With the COVID-19 pandemic eliminating organized team activities in the spring and the entirety of the 2020 NFL preseason, the Bucs have been forced to adjust accordingly with their training camp.

Given that teams would normally have a far lengthier preparation period heading into a season, and four live exhibition games against other teams, Tampa Bay will have to put a much larger emphasis on full-speed scrimmages and down-and-distance periods to try and accurately simulate some much-needed in-game action. To help remedy this reality, head coach Bruce Arians announced on Wednesday that the Bucs will hold two practice games inside Raymond James Stadium prior to their Week 1 matchup against the New Orleans Saints.

“We’ll have at least one to two per week,” Arians said about simulated down-and-distance periods in practice. “But we’re going to have a game in the stadium, two of them actually, so that we’re in the stadium and the lights are on and everything is playing and everything is ready so we can know that the stadium is ready, but to [also] get in that atmosphere and play a game. Live special teams, live offense and defense, we’ll try to do two of those.”

We’ve already seen scrimmages in this fashion being held locally, as the University of South Florida’s football team held a live scrimmage inside Raymond James Stadium this past Saturday.