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Too Much Emotion; Too Little Fundamentals August 25th, 2026Joe knows the Bucs placec a strong emphasis this offseason on signing and drafting guys that played with a passion, with emotion. And yes, played with violence. But sometimes, all that can get to a player’s head and they stop thinking straight. That seems to be the case today at Jacksonville where the Bucs had their first of two controlled scrimmages with the Jags prior to the last worthless preseason game of the summer on Friday, also against the Jags. That sure seemed to be what KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles thought as he explained in his post-practice remarks. “I thought that we got some good work out there,” Bowles said, as he often does after each practice. “I thought we played more with emotion than we did fundamentals. “So we’ve got to clean that up because those guys haven’t played in a while. But, I thought it was very good work.” Joe saw Bowles only watching the defense during practice. Well, sometimes you have to take the bad with the good. The difference, by adding guys with a heart and a pulse, guys who play with their head on fire, means from time to time they won’t think. And that can get you burned. But man, the whole defense was so lifeless down the stretch last year, Joe will take some bad plays if it means much better results the rest of the time.