guard Ian Beckles, a longtime critic of Ruud and co-host of The Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620, pressed Mark Dominik hard on the air last week about the middle linebacker. Below is the exchange.

It came on the heels of Dominik not answering a direct question from co-host Ron Diaz to give his take on the Bucs linebackers and Ruud specifically.

Ian Beckles: Do you listen to sports radio at all?

Mark Dominik: I do, sometimes.

Beckles: There are certain people that get abused more than others.  And I’m probably one of the culrprits doing the abusing. Regardless what you say, my opinion is going to stay the same. As far as our linebacking play goes, would you agree that it needs to be a little bit more physical?

Dominik: I’d say this. I think that Raheem does different things with each one of the linebackers. I think you saw that this year. You saw a lot of what we call the Redskin package, where either Dakoda Watson or Quincy Black, when he knocked out Matt Moore in Carolina on a stunt. I think you see that a lot from those players where we try to utilize each player to what they can bring to the program. And I think Coach Morris does a great job with Geno Hayes shooting gaps and trying to get in the backfield for tackles for losses. I think you see that throughout everything. But it’s important, again, I’m a big believer in attacking the quarterback and finding ways to utilize our players’ strengths, or certainly giving the coaches players they can put in position to make it hard on Matt Ryan or make it hard on Drew Brees, or make it hard on whoever is quarterbacking Carolina because we have to win in our division first.

Beckles: I was bringing up Barrett Ruud’s name. And if you don’t want to answer this you don’t have to. Systems are great. But once you get to the line of scrimmage and you get into the line of scrimmage, isn’t football about being physical?

Dominik: Absolutely true. There’s no debate about that. (cut off by Beckles)

Beckles: Now has any coach ever told him he should be more physical?

Dominik: Oh, I’m sure. I think every coach talks about being physical, tackling, wrapping up. I think that’s consistent throughout the National Football League.  You know the thing that Barrett brings that is also an important element of his game is his mental aspect. It’s a very important part of his game in terms of getting us checked into or checked out of defenses or fronts or coverages that may not be as effective as what the offense is showing us. But I understand what you’re asking.

It was an interesting exchange with a bit of tension, not the typical Mark Dominik interview around these parts, for sure.

As Joe has written before, it’s doubtful Raheem and Dominik would have a rookie replace Ruud. And they both seem averse to a big name free agent. So what does that leave? Quite possibly Ruud’s return.

"C'mon eye-Rah! would Belichick have answered that fetish question you had the nerve to hit me with?"

When a hometown media guy won’t vote for Raheem Morris as NFL Coach of the Year, it doesn’t bode well for the Bucs’ main man getting the award.

eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune, the longtime NFL scribe and the Bay area’s one voter for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, said Patriots hooded thief Bill Belicheat is his man.

Coach of the year: Bill Belichick, Patriots. This was a very tough call between Belichick, Tampa Bay’s Raheem Morris and Todd Haley of the Chiefs. The Bucs and Chiefs came out of nowhere to win 10 games, but Belichick should be rewarded for his unmatched affinity to tailor game plans to personnel. The Pats are not overly talented, yet they posted the league’s best record as Belichick won at least 14 games for the fourth time in the past eight seasons. Pure and simple, he towers over his peers and this may have been his best coaching job.

To make matters worse for Bucs fans, the story went national via NBC Sports and, if votes have yet to be cast, could be influential among writers given Kaufman’s reputation.

Joe loves you eye-RAH!, but where was the hometown love? You picked the Bucs to win five games on TBO.com and they won 10 with a pile of injuries. Surely that five-game spread was greater for the Bucs than whatever you had picked for New England.

Joe’s still amazed that the media doesn’t seem to hold anything against Belichick for being a cheater, and spawning a cheater on his coaching tree.

Blogger Pat Yasinskas, the resident NFC South super expert for BSPN, claims the NFL will not want to give the Bucs a prime time home game in 2011 because the Bucs’ stadium will look lousy on TV.

Yasinskas spit out this somewhat misguided take in a live chat Friday.

