The Bucs got their doors blown off at home against the Tennessee Titans, losing 34-3. Tampa Bay’s miscues led to the team falling behind quickly. There were dropped passes, missed tackles and poor coverage in special teams that all blended its way into a lopsided loss for the Bucs’ second preseason game.

Here were the players and moments that were most disappointing during the game.

TE O.J. Howard

It was a really bad to start for Howard as he dropped two passes on the first two drives for the Bucs offense. Both passes were right on target and he absolutely should have come down with both. The first drop came on third down, stopping the drive. The second one came as he was wide open down the field. It would’ve went for a big gain had he caught it, as he was in stride during the route. Howard struggled blocking as well, he was pushed back significantly while run blocking on a fourth-and-1 and he later was beat for a sack by John Simon when he took down Ryan Griffin in the second quarter. Howard finished the night with three catches for 24 yards.

QB Ryan Griffin

Bucs QB Ryan Griffin – Photo by: USA Today

After a bad game last Saturday, Griffin didn’t really bounce back in his second preseason game as he had another dull performance. The ball just takes a long time to get out of his hands and doesn’t have a ton of zip on his passes. Griffin was late on a pass to Tanner Hudson that would have been good for a first down. A better throw down the field to Scotty Miller most likely results in a touchdown or a huge gain, but the pass was a touch out of bounds. Griffin already figured to be the odd-man out in the quarterback room and he did not help his case with his second sub-par performance in the preseason. He wound completing 6-of-11 passes for 45 yards.

Bucs’ Running Game

For the second game in a row the Bucs couldn’t find any rhythm in the running game. It seemed as if play after play, Ke’Shawn Vaughn and Giovani Bernard would go for no more than a yard or two. Tampa Bay couldn’t even convert on a fourth-and-1 in the first quarter as the team turned the ball over on downs after Vaughn was stuffed in the backfield. Not to mention the fact that they had a starting right guard Alex Cappa out there for the first possession. No matter how good this offense can be, it can’t continue to put itself in third-and-long situations because the Bucs can’t establish the run. Tampa Bay finished with a pathetic 17 yards on 15 carries (1.1 avg.).

S Ross Cockrell

Bruce Arians has stressed an improvement in special teams all offseason. It was unfortunate to see that Cockrell had a holding penalty on the first punt return of the game, which was probably the best return that we saw by the Bucs the whole evening. While Cockrell has excelled in pass defense so far in training camp, there was still a question of how he would fair in the run game at safety. He had a missed tackle in the first half on a run that went for a first down. On another, Cockrell was driven back another five yards after making the initial hit. He’ll have to clean up that part of his game for next week. Cockrell made three tackles in the game.

WR Jaelon Darden

Bucs WR-PR Jaelon Darden – Photo by: USA Today

It felt like we could’ve seen a little bit more from Darden in an opportunity to play for the whole game. He dropped a pass from Blaine Gabbert where it was purposely put low so only he could make the reception. Darden also ran back a yard on a third-down catch gaining 12 yards when he needed 13 to pick up the first down. As a returner, he didn’t have the impact that many were expecting from him, and he oddly chose on one kickoff to take a knee for a touchback even though he was only a yard into the end zone. During one punt return Darden fumbled the ball, but was able to jump on it right away. It looks like the competition for kick and punt returner could still be open. Darden totaled two receptions for 18 yards.

Bucs’ Tackling

Last week Bruce Arians said that it was the worst tackling performance he’d seen in maybe 10 years. This one was not much different. The Bucs were missing tackles all over the place from beginning to end. Cockrell, Dee Delaney, Grant Stuard, Joe Jones and Ladarius Hamilton all whiffed on tackles – and they weren’t the only ones. In one run in the second quarter, Titans running back Mekhi Sargent broke through six Bucs’ defenders to get a first down on 16-yard run. It was just inexcusable with the amount of missed tackles there was on that play. Later in the second half, both Stuard and Jones had running back Brian Hill stopped short of the first down after he caught a pass, but he escaped their grasps to get past the marker.

Bucs’ Return Coverage 

The Bucs may have emphasized better special teams play this offseason, but it hasn’t been the case thus far in the preseason. They allowed a kick return that would’ve been a score if not for a touchdown-saving tackle by punter Bradley Pinion. The Bucs were bailed out by a penalty on Tennessee during the play. Tampa Bay also allowed a 34-yard return in coverage. It looks like every time that the Bucs are in kick or punt coverage, there’s a seam for the returner to hit and take off for a big gain. This needs to change or it will continue to be an issue for the regular season.

QB Kyle Trask

Bucs QB Kyle Trask – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

There’s going to be growing pains with a rookie quarterback, especially in a Bruce Arians-led offense. We saw that with Trask on Saturday night. After starting off solid, Trask missed throws that were both too long and too out of reach of his receivers. The worst part came in the fourth quarter in a sequence where Trask fumbled the ball on his own as he ran away from defenders. Then two plays later threw an interception over the middle with multiple players in coverage. It’s definitely a learning moment for the rookie quarterback. Trask finished the game completing 13-of-26 passes for 131 yards with two interceptions. He was also sacked once and ran the ball twice for minus-3 yards.