Minicamp Practice Notes, Day 2

June 9th, 2021

Another strong practice.

So Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians lauded his team’s practice today. Said he was impressed by how smooth the offense is humming for a minicamp practice. Joe can tell you while the defense didn’t have many splash plays, the defense had a strong outing. As always, keep in mind this is underwear football. No pads. No hitting of any sort. Dudes practicing in shorts and practice jerseys. It is flag football without the flags. Would-be tacklers on the (very few) run plays called actually jump out of the way. The notes below are observations, not indictments. Lastly, please remember it is June 9. Kickoff of the Dallas game is three months from tonight.

* Practice, as is the custom, begins with special teams. Lotta high energy and hollering and encouragement from special teams coach Keith Armstrong.

* Sort of real practice finally begins with 7-on-7 work. Right away Chris Godwin and Tom Brady show their sharp chemistry from yesterday was not a fluke.

* In successive plays, Brady hits Godwin, foot-rubbing, car-littering Rob Gronkowski, Justin Watson and Mike Evans right in the chest.

* Tanner Hudson with a nice over-the-shoulder catch down the middle on a Blaine Gabbert offering.

* Different quarterback, same result: Ryan Griffin throws down the middle into a tight crowd and somehow Godwin fights off defenders for the catch.

* A rare run. Ronald Jones takes a handoff and fires up the middle. Defenders jump out of his way like he has the Ebola virus because underwear football (remember, no hitting of any kind in underwear football).

* Two plays later and it’s time for Playoff Lenny, who also runs up the middle and defenders shy away. Joe still thinks Playoff Lenny looks leaner wearing No. 7.

* Backup guard Aaron Stinnie gets a few snaps at center with the first team.

* Tanner Hudson runs Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians’ favorite route: Hudson is “wide@ss open” down the right side and Gabbert hits him.

* This play took place on the far side of the field from Joe and there were Bucs players lined up as a wall to screen media types (a favorite stunt of Dirk Koetter) but it appeared the Bucs ran a fake jet sweep to Tyler Johnson, who continued to run from right to left and Gabbert hit him in the left flat.

* Mike Evans runs a down-and-out down the left side and loses a pair of defenders. This did not sit well with Devin White, who could be heard hollering, “DAMN!”

* Brady later tries to hit Evans near the goal line along the left sideline and Antoine Winfield lays out to break up the pass.

* RoJo catches a short pass to the right.

* Red zone work: Safety Curtis Riley breaks up a pass intended for Evans in the back of the end zone under the goal posts. Next play, same thing only Gronk was the intended target and Kevin Minter broke up the pass. This same play was repeated on the next two snaps with Evans the intended target on both attempts. Mike Edwards and Ross Cockrell, respectively, got the breakups.

* Brady throws short to Gronk and Mike Edwards, who was all over him, went for the pick. Somehow Gronk bent down and pulled the ball away from Edwards. You could easily hear Edwards exclaim, “Ugh!”

* Not sure if Brady threw this away or it may have gotten away from him or Brady tried to put the ball where only Gronk had a shot? Brady targets Gronk in the back of the end zone and Winfield had good coverage but the ball was too high for Gronk.

* Cam Brate, who has had a nice minicamp, catches a ball in traffic in the end zone over the middle.

* Hudson gets in work with the first team and catches a touchdown pass from Brady.

* Brate catches a crossing pattern from the right for a short pass.

* Playoff Lenny heads to the end zone on a pass but the pass never came. No one was open.

*  The pass defense has been excellent. Brady would have had three or more coverage sacks he took so long to find an open man. When you factor in who the back-7 are covering, this is an extremely good sign.

*  Brady finds Playoff Lenny at the goal line along the left sideline for a score.

* It’s late in practice so that means it is time to practice placekicking. But Brady is not satisfied with just standing around so he begins throwing to a Bucs staffer on the other side of the field. Then, Brady starts throwing to the immortal Cyril Grayson, who is running routes. At one point you can hear Brady yell to Grayson, “Yep. That’s good!”

* In a hurry-up drill, Godwin and Evans quickly get two passes right away. The third Brady threw away in a large gap down the middle. On the next play, Brady had to recover a bad snap from Ryan Jensen, stumbled a little but threw incomplete. This led Brady to scream a foul four-letter word you likely cannot repeat in front of your mother without having your mouth washed out with soap.

15 Responses to “Minicamp Practice Notes, Day 2”

  1. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    Great notes, Joe…..felt like I was there….

    Does anyone miss Freddie Martino?……Vero Beach Ramada Inn?

  2. Mitch Says:

    Great notes! Hope Jensen figures out that shotgun snap soon.

  3. Joe Says:

    Does anyone miss Freddie Martino?……Vero Beach Ramada Inn?

    🙂

  4. Youngbucs Says:

    When given the opportunity martino made his plays. Better check y’all sheets.

  5. DavidBigBucsFan99 Says:

    Ryan Jensen in shotgun is a slight problem that’s gonna burn us a couple of times this year. Hopefully they won’t put games on the line or outright lose them!

  6. Rod Munch Says:

    I love these play by play write-ups, they’re excellent!

    Also of course Hudson catches a TD from Brady now… but Brady overthrows him in the SB. Cost me money since I had Hudson catching a TD in the game.

  7. Mike Says:

    Sounds like the Pass D is picking up where they left off last season. It’s great to have a good offense going against a good defense in practice, as it will make it easier for both in games against other opponents.

  8. Cobraboy Says:

    Seems Joe knows the late Mom CB’s penchant for correcting language with lye.

  9. firethecannons Says:

    Thanks Joe–those of us out of town/state really appreciate.
    Love to hear about the corners play

    anyway to get a drone for aerial coverage?

  10. BA4President Says:

    Joe, do you think they should have those soft helmets like the Vikings are using?

  11. 813bucboi Says:

    tell your intern to cover to the 2nd field….lol…we need starter practice notes and backup practice notes….

    GO BUCS!!!!

  12. Hawk Says:

    Joe, did you get a picture of Rojo catching that pass? Not that I don’t take your word for it, but….

  13. JimmyJack Says:

    Generally reading these notes I come away feeling good about either offense or defense which leaves concerns for the other side of the ball.

    This time sounds like both offense and defense had good days. Brady hitting all his recievers on target is goid to hear and our defense breaking up play in the endzone also sounds like a great sign.

  14. SOEbuc Says:

    Brady and Brate are gonna be hot year two 🔥

  15. Joe Says:

    Joe, do you think they should have those soft helmets like the Vikings are using?

    Guess it can’t hurt. 🤷‍♂️ If the league is good with teams using those, then it’s time to allow teams to have second helmets (coughcreamsiclescough).