All Twenty-Tuesday: Telling Plays of Preseason

As roster cuts have come and gone and we wave one final goodbye to training camp and the preseason, I wanted to highlight a handful of Bucs plays that I believe hold potential outcome impact for the regular season. Remember, the results of the games in August may not matter, but what you see in them certainly does.

Here are my top impactful preseason plays, and some explanation into why they could mean a lot starting Week 1 against San Francisco.

The “Money” Throw

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Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich said of quarterback Jameis Winston that it’s not always about making the “money throw,” but rather making the “money decision.”

I agree with that, but let’s not act like Winston doesn’t have to still hit the money throws, because he does.

That play above was the first deep shot Winston took in the preseason. As you can see, it was a little off, which isn’t uncommon for Winston, as of late. Winston completed just 26 percent of his deep ball passes in 2018, which was worst in the NFL among starting quarterbacks.

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The play above, which comes form the Bucs third preseason game, was much better, but it needs to happen more often. I don’t really care about Breshad Perriman dropping that ball. I mean, I do, but you can always either hit a different target or get a different receiver in there who can catch. The more difficult part is putting that ball on the money, and Winston did that against the Browns.

Bucs fans like to just write off Winston’s deep ball issues over the past few years because of DeSean Jackson. Yes, Jackson was a problem, but outside of hitting Mike Evans, Winston hasn’t been Mr. Consistent, either.

Winston hitting the deep ball with more regularity is a key to this team going where they want to go in Arians’ vertical offense. For Winston to be worth a new contract at the end of 2019, he’ll have to hit those money throws with more consistency.

Someone Block For This Man

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Though Winston needs to step is game up, the men in front of him need to step theirs up, as well.

This preseason was not kind to the Buccaneers’ first-team offensive line. I’m not going to go through and highlight all of their misses again – I did that in a previous Cover 3 – but I am going to reiterate that they have to be better, specifically their franchise left tackle Donovan Smith.

Right tackle Demar Dotson is getting pretty old. Right guard Alex Cappa is a first-time starter. Center Ryan Jensen and left guard Ali Marpet have been pretty good. Left tackle Donovan Smith doesn’t have an excuse. Is he the worst offensive tackle in the league? Absolutely not. Does he need to be better than putting up reps like the one above on a weekly basis. Yes, he does.

Smith has his big, fat contract, he has experienced O-line coaches in Joe Gilbert and Harold Goodwin, and he has the guys around him to get it done. It’s time for him to take the next step.

If he doesn’t, you can expect them to be drafting a left tackle at some point in the next draft and pushing Smith to right tackle once Dotson is done.

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Blocking for Winston isn’t all on the offensive line, though. That’s where running back Ronald Jones comes into play.

I was encouraged with how Jones ran the ball during training camp and the preseason. He looked much more confident with the ball in his hand, and his production spoke for that. However, Jones is still a liability as a blocker.

The play above wasn’t the only time Jones got his quarterback and his offensive line in trouble, and unless he can fix his blocking blunders, he’s going to continue splitting carries at best.

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On a positive note, a big takeaway in terms of blocking from the running back position was the emergence of Dare Ogunbowale.

Ogunbowale has performed so well during the preseason that he’s earn third down responsibilities going into the regular season. Much of that can be attributed to how consistent he’s been as a blocker.

Every team needs a trustworthy third down back for passing situations. Ogunbowale proved he can be that. That might seem like a small thing or just an added bonus, but an X-factor like that can go a long way.

It’s Time For Takeaways

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Of current Buccaneers cornerbacks, do you know how many career interceptions they have?

Two.

The answer is two.

One by Vernon Hargreaves III in 2016, and one by Ryan Smith (who is suspended) in 2018.

This whole cornerback unit needs to be taught to go after the ball. Carlton Davis didn’t have many takeaways in his college career, and he didn’t have any in his rookie year with Tampa Bay. In fact, the last time Davis recorded an interception was September 23, 2017 while at Auburn.

Second-year man M.J. Stewart is another player who needs to have more of a ballhawk mentality. For both Davis and Stewart, I saw them make plays on the ball this preseason where they were in position to potentially get a takeaway but didn’t go for it; they immediately went for a pass break up.

It’s time to get some takeaways in the secondary, and that trend needs to start with Hargreaves. VH3 has been much better this offseason. He appears to be very comfortable in Todd Bowles’ defense, and looks ready for regular season action. The Bucs face some tough receivers in their schedule, but Hargreaves needs to be up to the challenge.

The play above told me that, whether or not he’ll pass the test, he’ll at least be up for it.

The Barrett Bonus

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You might forget that we are two years removed from the Bucs amassing only 22 sacks in the 2017 season, but I won’t forget.

This current Tampa Bay defensive line group looks a lot different than the one two years ago, but it’s still not set in every position. The Bucs are hoping that Vita Vea and Ndamukong Suh can bring strength and speed to their versatile 3-4 defensive line positions. Carl Nassib was a pleasant surprise as an edge player last year with six sacks, but without Jason Pierre-Paul for at least half the season, the Bucs are going to need someone else to step up.

That someone needs to be outside linebacker Shaq Barrett.

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Barrett came to Tampa after his time with the Broncos ended thanks to them having Von Miller and Bradley Chubb as their edge rushers. It’s not that Barrett was bad, he was just behind two stud players, and that became very evident during his preseason campaign with the Bucs.

I think Barrett is a huge X-factor for this team to have defensive success in the first half of this season. Barrett looked unblockable at times in the preseason, and he deserves to have a chance to start opposite Nassib on passing downs.

I think he can be a 6-8 sack guy for the Bucs, first as a full-time pass rusher, then as a rotational guy when Pierre-Paul returns.