The heinous, beyond brutal Bucs offense yesterday was not the worst of the season. The way the Giants bitch-slapped the Bucs offense in the third week of the season was the worst.

Freeman has eight interceptions in his last two games and 11 pickoffs in three of his last four games.

Joe wonders outloud that, after 12 games prior to Sunday, there really is no excuse for an offense to look that putrid and lost. The third game? OK. Not the 13th game.

Maybe that’s why the Bucs offense took it easy in practice Friday?

What Freeman and the Bucs offense does at Seattle this week will tell Joe quite a bit about what the Bucs will or won’t do in the offseason. Something tells Joe that Greg Olson, and maybe even Raheem the Dream, will have their immediate futures sealed before bedtime Sunday night.

Maybe.

Consider the Bucs had, at the time, statue Byron Leftwich at quarterback and Sean Mayhem at center, who let in more defenders sailing through the line than a screen door on a submarine.

Yesterday, the Bucs had their franchise quarterback with, aside from a couple of receivers, everyone healthy.

Yet the Bucs offense was so ugly, Susan Boyle was beginning to look good — and Joe had not had any Caybrews at that point!

(Boy, Joe sure needed several Caybrews last night to try to kill the memory of the loss.)

The truth of the matter is, the Bucs offense is regressing. Certainly quarterback Josh Freeman is. Joe was originally going to give Freeman a pass. Hey, rookie learning curve. But it wasn’t just Freeman. The whole lot of the Bucs offense smelled worse than Joe’s bedroom the morning after attending a chili cookoff.