Training Camp Notes & Observations — Day 3
July 27th, 2014
Jeff Demps was among those showing visible signs of heat-related struggles.
The pads came on!
What a fun day of practice at the swelter at One Buc Palace. Joe’s got all kinds of notes, including one Buccaneer (guess who?) falling on his face during a drill, losing the battle to a tackling dummy.
Let’s get right to that.
Joe zeroed in on defensive linemen firing through, one at a time, various drills on those dummies. The first was a pass-rush, sack-strip-the-QBs-arm drill, and others followed. The speed in undrafted rookie Chaz Sutton is supreme every time out.
Stephen Means drew praise. Da’Quan Bowers and Will Gholston looked slower than their counterparts.
Then the dummies were put much closer together, forcing D-linemen to focus more on tight hands work and more precise footwork. Mr. Bowers proceeded to trip over a dummy and fall over the one just after it. Since the idea was to get around the dummies, it was Bowers who resembled his cushioned opponent. Not a good look.
Every other lineman handled the tight-space drill.
What Joe will say is only one D-lineman drew loud ooohs and aaahs from fans nearby It was Gerald McCoy. Man, McCoy is setting the tone and looks to be in prime game shape. What an explosive presence.
*Rookie WR Robert Herron has great wheels, but he can also get in the air. He showed nice body control and hops hauling in a Mike Glennon pass during a drill.
*The first 11-on-11 session focuses on the running game and Doug Martin takes the first two carries up the gut.
*On the second Martin carry, the Bucs’ defense looks like a machine, with Jonathan Casillas meeting Martin in a big hole and standing him up. No gain.
*Defensive line coach Joe Cullen is furious after a big Bobby Rainey run.
*Fumbled snap by the third team.
*This ain’t no pansy Olympic practice. Jeff Demps is seen on one knee getting extra fluids. Teammates come over to see how he is.
*McCown intercepted. Throw was off-balance floater with no real pressure. Picked by Mason Foster.
*RB Mike James taking third-team reps.
*Interesting pass to Tim Wright out of the backfield. Big gain.
*Glennon looks very comfortable in the pocket. Smooth 15-yard completion to Skye Dawson.
*Glennon low throw on rollout to Lavelle Hawkins. No catch.
*Not good. Third-team defense has a massive jailbreak rush on second team offense. Neither time Glennon had a prayer.
*Drop! Vincent Jackson from McCown 40 yards downfield up the gut. Crowd gets on V-Jax.
*Great catch by Bobby Rainey on right flank with Lavonte David all over him. David motioned that Rainey’s feet were out of bounds. Joe’s not sure. Looked like a great 20-yard completion. Rainey looks sharp today.
*Rashaan Melvin is wearing a walking boot and is not practicing.
*Tommy Streeter catches a slant from McCown. Very precise execution.
*If Tommy Streeter is trying to stick out in practices so coaches have to notice him, he’s doing a helluva job. Strong play.
*McCown overthrow of Jackson with no pass rush on the field. Not McCown’s best day through two-thirds of practice.
*Safety Major Wright with a nice pass breakup on WR Russell Shepard. Nice throw 20 yards downfield by Glennon.
*Joe’s look-in on linemen going 1-on-1 on a side field reveals William Gholston driving back rookie guard Kadeem Edwards rather easily.
*Reserve tackle Matt Patchan absolutely manhandled Da’Quan Bowers, jamming him in chest throwing him off balance. Next play, Bowers blew by Patchan
*Three times in a row in one-on-one drills, Adrian Clayborn got the best of Demar Dotson.
*Louis Murphy and Eric Page show good hands (receiving team) during onsides kick drill.
*Nice touch pass from McCown to Lavelle Hawkins as 11-on-11 work returns. Pass rush was neutralized by the offensive line.
*Clinton McDonald in the backfield to snuff a Doug Martin run.
*Backup QB Alex Tanney sends in hand signals for nearly every play on the sideline, clearly practicing procedure in case electronic communication goes down.
