Well, that didn’t take long.

When the Lovie Smith regime took over, Joe knows it liked tight end Tim Wright. Really liked him. In his rookie year, the converted wide receiver landed in the top half of tight ends in the NFL, despite being a Schiano Rutgers man.

In the offseason, suits at One Buc Palace raved about Wright. Early in training camp is sure seemed, at worst, Wright would be the No. 2 tight end on the team and would still see a lot of playing time.

Bucs fans saw an alarming sight, however, when the first team offense took the field at the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway Saturday night. Fan favorite Luke Stocker started. Yes, Luke Stocker! And he caught a pass!

What happened to Wright? Well, it seems as if Wright may be the first player with Lovie to take residence in Lovie’s doghouse. The Bucs coach called out Wright Sunday, per Pat Yasinskas of ESPN.com.

“He hasn’t played as well as Tim should be playing,” Smith said. “He’s dropped some balls. If you watched practice, he’s dropped balls. But he’s a big part of what we want to do with the two-receiver, two-tight-end set. Tim hasn’t blocked as well inside. Once you’re that H-back and you don’t block, now they say you’re just another receiver and teams start going nickel. If they do that at least you have to be a good pass catcher. Tim’s a good player. He just hasn’t played as well as he needs to lately.” Wright better show improvement quickly or else his spot on the roster could be in danger. Brandon Myers and Austin Seferian-Jenkins are locks to make the roster. Wright and veteran Luke Stocker could be competing for the final job at tight end.

Joe’s not so sure the Bucs are going to give up on Wright quite this quickly. No one ever thought Wright would be the next Jimmy Giles. That’s one reason the Bucs went and got Brandon Myers because he was more of a blocking tight end.

Wright has done more in one season than Stocker has done his entire career. Yes, Wright (or Myers) are just keeping the seat warm until Austin Seferian-Jenkins takes over; that is clear.

Joe just thinks this was a loud wake-up call by Lovie. Nothing more.