“It’s Not A Dress Rehearsal”
August 21st, 2022
Head coach Todd Bowles
If you compare the preseason finale this Saturday night to the Sept. 11 opener in Dallas, Bucs head coach Todd Bowles might laugh at you.
Maybe that’s the former player in Bowles, who believes August games don’t represent a trial run or a window into the team’s collective performance.
“Nothing other than getting chemistry together. It’s not a dress rehearsal, because the regular season is 10 times more amped up than this. It’s a completely different deal,” Bowles told local New York media when he was Jets head coach back in 2016.
Lots of coaches view the third preseason game as the “dress rehearsal” game. Joe even found quotes from Bucco Bruce Arians talking about how teams “find out a lot about themselves” in preseason competition.
No matter how you spin it, Joe is confident the Bucs will play many starters on Saturday in Indianapolis. Tom Brady likes to play a little in preseason, and the Bucs are trying to build chemistry on an offense that might have seven new players contributing a lot.
As Joe heard one cringy analyst say of Julio Jones and tight end Kyle Rudolph, “They need their Tommy time,” referring to Brady.
Joe can’t argue with that, and they did lose plenty of it during Brady’s mid-August vacation. There’s lots of practice ahead to make up for the lost “Tommy time,” but Joe suspects Bowles will give Jones and Rudolph game time Saturday to ramp up their learning curve.
August 21st, 2022 at 8:16 pm
I know it’s a bad word here, but–here’s hoping!
August 21st, 2022 at 8:17 pm
No starters should play Saturday, especially Brady.
August 21st, 2022 at 8:18 pm
Doublespeak. It’s not a dress rehearsal and yet it is a dress rehearsal aka “getting chemistry together”.
August 21st, 2022 at 8:35 pm
Preseason games are crap. I take nothing from them as a whole. Statistical performance means nothing in the preseason. You have a ton of players playing in roles they’ll never likely see in the regular season.
SN: if you are a Scotty fan, you should hope he’s traded/cut and picked up by a team not deep at receiver. If he stays in Tampa, he likely won’t see to many offensive snaps. Since I like Scotty the person, despite what I think about the player, it would be nice if he could go elsewhere, catch 40-50 balls possibly, and secure a nice 3yr/$15m deal in the offseason, which benefit his family. That’s better than another 1 Yr prove it deal he’ll get after a 10 catch year with the Bucs. I’ll feel the same way next year and the year after if TJ and JD are in similar situations.
August 21st, 2022 at 8:39 pm
I was just checking Tretter’s past positions and it looks like he’s played guard in the past. He’s definitely better in pass pro based on lay analysis. If they brought him on board would they move Hainsey to that left guard position (to battle Leverett and Goedeke). My concern is the running game. The right side is pretty strong with Wirfs and Mason. Mason was a good run blocker in NE. The left side (other than Smith) has me concerned.
August 21st, 2022 at 8:48 pm
OL shopping list:
Tretter
Ereck Flowers
Matt Paradis
Dan Feeney (requires trade)
Laurent Duvernay-Tardiff
Darryl Williams
Senio Kelemete
August 21st, 2022 at 9:11 pm
No starters no starters no starters no starters.
Get that virtual reality google working for the skill guys and put the big uglys on a farm field to push tractors and wrestle octopussies.
August 21st, 2022 at 9:13 pm
I thought Tretter should have been signed shortly after Jensen’s injury but oh well. I think the BUCS have to trade a pick or two from next year’s draft to a team who still isn’t ready to compete and would be interested in accumulating picks for an interior lineman .
August 21st, 2022 at 9:15 pm
SUH/////
Tretter
August 21st, 2022 at 9:28 pm
Suh.
We can send him to ‘persuade’ others into joining the firm also.
August 21st, 2022 at 9:41 pm
A team needs everything to go their way and a lot of luck/good fortune to win a SB. Both Buc Super Bowl seasons were special in their own way. This summer hasn’t been kind to the Bucs…now we wait for the return of Brady and a merciful end to the preseason. Winning a title does “spoil” fans ( me included ) for future seasons. This upcoming season feels iffy at best. Hope I’m wrong…hope Bowles is up to the task and the only “time” Rudolph needs is a permanent “time out”. He’s done ditty done-done.
