The Buccaneers’ joint practice with the Tennessee Titans on Thursday provided valuable opportunities for growth, and head coach Todd Bowles pinpointed one area for improvement: protection from the interior offensive line.
The Buccaneers’ interior line remains unchanged from last season, anchored by center Graham Barton, who is looking to build on his strong debut year. He’s flanked by left guard Ben Bredeson and right guard Cody Mauch, both of whom had solid seasons. With a similar system under offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard, this trio’s performance could take a leap forward in 2025, potentially boosting Tampa Bay’s already impressive run game.
To reach their full potential, the Buccaneers are focusing on improvement during training camp. After Thursday’s joint practice, Coach Todd Bowles highlighted interior protection as a key area for growth, noting it didn’t quite meet expectations against the Titans’ defense.
The Interior Line of the Buccaneers Needs to Improve
“Just blind sight, not even watching the film, I think we can protect up the middle a little better in the pass protection part of it,” Bowles stated. “I did not watch the defense. I thought our [wide] receivers did a good job trying to insert and block and get open and those type of things, but I thought it was a little too much penetration up the middle.”
Bowles noted that a thorough film review is necessary for an accurate assessment. Joint practices, like the recent one against the Tennessee Titans, come with inherent challenges both teams typically enter with limited knowledge of each other’s tendencies, formations and playcalls, making it difficult to gauge performance accurately. While this limits the evaluative value of joint practices, they do provide a valuable opportunity for players to hone their instincts and work on fundamental skills against unfamiliar opponents.
—
Center Graham Barton and guards Cody Mauch and Ben Bredeson are skilled blockers who are expected to excel in the regular season. Before the season starts, they’ll have additional time to refine their skills, including a joint practice with the Pittsburgh Steelers next week. Despite noting areas for improvement, Coach Todd Bowles commended the offense’s overall effort.
“I’ll look at the tape overall to see. We’ve executed some things and some things we need to work on. We saw another defense and they shifted us to some things that we got to adjust on and we’ll get better from that. But, you know, overall the effort was there.”
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will take on the Tennessee Titans in their preseason opener this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET at Raymond James Stadium. While starters might see limited action, the rest of the roster will get a chance to gain valuable game experience and apply the lessons learned from Thursday’s joint practice.
Follow, Like and Subscribe to Bucs Report
BucsReport.com
For more on this and everything Buccaneers check back here hourly at BucsReport.com
