After a couple of joint practices with the Jaguars in Jacksonville earlier in the week, the Bucs continued their preseason Saturday night at EverBank Field. The Tampa Bay offense was much sloppier than it was a week ago and the secondary continued to struggle after a rough week of practice, leading to a 20-7 Jacksonville victory.

The Bucs had the same cast of characters start Week 2 of the preseason as they did last Saturday for their preseason-opening win at Cincinnati, which meant Kyle Trask led the offense to open the game. Rookie running back Bucky Irving made some headway on Tampa Bay’s first possession, running three times for 16 yards before a misfire by Trask on 3rd & 5 led to a Jake Camarda punt.

Mac Jones started at quarterback for Jacksonville, guiding the offense to three first downs – with one coming on a third-down pass interference call on Bryce Hall that negated his own interception – before the drive stalled just inside Tampa Bay territory.

Trask and the Bucs offense picked up a couple of first downs on their next possession, with Trask finding Jalen McMillan and Trey Palmer to move the chains. They ultimately had to punt the ball away again, though, bringing Jones and the Jaguars offense back out from their own 20-yard line.

Bucs OLB Jose Ramirez – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Jose Ramirez registered the Bucs’ first sack of the preseason on the next Jacksonville drive, but Jones converted the ensuing 3rd & 15 just before the first quarter ended with the score tied at 0-0.

The Jaguars kept their drive going well into the second quarter, picking up first down after first down until Ramirez was credited with another sack to force a 3rd & 17. But on that 3rd & 17, Tampa Bay blew a coverage and Jones hit Parker Washington for a 25-yard touchdown to finish a 17-play, 80-yard drive that took an insane 10:12 off the clock. With that, the home team lead 7-0 with 7:30 left in the first half.

The Bucs responded extremely well, with Sean Tucker returning the ensuing kickoff 29 yards. Cody Thompson then ran for 13 yards before Tucker ran for 21 more. Trask then picked up a couple of first downs with passes to Tanner Knue and Devin Culp before finding Thompson for a 6-yard touchdown on 3rd & Goal. With Chase McLaughlin’s PAT, the game was tied at 7-7 with 2:47 to go in the half.

The two sides traded punts over the next two minutes before the Jaguars put themselves in position to take a lead into halftime. After a 48-yard punt by Camarda gave Jacksonville possession at its own 41, passes of 20 and 29 yards from Mac Jones to Austin Trammell set up an easy 26-yard field goal from Cam Little to give the Jaguars a 10-7 lead at the break.

Jacksonville opened the second half with another field goal drive, as Little connected from 44 yards out to cap off an 11-play, 53-yard drive that took 6:14 off the clock and extended the lead to 13-7.

Bucs OLB Jose Ramirez – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

John Wolford relieved Kyle Trask to start the second half. The offense went three-and-out, then the Buccaneer defense came up with a stop thanks to a Markees Watts sack.

Tampa Bay’s offense continued to stall from there, but the defense kept getting after Jaguars third-string quarterback C.J. Beathard. Lwal Uguak absolutely buried him on one play before Jose Ramirez came through with his third sack of the night to end the third quarter with the score still 13-7 in favor of Jacksonville.

Wolford and the offense still failed to build on the momentum created by the Tampa Bay defense, giving the ball right back over to Jacksonville’s offense. But after taking a couple of sacks on the previous drive, Beathard was out and Mac Jones was back in at quarterback for the home team. The Buccaneer defense tried to keep the momentum on the side of the visitors, with Andrew Hayes forcing a fumble that was recovered by Rashad Wisdom.

The ensuing possession didn’t produce much for the Bucs, though it did set Chase McLaughlin up for a 42-yard field goal attempt to bring the game within 13-10. Instead, McLaughlin’s kick went wide left, keeping the Jacksonville lead at 13-7.

Jones and the Jaguars offense essentially put the game out of reach for good on their next drive, with Jones finding Brevin Easton for a 31-yard touchdown to finish an eight-play, 68-yard drive that made it a 20-7 game.

Tampa Bay lost Wolford to an injury late and had to bring Trask back in for the final 1:40. The offense finally got something going in garbage time, with Cody Thompson and Tanner Knue coming up with some chunk catches to set up 1st & Goal. But the Bucs offense went backward from there and the game ended with a sack of Trask, finishing off a 13-point win for Jacksonville.

Bucs RB Bucky Irving – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Bucs didn’t have the ball for much of the game, with the Jaguars having a 38:15 to 21:45 time of possession advantage. That meant there was little opportunity for Tampa Bay to meaningfully build on its rushing success from last week. Even still, the running backs who are bound to make the final 53-man roster managed to impress in their limited opportunities. Rookie Bucky Irving ran six times for 26 yards (4.3 avg.), while Sean Tucker ran four times for 32 yards (8.0 avg.), with a long of 21 yards.

With Buccaneer quarterbacks finishing a combined 19-of-33 for just 160 yards, there wasn’t a lot to glean from the performance of the depth receivers. Cody Thompson may have been the lone bright spot, catching five of his six targets for 66 yards and a touchdown in addition to running twice for 12 yards.

But what did emerge as a positive in the loss was the defense’s pass rush, with Jose Ramirez tallying three sacks and Markees Watts and Lwal Uguak both adding one for a team total of five. For the game, though, Jacksonville outgained Tampa Bay 339 to 203 and ran 73 plays to the visitors’ 52. The Jaguars were 9-of-17 on third downs, while the Bucs offense went just 2-of-11.

The Bucs (1-1) will wrap up their preseason slate Friday, returning home to host the Dolphins (2-0) at Raymond James Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.