More Ws for the defense

Our mighty Buccaneers hit the field yesterday in pads for the first time. The practice was filled with energy, excitement and intrigue! Here are all kinds of highlights and lowlights:

*A lightning delay re-routes Bucco Bruce Arians and friends as they start inside the Glazer Shed. QB’s warmed up rolling out and tossing short passes to coaches. Soon after, it’s handoff drills with the running backs.

*Passing drills next with the RB’s, running play-action rollouts before dumping off a short pass. Then quick slants to RB’s followed by screen passes.

*The first 7-on-7 session gets underway. And as No. 93 passes by to get to work on lineman drills, fans start chanting “Suhhhhhhhh.”

*Ryan Griffin gets started by floating a pass to Antony Auclair on a corner route between two defenders for 20 yards, followed by a lot of check downs and short throws in this session.

*Jameis Winston tries to emulate Griffin, floating the ball to O.J. Howard on a corner route but linebacker Emmanuel Smith gets a hand in there to break it up.

*Jameis finds Scotty Miller wide open over the middle after Miller slips on his break. He recovers though and makes the easy catch.

*Griffin tries to hit Bobo Wilson on a back-shoulder throw but it is almost intercepted by Vernon Hargreaves! Incomplete, but after the play Hargreaves throws his arms up to get the crowd hyped!

*Jameis finds Mike Evans with a beautiful throw over the middle, just over the hand of a reaching LB.

*Individual passing drills with the wide receivers begin.

*11-on-11 session launches with mostly rushing plays. Andre Ellington finds a lane on the outside and takes off for a nice gain down the left sideline.

*Griffin looks for tight end Tanner Hudson. Mazzi Wilkins makes a break on the ball and almost hauls it in but drops the interception.

*Peyton Barber with a big run on the left side! Huge hole on the outside and he hits it.

*Jameis looks for Chris Godwin over the middle and hits him. From there, Godwin does the rest. 35-yard touchdown as Jameis’ pass split the defenders.

*Undrafted rookie RB Bruce Anderson gets around the edge untouched for a 15-yard gain.

*In the middle of the session, Vita Vea jogs off for a restroom break.

*The all-clear comes from the weather police and practice moves outside now and there’s two 11 v 11 sessions on two fields under sunny skies. Bucco Bruce Arians ran into a fan roadblock while driving his golf cart to the field and very patiently waited for the crowd to clear. Arians not only was kind enough to not run over Joe there, but he chatted with Joe as well.

*Jameis holds the ball on a dropback and eventually throws it in the dirt. Smart play.

*Devin White blitzes and would’ve had sack, but Jameis completes a short pass to Godwin.

*Blitz! Blaine Gabbert is under heavy pressure and eventually just tucks the ball and runs.

*Gabbert goes deep to Evans! The throw a bit short but Evans moves around rookie Sean Murphy-Bunting to make the grab.

*Screen play. Gabbert looking for Ellington but the ball is batted down by Carl Nassib.

*Lavonte David flies in on the blitz but Jameis sidesteps and fires a completion to Bobo Wilson over the middle to move the chains.

*Murphy-Bunting back on Evans. Jameis fires towards sidelines but Murphy-Bunting is tight in coverage to force the incompletion.

*Arians, Bryon Leftwich and Jameis gather in a small circle. Arians has a very serious look on his face when talking to Jameis.

*Joe observes Vita Vea and Ali Marpet having what appears to be a very technique-focused conversation. Overall, this was a very physical day for Marpet. He came hungry.

* Situational work starts inside the red zone.

*1^st-and-10 at the 11-yard line. Outside run to Barber who eats dirt as the defense swarms.

*1^st-and-goal at the 8-yard line. Ronald Jones gets hit in backfield. Makes a spin and falls forward for a yard.

*1^st-and-goal at the 6-yard line. Suh busts through the line and hits Ellington for a 3-yard loss.

*1^st-and-goal at the 4-yard line. Jameis goes to O.J. Howard in the corner but Howard comes down with it out of bounds.

*1^st-and-goal at the 10. Gabbert is rushed by Shaq Barrett who would’ve had the sack. Gabbert fires to Justin Watson in endzone but Murphy-Bunting breaks it up.

*1^st-and-goal from the 7. Gabbert throws a play-action pass to Cameron Brate who gets into the endzone for the TD.

*1^st-and-goal at the 5. Gabbert tosses to Jones on the right outside but Jones drops the pass. Not a good look for RoJo as he struggled with catching the ball last year.

*1^st-and-goal at the 4. Gabbert hands it to Dare Ogunbowale, who is wrapped up at the 3 but goes into the endzone. No full tackling today.

*1^st-and-10 at the 11. Another play-action pass, but this time it’s to undrafted rookie Anthony Johnson on a slant. Jordan Whitehead swoops in to break up the pass.

*1^st-and-goal at the 9. Pass rush is getting serious pressure on RG4. On this particular play, he would’ve been sacked. Griffin throws the ball away.

*1st -and-goal at the 7. Bruce Anderson rushes outside to the right and Noah Spence comes right in and puts him down for the loss.

*1^st-and-goal at the 5. Ogunbowale get is and makes a sharp cut. He runs the ball up the middle to the 1-yard line.