Jason (Birmingham): Do you think the Bucs can ride this year’s momentum into some primetime games next year and some butts in the stands? Not sure what else the team could do to generate buzz and interest in the team.

Pat Yasinskas: Yeah, I think they’ll get a prime-time game or two. But it probably will be on the road. League won’t want to show a half-empty stadium.

Joe doesn’t buy this logic.

The No. 1 reason the Bucs would not get a night home game is because the TV networks aren’t going to pick a game that could be blacked out. Especially with Tampa Bay being the No. 14 ratings market.

For the networks the game is about total viewers, nothing else. And the executive that picks a potential blackout of millions of viewers would be begging for a pink slip.

Yasinskas is going way overboard with the “show a half-empty stadium” line, which surely wouldn’t be the case for a night game against a good team. If there were 5,000 or 10,000 unused seats, the TV cameras could easily avoid them with no problem.

If the Bucs want a home night game, then Joe suspects they’ll get one if Team Glazer lets the important NFL suits know that said game would be “a sellout” no matter what. It’s probably a wise move given how a night game surely makes season ticket sales more attractive.

Joe likes the odds of the Bucs getting a home night game. Plenty of attractive opponents to choose from in 2011 — Indy, Dallas, Chicago, New Orleans and Atlanta — and our 14th-ranked TV market is bigger than Minneapolis, Miami, Denver and Cleveland among NFL teams in the top 20 markets.

Pull some strings, Team Glazer. Joe’s aching to hear Chucky take credit for grooming Raheem.

Put aside for a moment the big picture happiness regarding this 10-6 Bucs season for a moment, and you’re left with the agony of a team that choked away fourth quarter leads in two December home games and missed the playoffs because of it.

Oh, the pain Raheem Morris must be battling when the lights go out in his bedroom at night.

Speaking on the national Mike and Mike in the Morning show last week, Raheem explained that he expects that pain to drive the Bucs for 2011. Co-host Mike Golic asked Raheem what message he left the Bucs with last week.

“We talked about the ultimate hunger. You know, there’s no better hunger than what we set up for ourselves. You win 10 games; You’re not in the tournament. And you can go back and you can look at about four or five of our games and pick out one play and one snap from each game. And that could be the difference in every game,” Raheem said. “So you talked about going back and re-evaluting yourself and coming back and having a great offseason in order to prepare yourself to do this thing, despite all the labor agreements or whatever may happen. We gotta go out there and do that. There are no excuses.

“…Don’t listen to all our critics. Let’s just go out here and attack this thing the same way we did last year and go out and be ourselves again.”

Golic and co-host Mike Greenberg went on to relay a story about a chance meeting with Raheem at a Tampa restaurant last year. Both said they came away extremely impressed.

“Such an energetic good guy.You can’t help but rooting for him like crazy,” Greenberg said.

Golic advised Raheem and his coaches to hit a beach for a couple of weeks or do whatever they have to do to clear their heads, so they don’t kick themselves the entire offseason.

Shop online or in person at Ed Morse Cadillac Tampa. They’re open for a test drive today.

“The Professor,” John Clayton of BSPN, has wrapped up his final exams and has handed out grades for the 2010 season in the NFC South. Joe thinks you may be surprised by what grade the Bucs earned.

Anyone remember when Chucky, mired in a losing season, proclaimed the future for the Bucs was so bright we would all need shades? Joe sure does and not only was it a horrible cliche from a rotten 1980s song, it was downright laughable.

Then again, maybe Chucky was clairvoyant and was looking at the Bucs’ future post-Chucky.

Adam Schefter too believes the Bucs will be the talk of the NFL in short order. In typing out 10 coherent thoughts, Schefter brought up the Bucs.

