In a game played exclusively by reserves on both sides, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had difficulty mounting any sort of consistent offense in a 19-0 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium on Friday night. The Buccaneers finished the preseason with a 2-1 record as the league-wide roster cutdown to 53 players for the regular season looms in the coming weekend.
"Not good enough," said Head Coach Todd Bowles of the Bucs' performance in Jacksonville. "Anytime you get shut out, you know. I didn't think we protected the quarterback enough. We couldn't run the ball. We gave up a special teams touchdown. The defense fought; they made some mistakes but at least they fought. I thought two out of the three phases didn't show up."
Rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels, who had directed five scoring drives during the Bucs' first two preseason games, got the start and played into the third quarter but wasn't able to generate any downfield plays and was sacked three times while being limited to nine yards on four scrambles. Daniels completed eight of 15 passes for 57 yards before being replaced by veteran Jake Browning late in the third period.
"Lot of miscues, a lot of things that we definitely could have done better," said Daniels after the game. "Obviously when you go out there and you don't score any points that's not something you don't really want, especially as a quarterback. We haven't watched the film yet. I do think there were some good things that we did and obviously there were some things that we need to clean up. We'll look at the film and get better from there."
Browning and Connor Bazelak finished the game. Browning completed two of four passes for two yards and Balezak was two of two for five yards. Bowles said the Bucs wanted to use the game as an opportunity for a greater evaluation of the rookie passer.
"We definitely wanted to see more of him," said Bowles. "We wanted to get some more experience. We wanted him to play against the twos as opposed to the threes and fours, get him in there and see how he operated. We wanted to give him a long, lengthy look. He's shown a lot. We're going to go back and look at the film. It's not really the completions, it's the overall operation. I had to make sure he's fine with that, and then we'll come back and look at the film. It wasn't very good offensively tonight."
Tampa Bay's defensive reserves were equally tough on Jacksonville in the first half, with the only points before intermission coming on a 61-yard field goal by Cam Little. Overall, Jacksonville finished with 249 net yards of offense compared to the Bucs' 87. The Jaguars got a one-yard touchdown run by RB DeeJay Dallas in the third quarter then capped the scoring on WR Michael Wortham's 67-yard punt return to the house late in the final period.
The game marked Tampa Bay's first shutout loss in the preseason since a 30-0 decision against Indianapolis in 1989.
Eighth-year veteran OLB Anthony Nelson was once again a bright spot for the Buccaneers, recording a sack early in the first half to give him 2.5 QB takedowns on the preseason. Rookie CB Ayden Garnes, another preseason and training camp standout, started the game and played into the fourth quarter and finished with four tackles and another pass defensed. OLB Jack Pyburn, like Garnes an undrafted rookie, also recorded two sacks in the fourth quarter to give him four on the preseason and added an additional tackle for loss.
"I want to be a Buc," said Garnes. "I put my best effort out there, played as hard as a I could and I just want to continue to play football and get better every single week. I'm just hoping I get some good news Sunday night or Monday whenever I hear what the decision is."
To start the game, the Jaguars won the toss but deferred their choice so the Bucs got the first possession after a touchback. Daniels handed off to Tucker on the first two plays and that was good for 10 yards and a first down. Daniels couldn't find an open man on his first dropback and took off on a scramble for two yards, followed by a Tucker carry that made it third-and-five. A quick slant to WR Dean Patterson was low and too hard to corral and the Bucs had to punt. Riley Dixon's boot was fair caughta t the Jacksonville 10.
The Jaguars needed only one play to get the ball close to midfield, as a play-action rollout sprung TE Hunter Long wide open down the right sideline for a gain of 34 yards. Two plays later, rookie CB Ayden Garnes reacted perfectly to a tunnel screen to WR Austin Trammell and swung him down for no gain, but the Jaguars ended up going for it on fourth-and-three from the Bucs 48 and once again schemed a man wide open out to the right, with Trammell turning the corner for 13 yards. Garnes broke up Nick Mullens' next pass to create a third-and-nine, and Nelson ended the scoring threat by rushing around the QB from the left end and grabbing him for a six-yard sack. The resulting putn was downed at the Bucs' four.
A swing pass to Kam Johnson gave the Bucs some breathing room on the next play as he got all the way out to the 16. Three snaps later, after another scramble by Daniels, the Bucs faced a third-and-six. Daniels wisely dumped it off to Tez Johnson in the right flat and the shifty Johnson did the rest to elude several tacklers for a gain of nine. Two snaps later, Daniels had time to throw and located WR Eric Rivers over the middle for 13 more yards to the Bucs' 44. Two Josh Williams runs left the Bucs in a third-and-seven, and Daniels delivered a perfect fade-stop to Kam Johnson on the right sideline but the receiver couldn't hold on. Another punt put Jacksonville back at its 12.
Elijah Roberts and rookie DeMonte Capehart stonewalled RB J'Mari Taylor for no gain on first down but Mullens found Long over the middle for 13 yards and the tight end held on despite a hard hit from S Miles Killebrew. Roberts blew up the next play on a play-action pass that didn't fool him for a moment, leading to an incompletion. Moments later, on third-and-seven, OLB David Walker pushed a blocker into Mullens lap, forcing a quick throw to TE Quintin Morris, who was dropped for a gain of just two by Killebrew.
