Today’s On-Field Practice Observations
May 20th, 2014
Joe joined his fellow media types at Buccaneers practice today under the broiling late-morning sun at One Buc Palace (When will Team Glazer sell ice cold beer at these things?) Of course, Joe took all kinds of notes from drills and offense-vs-defense work.
Here you go:
*Mike Glennon is doing a fine job of hitting wide receivers along the right sideline. You see, you Mike Glennon Mobsters, Joe doesn’t hate Glennon.
*Skye Dawson with a bad drop of a Glennon pass. Too much “cannon?”
*Louis Murphy goes low to haul in a pass from Josh McCown over the middle.
*Glennon and a wide receiver were on the wrong page. Either Glennon threw the wrong way or his receiver (Joe didn’t catch who it was) broke the wrong way. Either way, Danny Gorrer took advantage of the gift with a pick six along the left sideline.*
*McCown’s best pass seems to be a jump ball today. Just throw it high and let the wide receiver fight for it. Granted, neither Vincent Jackson nor Mike Evans are on the field.
*Fullback Lonnie Pryor of Florida State goes low to dig out a pass from Glennon to the left side.
*Pretty: Tim Wright makes a beautiful catch of a perfect pass from Mike Kafka on a slant from the right side for six points.
*Another catch by Pryor to the left side. He is showing good hands today. Pryor also stood out during a muffed-punt-type drill on special teams.
*Across the field, defensive line coach Joe Cullen is heard screaming praise for DE Steven Means, as the linemen worked tirelessly together. There are no wasted seconds with that group.
*You know, it helps to catch the ball before you run with it. Glennon hits Jeff Demps right in the hands along the right sideline, about as much of a bulls-eye pass as you will see, but Demps turned upfield and forgot one important thing: Hang on to the ball.
*Kafka rifles a ball through traffic and hits Brandon Myers on the run in stride for a touchdown.
*Sweet catch by Tommy Streeter along the left sideline, pulling the ball back to his body with the pass coming from Glennon.
*Glennon suffers a coverage sack, if there was such a thing in underwear football, as no receiver could get open.
*Perfect pass by Kafka to Solomon Patton of the University of Florida, but — whoops! — Patton tanks the play and drops it.
*Patton makes up for catching a Glennon pass that was thrown behind him.
*Doug Martin continues to bite the football while running loose to the end zone. Greg Schiano would be so proud.
*Safety Major Wright juked and off balance in a tackling/angles drill strictly with his position group.
*No Carl Nicks to be found. Joe looked. Vincent Jackson wore a baseball cap all day and rested a “tweak” of his hamstring.
*Route-running drill was a lot of fun to watch. Mike Evans sure looked raw with his footwork. Yes, that was before he tweaked his hammy and sat out the rest of practice.
*Want a polished route runner? Chris Owusu got hefty praise from coaches and looked the part. “Wu” is how he’s known by teammates. A fun word to say.
*Eric Page drew the second most praise from coaches.
*McCown’s passes were razor sharp throughout this drill.
*The dropsies continued for rookie sixth-round pick Robert Herron. Every practice Joe’s watched with Herron, the young man has some Kellen Winslow Vaseline hands. However,, in every practice Herron flashes the speed and tight routes and explosion that can wow everyone watching. On one play, he made CB Rashaan Melvin look like a JV athlete in coverage.
*Seems to be some nice chemistry between Glennon and Louis Murphy. Smooth connections.
*Bounce pass by Glennon to Brandon Myers. Major miscommunication.
*A Luke Stocker sighting! With the first team! Nice connection for 10 yards from McCown.
*Absolute laser uncorked by Glennon to Tim Wright – 25 yards.
*Jeff Demps fumbles! Keep in mind this was a handoff up the middle and no contact is allowed. In other words, Demps coughed this up with a mere reach-in slap to the ball. Not good. Defense recovers.
*Interception! Alterraun Verner intercepts McCown. Low thrown ball to Louis Murphy about 12 yards to the right side. Diving pick. Nice play. McCown visibly frustrated.
*Drop! Tommy Streeter from Glennon.
*New left tackle really has quick feet and can run. All those fresh legs from years of not starting? Seriously, Joe hates to judge linemen from no-contact practices, but it’s clear he’s got some real wheels and athleticism.
*”The Cannon” overthrows Russell Shepard by three yards 40 yards downfield.
*Broken pocket and McCown shows great burst, feel and mobility. Completion to Lavelle Hawkins.
*Click here for Joe’s detailed notes on the cornerbacks.
*Last man off the practice field? Mark Barron who was taking extra work, mostly footwork, 1-on-1 with an assistant coach.
May 20th, 2014 at 3:50 pm
So I take it Patton was signed from the rookie mini camp? Nice. Go Gators.
