Bucs Training Camp 2023 Day 11 Practice Notes
August 8th, 2023
Bucs offensive line coach/run game coordinator Harold Goodwin demonstrates a move to guard Matt Feiler Tuesday morning.
Let’s just say the way Bucs coach Todd Bowles has been harping on turnovers of late like lousy Lovie Smith after two shots of espresso, Bowles likely had to chug a bottle of Mylanta after practice. Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask each had a pair of interceptions. Take those four throws away, and Mayfield may have had his best practice as a Bucs quarterback and Trask otherwise had a solid practice. Devin White finally made a splash play and Mike Evans and Chris Godwin look Minnesota-Ready. This and more in today’s practice notes.
* Ah, the good ol’ Byron Leftwich Special: Rachaad White up the middle for no gain. It’s good the Bucs keep Leftwich’s name alive.
* Mayfield to receiver Kaylon Geiger to the left sideline on a short pass. Safety Ryan Neal was nearby and he was squawking at Geiger.
* Oh, no! Robert Hainsey at center in place of Ryan Jensen. He sails a snap way over Mayfield’s head, blowing up the play.
* White runs inside the right tackle and breaks loose. The crowd roared its approval.
* Chris Godwin brings in a Kyle Trask pass along the left sideline.
* Chase Edmonds runs left and is stuffed.
* Dominque Dafney catches a short pass from Trask to the left.
* Undrafted rookie running back Sean Tucker tries to run off tackle to the left and finds no room.
* Rookie edge rusher Jose Ramirez races in from the left side and would have had a sack if this were real football as he made a beeline from No. 3 quarterback John Wolford’s blindside. But the play goes on.
* Geiger is wide-ass open on the right side and dropped a Mayfield pass. The play did take time to develop so in a real game, Mayfield may have been sacked.
* White loses a couple running up the middle.
* Cade Otton gets behind Neal and Mayfield hits him in the hands but Otton drops the ball. Joe is starting to get concerned with Otton’s dropsies. This has been happening to the Washington product all training camp. He’s getting open a lot but it doesn’t matter if you can’t hang on to the ball.
* Tight end David Wells gets open over the middle and Mayfield finds him.
* Russell Gage is wide-ass open as he cuts in from the left sideline and Trask nails him with a bulls-eye.
* Almost! Veteran free agent receiver David Moore got open along the right sideline as he cut inside and Trask led him a little too much. Moore tried a one-handed catch.
* Jarrett hauls in a Trask pass down the right sideline.
* Really pretty pass and if this wasn’t Trask’s best this summer, it’s in the top five. As Trask is backpedaling during his dropback, he lofts a pass to Tucker to the left and the ball just softly drops over Tucker’s shoulder into his bucket for a big gain.
7-on-7
* Mayfield wanted to get a pass to Gage over the middle to the left but good ol’ Lavonte David was just waiting, trying to bait Mayfield to throw. Mayfield, smartly, dirted the ball right in front of Gage’s feet.
* PICK! Mayfield throws to the right for Jarrett and there is a collision with the ball popped in the air. Devin White flies in for the interception. White FINALLY made a splash play today. Perhaps the first splash play of training camp (not counting hand grenade sacks — you know, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Keep in mind in practices, quarterbacks are not allowed to be sacked.)
* Trask throws three straight passes to the left side with Dafney, Miller and Tucker catching passes.
Red Zone
* White goes off right tackle for a nice gain.
* White runs up the middle, breaks loose and scores. He then underhands the ball over the crossbar.
* Mayfield to Edmonds on the right sideline.
* Sneak Vaughn tries to run off tackle to the right and nothing doing.
* Edmonds runs right after taking a pitch from Trask and there is no room at the inn.
* Trask tried to throw into triple coverage for Moore and luckily for Trask, it was incomplete. Carlton Davis, Kaevon Merriweather and McCollum were defending.
* Rookie tight end Payne Durham pulls in a Trask pass on the right sideline.
* PICK! Trask tries to connect with Chris Godwin in the left far corner of the end zone and Keenan Isaac was in perfect position to grab Trask’s offering, stepping right in front of Godwin.
* White stops and starts and stutter-steps his way to the right for five yards.
