Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Photo Gallery: The 10 Best Things About Night Practice
A crowd of 33,000 Buc fans moved through Raymond James Stadium on Saturday, enjoying a lengthy autograph session and a special practice that built excitement for the upcoming campaign.
From the BucVision entertainment to the buzz in the stands to the dramatic player introductions to the fans getting loud during the most competitive drills, this was as close as the team was going to get to a game atmosphere before the real thing arrives. For the 33,000 fans who came through the stadium on Saturday, it was a free preview of the excitement ahead.
Sixteen Season Pass Members made their way down to the Raymond James Stadium turf about an hour before the Buccaneer players took the field to show off their own skills. With the crowd cheering them on, these competitive fans ran through a gauntlet of football drills in four teams of four, all trying to take home the coveted prize: A quartet of signed Darrelle Revis jerseys.
While the team still ran 24 practice periods that were every bit as serious as what they do in a typical camp day at One Buc Place, there was also time for some of the players to face off in some amusing challenges, too. Lawrence Tynes won a game of Field Goal "BUC" (think HORSE) with a 58-yarder, Mike Williams held onto three punts at once and rookie Mike Glennon was sharp as the QBs fired away at moving golf carts with targets.
Putting on the pads meant that the competing units on the team – OL versus DL, WR versus CB, etc. – could take the competition up a notch when it came to one-on-ones. With Special Assistant to the Head Coach Butch Davis announcing to the whole crowd which player won each individual battle, the Buccaneers fought hard during these drills and provided some of the night's most thrilling moments.
Maybe it was the cheers of the crowd, but the players who locked up in one-on-one battles did so fiercely, only to congratulate each other afterwards. Especially during the competition between the offensive and defensive linemen, the competitors obviously realized that, no matter who won each rep, the high-intensity work was ultimately good for the team as a whole.
Every good training camp practice is a "back-and-forth," as Head Coach Greg Schiano says, because it's no good for anyone if one side is dominating the other. Still, on certain days (or nights), one particular group will stand out, and on Saturday it was quarterbacks Josh Freeman and Mike Glennon. At the end of the night, Schiano praised both passers for their work in the two-minute drills and other full-team practice periods.
During one move-the-ball two-minute drill, the offense got down to the opposing side's 30-yard line with roughly 15 seconds left on the clock. The offense was trailing by a score of 14-13 in the situation contrived by Coach Schiano, so a field goal would win it and the call was a safe run off left tackle. While one can never take a play in practice too seriously, this one appeared to be blocked magnificently on the edge of the line and Leonard broke free for a 30-yard "touchdown" that brought on the cannons and the crowd's cheers.
At any Buccaneer home game, the team's top-notch squad of Cheerleaders is one of the most entertaining aspects of the overall show. That was just as true on Saturday night, as the full Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders crew treated the crowd to several outstanding routines. Oh, they signed autographs and posed for pictures earlier in the day, too.
Hours before practice was to begin, the Bucs bused the entire roster over to the stadium and set the players up at tables in various locations in the stadium to sign autographs for the fans. After acquiring vouchers for specific areas at the stadium box office in the afternoon, the fans entered the stadium between 3:30 and 4:00 and made their way to tables occupied by the likes of Josh Freeman, Doug Martin and Gerald McCoy to get signatures, take pictures and trade banter about the upcoming season.
Shortly after a double horn blast signaled the end of the final drill of practice, as the players made their way off the field to the waiting buses, the lights dropped inside the stadium and a pyrotechnic display started up over the North End Zone. A beautiful fireworks show was capped by a brilliant finale as fans stayed glued to their seats for the night's final show-stopper.
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