Live From Buccaneers Night Practice

Like 12,000 other Buccaneer fans, I took advantage of visiting the Buccaneers night practice at Raymond James stadium Saturday night.

It was a festive atmosphere for fans as the Buccaneers had loud music, their cheerleaders, prizes, trivia, and onfield interviews with coaches and management.

The Glazers boys were also on the field, sporting new "Bucco Bruce" retro t-shirts and dress shirts.

On the QBs, Lefty (Byron Leftwich) has one heck of an arm and seems to command the huddle but he is so slow in his windup and there were a few times he made some boneheaded decisions.

McCown looks polished, decisive. He needs a bit better touch on the deep ball but he didn't make any stupid decisions.

Freeman looks like he's going to need a lot of work. Inaccurate on the short-to-medium range passes, staring down receivers. Rome wasn't built in a day, though. He's got a dynamite arm. By far the best of the group.

Johnson was surprisingly solid but doesn't like to throw deep. He's got that Gruden mentality ingrained in him. He's our new Captain Checkdown.

At this point, I'd say McCown is the leading candidate to become the Buccaneers starter. Leftwich definitely has leadership qualities and a rapport with his teammates but the questionable decision making as well as his timed-by-a-sundial delivery are difficult things for him to overcome.

Freeman has a ways to go before he's NFL ready. I don't seem him being in contention for day one starter. He simply won't get enough reps.

Johnson has skills and I think one day could be a factor for some team's QB race. I just don't know if it will be here.

As for the rest of the practice -

What I Liked -
Jimmy Wilkerson - He comes off the ball like a madman and I saw him make a couple spin moves that were excellent. He's got game and I think Bates defense is perfect for him.

Dexter Jackson - Who is this guy and what did they do with Mr. Wimpy? Diving go catches? Using his blazing speed to get wide open? Jiminy Christmas. Apparently the writing is on the wall and Dex read it.

Michael Clayton - Looks big, strong, and fast. I don't want to get my hopes up but I think we may see a new rejuvenated Clayton this season.

The running game - Man, do the Bucs have a talented core of backs. Ward has some serious shake to him, Grahammer hits that hole hard and is definitely benefiting from the zone blocking scheme. Peanut (Clifton Smith) has some serious Warrick Dunn-ish qualities while Cadillac was showing some of those moves that got his shoes in the hall of fame. The running game is going to be a force this year, folks.

The offensive play calling - Dink and Dunk is dead, folks. The array of bombs being thrown by our strong armed quarterbacks were stunning.

What I Disliked -

Secondary Play - Dreadful. It's got to get a lot better folks or we're going to be in deep trouble (no pun intended).

Run defense - We'll need to see how it is against other teams, because admittedly the Bucs running game should be in the top 10 of the league this season, but it definitely needs to improve.

Tempo - I missed the morning practice which from what I understand was higher tempo, but for the majority of the practice, it seemed a bit more relaxed than the past Camp Gruden's. Maybe that's by design, I don't know. I saw a lot of just standing around, hanging out by our players. That could be because of the limitations of Raymond James (no alternate fields).

All in all, an entertaining show for the fans. I'm very excited about the offense, concerned a bit about the defense.

We'll see how they progress.