The Tampa Bay Buccaneers took to the field for their second day of full pads at the AdventHealth Training Camp under familiar conditions – sunny and humid with temperatures approaching the high 80s in the morning.

After a day of offensive splash plays and some Tom Brady highlights on Monday, the Bucs defense made a case for itself on Tuesday, matching the offense’s intensity and production in what head coach Bruce Arians called an “ebb and flow” practice.

Both units stood out at times, but this practice was more even with the starting defense showing off some highlight-reel plays of their own. But the reserve defense caught Arians’ wrath during the last 30 minutes of practice in 11-on-11 drills when wide receiver Jaydon Mickens caught a short pass and weaved through the defense for a long touchdown.

Arians got off the sidelines, approached midfield and started swearing at the defense, chewing them out for not running to the ball and weaving a tapestry of colorful profanities in the process. Arians was irate, stopped practice and made the reserve defense sprint to the end of the field and back to drive home his point.

#Bucs HC Bruce Arians stops practice, drops about 19 F-bombs on the reserve defense, making them run a wind sprint and scolds them for not running to the ball after a nice catch-and-run by WR Jaydon Mickens! Wow! Arians blew a gasket!💥

— PewterReport (@PewterReport) August 18, 2020

“It happened yesterday and we corrected it,” Arians said. “But two times becomes a habit. So they’re still outside running, running to the ball. Whether you thought somebody tagged him or not, you gotta run to the ball. That’s what our defense is built on, hustle and speed. So we’re gonna break that habit real fast.”

Arians made the reserve defense stay after practice and run some more, too.

Tuesday’s practice was very physical with more tackling to the ground than what we have seen over the last several training camps. The morning practice started similar to what occurred on Monday with a 30-minute individual period with units working among themselves while also mixing in special teams.

The Buccaneers had Scotty Miller, Jaydon Mickens, Cyril Grayson and T.J. Logan fielding punts without any drops. With the punt returner fielding punts, the Bucs had the gunners running down in coverage battling defenders, fighting to get to the ball. Wide receivers Justin Watson and rookie John Hurst, along with safety Andrew Adams were in that role on Tuesday.

Great rep from #Bucs LT Donovan Smith … rookie RT Tristan Wirfs needs some work however. pic.twitter.com/kbzKE5RekV

— PewterReport (@PewterReport) August 18, 2020

Tampa Bay offensive line coach Joe Gilbert continued to work with the tackles while run game coordinator Harold Goodwin handled the guards and centers. Rookie Tristan Wirfs was still getting all the starting reps at right tackle and fared better in pass protection today than he did on Monday.

Wirfs has a laid back personality and needs to pick up his intensity, especially in the individual period. He looks less physical than Donovan Smith, who is in great shape and seems motivated to have a strong season as he’s in the last year of guaranteed money in his contract. Smith’s contract expires after the 2021 season.

Bucs RT Tristan Wirfs – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

After special teams, the quarterbacks moved to the far north end zone and warmed up, doing three-step drops starting with soft tosses and building up to tight spirals on quick flare passes. Next came some crossing routes, then 15-yard hitch patterns to the wide receivers with the assistant coaches playing cornerbacks and hitting the receivers with bags after the catch.

Over on the middle field, outside linebackers worked on a pass rush drill where they lined up and fired off the ball. A pop-up dummy was positioned to their inside around 10 feet away and the pass rushers had to reach and push the bag down as they continued towards an imaginary quarterback.

The Bucs offense and defense matched up for the remainder of practice going 11-on-11 that led to some spirited back-and-forth from both sides of the ball. While you normally hear some banter between the units every camp, it appears to be ramped up in 2020. Everyone knows and expects the offense to shine in 2020 with the new additions, but it appears the defense doesn’t want to be forgotten, especially after the offense got the best of them on Monday.

Bucs NT Rakeem Nunez-Roches – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Reserve nose tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches has been the catalyst for the energy on the defensive side through the first two days of camp. Nunez-Roches, who is noticeably bigger at 320 pounds this year after hitting the weight room hard, was barking at the offense nearly every rep that he was in, especially when the defense made a stop. Bucs middle linebacker Devin White was also chirping at the offense, especially after a nice tackle-for-loss where he knifed into the backfield.

