Celebrate! (Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com)

Bucs fans: When is the last time there has been a sweeter Victory Monday? C’mon, bottoms up on that JoeBucsFan Jason Licht Ale. We gotta get going.

Haters Pipe Down

Joe has noticed there are two big-time Bucs Pro Bowlers who fans have been beating over the head with a baseball bat in recent weeks. One is clobbered for no good reason other than to hate, and the other is battered with some merit. in which Joe has also been involved. Respectively, that has been Gerald McCoy and Lavonte David.

Why a good majority of Bucs fans hate on GMC, Joe just does not understand. The only conclusion Joe can come to is that these folks would rather have Akeem Spence start over GMC. It doesn’t make sense to Joe and never will. The unreal standards Bucs fans have for GMC is almost absurd. Because GMC isn’t Joe Greene in his prime, he should be thrown off the team? Stop it.

David? Well, this is his worst year in the NFL, highlighted by dropping a goose egg in Arizona. For much of the season, David has been a non-factor. Well. that changed Sunday.

Fans whine how these two guys are never around (allegedly) to make a play in crunch time. Well, last week it was GMC who tipped an Alex Smith pass that Chris Conte intercepted, basically saving the game. Last night, GMC was on fire with five tackles (that’s a lot for a defensive tackle in a 43 front, feel free to do the research) and 1.5 sacks. That one sack came late in the game when Russell Wilson was frantically trying to save the day for the Seahawks.

David? Just when it seemed the Seahawks were going to cut the lead to one score, David came up with a monster fumble recovery and returned the fumble 53 yards. That was easily the play of the game.

Time for the haters to find another target(s). Joe is confident they will. GMC answered the bell with a dominant performance, especially in crunch time, and David turned in the play of the game that may have saved the win.

Props to both.

Refs Bailed Out Bucs

When the Bucs were marching in the final seconds of the first half, Cameron Brate was belted out of bounds and the zebras ruled that the clock should keep running. The Bucs just ran out of time. But a few things here: The Bucs should have had a timeout in their back pocket. Why the ball wasn’t spiked rather than calling a timeout is still puzzling to Joe. And did anyone believe Roberto Aguayo would have made it had there been enough time on the clock?

The drive should have ended on at least a field goal try with a little smarter use of the clock.

Dominant Defense

Yes, holding one of the best teams in the NFL to a field goal (a safety like the Bucs allowed was a complete and total gift of two points) is impressive. But here is a statistic that will blow your mind:

Just before the game yesterday, Joe mocked on Blake Bortles on Twitter for having a total of 30 yards passing in the first half. Joe was incredulous: How can a quarterback not named Stewart McClown put up such paltry numbers in the NFL? Wait for it…

Last night, the Bucs held Pro Bowler Russell Wilson, one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, to 20 yards passing in the first half. Twenty yards!!!

That just blows Joe’s mind. No wonder Warren Sapp was shocked. It’s one thing to hold the likes of Case Keenum to low double-digits passing in the first half, but Russell Wilson? That’s otherworldly. In his poastgame press conference, Bucs coach Dirk Koetter credited the secondary with maintaining coverage long enough to allow the front line to get to Wilson.

Either way, what a dramatic lock up of one of the best signal-callers in the game. This will live in Bucs lore for decades to come. Very impressive!

Cast of Many

Throughout the second half, Joe was a nervous wreck. It had the stench of the Raiders game: Where the Raiders ran out of ways to give the game away to the Bucs, only for the Bucs to take the gifts back to the return department at Sears. The Bucs had many chances to put the Seahawks away, and couldn’t do it. Meanwhile, the Seahawks kept hanging around.

Each time it seemed Seattle would take advantage, someone made a key play. Whether it was GMC or David or Noah Spence or Brent Grimes of Alterraun Verner or Bradley McDougald or Kwon Alexander, someone stepped up and got the job done when a play was needed.

Rare Praise for a Punter

Bryan Anger constantly kept the Seahawks pinned in poor field position. Advantage, Bucs. Last night while recording tomorrow’s Ira Kaufman Podcast, Joe stated Anger may be one of the top two or three players at his position who also just happens to be wearing a Bucs uniform.

Yes, Mike Evans is close to being the best but not yet Julio Jones or Antonio Brown, but he’s getting there. Evans may not be A.J. Green. But he’s getting there.

Anger? Easily one of the better punters in the game, maybe the best. Rarely can someone say a punter was the MVP of the game or may have won the game for his teammates, but Anger’s performance yesterday is damned close. He was that good.

Tidbits:

* How long does it take a running back to shake off the rust? It seems in Doug Martin’s case, about a month. This was his third game back after blowing a hamstring in Week 2. He’s not quite at his Pro Bowl form but he is getting closer.

