“Hawk” Goldson said the Bucs secondary is still progressing and learning to play as a group.

When Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik signed safety Dashon “Hawk” Goldson and traded for cornerback Darrelle Revis, the Bucs seemed magically transformed from the second-worst pass defense in NFL history to one of the best in the league.

That didn’t happen right away, in part because Revis wasn’t 100 percent coming off his knee injury. If you talk to Revis now, he will admit he’s still not 100 percent. But he’s pretty close.

Another reason the Bucs secondary needed time to establish itself, per Goldson, was three-fourths of the starting secondary was new, factoring in rookie Johnthan Banks.

“Early on, we were all trying to learn,” Goldson said. “It was rough. But I think as the year progressed, we started to mesh a little better; guys started understanding weaknesses and strengths and we started playing well. We got some hands on balls, we started communicating a lot better. We had some breakdowns, but I think that comes with [the] first year guys [are] together. I think next year will be a whole lot better, but right now we’ve still got two more games left. We’re focusing on this week with the Rams, [trying to] get communication down, try to get turnovers still and just keep building.”

Here’s the thing Joe is sure about: Yes, the secondary is playing better. Much better. But if Bucs commander Greg Schiano is back next year, that secondary better still be improving.

The Bucs and Schiano will need all the help they can get to obtain a winning record in 2014.