Bright future: Perhaps no team is better positioned for the future than Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers boast the league’s best rookie wide receiver, the league’s best rookie running back and one of the game’s best young quarterbacks. Mike Williams had 11 touchdown receptions, more than any rookie receiver except Randy Moss, who had a league-record 17 in 1998. Running back LeGarrette Blount ran for 1,007 yards despite being deactivated the first two games of the season and three of the first five. Quarterback Josh Freeman beat playoff teams New Orleans and Seattle in the season’s final two weeks while completing 42 of 52 passes for 492 yards, seven touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of 145.7. Here, though, might be the most jaw-dropping numbers: Williams is 23 years old, Blount is 24 and Freeman doesn’t turn 23 until next week. In one year, Tampa Bay has built a team that can last for a decade.

Wow. A decade. Just like rock star general manager Mark Dominik envisioned.

Joe just feels tingly about this. Or perhaps it is the Vicodin from last night wearing off?

Team Glazer has slapped Raheem Morris on the back and inked the head coach to two more years in Tampa, exercising the option on the head coach’s contract, so reports Rick Stroud of the St. Pete Times today.

Stroud claims Raheem will earn $4 million over the 2011 and 2012 seasons, with a shot to up that total to $7 million with incentives. Chump change compared to Jim Harbaugh, but Joe’s not crying for Raheem, who will be just 36 when this deal ends.

Joe’s excited about another two years of core beliefs, being your best self, and mentality before reality. And Joe can’t wait for training camp, when the Bucs again will take off their underwear, put on their big boy pads and put their face on people.

It all seems to be working quite nicely.

When Joe first heard last night that the 49ers hired irritable Jim Harbaugh as their new coach, Joe wondered aloud right away about Bucs “career backup” quarterback Josh Johnson.

Johnson was Harbaugh’s starting quarterback at San Diego (not San Diego State) where the Toreros were undefeated. Much later when Joe got behind his keyboard after paying a visit/gawking to/at Courtney the Bartender, Joe noticed there were quite a few comments in unrelated threads about this very subject.

Joe’s not sure the Bucs will want to part with Johnson very easily.He’s already a secret weapon of sorts who offensive coordinator Greg Olson uses in all sorts of gimmick plays. Olson has even dabbled a few times with Johnson as a wide receiver.

Everything Joe has heard about Johnson is that he is a very intelligent guy. How much Harbaugh may want Johnson is obviously unknown but if Harbaugh wants him bad, let’s just say Joe wouldn’t want to play poker with rock star general manager Mark Dominik if Dominik is playing with a loaded deck.

Joe seems to recall Dominik pulling off perhaps the steal of the decade last year, pilfering a second round pick from the Bears.

When football kicks off this afternoon in Seattle, with the loser Seahawks hosting the Saints, Mark Dominik wants his young Bucs team watching and agonizing.

He wants them bitter watching the two teams the Bucs pounded the past two Sundays fight it out to move on in the playoffs and gobble their share of postseason money.

Speaking Thursday to hosts Ron Diaz and former Bucs guard Ian Beckles on WDAE-AM 620, Dominik was asked by Beckles to give his take on what will keep the Bucs motivated and a step ahead of the competition now that they’ve tasted a little success and teams will be taking them very seriously in 2011.

Dominik didn’t hesitate with a response.

“It’s the fact that we didn’t make the playoffs. They realize they’re going to sit at home [today] and they’re going to watch the New Orleans Saints travel to the Seattle Seahawks and say, ‘We just beat those teams the last two weeks and we’re not playing.’ And I think that’s going to be the thing that’s really going to help motivate them.” Dominik said. “We’re certainly going to keep that throttle down. I know the coaches will, and I know Coach Morris will.

Talking more about staying hungry, Dominik went on to identify Brian Price and Kregg Lumpkin as two players he’s excited about and who should be chomping at the bit to return for 2011. “There are still hungry players on this roster,” Dominik said.

Joe, too, will be in pain watching this game knowing the Bucs could have made some noise in the playoffs. At this point, Joe’s just hoping the Seahawks somehow bury the Saints and turn the NFL upside down by winning the NFC.

Joe imagines Raheem Morris might have picked up a few tabs around town last night.

