The Bucs signed the “trick shot quarterback”

Apparently, the Bucs’ hierarchy saw what Joe saw over the past five days: Wyoming QB Brett Smith looked like a noodle-armed college quarterback.

Quickly signed by the Bucs as an undrafted free agent, and a guy many fans believed was a “quarterback of the future,” Smith was cut today in a flurry of roster moves. (more…)

A fantastic charity event will be held this evening at Plant High School, 2415 South Himes Ave., Tampa.

Dozens of ex-NFL players, including Mike Alstott, Earnest Graham, Jack Youngblood and many former Bucs, will play in a “Tribute to Heroes” flag football game versus the undefeated Wounded Warrior Amputee football team.

Tickets are $10 for adults. Kids 9-17 are $5. Children 8 years old and younger are free. The first 1,000 military members get in free.

The Wounded Warrior Amputee Football Team is made up of dedicated former and active service members who lost a limb or limbs in combats tours in Iraq, Afghanistan & Vietnam.  These guys and gals (yes, there are two women on the team) are incredibly athletic and their record over the last year is 6-0.

Buy tickets now and get more information at http://www.wwaft.org, or you can purchase at the game. Gates open at 6 p.m.

Joe would like to issue a special thanks to Joe’s friends at Ed Morse Cadillac Tampa for being a major sponsor of this wonderful charity event. Here’s a Tampa Bay Times story about the game and the cause.

Lovie Smith has been talking up “The Fastest Man In The NFL” for months. The Bucs head coach said he couldn’t wait to get Olympian Jeff Demps on the practice field and, based on Lovie’s chatter yesterday, Demps has lived up to the hype. (more…)

Blade-in-the-back rookie Chaz Sutton has impressed the Bucs heirarchy

It appeared the last straw for receiver Mike Williams under the new Bucs regime was the blade he took in the leg from his brother. The gall of Williams to get sliced by a sibling!

This came on top of the nerve of Williams to burn food on his stove, dabble in rap music, drive his car too fast, and allegedly have a Tempur-Pedic on his front lawn and a stripper pole in his living room. (more…)

Bucs GM Jason Licht described WR Mike Evans as “a Godzilla.”

Joe must give Bucs general manager props for being up on pop culture.

Either that, or he has impeccable timing and is a stickler for research.

There are all sorts of superlatives to use to describe rookie wide receiver Mike Evans. Big, physical, quick, strong, athletic. But leave it to Licht to tab the No. 1 movie at the box office last weekend. (more…)

The Bucs GM weighed in last night

Mike Glennon is the “quarterback of the future” for the Bucs. Joe is going to guess you heard that somewhere before.

Now, when future becomes present, that’s anyone’s guess. But Glennon is the future. Bank on it. Write it down. Bookmark it. Don’t believe Joe? Just ask Jason Licht. (more…)

So who taught manbeast Gerald McCoy how to tackle at a Pro Bowl level? Greg Schiano, of course.

Please don’t tell you Joe forgot that critical nugget of Bucs history. Ask Mason Foster and Johnthan Banks about their tackling skills, and they’ll talk about their Schiano transformation, too. (more…)

“Trust your team leaders, my son.”

One reason Bucs coach Lovie Smith has fallen in love with Josh McCown isn’t because he will confuse Bucs fans with Joe Montana. But Lovie believes what McCown does off the field is as important as what he does on it.

Lovie always gushes about McCown. And one of the reasons he brought McCown to Tampa Bay, aside from to be the starting quarterback, of course, was to be a big brother of sorts to backup quarterback Mike Glennon. Try to be Glennon’s unofficial coach. (more…)

Joe joined his fellow media types at Buccaneers practice today under the broiling late-morning sun at One Buc Palace (When will Team Glazer sell ice cold beer at these things?) Of course, Joe took all kinds of notes from drills and offense-vs-defense work.

Here you go: (more…)

Joe remembers last year when the Bucs signed “Hawk” Dashon Goldson, many Bucs fans and national football observers grumbled about how Goldson and Mark Barron were too much alike, therefore, it was a wasted acquisition. (more…)

Bucs coach Lovie Smith was a little excited today, more than his usual calm, stoic self, because his team, his Bucs, were on the field practicing.

Lovie, however, cautioned reporters not to draw too many conclusions from what they are seeing. (more…)

The Bucs’ named “quarterback of the future” said today that Lovie Smith called him twice in the days before the draft to advise not to believe the rumors and hype of the Bucs drafting a quarterback.

Yes, the Mike Glennon Mob can take a break from printing “19 and 9” bumper stickers and celebrate the decision of the Lovie Smith regime. (more…)

The Buccaneers’ cornerbacks coach really was getting after it today on the sunny practice fields of One Buc Palace.

Gil Byrd, a former Pro Bowl player with the Chargers, was all over his troops during man coverage drills against real receivers. (more…)

A scary sight occurred at Bucs practice this morning about five yards in front of Joe.

It was a roughly 15 yard out route during a 1-on-1 drill with Mike Jenkins covering. (more…)

The Bucs are back on the practice field this morning, and Joe is here at One Buc Palace to bring you the sights, sounds and assorted fun.

It’s the full team today, rookies mingling with veterans, and then talking about it afterwards.

Stick with Joe through the day and night for all the need-to-know.

Buffalo WR Sammy Watkins claims the Bucs were one of two teams that told him they would trade up to select him in the draft two weeks ago.

Hordes of Bucs fans are still cracking open bottles of beer to celebrate the drafting of Mike Evans at No. 7 overall. While there was little if anything to judge Evans during rookie camp, his making the two plays of the day, spectacular plays, each time the Tampa Bay pen and mic club was allowed to watch, certainly didn’t damper any hopes.

But, if Joe is to believe the words from wide receiver Sammy Watkins own mouth, the No. 4 overall draft pick, the Bucs wanted him more than Evans.

(more…)

Mike Evans has the same graphic habit of two Hall of Fame athletes.

In his first week as a Buccaneer, first round draft pick Mike Evans confessed he lost his lunch at practice. Evans waved it off as not being in peak condition.

That may not exactly be the case.

Andrew Astleford of FoxSportsFlorida.com did some digging in a cool feature about how Evans went from budding young high school basketball star to the No. 7 pick in the draft. (more…)

If coaches can get the most out of players, then the Bucs may have hit on something with offensive tackle Kadeem Edwards from Tennessee State. And, yes, Joe thinks coaches do get the most out of players.

And bad coaches get the worst out of players, too. (more…)

One good thing about rookie minicamp for draft picks is coaches can try them out at different tasks without taking practice snaps away from veterans.

That seems to be the case already with running back Charles Sims.

Joe already brought word that Sims was involved in punt returns this weekend, the first time he has ever done that. (more…)