Tough day for Joe, even with it being the glorious start of the Bucs season.  

The “Joe ” writing this can’t forget seeing his cousin Lenny on television and reading him quoted in the newspaper in the days following the heinous Sept. 11, 2011 attacks.

Lenny, then a very energetic dude in his 60s, was at the scene of the World Trade Center in New York helping look for his son, Marc, who had been working in a World Trade Center tower. Marc was a year older than Joe with two young sons. He was a super hardcore sports fan — like many in Joe’s family. (Yes, Joe’s quite certain Marc would have had NFL Network and not been held hostage by a cable company.)

Unfortunately, Marc was a victim of the terrorists and was never found. His memory lives on strong through a foundation and an annual benefit celebration.

An even closer relative to Joe served in combat in Vietnam and will not ever talk about it — never a peep. On that Sept. 11 day, he was in the center of the New York horror but escaped. Joe’s never heard his story. He won’t talk about that either, other than Joe once hearing him say it was worse than anything he saw in Vietnam.

Joe’s been watching various TV reports of people’s reaction to the anniversary of Sept. 11. Some take a political tone. Some don’t. The media has been hyping the day to drive viewers. So it goes across America.

Nearly everyone — including Bucs fans at today’s opening day — will take pause today at some point to remember the events of 9/11.

Joe just asks that you take that time seriously.

Last year Joe remembers interviewing his good friend Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who referred to Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib as “a gambler” and added “we all know what happens to gamblers.

Joe is of the mind that Talib could a Pro Bowler, but he’s not quite there yet. It seems ESPN’s Pat Yasinskas is of the same mind.

In a recent NFC South chat, Yasinskas believes if Talib is going to be an elite corner, he should make a statement tomorrow.

Jesse (Glasgow, KY)

Talib said he is ready for Johnson, your thoughts? Even if fully healthy, what chance does any corner have against megatron?

Pat Yasinskas

When Talib is focused, he can be as good as any CB. He needs to be focused right now and needs to get his season off to a good start.

Talib usually is in position to make plays but there are so many almost-interceptions that Talib doesn’t haul in. The Pittsburgh game last year was Exhibit-A.

If Talib can rack up a few more interceptions of passes that he gets his hands on, he could be an elite cornerback.

Derek “Old School” Fournier of WhatTheBuc.net believes the Bucs can beat the Lions if they control the ball and keep Calvin Johnson off the field. But how exactly can they do this? Let “Old School” explain.

Fairly or unfairly, Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy will always be compared with manbeast Ndamukong Suh, the Lions defensive tackle who comes into The CITS tomorrow to face the Bucs.

Suh and McCoy were selected in consecutive picks; Suh second by the Lions, GMC third by the Bucs.

But so too will Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman be compared with Detroit Lions quarterback Matt Stafford.

Like Freeman, Stafford was drafted in the first round, long before Freeman was, even before the Jets selected Mark Sanchez.

Just like the crazies who try to compare GMC to Suh, it is unfair to compare Stafford to Freeman (or even Sanchez for that matter). Stafford has been hurt his first two years in the NFL and has yet to complete a full season.

Even Freeman is uncomfortable with the comparisons, so writes Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune.

“It’s interesting because a lot of people have been asking me about that,” Freeman said. “I found playing against any good quarterback that you kind of have to take that whole quarterback-versus-quarterback mentality out of your mind because you’re playing against a defense.

“He has to contend with Gerald McCoy and I have to contend with (Detroit defensive tackle) Ndamukong Suh. That’s who I have to worry about – worry about their secondary and their defense. If I get caught up in what Matthew Stafford is doing, it will take a little bit away from what I need to be doing game plan wise.”

Freeman is right. Comparisons are what keeps fans talking and debating during the offseason.

Joe would rather compare W’s. Getting the first one of the 2011 season is foremost in Joe’s thought. Well, foremost after watching a full day of college football and pounding ample adult beverages today.

Joe listened to quite a bit of Lee Roy Selmon’s memorial service in Tampa today live on WDAE-AM 620. Major kudos to the radio station for killing its schedule and commercials to bring the moving ceremony to all in the Bay area.

The entire Bucs team and USF Bulls football team were there, and many former Bucs and others in the football world, in addition to so many from the community. Here’s a video with some footage from Joe’s friends at WTSP, Channel 10.

It’s not uncommon for jokers to set up a Facebook account that pretends to be a professional athlete’s and carry on the charade daily.

A phony Ronde Barber was outed last year, and now a cowardly soul that takes pleasure in being LeGarrette Blount has been outed. The Detroit Free Press documents the louse and how a Bucs blogger bought into the faux Blount’s trash talking regarding Ndamukong Suh.

Earlier today, the website BucsCentral.com posted a story with a link to a Facebook page purporting to be Blount’s in which the running back allegedly wrote, “Almost game time, son! Let’s get this!! Aye Suh! Figured I should give ya a heads up and let you know I’m runnin right through you Sunday. Practice all you want but you can’t stop LGB.”

The Buccaneers said they have notified NFL social media indentity theft about the incident.

