No other way to say it: Derrick Ward was a bust

He came, he saw, he sulked. Now Derrick Ward is a memory, as if he ever made any here. He turned 30 on Monday and unemployed on Tuesday.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris and general manager Mark Dominik, who brought Ward here, cut him loose before the second year of a $17 million contract. Good move. When a guy coming off a lousy season reports to camp out of shape, when he is down to guaranteeing to media that he'll have a big game ... in a preseason tilt with Kansas City ... it's time to go.

The Bucs cut the cord. But, please, no standing ovations for the brain trust. That the cord needed to be cut sort of explains why the Bucs coaches and brass can't bump chests over Cincinnati releasing receiver Antonio Bryant, just as the Bucs released him.

It's never clean and neat for this crew, is it?

To wit, or dim wit: Aqib Talib, who'll go on horseback before he ever again hops a cab, was suspended for the season opener by the NFL for numbskullery unbecoming.

These things happen in threes, so Michael Clayton better make sure he has a seat on the return flight from Houston and the last preseason game.

And don't forget: Friday marks the first anniversary of the Bucs firing then-offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski 10 days before the 2009 season.

This season can't be as crazy as last year, can it?

Can it?

There'll be no revisionist history here. I didn't think signing Derrick Ward was a mistake. Who ever saw him losing his job to a guy named Kareem Huggins after one season.

Cadillac Williams' comeback caught us off guard, and the Bucs, and most of all Ward.

He came from the Giants a 1,000-yard rusher and talked of sharing the load as he did in New York. But Ward probably didn't believe he'd be splitting time with anyone, least of all Caddy and his surgical knees.

Derrick Ward was a bust. Maybe it wasn't all him, but enough of it was. He had the trappings of a star, but not the numbers. Early in the 2009 season, a reporter approached Ward in the locker room. It was a Wednesday.

"I only talk Thursdays," he said.

He definitely never spoke up on Sundays.

I give Morris and Dominik some credit for admitting it wasn't working. Even the Rays gave Pat Burrell the first part of his second season. But what else could they have done at this point but move on?

And Dominik's truest boondoggle remains on the roster: Clayton and his ludicrous five-year deal with $10 million or so in guarantees. Clayton apparently will play in Houston on Thursday after not getting in against Jacksonville.

As untested as this receiving corps is, the Bucs still need to cut this cord, too.

One thing this team shouldn't do is complain about Talib's suspension. He's been a good little cornerback for nearly a year, but he had a trail of transgressions, some violent.

One game is the league's way of saying "You're not Big Ben, but wise up."

Talib has been all ears for a while, which is good.

Yes, it's only a one-game suspension. But, just the Bucs' luck, it's the opener with Cleveland, one game this club absolutely needs to win to keep vultures from going into immediate glide path over One Buc Place.

Tuesday was one crazy One Buc day.

This time last year, we hadn't seen anything yet.

How is Josh Freeman's thumb, anyway?