Bucs Training Camp Practice Notes Day 9

August 3rd, 2021

The calm before practice Tuesday morning inside the Glazer Shed.

For the second straight day, the Bucs practiced inside the Glazer Shed. This time there was no thought to practicing outside, unlike Monday when practice began outside. Joe got an email at 7 a.m. from the Bucs of the move indoors.

Pads came back on this morning but the Bucs weren’t practicing “live.” That means defenders were laying off the offense. No hard-hitting. Mostly touch football wearing pads. Only a few times did Joe see players hit the turf, mostly because they lost their footing jumping or diving for balls.

* Birthday boy park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring, down-forgetting, handshake-stiffing, jet-ski-losing, biscuit-baking, tequila-shooting, smartphone-phobic, waffle-grilling, trophy-throwing, roller –scared, numbers-rules-peeved, helmet-tossing, football-punting, Bucs-Super-Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady had the day off. Still, he was geared up for practice (underwear football style) — towel folded and tucked inside his shorts and a playbook sheet on a forearm wrap. But it was his day off.

* That means Blaine Gabbert got a lot of work with the ones and that added intrigue to practice. With Brady you know what you are getting. With Gabbert, he’s sort of a watered-down Jameis. The highs aren’t as high and the lows aren’t as low. In other words, less entertaining.

* Gabbert starts practice with a bulls-eye to Mike Evans down the left seam after Evans got past the defense. As usual with Gabbert, this type of play was, well, inconsistent.

* Ke’Shawn Vaughn is bottled up at the line on a run. If practice was “live” he would have been tackled. Since it wasn’t “live,” he squirmed away.

* The new Scotty Miller?: This play happened roughly 100 yards from where Joe was sitting in the bleachers and at the time, Joe had his binoculars down and was taking notes. A smallish receiver took a pass from Gabbert along the right sideline and shook a Bucs defensive back so bad the guy had to have had his ankles X-rayed after practice. The offensive players let out a collective “Ooohhhh!” Joe thought sure it was Antonio Brown. But when Joe got the binoculars back out and saw the receiver walk back to the huddle, it was Scotty Miller. Joe has never seen Scotty Miller put a move on anyone like he just did. Perhaps Miller learned this from Brown? It reminded Joe of Peter Warrick in college at Florida State shaking guys out of their shoes. Remember the move Brown made in the Super Bowl to get open in the end zone for a touchdown? It was like that, only Miller was facing a defender. It was pretty friggin’ awesome. Unfortunately, there was a lot of defensive cavalry to help out and Miller only gained a few yards for that sweet move.

* No context Tom Brady: During individual position drills, he and Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich have a long chat by themselves.

* Kyle Trask throws high over the middle for Travis Jonsen and Ross Cockrell skies to try to break up the pass, which he does by getting a hand on the ball. However, he fell hard on the turf, fell flat on his back. Though he seemed fine, that had to hurt.

* Chris Godwin houses a slant pass from Gabbert.

* Brown catches a screen pass from Gabbert along the right sideline, breaks through the scrum, and races downfield. After coaches blew the play dead, you could hear Brown do a Ric Flair. “Wwwoooo!” Brown is just out here having fun.

* Jonsen with a screen pass from Ryan Griffin. The Bucs are running a bunch of screen and out passes this morning.

* As Joe stated, there is little hitting. That doesn’t mean there is none. Codey McElroy caught a pass from Griffin along the left sideline and Antoine Winfield popped McElroy with a shoulder to knock him out of bounds. Let’s just say that was Winfield’s way of saying, “Good morning.”

* Brown from Gabbert on a short pass to the right sideline.

* Gabbert just gave Winfield a birthday present. What’s that you say? It’s not Winfield’s birthday? So it’s just Gabbert being Gabbert? Sounds about right. Such a giving man. Gabbert overthrows O.J. Howard down the right hashmark and the ball hit Winfield squarely in the numbers. Winfield, for a split second, seemed shocked to find the ball in his hands.

* This time Gabbert is on-target hitting Godwin on a slant from the right side.

* Gabbert once again tries for Howard and this time Devin White bats the low throw away.

* The Gabbert roller coaster continues: Giovani Bernard is wide@ss open down the right sideline and Gabbert gets the ball to him.

* On a crossing pattern from the right side, Griffin hits Jaelon Darden in traffic.

* Gotta hang onto the ball, son: A great pass wasted. Griffin throws through double-coverage and positively threads the needle connecting with Jerell Adams on a deep pass down the middle. But Javon Hagan punches the ball out for an incompletion. Hagan then raises his arms in the air like he’s casting some Cajun voodoo spell on Adams.

* Gabbert waits and waits and waits and then hits Howard for a short pass over the middle.

* Josh Pearson gets a pass from Trask along the left sideline, weaves through traffic and scores.

* Maybe Gabbert’s best pass Joe has seen this training camp: Gabbert throws through three defenders and connects with a diving Darden over the middle.

* No context Bruce Arians: He’s sitting in his golf cart behind the offense, chatting with Bernard while also watching practice.

* No context Tom Brady: Brady seems distanced from practice. He’s always standing maybe 10-15 yards from the action, often chatting with a Bucs staffer.

