Buccaneers Offense Dominates In 29-7 Win Over Tennessee

I don’t care if this isn’t a real game, it feels nice to write this.

The offense was really the star of this game for the Buccaneers.  It was dominating the Titans’ back-ups, which is fine given the Buccaneers were playing their back-ups anyway. This was a very solid showing for the Buccaneers in all phases (including special teams), but it wasn’t perfect.

The pass rush was pretty disappointing as a whole. It does get affected when you don’t have Vita Vea or Calijah Kancey, but it was still not great to see. And the biggest disappointment was easily Chris Braswell. All throughout training camp we heard how Braswell was ready to burst onto the scene. But against the back-ups, he was practically invisible. And he played for a lot longer than a lot of other guys. This is not good if either of the top guys miss time. Maybe this changes if and when he plays with starters, but it didn’t look good for him here.

Solid Performance 

Outside that, it was a good game for everyone. The guy I think raised his stock the most is Ryan Miller, who looked like Mike Evans against the Titans’ defense. He was making some ridiculous catches all night with Kyle Trask basically laying it out for him. Trask also had a very solid game outside a few mistakes like not getting the ball out fast enough. The reason I think Miller raised his stock the most is that he could (and arguably should) challenge for WR6. He does a lot right, including blocking, and was a valuable asset when Evans and Godwin missed time last season.

If Ryan Miller looked like Evans, then Sean Tucker was running like Barry Sanders. His running was really good all night, which was definitely helped by a very solid offensive line. Tucker was making a lot of good cuts and reading the holes well to get big gains. Also broke plenty of tackles with some very physical runs. Rachaad White was also having a pretty good game himself before he got pulled for a groin injury. I thought it was a little weird he would play at all, but hopefully he is good.

O-Line Shines

But as I alluded to before, the biggest surprise was just how good the back-up line was. It didn’t feel like anyone was out of place. They kept Trask and Connor Bazelak clean. There was one bad snap by Elijah Klein, but he was good overall playing center. It does raise an interesting question of whether or not you slide Graham Barton to LT and have Klein play center. If Klein gets more consistent, that makes it a little bit more easy to see, but I’m not sure I like sliding two players to different positions on the line.

Looking at the rookies, Emeka Egbuka had a pretty good catch from Trask and Jacob Parrish flashed his talent all throughout the game. One guy who really impressed was UDFA Nick Jackson at LB. I didn’t even know to watch him, but he had a sack and interception, so clearly I didn’t do my homework. Parrish had some struggles in man coverage and Egbuka didn’t come down with a catch that he maybe should’ve (it was definitely tough to make, but still could’ve had it).

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This preseason game was all about seeing what the back-ups could do. And they seemed to pass with flying colors. After a rough training camp, Trask seemed to solidify being the QB2. Josh Grizzard also did great calling plays from the sideline, even if it was a basic offense. Oh, and I would be woe to forget Riley Dixon’s great performance. He had two pretty good punts, one 53 yards and the other pinned the Titans inside the ten.