How will Lovie Smith counter and attack the Titans starting a rookie right tackle?

In seven days, Tennessee will start a rookie third-round pick at right tackle.

What are you made of, Lovie Smith, Bucs’ defensive shot caller? (more…)

Did the Bucs make the best choices for Jameis Winston?

Joe does not underestimate the value of coaching and the value of experience.

It’s one reason Joe scratched his head when the Bucs hired a first-time NFL quarterbacks coach for Jameis Winston, America’s Quarterback, and didn’t have a savvy veteran QB in training camp to help drive Jameis. (more…)

How does a second-year player who started 16 games last year at right guard get cut from a team that has only one guard on the roster with any NFL regular-season experience at the position? (more…)

Here’s the breakdown, position by position: (more…)

Lovie seems OK with the offensive line.

Nothing rankled Bucs fans this offseason quite like the offensive line. Despite AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht drafting two offensive linemen in the second round and signing a former first-round pick of an offensive tackle, fans remain irritated, as if they showed up at a bar sober and heard the awful cry, “Last call!” (more…)

However …

Tampa Bay Times beat writer Rick Stroud is Twittering that the Bucs have waved good-bye to 2015 sixth-round pick Kaelin Clay. (more…)

Word flowing around Twitter this morning is that the Raiders will cut former Vikings and Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder today. (more…)

Lovie preparing for what he refers to as the second draft this weekend.

It was common for Bucs fans to pace so much at night that they wore a path in their bedroom rug fretting over the edge rush.

There really wasn’t much to fret about because there wasn’t much of a rush to even get worked up over. (more…)

Tim Jennings speaks out

So let’s get this straight, the Bears cut good citizen cornerback (sans the bad driving) Tim Jennings, a 2012 and 2013 Pro Bowler with $4.4 million of guaranteed money on his contract.

When does that happen to a healthy NFL player? (more…)

This was a different kind of radio appearance for Joe.

Todd Wright, filling in on WDAE-AM 620, brought Joe on the air for a cerebral, big-picture kind of chat. (more…)

It’s not about that. … More nonsense is flowing. 

There is some credibility, Joe believes, to the notion that rookie quarterbacks learn best from the sidelines.

It is no coincidence Aaron Rodgers had years to acclimate to the NFL while watching Brett Farve work his magic. When Rodgers did assume signal-calling duties for the Packers, made about as smooth of a transition as you will ever see. (more…)

No “Afro Thunder” running routes for the Bucs this season

Per the Twittering of Bucs beat writer Greg Auman, rookie fifth-round wide receiver Kenny Bell will wait until next year to make his mark on the NFL. (more…)

Jason Licht needs to find the next Ted Larsen in a hurry

Before Garrett Gilkey suffered a significant injury last night, Joe wrote a story about how general manager Jason Licht must jump all over guards that hit waivers on Saturday.

But now things have reached crisis mode. (more…)

Bucs icon Ronde Barber seemed to have a philosophical clash with Lovie Smith while serving as an analyst on the Bucs-Dolphins game last night.

Barber dared to say turnovers “are impossible to count on” for a defense. (more…)

Not interested

During the fourth quarter of last night’s worthless fourth preseason game, AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht talked Bucs with TV play-by-play man Chris Myers and analyst Ronde Barber.

Licht sort of offered a peek behind the scenes of a day in the life of a GM. (more…)

As Joe likes to tell friends, “In the end, things work out.”

So Joe uses that philosophy when looking back at the complete and total trainwreck that ensued from virtually the moment Lovie Smith took the podium as the new Bucs coach — to the team walking off the field after losing (winning, actually) to the Saints to end the horrific 2-14 season. (more…)

A prominent Bucs beat writer says Kenny Bell’s season may be over.

With no preseason catches and hamstring woes that kept him out of the last two games, rookie wide receiver Kenny Bell is in a tough spot.

Undrafted rookies Adam Humphries and Rannell Hall have outshined him. And the Bucs can’t count on him. (more…)

New Bucs kicker Kyle Brindza (left) had a big night. Photo courtesy of Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Rookie kicker Kyle Brindza made field goals of 55 and 57 yards in his Bucs debut last night.

Joe’s making the easy call. The Notre Dame grad will be your 2015 kicker. But he can do more. (more…)

Former Bucs guard and local sports radio personality Ian Beckles responds to a Gerald McCoy Twitter and explains his hypercritical stance on the Bucs’ Pro Bowl defensive tackle.

This week, as is his custom, former Bucs guard and current WDAE-AM 620 personality Ian Beckles teed off on Pro Bowl defensive tackle Gerald McCoy for being underwhelming.

Naturally, this created a ruckus, especially online where Beckles came under fire not just from Bucs fans but also, in a way, from GMC himself. (more…)

Bucs GM Jason Licht admits the pass rush needs work.

So if you believe the words of Lovie Smith last night, it sure seems like defensive end Larry English will be out for months.

We should get an update a little after noon, when Lovie holds his day-after presser from One Buc Palace. (more…)

Lovie Smith updated the status of two Bucs players with knee injuries.

Per the fingers of Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune, Bucs coach Lovie Smith addressed the injuries suffered by defensive end Larry English and right guard Garrett Gilkey this evening in the final worthless preseason game of the year. (more…)

The Dolphins came heavy and hard with inside pass pressure on C Jeremiah Warren and other Bucs offensive linemen, which rattled QB Mike Glennon.

A polite memo to America’s Quarterback, Bucs signal-caller Jameis Winston:

There will be blitzes coming up the middle after you. A lot. Probably every drive, every time you take the field. (more…)