Signed off the Cowboys' practice squad, Bucs new No. 3 quarterback Rudy Carpenter talked to Joe about his relationship with Josh Freeman, Jon Kitna and Dallas practically begging him to stay with them.

In Atlanta, the Bucs’ new third-string quarterback, Rudy Carpenter, snatched last week from the Cowboys’ practice squad, stood on the sidelines with his baseball hat on backwards as a little-known commodity to Bucs fans.

After practice yesterday, Joe caught up to Carpenter and learned more about what makes him tick. The undrafted free agent out of Arizona State had some interesting things to share in his first in-depth interview as a Buccaneer.

Joe: Tell fans about your game.

Rudy Carpenter: This is my first year in the league. I’m still trying to figure out a lot about myself and a lot about my game. I’m an average size guy and I don’t have the standout skills, but I get by on my intelligence and accuracy, things like that.  

Joe: How did the Bucs come to sign you off the Cowboys’ practice squad? How did that go down?

Carpenter: Teams were calling me throughout the year, but not the Bucs. It was pretty interesting because that Monday (Nov. 23) I hadn’t heard from the Bucs before and then they called me and said, ‘We’re going to put Byron Leftwich on IR and we want to make you active immediately. Can you get on a plane tonight?’ So it was a pretty fast decision for me after I talked to my agent and considered staying in Dallas. …They signed me for the rest of this season and next season.

Joe: Have you gotten any sense of the Bucs’ plans for you?

Carpenter: Man. I have no idea. I’m trying to find out what the situation is for next year regarding Byron. Nobody seems to know.

Joe: How are you adjusting to the playbook in Tampa?

Carpenter: The plays, the schemes and the concepts are very familiar wherever you go …Offensive football is offensive football. The difference is the verbiage. One team it’s in French, another in Spanish. It’s about learning the verbiage. …It’s been a real crash course [in Tampa]. …I have really a lot of respect for both Josh’s and Byron and [Coach Greg Olson].  They’ve had a lot to adjust to with the change at offensive. I’m sure that was challenging. They’ve done a good job giving me a crash course, how we call things and plays that we run. I’ve been studying like crazy to learn as fast as I can.

Joe: Talk about your experience on the Cowboys’ practice squad.

Carpenter: I was doing really well in Dallas. They really liked me. When I got the phone call from the Bucs that they wanted to take me off the Dallas squad, Dallas even offered to pay me active [roster] money to stay with them. I really liked Dallas, but I really thought it would be good for me to get the NFL experience as a third quarterback. When you’re on a practice squad and you get phone calls from other teams to make you active, you can decline it. But I wanted the experience in Tampa.

Joe: How do you feel you developed in Dallas? What was it like for you there?

Carpenter: When I was in Dallas I had two veteran guys to learn from. Man, it was so valuable. I have a close relationship with [Cowboys No. 2 quarterback] John Kitna, who pretty much just took me under his wing and taught me everything he knew. I still talk to him all the time. He’s always teaching me. …Quarterback is such a hard deal in this league. For nearly every quarterback it’s about finding the right place at the right time in the right system. Dallas was a great system and a great orgainziaton, but there also are a lot of quarterbacks there. I felt more comfortable coming here with Josh Johnson and Josh Freeman and that’s it right now, that it might be a right place for me.

Joe: What’s your impression of Josh Freeman?

Carpenter: I actually knew Josh pretty welll before I got here. We had spent a few weeks last year together at a quarterbacks camp and became friends. Then we went to another QB camp together. … Then he came to Arizona to train for the combine, where I was living, and we hung out there. And we’ve kept in touch since then. As for how he’s playing, Josh had great numbers in Altanta, that’s pretty impressive considering he’s just get started.