Donning full pads, the Buccaneers offensive linemen and defensive linemen squared off for a series of 1-on-1 pass rush-pass protection matchups on Wednesday and Pewter Report was there to chronicle all of the action.

With starting left tackle Donald Penn still hampered by a left calf injury, Demar Dotson faced off against right defensive end Adrian Clayborn. The 2011 first-round pick has gotten the best of the inexperienced Dotson since the start of camp and Wednesday’s battle was no different as he easily beat him with a strong and fast outside rush. On the second rep, Clayborn used a quick inside move, which caught Dotson off guard and made him lunge to the right off balance. Dotson was forced to flail, and grabbed Clayborn’s facemask, ripping off his helmet inadvertently in the process while getting beaten badly to the inside. Dotson got some revenge on the next rep as Clayborn attempted an outside rush but was sealed off with some excellent footwork and mirroring by the young left tackle. He finished the drill strong with one final containment of Clayborn, whose outside rush was effectively contained with a mix of a strong push, good leverage and nice footwork.

Left guard Carl Nicks engulfed Wallace Gilberry, who attempted an outside rush against the mammoth Pro Bowl, and shut down the quick and versatile defensive lineman. Gilberry got some payback on the next snap as his quickness off the snap caught Nicks off guard with a bull rush, pushing the 350-pound guard deep into the backfield. Nicks outweighs Gilberry by 80 pounds, so the fact that the undersized defensive lineman was able to drive him backwards was a sight to see. Gilberry finished off Nicks on the final rep with a quick first step that forced the left guard to grab and hold the defender’s jersey. Nicks’ final rep came against a similarly sized opponent in 350-pound Frank Okam. Nicks was able to lock Okam up from the snap with his strong hands and anchor. Okam didn’t help his cause by not continuing to chop his feet.

Center Jeremy Zuttah showed fantastic, quick hands against Roy Miller and used great technique to stop a bull rush from the nose tackle. The second rep between the two was a repeat of the first as Miller wasn’t quick enough off the snap to penetrate and Zuttah’s form, technique and strong hands and nimble feet stopped Miller cold. Zuttah squared off against Gerald McCoy on his final rep and was flagged for holding as the defensive tackle used a violent outside rush to quickly penetrate and catch the center a bit flat-footed.

Right guard Davin Joseph and McCoy dueled to a stalemate as McCoy’s quick get-off forced Joseph to give ground early before recovering and preventing McCoy from finishing and getting a sack. McCoy got the better of Joseph on the next snap, firing off the line of scrimmage with a strong bull rush that drove Joseph back. McCoy had an outstanding day overall on Wednesday and gave Joseph everything he could handle. On Joseph’s final rep he squared off against defensive lineman E.J. Wilson and easily shut him down with a combination of excellent side-to-side footwork and an excellent punch with his hands. Joseph did a fantastic job of mirroring against his opponent and Wilson appeared to be overmatched. Joseph and McCoy got in one final rep with Joseph using superior technique to effectively mirror McCoy, who wasn’t as explosive off the snap and appeared to be a bit fatigued on his final rush and couldn’t finish with a sack.

Michael Bennett’s quick burst off the line allowed him to get inside Jeremy Trueblood and jolt him backwards as the right tackle was off balance and upright, losing the battle to the starting left defensive end. Bennett beat Trueblood again on the next rep with a strong outside move before darting inside, using his speed to work around the right tackle, who was unable to anchor on the play. Bennett and Trueblood’s next rep was a draw as Trueblood gave up some big ground early, but was able to recover and not allowed to finish off with a sack. Trueblood won the final rep as Bennett, who appeared to be a bit gassed, saw his outside rush neutralized after just two steps as the right tackle used great leverage to anchor well against him.

Jamon Meredith got second-string snaps at left tackle and easily beat the huge 6-foot-6, 285-pound Jayme Mitchell with great mirroring, staying in front of the defensive end with great technique. Mitchell was able to beat Meredith on the next play with a quick first step, which led to a powerful outside rush that Meredith wasn’t able to handle from the start. Meredith extracted some revenge on the final rep by cutting off Mitchell’s burst inside and anchoring well against his bull rush with proper knee bend and a solid punch.

Gary Gibson returned to practice from an injury and fared well against backup center Ted Larsen. The veteran nose tackle was held from the start as he attempted to bull rush the smallish center. After Gibson was flagged for being offsides, Larsen rebounded on the next snap against him by squaring his shoulders better and anchoring once he got his punch off and hit Gibson in the chest. Larsen’s final rep came against Wilson, who used a quick and effective swim move to dart past the center to the right, redirect and get the sack.

Backup right guard Derek Hardman continues to have a good camp and used great technique to shut down Wilson at the line of scrimmage. Hardman has impressed with his quick get-off and hand placement, and used those tools to shut down Wilson with relative ease. Hardman beat Okam with great technique and solid footwork on his next rep and didn’t give much ground to the 350-pounder.

Due to time constraints and an emphasis on preparing the team’s starters and backups, several reserve offensive linemen and defensive linemen did not participate, including guard Mike Ingersoll, offensive tackle Bradley Sowell, guard Desmond Wynn, guard Michael VanDerMuelen, offensive tackle Jamarcus Hardrick, defensive end George Johnson, defensive tackle Amobi Okoye, defensive end Daniel Te’o-Nesheim and nose tackle Jordan Nix.

Have Gilberry and Mitchell moved up the depth chart ahead of some other defensive linemen like Johnson and Okoye or did the coaches want to get a closer look at the relative newcomers? Pewter Report will keep monitoring the situation to find out the answers.