The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ highly-touted 2025 offense faced one of its first true tests this week, going head-to-head in a joint practice versus one of the most skilled and expensive defenses in the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers. And by all accounts, the Bucs starters won the day.
“The Bucs WR trio of Mike Evans, Jalen McMillan and Emeka Egbuka looked dominant through much of today’s practice, and Evans remains one of the NFL’s most unstoppable weapons around the goal line,” Buccaneers team reporter Scott Smith noted after joint practice with the Steelers.
On a similar note, Tampa Bay Times beat reporter Rick Stroud reported: “Bucs WR Mike Evans couldn’t be covered during practice Thursday and won most of his battles with Steelers CB Jalen Ramsey. Todd Bowles has seen enough and won’t play him [Saturday].”
Coach Bowles initially downplayed Evans and the wide receiver room’s performance after practice, according to The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo (who covers the Steelers).
“Those are two All-Pros, two guys competing, wanting to be the best and wanting to get better,” Bowles said. “Just as hungry as Jalen [Ramsey] is, Mike [Evans] is as well. So it was a good battle. It was good, friendly competition. Obviously, you got to see the tape. There were no winners. It was just good work.”
Although Bowles claimed that there were “no winners” after the Buccaneers’ joint practice with the Steelers, a follow-up post from Stroud told a different story.
“After reviewing the tape of today’s practice, Todd Bowles just told me he believes [quarterback] Baker Mayfield played so well today in the joint workout with the Steelers he will NOT play in Saturday night’s game,” Stroud informed.
Or, in other words, the tape looked real good.
Buccaneers Run Defense Causes Problems for Steelers Offense at Joint Practice
The Buccaneers’ wide receivers may have been described as “dominant” facing a secondary that includes Ramsey, Joey Porter Jr., Darius Slay, DeShon Elliott, and more, but the Tampa Bay defense seemed to hold up well on August 14 as well.
“Often in camp, the Steelers offense had little room to run against the bolstered defensive front,” DeFabo wrote on the Pittsburgh side of things. “Thursday presented a different kind of challenge. With Buccaneers veteran Vita Vea in the middle of a four-down front — to go along with 2023 first-round pick Calijah Kancey and edge rusher Yaya Diaby — the Buccaneers allowed the fourth-fewest rushing yards per game (97.8) and the ninth-fewest yards per carry (4.3) last year. They added free-agent edge rusher Haason Reddick to the mix this offseason.”
“Based on center Zach Frazier’s assessment, there’s still plenty of room for improvement,” the Steelers beat reporter concluded.
He went on to quote Frazier, who called the Pittsburgh offense “a little sloppy” with areas that they can “definitely clean it up.”
ESPN Steelers reporter Brooke Pryor also relayed that “Steelers and Bucs joint practice finished off with a two-minute drill where the Steelers offense didn’t pick up a first down, [tight end] Pat Freiermuth confirmed. [Wide receiver] DK Metcalf dropped a pass on second down, but the overall sentiment was they needed to clean a bunch of stuff up.”
That type of accountability isn’t generally shown after a strong practice, and although this being a closed session prevented the media from divulging too much information, the Steelers and Buccaneers players hinted throughout post-practice interviews that Tampa Bay was the better team.
Buccaneer Preseason Week 2 Details, Notable Injury
The Buccaneers’ second preseason outing of 2025 will kick off on Saturday, August 16, at 7 p.m. ET. The game will be played at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.
There was one notable injury from a 53-man roster battle standpoint at the Buccaneers’ joint practice on August 14, as undrafted rookie safety JJ Roberts left practice early.
“Bucs DB JJ Roberts suffered an injured knee during a special teams period,” Stroud reported on Thursday. “He came off on his own, but I was told it could be serious.”
Roberts was seen as a dark horse to potentially steal a roster spot from a veteran safety, so any prolonged injury absence could be detrimental to his chances of securing a Week 1 roster spot.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Buccaneers Position Group Praised After ‘Dominant’ Joint Practice vs. Steelers appeared first on Heavy Sports.