August 21st, 2022 at 10:04 pm
Can Suh play Guard? Asking for a friend.
August 21st, 2022 at 10:05 pm
LMAO! This guy is a full on clown! Bucs will get rolled the Boys. Dallas 40 Bucs 13. Dallas has more talent, a better QB and a much deeper team. Bucs win 10 games with Brady and six without him. Saints win the division.
August 21st, 2022 at 10:14 pm
Jeff craves chestnuts!
August 21st, 2022 at 10:45 pm
Hey Luke Easterling has a really interesting take on Brady’s successor potentially being Lamar Jackson. I could see Leftwich and company getting the best out of LJ.
August 21st, 2022 at 10:46 pm
I think they need to go in a different direction following the Brady era. No more one dimensional QB’s.
August 21st, 2022 at 10:52 pm
@Jeff you’re obviously a Cowboys fan or Brady hater. The Cowboys have no receivers (other than Lamb) how are they going to generate any offense particularly since the Bucs rush defense will be better this year than last. Do you really think your corners can effectively cover 4 very good receivers? As far as the Aints are concerned they don’t even know who’s playing QB at this point plus they have one decent receiver and Kamara is suspended for the first 4 games . The Aints D will be good but do really think Dennis Allen is head coach material?
August 21st, 2022 at 10:53 pm
I want some of what Jeff is smoking. 🚬
August 21st, 2022 at 11:05 pm
Jeff, hold my Tea bag you mental midget.
August 21st, 2022 at 11:09 pm
LJ dreams are interesting but he would demand so much in cap space we wouldn’t be able to afford a balanced team. That is a challenge anyway, but made worse by a guy quietly trying to be the new highest paid player in the NFL.
But then any FA superstar would be that and when you consider the options —
Goobert? Yikes.
Trask? ROTFLMAO YIKE YIKE YIKES
So — yea? LJ in 2023. I’m good.
August 21st, 2022 at 11:23 pm
A talking head at the NFL network says Brady will be back tomorrow.
That will change our world. But the )-line still needs to get some gell om.
Start Trask with an almost starter line, good receivers and tight ends.
Run them to halftime and let it roll.
Let Gabbert do the second half, see if the wind blows fair for him. It isn’t a dress rehearsal, but we gotta know.
August 21st, 2022 at 11:32 pm
Goobert is a known commodity. No need to risk injuring a starter to see what he can do. Really no reason to risk injuring a scrub to see what he can do. No need for him to do anything other than whatever he does to hold the clipboard for Brady. Put Trask in there for the fanboys, then let Griff clean it up in the second half.
August 21st, 2022 at 11:50 pm
Tretter made $ 23.6 M for the last two years–he’s probably not playing for the vet minimum.
August 21st, 2022 at 11:56 pm
can you just imagine how upset and pissed tom must be at losing all these key guys around him…he’s so competitive and now all his pillows are disappearing …
marpet…cappa…gronk…then jensen…now stinnie…
these guys literally let tom do what tom does…
if we lose many more lineman does tom just resort to holding a clipboard for fear of his health…
only alex guerrero has the answer 🙁
August 22nd, 2022 at 7:08 am
Bowles has made decisions that have already cost us dearly this year.
Allowing the D and O lines to be throwing players to the ground on day 2 of camp.
There goes Jensen with THAT mistake.
Allowing Stinnie to be playing late in a meaningless preseason game.
There goes Stinnie with THAT mistake.
Can’t wait to see what he has in store for us this wknd. By game 1 we should have the worst offensive line in the league, If we don’t have that already.
August 22nd, 2022 at 9:15 am
Bengals made super bowl with a bad oline I’ll take my chances with brady any day of the week.
August 22nd, 2022 at 12:08 pm
I don’t really care… it is so insignificant for a veteran team. Vets know how to get ready during the regular season… for rookies and players in their first year making a roster, it is time to prove themselves and show off for their teams and the league against other average starters and top backups… nothing more.