The defensive players weren’t the only ones spouting off. Wide receiver Mike Evans got all over former USF standout Mazzi Wilkins after the young corner missed a tackle on wide receiver Scotty Miller, suggesting that Wilkins needed to hit the weight room. Miller is noticeably bigger this year, weighing 175 pounds after playing last year in the 160s.

On Monday, Brady went deep to Miller on a long bomb for a score, hitting the second-year receiver in stride. On Tuesday, it was Evans’ turn to be on the receiving end of a 40-yard reception on a deep post from Brady.

#Bucs QB Tom Brady drops a 40-yard dime to Mike Evans between two defenders! What a play! #Accuracy

— PewterReport (@PewterReport) August 18, 2020

Evans and Brady also connected on another deep pass, this time down the sideline as Evans went up and snatched it in between two DBs – Randy Moss-style.

Or perhaps we should just say “Mike Evans-style.”

#Bucs QB Tom Brady to WR Mike Evans AGAIN – this time down the sidelines for a deep touchdown as Evans Moss’d CB Mazzi Wilkins and FS Mike Edwards for the leaping grab. 🎯

— PewterReport (@PewterReport) August 18, 2020

Wilkins really struggled in practice and took his frustration out on Tanner Hudson, chopping out the tight end’s legs near the sideline. Wilkins was very close to getting his helmet on Hudson’s knee, and while the defense needs to work on tackling, the Bucs need to avoid friendly fire situations.

The running backs were very involved on Tuesday, with all of them getting lots of reps running the football, but also playing important roles in the passing game as well. The Bucs brought in LeSean McCoy just prior to camp to be that pass-receiving back, but Dare Ogunbowale isn’t going down without a fight. In fact, Ogunbowale was pretty much splitting reps with Ronald Jones II as a runner and receiver and had a very solid afternoon. The former Wisconsin standout didn’t have any drops on the morning, and looks to be playing with much more confidence so far this season.

Jones had two excellent runs up the middle out of the shadow of the Bucs’ end zone. Arians said that Jones would be the Bucs’ workhorse back this year, but that hasn’t materialized in practice as the reps have been pretty evenly split between Jones, Ogunbowale, McCoy and T.J. Logan, in addition to rookies Ke’Shawn Vaughn and Raymond Calais.

“I thought offensively we ran the ball the best we’ve run it in a long time against a really stout run defense,” Arians said. “That’s what I’m looking for, I’m looking for sometimes the defense wins the day, sometimes the offense wins the day. There were periods where they both won, don’t get fooled by the hype of guys jumping around thinking they did a hell of a job.”

Brady and the starters took the majority of offensive reps again on Tuesday with Blaine Gabbert seemingly entrenched as the backup quarterback. Ryan Griffin and rookie Reid Sinnett didn’t get any reps in 11-on-11 work.

Brady threw a beautiful touch pass to Gronk down the sideline with Minter trailing in coverage for a big gain. Edwards came over to give Gronk a hard hit with his shoulder and both players went flying. Big collision at #Bucs camp!

— PewterReport (@PewterReport) August 18, 2020

Brady had some nice completions to wide receiver Justin Watson and tight end Rob Gronkowski, but was also sacked by rookie undrafted free agent Michael Divinity on one play, then threw a near-interception to safety Mike Edwards, who undercut a deep sideline out route in front of Miller. After practice Arians said that Edwards was “five yards out of bounds” when he picked off the pass.

Outside linebackers Shaq Barrett and linebacker Devin White managed sacks on back-to-back plays on Tuesday. Of course the quarterbacks are off limits as far as contact goes, but both players could have taken the QB down on the two plays.

The Buccaneers also worked goal line in the far end zone, with a mix of run and pass plays. Brady hit tight end Cam Brate and Mickens for scores. The media’s vantage point was poor for the most part, but Arians liked what he saw from both sides.

The last part of the practice was another 11-on-11 full contact period with the offense backed up in their own end zone. The coaches were keeping down-and-distance and the defense did a great job on first and second down, but allowed a number of third down completions from Brady and Gabbert.

– Scott Reynolds contributed to this practice report