JACKSONVILLE, FL – It was the culmination of a weeklong get-to-know session between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Jacksonville Jaguars, and apparently the hometown Bucs learned a lot more about themselves and their opponent than their hosts. The Bucs defeated the Jags 12-8, but that score might as well have felt like it was 212-8 with the way the Bucs’ first/second team players were able to dictate terms on both sides of the ball. Only during the “garbage time” period of the game did the Jags move the ball with any efficiency. All-in-all, it was a great finish to the week that started with the doldrums and seemingly going-through-the-motions on a Monday, the first day of practice.
The synopsis from the first team offense is that they were crisp, with lots of variety on play calling. Although Jameis may have had one of his biggest boneheaded moments of his career, high school, college or pro–the third year leader of this offense finished 21-of-29 with 196 yards of passing. That variety we speak of was confirmed with an impressive twelve different players catching a pass from either Winston or Ryan Fitzpatrick. Of course one of Fitz’ nine passes landed in the hands of a Jaguar defensive back, but that was the extent of the turnovers for the squad, which isn’t bad at all. First rounder OJ Howard looked every bit the part with two receptions for 28 yards and plenty of good film in the pass pro and run blocking areas.
Doug Martin looked great, but once again the Bucs won’t have his services for the first three games of the season and while it looks like Jacquizz Rodgers is the number two at the moment, the Bucs are starting to force the issue in order to find their third string running back. That contest seems to be coming down to either Charles Simms III or Peyton Barber. Last night, it was Barber and Jeremy McNichols getting the bulk of the carries.
The receivers will be hard to cover for ANY secondary they face this season. This is fast approaching an understatement, and we already knew this team was talented on the offensive side of the ball. Of course, things happen and you run into teams with superb defensive game plans for that week, but on the whole, the Buccaneers may have one of the deepest and most-talented receiving corps in the entire league. Many things need to happen since they cannot throw the ball to themselves, but if this group collectively plays like they have in practice and the first two games of the preseason, the Bucs area in fantastic shape.
Defensive Line was solid against the Jaguars rush, but struggled to get pressure on the passers yet again. Last week in Cincinnati, the Bucs first sack didn’t occur until eight minutes left in the game. Last night, they finished with two sacks and still not much to go in terms of a “feared” rush, which is something that would be nice to have given their division and schedule beyond. Adarius Glanton and Lavonte David were your two guys on the board for getting to a Jags QB. Glanton and David combined for 10 tackles (8 solo), two sacks, four tackles for loss, a pass defensed and two QB hits. That’s production.
The Offensive Line was solid, but struggled against the speed rush, most specifically against the speed rush of Dante Fowler Jr. The Jags have more problems than they can count on the offensive side of the ball, but one thing is for certain, they won’t have problems creating havoc up front. Translation, that’s going to (or should) happen to many teams this season, so we are willing to look past that aspect for this week since the Jags DL looked the part during practice against the Bucs one’s and two’s.
The backup secondary was exposed. In a perfect world, the backup secondary is exactly what it is–a backup–and a “last resort” option. Jaguars WR Dede Westbrook torched the DB’s with six receptions for 131 yards in the second half, and that will certainly have to change if Bucs coaching, fans and front office alike want to feel “totally” good about the Defense.
“We knew they were a big running team. One of our goals was to stop the run and I think we did okay with that.” Speaking of feeling good, that’s what Kendell Beckwith, the rookie from LSU, had to say following his performance last evening. He is your clubhouse leader in our eyes to start the first game at Will (weak-side) linebacker with Kwon Alexander and Lavonte David playing the Mike and Sam respectively. He finished the game with four tackles and two of those were for losses.
“Nope, not quite what we were looking for.” That was Dirk Koetter’s reaction to Nick Folk missing an extra point last night. Needless to say, the kicking game is still a question mark and we are moving on from that point. It only confirms one thing we’ve felt all-along. It wasn’t Aguayo’s inability to kick a football, it’s the mental block a la a golfer with “the yips” or a pitcher that can’t find the strike zone. In none of those scenarios were the athletes losing their physical ability, rather it’s their brains completely FUBAR-ing the visualization process. In other words? You’ll see that Aguayo would’ve eventually corrected himself and Folk’s heading down the same path if he’s not careful and gets amnesia.