Jaguars vs. Buccaneers: Who Were the Top Performers in Preseason Week 2?

Which Jacksonville Jaguars stood out the most against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers?

Aug 17, 2024; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback John Wolford (11) is sacked by Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Breeland Speaks (67) in the fourth quarter during a preseason game at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports / Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

With Week 2 of the NFL Preseason out of the way, a reminder to the members of the Duval Devout that today’s contest is like an episode of the iconic comedy TV show Seinfeld. It’s performed in front of a live stadium audience and the scoreboard is a show about nothing.

That is further compounded by the fact that the Jacksonville Jaguars hosted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for joint practices earlier in the week. This made it so that head coach Doug Pederson had no intention of starting most of the top of the depth chart.

With that out of the way, here were the top performers in the 20-7 win vs the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Parker Washington

Seeing him with a touchdown in the stat line might be the least surprising occurrence of the evening. Once news that the top of the depth chart wouldn’t see time, Washington was surely licking his chops. The first score of the game was a mid-2nd quarter grab on a 25-yard throw from quarterback Mac Jones.  

https://twitter.com/Jaguars/status/1824966102499147812

Within the Duval Devout there’s talk of him being the heir apparent for Christian Kirk and plays like this are why. Washington finished the evening with three catches for 38 yards.

Mac Jones

The former New England Patriots starting quarterback Mac Jones not only proved tonight why John Shipley of Jaguars on SI picked him as a player to watch but also the reason the Jaguars brought him in. He completed 16 of his 23 passes for 210 yards with two touchdowns on the evening. This is despite Elijah Cooks dropping a pass on third down to end a two-minute drill late in the first half that Jones was managing well.

That being said, he did take the Jags 49 yards in 35 seconds to close the second quarter for a shot at a touchdown where the offense had to settle for a field goal and a 10-7 halftime lead. He threw one more score of 31 yards to Brevin Easton coming in relief for an injured CJ Beathard who suffering a groin injury.

Jones is a guy Jacksonville can develop or eventually trade away for draft picks in the future over and above having someone who can keep the offense somewhat potent should Trevor Lawrence hit the injured list.

Tank Bigsby

Bigsby leading the team in rushing and receiving yards for the first quarter and a half of the contest until Washington turned in the Jags’ first points of the game is only where his impressive performance begins.

To put up 10 carries for 37 yards with an interior offensive line that is struggling as mightily as this group is worth highlighting. He also hauled in three catches for 19 yards.

Honorable Mention

First is Austin Trammell. The former Falcon and Ram out of Rice University is hoping to head into his 4th NFL season sneaking onto the Jaguars roster in 2024. As the top receiver in the game with four catches for 75 yards, Trammel made the crucial catch that put the Jags in the red zone late in the 1st half to help secure the lead heading into the locker room.

The lack of defensive players in this analysis speaks more to the mediocre performance of Kyle Trask and John Woolford at quarterback for the Bucs than it does their performance, yet the Jags secure no takeaways on the night. Breeland Speaks turned in the first sack for the Jags.  The others were by Joe Gaziano and Esezi Otomewo.

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