Joe always enjoys when professional athletes refer to themselves in the third person. Retired baseball great Rickey Henderson made it an art form. Antonio Bryant does it at times, and now Joe can add Donald Penn to the list of those who get the job done.

Penn got his big left mitt up and blocked a Dolphins extra point early in the Bucs loss to Miami on Sunday.

The play added to the Bucs seemingly endless special teams accomplishments this season, and likely added to Penn’s free agent pay day in the offseason.

The Bucs left tackle talked about “Donald Penn” to Anwar Richardson, of the Tampa Tribune, after the loss.

“There is no personal achievement in a loss,” Penn said. “My motto coming into this year is to take care of what Donald Penn can take care of, and if Donald Penn takes care of Donald Penn, we’re going to be a good team. In my position, I can’t go and catch passes. We got guys to do that.

“I’m just making sure Donald Penn makes sure his guy doesn’t make the tackle, make sure his guy doesn’t get past him. That’s all I’m trying to do, make this team better by controlling me.”

Penn will be an unrestricted free agent after this season and starting left tackles at his age (26) are highly coveted.

Although his consistent play could reap huge financial benefits this offseason, he is more concerned about helping Tampa Bay win now.

“We had it. We fought our butts off,” Penn said. “I’m mad right now, but I’ve got to look at how the team played. We never quit. That’s the only bright spot we have right now. Some people grew up today.”

The Glazers need to let the moths out of the company vault and ink Penn to a long term deal. With as many holes as the Bucs have, they’ve got no reason to shop around for a left tackle to protect their franchise quarterback. The guy’s already here.