When the Bucks started their preseason with the Steelers last Friday, they had 19 inactive players. Many of them were starters, including wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, offensive linemen Tristan Wilfs and Matt Feiler, and the entire starting defense among those absent.
After the game, head coach Todd Bowles said the decision to rest so many starters was because they had a lot of young players they wanted to see in action and they already knew what was in the regular starter group. He said it was due to the fact that he knew.
Bucks C Ryan Jensen, WR Mike Evans, Russell Gage, RB Rachard White – Photo Credit: Cliff Welch/PR
At the time, it seemed unclear whether the team’s regular lineup would be suitable for Week 2 of the preseason, especially given the chance to face the Jets during a few joint practices before Saturday’s game at MetLife Stadium. It seemed to me.
Bowles said at a press conference on Saturday the following day that joint practice was the best way for veterans to prepare, and that many of the younger players would be available when it came time to play.
“It’s good to have the veterans up there because they can show so little in the preseason. It’s pretty vanilla. You can get it all done during a week of practice,” Bowles said. . “It’s really like a game. That’s why the players are allowed to rest when it’s time to play.
“Practices aren’t captured on film so you can actually run your own defense and offense and they can run their defense and offense. You can watch the live footage at full speed. When it comes to pre-season games, everything is very mundane.That’s when young players get experience and jump around and play.For us, practice is like a game for the veterans, but for the rookies. The match itself is truly an experience.”
Bowles then gave a little insight into how he and the coaching staff decide whether to keep the first-team players out of Saturday’s game again.
“If they can get a lot of reps, yes,” Bowles said. “Even the guy with the low rep count is going to be in the game. If he gets the rep he needs in two practices, that’s the majority, but I’ll probably evaluate it on Thursday or Friday.”
That’s a very simple answer from Bowles, just came in front Jets canceled Thursday practice. Instead of holding two practices between Tampa Bay and New York, organizers opted for just one practice. on wednesday — and practice separately on Thursdays.
So what are you going to do?
Will the Bucks change plans for Saturday’s game?
Bucks Head Coach Todd Bowles – Photo Credit: USA Today
If manager Todd Bowles wanted the starters to play against real opponents during two joint practices and then stay out of Saturday’s game, the Bucks would have a joint run with the Jets. Now that you can only practice once, is there any change? Was Bowles disappointed that he only played one day against New York?
“I don’t want to say I was disappointed. It’s always good to play against someone because you get to see all sorts of different looks,” Bowles said. “But we are going to oppose ourselves [Thursday] Because we know what to see in the season and we have some things to accomplish. Therefore we are happy with it. ”
But does that mean the Bucks’ starter plans will change?
“No, let’s have a good practice.” [Thursday]’ said Bowles. “They will see most of the work tomorrow, so we need to throw in a lot of what they can learn.”
Bowles plans to sit out a significant number of the Bucks’ starters for Saturday’s game, even without a second joint practice, but is that the right thing to do?
You never want to risk injury in exhibition play, but if the starters don’t hit the field on Saturday and miss next week’s preseason finale, their first real team-on-team The match will take place in the first week of play. regular season in Minnesota. Sure, they could face Baltimore in the final exhibition game, but that seems unlikely based on their performance in the final preseason game.
Bucks QB Kyle Trask – Photo Credit: USA Today
But in another sense, having the same starting group on the offensive line and wide receivers in Week 2 of the preseason might make sense in the context of the Bucks’ quarterback competition.
Baker Mayfield started last week, ahead of the offensive line of Justin Scurll, Aaron Stinney, Robert Heinzee, Cody Mauch and Luke Goedeke. There were also no Mike Evans, Chris Godwin or Russell Gage on receiver.
So with Kyle Trask starting in Saturday’s game against the Jets, and having the same general group around him on offense, the Tampa Bay coaching staff will have a look at what the quarterback battle is going to look like. should be able to see well.
We’ll see if the Bucks keep up their offensive star and overall starting defense again on Saturday, but that seems like the direction they could be headed.
