JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The dog days of NFL training camp are upon us, and players are looking for anything to break up the monotony of competing against their own teammates every day in practice. This week, the Buccaneers took the short trip to Jacksonville for a pair of joint practices with the Jaguars.
"It’s great work for us – to go and see a different opponent, some different guys, different faces," said Tampa Bay safety Antoine Winfield, Jr. "It’s always fun work going against another team, and just the energy and the juice of it – it’s fun."
Winfield and his fellow starters will play very little- if at all- this preseason, so this is as close as they'll get to game action.
"One hundred percent. This is a game for us because we might not be playing in all of the preseason games, but this is a game for us," Winfield added. "Game speed, game mentality, so we have to come out here and actually execute what we’re doing."
Despite not getting many preseason snaps, Bucs starters aren't concerned about a lack of readiness once the regular season begins.
"Played enough ball at this point, that you know what a game day feels like," quarterback Baker Mayfield said after Thursday's workout. "You know what that preparation and the whole week leading up to it feels like."
Mayfield added that keeping the mind as sharp as the body is just as important during this stage of the preseason.
"It’s just a matter of staying mentally in it all day when it comes to practice and meetings. Because in games you have to stay locked in until the clock hits zeroes," he explained. "We’re going to have to constantly be communicating on game day. So why not do it now in camp, especially when we’re going up against a different opponent with different looks."
There are usually a couple of minor scuffles that break out during joint practices around the league, but this was a kinder, gentler set of workouts.
"This is probably the cleanest joint practice I’ve seen, so it was a good," Winfield smiled. "You want to take care of everybody. Everybody wants to make it to the season 100%. You know, we’re out here working against each other, but we’re also making sure that we’re not killing each other out here."
The Bucs and Jags kick off preseason game number two Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville.
