If Joe were Rachel Watson, he (she?) might say the Bucs let Detroit receivers run as free as antelope on a wilderness preserve in the first half because they were caught up emotions of the pregame ceremonies.

First, there was the moment of silence for the passing of “The Original Buccaneer,” Lee Roy Selmon. Then there was the moving tribute to the victims of the animals who flew planes into buildings on 9/11.

Even Joe was stirred by the display.

But Mason Foster was not. The Bucs rookie linebacker was impressed by the pregame displays but he admitted he was in football mode at that time.

“I was thinking about personal, I was thinking about what to do,” Foster said after the Bucs season-opening loss to the Lions. “It was a great little ceremony remembering 9/11, but I was running through my progressions. I was thinking about what I had to do and what [Detroit] had to do.”

Foster didn’t think Detroit quarterback Matt Stafford tried to expose the rookie starting his first NFL game.

“I can’t say off the top of my head,” Foster said. “I just know I was out there playing as hard as I could and we were playing as hard as we could.

“I felt like I did a good job. But getting a win is a goal, that’s all I want. I wan tot win, no matter how I do it.”