Still Resting
August 27th, 2018
M.J. Stewart was not practicing today, and he had company.
The Bucs are in regular season mode, which means practice is only open to media for 30 minutes at the start of the session.
No sign, per Joe’s eyeballs, of Vita Vea or Donovan Smith on the field. Safety Keith Tandy was wearing a floppy hat, but Joe was most down to see rookie cornerback M.J. Stewart in sneakers and a towel on his head. (See above).
Linebacker Devante Bond was also sidelined and studying what appeared to be a playbook, or some sort of football-related document.
When drills started, Joe did see Bucs defensive backs drop three balls in a row during a hands drill and there was a little too much laughing about it for Joe’s taste. Bucs receivers certainly were a much more serious and successful group. Again, that’s just a five-minute glimpse into practice.
Joe also spotted Dirk Koetter and Ali Marpet engaged in what looked like an extending football alignment kind of chat based on their hand movements. Of course, it could have been the two of them discussing the excitement around the road trip of the season, the opening-day Bourbon Street Takeover at FanRetreat.com.
August 27th, 2018 at 2:14 pm
Hope Stewart can go this week. Would be good for both rookie CBs to get as many snaps as possible in this last pre-season game. Same for Whitehead, Cappa and Rojo.
Doubt there’s any answers for Bond in that playbook as to how to make this 53 man roster. Perhaps Beckwith not being ready will help him initially. I wonder if Bond has played too many games or not to be practice squad eligible coming into his 3rd year??
Among Bond, Bullough and Cichy – I can see at least 2 of those guys going to the Bucs practice squad if they clear waivers.
August 27th, 2018 at 2:16 pm
Keep your powder dry and don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes on opening day….4th PS games need to go…IMO…it’s not even September yet and these NFL players will be beating the sheet out other for 16 real games …then the survivors all the way to the end of January
August 27th, 2018 at 2:36 pm
Should play three pre season games and the last week practice against another team to make the final assessments in a controlled environment, over two or three days of said practices.
August 27th, 2018 at 3:08 pm
I’m dreaming that Cichy can return to college form before he got hurt into the NFL. That would be awesome. Depending on Kwon and Beckwith’s play this year, we may be able to let Kwon go next year and move Beckwith to the middle and Cichy ILB. But that also is a dream. If they are going to resign Kwon, HE DOES need to be put at ilb.
August 27th, 2018 at 4:22 pm
“why are the Bucs laughing” says Bruce Arians of CBS sports broadcasting team
August 27th, 2018 at 5:18 pm
Nobody likes a four game PS schedule….except for the owners because of the money. Owners are stealing $$$$ from fans every year forcing them to buy tickets to a fake game in order to get season tickets for real games.
I guess if you wait until after the 4th PS game the Bucs would take your money for regular season tickets but what choices would they give you?
I honestly do not know.
Some have suggested turning the final two games into regular season games and an 18 game schedule. That might placate the owners but the players do not want that additional wear and tear on their bodies.
A radical solution to that problem was forbidding a coach from playing a player 18 games and forcing all coaches to pick their poison as to which two games and which players you rest. I doubt the coaches would be too keen on that solution because then they are under the gun to make even more critical decisions about which guys to rest in which games.
August 27th, 2018 at 5:21 pm
Lamarcus
“why are the Bucs laughing” says Bruce Arians of CBS sports broadcasting team”
It was a psycho killer type laughter from their brains boiling from that BS call.