Bucs blues for Aaron Rodgers.
So the Bucs faced the Steelers’ first-team offense yesterday and while Joe has delivered plenty of perspective from being on the ground in Pittsburgh, it might be fun to hear a take from the Steelers’ side.
“That was kind of a disaster,” said Ray Fittipaldo of the _Pittsburgh Post-Gazette_.
Fittipaldo, on local sports radio, was describing the Steelers’ first team running a two-minute drill against the Bucs to close practice.
The Steelers are strict with media. No details from a regular season practice can be shared without quotes about any specific happening from a player or coach. Otherwise, everything must remain a secret. And those were the rules for yesterday’s practice.
So Steelers media speaks in generalities to protect its access to all regular season practices. (In Tampa, the Bucs simply don’t let media watch a regular-season practice, only the first 30 minutes, which is largely warmup.)
Was it a disaster? Not for the Bucs.
The Steelers passed on every down, typical of a two-minute drill. Following a first-down incompletion, Tykee Smith, Haason Reddick and Jamel Dean all made plays for the Bucs on downs 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Yes, Reddick had dropped in coverage. Go figure.
Joe almost thinks Fittipaldo was being too harsh on the hometown team. The Bucs simply made plays.
Fittipaldo went on to say the intensity of practice was strong compared to most Steelers’ practices. He went on to say, overall, the Bucs won the practice.