Sunday, 3 a.m.
It doesn't happen often, but the Tampa Bay Bucs have achieved one goal in training camp.
They made head coach Bruce Arians' smile.
A day after Arians expressed disappointment with the team's practice, Arians liked what he saw of his team on Saturday. There was more life, more focus. In his eyes, the Bucs' got better.
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"Much better today," Arians said. "It looked more like football practice than soccer. Football players show up when the noise level goes up. A lot of guys look great in shorts, but they disappear when the noise level goes up. So I was really happy to see it. I can't wait to grade the tape. Good ebb and flow at the end of practice – defense, offense. I thought everybody practiced to win rather than practiced to practice, and there's a big damn difference."
Guard Ali Marpet thought it was a better day, too.
“I think today was actually a great day in pads," Marpet said. "I think the offense won some and the defense won some. It was a physical day and it’s a great day to build on. I think this will be better moving forward.
“I think in training camp there are going to be some natural swings. As long as your trending in the right way, I think all of us are putting our best effort out there. That’s how training camp goes, but as long as you’re trending in that direction and that’s how we feel right now.”
Arians didn't want to talk about his goals for next week's practices.
We don't think about next week. We can only control today. And all we control is tomorrow. Next week we'll see. We do have a game at the end of that [third] week, which makes it a little bit different, but we're still practicing against ourselves until we play that game, so every single day is just taking care of today's business."
Arians didn't give his team a perfect score, however. He didn't like the way practice ended for receiver Scotty Miller.
"He's got to get better with bodies on him," Arians said. "That last play, he's got to make that catch. It's going to be grimy. He's got to make more grimy catches. We know he can run by people, but you can't be a one-trick pony in this league. You've got to be able to play with big bodies on you. He's getting better."
The Bucs' defense continues to thrive under defensive coordinator Todd Bowles.
“He’s the type of defensive coordinator I would run through a brick wall for," said defensive end William Gholston. "If he said, ‘Hey, if you hit it at this angle, it’s going to fall down,’ and I wouldn’t second guess it. He’s always right.
“It's just the way that he prepares - for not only him, but the way the whole defensive staff prepares. It’s always on point. They always have the keys and tips to show us how to study and then it became us becoming player/coaches. They’re showing us how, not only our position, but every phase of the game.”