Camp Cupcake Day 21 And Final Practice Notes
August 23rd, 2021
Training camp is all over for the Bucs. The team technically went into regular season gameweek mode today and will be fully there beginning tomorrow when the Tampa Bay pen and mic club will only be allowed to watch the first 30 minutes of practice, which entails dudes warming up and using giant rubber bands to stretch.
Today, in the final underwear football practice Joe will be tortured by until next year, the local pen and mic club got to watch the full practice in the air-conditioned comfort of the Glazer Shed.
So get your fill of practice notes here boys and girls. Won’t see these again for eight months.
* Bucs first-team offense vs. third-team defense. Playoff Lenny takes a handoff from Tom Brady and races around left end.
* Chris Godwin is open over the middle.
* Ronald Jones is bottled up at the line after trying to run up the middle.
* Alex Cappa is still practicing with “the ones.”
* Playoff Lenny again runs left.
* RoJo takes a pitch and runs left.
* Ke’Shawn Vaughn gets decent yards running up the zero hole.
* C.J. Prosise runs around left end.
* Vaughn tries to run up the middle and Devin White says, “Hold up, son.” White wraps up Vaughn like a good linebacker should. Joe suspects that has happened before (“SEC… SEC… SEC… “)
* Prosise tries to run up the middle and gets nowhere.
* Jaydon Mickens gets behind Herb Miller down the right numbers and Ryan Griffin hits him right in the chest. Beautiful pass. Touchdown.
* While the third-team defense is on the field, White is running sprints on the sideline by himself.
* Brady to Mike Evans along the left numbers. Smooth.
* Foot-rubbing Rob Gronkowski catches a Brady pass on a crossing pattern coming in from the right.
* RoJo catches a pass from Brady in the right flat after Brady scanned the defense twice.
* Evans catches another pass from Brady, also on the left side, right in front of Dee Delany.
* Giovani Bernard catches a pass from Brady in the right flat.
* Brady dirts a pass to the left, in the ballpark vinicity of Jaelon Darden.
* Blaine Gabbert tries to hit Scotty Miller on a slant pass coming in from the right side and the pass is off the fingertips of safety Chris Cooper.
* Pick! Gabbert tries to connect with Miller along the right sideline and it’s picked by Delaney.
* Ryan Griffin to Tanner Hudson along the left sideline.
* Jerrell Adams catches a Griffin offering along the right sideline.
* Griffin connects with Tyler Johnson along the left hashmarks.
* Running right, Griffin dumps the ball off to Adams.
* Prosise catches a pass from Griffin over the middle.
* Mickens makes a solid play here but damn he was impressive in his attempt. Not sure if Mickens. Griffin looked like he had overthrown Mickens but he actually threw him open as Mickens raced under the ball and pulled it in.
* Red Zone 7-on-7!: Godwin catches a pass in the far right corner and on the next play catches a pass over the middle. Both passes from Tom Brady.
* Antonio Brown catches a Brady offering at the backline over the middle.
* Godwin on a crossing pattern from left to right,
catches another from Brady after Mr. Seven Rings fakes a pair of handoffs and looks off the defense.
* Brady to Miller underneath and to the left. Touchdown.
* Gabbert to Tanner Hudson over the middle.
* Kyle Trask takes a snap, rolls right and scores.
* More 7-on-7: Brady to Gronk down the left sideline and a beautiful pass hits Gronk right in the numbers about 30 yards downfield. Antoine Winfield and Cooper were in coverage.
* Brown with a catch on the right sideline.
* Gronk takes a Brady pass over the middle for a good chunk of yards.
* Bernard with a catch in traffic over the middle.
* Brady rolls out right and while on the fly hits O.J. Hoard right in the numbers on the right side.
* Evans catches a slant pass from Brady and from the left.
* Hudson and Howard catch back-to-back passes from Brady and Gabbert, over the middle, respectively.
* Brady-to-Evans on the left side with Herb Miller trying to defend.
