NFL Network’s Steve Wyche.

Joe is emptying a notebook of recent Bucs-focused interviews with national NFL media types. Below, NFL insider and NFL Network talking head Steve Wyche discusses with Joe how Lovie Smith will turn the Bucs around this fall.

JoeBucsFan: If the Bucs draft a quarterback first overall, will they be pass happy or will Lovie remain true to himself?

Steve Wyche: Well, they have [offensive] weapons. But when he was in Chicago he won with defense. So I think the Bucs will be a defense-centric team. Personnel wise, I think they will be more build through the draft.

Joe: Even with a rookie quarterback, whether it is Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota, expectations will be low initially because they are rookies. So you think the Bucs will still rely on defense this season?

Wyche: Oh, expectations will be high if you are telling me they are drafting a rookie quarterback. Expectations will be high. Even with quarterbacks like Alex Smith and E.J. Manuel, expectations were high. “Oh, we have our guy for the future.” If you are drafting a guy in the top-five picks and he is a quarterback, you are expecting him to be the face of your franchise and the arm of your franchise for years. Right away. Oh, yeah, Ever since Joe Flacco. Ever since Matt Ryan. Just look at Russell Wilson. He is in his second Super Bowl in three years. Oh yeah, expectations will be there.

Joe: With the Tampa-2, is it a dead defense as Jon Gruden claims or has is just evolved?

Wyche: There is no single, I guess, definition of a Tampa-2. Yeah, you want to keep everything in front of you and not give up big plays. You have to have athletic linebackers and elements of the old Tampa-2 with smaller defensive linemen, but you don’t see that [with the Bucs]. You have Gerald McCoy — you have some horses down there. It is not so much the Tampa-2. Some of the concepts might now work, but if you have players back there you can make it work. Look at what Dallas did. You have to get everybody disciplined and get everybody to buy in. As Warren Sapp says, it’s a two-year learning curve for a lot of people. That’s what happened to Dallas and they figured it out.

Joe: So you are expecting a bounce back year for Lovie?

Wyche: I think everybody should expect a bounce back year for Lovie. There are players there and he is a helluva coach.