Bucs Training Camp Day 12 Notes
August 7th, 2021Here are Joe’s world-famous highlights of Bucs practice. The Florida heat returned today. Maybe the second-hottest day of camp.
You know when that giant Bucs flag in the parking lot of One Buc Palace is flaccid in the morning, you are in trouble.
(Caution: Roughly half of the shortened practice today was an obstructed view as the Bucs employed the old Dirk Koetter trick of having a human wall block view of practice. So if you have to ask why Joe didn’t mention your favorite player, refer to Paragraph No. 3 of this post.)
* Giovani Bernard takes a handoff from Tom Brady, runs left, races just past Jason Pierre-Paul and turns upfield along the left sideline for a nice gain. Crowd enjoys it.
* The bleachers were fairly full for the final open Saturday practice of training camp.
* Playoff Lenny runs off left tackle and despite JPP having a handful of Playoff Lenny’s jersey, he kept pumping his feet and finally broke loose of JPP for a nice gain.
* Bernard tries to go up the middle and the defense swarms him.
* Elijah Ponder broke through the offensive line and chased Ryan Griffin straight back. Griffin still got the ball away and completed it in the right flat.
* Playoff Lenny tries to run left but he is met by a wall of red (defense). So Playoff Lenny plants a foot, cuts back slightly, sees a small hole up the middle and exploits it for a first down run. Nice vision and cutback by Playoff Lenny.
* Ronald Jones runs left for about five yards and limps back to join the offensive players lined up behind the offense. Joe didn’t see RoJo take another snap but Joe is aware he had an acrobatic, Walter Payton-like touchdown dive in goal-line drills.
* Famed former NWA wrestler Pat O’Connor shoots through the offensive line and damn near tackled Griffin on a handoff.
* Rakeem Nuñez-Roches gets quick penetration on the right side of the defense and narrowly missed batting back a Brady short pass to the left side (right side for defense).
* Scotty Miller cuts inside as he broke out on what looked like a bubble screen to the left and Brady hits him.
* No context backup quarterbacks: Blaine Gabbert and Kyle Trask are playing catch while not immediately involved practicing.
* Brady feels the pressure but still hits O.J. Howard on a crossing pattern from right to left deep. Howard then cuts upfield along the left sideline and is gone.
* Sean Murphy-Bunting blitzes and tips a Brady pass.
* Pass rush nearly gets to Blaine Gabbert and he is just able to get rid of the ball.
* Gabbert sees Miller down the left seam and throws into triple coverage. Fortunately, the pass is too long and falls incomplete.
* Brady tries to hit Howard down the left sideline but Javon Hagan is all over Howard.
* Foot-rubbing Rob Gronkowski is on a crossing pattern from right to left and Brady hits him and Gronk does the rest turning upfield along the left sideline for a huge catch. The fans roar their approval.
* Under center, the ball hits the ground on the snap and Brady quickly picks it up but throws behind Howard over the middle. Incomplete. On his way back to the huddle, Howard points to his left or the right side of the field. No idea why.
* This time it is Tanner Hudson down the middle and Brady hits him. Hudson may have had his best practice this morning that Joe has seen.
* BTW, still no Cam Brate.
* Gabbert to Miller over the middle and Miller is nearly decapitated. Joe doesn’t understand the fascination of sending Miller over the middle like the Bucs have practiced in recent days. The guy’s strength is stretching the field. Even if he catches a pass over the middle, he surely isn’t going to outmuscle guys and break free. Miller’s calling card is speed and that is neutered inside unless he gets past the defense.
* No context Brady: During the end of a period, he plays catch with a ballboy.
* Red zone! Brady to Howard who is directly over the middle and catches the ball at the goal line. Perfect throw.
* Man, Joe hopes the Bucs release the video of this. Brady connects with Mike Evans in the far corner of the right end zone of a beautiful pass where the ball dropped in Evans’ basket over the shoulder and Evans taps both feet down. Damn, it killed Joe he wasn’t allowed to video that. It was NFL Films-beautiful with the tight spiral and the arching pass hitting Evans perfectly in stride. Poor Antoine Winfield never had a chance.
