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About the Author: Mark Cook

Avatar Of Mark Cook
Mark Cook currently is the director of editorial content and Bucs beat writer and has written for PewterReport.com since 2011. Cook has followed the Buccaneers since 1977 when he first began watching football with his Dad and is fond of the 1979 Bucs team that came within 10 points of going to a Super Bowl. His favorite Bucs game is still the 1979 divisional playoff win 24-17 over the Eagles. In his spare time Cook enjoys playing guitar, fishing, the beach and family time.Cook is a native of Pinecrest in Eastern Hillsborough County and has written for numerous publications including the Tampa Tribune, In the Field and Ya'll Magazine. Cook can be reached at [email protected]

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For the second year in a row, the Buccaneers traveled to Jacksonville to hold joint practices on the eve of their Thursday night matchup at EverBank Field.

And, for the second straight year, the heat in Jacksonville made Tampa feel like a fall day in the Smoky Mountains. It was hot, and the play of the Buccaneers seemed like they were feeling the temperatures. The Jags defense had something to do with it as well, as they came out with more of a game day mindset. The Jaguars are the low team on the totem poll in the state and came out with a bit of a chip on their shoulder.

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Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter – Photo by: Mark Cook/PR

Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter wasn’t too pleased with the mistakes, although he likes the joint practice format.

“We love practicing against another team. The setup is great, very organized by coach Marrone and his staff, the facility, the weather cooperated and so it is great to work against other guys. You find out how you adjust against other people.

“I am only on one field, so I don’t get to see the rest of it until we get back to the hotel but offensively today wasn’t what we were looking for. But it is only one day of practice and you learn from it and get better next time.”

The two teams began their day on separate fields going through warmups and individual drills for the first 20 minutes or so of practice. They got together for some special teams drills, then the Bucs offense went to work against the Jaguars defense in front of the small bleachers set up for the fans.

One thing I will say is, Bucs fans are fortunate with the way the organization sets up training camp practices down at One Buc Place. In Jacksonville, there is little relief from the sun as most of the open seating doesn’t have cover – the aluminum bleachers were like sitting on stove burners by the time the 10 a.m. practice got underway. The good news is, the Jaguars sold Gatorade (for $6 each) and there was no one walking around with coolers full of freezer pops tossing the up in the stands.

Jaguars new head coach, Doug Marrone, a former NFL offensive lineman, has vowed to toughen up the Jaguars and it showed in Monday’s practice. In fact, at the end of practice he has his entire team run gassers like you see more often in high school practice than in the NFL. And just like you might see on your local high school field, if a player jumped offsides in the conditioning drill the coach made them back up five yards.

Back to football, it was nice to see a more physical practice, that finally included one-on-one match ups between offensive line and defensive line players. Early on, the Jaguars defense seemed to get the better of the Bucs, but as the drill went on Tampa Bay pulled even. Demar Dotson planted a Jaguars defensive lineman, and Caleb Benenoch pancaked his man, driving his man to the turf then lying on top of him. Center, Ali Marpet, was back in action, and Koetter mentioned had Friday night been a regular season game, he would have been fine to play. Marpet was impressive in his reps, as was backup center Joe Hawley. Guard Kevin Pamphile was badly beaten in one rep with a quick inside move by Malik Jackson.

Again, the Bucs offense worked on the field closest to the stands, while the defense was on the far field that had very limited viewing. From a distance it appeared Noah Spence had a good day, and cornerback Jonathan Moxey had a pick of Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles.

When the Bucs and Jaguars went to 11-on-11 the Jacksonville defense rose to the occasion and stifled the Bucs offense for most of the rest of practice. However, part of the issues with the Tampa Bay offense were self-inflicted wounds as there were a number of drops. Doug Martin, Peyton Barber, Mike Evans, Allen Cross and even the usually reliable Adam Humphries had a drop on the afternoon.

It wasn’t all bad, as there were some nice offensive plays mixed in, including rookie tight end Antony Auclair snagging a Ryan Fitzpatrick pass for a score – yes I did misspell Antony in the above tweet.

In somewhat good news, kicker Nick Folk had a solid day, going 5-of-6 on field goal attempts, including one from over 50 yards.

PewterReport.com will be in Jacksonville all week, including the game on Thursday night. Make sure to come back often and also follow us on Twitter @PewterReport.

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