* Mayfield throws for Godwin along the right sideline as he cut outside and Godwin stretches out and grabs the ball before stepping out of bounds. What knee?
* Mayfield pumps at least three times and then decides to dirt the ball.
11-on-11
* White runs right for a couple.
* White runs to the right again for a nice run.
* Mayfield connects on about a 15-yard pass down the left sideline for Ryan Miller and Miller is immediately smacked by Antoine Winfield. It was as if Winfield wanted to remind Miller he’s treading on the wrong turf. Sort of an NFL defense version of a wake-up call.
* Nice: Vaughn runs left, sees a hole, plants his foot and darts straight upfield for a big gain.
* Wells pulls in a pass from Trask along the left sideline.
* Evans is wide-ass open over the middle and Trask hits him for a touchdown. The crowd goes wild.
* Godwin picks up a few yards on a pass from Trask to the left side.
* FIGHT! After a Tucker run up the middle, Don Gardner and Moore get into a hassle about 10 yards upfield and away from Tucker. Looked like some fly-swatting happened and immediately there was a scrum. Joe noticed Anthony Nelson in the middle trying to pry bodies away from each other.
* Mayfield hits Ko Kieft up the left seam for a nice gain.
* White runs up the middle and the defense gets feisty. White likes to do what Muscle Hamster used to do: When the whistle blows, keep running to the goal line. Vaughn does this as well. After the whistle blew, someone smacked the ball out of White’s hands as he tried to continue his run which sparked an NFL Films-style bloopers reel with guys trying to scoop up the ball.
* Despite tight coverage, Trey Palmer was able to worm his way into position to catch a Mayfield offering for a touchdown over the middle.
* Vaughn runs right and muscles his way for a few yards.
* Edmonds up the middle for a couple.
* Trask completes a pass to Jarrett along the right sideline but the defense may have had a sack if this were real football.
* Tucker tries to run inside left tackle and there is nothing there.
* PICK! Trask tries to throw to Evans along the left sideline and it looked as if Trask and Evans were on two different pages. Evans cut in and the ball went outside. The result was a Jamel Dean pick-six.
* Mayfield throws behind Evans sort of short and to the left and Evans reaches back and catches the ball on his back shoulder, turns upfield and runs away from Davis for a touchdown.
* White runs up the middle and doesn’t get much. At the whistle, White rassles with Devin White who tried to strip the ball.
Goal line
* Mayfield runs right for a touchdown.
* White runs up the middle for nothing.
* Mayfield throws to a wide-ass open Gage on the left side who runs it in. It helps that Josh Hayes and Dean took each other out of the play as they slammed into each other.
* Dee Delaney breaks up a pass for Jarrett from Trask in the far left corner.
* PICK! Mayfield had Evans in the far left corner but for no good reason throws it short to the 6-5 Evans. This allowed McCollum the chance to undercut Evans. Just an awful decision by Mayfield. Put the ball where Evans is the only guy who can catch it! Evans is the last guy any quarterback should throw short to. Let the former high school basketball star use his hops to go get it. #Sad
* Trask rifles a pass in the end zone for Deven Thompkins for six. After the play, Trask sought out Thompkins to slap skin with him.
* PICK! Trask tried to get the ball to Wells in the back of the end zone under the crossbar and Nolan Turner comes up with the interception.
August 8th, 2023 at 1:41 pm
Oh boy
August 8th, 2023 at 1:43 pm
Weird how the only pick I saw Bucs Twitter crying about was Baker’s.
Can’t wait to see these guys stack up against opposing teams under the lights.
August 8th, 2023 at 1:44 pm
More drops from Otton. Can Wells take over as the #1 TE?
August 8th, 2023 at 1:46 pm
Great notes Joe! Thank you very much!!
August 8th, 2023 at 1:51 pm
Thanks for the update, Joe.
Can’t wait for Friday.
August 8th, 2023 at 1:59 pm
Looks like Trask had a bad day today!! I know some of bucs will be happy to see that he had a bad day!!
August 8th, 2023 at 2:00 pm
Doesn’t appear like the run game was anything special yet again today, even in “LIVE” action.
August 8th, 2023 at 2:04 pm
Thanks Joe – great observations and reporting.
August 8th, 2023 at 2:09 pm
Wow, picks a plenty for the defense today. Hope they do better against the Steelers this Friday.
