One of the reasons the Bucs got Kellen Winslow was for his ability to get deep.

When Joe thinks of ‘The Deep,” his mind races to the classic cult movie starring Jacqueline Bisset. Joe assumes his readers can do the math and figure out his inference. Hey, this is a PG-rated football blog.

When Bucs offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski thinks of “The Deep,” it’s a whole different meaning.

(Which is why Joe has often written his idea of “fantasy” has absolutely nothing to do with sacks or yards rushing).

Jagodzinski’s concept of “The Deep” is what his quarterbacks will be pursuing: deep throws. All the time.

Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune writes that Raheem the Dream, Jagodzinski and the Bucs believe they have the players that can burn opponents early and often deep.

“When you’re a power run team, people tend to load up the box on you,” Bucs coach Raheem Morris said. “When they do that you want to get a little jump on them and exploit them, and you saw us do that today.”

What fans attending the morning workout at One Buc Place and the evening practice at Raymond James Stadium saw was McCown going deep to Michael Clayton, Freeman hooking up deep with Dexter Jackson and Leftwich hooking up deep with Maurice Stovall.

And those were just some of the highlights. McCown, Leftwich and Freeman loosened up their arms on several other occasions throughout the day, as did second-year pro Josh Johnson.

“They’re definitely giving us our shots,” said Clayton, who should get a good chance this year to erase the belief that he’s nothing more than a possession receiver whose best trait is blocking.

It certainly makes a lot of sense that if a team that pounds the ball regularly — which the Bucs should be able to do — it can burn teams with a bomb. Also, if teams are paranoid of the long ball, that means less defenders in the box which should translate to better running opportunities once the Bucs running backs get past the first level.

Now, back to “The Deep.” Let’s just say that movie made such an impression upon Joe as a young boy, that it was a no-brainer that Joe had to get certified as a diver. Joe’s not as certain the Bucs deep passes will make nearly as a profound impression, but he’s excited nonetheless.