* Gabbert takes a few steps to the right as if he is going to run the ball and then hands off to Playoff Lenny for a big gain.

* Tanner Hudson runs down the left numbers and does a down-and-out. Carlton Davis is on him like slime on the Saints. The pass is just out of his reach but immediately, he begins motioning for a flag like Keyshawn Johnson would.

* Miller catches a pass near the right sideline and cuts it left into a swarm of Bucs defenders. Joe isn’t sure if this play was scripted but why cut inside? Miller could have cut outside and had a chance to break one. Running inside, he gives up his asset (speed). Besides, why run to the defensive cavalry and not away? Surely Miller doesn’t think he can muscle through the Bucs defense?

* Two-minute drill: Gabbert tries to connect with Hudson down the right hashmarks but Winfield breaks up the pass forcing a field goal. The defenses loves this on the sidelines and celebrates.

* Pretty pass from Gabbert to Howard in stride at the goal line.

* Griffin tries to hit Jaydon Mickens along the left sideline but Nate Brooks reads the play like a book. Unfortunately, he drops the easy, would-be pick six.

* Benning Potoa’e has a virtual sack on Trask.

* Trask connects with T.J. Simmons on the left side and he zigs through defenders to hit payturf.

21 Responses to “Bucs Training Camp Practice Notes Day 9”

  1. Robert Says:

    Great work Joe.

    ya know, I was “comfortable” with Gabbert as a back up, but it sure sound like Griffin or Trask should be taking his reps.

    He doesn’t have the game to make up for turnovers. I’d think different if not for all the int’s. maybe the D has gotten better?

  2. Bee Says:

    FFS do you really need to type all that unnecessary garbage before you mention Brady and Gronk? It’s old, and was mildly entertaining at best if it was ever entertaining for any reader. Of course Joe doesn’t need any of that ridiculousness. What’s your point? There aren’t many needs in this world. Go Bucs!–Joe

  3. Robert Says:

    he got you to post.

  4. BA4President Says:

    You know what’s worse than a watered-down Jameis…

    Jameis

  5. AtlBuc Says:

    Thank you Joe!

  6. BA4President Says:

    @Robert – That’s what the website is: Bucs analysis by writers who write in the style of a fictional “Joe”.

    I’m not a big fan of the long names either, but I know the product I am getting when I read here. Complaining about this is like complaining that ESPN makes too big a deal out of sports. That’s their thing, it’s what they do.

  7. BA4President Says:

    Sorry, that was intended for @Bee

  8. Bucsfanatic Says:

    Love the notes as usual. The only thing to hold me over to football!

  9. SB~LV Says:

    Hard to believe that they didn’t have one for so so many years

  10. BuucccNASTY he p Says:

    Is Darden still popping and flashing Joe now that pads are on?

  11. Long John Says:

    more on line play PLEASE.

  12. Winny Testaverde Says:

    “Like Slim on a Saint”…so true…line of the week thus far Joe! In related news…they pay an injured Kwon 3 mil for next season. Payton is obsessed with the Bucs. Thank you WINfield for stripping Cook in the playoffs. Top
    5 play in franchise history.

  13. SOEbuc Says:

    AWJr is gonna kill it this year. Definitely gonna up the INTs.

  14. SlyPirate Says:

    How do you overthrow OJ Howard? That’s a tall man.

  15. Crickett Baker Says:

    Great read from the exasperatingly-prolific-adjective-tossing-note-taking Joe.

  16. GMC hater Says:

    Don’t let this distract you from the fact the bengals still don’t have an indoor practice facility.

  17. Wild Bill Says:

    If Gabbert gets a lot of preseason reps he may be adequate if Brady misses a couple of games. We know what Tom can do. Need to see if Gabbert is a decent 2. If Trask or Griffen have to start it will be a long season.

  18. firethecannons Says:

    Seeing the slimy ass saints lose is almost as good as seeing the Bucs win, remember one of Joe’s podcasts when Sean Sullivan mentioned he loved seeing Drew Brees walk out of his last game a loser with 3 picks to the Bucs. Like that too.

  19. Rod Munch Says:

    Gabbert isn’t 1/100th the QB that Winston is… come on.

    As always I enjoy the write-up. I’d still like to hear a bit more about Trask, mainly about how his passes look. Is he making NFL throws, is he trying to zip the ball and that’s messing with his accuracy? I’m just interesting on how he’s coming along. Danny Wuerffel could also throw a great looking deep ball, but it was just way too slow getting there for the NFL. Anyways if this has been covered, please let me know – maybe a hint on the headline since I missed it.

  20. Oneilbuc Says:

    Rob Munch. The only takes you will hear about Trask will be all negative. If he throws 1 pick that’s going to be the story. Even if he comes back and throws 3 touchdowns after the one pick. They already have started the negative narrative about Trask. So I really don’t care what they are saying about Trask. [You really need to take a chill pill. Joe doesn’t know one person who wants Kyle Trask to fail. Not one! Take the aluminum foil off your ceiling. — Joe]

  21. Christopher Schiefen Says:

    I’m with Bee…while I appreciate greatly the practice notes, having to guess where in the paragraph I can continue reading again because of the stupid adjectives is just asinine.