Hitting Begins Today
July 29th, 2024
Underwear football valuable for big uglies.
So today the pads come on. There will be hitting at practice.
Now it’s unclear if the Bucs just will wear “shells” today, which means only shoulder pads. Often, this is what NFL teams do on the first day of hitting will full pads worn on the second day.
While you can’t hit low in only shells, you can still hit.
Even though Joe sort of mocks underwear football because you cannot judge a dang thing from line play when you can’t hit, underwear football is valuable for offensive linemen, Joe was told.
The source? None other than left tackle Tristan Wirfs himself.
For example, Wirfs will likely have two new starters to his immediate right in Week 1. So Wirfs said getting communication down and line calls down during underwear football is key.
“Yeah, we’re trying to get as much communication as we can,” Wirfs said. “You want to get as many reps with each other as possible.”
So why the urgency to get this down during underwear football? Well, once the pads come on, so does the hitting. And if someone blows a line call or doesn’t understand the assignment and blows a play, someone on the line could get their world rocked.
Better to make the mistakes when you can’t get hit, Wirfs said.
“Flying around, guys hitting you, that’s when guys can really come after you,” Wirfs said. “So you definetly want to be on the same page” when the pads come on.
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July 29th, 2024 at 7:17 am
Now that the pads come on we’ll be hearing well they only thud up, no one is being taken to the ground. I understand why, I just don’t get that much more excited about ‘the pads coming on”. Joe mocks underwear football, Joe mocks “meaningless preseason games”. Does Joe realize these are all steps that have to be taken in order for these players to be ready for real football?
July 29th, 2024 at 7:33 am
No. Joe doesn’t realize worthless preseason games are necessary steps. When coaches dismiss them and given the fact no other level of football needs preseason games, you’re going to have to pull the sales job of the century to convince Joe they’re needed to build a winning team. Hell, the Bucs last won a Suoer Bowl without the need of a worthless preseason game.
The only benefit Joe can gleam from worthless preseason games are the salary cap, part-time workers at stadiums and orthopedic surgeons throughout the country.
Next.
July 29th, 2024 at 8:14 am
Joseph, if preseason games are “worthless” then are the scrimmages we hold against other teams “worthless” too? Seems like those are even more risky as the ones go against the ones.
July 29th, 2024 at 8:17 am
Tell that to the 21 men on each team that will use those games as a way to either secure a spot on their current team or show enough to find work somewhere else.
12 full rosters of men that their football careers could hinge on one play in those worthless games.
Terrell Davis had his plane reservation and was ready to go Home, stayed, and made the team from one special team play.
Patriots saw enough in Tom Brady to waste a roster spot on him that season to make sure they did not lose him to another team.
Sometime folks are looking hard at the 30 people that will provide the wins and loses that they just don’t see the big picture.
For example the one’s complaining about runs up the gut where the O Line are up against defenders coming straight on. Bigger Picture. You start to get outside and running behind Wirf, like some think will be the great answer to the run game, and you’re going to get chaos around him coming from all directions. Knees are not meant to bend sideways so be careful what you wish for.
July 29th, 2024 at 8:57 am
No. Coaches actually say (often) they get better results from those scrimmages than the worthless preseason games.
July 29th, 2024 at 9:05 am
@Fan of the South: “Knees are not meant to bend sideways so be careful what you wish for. ” Put knee braces on Wirfs to protect his knees before he signs!
July 29th, 2024 at 11:03 am
Actually, since there isn’t a ton of tackling in practice anymore the preseason games take on a slightly more useful role.
July 29th, 2024 at 12:37 pm
Joe, maybe coaches say they get better results from the scrimmages than the preseason games because in the scrimmages they’re playing ones-on-ones and in the preseason games they’re not, they’re evaluating the backups?
July 29th, 2024 at 1:08 pm
Confident that’s part of the reason.
July 30th, 2024 at 2:08 am
Wirfs hat rechts.