National Football League

Bucs prep for Saints with practice at Tropicana Field

Published Oct. 1, 2014 5:15 p.m. ET

foxsports

St. PETERSURG, Fla. -- Baseball at Tropicana Field is over for the season, but football made its presence known Wednesday.

Recent rain showers contributed to a change of venue for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' practice. They held their afternoon workout at Tropicana Field in nearby St. Petersburg, Fla. -- 23 miles from their Tampa facility. The work on the artificial turf inside the dome, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, served two purposes: To prepare them for conditions at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Sunday when facing the New Orleans Saints and to escape the damp fields behind One Buc Place.

"It was a good practice for us," Bucs coach Lovie Smith said. "Playing on the turf is a different feel for a couple reasons. Of course, there's a lot of rain here. Our fields are drenched. Catching the ball, looking in the lights, change of directions -- all of those things were good. It was just a change of pace to do something different for our players. Good, productive day."

The Bucs are scheduled to practice at Tropicana Field again Thursday before returning to One Buc Place for workouts Friday in their final preparations. They fly to Louisiana on Saturday. Smith said his staff will consider using Tropicana Field in the future if inclement conditions force them to do so.

The uncommon event led to a creative exchange between the teams on Twitter.

Did Gasparilla come early? Bunch of pirates seem to have invaded our field. @TBBuccaneers, know anything about this? pic.twitter.com/sfCcJvklWw
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) October 1, 2014

.@RaysBaseball We just thought we would come hang out at your place today...don't go stealing our players! pic.twitter.com/3sZz3p4GQF
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@TBBuccaneers) October 1, 2014