Camp Cupcake Day 19 Practice Notes
August 18th, 2021
It almost had a gameday feel to it.
Yes, training camp practice (Camp Cupcake) had a very different feel today. Joe noticed it would be different while driving southbound on Himes Avenue and was first in the left turn lane to go eastbound on MLK to get to One Buc Palace.
All of a sudden, three screaming Tampa Police Department squad cars, lights flashing, sirens blaring, come swooping in and blocked traffic at the intersection. The cops jumped out to direct traffic.
Then came more squad cars, lights flashing, sirens roaring. And then Joe saw a fleet of buses. Ah, ha. It’s the Titans.
Big crowd on hand. Just about everyone it seemed who could get off work wanted to see the controlled scrimmage/practice between the Bucs and Tennesee.
Even the practice was much crisper. No one dragging tail. In fact, the teams got so much work in, practice ended maybe 20 minutes early.
There were even some celebrities at practice today including Peter King and Albert Breer.
Joe can say this: In goal-line situations when the Bucs had the ball, the Bucs need some work. Against their own teammates, the goal-line offense was just fine.
Today against the Titans? Tom Brady and his receivers struggled in goal-line drills to make connections.
* Tom Brady tries to hit Chris Godwin over the middle and it was nearly picked.
* Next play, it’s foot-rubbing, car-littering Rob Gronkowski over the middle. He is open in space and pulls the ball in and receives a loud applause from the crowd.
* O.J. Howard, from wide left, comes in for a Brady pass but he can’t secure it.
* Kyle Trask on two straight plays throws short to Jaelon Darden on the left sideline. The first pass Darden catches it. The second pass, Darden dropped it.
* Trask tries to throw to Jerell Adams on the left side but it is too low.
* Trask throws left against for Codey McElroy who comes back for the ball from the left side. The throw was low but McElroy was able to go get it. Good coverage too by the Titans.
* Brady splits two defenders with a pass and it lands nicely into Godwin’s hands.
* Brady tries to throw over the middle and it is picked. The Titans’ defensive players who were on the sidelines watching erupt.
* Blaine Gabbert throws to Tanner Hudson along the left sideline and Elijah Molden, the rookie out of Washington, nearly picked the pass off.
* Adams gets open over the middle and Gabbert hits him for a completion. Titans linebacker Monty Rice from Georgia got hurt on the play and needed two trainers to help him off and he barely walked off even then. Later, Joe saw Rice get carted away.
* Darden takes a handoff on a jet sweep from right to left but there’s no room to run.
* Scotty Miller runs a crossing pattern from right to left but Brady led him too far. Incomplete.
* Brady pumps and then dirts a pass at Ronald Jones’ feet.
* Brady tries to connect with Darden in the right flat but the ball is batted down.
* Titans linebacker Jan Johnson out of Penn State is a large man. He’s listed at 6-4, 231 but looks much bigger than that.
* Ke’Shawn Vaughn runs right and there is nothing there.
* Bucs tackle Jake Benzinger shoves Rashaan Evans nearly halfway across the field on a block.
* Darden catches a pass in the left flat from Gabbert and tries to weave his way through defenders. Darden ran a lot more than yards gained on the play.
* Red Zone! Gabbert connects with Antonio Brown in the far left corner.
* Brady to Darden in the left flat.
Brady to Gronkowski on an almost exactly play goes over the middle and Brady hits Gronk. But the veteran tight end bobbled the ball, tipped it in the air and it was nearly picked.
Bucs defense
* Ryan Tannehill throws to the left sideline and Jamel Dean is waiting.
* Sean Murphy-Bunting was all over Chester Rogers as SMB breaks up the pass.
* Tannehill goes back to pass and if this was a ballgame, Ndamukong Suh would have crowned Tannehill.
* Tannehill aims for Rogers again down the right side and SMB bats it down.
Goal line offense (Obstructed view)
* Bucs offense struggled here. The lone bright spot Joe saw was Gabbert hitting Antonio Brown in the far left corner of the end zone.
Red zone offense
* Gabbert rolls left and finds Tyler Johnson with a big catch on the goal line. Johnson gets up and spins the ball like a top in celebration. Is that now taunting? Joe didn’t see any flags from the zebras.
* Gabbert again tries to connect with Johnson but this pass is too low to the left.
* Gabbert to Adams for a score on the right side.
August 18th, 2021 at 4:11 pm
I was expecting a littany of Darden drops to be discussed, what happened?
August 18th, 2021 at 4:19 pm
Thanks Joe.
I seem to recall Arians or other coaches in the past saying that they get more out of the joint scrimmage practices than the actual pre-season games.