*1^st-and-goal at the 8. Peyton Barber gets the handoff up the middle and walks it in for the TD.

*1^st-and-goal at the 6. Barber gets it again and is met in the backfield for a loss.

*1st and goal at the 4. Winston runs a play-action and rolls out. He throws it to Ellington in the flat, who adjusts to the ball behind him make a spectacular catch for the TD.

*Day 3 of the kicking competition! Santos steps up and is perfect on every kick he attempts, ranging from 23 yards to 57 yards.

*The next session of 7-on-7 play continues.

*More checkdowns before Jameis and Gabbert complete big passes to O.J. Howard.

*Griffin looks for K.J. Brent on the sideline but linebacker Demone Harris leaps up and bats the ball down before it makes it to Brent. Incredible athleticism shown on that play by Harris.

*Jameis throws short pass to Evans over the middle. Evans is knocked to the ground by Devante Bond and the ball pops out for the incompletion.

*More checkdowns from Jameis.

*Defense is getting aggressive. Three straight plays have left an offensive player on the ground.

*Gabbert checking down a nice bit as well.

*Each play seems to have deep options as well as a safe checkdown. Time and again these QB’s are looking at the safe checkdown as the deep options are well covered.

*11-on-11 play kicks off again.

*Jameis tries to dump it off to Barber, but it’s batted by Suh, which gets a big reaction from the crowd.

*The first team defense is swarming. The offense is having trouble moving the ball during this session.

*During second-team reps, safety Orion Stewart slams his knee into the ground diving for the ball. He screams when he hits the ground. A cart is brought out to take him off the field and he is crying when getting driven inside.

*First team comes back out. RoJo bursts through the middle and dashes for a 35-yard TD! Crowd roars.

*Offense now finding a rhythm, but with Griffin in the shotgun, he fumbles the snap. Picks it up but loses yards.

*A couple plays later, Griffin goes deep to Wilson who skies for the catch. He thinks he’s down in bounds, but ref says he was out.

*Time for the 2-minute drill.

*The offense is starting at their its 30 with 1:55 on the clock.

*On the first play, Jameis finds Godwin across the middle and Godwin scampers to the sideline at midfield.

*1^st-and-10 at midfield and Jameis throws an incompletion.

*1:30 left on the clock and it’s 2^nd-and-10. Jameis looks for Evans but the ball is batted in the air and almost picked! Defense came incredibly close to ending it there.

*3^rd-and-10 now with 1:25 left. Jameis looks for Breshad Perriman and the pass is intercepted! Hargreaves steps in front of the pass and falls to give the defense the win in this session.

*The second team now takes the field to run the 2-minute drill.

*On the first play, Gabbert goes back to pass and is immediately almost picked by Murphy-Bunting.

*2^nd-and-10 now with 1:50 to go.

*Gabbert goes over the middle to Justin Watson but it’s knocked incomplete by De’Vante Harris.

*3^rd-and-10 with 1:46 on the clock.

*Gabbert looks for receiver Bryant Mitchell but the throw is high and incomplete. 4^th-and-10 at the 30. Next play decides it. Gabbert faces heavy pressure and slings it to Cameron Brate and the pass is almost picked by Deone Bucannon but dropped! Turnover on downs and a win for the second-team defense.

*First team takes the field again.

*There’s now just 50 seconds on the clock and the offense starts from its own 35, only needing a field goal.

*Jameis looks for Howard but the pass falls short. Incompletion on the first play.

*2^nd-and-10 now with 47 seconds left.

*Jameis faces heavy pressure and the whistle is blown as the refs rule he was sacked. Clock keeps ticking. 3^rd-and-long.

Jameis goes to Godwin and the pass falls incomplete. Jordan Whitehead and M.J. Stewart closed in on the ball. Godwin had no chance.

*4^th-and-long and Jameis goes deep to Evans who makes the catch! He runs all the way to the 22-yard line of the defense before stepping out of bounds with 12 seconds left. Carlton Davis is pissed that he let that one get away. (See Joe’s video on the home page).

*Jameis takes knee and then spikes the ball on back to back plays. Four seconds left on the clock. So Santos comes in and lines up from 40 yards out on the right hash for the win. The snap and hold are clean, and he sends it through! First team offense takes the win!

*Second team now back on the field and Gabbert completes back-to-back passes to Brate. He runs out of bounds at the 50 with 30 seconds left.

*On 1^st-and-10, Gabbert looks for Anthony Johnson but puts the pass too far out of reach.

*Gabbert looks for Brate again and hits him with a completion at the 44 but Brate can’t get out of bounds. Clock still ticking.

*Gabbert spikes the ball with 14 seconds left.

*2^nd-and-10 now and Gabbert looks for Ogunbowale along the sideline but another poor throw results in an incompletion.

*3^rd-and-10 with 11 seconds remaining.

*Gabbert goes back to Johnson but overthrows him along the sideline.

*4th down with 7 seconds on the clock. The next play is the game. Low snap to Gabbert, he throws to Johnson on sideline but Wilkins, the rookie corner from USF, swoops in and forces the incompletion! Defense wins the set again to end practice!

Manbeast JoeBucsFan.com intern Zachary Seifter did the heavy lifting on these Sunday practice notes. Give the man a hand in the comments section.