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The Bucs made the quick trip up to Jacksonville Monday for a couple of joint practices with the Jaguars – to be held Tuesday and Wednesday – ahead of Friday night’s preseason finale. Given how the first of those two practices went down at the Miller Electric Center Tuesday morning, though, you’d be forgiven if you thought Tampa Bay was, well, still back in the Tampa Bay area.

Liam Coen’s Jaguars thoroughly won the day over Todd Bowles’ Buccaneers, with the Jacksonville finding holes in Tampa Bay’s defense for much of the morning while the Tampa Bay offense’s shining moments against the Jacksonville defense were few and far between.

Jaguars head coach Liam Coen – Photo by: IMAGN Images via Reuters Connect

Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds, Matt Matera, Adam Slivon, Bailey Adams and Kat Beutel made the trip up to Jacksonville and were on hand for Tuesday’s practice between two-thirds of the state’s NFL representation. Here were the big observations and takeaways from the morning.

Bucs Defense Struggles Mightily With Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars’ Offense

Right from the jump, Jacksonville’s offense set the tone. Off play-action, Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence launched a perfect throw to Brian Thomas Jr., who beat Zyon McCollum deep down the field for a touchdown. Not long after, Parker Washington high-pointed a ball over Jacob Parrish for another touchdown.

The only wins early on for the Bucs defense came via two Calijah Kancey sacks, and generally speaking, reserve defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches was one of the only other standouts on that side of the ball with two run stuffs and a would-be sack of Lawrence, which helped Tampa Bay’s defense finally put a stop to Jacksonville’s dominance during the two-minute period at the end of practice.

Washington, in particular, carved through the Buccaneer defense throughout the morning. It was an all-around rough day for Todd Bowles’ side of the ball, save for some encouraging moments from the pass rush.

Ultimately, the most fight the Bucs showed on defense for most of Tuesday’s practice came in the form of literal fighting. Rookie defensive tackle DeMonte Capehart was at the center of one of them, while veteran inside linebacker Alex Anzalone was the focal point of another. Things got rather chippy between the Jaguars offense and the Bucs defense, so we’ll see if – and how – that carries into Wednesday’s practice.

Jaguars Defense Dominates A Disjointed Bucs Offense

For all the struggles that Tampa Bay’s defense had against the Jacksonville offense, there’s an argument to be made that Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneer offense had it worse against the Jaguars defense. As was the case on offense, there were some good moments, most of which came from rookie wide receiver Ted Hurst. But on the whole, Mayfield and the offense looked completely disjointed.

The run game was perhaps the biggest issue, as none of the running backs could find space. The Bucs offensive line was blown up time and again, leading to very little yardage for the likes of Bucky Irving, Kenny Gainwell, Sean Tucker and Josh Williams. Rather, the only positive plays for the backfield tended to come in the short passing game.

Elsewhere on offense, Mayfield had little time to throw. After dominating in one-on-ones, Josh Hines-Allen picked up where he left off in 11-on-11s and soundly beat Luke Goedeke on more than one occasion, one of which led to a loose ball as Mayfield loaded up to throw.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: IMAGN Images via Reuters Connect

Sloppy mistakes here and there cost the Bucs, too. A holding penalty cost them a Sean Tucker touchdown run on one of the few plays that a running back actually did find space. Meanwhile, Devin Culp had two drops on very catchable footballs.

Mayfield was also intercepted twice on the day, first on a high throw intended for Chris Godwin Jr. – who was well covered – and then on a throw with no clear intended receiver during the two-minute drill near the end of practice. Those weren’t the only turnovers by the offense on the day, either, as Payne Durham had the ball knocked loose for a fumble near the goal line early in practice.

After practice, Mayfield had a blunt assessment of his offense’s performance in Tuesday’s joint practice.

“If this was a full game, I don’t think we would’ve come out on the winning side of it. Just a little eye-opening. Gotta go back and watch the tape. It’s never as good or as bad as you think it is. But I think from my standpoint, they out-physicaled us, and that’s never what want to have. It doesn’t matter who we have out there. You want guys that are gonna do their very best to be the more physical team and want it more. I don’t know if we did that today.”

Other Observations And Takeaways From Day 16 Of Bucs Camp

Here are some other observations and takeaways from Day 16 of Bucs training camp and the first of two practices in Jacksonville:

• Despite falling short on both sides of the ball for the majority of the day, the Bucs did have their bright spots sprinkled in throughout. Let’s dive into those…
• For starters, both left tackle Tristan Wirfs and nose tackle Vita Vea were back to practice and even took some reps in 11-on-11s, though Tampa Bay clearly has them on a pitch count as of right now. That makes sense, as the goal is ultimately to have both guys ready for Week 1 against the Bengals.

Bucs LT Tristan Wirfs – Photo by: Adam Slivon/PR

• On defense, Benjamin Morrison was back to being a full participant in 11-on-11s as well, and he came up with a pass breakup during one of the later periods.
• Yaya Diaby had a pass deflection at the line of scrimmage, then scored a sack soon after thanks in part to a blitz up the middle by Alex Anzalone.
• Ayden Garnes came up with a crucial pass breakup near the sideline to help the Bucs defense end the day on a win as it stopped the Jaguars offense in the two-minute drill.
• Offensively, Ted Hurst really was the star of the day. After having a catch disrupted and broken up by Travis Hunter, he got his revenge with a couple of nice catches over the middle of the field, beating the former No. 2 overall pick on both reps. Hurst also had a phenomenal toe-tap touchdown in the corner of the end zone on a great pass from Baker Mayfield. The official ruled Hurst out of bounds, but no one would’ve even needed a Mike Pereira cameo to know it should be overturned and ruled a catch.
• Chris Godwin Jr. had three or four catches go for first downs on the day. He looks plenty ready for Week 1 already.
• The Bucs and Jaguars return to the field for another joint practice Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.

The Pewter Report Podcast Recaps Each Bucs Training Camp Practice

For more coverage on the Bucs-Jaguars joint practice, watch the Pewter Report Podcast – presented by Prize Picks – on the PewterReportTV YouTube channel. Tuesday’s show goes LIVE at 4:30 p.m., or you can catch it afterward on PewterReportTV or your preferred podcast platform.