* Chris Godwin takes a handoff and runs right and there is a monster hole like five-yards wide for him. Joe could have crawled through that hole and likely could have gotten a first down. Would it surprise you if Joe told you that Tristan Wirfs was road grading on the play? That play looked very similar to the first down run by Godwin in the final minute of the NFC title game that sealed the Bucs’ trip to the Super Bowl.
* Hudson catches a short pass over the middle from Gabbert and Hudson shows some moves as he spins off a pair of would-be tacklers just as he came down with the ball to make a big gain on the play.
* One-handed catch by Hudson at the goal line on the right side. Gabbert threw the ball high but Hudson went up and got it.
* Evans is wide@ss open on the left sideline from Brady.
* At the goal line in the left corner, a Brady pass isn’t hauled in by Bernard.
* Gabbert goes deep over the middle for Travis Jonsen but the pass was too long.
* Godwin is covered down the left seam but he still is able to bring in a Brady pass. Good ol’ Godwin.
* Jerell Adams with a huge gain down the left side from Kyle Trask for a touchdown.
* Bernard breaks through a wall of defenders on the left side and after a nice gain it takes a gang of defenders to bring him down.
August 7th, 2021 at 4:00 pm
Nice work as usual Joe. Nice to hear a positive OJ highlight. Especially with Brate out still.
August 7th, 2021 at 4:07 pm
More bubble screens this season, can’t do it w/ Mike Evans but AB, Scotty, Godwin and all the other WR’s, you CAN!!!!.
August 7th, 2021 at 4:10 pm
Great stuff joes
Looks like Hudson will be #4 tight end
I can see gio on third and three in passing formation set up and he runs it too
Based on all notes so far it looks like mike evans and brady are finally locked in. Since they were a little off last year
Evans on offense and white on defense shining bright
August 7th, 2021 at 4:15 pm
Sounds like Bernard has been impressive in camp. Gotta wonder if they use him more then just for 3rd downs in the season. Which will could be a good thing if we got fresher legs heading into January. And no Joe, this comment does not mean Im advocating we revolve the offense around Gio. Ha ha ha
007 agreed about Howard. Not a huge fan but sounds like Brady has some chemistry with him and can proove me wrong. Of course his injury prone status might just ruin that possibility. OJ got a lot of hurdles…….Also good to here Tanner Hudson making some plays and getting some action on the first team. He was probably a bubble player. But its starting to smell like the Brate situation is serious so we need Hudson to step up and so far sounds like he is.
August 7th, 2021 at 4:43 pm
Brady likes “Huddy”…..he’ll make the team and make some impact…especially if Brate is out.
August 7th, 2021 at 5:06 pm
TBBF the only thing that bothers me about Hudson is the few chances he has had in real games he choked. Pressure can do funny things. Tanner is likely only going to get limited chances here so hes gonna have to get over the pressure equalizer.
August 7th, 2021 at 5:19 pm
What’s Brates deal Joe? Could he be traded or cut?
August 7th, 2021 at 5:53 pm
Joe
Think we had a blocked field goal today
August 7th, 2021 at 6:50 pm
Thanks for the breakdown.
August 7th, 2021 at 6:58 pm
Yes. Jamel Dean had a blocked kick. Joe didn’t see that. So it wasn’t in his notes.
August 7th, 2021 at 7:02 pm
Gotta keep your head on a swivel joe
August 7th, 2021 at 9:06 pm
thanks
August 8th, 2021 at 1:45 am
I saw Ronald Jones try to pull off a Lars Tate in practice, where he dives over the line but ends up on his feet, and then takes off.
But man is the Bucs Twitter account worthless, almost no highlights, and instead they have like 6 second clips of someone saying what is quoted in the tweet. Real idiots, I wanted to see the Evans catch you mentioned.
Anywho, great job with your world famous recap, Joes.