Tuesday Practice Notes

August 25th, 2020

Early scene at Bucs practice at One Buc Palace today.

So Tuesday was sort of eventful with big plays made by offensive starters and Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians getting his blood pumping. Let’s get to it:

* Tom Brady throws to Shady McCoy in the right flat. It was a low throw and Shady got it, but just as he tried to avoid a tackler he got tripped up. He tried to bounce back up quickly. Had he been able to do so it looked to be a long run, but the play was whistled dead. Shady was not happy at all.

* In almost the exact same spot, Brady hit Justin Watson for a short gain with a low throw.

* A fake handoff and play-action pass to Scotty Miller was just behind Miller and incomplete. Miller was on a crossing pattern from the right side. Joe was standing under the goal posts and the Bucs were marching towards Joe. Brady’s pass looked as if he was throwing straight to Joe. This is the first time Joe had a superior angle on Brady throwing and damn, his release is lightning quick.

* Brady way overthrows Watson along the left sideline. That’s a first for Joe to witness. Brady was feeling heat from a pass rush so Joe is going to give him the benefit of the doubt and guess he was throwing the ball away.

* Ronald Jones and foot-rubbing Rob Gronkowski catch back-to-back short passes in the left flat from Brady.

* Joe doesn’t write much about the backups because Joe has little interest and people want to read about starters. But this play stood out and not in a good way: Somebody was clearly not on the correct page. Blaine Gabbert throws down the left seam and there wasn’t a receiver in the same zip code. Fortunately for Gabbert, the ball falls incomplete.

* Old habits die hard, Bucs edition: Brady hits Gronk perfectly in stride down the right seam.

* Mike Evans is warming up. He catches a Brady pass along the left sideline for about 15 yards and on the next play, Brady connects with Evans down the left seam maybe 20 yards out and hits Evans right in the hands. Joe was never around Joe Montana or Dan Marino or Peyton Manning. But my gosh, Brady can sure pinpoint the football. And such a quick release. Very impressive.

* This time it is Watson who catches a seam pass from Brady on the right side. Watson is sure getting a lot of work with the first team as Chris Godwin had a maintenance day off.

* Watson gets his number called again as he runs a crossing pattern from right to left and he hangs on to the ball after bobbling it for a nice gain.

* Brady hits Miller in the right flat. It didn’t look all that special to Joe but Joe could hear Brady say, “Good job ‘Scooter!'” “Scooter” is Brady’s nickname for Miller.

* Wait, that’s not Brady?: Ryan Griffin sure looked like Brady as he hit Tanner Hudson in the hands along the right sideline for a nice gain.

* In the first series of red zone work, Brady throws low and to the left to Watson who goes down to catch the ball right at the goal line. Watson hit the ground as he caught the pass and then rolls to the goal line before ending up out of bounds. Defenders are screaming “NO! He didn’t make it!” It was close but there was no immediate replay review available. Tie goes to the offense, right?

* Whistle blows before the snap. Not enough guys on the field for the offense. Arians goes bananas. Seriously full-blown Bobby Knight. “Get f’ing 11 guys in the f’ing huddle!” Arians begins. Trust Joe, Arians didn’t stop there.

* Brady has a convincing hard count.

* Brady throws for a touchdown but if it was a real game, Anthony Nelson, coming from the left side of Brady, would have splashed him.

* Back to the middle of the field and RoJo runs between Alex Cappa and Jensen for a nice run up the gut.

* Another play where Brady may have been sacked as the coverage in defense is excellent. But the coaches don’t blow the whistle and eventually Miller, crossing from the right side along the back of the end zone, catches the ball just below the left upright.

* Brady finds a wide open O.J. Howard straight ahead in the end zone.

* With second-team offense, Ke’shawn Vaughn muscles his way up the middle for a touchdown.

* RoJo does his best impersonation of LeGarrette Blount, escaping a pile and running for a score.

* Goal line offense: The Bucs find out just how good their rush defense is. RoJo tries to run up the middle between Ali Marpet and Donovan Smith and hits a brick wall. Nothing doing. On the next play it looked like a repeat only this time RoJo, after being stopped again, tried to bounce it left to the outside and he is swarmed by red jerseys and loses a couple of yards. The defense celebrates!

* Backup tight end Antony Auclair catches a pass from Gabbert under the left upright.

