Schiano: Practice Vs. Pats = Half The Risk
August 13th, 2013
The Bucs will practice with the Patriots in New England today under cloudy skies. The temperature will be in the upper 60s.
Taking the Bucs to cool weather is not the only way that Greg Schiano is going easy on his team.
Practicing against the Patriots for two days means lessened risk to his players, Schiano told SiriusXM NFL Radio on Saturday.
“You cut your risk in half, because you’re not hitting each other. So, you know, it’s a lot of good,” Schiano said. “And quite frankly, I don’t mind getting up there and out of this heat a little bit. I mean, I like it. But in training camp to get them feeling a little bit better about their bodies, hopefully that’ll happen as well.”
Of course, Schiano makes sense here. But it’s interesting to Joe that Bill Belicheat and Schiano, guys who are viewed as tough guy, taskmaster coaches, are into the joint practice thing that cuts players reps in a big way. The Patriots and Eagles practiced with each other last week before their preseason game.
Perhaps the biggest benefit to squaring off against New England in practice is Josh Freeman getting different defensive looks. The Patriots defense is very different from the one Freeman sees daily. If these next two days lead to Freeman building more confidence, then the Bucs will have really benefited. On that note, Joe hopes Aqib Talib is matched up against Vincent Jackson.
August 13th, 2013 at 8:56 am
cuts the risk in half? yes and cuts the reps in half
August 13th, 2013 at 8:58 am
Risky move considering Bill will likely have personnel stealing our signals.
August 13th, 2013 at 9:00 am
Um, Mike, Joe’s got that in the story. It’s sort of the point of the story.
August 13th, 2013 at 9:05 am
I think this relationship benefits us greatly. We can only get better by practicing against the better teams. I like having Belichick evaluate our players. NE has always done well finding diamonds in the rough. Players like Melvin & Page would be two I’d want his input on.
I think our greatest benefit will be the experience our new secondary gets against Brady.
August 13th, 2013 at 9:12 am
I can tell you all it’s by no means cool up here. It is as humid as any rainy day in Florida. They’ll be sweating just the same.
August 13th, 2013 at 9:21 am
NE 73/57F H 72% Vs Tampa 92/78F 85 H% Big Difference
August 13th, 2013 at 9:21 am
Maybe something good comes out of this. Belichick is always looking for a big TE. Maybe we get a draft pick for Luke Stocker! lol
August 13th, 2013 at 9:34 am
@ Stanglassman
Foxboro – 94% Humidity with 0 mph Wind
Don’t know where you get your weather forecast from.
August 13th, 2013 at 9:42 am
I hope Jackson takes Talib to school
August 13th, 2013 at 9:49 am
Perhaps the biggest benefit to squaring off against New England in practice is Josh Freeman getting different defensive looks.
———————————————————————
This is what im interested in as this is much more of a indicator of what he might do during the season. Sure he looks good in practice, finally after a week against the same defense that he should look good against. But how will he look against a totally different defense.
August 13th, 2013 at 10:00 am
Freeman will benefit the most just by watching a first ballot hall of fame QB run shit with less than average receivers. Also looking forward to the Dougernaut running over Vince Wilfork 🙂
August 13th, 2013 at 10:11 am
You forgot to add that the temperature is currently 58 degrees. It’s currently rainy so I would say that is pretty humid.
August 13th, 2013 at 10:42 am
Weather FIGHT!
58 is low temp for the day. High temp is 81, which is about the time when they’ll practice.
My point is there is not much of a break for the Bucs in the weather; about the same as a rainy overcast day at One Buc Place considering there isn’t an ounce of Bay breeze in Foxboro.
Trust me. It’s as hot and humid as Carl Nicks balls in sauna.
August 13th, 2013 at 12:32 pm
I personally don’t like any of this practice against your opponent stuff prior to a pre-season game.
Just as much as I don’t like the fact that the Bucs are even in Foxboro to play a preseason game in the first place, against a team they will play 3 weeks into the regular season. Sure it might benefit either team to go over tape of the game and see where weaknesses are or strengths that the other team has. Somehow though as they are pouring over the taped game, I think Belichick will come out on top. Not taking anything away from the Bucs staff though. I just don’t like the whole idea, and don’t trust it. I hope the Bucs just run vanilla plays and don’t show all their cards to the N.E.staff. They follow this game up @ Miami another regular season opponent. I don’t remember stuff like this happening in the past when it comes to pre-season games. Probably because pre-season games are forgettable. I still don’t like idea though.