With Thursday’s kickoff of the Hall of Fame Game between the Jaguars and the Raiders, the NFL Preseason has officially arrived! I don’t know about you, but that’s extremely exciting to me as the Buccaneers look for another ring.
Most of the teams in the NFL play their starters lightly throughout the preseason, as a chance to keep the rust off and gel their team chemistry.
Generally speaking, teams will play their skill position players only 1-2 drives per game depending on the week, and their players on the offensive and defensive lines will usually play a little more just to ensure that the lines have their communication and reads where they want them to be before the start of the season.
However, as we have a very proven, and consistent, but aging roster….. We really need to use the preseason as a chance to keep our starters, at all positions, healthy. The Buccaneers already been hit with a major, likely lengthy loss of Ryan Jensen, as well as a scare when Tristan Wirfs went down with a less serious injury during training camp.
The trenches in football are extremely physical, and players are fighting for roster spots, so it’s very easy for a player to get their leg rolled up on, suffer ankle wear and tear, as well as so many other possibilities for things to go wrong.
Injuries happen at any position in football, we saw it just the other night in the first preseason game of the year when Jaguars defensive back Tyson Campbell went down with an injury(although luckily it did not appear serious).
In a season where we need to maximize the health of our team, as this could be our last season with a high level quarterback for the foreseeable future….. It is critical that Todd Bowles takes care of the health of this team first and foremost.
Let’s hope for a healthy season for our team!
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