The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Jacksonville Jaguars stepped onto the gridiron together for a joint practice before their face-off, and egos clashed. However, keeping the tempers aside, Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield accepted where his team lagged as the Jacksonville Jaguars left no stone unturned to give the Buccaneers a wake-up call. 

“It’s tough. I thought, you know, they gave us some good looks,” shared Mayfield in the post-practice presser. “They were playing with their hair on fire, I can say that. We definitely, if this was a full game, I don’t think we would have come out of it on the winning side of it. So just a little eye-opener. Got to get back and watch the tape.”

According to BucsGameDay’s Logan Robinson, Tampa Bay’s Alex Anzalone and Jacksonville’s Ezra Cleveland were caught in a scuffle, prompting the teams to join in. Some, like Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, also tried to separate the two and bring the heat down. But it was just a bad day for the Buccaneers overall.

Todd Bowles’ offense struggled for most of the practice, recording only one touchdown on a corner shot to rookie receiver Ted Hurst, per Robinson. The problems extended to the offensive line, where Luke Goedeke could not contain Josh Hines-Allen, who repeatedly won his matchups against the Bucs’ right tackle.

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The Buccaneers’ defense was equally pushed to the corner by the Jaguars ‘ offense. Trevor Lawrence struck Brian Thomas Jr. for a deep touchdown off play-action after the receiver beat Zyon McCollum downfield. Later, Parker Washington made a contested catch over Jacob Parrish for another score.

Mayfield had a rough finish to practice, as an apparent miscommunication led to an errant throw that was intercepted on the final play.

“You know, it’s never as good or as bad as you think it is,” Mayfield added. “But I think from my standpoint, they out-physicald us, and that’s never what you want to have.”

Earlier in the month, Tampa Bay also had fights with the New York Jets in a joint practice. Head coach Todd Bowles said outright that the staff doesn’t want any fights to happen on the field, period.

“We just came up here to play ball,” he’d said. According to the Associated Press, four fights broke out that day, including one with Goedeke and rookie Jets EDGE David Bailey.

But the Jags tested the Buccaneers’ limits, eventually getting to them.

With how Jacksonville monopolized the spotlight on Tuesday, the Buccaneers go into the second joint practice on Wednesday with a bitter taste. However, if they want to end the preseason undefeated, they have got to fight back harder. The two teams are set to play each other this Friday, August 28. The flared tensions between the two should amp up some real competition.