* Gabbert throws too low to Adams on the right side.
* Gabbert tries to connect with Hudson down the left sideline but it was too short and too wide left. Jamel Dean and Sean Murphy-Bunting were prowling nearby.
* Gabbert with a perfect pass to Darden crossing from the right side.
* Scotty Miller catches a Griffin pass short over the middle.
* Griffin tries to thread the needle to Darden over the middle and Winfield batted the pass down.
* Griffin throws a short pass to the left sideline for Scotty Miller.
* Adams catches a Griffin pass along the right sideline.
And underwear football for Joe is done for seven months. Hope you enjoyed reading these things as much as Joe has enjoyed bringing them to you.
Joe wonders how many of these guys Joe watched for the final time in underwear football? Will Joe get to see Chris Godwin, Playoff Lenny, Ronald Jones, O.J. Howard, Antonio Brown or Ryan Griffin practice with the Bucs again?
To purloin Jack Buck’s sign off after every Cardinals broadcast, “Thanks for your time this time, until next time, so long.”
August 23rd, 2021 at 6:19 pm
Thanks for all the practice notes!
August 23rd, 2021 at 6:29 pm
Ty2, but I never figured out the Camp Cupcake moniker..BTW, this practice seemed a LOT more interesting than the last game.
August 23rd, 2021 at 6:38 pm
Pro tip: plenty of people wouldn’t mind the “torture” of watching football practice for a living ✌️
August 23rd, 2021 at 6:45 pm
Really appreciate all that you do Joe!
August 23rd, 2021 at 6:48 pm
Crickett. I think about 10 days ago, Arians said that this training camp was as Cupcake as he ever had been part of because the teams no longer really hit each other like they had back in the day…
Ever since then, Joe aptly named his notes Camp Cupcake.
August 23rd, 2021 at 6:49 pm
Thanks, Joe!!!
For what I could see, offense dominated today, right? I know, I know, underwear football but still. No drops, right?
August 23rd, 2021 at 6:58 pm
Good reporting as always Joe, I appreciate these write-ups.
Did the Bucs practice in pads less than normal this year?
August 23rd, 2021 at 7:07 pm
Off subject but I wanted to share that i just saw Jamies Winston and the Saints are on TV tonight. ESPN 8pm………You damm right I wanna see what Jamies does. Especially since hes half of a QB controvesary for a division rival.
August 23rd, 2021 at 7:09 pm
Seemed like a good day for offense
Thanks guys!
August 23rd, 2021 at 7:22 pm
Thanks Joe!!
August 23rd, 2021 at 7:31 pm
👍✌🤙!
August 23rd, 2021 at 7:35 pm
Thanks Joe, the notes were appreciated.
August 23rd, 2021 at 7:48 pm
Two Weeks and Two Days until the season opener.
Are the Bucs elite or did they suffer a Super Bowl hangover?
So many questions are about to be answered …
August 23rd, 2021 at 8:01 pm
Orange juice hoarding should be a crime.
August 23rd, 2021 at 8:22 pm
“Bucs first-team offense vs. third-team defense”
I’m assuming the offense never missed a completion or play during this entire period, based on what we saw from the third-stringers on Saturday night.
August 23rd, 2021 at 8:42 pm
@JimmyJack-
Well so far he is 9/10 for 123 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs…
August 23rd, 2021 at 8:51 pm
Watching the game as well …
Nobody can deny Jameis has raw talent—cannon arm with questionable decision making.
Need to keep it on the “raw side” when he plays us.
He was just pulled in favor of Hill.
With our ex-qb as the now obvious starter for the hated Saints, it should lead to some interesting contests when we play the Saints.
August 23rd, 2021 at 8:56 pm
Griffin not had his best camp.
Looks like Jameis locked in his starting role as Qb for the Saints tonight.
August 23rd, 2021 at 9:03 pm
Unbelievable, yeah Jamies looked pretty good tonight with 2 deep TDs. Turned it off after a quick look at Taysom Hill. That guy is not an NFL passer.
