On Wednesday, we learned of a possibility that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may be headed to Tennessee a few days early before the Buccaneers square off against the Titans in week 2 of the preseason. That game is scheduled for August 18th.
Mike Vrabel, the new head coach of the Tennessee Titans, said during a press conference in Tennessee that he really likes the idea of joint practices, adding that as a player it kind of get’s them into the next gear.
Coach Koetter hasn’t really mentioned it in detail about heading to Tennessee a few days early for joint practices, but for the past couple seasons, coach hasn’t been shy about the benefits he believes come with those joint sessions, adding that it’s basically like two practices in 1 with both sides of the ball getting to see where they are at going against a different team.
Last year, Tampa worked out with Jacksonville before their preseason matchup. You may remember that practice getting a little rough, but with the combination of personalities between the two squads, you almost expected it.
The previous year, Tampa worked out with the Browns before as well, so you can see that the Tampa front office finds these practices very beneficial. Before Coach Koetter, you would have to skip back to 2013 when Greg Schiano was the head coach. His friendly relationship with Bill Belichick allowed for the Patriots to come to Tampa a few days early for joint practices before their preseason matchup. Lovie however, was not a fan of the joint practice idea so that is why there was a two year hiatus from that.
Personally as long as the players can stay healthy, I am all for this. Unfortunately, I remember the butt kicking we were handed by Mariota and the Titans, week 1 in 2015, like it were yesterday. So, hopefully we can show how we’ve improved and keep striving to better ourselves every day.