August 8th, 2023 at 2:11 pm
Otton better find some stickier gloves.
I thought he was the best thing that happened, last year.
August 8th, 2023 at 2:13 pm
Trask had three interceptions.
August 8th, 2023 at 2:13 pm
As a quarterback, you have to push the envelope to figure out what you can get away with. That’s what practice is for
August 8th, 2023 at 2:15 pm
Thanks Joe, great write up. Bucs are going to the Superbowl! Lol.
August 8th, 2023 at 2:16 pm
This is why Joe asked Bowles about his margin for error in practices.
August 8th, 2023 at 2:19 pm
Thanks, Joes! The only content better than your notes might be if audio of Gene resonated, “FIRE THE CANNONS!”
August 8th, 2023 at 2:27 pm
something I have to bring up every year.
A) oh no, a leftwich play, White up the middle
later on
B) YAY white up the middle, explodes.
its either a good play or its not. its excecution is what we judge it by
August 8th, 2023 at 2:33 pm
Top flight defenses force turnovers. Especially one that is the best in the league. Let’s cut our great qbs some slack. It is not easy what they have to go through each practice. Remember what the bucs did against Mahomes in the super bowl. Bucs defense made him look like Alex Smith 2.0
August 8th, 2023 at 2:34 pm
Is the defense reading Trask’s eyes? Is he giving away, his targets?
I’ll work with Trask, on looking off the defense. When I’m not so busy.
When the “Great One” looked right, he usually went left, lol
August 8th, 2023 at 2:36 pm
Love the 1st practice note!
August 8th, 2023 at 3:06 pm
I can visualize what the bucs are going through and it does not build confidence in me that they can beat the Vikings.
August 8th, 2023 at 3:11 pm
You know game 2 is dress rehearsal for every team in the nfl. Its no coincidence Trask is named game 2 starter. That means hes gonna be the starter.
August 8th, 2023 at 3:53 pm
The Beer Whisperer Says:
“Is the defense reading Trask’s eyes? Is he giving away, his targets?”
.
.
It seems to me that most of Trask’s interceptions have been miscommunications with the receiver on the route. That is fixable. Tom and M1K3 went through the same thing.
August 8th, 2023 at 3:56 pm
Nybuccguy … ‘More drops from Otton. Can Wells take over as the #1 TE?’
Sounds like Wells has been having an excellent camp according to Joe’s notes. Got me curious & looked up his previous experience. Dangdest thing I ever saw. initially signed by the Dallas Cowboys in May 2018 (UFA), and since then has been with the Chiefs, Patriots, Falcons, Colts, Cardinals, Titans & Bucs. Saw the active roster only once in those 5 years with the Cardinals, for 3 games, 12 offensive snaps & 1 S/T snap. So that’s 8 teams in 5 years, virtually all of it on Practice Squads. He has to hold the record for perseverance IMO. You never know though; maybe the light bulb finally came on. He’s got excellent size (6’6″ & 260 lbs) for a TE.
August 8th, 2023 at 4:03 pm
This late in training camp both sides know the plays. Truth seems to be that the defense is better than the offense. Run defense may be back among best in league this year.
August 8th, 2023 at 4:21 pm
It seems like 4 out of 5 runs up the middle are for no gain or a loss. Joes – are you seeing any push from the C or Gs? Does Hainsey appear any stronger than last year? Are the run concepts noticeably different than last year? Thanks!
August 8th, 2023 at 4:38 pm
Last year Tampa was 3rd worse in the league with drops at 29.
Otton 5 on 65 targets. Evans 4 on 127 targets. Godwin 3 on 95 targets. Everyone else pitched in with 17. Got to clean that up/
If you dropped a Brady pass he would not come back to you. Normally. So either he had no choice and had to nix his pet peeve or the Kid was just so open Brady could not help but throw it. If it is the later then it’s a good thing.
It’s Hot and for a kid that hails from a place that 82 is a heat wave in July maybe he’s just way too uncomfortable on a field where it’s closer to 100 than 80.
I would like to see him with the 2nd’s if Baker starts Friday. I think Trask is better suited to get the TE’s the ball. Especially on seam routes.
Upside is Canales offense uses 2 TE’s at times (SEA used 2 TE 29% in 2022) and both Otton and Kieft might get Reps with the 1’s and 2’s together.
