With the first game of the preseason just days away, Head Coach Dirk Koetter and the coaching staff decided to run a mock game with the team and simulate game situations on Thursday. Koetter emphasized that it was utterly important to him for the team to practice specific game situations at full speed.
“We said, ‘How can we give these guys a little break on their legs and then still get something out of it, since we have a preseason game coming up next week?’… It’s going to be a lot of situational work with all the players on the sideline going through a lot of special teams [and] a lot of special plays that are designed for certain situations.” – via Scott Smith, Buccaneers.com
One of the scenarios that was practiced with high intensity and importance was scoring in and around the red zone on the final play in the game. Additionally, the following plays were practiced: onside kicks, long field goals, desperation plays from midfield and run-pass options.
“It was good. A lot of situational work that usually we just do in a walk-through, so [it was good] to do it with the people in here, a little bit of noise – maybe it was the air conditioner – situational work that’s hard to practice full-speed, and with officials. So it was some good situational work.” – via Scott Smith, Buccaneers.com
Not surprisingly to Koetter, the defense outplayed the offense on the “last-play-of-the-game” drills, as Jameis Winston was picked off by Keith Tandy on one of those plays.
“Those were all final plays. Those were all four-seconds, need a touchdown, last play of the game. So from an offensive standpoint, [those are] very difficult plays to score. If you noticed, the defense had a lot of guys in the end zone. So those are tough situations and the defense is going to win most of those.” – via Scott Smith, Buccaneers.com
Here are a few more things that stood out in this Buccaneers mock game:
- Ryan Fitzpatrick looked fantastic throwing the deep ball
- Chris Godwin continues to amaze his coaches, which might increase his playing time significantly this year
- Vernon Hargreaves covered Mike Evans well and defended a pass at the goal line that would have most likely ended up a Touchdown
- Rookie Cornerback M.J. Stewart looked impressive again, as he has all offseason so far
- out of his three attempts, Kicker Chandler Catanzaro hit two field goals, both 54-yarders. The one he missed was a long one from close to 60 yards.
Source: Buccaneers.com
