Bringing the Juice

Jalen McMillan only played seven snaps against the Cleveland Browns in his ramp-up to full action. He missed the majority of training camp with a knee injury and progressed to full participation in practice last week. The coaching staff was cautious in monitoring his workload in the return and against the Vikings on Sunday in Week Three, the third-year player will likely have a larger role in the offense. McMillan has the versatility to line up all along the formation and the long strider has a knack for creating space mid-route with leverage and fakes. He is a RAC weapon and has an outstanding feel of spatial awareness and can throttle up and down to generate windows of cushion from defensive backs. The route-running aficionado will help elevate the offense on Sunday as the Vikings come to town.

“Yeah, excited about J-Mac,” said Robinson. “He was getting back into it. He didn’t practice for so long during training camp, and, you know, getting back into a full-week rhythm and all those things that come with it…The only way to get good at football is to play football. So, getting him back out there and seeing how much he can help us out – whether it’s this week, whether it’s next week, whatever it might be – we’re excited because J-Mac has a ton of juice. He can run the full route tree. He’s a great separator at the line of scrimmage. Everything we’ve seen from J-Mac from the start of OTAs – he had really good OTAs, and then he was rolling those early days in camp, as you guys can remember…So, it was a bummer he missed so much time, but it’s great to get him kind of back into a normal flow, and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

Communication is Key

The Vikings have a 79.3 blitz percentage in 2026, which is the highest in the NFL per Next Gen Stats, with the next closest team being the Panthers at 52.6 percent. The Vikings’ pass rush is tied for first in the league with eight sacks, and they are first in quarterback hits (25) and pressures (44). Brian Flores loves to dial up the blitz and can send anyone, while also dropping anyone. His 3-4 base with hybrid sub-package system is built aroung physically imposing its will and Baker Mayfield is 11-12 for a league-leading 91.7 completion percentage against the blitz in 2026 per Next Gen Stats. For the Vikings, Dallas Turner leads the league with 20 pressures, and he will vie to collapse the pocket around Mayfield in Week Three. For Tampa Bay, being technically sound in the trenches with effective communication to pick up twists/stunts will be paramount.

“You know you’re getting pressure no matter what – just the percentages [are] extremely high,” described Mayfield. “It’s always game-plan specific, so you can scout up some looks and all this, but you know you’re going to have something new that you see on Sunday. [It’s about] really trusting your rules, your day-one protection stuff, being on the same page with the guys – verbal communication, non-verbal communication, signals and stuff – and really, it just comes down to being decisive. With me, protection calls with Graham [Barton] up front, getting those guys on the same page, and also guys running their routes. If there’s a vacancy in the defense, somebody blitzes, you’ve got to be on the same page, be decisive in your routes and, yeah, go from there.”

Technically Sound

In 2026, the Buccaneers rank 26th in the NFL in sacks allowed with seven. Through two weeks, Mayfield has frequently been under duress, forcing the signal-caller to check down, scramble, or hit a target over the middle for a quick completion on options, hitches and crossers. Members of the offensive line have voiced struggles at combatting twists and stunts and on Sunday, Flores will certainly bring the house with various pressure packages. It is a copycat league so the previous successful trend will continue, and Cody Mauch discussed the emphasis on technique and continuity in the interior to fortify the unit against twists. With Tristan Wirfs missing much of the offseason workout program, the unit has not had a substantial amount of time on task together at the line of scrimmage and as the unit continues to get into a groove, development will ascend. For the Bucs this week, it is back to fundamentals.

“It’s everything,” described Mauch on the unit’s struggles through two games. “It’s, yes, mainly communication. It’s yelling to guys if my guy’s picking or if I’m going to get picked. It’s just the communication verbally that way but then passing it off physically as well. It’s just sometimes maybe, like me, my feet are all over the place or something. It’s just getting your technique and things. It’s really those twist games, especially like the interior when they’re twisting three guys, really all [of us have] to be on the same page and pass it off physically and verbally as well.”