Of course the questions still loom over Winston. Hes never been able to hold together consistently……I think we play the Saints on Halloween. We should know by then.
August 23rd, 2021 at 9:04 pm
Joe,
Appreciate all the detailed back and forth between defense and offense, but would I would really like is your final analyses of what looks good and what’s questionable overall after all these practices. You’ve been there, seen that, but what does all this add up to in terms your evaluation of strengths and weaknesses.
August 23rd, 2021 at 9:22 pm
LSU did play Vandy in 2019, but Devin White was already in the NFL.
Actually not many on the LSU defense were likely saying “Hold up, son” that day. Quick look up, Ke’Shawn Vaughn had 130yds and 2TDs on 20 carries, including one for 52yds! With some guy named Riley Neal as the QB for Vandy, I can’t imagine why LSU didn’t play 9 in the box the whole game.
August 23rd, 2021 at 9:46 pm
Thanks Joe.
@Leighroy: That was the face that Rivers made when he was picked off by Tandy to seal the game in 2016. And yeah, Vaughn was awesome in college.
August 23rd, 2021 at 10:16 pm
Appreciate Joes
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:07 pm
LFG JOE!
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:28 pm
Came across too harsh. Joe’s tired of watching — as Arians puts it — “soccer practice.” Wanna see real games! The tease works only so long. 🙂 And that’s basically what underwear football is. It’s a tease.
Think of being with a woman and she’s dancing in lingerie for you in your bedroom. The dancing only works so long.
Joe’s been watching underwear football and fake football (preseason) since March. Joe’s had his fill. Bring on real football! 🙂
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:34 pm
The passing game — unreal. The following will get people steamed but Joe’s just being real. Not trying to rile poeple up.
Joe watched a padded (hitting) practice maybe a week ago and near the end of practice the Bucs were in a two-minute drill. The defense has been playing strong.
Brady, like a video game, hits Chris Godwin, hits Gronk and hits Evans in successive plays to eat up maybe 60 yards and it was so friggin’ smooth. Boom. Boom. Boom. And it’s not like it was against the Jags’ defense.
Joe was standing next to a security guard and the security guard honestly he was just shaking his head at his good fortune to be paid to watch some of the best football players who ever lived put on a show. “You believe we’re watching this?” He said to Joe.
Joe walked away from the practice field as we were setting up for Arians’ presser. Joe’s not trying to be an arse here. After watching what he just described Joe thought to himself, “And people honestly want Brady throwing to a backup running back when he has this sick downfield talent. Why?”
Mike Evans is playing above the rim more than anyone. Devin White isn’t far behind.
Not so sure of the depth aside from defensive backs and running back and wide receiver.
Starters? This is a good team. And maybe a very, very good team.
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:59 pm
Joe
>>>>> And people honestly want Brady throwing to a backup running back when he has this sick downfield talent. Why?”
We want Brady to have that option, not to always choose it. If TB is getting rid of the ball in < 2.5 seconds I would rather have him gain 4-7 yards throwing to GB than throwing a dirt ball you mentioned so often in the cup cake practices.
Ball is leaving his hand whether there is an open downfield receiver or not, dirt or GB ?
August 24th, 2021 at 1:13 am
@JimmyJack – yeah Hill looked awful, lol.
Total gimmick quarterback. Hopefully the days of him running all over our defense are finally over! He embarrassed more than a few times in recent years. I agree about Winston, we should have a pretty clear idea by time we play them.
@Joe- cool story about the offense. I’m beyond pumped to see Evans this year. Him and Brady (and the whole offense) should be on another level this season. Pay close attention to the silent cues before the ball is snapped…
August 24th, 2021 at 2:21 am
Ty Geno. I was hoping someone would explain that, as it was starting to annoy me because I never knew where it came from. Tnx very much.
August 24th, 2021 at 8:16 pm
Love these, thank you Joe’s.