* The way Cameron Brate is developing into a pass-catching threat as a tight end, does anyone remotely miss huge bowel movement, tweety Austin Seferian-Jenkins?

* Joe is getting this a lot on Twitter: Is Alterraun Verner playing his way back onto the roster for 2017? Joe doubts it. Unless Verner reworks his contract, it’s awfully hard to find a place on the bench for a guy making $6 million a year.

* In the first half, Joe clearly heard the warchant cry that many Bucs fans want to start for a tradition of sorts to support America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston. It wasn’t loud, but Joe could easily hear the warchant through the press box windows when the Bucs had the ball on a third-down snap or two. The warchant seemed to work in the first half, but when the Bucs offense went into a deep freeze in the second half, the warchant on third downs died.

* Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht sure has had an eventful last few days. First, when the Bucs played at Kansas City, Licht drove a few short hours up to Lincoln, Neb. to watch his alma mater Nebraska play Maryland as a guest of Larry the Cable Guy. Then, Licht paid up on last year’s bet with Iowa grad Brandon Myers. (Iowa pounded Nebraska this weekend, too) Licht showed up Friday to One Buc Palace in full Hawkeye regalia. You could tell by the photo that Licht was not a happy camper.

* Warren Sapp attended the game yesterday and he was in a crazy good mood. You don’t have to know Sapp is around because you can hear him. Sapp and Joe shared an elevator after the game going down to the tunnel where players leave the field. There, he bear-hugged GMC, his friend and pupil, and warmly embraced Alterraun Verner. As happy and proud as Sapp was to see the Bucs dominate the Seahawks defensively, he had a burr under his saddle. He did not like how Bradley McDougald tried to return his game-sealing pick rather than just go down and avoid a potential turnover. Sapp said he planned to scold McDougald for that… after he thanked him for the pick. Joe will have a story later about what Sapp told Jameis’ dad outside the Bucs locker room. It’s pretty funny and probably damned accurate, too.

* Joe can’t remember the Bucs being so joyous after a win. Sure, they were happy when they beat the Dixie Chicks to start the season and geeked when they beat the Chiefs last week. But last night? Dudes were like they just cliched a division title. Screaming and hollering and bouncing through the tunnel and into the locker room. Joe can’t remember the Bucs being so ecstatic after a win, probably because Joe cannot remember such a big home win.

* Yeah, it seems Bucs coach Dirk Koetter doesn’t like Joe calling the stadium on Dale Mabry Highway the “Den of Depression.” Well, it is. The Bucs have the worst home record in the NFL since Chucky was fired in January 2009. Joe is glad folks at One Buc Palace don’t like it. Because there is an easy way for them to get Joe to stop calling the stadium the “Den of Depression.” That would be for the Bucs to win home games. Once the Bucs win five home games in a season, then Joe will drop the moniker. That ship has sailed for this season.

Gameballs:

Bradley McDougald: Save for his pass interference call, McDougald played his best game with the Bucs. The guy was a complete and total stud Sunday.

Alterraun Verner: His dad would be proud.

Lavonte David: Had seven tackles and the play of the game.

Mike Evans: Getting over 100 yards and hauling in two touchdowns when you were largely guarded by Richard Sherman is a helluva day.

Brent Grimes: Stuck on receivers like glue.

Noah Spence: Now leads all rookie defensive ends with 5.5 sacks.

Quotes:

“Six [sacks] is the most we’ve had in a long time. We were worried about that all week because Russell Wilson is a tough quarterback to sack. He did get out a few times, but we hit him, we kept him in. Noah Spence was big tonight. Gerald (McCoy) had a sack and a half. Six sacks, we hit him a bunch of times, too. That also tells you that your coverage is good on the back end because he’s having to hold the ball a little bit.’’ — Dirk Koetter.

“I always throw Mike the ball and I always talk about he’s my superstar. Ya’ll always ask me why do you throw Mike the ball so much? I never understand those questions.” — Jameis.

“That’s a great thing, hats off to this football team, hats off to this coaching staff, for everybody sticking together and playing Buc football the way we know how to play. You’ve got to tip your hat off to the Seattle Seahawks, you all know they’re a great football team and for us to go out there and put up a performance like that against a tremendous football team, it’s a great thing. But we’ve got to take this win and learn from it.” — Lavonte David.

“That’s an all right accomplishment. I’m more about team accomplishments though.” — Mike Evans on being the first receiver in NFL history to have three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons in his first three years.