Nothing like seeing a big guy with the ball, linebackers behind him, and a little DB trying to stop the train.
I always look forward to Friday but more so this week.
August 8th, 2023 at 4:45 pm
Another great recap.
I know one of the Joe’s thinks preseason is completely worthless, but I can’t wait to see some action. I really want to see Trask in a game and see his vast improvement, I hope it holds up under pressure.
August 8th, 2023 at 5:03 pm
Can it be Friday already?
August 8th, 2023 at 5:22 pm
“Trask had three interceptions”
Just like in the 1st 3 drives of the Oklahoma game.
August 8th, 2023 at 5:27 pm
LOVE hearing the run game is starting to come together. Sounds like the best run game of the summer.
August 8th, 2023 at 5:40 pm
Mayfield is not worth what we are paying him. Shame, Trask is not going to get the start as Bowles is HC and he wants to “play it safe”
August 8th, 2023 at 6:37 pm
tbbucs3 Says “Trask had three interceptions”
Just like in the 1st 3 drives of the Oklahoma game.
And on top of that an Oklahoma defense ranked 64th in the country held Pitts, Toney, and Grimes to Zero yards receiving.
Hard to believe a program like that regressed from Cotton Bowl to Pop Tart Bowl Status in two short seasons.
August 8th, 2023 at 6:43 pm
If only Cade Otton had Ko Kieft’s hands.
August 8th, 2023 at 7:20 pm
Joe Says If only Cade Otton had Ko Kieft’s hands
Based on Kiefts 2020 Stats he catches 70% of the balls thrown to him which is better than Evans 65%. Mike’s sample size is a lot bigger than Kieft’s 7 receptions on 10 targets. Ko contributed 3 drops to the horrible team total. On 10 targets he dropped 1 of every 3 passes last year.
I hope they are both better this season and much more productive.
August 8th, 2023 at 8:36 pm
Too bad you can’t see Kieft in camp.
August 8th, 2023 at 9:03 pm
Joe Sparrow said: “I can visualize what the bucs are going through and it does not build confidence in me that they can beat the Vikings.”
The Vikings will be one of the weaker teams the Bucs play this year. They were extremely fortunate to win 11 games last year by less than one score and this year, they have lost major pieces on the offense and even their dismal defense.
Don’t be surprised if the Bucs have a better record at season’s end than the Vikings. (Yeah, that’s how bad I think the Vikings will be this year.)
August 8th, 2023 at 9:11 pm
D Cone
Pitts, Tony, and Gromes didn’t play in that game. They sat out for the draft.
August 8th, 2023 at 9:26 pm
Joe Says Too bad you can’t see Kieft in camp.
Darn right it is.
I see his receptions in print and I’ll see what you are seeing soon enough.
Grew up listening to most sports on radio especially away games. UHF and VHF and a lot of antenna adjusting.
Anytime you feel like staying in where it’s cool I’ll grab a pen and paper and brave the heat.
Gotta be brutal out there at times. Thanks for what you do Joe. Stay Hydrated.
August 8th, 2023 at 11:37 pm
Tbbucs3. Why don’t you go root for another team we all know you hope Trask fail ? I don’t think you’re a real bucs fan or maybe you more of a fan of FSU I don’t care who the starter is at this point but I’m not going to hope Baker Mayfield fail either.
August 9th, 2023 at 7:07 am
Gatorguy Says Pitts, Tony, and Gromes didn’t play in that game. They sat out for the draft
Yes Thanks G man. That I knew. Was just giving some context to some fella( for lack of a better word) that made a big deal of 3 early PICKS in the game. When your top receiver in an Underclassman with 2 for 47 it was a bad day on that alone.
August 9th, 2023 at 11:18 am
Otton’s drops should demote him to TE4, I don’t care if he gets open. If I remember right, he had some drops early last year in games, but then improved as the season went on. It’s hard to understand drops in practice, zero excuses. Wells and Kieft seem the most reliable in practice so far. They are also the two biggest TE’s so I wonder if they’re the best blockers too? These TE’s are important to the scheme of Canales and if these two guys can block then maybe we can actually run the ball this year. Hell, bring in Gronk for a week to help the TE’s!