It’s time for Scott Reynolds’ post-game 2-Point Conversion column, which features two big statements, two probing questions and two bold predictions. The Bucs rested almost all of their starters against the Steelers, and it was a sloppy start for Tampa Bay’s backups in a 27-17 loss to Pittsburgh. Penalties, growing pains, and missed tackles were the unfortunate theme in the Bucs’ 2023 preseason opener, but there were a few bright spots as well.

2 BIG STATEMENTS

STATEMENT 1: Growing Pains, Penalties Plague Bucs Offense

Let’s start with the obvious. The Bucs played their backups and rested almost all of their starters in the preseason opener – a 27-17 loss to the visiting Steelers. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh played their starters in the first quarter, jumping out to an early 7-0 lead.

Bucs TE Ko Kieft – Photo By: Cliff Welch/PR

In all, 27 Bucs rookies saw their first NFL action. On offense, Tampa Bay only started four players that will likely be in the starting lineup – right tackle Luke Goedeke, rookie right guard Cody Mauch, tight end Cade Otton and either Baker Mayfield or Kyle Trask, whichever one ends up starting under center. Robert Hainsey started at center, and he might get that gig again if Ryan Jensen’s rehabilitated knee doesn’t come around.

What stymied the Bucs offense more than anything was the penalties. Tampa Bay finished with a disappointing 12 penalties for 127 yards – most of which were on the offense.

The Bucs only ran for 66 yards on 26 carries for a woeful 2.5-yard average. But three carries totaling 44 yards were called back due to penalties, including a 20-yard dash by Chase Edmonds in the first half on a holding call by Goedeke, and a 12-yard touchdown run by Sean Tucker in the second half that was negated by a holding call on an unnamed offensive lineman.

“We [had] some good runs, and penalties held us back,” Bowles said. “You know, you can’t run the ball if you get holding calls, and you get first-and-20 all the time, so that has a lot to do with it as well. I thought we were consistent with it. Every time we tried to break one, even with Sean Tucker’s touchdown being called back, and another run out there earlier, there were holding calls, holding it back. We just have to cut the holding calls out.”

Add in the lost yardage called back due to penalties, and the Bucs could have had 110 yards on the ground if they had played mistake-free football on Friday night.

A false start on Mauch on a fourth-and-1 quarterback sneak attempt on the Bucs’ first drive of the night led to a punt rather than a first down. The Bucs even had a pair of penalties on wide receivers.

Bucs WR David Moore – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

A terrible offensive pass interference call on rookie Trey Palmer erased his own catch for a first down in the first quarter, and David Moore had a facemask call at the end of a big catch-and-run that turned a 38-yard gain into a 23-yard play instead in the third quarter.

“Yeah, that’s a big thing,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said. “The penalties [that] we talk about in practice. We only had 12 drives, so [when] you get 12 – [if] you get 12 penalties, that kind of negates everything. We’ve got to be better at that and get more disciplined.”

Friday night was offensive coordinator Dave Canales’ first time calling plays in an actual game. He’ll only get better with more experience. As expected, it was a pretty vanilla game plan, but there were some effective, clever play calls by Canales mixed in.

The hope is that it holds true for the Bucs’ young players too, including those expected to start, such as Mauch and Goedeke. They got plenty of experience by playing into the third quarter on Friday. Now they need to get better.

And of course, eliminate the mistakes and penalties.

STATEMENT 2: Missed Tackles Galore For Bucs Defense

The Bucs’ defense missed a slew of tackles, especially early on. In the first period alone, rookie cornerback Keenan Isaac missed three tackles, while cornerback Zyon McCollum, safety Nolan Turner, linebacker SirVocea Dennis, and defensive tackle Pat O’Connor all missed one.

Chalk it up to inexperience, as the Bucs didn’t have a single starter on defense play in the game, while the Steelers’ first-team offense marched down the field to score the game’s opening touchdown with ease.

Steelers WR George Pickens and Bucs CB Zyon McCollum – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“Sloppy, especially on the first drive,” Bowles said. “Check downs should not go for 10, 12, [and] 18 yards. Sloppy – guys just leaving their feet too early. We need a lot of tackling work. … We can work on it more and get that down.”

On Saturday morning, after watching the film, Bowles was confident they could improve the tackling on defense in practice – even without live tackling periods.

“It’s more or less coming to balance, as far as the tackle itself,” Bowles said. “We’re out of control when we get there. We’ve got to come to balance and have our knees under us and our legs under us so we can make the tackle. We’re coming in there flying, head full of steam, and we’re flailing around. We’ve got to come to balance a lot better – we can practice that.”

2 PROBING QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1: Should The Bucs Be Concerned About Luke Goedeke?

Yes. Goedeke was in on two of the sacks that Kyle Trask took – both to Steelers rookie edge rusher Nick Herbig on an outside rush and an inside move. The first sack was a rep that was nearly impossible for Goedeke to win.

Bucs RT Luke Goedeke – Photo By: Cliff Welch P/R

Tight end Dominique Dafney pulled to the backside and got in Goedeke’s way. Then instead of helping Goedeke block Herbig, rookie running back Sean Tucker decided not to and actually got in Goedeke’s way, too. It was an easy sack for Herbig.

On the second sack, Goedeke got beat on an inside move by Herbig, who also beat him on the inside on a run stuff. To his credit, Goedeke did make some nice plays in the run game, especially in the first quarter, where his blocking was relatively clean.

After watching his performance against the Steelers, I do have some legitimate concerns about whether or not Goedeke can become a competent starter at right tackle with shorter than-ideal arm length. There is also a legit question about whether or not he has enough athleticism to be an effective starter out on an island as well.