*Gorgeous pass from Glennon to Jeff Demps down left flank about 30 yards. LB Dane Fletcher was left in the dust by the Olympian who was hit in stride. Wow throw of the day so far.
*Warren Sapp heard talking about flying to Canton for Hall of Fame ceremonies says he doesn’t fit on “Southwest” airlines. Needs more room from another airline.
*Will Gholston flies in from left side, jumps with arms raised and breaks up play. McCown must have thought it was an eclipse of the sun.
*Martin swallowed up during run up the gut. Defense clearly winning most line battles.
*Very nice cutback run from Charles Sims. Gets next handoff and takes a lick from hustling Euclid Cummings, the undrafted rookie battling to back up Gerald McCoy.
*Holding! Kadeem Edwards can’t contain Clinton McDonald. Rough introduction today for Edwards.
*Blitz by Lavonte David! McCown releases quickly to Louis Murphy in flat. Balls seems to go through his hands.
*Nice tough throw on three step drop from McCown to Mike Evans.
*Very nice fingertip catch by Tim Wright at sideline.
Stick with Joe for so much more through the afternoon and evening.
July 27th, 2014 at 4:32 pm
Hey…whatever the players union negocicated….is a disservice…the players are paying out their COLLECTIVE azz’s for “private” training before the “official’ training begins…which would be for free….and better suited to their teams needs….
July 27th, 2014 at 4:39 pm
Man, our O-line doesn’t sound good, can we say we are screwed?
July 27th, 2014 at 4:40 pm
@ Joe
Good stuff. Would also like to know what the offense looks like during 11 on 11. Are we mostly in shotgun or I formation? Does is look like we really will be using the spread? The offense should be much less of a mystery now that we actually have to practice it. Also, does in look like we are using the zone blocking scheme on running plays?
July 27th, 2014 at 4:43 pm
Hey Joe, whats up with the Real loud ads, any way to turn this off? very annoying.
July 27th, 2014 at 4:50 pm
Pewter Panel on Buccaneers.com last week threw out the possibility of trading for a disgruntled Alex Boone from SF, I know it’s WAY WAY EARLY and it takes time for an O-line to “Gel” but if the O-line keeps “clearly” getting beat, then GOOD GOD MAN PULL THE TRIGGER N GET IT DONE!!! The absolute WORST thing about having a good defense D is having an offense like last years that can’t put up points to help win games.
July 27th, 2014 at 4:51 pm
u know the d line i sback when the 3rd team kicks your ass. o line????????
July 27th, 2014 at 4:54 pm
“*Martin swallowed up during run up the gut. Defense clearly winning most line battles.” Gotta love that guard depth!
July 27th, 2014 at 5:02 pm
Might as well change the name of the SB Trophy…to the “Goodell Trophy”….I watchd 3 a days from the bed of my pick up truck looking over the fence at the old One Buc Place….”Hall of Fame”
July 27th, 2014 at 5:21 pm
The Sapp airline reference was the most informative.
July 27th, 2014 at 6:05 pm
Joe
Getting two ad talking same time. Beyong annoying when radio playing listening to other nw
July 27th, 2014 at 6:07 pm
Vincent Jackson better be having less drops that Steater for the money he’s making. Streater I believe is 6’5 as well and young. That may be the new no.2 receiver come next season with Evans getting a Vjax contract.
July 27th, 2014 at 6:10 pm
Don:
Joe has explained 10,000 times about the ads.
July 27th, 2014 at 6:33 pm
Joe
If our DL is in the top five, the OL should be having trouble, the catch is if the OL is not getting better as they play together.
How did the other TEs do?
July 27th, 2014 at 6:39 pm
49ers lost their #2 rb Kendall Hunter to acl. Maybe trade james/rainey for Boone and draft pick?
July 27th, 2014 at 7:00 pm
Joe,
When you say the dummies were moved closer together, do you mean Gholston and Bowers, or blocking dummies? Just kidding. Keep the great updates coming.
July 27th, 2014 at 7:00 pm
what he said ^^^
July 27th, 2014 at 7:05 pm
What’s the cap hit for Bowers? I want him off my team ASAP.
