FAB 5. SR’s Buc Shots

• WHERE IS GRAMATICA NOW? Former Bucs kicker Martin Gramatica has stayed in the Tampa Bay area since retiring from the NFL following the 2008 season. He and his brothers, Bill, a former Arizona Cardinals kicker, and Santiago, who kicked at the University of South Florida, own their own company, Gramatica Insulated Panel System. The Gramaticas also have the Gramatica Family Foundation, which is a non-profit organization that builds mortgage free homes for combat wounded veterans.

Gramatica has maintained ties with sports and the Buccaneers since he lasted suited up in the NFL. He hosts the Martin Gramatica Show from 9:00 am to 11:00 a.m. on 1040AM WHBO in Tampa, and is also the color analyst for Bucs radio games in Spanish on the team’s flagship Spanish channels WTMP-FM 96.1 and WMGG-AM 1470.

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• ARIANS HAS ALREADY BLASTED BRADY IN PRACTICE: Bucs head coach Bruce Arians is no stranger to getting on players and yelling and screaming in practice, and was asked on Thursday’s conference call with reporters if he’s had to scold new quarterback Tom Brady yet.

Bucs QB Tom Brady and head coach Bruce Arians – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“Yeah, he likes to throw the ball in walk-throughs and we don’t throw the ball in walkthroughs,” Arians said. “So he got a little bit yesterday, but not very bad. It’s hard to say what he looks like because he’s going against offensive guys out with cards. We’ll know more in another week, but mentally he’s ready to roll.”

• COVID-19 SHIELDS A NO-GO? The Buccaneers players tried the new Oakley field shield that is designed to potentially limit the spread of COVID-19, and the results weren’t positive. The new face shield, which comes down behind the facemask, restricts airflow, which makes it hard to breathe, in addition to fogging up too much in the Tampa humidity.

Bucs head coach Bruce Arians said that the players weren’t keen on wearing it, and no player was spotted wearing it during Thursday’s practice.

“There’s still a lot of work to do on that thing,” Arians said. “I don’t think we had one player like it. The whole team tried it and all gave their feedback, obviously with humidity there was a lot of fogging problems. Oakley’s working extremely hard to find something that’s going to work and we’ll see if it works or not.”

The good news for the Bucs, which have to play in hotter and more humid conditions than other teams, is that the new face shields may not be mandatory.

“I don’t think so,” Arians said.

• NEW PEWTER NATION PODCAST FROM BUCS TRAINING CAMP: Bucs training camp is finally here and yours truly was joined by Mark Cook, Jon Ledyard and Matt Matera recorded a brand new Pewter Nation Podcast to discuss it on Thursday afternoon following Bruce Arians’ Zoom conference call with the local media. We discussed some of the comments Arians made about Tom Brady and the rookies, in addition to what happened during Thursday’s practice. Don’t miss this one!

Pewter Nation Podcast Episode 203: Happy Times At Bucs Training Camp

There is no better time to listen to a new Pewter Nation Podcast than right now or early Saturday morning during your workout or while running errands. The next Pewter Nation Podcast will be recorded next week. Stay tuned!

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• BUCS REALLY GOT AFTER THE QB IN 2019: Well, the headline in the Pro Football Focus tweet is wrong, as the 2020 season hasn’t started yet, but in 2019, no team pressured the quarterback more than Tampa Bay. The Bucs had 47 sacks, which was the second-most in team history and was the fifth-highest total in the NFL last year.

But Tampa Bay posted 359 QB pressures in 2019, according to PFF, which ranked ahead of New Orleans (355), Pittsburgh (342) and Philadelphia (329). Bucs outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett led the NFL with 19.5 sacks last year while setting a new single-season franchise record.

No team pressured the QB more than the #GoBucs in 2020 😤 💪 pic.twitter.com/NmlgHmXijN

— PFF (@PFF) August 3, 2020

• BUCS ROOKIE REPORT: Bucs head coach Bruce Arians offered up his take on the progress of Tampa Bay’s 2020 draft class in Thursday’s conference call.

Bucs QB Tom Brady and RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“Tristan [Wirfs] is what he is. He’s not really a surprise, nor is Antoine [Winfield, Jr.], I think they’re both showing us exactly what we thought they were,” Arians said. “They’re very smart players coming out of really good programs. Some of the other kids, Chappelle Russell showed up in great shape and ready to go.

“Ke’Shawn [Vaughn] was a little behind because of the COVID test, he’s catching up fast, Ray [Calais] same way, that room kind of get wiped out and missed a couple weeks. Tyler [Johnson] has been hurt the whole time so there’s some other young kids that were undrafted that I really can’t wait to see in pads and see if they can handle the noise level.”

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