Starting again at their own 22 as the second quarter kicked off, Daniels made a remarkable escape from a near sack deep in the backfield, though the play was still technically a sack when he was caught for no gain. A Williams run got just one and Daniels' third-down pass was broken up, ending that possession quickly.
The ongoing punt exchange put the Jaguars at their own 42 with 13 minutes left in the half. Two DeeJay Dallas runs got just enough for a first down at the Bucs' 48, but Walker blew around the end on the next snap and disrupted Mullens' throw, which was nearly intercepted by Garnes deep downfield. The Jaguars quickly faced a fourth-and-five and chose to send out kicker Cam Little, who calmly nailed a 61-yard field goal to open the scoring.
After another kickoff touchback, the Bucs opened again at their 35 but almost immediately faced a third-and-nine. Daniels' arm was hit on third down to force an apparent incompletion and a punt, which was returned to Jacksonville's 25. Carter Bradley came in to replace Mullens at quarterback and was immediately greeted with sack by rookie DL Josiah Green, but a procedural penalty on the Bucs and a 12-yard ramble by Taylor led to a first down at the 36. Green got pressure on Bradley again on first down, forcing an incompletion, helping put Jacksonville into a third-and-10. The Jags punted it away moments later but a botched snap by the Bucs' offense gave them the ball right back at the Tampa Bay 15 with five minutes left in the half.
Good coverage by the Bucs' secondary put Jacksonville into a fourth-and-six at the Bucs' 11 and the home team chose to go for it. Bradley tried to get the ball in to Trammell in the middle of the end zone but Benjamin Morrison was there to break it up, leading to a changeover on downs.
Two passes to WR Garrett Greene, one of them complete, didn't gain any yards, but on third-and-10 Daniels went back to Greene, who made a leaping grab in traffic for a gain of 18. Williams picked his way for a nine-yard gain to the Bucs' 38 to bring on the two-minute warning, and after the break he got four more for a first down. However, a false start and two incompletions put the Bucs in a long third down and it got worse when Daniels was sacked by DE Bryan Thomas, leading to another punt.
The Jaguars came out in an effort to make the most of the last minute, with a Bradley completion to Trammell over the middle for 23 yards. However, another hookup with Trammell for 16 yards was erased by a holding penalty and the Jags simply ran out the clock from there.
The Bucs kicked off to start the second half and rookie LB Caden Fordham dropped return man Chandler Brayboy at the Jacksonville 34. CB Pepe Williams made a nice open-field tackle on TE Patrick Herbert to limit the first-down play to two yards, helping lead to third-and-six. Fordham had good coverage on Taylor downt he left sideline and the pass was incomplete, leading to a punt. Kam Johnson fielded the punt right by the left goal-line pylon and managed to elude enough coverage to get to the Bucs' 14.
Daniels remained in the game at quarterback and looked downfield on first down but eventually had to scramble for two yards, taking a very hard hit at the end of the run. He couldn't get away from Thomas on the next play, though, and was sacked back at the six-yard line. A punt followed shortly thereafter, and Dixon's 56-yard blast was followed by a Jaguars' penalty to put the ball at the home team's 26. A near-sack by rookie OLB Yasir Holmes forced an incompletion and a third-and-six but Bradyley kep the drive alive with a 19-yard strike to WR Michael Wortham. Holmes came up big again a moment later with a TFL on Dallas for a loss of two, but an 11-yard Trebor Pena made it third-and-one. Dallas fought through a tackle at the line of scrimmage to get a first down at the Bucs' 37. After a missed deep shot to Pena it was third-and-six, and third-down stop was erased by an offsides call. A Dallas run gained nothing but the Jags went for it on fourth down and Bradley managed to zip a 11-yard pass in to Brayboy at the Bucs' 16. Dallas' next carry got the ball down to the Bucs' two but the Bucs' defense held against another Dallas run and a Bradley sneak. On third-and-goal, Bradley faked a handoff and Dallas leaked out to the right and was wide open for the one-yard TD pass. The Jags went for two and got it on a Bradley keeper.
Browning came in for the next drive with four minutes left in the third quarter but his first-down pass attempt was batted away downfield and he was sacked by LB Amari Burney on second down. A tunnel screen to Rivers didn't work and the Bucs quickly had to punt again.
Rookie QB Joey Aguilar took over for the Jaguars and threw a short pass to Wortham that the receivers turned into a 21-yard gain to the Bucs' 30. The third quarter came to an end with Jacksonville facing a second-and-three at Tampa Bay's 23. From there, the Jaguars got down to the Bucs' six by Pyburn's nine-yard sack of Aguilar keyed a goal-line stand and a fourth-down incompletion turned it over on downs.
The Bucs started at their own 11 and seemed to get a first down on a nice screen pass to Williams but it came back on a holding call. The drive stalled from there, leading to Dixon's eighth punt. Wortham got the Jaguars right back into scoring range with a 29-yard return to the Bucs' 28. A Pyburn tackle for loss and a botched snap managed to put Jacksonville into a third-and-25 and Pyburn blasted in for another sack to force a punt.
The Bucs' ensuing possession went nowhere and Jacksonville added the exclamation point when Wortham barely escaped a tackle just as he fielded the punt and found his way to the left sideline for a 63-yard touchdown return. From there, both teams essentially ran out the clock.
