Bucs Go Overboard On Screen Pass Work With Jets
August 11th, 2026
Interesting phenomenon at Buccaneers-Jets practice today in north Jersey, as Joe watched alongside a former player who almost was in disbelief.
To set the scene, for roughly half of practice the Bucs defense faced the Jets offense on one field — 11-on-11 — while the Bucs offense simultaneously played the Jets defense on a different field. Jets management, to Joe’s delight, made media watch those sessions from a second-floor terrace of an adjacent building. What a view!
So while Joe watched the Bucs defense religiously, Joe could still catch some offense in between.
However, Joe watched practice alongside CBS analyst Leger Douzable, the former Jets defensive tackle who played for Todd Bowles. Douzable also does preseason game analyst work for the Jets.
Joe had the benefit of Douzable calling out every play of the Tampa Bay offense. It was as if he was practicing his game analyst work. By Douzable’s estimate, the Bucs threw 18 screen passes.
That number may be exaggerated, but not by much.
The Bucs ran screen after screen after screen. Joe witnessed a very successful one to Cade Otton, who rumbled for 15-plus yards. And Kenneth Gainwell made a hell of a catch on a quick screen throw to the left that was high, hard and behind him. Gainwell went airborne to grab it and didn’t hesitate when he came down; that went for 7-plus yards. Bucky Irving can still make the first defender miss, which was beautiful to see.
Joe asked center Graham Barton about all those screens after practice.
“Some of them were designed, some of them we checked to based on the Jets’ look,” Barton said. “I think it’s good to get screens off in this live setting. Our screen game in 2024 came up in some big moments. This is as important as any other part of our protection scheme and blocking scheme. We have to make sure we get good looks and good work on it. In a setting like this, live screen looks are so valuable.”
Yes, there was tackling to the ground today and hitting was welcomed and encouraged. That’s what Barton is talking about regarding “live.” Practice was intense.
Douzable said fans should understand most of those screens were scripted and Todd Bowles and Bucs playcaller Zac Robinson know Aaron Glenn’s Jets defense has a high-pressure approach, so getting screen work against them makes sense.
Douzable added the Bucs largely were successful in the screen game through the day.
“A little bit surprised by the total number of screens, but I get it,” Douzable said. “I guess Robinson’s trying to get all the looks versus pressure. Because if you don’t have answers for pressure, it’s going to a long day or a long season for you.’
August 11th, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Yo Joe
Quick question
Jets are one of the worst teams in all of football, why are we practicing against them of all teams? To build confidence ? wtf (yea i know we play them in pre season)
They’re still an NFL team with talent. Lots of hungry young players. NFL sets the preseason schedule. –Joe
Enough of this practice stuff. We ready for this first pre season game, see these dudes in action. Players all Bucs fans will be looking for
#3 Bain Jr
#51 Walker
#17 Hurst
& All the corner backs
August 11th, 2026 at 2:12 pm
Smart move by Z-Rob running the screens. It’s important to get the timing down and live action really helps.
August 11th, 2026 at 2:17 pm
@Jarrett
Your ignorance about the game of football and competition in general is really showing. It’s all about seeing different schemes on both offense and defense and having answers when and if they show up in the regular season.
August 11th, 2026 at 2:29 pm
If the Jets defense was showing blitz on every play, I could certainly see us running screens against it. They are a perfect blitz neutralizer. That’s probably at least part of what was going on…
August 11th, 2026 at 2:31 pm
Hungry for real football😋
August 11th, 2026 at 2:32 pm
Grizz ran a lot of screens last season. In 2025 the Bucs had a screen pass rate of 10.4% (ranked 5th), which significantly exceeded the overall NFL league average of approximately 7.5% to 8.0%. Coen had a screen rate of 17% in 2024 (ranked 4th), so Grizz did try to do what he did.
Gotta get the ball outta Bakers hands a fast as possible. The more he holds it the worse the offense gets.
August 11th, 2026 at 2:35 pm
Screen passes…check!
August 11th, 2026 at 2:36 pm
“Joe had the benefit of Douzable calling out every play of the Tampa Bay offense. It was as if he was practicing his game analyst work. By Douzable’s estimate, the Bucs threw 18 screen passes“
Was there at least any variation in the formation/personnel packages and how often did we hit on these screen. Under center? Shotgun? Pistol? What was it looking like Joe?
Also, could be 100% possible Robinson is throwing the vanilla out there, and could also be possible some were live calls and some were checks? Save the sweet stuff for Friday.
August 11th, 2026 at 2:38 pm
Can’t wait for Friday
August 11th, 2026 at 3:01 pm
joe everyone is psyched for friday nights game you call worthless- so many questions about depth will get a look at, a look at the rookies and udfa’s, the back up qbs etc etc etc plus if they lose we don’t care, lol it doesn’t matter if they lose it’s not going to ruin our weekend for once!!!!
August 11th, 2026 at 3:18 pm
One reason the Bucs are practicing against the Jets is, per Bowles last week, the Bucs wanted two controlled practices and so did the Jets.
Also remember the last time the Bucs went to New Jersey, Mr. Clean reneged on a two-controlled practice schedule and the Bucs-Jets only had one. So basically the Bucs spent countless Team Glazer loot for an extra night stay in New Jersey for no good reason.
August 11th, 2026 at 3:36 pm
The Zac Robinson offense is built on dink and dunk. That’s not an exaggeration. Anyone who watched the Falcons last year would’ve gotten a massive dose of it. They only threw downfield consistently when game script went out the window, and the concept of play action doesn’t exist in his playbook.
Hopefully once the season starts Robinson will realize Bijan no longer plays for him and he’ll have to earn his salary doing other things. Fingers crossed.
August 11th, 2026 at 4:20 pm
This isn’t a bad thing.
We know Baker has a cannon for an arm when he needs it.
But, for three years with us he’s done much better with the short and medium passes.
Unfortunately, he also has a tendency to hold the ball for too long and plays (predictably) break down. Or he scrambles and we all pray like heck he doesn’t get himself creamed.
Using a controlled practice to focus on our screen game makes sense. Ideally Baker gets more comfortable with it and we see fewer plays breakdown and less scrambling on his part.
August 11th, 2026 at 11:11 pm
Andy Reid and Sean Payton run a lot screens.
Those guys are pretty good.
I like it.