Now Joe could relate to pretending to be LeGarrette Blount if, say, some fabulous drunken hottie was convinced Joe was Blount. But outside of that, it’s pretty lame.

Joe has written this so many times, he can’t count that high.

The key to the Bucs success last year can be traced to one man: running back LeGarrette Blount.

Before Blount broke onto the scene, the Bucs had no running game to speak of and opponents knew it. Virtually every team early in the season dared the Bucs to run, and they couldn’t. Opponents simply defended the pass and the Bucs offense, to be polite, struggled.

Then came Blount. The shootout win over Arizona was proof of what Blount did for the Bucs offense. He gave the Bucs its first legitimate threat to take it to the house on each touch since Cadillac Williams was a rookie.

With a sudden explosive running games, teams had to adjust to the Bucs and focus more on the run, which opened up the passing game for Josh Freeman.

This preseason, the Bucs made a concerted effort to get Blount more involved in third down situations and from limited sample size, that effort seems to have paid off.

But all of this is not good enough for Dan Parr of ProFootballWeekly.com. In a post earlier today, he doesn’t believe Blount can be effective on every down.

We hear that the Buccaneers were hoping that LeGarrette Blount would have made more progress in becoming a better all-around back by the time the regular season started. Blount, one of the gems GM Mark Dominik plucked off waivers after roster cuts before last season, has improved as a blocker and receiver, but the lockout likely played a role in keeping him from making the kind of strides Tampa Bay wants to see. It’s not that he’s not interested in becoming a better blocker — sources say he has made it a goal to get better at it and play every down. It’s possible the Bucs will be ready to use him that way before this season is over. Earnest Graham is the third-down back for now, but the team would like to see Kregg Lumpkin fight for that job. If the Bucs are disappointed with anyone in the backfield, we hear it’s Lumpkin, who didn’t step up in the preseason.

Gee, what a shock, the Bucs were disappointed in Lumpkin. This is no surprise to Joe. Once again, the Packers were hardly loaded at running back last year and Packers backers would argue running back was their weakest position. Yet Packers general manager Ted Thompson let Lumpkin walk. That’s all Joe needed to know.

This preseason, Lumpkin, to hear Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik, was the anointed third-down back. And what did Lumpkin do with this gift? Drop it, figuratively of course.

You would think a guy given such an opportunity would have made the most of it. But before preseason was over, the Bucs turned to Earnest Graham to fill that role.

Look, Joe thinks the world of Dominik but we are all human. It appears Dominik may have been pennywise but pound foolish in letting Cadillac Williams walk.

Slur-hurling Trey Wingo, Mark Schlereth and Hugh Douglas of BSPN break down the Lions-Bucs game.

It’s time to go on the record for the 2011 season in this latest JoeBucsFan./WTSP-TV 10 NEWS poll. Results could be broadcast during an award-winning 10 NEWS broadcast.

You know the NFL season has returned when we resume our weekly trip to the end zone of the NFL universe. Popular sports radio personality Adam Schein travels through football space and time outs and delivers his take on Week 1 of the 2011 NFL season. What does he say about the Bucs? “BOOM!” Consider yourself sucked in to the latest episode of Cosmic Schein!

<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=dbe7ae11-3a0a-4fbe-b015-b9eff17d06f2" target="_new" title="">Cosmic Schein: Week 1</a>

Obviously, the continued growth and maturity of Josh Freeman is a key to the Bucs’ season.

How much better the guy can be after a 25-touchdown, six-interception season remains to be seen. But if Freeman truly is going to be one of the greats, then he should get even better this year all around.

Speaking today on the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620, former Bucs tight end and current Buccaneers Radio Network analyst Dave Moore says fans should see the Bucs let Freeman loose if Sunday’s game is a tight one.

“Expect Greg Olson and Raheem to go to that spread offense. We heard Raheem talk a little bit about that when we beat [inaudible],” Moore said. “Freeman played well in preseason, it was, when they decided to spread out, kind of like you would see New England do with [Tom] Brady.

“Spread out, have one guy in the backfield, kinda call plays as he sees the defense. I think they feel like Freeman’s at the point mentally and in his maturity that he can handle conducting the offense out of a the shotgun and spread formation, something that is difficult to do with young quarterbacks.”

Moore went on to say he expects the Bucs to pound the ball with LeGarrette Blount early in the game to keep Detroit’s big pass rush off balance. And Moore says we’ll see consistent double teams of Ndamakong Suh.

Regarding pounding the ball with Blount, Joe will believe it when he sees it. There were so many times last year when Greg Olson seemed allergic to that tactic.

Pat Kirwan and Jason Horowitz of CBSSports.com take a look at the Lions-Bucs game Sunday. Kirwan suggests Josh Freeman is “well on his way to being an elite quarterback.” Find out what else he has to say.

Yesterday, Joe brought you the heavy-hearted 7-9 Bucs season prediction of Shaun King. Now it’s former defensive tackle Brad Culpepper’s turn.

Speaking on The Dan Sileo Show on WDAE-AM 620, Culpepper said he sees an improved Buccaneers but a .500 team.