July 27th, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Dewey just heard Lamichael James was carted off the field with what appeared to be a serious injury. The 49ers could be down two backs. More room for a trade.
July 27th, 2014 at 7:19 pm
Joe doesn’t come to your house and complain. –Joe
July 27th, 2014 at 7:23 pm
I was’nt at the practice session, but your recap of the action makes me feel that I was there. Nice!
Happy to be your eyes and ears. –Joe
July 27th, 2014 at 10:43 pm
Awesome insight, Joe… A lot of new faces at training camp this year and you do a great job squeezing in info on just about all of them.
July 27th, 2014 at 10:57 pm
Being out at the training camp this year, I have to give credit to this organization. They really are going out of their way to build connections with their fan base and future fan base.
I arrived at training camp way early today and had a couple questions about my season tickets and the “perks” I get at training camp. I figured I’d send an e-mail off to my account manager (Dan Boyd) from my phone as I sat waiting for the gates to open. I didn’t exactly expect a reply on a Sunday, but I got one in less than an hour.
Dan replied back and informed me of a few things I did not know, as well as took care of an issue I was having on the website. Absolutely fantastic! Couple that with the entire staff being friendly (including the local security and Law Enforcement personnel) and I just could not be more ecstatic Bucs season ticket holder.
If you have kids, I highly recommend you get out to a training camp practice. It’s very economical and a great experience for the kids. Mine have enjoyed it everyday.
The action on the field is exactly what you SHOULD expect from a training camp (first day in pads). What you don’t expect to see is the pace rhythm of the practices. Everyone seemed to know where they needed to be for drills without the obnoxious yelling and screaming from coaches I saw two years ago.
There truly is a different feel about this whole team right now. The offense shows some interesting traits, but it is the first day of pads. I wouldn’t say it is groundbreaking, but it looks more entertaining than what we saw last year.
Let’s just hope this offensive line can hold it together. There were a few times I saw a couple roaches out there (dead roaches with their backs flat on the ground and arms and legs in the air) at the hands of the first string d-lineman.
Joe’s coverage of practice gave a pretty good synopsis of everything I saw. (I recorded nfl network all day and just got done watching it.) The only thing I didn’t see Joe mention was Banks on V-Jax, with V-Jax going down (lost footing). Instead of fighting through the end of the play V-Jax kind of knelt on the ground and got pelted by the QB in the helmet with the ball. Banks made a play on the deflection and would have had an easy pick six.Game time, I don’t see V-Jax doing that. I didn’t see this personally though until I got home to watch the NFL network.
Overall, it’s such an exciting time to be a Bucs fan again. I’m loving it.
July 28th, 2014 at 12:17 am
McCown and our o-line dont sound to good
July 28th, 2014 at 12:44 am
Joe, I’d like to hear your thoughts on Bowers playing inside today. You noted his big gaffe with the tackling dummy, but didn’t really touch on his reps at D-tackle.
It seems like this guy has been counted out by everybody already, but his odds of making the squad have to be a little better if he finds a way to be versatile
July 28th, 2014 at 1:06 am
Tom:
Read Joe’s article scheduled for 7 a.m. Monday morning.
July 28th, 2014 at 1:22 am
Thanks Deputy!
July 28th, 2014 at 1:48 am
Great account of today’s practice, Joe. Edwards is going to need another year of intense weight lifting to get strong enough. Demps is showing what I have said about his ability. How did Meredith do at blocking today? Sounds like he is trying to play with a hurt leg. Hopefully it is nothing serious! How about our San Francisco Guard? Did he even play? I look forward to your coverage this week.
July 28th, 2014 at 1:56 am
Interior blocking wasn’t exactly stellar. Third team was getting pressure. Only on a few plays could Bucs run up the middle.
July 29th, 2014 at 6:26 am
You gotta remember its earely in training camp and we will get more guys in here for o-line more than likely as time passes. ALSO its important to remember that they have to go against Our defense…which will be one of the better ones this year.