August 18th, 2021 at 4:22 pm
Doesn’t sound very crisp
August 18th, 2021 at 4:35 pm
And that’s why they practice. Need to have their act together by September 9th when the Cowboys come to town.
August 18th, 2021 at 4:43 pm
Anyway to determine in this type of practice how our run defense stacked up against Henry?
August 18th, 2021 at 4:44 pm
The drops are getting to me. We were second in the league last season to dropped passes only Steelers had more I don’t get it why all the damn drops?
August 18th, 2021 at 4:47 pm
The Titans won today’s practice. Sloppy day for the Bucs
August 18th, 2021 at 4:58 pm
@PSL Bob: Looks like Prescott will be on the shelf until the opener. That can’t be good for the cowgirls…err…people with a non-binary affinity for large farm snimals…
August 18th, 2021 at 5:00 pm
Darden is a poor man’s Peter Warwick clone !! The problem is where he came from he can cut in juke and run sideways and be all right but in the NFL the fastest guy he played against is the slowest guy he’ll play against. He had better learn real quick how to cut and head straight up field and let his instincts take over while continuingly forcing himself upfield or he will not be in the NFL Long
August 18th, 2021 at 5:34 pm
Drunkinybor
It happens when you throw the ball 70 percent of the game.
August 18th, 2021 at 5:35 pm
Cobraboy
I think they like Deliverance music also.
August 18th, 2021 at 6:19 pm
Tristan Wirfs giving up a sack to a guy playing his first ever pre season game and letting Brady get hit has burned my ass the most. Plus not moving a pretty terrible Titans defense on the goal line – it’s things like that, that should serve as a reality check/reminder for every one that they aren’t going to win every game 38-10, or be some mega super team going straight up the ass of everyone. I’m sure Brady knows all too well that no one is going to roll over and be in awe of our talent. Otherwise without Brady I’d be slightly worried about the team losing that edge after the Super Bowl
August 18th, 2021 at 6:44 pm
Defense is usually ahead of offense early on, and I’m sure Arians doesn’t want to display any new offensive wrinkles until the games count. Chillax, people.
August 18th, 2021 at 7:01 pm
This is an odd report. I’ve read in a few different, non-biased, reports the Bucs dominated practice after the initial period. Our oline crushed their dline in 1 on 1s. AB ate up the Titan’s secondary. M1k3 had an off day but I’m not concerned about that.
August 18th, 2021 at 7:54 pm
The drop stat can be misleading. It can be just because you throw it a ton – true, but the Bucs really never lead the NFL in pass attempts. But the Bucs have lead the NFL – or been very near the top, for years, in depth of target. So you’re making more difficult throws which generally means more difficult catches.
So you need a list of all the drops, what is the down and distance, the depth of target and game situation – all of that tells you if there is really an issue or not.
Last year, I don’t recall anything really alarming. Godwin had a bad game in the playoffs vs the Redskins, but outside of that nothing comes to mind and we didn’t lose any games because of drops, unlike in 2019 where Brate single handedly lost the game vs Houston with this 4th down drop of a super easy pass with 3 mins left at the Texans 30.
August 18th, 2021 at 8:20 pm
Gofortheface 30 has it right when the only presence that will keep the team focused is Tom Brady. I worry that they could trip over their own feet and get down if the going gets rough. But then I remember we have Superman Tom Brady to settle the team down and head them into the right direction—- Super Bowl LVI.
August 18th, 2021 at 9:29 pm
That did not sound very crisp. And I’ve heard a few receivers being called out for drops, against the Bengals there were a lot of drops, and it sounds like more drops today.
Receivers better step it up!!
August 18th, 2021 at 9:39 pm
“Crisp” as in pace of the practice.
August 18th, 2021 at 9:45 pm
@Rod Munch, a drop is a pass that isn’t caught, that should have been caught with normal effort? Shoestring? Not a drop. Behind you? Not a drop. Corner blocks your vision? Not a drop. It’s surprisingly hard to be called a drop that most fans would say it was a drop.
August 18th, 2021 at 9:45 pm
wasn’t
August 18th, 2021 at 10:45 pm
A lot of coaches say that.
August 19th, 2021 at 3:52 am
kaimaru – Depends on who is doing the counting. Some people say drops are anything where you’d reasonably expect the receiver to catch the ball – others say a drop can only happen the person is wide open and the pass is perfect, like the Brate drop to lose the Houston game at the end 2019.
August 19th, 2021 at 7:54 am
A drop is what happens when you throw Lenny or RoJo the ball in the flat, wide-ass open.
August 19th, 2021 at 8:15 am
@Rod Munch, very good points. Drops are relative to the type of offense you run. And if you have Michael Clayton, world class blocker, on your team.
August 19th, 2021 at 12:04 pm
Sounds like the Bucs had a few problems?