The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-0) got a good look at several rookies—on both sides of the ball—in the teams’ first preseason action in a 24-16 win against the New York Jets (0-1) on Friday night in East Rutherford, N.J.
While many were eager to see offensive rookie wide receiver Ted Hurst III and rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels in action, it was an undrafted rookie defensive back, Ayden Garnes, that made the most noise in Tampa Bay’s win.
Early on, the Buccaneers’ defense came out rusty, giving up 10 points on the Jets’ first two drives of the game. After a 23-yard field goal by Chase McLaughlin with 9:59 left in the second quarter, Garnes gave the Buccaneers the momentum.
On the Jets’ ensuing drive after the field goal, on third-and-7, the undrafted free-agent out of Arizona intercepted a Bailey Zappe pass near midfield and ran it back for a 47-yard touchdown to tie the game 10-10 8:38 left in the first half.
Garnes’ pick-six seemingly woke up the Tampa Bay defense as defensive lineman Elijah Roberts sacked Zappe on the next offensive play. After the Roberts sack, safety Rashad Wisdom gave the defense its second interception of the game on a deflected Zappe pass with 7:45 left in the second quarter. Garnes finished the game with three total tackles and a tackle for loss to go along with his touchdown.
“We knew he could cover. The biggest thing [was] about missing tackles. We were worried about—he missed one early … but he came back with a pick,” head coach Todd Bowles said after the game. “He doesn't carry … plays the next play. He forgets about it like a good corner should do, so he's getting better every week."
With quarterbacks Baker Mayfield and Jake Browning not playing in the first preseason game, Daniels got his first opportunity to see the field to open the second half after Connor Bazelak started the game.
On the Buccaneers’ first drive of the third quarter Daniels, who was also an undrafted free agent, led the offense down the field on a 12-play, 80-yard drive that ended with running back Josh Williams running it in from 12 yards out to give Tampa Bay its first offensive score of the season and the lead for good. On the drive the former Kansas Jayhawk completed four of his five passes for 57 yards.
Daniels capped his debut with a 1-yard touchdown run with 3:24 left in the game. He finished the game completing 10-of-15 of his passes for 111 yards and zero interceptions.
Although he’s been the darling of training camp with numerous impressive catches, Hurst had a quiet debut for the Buccaneers. The third-round pick out of Georgia State had just two catches for 19 yards, but was a go-to target for Bazelak early on. Hurst was targeted on the first pass attempt of the game (incomplete), converted on a third-and-5 with a 12-yard catch on Tampa Bay’s first scoring drive of the game and had his first professional touchdown catch in his hands before the pass was broken up in the second quarter.
Despite it being the first preseason game, these rookies got their NFL careers off to a solid start.
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