The Buccaneers’ first joint practice with the Jaguars on Tuesday in Jacksonville was the kind of session that leaves a team with a lot to clean up, especially on offense.
Tampa Bay arrived at 1 Performance Place looking to stack a strong day against Jacksonville after its earlier joint work with the Jets, but that never really materialized. The Bucs were outplayed on both sides, and the offense in particular spent most of the day getting swallowed up.
There were a couple of encouraging personnel notes before the real work started. Vita Vea and Tristan Wirfs both took part in team drills, marking the first time all year that both have been in team work. That’s an important step as they ramp up toward Week 1.
A few other names were missing. Christian Rozeboom remained out, as did SirVocea Dennis.
Emeka Egbuka and Jalen McMillan also sat out Tuesday. Justin Skule was not a participant, while Ben Chukwuma returned after missing camp and the preseason game against the Chiefs last Saturday.
Cade Otton was back as well after sitting out multiple days of camp and that same preseason game.
Once the drills got rolling, though, the Jaguars dictated just about everything.
The tone was set early, even in one-on-ones, where Luke Goedeke had a rough time against Josh Hines-Allen. Hines-Allen won most of those matchups and kept bothering the rest of Tampa Bay’s line, too. The backups didn’t find much relief against Jacksonville’s second unit.
It didn’t get better in 11-on-11 work. The Bucs couldn’t generate any real push in the run game, and the passing attack was just as messy.
Jacksonville’s defensive backs knocked the ball free at the catch point five different times, and the few positives Tampa Bay managed were quickly undercut by penalties and drops. Devin Culp had a bad drop on a good throw from Jalon Daniels, and a Sean Tucker rushing touchdown came off the board because of holding.
Baker Mayfield had a rough day as well, throwing two interceptions. One came on a pass that was too high for Chris Godwin and was picked off on a tip.
The other was thrown straight to Antonio Johnson at safety. Mayfield also overthrew the football several times, adding to an offense that never found its footing.
Defensively, Tampa Bay had a better day than the offense, but it still wasn’t clean. Ayden Garnes and Zyon McCollum both broke up passes, and Rakeem Nunez-Roches and Yaya Diaby each got into the backfield for sacks.
Even so, the secondary had a glaring breakdown on the first play of 11-on-11 scrimmage. McCollum was beaten badly on a fly route by Brian Thomas Jr., who turned it into an immediate touchdown.
So while there were a few individual bright spots, the overall picture for the Buccaneers on Tuesday was uneven at best. They’ll need a much sharper showing Wednesday if they want to feel better about the work they put in against Jacksonville.
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