“I think they’re a better team than last year. I think they have fewer wins than last year,” Culpepper said. “Last year, they got a way with a couple that you don’t normally get away with. They had everything bounce their way in some games. Quite frankly, I don’t think they were a 10-win team last year.

“The defense is better. I think they still going to struggle on defense.”  … I think they’re offense is awesome. I love the guys on offense.”

Culpepper went on to say Gerald McCoy has yet to prove anything and “by the third or fourth game he really needs to be coming on.”

Culpepper, who started alongside Warren Sapp from 1996-1999, said Sapp didn’t have much success his first season and that left him lacking confidence. Culpepper said Sapp having success, gaining confidence from it and honing his inside moves in Year 2 led to an explosion to where he was the best defensive player in football in his third season.

The Bucs sure are racking up plenty of bulletin board/iPad material.

Sometimes, the crazies who think fantasy football 24/7 crack Joe up. If there’s a name that is a free agent these guys have heard of before, they want their favorite NFL team to pick up said player, no matter how awful he may be.

Joe remembers people with an alleged sober mind actually suggest in public the Bucs should have gone after Braylon Edwards if you can imagine such a thing.

Well, this person — Joe will keep his name confidential to protect the innocent — was one upped when Joe read a BSPN NFC South chat moderated by ESPN’s Pat Yasinskas.

A participant had the gall to suggest that the Bucs may be interested in America’s Quarterback, David Garrard.

Robert Lopezo (arlington, texas)

Hey Pat -do you see Bucs looking at David Garrard and then possiably trading Josh Johnson to the 49ers? They would have a solid veteran backup and would get something for Johnson instead of letting him walk after this season?

Pat Yasinskas

Don’t see it. The Bucs are going with youth and Garrard doesn’t fit that profile. All right, we’re rolling early.

Good Lord, Joe is in a fog trying to wrap his head around this. If the awful Jags don’t want Garrard, what makes anyone think the Bucs would want him? The guy had, what, two decent seasons?

Just because a guy is a veteran does not mean he has any value. Would you want Alex Smith on the Bucs roster? He’s a veteran!

Many, many pundits believe that the steal of the draft this spring was pulled off by Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik when he plucked a free-falling Da’Quan Bowers in the second round.

The Clemson defensive end may have been one of the first players selected had not rumors about his bum knee surfaced and spooked NFL teams.

While Bowers may not start, Pat Yasinskas of ESPN believes Bowers will see significant playing time, sort of a designated pass rusher, so he wrote in a recent BSPN NFC South chat.

George (Union County Boy)

You think Daquan Bowers will tear it up this season boy? I love me some Clemson!

Pat Yasinskas

We’ll see. I think they’re going to start him off as a situational pass rusher. Not a bad thing because that’s what he does best.

That’s not a bad way to bring a guy along. The Bucs now have a bit of a luxury at defensive line. Let Bowers do what he does best and slowly indoctrinate him into life in the NFL. If he’s able to swim, let him go into deeper waters.

Depth on the defensive front is a very good thing.

You could hear the agony in former Bucs quarterback Shaun King’s sullen voice today. The man even prefaced his latest prognostication with a story of how he’s rooted for the Bucs since the days of his youth in St. Petersburg when he snuck out of church to go to games because they were blacked out.

After much study, King said, he predicts a 7-9 finish for the 2011 Buccaneers.

“This is very hard for me,” King said today while co-hosting The King David Show on WQYK-AM 1010.

King said the Bucs have “no dynamic playmakers to beat some of these opponents.” And King went on to say the Bucs’ defense is not ready to hold up at a winning standard.

“I tried to get it to 8-8; I couldn’t do it,” King said of his analysis of the schedule.

For those who listen to King, this comes as a bit of a surprise. He might have been the only local media member to call a winning record for the Bucs last season at this time. Joe knows King takes his study of the Bucs seriously. And King has spoken on his show of watching coach’s tape — not DVR/VCR stuff —  of many recent Bucs games.

Joe sure wishes he could be a fly on the wall when Raheem Morris hears of this.

Just in case you were one of the few idealists thinking the less than high profile Lions were going to sell out The CITS for opening day Sunday, Joe is the bearer of bad news.

Per Nicole Darin’s Twitter feed, she of one of Joe’s proud media partners, WTSP-TV Channel 10, the Bucs were unable to meet the NFL deadline of 1 p.m. today in order to sell out The CITS, thus, the game will not be broadcast in the Tampa Bay and Orlando TV markets, nor will the game be available in the same TV markets on NFL Sunday Ticket.

However, the game will be available for free in the Tampa Bay and Orlando regions on NFL.com at midnight Sunday night via Game Rewind for a 72-hour window.

Also, NFL Sunday Ticket will have the game available at midnight Sunday via it’s “Short Cuts” format with every play included but with all dead time and commercials edited out. In this format, the games are squeezed into a 30-minute format and Joe has found it to be quite cool indeed.

If you are looking for a reason to ram your head in a toilet, get a load of this statistical mumbo jumbo from Jon Anik of BSPN concerning the Lions-Bucs game Sunday.