As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers continue to deal with a flood of criticism for re-signing turd extraordinaire Jerramy Stevens, the Bucs are putting their own spin on the situation.

They’ve enlisted Stevens’ position coach, Bob Casullo, who is going out on a limb for a player with a troubled past, and for the team that’s facing a troubled present due to its decision to bring the player back for a second season.

“Well, you know here’s the thing,” Casullo told PewterReport.com.  “In my four years that I’ve been with Jerramy Stevens, he’s never had an issue in those four years.  He’s never been a problem.  I know Mike Holmgren and the Seattle Seahawks people were very in-tuned to him.  He had issues before I got there.  Nothing while I was there.  Since he came down here it’s been a breath of fresh air for him.”

Of course, Casullo is conveniently ignoring what occurred after Casullo left Seattle and before Stevens arrived in Tampa.  Stevens was arrested for “extreme DUI,” for which he has since been convicted in a court of law and suspended two games by the NFL.

Casullo, the Bucs, and Stevens also are employing some warped logic regarding the rape allegations against Stevens while he was a student at the University of Washington.  Stevens has said he won’t address the “false accusations.”  Casullo is creating the impression that there’s a Court order that prevents Stevens from talking about the situation.

“There are certain things that you can and can’t say,” Casullo said.  “Obviously he can’t say his side of the story.  We don’t know why because we don’t know what happened in the legal system, and he is adhering to what the legal system told him he could and could not say.  But there are certain people that don’t want to accept that.  They’re making an issue out of it when his hands are tied.”

Frankly, that explanation smells to us like a big crock of creamed crap. 

We’re not familiar with the niceties of the legal system in the Pacific Northwest, but the notion that Stevens is blameless in the incident and likewise isn’t permitted to talk about it makes no freaking sense.

We think that the Bucs and Stevens and Casullo are looking for a way to generically proclaim Stevens’ innocence while at the same time avoiding the disturbing details on which the Seattle Times reported earlier this year. 

And Casullo’s behavior reminds us of the same type of enabling in which Stevens’ former position coach at Washington engaged several years ago.  The coach in that instance was current Rams head coach Scott Linehan.  Stevens rewarded Linehan’s decision to go to bat for Stevens by continuing to be a turd. 

Let’s see if Stevens does the same thing to Casullo.