In life and in sports, sometimes how a person reacts instantly to a situation says a lot about who they are — and sometimes it’s completely unfair to judge that instant reaction. [read more]

At 23 years old this season, defensive tackle Calijah Kancey had a lot on his plate. [read more]

Those who follow Shaun King on Twitter — you know, one of only four Bucs quarterbacks to lead the franchise to the NFC title game — know that he pounded the drum in the weeks leading up to the 2024 draft that Brian Thomas was the best receiver to be had on draft weekend. [read more]

Wanted.

On Monday, when Bucs coach Todd Bowles had his last news conference for the 2024 season to wrap up the year that was, he seemed like he was bracing for offensive coordinator Liam Coen to leave the team. [read more]

How bout those Commanders! After needing stunning Buccaneers errors on offense to score 23 points to beat Tampa Bay on Sunday night, Washington came out tonight and dropped 45 points on the Lions — in Detroit. [read more]

Bucs OC Liam Coen.

Joe found the following quite curious since two of the more well-plugged-in NFL insiders seemingly have different information. [read more]

Value.

NFL teams have 53 players on active rosters. That’s 1,696 guys on 32 teams. [read more]

“You fumbled, Bake, and these guys are killing me.”

Buccaneers playcaller Liam Coen had a magical season.

A couple of huge voices in NFL media think he closed his campaign with a major mistake. [read more]

Tight with Todd Bowles.

Todd Bowles doesn’t seem to get very sentimental about football players, at least not in front of the local pen and mic club. [read more]

Calijah Kancey

Bucs fans have various assessments of head coach Todd Bowles. [read more]

An assistant coach weighs in.

So what was the key to beating the 2024 Buccaneers defense? [read more]

Staying put?

Joe predicted early this past season that Liam Coen was doing such a good job as the Bucs offensive coordinator, he’d be a head coach somewhere in 2025, NFL or college. [read more]

Still a beast.

For the national media, the game Sunday night between the Bucs and the Commandos wasn’t so much Washington vs. Tampa Bay or even Jayden Daniels vs. Baker Mayfield. [read more]

Bucs playcaller Liam Coen.

Now this got Joe to ask for another draft beer at Hooters. [read more]

This kind of stuff happens, especially when the highest tiers of Bucs management fail to clear the air. [read more]

One sad note to the Bucs’ division-winning season was star safety Antoine Winfield, Jr. having an off year.

It happens. But Joe’s real sadness is thinking about how Winfield injured his foot in Week 1 with the Bucs’ victory already locked up. [read more]

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The Free Stretch serves up its Bucs postmortem and excitedly looks ahead. Enjoy! Follow Bobby on X, @bobbygameday. Bobby’s podcast is an extension of his national and local radio shows. It’s been at JoeBucsFan.com for eight-plus years. Always a quality listen from a true Tampa native.

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The Free Stretch is presented by Bill Currie Ford. Don’t Worry, Drive Currie!

PRESENTED BY BILL CURRIE FORD

[read more]

Graded in and out of Bucs headquarters.

Forget Mike Evans, Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht has his own streak. It’s finding quality offensive lineman at schools big and small. [read more]

No true offseason.

Joe reads this a fair amount from commenters on this here corner of the interwebs. [read more]