Some nuggets from this week's OTAs

I've been pretty busy the last couple days considering it's the middle of the summer. Wednesday felt like Jerramy Stevens day and, today, I spent the afternoon writing a Sunday column that will tell you a little more about the Jake Plummer situation.

Now that I finally have a little time to spare, thought you might like to hear a few details about Thursday's practice, which was open to the media (we're permitted to watch roughly one per week).

It was a good day to watch as there was extensive work done in the passing game in both the 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 portions. We got to see a lot of emphasis on deep routes, with Luke McCown hooking up with Antonio Bryant for a couple of impressive strikes. I get the feeling that Bryant will be given every opportunity to shine during training camp as coaches appear very intrigued. Also saw rookie Dexter Jackson make at least two nice catches in traffic, which is definitely promising considering his smallish body of work as a receiver at Appalachian State.

One thing I thought was interesting was the number of reps given to McCown. He probably got more snaps (I didn't count, okay) than Jeff Garcia and Brian Griese, though it's hard to know whether that means anything. The Bucs have been sort of staggering their quarterbacks' workloads since there have been so many of them. I kind of expected Griese to get more work because he has been away for awhile and certainly is a strong candidate to get the No. 2 quarterback job, but perhaps that's not a forgone conclusion. Chris Simms, as you know, hasn't been attending voluntary workouts, and Josh Johnson still has some more work to do in the classroom before he gets under center. They're clearly taking their time with the youngster.

Defensively, the Bucs are experimenting with all kinds of combinations along the defensive line. I saw everyone from Jimmy Wilkerson to Kevin Carter taking turns at defensive tackle. Whether they'll have a formidable pass rush is hard to say, but they definitely have some real versatility, for as much as that's worth. Both of those guys have been defensive ends most of their careers even if they have spent time on the interior, too. Gaines Adams is firmly entrenched at right end. Greg White, meanwhile, is making a bid to grab the job at left end, though that is far from a done deal.

In the secondary, things should be real interesting come training camp. I felt linebacker was the strength of the defense last year. Now, I'm not so sure that can't be said about the defensive backs. Aqib Talib has star potential, which he showed when he turned in a leaping pass deflection of a McCown deep ball. But Phillip Buchanon and Eugene Wilson are getting loads of work, too, and they're veterans with a mental edge on the rookie. At safety, Sabby Piscitelli is bringing excitement, though I don't know whether there's a place for him given the play of Jermaine Phillips and Tanard Jackson.

Hope this little peek gives you a sense for what's going on with some of your favorite players with less than two months remaining before the start of training camp (and the end of my life as I know it  :) .

Comments

[Jason]

Thanks for the update, Stephen! Great as always. Any word on early second team LB rotations?

[JJ]

Hi Stephen,
Have you seen Paris Warren around?? I was really excited about that kid until he got injured last preseason.

[Guillermo C]

Good art. Hope you get more nuggets! Thanx!

[JR]

They were probably giving mccown more reps because of the aforementioned emphasis on the deep ball. Letting garcia and griese run a drill that involves emphasis on the deep ball would be the worst call ever.

[Drew]

Great job Stephen and an oustanding article! Thanks for the update.

[shane]

hey stephen why are you just now getting an update on Jake "the snake" plummer? Not meaning the delay is on yours or anyone else's part but isn't it a little overdue for clarification on why Jake isn't here? Also, like the update on Gaines and McCown(little bit surprised by the McCown part of it) and the rest of the team. Is there any update on Caddy's status on rehab yet?

[Nate]

Seriously--nobody in town does better work than you, Stephen. Thanks for the great insight. I know the information is going to be solid and you've done so again here. I think we're all anxious to see as much information on the WR corps as possible.

[fred k]

Dear Stephen,

Thank you for a straight forward evaluation of what is going on in the practices.

Much appreciated

[John R]

Stephen, Great stuff! im already psyched for the season to start and you cranked it up a notch, thank you, John

[John G]

Great article with the kind of info we're looking for!

Although, is there any way you guys could give us some more 8 year old news on Stevens? How about some 15 year old news on Garcia? 30 year old news on Doug Williams? Whatever you got.

[Duane]

God forbid if the Bucs ever hire Patricia Hearst and the public finds out about her. Just kidding Steve. Thanks for the update, you do a great job feeding us adult children. Shane, Jake isn't here because he retired from pro football. Most of us only found out a year ago.

[Billy]

If anyone would like real Buc coverage of OTA's and anything Buc related go to Pewter Report.com. They make these guys look like amatuers.

I wouldn't call these nuggets, I'd call them crumbs

[Billy]

You need to step your game up Holder, stay out there longer than 15 minutes.

Come on man, earn your paycheck.

[CW]

Hate to have to follow ridiculous comments like Billy's. I'm excited to hear about the secondary! I have to admit I was worried about BK leaving, but it sounds like Talib is going to be exciting and that's a position where a rookie can thrive. Also, glad to hear about McCown. I hope he can push for the back-up job. I think he's better than what people realize.

[Cheapskate]

Billy, I've been over to Pewter Report and the FREE content is miniscule. Based on the articles on the insider(pay) portion od the site, there is no difference in information what so ever. Are you a sales rep there or something?

Why would I pay for something I could get for free?

