“Competitive” was the one word that New York Jets offensive coordinator Frank Reich used to describe the upcoming joint practices against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
On Tuesday, August 11, and Wednesday, August 12, the Jets will host the Bucs for a pair of joint practices at 10 am ET at the team’s training facilities.
“I mean, we couldn’t be going up against a better defense, like this defense is always notoriously very good against the run. I mean, just good in general. Coach (Todd) Bowles, a legendary defensive coach, has always been great, so it’s going to be competitive. You know, we’re not super game planning for them, we’re not spending too much time, we’re spending a little bit of time because you got to know a little bit about them, but just more run our core plays. Run our core plays, win our one-on-one battles, execute our basic core schemes, and then learn from them,” Reich told the media.
A True Measuring Stick
All offseason, the Jets have been battling against themselves. On Saturday, August 8, they held an intra-squad scrimmage with the green and white. Now, a football team with a different colored jersey will step on the field for a pair of practices.
The green and white have been praised for increasing the talent level from 2025 to 2026.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell ranked the offensive playmakers on every team in the NFL. Last year, the Jets placed 27th on that list. This year, they placed 12th.
Now the team can test out what has been written on paper, to what is going to transpire on the gridiron.
The Bucs are the perfect opponent for this exercise. They aren’t considered one of the top Super Bowl contenders, and they aren’t one of the bottom dwellers either.
They have made the playoffs in five of the last six years, and they won a Super Bowl in 2020.
Can the Jets compete?
Coach Talks About What He Wants to See
“Improvement and the discipline of what we do on both sides of the ball, and including special teams. Obviously, we talked about, we have two different schemes that we’re coming in with, and now once you bring in another element from another team, cover structures, run plays, pass concepts, man it really tests your discipline on how you’re doing things because at some point, you get used to your offense, but when you have another team come in, and that’s the good thing about joint practices, is you get to test what you do against another team. So, I’m just looking for our guys to improve and be disciplined about what we’re doing,” head coach Aaron Glenn explained what he is looking for from these practices.
In this new age of joint practices, these can often be even more important than the preseason games. The only cameras that are around at practice are your own or the other team’s. In a preseason game, everyone can see what you’re doing and what you’re working on.
Typically, it’s pretty vanilla stuff that you show in a preseason game. In joint practices, you have a chance to show stuff that you have been working on and see how that works with another squad.
These are two professional football teams. Both teams want to win the day. It’s going to be hot, intense, and physical. There are two big things you want to avoid: injuries and fights. Naturally, there will be plenty of testosterone on the field, but you don’t want it to cross the line.
This should be a great measuring stick for the Jets to gauge where they stand heading into the 2026 season.
Jets Share 1-Word to Describe Upcoming Bucs Joint Practices