JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A solid first day of work.
That’s how most of the Jaguars locker room described Wednesday’s joint practice against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The practice lasted just under two-and-a-half hours and gave both teams a different look than they’ve seen over the first couple of weeks of training camp.
This was the first time in Gus Bradley’s four years in Jacksonville that the Jaguars have participated in a joint practice and he was very satisfied with the early results.
“Very good- I loved it,” said Bradley. “I thought it was great for our team, a lot that we can take away from this practice. I think physically we showed up. Mentally you can see some guys had a little bit of anxiety. I think they had to work through that part, but as far as learning lessons from this and practice tempo and seeing different looks, outstanding.”
Bradley also mentioned that the Jaguars didn’t game plan for Tampa Bay. This gave the team an opportunity to make their own adjustments on the field.
“Well, I think you go against a different team that gives you completely different looks,” said Bradley. “You have not really studied them and the personnel, you have not studied them so there are some things that were thrown our way, but the ability to adjust quickly and really the mentality part, the mental toughness part I think is good for that.”
Heading into this two-day session most of the Jaguars expected a scuffle or two to break out. Instead, Wednesday’s practice was clean and everyone kept their composure.
“Poise was a big word the last couple of days with our players,” said Bradley. “I thought there were some things we’ll have to clean up. I know there were some hits that maybe were a little bit after the whistle, but for the most part I thought it was real professional. The guys handled it like pros and it really worked out well.”
There were also a couple of familiar faces at Thursday’s practice. Former Jaguars head coach Tom Coughlin and former University of Central Florida head coach George O’Leary made an appearance.