May 20th, 2014 at 3:50 pm
Joe,
Sounds like it was a rough day for the offense?
May 20th, 2014 at 3:52 pm
Hard to say. It’s underwear football without Vincent Jackson, without Mike Evans, without Carl Nicks, without Austin Seferian-Jenkins.
May 20th, 2014 at 3:53 pm
Of course. You noted lots of drops and fumbles
May 20th, 2014 at 3:58 pm
Speed is space, Pryor is not. But, he’s a pure fb player, and one of my alltime fave Noles. Rooting for him.
May 20th, 2014 at 4:04 pm
Thanks JOE for a balanced piece. (side thought) the word yesterday – know you will remember, was supposed to be Moniker not manicure. LOL
May 20th, 2014 at 4:21 pm
I think it’s moving along nicely.
May 20th, 2014 at 4:37 pm
“Last man off the practice field? Mark Barron who was taking extra work, mostly footwork, 1-on-1 with an assistant coach.”
Mark will an all pro this year… his 3rd year was big at Bama.
May 20th, 2014 at 5:08 pm
Joe –
Any observations on Charles Sims?
May 20th, 2014 at 5:17 pm
*Click here for Joe’s detailed notes on the cornerbacks.
Click where?
May 20th, 2014 at 5:26 pm
Lots of drops (Glennon should feel like he’s back at NC State). Not too worried though. So long as these WRs are tightening up their routes and getting on the same page and the QBs are getting the timing down with each WRs speed, the catches will come.
Mike Evans needs most work with this, he’s only had 3 years of actual football to work on this, been using mostly raw talent so far. That, and Johnny Manziel’s legs. As much as Evans bailed out Johnny on the lob ball, Johnny bailed out Evans on poor routes keeping plays alive long enough for Evans to find an opening. If we can get Evans to understand routes, cuts, getting in and out of breaks better… he could be a Calvin Johnson type WR. If not, he’ll just be another big WR that wins the jump ball. Not bad either way, but I say we get on his routes and cuts.
May 20th, 2014 at 5:35 pm
Your link doesn’t work at the bottom :
*Click here for Joe’s detailed notes on the cornerbacks.
May 20th, 2014 at 6:00 pm
Ya, I am really excited about this Charles Sims as well, have you seen anything you like about him so far JOE?
May 20th, 2014 at 6:56 pm
Sims burn David on pass play for td, on pr.
May 20th, 2014 at 7:49 pm
Good to hear Barron is getting extra work maybe he can finally earn that #7 overall draft selection. ( Should have been Kuechly)
May 20th, 2014 at 9:39 pm
Same ole Glennon throwing interceptions with his accuracy so off WRs have to lay out to catch his balls and searching for an open receiver so long he takes a coverage sack. Still no showing of ability to anticipate throws or even the basic skill every rookie already knows–throw the ball away instead of taking a sack. Boy, Tedford and Josh have their hands full trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear with Glennon! Kafka is far superior to Glennon so far. Licht gets Kudos for knowing how skilled he is and bringing him from sitting on the couch all year and he still is head and shoulders better than Glennon after all his starts last year and his hard work and study in the off season–he still is the same loser, but this time with no linemen to try and make scapegoats out of. Of course Josh likes him. He will never have to look over his shoulder with Glennon as his backup.
May 20th, 2014 at 9:57 pm
Joe- great stuff, feed me more!
May 20th, 2014 at 11:23 pm
owlykat, are you Josh Freeman?
May 20th, 2014 at 11:33 pm
“Interception! Alterraun Verner intercepts McCown. Low thrown ball to Louis Murphy about 12 yards to the right side. Diving pick. Nice play. McCown visibly frustrated.”
I have a good feeling about Alterraun Verner.
If McCown is visibly frustrated already, that bodes ill in game one.
May 21st, 2014 at 12:42 am
Eric Page will have more highlights than Mike Evans this year
May 21st, 2014 at 2:06 am
william Says:
May 21st, 2014 at 12:42 am
Eric Page will have more highlights than Mike Evans this year
………………………………………………………………………
Conner Shaw Will be in Tampa this Year!!!
May 21st, 2014 at 1:31 pm
What no Cold Beers!
May 21st, 2014 at 3:40 pm
owlykat Says:
“Kafka is far superior to Glennon so far. Licht gets Kudos for knowing how skilled he is and bringing him from sitting on the couch all year and he still is head and shoulders better than Glennon… ”
That, my friends, is the end of Kafka.
After Owlykats’ pronouncement that, “…they brought in the rookie Wyoming QB who is already better than Glennon…”, Brett Smith was shown the door.
I sure hope he never starts liking Glennon. :^)