With yesterday’s news that Jim Harbaugh, a guy who has never coached in the NFL, signed a 5-year, $25 million contract to be head coach of the 49ers, Joe imagines Raheem was overjoyed.

If Harbaugh is worth that kind of cash, then what the hell is Raheem worth after going 10-6 with a makeshift roster brimming with football infants, and after playing a very active role in crafting the roster?

Joe has to believe Raheem is worth at least as much as Harbaugh.

By all reports, Team Glazer holds a one-year option on Raheem’s services for 2011. And Raheem widely was believed to be the lowest paid head coach in the NFL when he signed on with the Bucs in January 2009.

Rick Stroud, of the St. Pete Times, wrote earlier this week that the Bucs were working on a contract extension for Raheem. But one would think the money bar on that chatter has been raised significantly now.

Maybe Raheem opts to play the waiting game on the Bucs until they put Harbaugh money in front of him? Maybe Team Glazer will? As confident and young a guy as Raheem is, it’s hard to believe he’d have a problem passing on a contract extension right now if he doesn’t like the terms.

If Bucs have a good season in 2011, he’d have Team Glazer in a real pickle over a new deal and numerous teams ready to pounce on him.

Watching Bucs games this year, it was difficult for Joe to fathom that Ronde Barber is, by NFL standards, older than a graveyard.

With Bucs players, rookie players, younger players, dropping like birds in Arkansas, there was old man Barber making splash plays in the run and humbling wide receivers half his age with twice the ego.

Until Joe read Tom Balog of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune this morning, Joe was unaware Barber is second to only Derrick Brooks for number of games played for the Bucs.

Balog spoke with Barber after the Bucs season-ending win over the Saints and, despite rock star general manager Mark Dominik’s comments that he wants to resign Barber, the Bucs’ senior citizen is not quite ready to commit to another season, whenever that may be played.

“Those things will become clearer, I think, in the next couple of weeks,” Barber said. “Whether it is, whether it isn’t my last game today, I’ve played with a lot of pride, man, and had fun doing it.”

Initially, Joe thought Barber would not come back if there is a labor stoppage of some sort. But upon further reflection, Joe’s of the mind that a labor stoppage may in fact encourage Barber to return.

If next season — provided there is a next season — is shortened due to a walkout/lockout/strike/hangover, that means there will be less games played meaning less wear and tear on Barber’s aging body.

Getting beat up for, say, 12 games, is a whole lot better than getting pounded on for 16.

The NFL gets a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct and the middle finger on this one.

Joe is flat out stunned that LeGarrette Blount, who should be a favorite for NFL Rookie of the Year, is not among the five finalists for the league honor sponsored by Pepsi.

Fans can start voting today on NFL.com for Mike Williams, Sam Bradford, Joe Haden, Devin McCourty or Ndamukong Suh.

Sticking Haden in over Blount is just shameful. Here’s Haden’s accomplishments per NFL.com:

Joe Haden, CB, Browns — Haden finished the year with 64 tackles, one sack, one forced fumble and six interceptions, which tied for fifth in the NFL and was second among rookies. He led the Browns with 18 pass break-ups and added 57 tackles, one sack, one forced fumble and eight special teams stops. His six picks were the most by a Brown since 2007 and the most by a Browns rookie since 2001. In Weeks 10-13, he became the first Brown to record an interception in four straight games since Ernie Kellermann in 1968. Haden, who attended the University of Florida, was nominated for three Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week awards.

This is all very nice, but Haden and McCourty play the same position and McCourty had better numbers all around.

Blount racked up 1,007 yards and five yards a carry in 13 games. For him be ignored as a finalist with those numbers is the most heinhous screw job Joe’s seen in a long time.

The guy just won Rookie of the Month for December for goodness sakes. There are only four months in the NFL season.

Update 2:54 p.m.: Joe realizes this is a separate award from the offensive and defensive rookie of the year awards awarded in the spring by the media. Regardless, this is a screw job and surely doesn’t bode well for Blount getting a fair shake later.

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!

Video: Cosmic Schein: Wild-Card Weekend