[Trent]

Holder- you're pathetic. Pewter Report's OTA write up destroys yours. According to them Griese had his deep pass broken up by Talib. They have two authors and are more credible analysts. I bet they're right. Not to mention they broke the Stevens suspension and Plummer grievance before you guys had it. Stephen didn't you have to change your story that Stevens was suspended for the same incident. I didn't see the Times issue a correction. Thank God the print media is dying hopefully hacks like you will be out of job.

[David]

Look, a blogger pretending to be a journalist.

[Duane]

Excuse me Trent and Billy, but how much do you "pay" to get into Pewter Report. I'm not knocking thier product, in fact I am sure it is very good. But at the same time you have to pay to get inside. You guys remind me of some sales reps I went with on a seminar who got free nice rooms and food but complained about the quality of both. Oh, sorry we're only staying in a Holiday Inn, I know you guys usually only stay at the Ritz Carlton or the Hilton. Shut your pie holes.

[Stephen_Holder]

For those of you who appreciate what we do here, thank you. As for the apparent cult members who prefer their "news" filtered, I'm not going to give you what you want (a fight). I'm having a good weekend and I don't want to ruin it. God bless.

One nitpik: to whomever said I should have run a correction about Stevens, don't question my journalism until you get your facts straight. It was reported elsewhere that Stevens had not completed his suspension from last year and opted to serve the remainder this year. That my friend, was absolutely incorrect. You know who my source was: a VP in the NFL office. This new suspension was a separate suspension stemming from the second of two charges from last year's arrest. If you've got a better source I'll gladly step aside. ... I'm waiting.

[tomtom88]

hi,im tomtom88 and i always read your blog. today i started my own blog with hopes to become a sports writer someday. it would be awesome if you could take a look at my blog and comment. you could also give me some pointer. thanks. this is the url http://sportsdebate88.blogspot.com/

[shane]

you know for a free report stephen isn't half-bad i mean he does a good job for a guy that isn't payed by the football team to report for them and maybe 15 minutes is all he can get before the bucs kick him out of the practice/mini-camp

Great job stephen and keep up the good work!

[bucjoe]

I am a very active poster on PR, and while I agree that it has the best Buc coverage anywhere (a recent Fab 5 article was a 3200 word article full of content), I don't agree with throwing brickbats at Stephen Holder. I appreciate your writing and like to read everything I can get on the Bucs.
Keep it up and just don't get like some of the other writers from the Times and the Tribune!

[Stephen_Holder]

quote: "hey stephen why are you just now getting an update on Jake "the snake" plummer? Not meaning the delay is on yours or anyone else's part but isn't it a little overdue for clarification"

Shane: read today's column and see what I mean http://www.tampabay.com/sports/football/bucs/article612035.ece . I'm trying to give you an idea of how it might shake out, plus if you read all the way through you'll see that this could have a huge impact on the Bucs in the long term.

[Common Sense]

Let's see, our coach is an "offensive genius" that has the luxury of the NFL's best defensive coach but still can't make the

offense go, our best QB since Doug Williams is a crybaby, our best receiver is old, our number 1 running back is now number

2, we have more QB's than pro bowl selections in the past few years, and I'm a "basher"? I think we need MORE bashers,

and a new coach and GM to go with them. CHUCKY, your offense has the punch of an 8 year old! If it wasn't for your defensive coach you would have been fired already! Your face looks more like "CHUCKY_CHEESE" to me! I used to believe you could coach, but now I must admit... YOU DID WIN THE SUPERBOWL WITH DUNGY'S TEAM!!!!! Oh, and Jeff, thanks for the idea. I signed a contract to pay house payments for 30 years, but I'm going to threaten my bank that I am going to retire if they don't lower my interest rate! Your a genius! GO BUCS!

[BucNGator]

Common Sense...... get some sleep, "fat, drunk and wigging out is no way to go through life, son!"

Stephen, I'm a PR insider as well, and I've given you the business from time to time. But your work is appreciated, (unlike your co-workers)and we just want more of these type of articles. No more BS, just report what you see on the practice field!!

I didn't see you comment on it, but would you agree that Wilson was "toasted" on several occasions and is having trouble adjusting back to corner??

[DR]

The worst part about the whole Plummer deal is that despite Jake saying he is going to retire if he doesn't play for Kubiak in Houston, Gruden and Allen still traded for him and paid the Broncos to pick up his contract. How stupid can you possibly be? If I ruled on this, I'd favor Plummer just because of GruAllen's ignorance. If Tampa gets an extra $7M next year, it will be just an extra $7M under the cap since their owners are in huge debt and have no money to spend.

[Common Sense]

Don't you guys have something better to do? Analyzing the Plummer deal? Who cares? Will the extra money make the team any more exciting? Make Cadillac have a 1,000 yard season? Help Clayton to catch the ball again? Bring Moss to the team? Aren't you tired of sub-par performances? Talk about fat, drunk, and DUMB. Sorry, didn't mean to keep you from viewing the PBA on tv. Oh, and did you know we could have had Adrian Peterson? It's probably a good thing. That would have raised your high blood pressure to dangerous levels.

[Tony]

Common Sense, Quarterback driven league...good QB, decent offense, bad QB, bad offense, really pretty simple. As to your next question of why Gruden has had problems finding that QB, "A": It's not for lack of trying and "B": Check out the other 31 teams, how many found that QB? Maybe 4 or 5. FYI, ever look at the players Dungy/McKay could have drafted?
DR, 7th round pick for Plummer, that pick was basically re-acquired by trading down in the Draft this year, which cost them nothing in that they still got the players they targeted.