The Bucs new leader?

The moment Aqib Talib swung his 6+ pound football helmet in an attempt to brutalize teammate Donald Penn, Joe wondered what Bucs players would use Talib’s thugfest as an opportunity to establish themselves as team leaders.

There’s no way a true leader would let it go, right?

Well, it seems we finally have a couple of names that may have jumped into that role: Jeff Faine and Chris Hovan, according to Talib’s comments to the St. Pete Times.

Talib said he was pulled aside by several veteran players following the incident.

“Of course, they gave me my slap on the wrist,” Talib said. “The guys — (Jeff) Faine, (Chris) Hovan — the guys who were supposed to come up and talk to me, they definitely came up and said what they had to say to me. It’s behind us though. It was a small altercation. It got a little out of hand.

Joe is intrigued by Talib saying Faine and Hovan were the guys “who were supposed to come up and talk to me.” Have the Bucs already selected unofficial captains on both sides of the ball?

Nothing against Hovan and Faine, who recently ran a naughty charity fashion show with his Orlando clothing store, but Joe was rooting for Luke McCown to be one of the names first mentioned in a leadership role.

Joe is growing convinced that McCown needs to emerge as “the guy” at quarterback for the Bucs to defy logic and pull out a winning season.