{"id":372487,"date":"2026-08-15T19:56:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T19:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/372487\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T19:56:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T19:56:38","slug":"bucs-defense-handles-jets-as-starters-sit-preseason-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/372487\/","title":{"rendered":"Bucs’ defense handles Jets as starters sit preseason opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) \u2014 Rookie fourth-rounder Cade Klubnik led the New York Jets to scores on his two drives after a surprise start in place of Geno Smith<\/a> in a 24-16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the preseason opener for both teams Friday night.<\/p>\n

Klubnik, competing for the No. 2 quarterback job<\/a>, opened the game under center when Smith was scratched because of a sore foot, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press. Smith was expected to play at least a few snaps, along with the rest of New York’s starters. But coach Aaron Glenn opted to rest him in favor of Klubnik.<\/p>\n

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the team didn’t announce the reason for Smith sitting out.<\/p>\n

Klubnik looked confident and competent against the Buccaneers, who sat their starters on both sides of the ball.<\/p>\n

The former Clemson star, working with the starting offense, completed a 12-yard pass to Mason Taylor to begin the 12-play, 55-yard opening drive. He had completions of 21 and 11 yards to Garrett Wilson on third-down plays, but threw incomplete to Wilson in the end zone on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers 9. New York settled for a 27-yard field goal by Cade York.<\/p>\n

Klubnik came on with the Jets’ backups on their second possession and got things started with a 5-yard pass to first-rounder Omar Cooper Jr. Braelon Allen, back from a knee injury that limited him to four games last season, capped the drive with a 31-yard dash into the end zone<\/a> to make it 10-0.<\/p>\n

That was all for Klubnik, who finished 5 of 7 for 56 yards. He was replaced by Bailey Zappe, who had an interception returned 47 yards for a touchdown<\/a> by undrafted rookie Ayden Garnes on his first series.<\/p>\n

Zappe’s second series also ended by being picked off, this time by Rashad Wisdom. Zappe finished 6 of 10 for 55 yards and the two INTs before being replaced in the third quarter by Brady Cook, who started the final four games for the Jets last season.<\/p>\n

Bucs backups under center with Mayfield and Browning sitting<\/p>\n

Third-string quarterback Connor Bazelak started for the Buccaneers with Baker Mayfield and the starters sitting out and backup Jake Browning unavailable.<\/p>\n

Browning was expected to start, but he tweaked his back during the Buccaneers’ joint practice with the Jets on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

On Tampa Bay’s third drive, Bazelak nearly had a touchdown pass to third-rounder Ted Hurst III, but undrafted rookie Mory Bamba knocked it out of his hands in the end zone. The Bucs settled for a 23-yard field goal by Chase McLaughlin.<\/p>\n

Bazelak was 12 of 20 for 72 yards before being replaced by undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels for Tampa Bay’s first possession of the second half.<\/p>\n

Daniels has a dynamic debut for the Bucs<\/p>\n

Daniels’ first NFL series was capped by Josh Williams’ 12-yard touchdown run that put the Buccaneers up 17-13.<\/p>\n

Daniels, who played parts of six seasons at Kansas, capped the scoring by running the ball up the middle for a 1-yard touchdown with 3:24 left. He was 10 of 15 for 111 yards and ran for 9 yards and the score on three carries.<\/p>\n

Injuries<\/p>\n

Bamba, who had four passes defensed for the Jets, returned in the fourth quarter after being checked for a head injury late in the third.<\/p>\n

Up next<\/p>\n

Buccaneers: Host Kansas City on Aug. 22.<\/p>\n

Jets: At Pittsburgh on Aug. 21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) \u2014 Rookie fourth-rounder Cade Klubnik led the New York Jets to scores on his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2205,28,115,4548,110,135,4547,137,136],"class_list":["post-372487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-associated-press","tag-florida","tag-news","tag-professional-football","tag-sports","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-bucs","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}