For the first time in a Bucs uniform, legendary quarterback Tom Brady made his debut on the turf at Raymond James Stadium. With no fans in attendance and limited media in the stands, the Buccaneers had their first semi-dress rehearsal for a season that won’t include any preseason games.

Overall the first team offense and defense came away with plenty of work to do, but mostly pleased with their performance.

Bruce Arians and Tom Brady – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The first team started against the second team on both sides of the ball for most of the morning scrimmage. The first team defense was on the field first and gave up one first down on the initial drive, but shut down Blaine Gabbert and the offense on their second third down opportunity.

After a Bradley Pinion punt was downed inside the five-yard line, Tom Brady and the offensive starters began a drive from around their two-yard line. 16 plays and 98 yards later, running back Ronald Jones punched the ball in for the first score of the day and a great start to the Brady era.

Elliot Gay, who has been in a heated battle with incumbent kicker Matt Gay, hit the left upright on the extra point attempt. Elliot also missed a field goal later during the morning scrimmage, and it appears Gay, who was perfect on the morning, has pulled ahead in the battle to start opening day.

The Bucs showed a nice mix of run and pass with Jones carrying the majority of the nine runs on the first drive. Brady threw seven passes on the drive, starting with a 20-yard dart to Chris Godwin and later found tight end O.J. Howard to move inside the red zone. For the most part Brady took what was available with lots of underneath routes to his deep arsenal of receivers. Brady doesn’t force the ball and even his incompletions were never in danger of being picked off.

When the first team defense got back on the field they forced the offense to go three-and-out, culminating with a Shaq Barrett sack on third down.

WR Mike Evans and RB Ronald Jones II – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The first team offense had really their only hiccup on the day, going three-and-out on their second drive, one that started with a false start on first down which put the offense in a hole to begin the drive. Right before the simulated half, Brady and the Bucs drove down the field, looking to score again on a long drive. But after a 45-yard Brady-to-Miller deep ball, a 17-yarder to Howard and a six-yard pass to Evans, the Bucs offense bogged down in the red zone and Brady had three straight incompletions. Matt Gay came on to covert a 24-yard field goal in the south end zone, the one that had caused him so much trouble as a rookie last year.

Brady spread the ball around during the morning scrimmage, much like we have seen during the training camp practices. Howard, Mike Evans, Justin Watson, Cam Brate, Dare Ogunbowale and LeSean McCoy all were on the receiving end of Brady passes during the scrimmage.

Defensively, the first team unit pretty much had their way with the Bucs second team offense. Their only major blunder was a Gabbert to Jaydon Mickens pass that Mickens caught over the middle in a soft spot in the zone and slipped down. Mickens was able to regain his feet, get up and rumble another 40 yards to turn a relatively short pass into a 55-yard gain.

Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul both had first half sacks, and Devin White was excellent in run defense. Backup linebacker Quinton Bell was one of the better second team players, including blowing up rookie tackle Tristan Wirfs on a run play and throwing the running back down for a loss.

The team didn’t report any serious injuries, although Jones, cornerback Carlton Davis and safety Javon Hagan all left the scrimmage early. After the scrimmage head coach Bruce Arians said he didn’t think any of the injuries were significant.

Head coach Bruce Arians talked after the scrimmage.

“Overall I was pretty pleased, but I think that drive and a couple of other drives showed that we’re not quite in game shape coming out of it.”

The Bucs aren’t “New Orleans” ready, but with a lack of preseason and joint practices with other teams it appears they are still very much on track. The team will take a day off on Saturday and be back on the field Sunday as they start preparing for their first game on September 13 against the Saints.

Following the scrimmage, Brady spoke to the media and talked about getting a chance to practice inside Raymond James.

“I love the idea of practicing in the stadium,” Brady said. “You get the proportions, you envision plays that you make in practice just happening in the game. For example, you throw a touchdown in the corner of the end zone oh, you’re on the first – second drive of the game towards that end zone and coach calls the play, I mean, I don’t remember a lot of practice touchdowns in end zones in the stadium. I think we got to the point where the stadium wasn’t that big of a deal, it was kind of like another great place for us to go perform. Then you add the crowd in and that’s what makes kind of the real excitement and energy and so forth, but I really think there’s value to going in there and feeling it out and seeing where the sun hits in a one o’clock games, which side do we want to be on if we’re kicking off or receiving the ball, which routes can you throw into the sun?

“All those things are really important anytime you are getting accustomed to a stadium, and when it becomes your own stadium you have more knowledge about your stadium than any other team, which hopefully you can use to your advantage.”