The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tennessee Titans will square off on Saturday night at Nissan Stadium in the second preseason game for both teams. Tampa Bay is off to an 0-1 start after losing 26-24 at home to the Miami Dolphins last Saturday as a 1.5-point underdog. Tennessee also dropped its opener by a 23-10 final against the Baltimore Ravens last Thursday, failing to cover as a three-point road underdog.
These teams met last preseason, with the Titans rolling to a 34-3 victory.
The Buccaneers rested just about every starter as expected in preseason week one, and were unable to complete a rally over the Dolphins last Saturday as the defense struggled in the first half. Tampa Bay struck late in the first quarter on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Blaine Gabbert to Jaelon Darden before Ke'Shawn Vaughn scored on a one-yard run midway through the second and Jerreth Sterns brought in a 19-yard score at the 7:55 mark of the third, but the Dolphins kicked a go-ahead field goal with 6:56 left that made the difference.
Kyle Trask played the vast majority of snaps at quarterback, finishing 25 of 33 for 258 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Rachaad White was the leading rusher with seven carries for 32 yards, while Tyler Johnson reeled in six catches for 73 yards.
“It's a lot about the development of what he's learned and seeing what we have,” first-year head coach Todd Bowles told Tampa Bay's website about Trask's performance. “We hadn't seen him under pressure. We hadn't seen him get knocked down and throw an incomplete pass and get up. We hadn't seen him throw an interception [and] we hadn't seen him throw a touchdown in a preseason game to date, other than practice.”
Bowles now has a 7-10 record in his preseason career, with the results before this coming between 2015 and 2018 when he was the head coach of the New York Jets. Tampa Bay went 1-2 in the preseason last year, with the offense putting up just 13.33 points per game.
There's no reason for Tom Brady to take a preseason snap, so quarterback duties will largely fall to Trask, a second-year singal caller out of Florida. Gabbert looked sharp in his two drives on Saturday, going 5/5 for 56 yards, and the veteran backup should get around that level of playing time in game two as well.&# 13;
The biggest position battle on the Buccaneers is over wide receiver depth, and Johnson has a chance to go off in the preseason after looking solid last regular season with 36 catches for 360 yards. Sterns is a very intriguing rookie after he racked up an unreal 150 receptions for 1,910 yards and 17 touchdowns his finale collegiate year at Western Kentucky.
Wideout is thin with Russell Gage (leg), Chris Godwin (knee), Mike Evans (hamstring) and Breshad Perriman (leg) all dealing with injuries. Linebacker Grant Stuard (hamstring), center Ryan Jensen (knee), running back Giovanni Bernard (ankle), running back Kenjon Barner (undisclosed), linebacker Cam Gill (foot) and safety Keanu Neal (undisclosed) also are unlikely to play.