* Cool play. Brady aims for Cameron Brate near the corner of the front left pylon and just as Brady is winding up, Gronk breaks open in the left seam — but Brady didn’t see him. Brate catches the low throw and slides into the end zone. Bet the Bucs use that play again sometime down the road.

* Joe has noticed Brady likes to throw low when throwing short passes. That’s an old Bill Parcells trick. Parcells used to preach to his quarterbacks how throwing low over the middle or in the flat provides much less of a chance of a pass being picked or returned. If a receiver has to dig the ball up just before hitting the turf, so be it. And we all know who Parcells’ connection to Brady is.

* Howard with another touchdown pass from Brady in the back of the end zone.

* Brady channels Ryan Fitzpatrick. Touchdown.

* Auclair catches a short pass on the left side and carries a defender into the end zone.

21 Responses to “Tuesday Practice Notes”

  1. PSL Bob Says:

    Love the first-hand accounts Joe. Keep them coming to the extent you’re able.

  2. Joe Says:

    Thanks PSL.

  3. Buccaneer Bonzai Says:

    Working with Tom Brady may be the best thing that ever happened to Ryan Griffin.

  4. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    Vita Vea pounds the sled…..If you listen carefully, you’ll hear the sled scream in agony!!!

  5. Godlovesbucs Says:

    Sounds like the offense is pretty consistently taking it to the defense.

  6. Joe in Michigan Says:

    Tom Brady: Arguably the best QB ever.
    Ryan Griffin: Second best Ryan Griffin in NFL, Ryan Griffin the TE for the Jets is first.

  7. geno711 Says:

    I have said this before on this site but I was at Josh Freeman’s last start for the Buc’s against New England.

    We watched the pre-game warm-ups of both the Buc’s and the Patriots and we saw the same thing that Joe is seeing with Brady.

    Brady was hitting the receivers in just perfect placement in the 7 on 7 drills before the game. Josh Freeman was lobbing balls to Jackson in a casual way in the pre-game warm-ups.

  8. JimmyJack Says:

    God your right it has been consistent. But at least today reading Joes notes we heard about some passrush.

    Was also nice to hear Nelson’s name get called making a play with the 1st team. Dont hear much coming for our secondary or running game. Those are our 2 biggest question Marks.

  9. JimmyJack Says:

    Sounds like OJ had a really good day again. And Scotty Miller sounds like a favorite target for Brady.

  10. D-Rome Says:

    Thanks Joe.

  11. Christopher Schiefen Says:

    Wait, you admit you’re concerned what readers want…so you think people wanna read “foot rubbing” before every Gronk reference?

  12. Joe Says:

    Wait, you admit you’re concerned what readers want…so you think people wanna read “foot rubbing” before every Gronk reference?

    If you not used to it by now, try harder. 🙂

  13. Craig Says:

    Can’t wait to see it for myself. The low pass to the flat seems to have short=circuited our DBs, hope it works for others.

    I hope Griffin finally gets some notice, maybe the Brady-hybrid-Leftwich offense is his ticket.

  14. SC Bucs Fan Says:

    The best thing that has ever happened to Ryan Griffin was being on the Bucs. For years he’s been paid for taking a couple snaps in preseason. That’s a pretty good life.

  15. BT Says:

    I want to hear about the Pride of Quebec. Three TE sets with all blockers, who can also catch to keep the defense honest, I think I like it. I can see the steamroller now. It will keep Brate fresh.

  16. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    Good updates Joe……you’re just as good as Zack!!!

  17. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    Better than “stanky foot-rubbing”

  18. Buc4evr Says:

    Great update Joe. Hopefully you can tell us about the kicking battle and what’s going on with the kick returners at the next practice?

  19. Miller5252 Says:

    Where is the ole man beast sideline reporter this year? Did he get picked up by someone or is he still trying to make it?

    I really like the reports from practice, good job joe. Too bad no one got the audio on Arians loosing his $hit, would have been nice to hear and learn new ways to use the F bomb. Haha

  20. Alvin Scissors Harper Says:

    Vita Vea – 2
    Sled – 0
    Appreciate the training camp blow by blow Joe!

  21. DalvinCookRules Says:

    I will take a Checkdown Charlie ball-control Offense as long as we have solid defense and explosive special teams.