This was Goedeke’s second NFL game playing right tackle. His first came in Week 18 last year in a loss at Atlanta in the season finale. So it’s still way too early to pull the plug on the Goedeke experiment at right tackle.

Next week will be a very good test for Goedeke, as he’ll face the likes of John Franklin-Myers, Carl Lawson, Jermaine Johnson, and rookie Will McDonald IV in joint practices with the Jets. If he doesn’t show progress in the next two preseason games, Minnesota’s Danielle Hunter and Marcus Davenport could have an absolute field day against him in the 2023 season opener.

And if Goedeke continues to struggle, the Bucs can’t afford to wait as long as they did last year (Week 7) to try someone else at his position.

QUESTION 2: Which Bucs Looked Good vs. Steelers?

About 10 Bucs players had a good showing on Friday night, starting with Baker Mayfield, who got the start at QB. He protected the football, took what the defense gave him, and got a touchdown on the board early for the Bucs.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

Mayfield was an efficient 8-of-9 passing for 63 yards and a TD, while backup quarterback Kyle Trask finished 6-of-10 passing for 99 yards with one interception.

“I felt good,” Mayfield said. “Obviously, I’m sure Coach [Bowles] hit on it: a lot of things to clean up, offensively. We were pretty sloppy. A few illegal formations – it’s the little stuff – just getting lined up right. You can’t have a good play if you’re already hurting yourself. I felt good for the most part, but just operationally, we need to be a lot more clean on the offensive front.

“There [were] a couple run checks that I definitely could have gotten us into a better play, especially on the short-yardage stuff. We’ll watch the tape and we’ll get better from it. That’s why it’s preseason. Like I said, a lot of things to clean up, but we feel good about where we’re at.”

Rookie receiver Trey Palmer caught all four of his targets for 39 yards, including a nifty 8-yard touchdown in the back corner of the end zone from Mayfield. Fellow receiver David Moore, a veteran, led the Bucs with 66 yards on three catches with a long of 38 yards. Tight ends David Wells and Tanner Taula each made big plays with gains of 22 and 20 yards, respectively.

Running back Chase Edmonds showed plenty of speed, rushing for 18 yards on six carries, but having a 20-yard jaunt called back due to a questionable holding penalty.

Bucs QB John Wolford – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

John Wolford is the best third-string quarterback I’ve seen in Tampa Bay since I began covering the team 28 years ago. He completed 11-of-17 passes for 111 yards with one touchdown and led the Bucs on a nice, 95-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter.

On defense, outside linebacker Cam Gill had 1.5 sacks, while rookie edge rusher Markees Watts had a strip-sack. YaYa Diaby, a third-round outside linebacker, also made his presence felt with a couple of pressures and by setting the edge in the running game.

Inside linebacker J.J. Russell helped his cause with a nice interception across the middle, and cornerback Zyon McCollum also came up with a pick. But McCollum also missed a few tackles and took a poor angle on Anthony McFarland’s 12-yard touchdown run where he gave up outside containment. Unfortunately, those poor plays in run defense negated any possible good sentiments about his improved pass coverage.

2 BOLD PREDICTIONS

PREDICTION 1: Bucs Won’t Play A Lot Of Starters (Again) vs. Jets

Right or wrong, the Bucs will use the preseason games to play a lot of rookies and young players to make decisions on which guys to keep on the 53-man roster. That means another preseason game next week without seeing a lot of Bucs starters as Tampa Bay travels to New York to face the Jets in joint practices on Wednesday and Thursday and then a game next Saturday.

Bucs C Ryan Jensen, WRs Mike Evans and Russell Gage and RB Rachaad White – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“If they can get a lot of reps in [during joint practices with the Jets], yeah,” Bowles said. “Those [starters] who don’t get a lot of reps in will play in the game. If we can get the reps that we need to get in in those two practices – which they will take the bulk of – we’ll evaluate that probably that Thursday or Friday.”

Bowles said he plans to get his veterans and starters more reps against the Jets in the joint practices.

“It’s good for the veteran guys to go up there because, in preseason, you hardly show anything,” Bowles said. “It’s pretty vanilla. You can get all of your stuff in during the week in practice. It’s really played like a game – that’s why you’re allowed to rest those guys come game time. The practices aren’t on film, so you can really run your defense and your offense and they can run their defense and their offense. You can get a look at live stuff full speed.

“Come preseason games, everything is very vanilla. That’s when the younger guys usually get their experience to fly around and play. The practices for us are like games for the veterans, and the game itself is really for experience for the rookies.”

PREDICTION 2: Baker Mayfield Will Be The Starter In Week 1 vs. Vikings

Bucs OC Dave Canales and QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Friday’s night performance against the Steelers was a good start for Mayfield. As I alluded to in Friday’s SR’s Fab 5 column, it would take a lot of guts for Todd Bowles to name the inexperienced Kyle Trask the starter over Mayfield for the season opener at Minnesota.

Trask certainly looked better and more comfortable in his 2023 preseason debut than he did last preseason, but he didn’t help his cause by throwing an ill-timed interception and not leading the Bucs on any scoring drives. Although he didn’t start against the Steelers, Trask played with the same offensive line and threw to the same receivers and tight ends that Mayfield did.

“Yeah, they both played with the same offensive line, so you evaluate them accordingly,” Bowles said. “I thought Kyle made some good throws as well. He commanded the offense just the same. They both had the same type of plays, they both had the same guys – receivers and offensive line wise – so we’ll continue that next week.”