The Tampa Bay Buccaneers continued their preparations for Sunday's game against the Philadelphia Eagles, moving their practice into the indoor facility and starting roughly an hour early due to the presence of Hurricane Helene in the Gulf of Mexico. Here is the Practice Report for Thursday, September 26:
Start Time, Duration: 10:05 a.m., 113 minutes, 8 periods
Participation: RB Bucky Irving, DL Calijah Kancey, TE Ko Kieft and S Antoine Winfield Jr. did not practice. WR Mike Evans, DL Greg Gaines, DL Will Gholston, WR Chris Godwin, RB Bucky Irving, WR Kameron Johnson, DL Vita Vea and T Tristan Wirfs were limited.
Equipment: Players wore spiders (smaller, lightweight shoulder pads).
Weather: Players practiced indoors and were driven by buses to and from the indoor facility. The weather outside, with Tropical Storm Helene intensifying in the Gulf of Mexico, was partly cloudy but without rain, and winds gusting up to 25 miles per hour.
Offensive Coordinator Liam Coen on preparing to get Mike Evans more involved in the offense: "The second play of the [Denver] game was designed to go to him and we ended up kind of missing that one. You try to get him involved early by calling a play for him on the second play of the game, and things happen. We weren't in rhythm. We were a little bit, like Baker [Mayfield] mentioned, a little fast at times getting out of the pocket in some things, so we did end up missing him a little bit. But we've just got to continue to be diligent about moving him around, getting him in positions that they can't double him. And also we've got to be on time and in rhythm to be able to throw him the football. Things move fast in this league. Defenses are smart, they know how to take some of your best players away. But we've got to do a better job of continuing to get him involved, and usually when you get him involved early, things are better for Mike."
Running back Bucky Irving on what has surprised him about defenses in the NFL: "I'd probably say the guys up front, the D-linemen, as far as if the ball does get past them they are willing to chase the ball. I feel like at the college level, once the ball gets past the D-line they're not really valuable to chase the ball down. I'd probably say the guys playing through the whistle."
