Bucs’ TE happy to be back.

We all know how loaded the Bucs offense is.

And the Bucs defense, at least in the Super Bowl, played a historic game. This summer, the defense seems to have its dander up in practices wanting to show coaches it can shut down their own offense.

Pride is on the line.

And could it the Bucs don’t want their pride bruised by not repeating as Super Bowl champions? Cam Brate seems to think something is going on.

Brate up until this week had been sidelined on floppy hat patrol with an undisclosed injury. He was asked yesterday if the injury was his back. He gave a general, roundabout answer but never suggested his injury wasn’t his back.

So Brate has been watching practices at Camp Cupcake from the front row. And something is going on with the Bucs that is putting a wide smile on Brate’s face.

“I wasn’t practicing, but just watching the guys, the general excitement that everyone has to be back,” Brate said. “It’s just been such a different position this year than we’ve been in the past and everyone is excited about that.

“Just how competitive it is and how much talent we have on both sides. It wasn’t fun watching, but seeing Tom [Brady], I was able to see things I normally wouldn’t see if I was practicing and man we’ve got some good players – it’s fun watching these guys practice.”

So Joe asked Brate if he thought training camp this year was more amped up than last year?

“Yeah, I would think so,” Brate said. “Last year was such a weird year, obviously … with COVID, but we had no fans at training camp and there was always that little thought in the back of our minds like, ‘Are we actually gonna do this, is it gonna work out?’

“So to have a sense of normalcy back during these practices is like a welcomed relief – it feels good, it feels right.”

Well, Joe can only think of the old football phrase, “iron sharpens iron.” That means when good players practice against good players, everyone gets better.

As Brate said, look at the talent up and down the line on both sides of the ball. It’s crazy good and almost has the feel of a fantasy team.

If the Bucs defense can stop the Bucs’ offense in practice, for example, it should be able to stop anyone.

Hey, just ask Pat Mahomes.