“Like I said, it’s a blessing to be with these dudes on the defensive line with me. Always telling me what to do and trying to teach me different things throughout the game. It’s helping me a lot. We’ve got great dudes on the line, get sacks when all of us can’t even get them.” — Noah Spence.

“I thought that was a really good showing by Tampa Bay. They outplayed us and they beat us up front. They did a fine job of getting themselves a win. We had a chance to get back in it a number of times but they just couldn’t open up the door for us and couldn’t make it happen. We did not play like we play and it didn’t feel like it. That starts right with me. If everyone plays a little off, then that’s me. I got to do my part and they got to do their part and we got to get our game back and get a win again. It’s such an oddity to be that far off in the throwing game and have trouble fully shutting down on third down. It just spells for a bad game. Our field position was really huge. They did a great job of managing their field position and keeping us backed up, particularly when we had to get going in the second half. We were ready to mount a comeback and get back in this thing, but they put us inside the 10-yard line I think three times and made it really difficult. They were able to hold onto the field position and did a nice job of that. I’m just disappointed we came out this way and played like that. We didn’t play anywhere near like we thought we would.” — Seattle coach Pete Carroll.

Punts:

College football is crazy. Joe isn’t sure how the powers that be can keep a Big Ten champion out of the playoffs, but honestly, there is no way Penn State or Wisconsin is one of the four best teams in nation. The four best? Bama, Ohio State, Clemson and Washington. … Speaking of college football, it is official: The worst team in the B1G for defensive pass completion percentage? Well, well, well it’s none other than Lovie Smith and the Illini. Last year, Illinois with a joke of a coach who was run for possible abuse of players, had the No. 3 defensive pass completion percentage. Lovie’s mark this season is worse than Rutgers; worse than Purdue; worse than Maryland. So in the past three years, Lovie’s defenses have held the worst defensive pass completion percentage in their respective league/conference. And to think some still question Team Glazer for running Lovie. Oh, please! It has taken Dirk Koetter 11 games to win six. It took Lovie 25 games to reach six wins. … Last week, Joe was so exhausted at 3 a.m. Monday morning typing from his Kansas City hotel room when he was writing “Morning After,” Joe cashed it in on “Punts.” So with apologies, here are Joe’s thoughts on the Kansas City trip: Joe, right after college, worked in the Kansas City area and covered the Royals and, once in a while, a Chiefs game for a suburban daily newspaper. Last week was Joe’s first trip back to Arrowhead Stadium since he covered a Chiefs game. A lot has changed. First, Kansas City used to be a dump. No one in their right mind wanted to go downtown. Now, my gosh, it is a destination. Before, Kansas City was basically a giant suburb. Now, it is a cool metropolitan area. Joe is impressed with Kansas City whereas before, Joe couldn’t wait to get out. And, man, the barbeque! Joe went to three places for barbeque last week. Joe was told through a friend Father Dungy said that Gates was the place to go (Father Dungy was once an assistant coach for the Chiefs when Joe last covered a Chiefs game). Let’s just say Father Dungy knows about as much about barbecue as he does offenses. If you like barbecue drowned in vinegar-based sauce where you can’t even taste the meat, well, then Gates is your kinda place. But if you like meat smoked with dry rub with maybe some sweet sauce on the side, then Joe’s Kansas City Barbecue or Jack Stack is your place. Joe ate at Jack Stack after the Bucs win and the next day at Joe’s Kansas City Barbecue, which is said to be the best barbecue joint in the nation. Let’s just say the burnt ends at Jack Stack were top shelf and on a Monday morning going to Joe’s, well, there was a line out the door to the parking lot. On a gloomy, chilly Monday morning no less! Good sign! Let’s just say having burnt ends at Jack Stack or at Joe’s and washed down with a Kansas City-brewed Boulevard Pale Ale, well, that’s living! Joe’s Kansas City Barbecue is very close to the best burnt ends Joe has ever had (Rollin’ Smoke in Las Vegas may be the best burnt ends Joe has ever had, but it is close). Anyway, a trip to Kansas City with a visit to the Negro Leagues Museum and then the National World War I Museum followed by eating burnt ends and polishing off your meal with few Boulevard Pale Ales, well, that’s a helluva day, trust Joe. In fact, Joe was so impressed with Kansas City and its barbecue and its beer, Joe is planning a weekend trip this May for a baseball/NASCAR/barbecue weekend. If you are ever looking for a place to visit that is inexpensive with cool things to do during the day and great grub at night with good local craft beer, keep Kansas City in mind. Oh, and the atmosphere at Arrowhead Stadium? About as close to a college football game as you will find at an NFL stadium (sort of like Pittsburgh, maybe better). In some ways, a football weekend in Kansas City is a bucket list item for NFL fans.