Published Aug. 14|Updated Aug. 14
JACKSONVILLE — At least there were no fisticuffs, no pushing or shoving after the play.
Those things are commonplace when teams such as the Bucs and Jaguars engage in a joint practice like they did Wednesday morning.
But in other ways, the Bucs admit they could have shown a lot more fight.
Sure, it’s Day 14 of training camp. But there are a couple things to remember here.
Most of the Bucs starters did not play at all in the 17-14 preseason win at Cincinnati.
The joint practices Wednesday and Thursday in Jacksonville — and the one next week in Tampa against the Dolphins — serve as the best tuneup for guys like Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and defensive starters such as Zyon McCollum, Jamel Dean and Antoine Winfield Jr.
Keep in mind, these are controlled scrimmages in the sense that there is no tackling to the ground and no quarterbacks being hit.
Bucs coach Todd Bowles may have only watched the offense live Wednesday and been disappointed.
When he gets around to seeing his defense against Jaguars quarterbacks Trevor Lawrence and Mac Jones, he may feel a little defeated.
Cornerback Zyon McCollum was beaten by LSU rookie Brian Thomas Jr., the Jaguars’ first-round pick. Lawrence overthrew the first one but then hit Thomas perfectly behind safety Kaevon Merriweather the next time for a touchdown.
Receiver Elijah Cooks also got behind the Bucs defense, running past cornerback Josh Hayes for an easy touchdown throw from the Jags’ No. 3 quarterback, C.J. Beathard.
“I feel like we started a little flat,” Winfield said. “As practice went on, we got better. So I’m looking forward to (Thursday). Now we know what we’ve got to do.”
What they can’t do is play the way they did against the Jaguars offense in 7-on-7. Hayes and Bryce Hall were attacked, and with a few exceptions, successfully.
“I spent most of the time with the offense, so I’ll look at the defense as we go forward,” Bowles said. “We had some plays. I think there’s some things we’ve got to get better at. The guys that didn’t play get more reps and they’ve got to come out in better shape there mentally and physically ready to play. But I thought they fought hard.”
If there was a bright spot, it was the Bucs’ defensive front.
Calijah Kancey and Yaya Diaby, two of the Bucs’ best young defenders, did not practice.
But Vita Vea pushed the pocket into Lawrence’s lap several times. While he was doing that, the Bucs got some good rushes off the edge that would have resulted in sacks on Lawrence about a half-dozen times. The encouraging thing was that Alabama rookie outside linebacker Chris Braswell was among those consistently getting to Jacksonville’s quarterbacks.
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Explore all your optionsOffensively, the Bucs didn’t have that much success, but the biggest culprit was dropped passes.
Rookie Jalen McMillan, the rookie from Washington and the darling of training camp, had a couple dropped passes. So did second-year pro Trey Palmer, the guy he is competing with for the No. 3 receiver spot opposite Mike Evans and Godwin.
Overall, it wasn’t the best day throwing the football for Baker Mayfield, who did connect with Evans in the red zone and Godwin over the middle despite tight coverage.
“He had some plays he threw in there,” Bowles said. “He had some plays he’d like to have back. Obviously, that’s a good defensive front we’re going against right there and we’ve got to see the tape to be sure, but he ran the offense well.”
The lackluster performance on the first day of joint workouts is not unprecedented for the Bucs.
Hardy Nickerson got thrown out of practice here once for fighting after Tony Dungy got his team up at 5 a.m. and bussed them to Jacksonville for practice.
Last week, the NFL fined both the Lions and Giants $200,000 each for fights during their joint workout.
Seattle receiver DK Metcalf was caught swinging a helmet during a fight against his own team.
“This is a game for us because we’re not playing in all the preseason games,” Winfield said. “This is a game for us. Game speed, game mentality.”
If it had been a game, suffice to say the Bucs likely would have lost.
It’s true, you don’t have to be combative against the opponent in a joint practice. But the Bucs need to be a lot more competitive.
“It was football,” Bowles said. “There was physicality up front. Everybody took care of each other. You don’t have to fight to play good football.”
You just have to show some.
Injuries: Bucs tight end Payne Durham left practice with an apparent injury. Bowles had no update on the nature or severity.
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