Speaker 1: Welcome to Books Insider Live, Casey Phillips. Here was senior
Speaker 1: writer and editor Scott Smith here to get you caught
Speaker 1: up on everything you need to know going into this
Speaker 1: next week. And of course, if you have any questions
Speaker 1: for us, all you gotta do is leave them underneath
Speaker 1: the Facebook Live video and we'll have a chance to
Speaker 1: get to those at the final segment of the show.
Speaker 1: First of all, let's go and just start with some
Speaker 1: of the takeaways from that game this last Sunday against
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. What were the biggest things that other than
Speaker 1: it not going how we wanted it to go, what
Speaker 1: were some of the biggest things that you took away
Speaker 1: from that game? Well, I guess since it's the loss,
Speaker 1: you start with the not so happy stuff, right, because
Speaker 1: there was some good stuff to game, and we'll get
Speaker 1: to that, I'm sure. But you know, it was one
Speaker 1: of those games where it's frustrating to watch. I'm sure
Speaker 1: it was frustrating to be involved in because there just
Speaker 1: didn't seem to be an answer for anything the Chiefs
Speaker 1: were doing defensively, and some of that you just have
Speaker 1: to chalk up to the fact that Patrick Mahomes and
Speaker 1: Travis Kelsey are phenomenal players with an incredible connection. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't really know how you're supposed to stop the
Speaker 1: play where he scrambles all around and does appear wet
Speaker 1: and then flips the ball like that. Um. But overall,
Speaker 1: I think that probably the part that the Buccaneers were
Speaker 1: at LEAs happy about is that they didn't stop the run.
Speaker 1: And that is something that has been a signature of
Speaker 1: the Todd Bulls defense ever since he got here in
Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen, and in that span they are still
Speaker 1: even with that game, by far the best run defense
Speaker 1: in the league. But they didn't have it in that game,
Speaker 1: and you wonder how much it has to do with
Speaker 1: the team hicks not being in there. You wonder if
Speaker 1: there are you know, if guys are making mistakes, or
Speaker 1: if it wasn't schemed up well for for that particular
Speaker 1: running game or what. But it's a concern because the
Speaker 1: next game we're playing against the Falcons, which is about
Speaker 1: for first place surprisingly in the NFC South. The Falcons
Speaker 1: are running the ball really really well, so that I
Speaker 1: think would have to be a focus for the team
Speaker 1: this week coming out of that last game. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it's another back to back test to see if they
Speaker 1: learned the lessons from this last week. That does feel
Speaker 1: like running the balls. But even without Patterson, who's gone
Speaker 1: on I R you'd think that would have made it where, oh,
Speaker 1: we'll starting running backs out, maybe we don't have to
Speaker 1: worry about that so much, but we still know that's
Speaker 1: going to be the Falcons game plan. Yeah, well, they
Speaker 1: have a quarterback that can run, and that was a
Speaker 1: problem against Patrick Mahomes. But overall, if you look back
Speaker 1: at like the to Philadelphia games last year, uh, Jalen Hurts,
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers actually handled that running quarterback very well, which
Speaker 1: is more like what I mean. Mariota is not playing
Speaker 1: at the level of jale and Hurts right now. But
Speaker 1: it's the same kind of concept with r P O
Speaker 1: s and and design runs and so on. So, uh,
Speaker 1: it is a concern on the other hand, because we
Speaker 1: want to talk about some good things as well. Right,
Speaker 1: It turns out when you have Mike Evans and Chris
Speaker 1: Godwin in the game, you're passing attack is a lot better.
Speaker 1: Who thought so, yeah, you know, and Donovan Smith being
Speaker 1: back as well, and Mike Evans comes right back from
Speaker 1: that one game suspension that thirty yard catch right down
Speaker 1: the middle and for the first big play. The game
Speaker 1: ends up with two touchdowns hundred three yards, just vintage
Speaker 1: Mike Evans. The second touchdown catch that back corner of fade,
Speaker 1: just I don't you can't defend it. It's just it's
Speaker 1: ridiculous that look at that play. It's amazing, a perfect
Speaker 1: throw and a perfect catch and there is nothing you
Speaker 1: could do. So in the process of that game, he
Speaker 1: also broke another record. So the guy that already holds
Speaker 1: the Bucks all time records for touchdowns, receiving, touchdowners, receptions,
Speaker 1: receiving yards, probably a few other things I'm not thinking of,
Speaker 1: is also now the all time leader in most yards
Speaker 1: from scrimmage, passing, a record that's stuff for a very
Speaker 1: long time by James Wilder, who had rushing yards and
Speaker 1: receiving yards Mike stune at all but ten yards of
Speaker 1: the air. But just yet another sign post another obvious
Speaker 1: sign that Mike Evans is the most accomplished offensive player
Speaker 1: in Buccaneers history. Unbelievable, and I think it's interesting that
Speaker 1: you pointed out. I mean, of course, Donovan Smith coming
Speaker 1: back was going to make Brady feel like he could
Speaker 1: probably hold onto it a little bit longer wait for
Speaker 1: some of those routes to develop. But also the fact
Speaker 1: that Chris Godwin was alongside Mike Evans that it's one
Speaker 1: thing to just have their skill set of the number
Speaker 1: of actual catches Chris gets, the number of catches Mike gets,
Speaker 1: but it's the effect they have on each other and
Speaker 1: what they forced defenses to do. Is that something that
Speaker 1: you've noticed of how much they need each other to
Speaker 1: each have their own individual success. It definitely helps both
Speaker 1: of them. And you know, it didn't hurt that the
Speaker 1: Bucks also had Russell Gauge and did Julio Jones for
Speaker 1: a half, and they were making the passes to the
Speaker 1: back's work, I mean Leonard for Rashad Why combined for
Speaker 1: more yards. But yeah, and I think the thing you
Speaker 1: saw Chris Godwin was that sort of missing element of
Speaker 1: being able to work the middle of the field, being
Speaker 1: an effective weapon out of the slot. Buckner's didn't really
Speaker 1: find a solution for that in the in the games
Speaker 1: that Chris did two and half games that crystals out
Speaker 1: and so I think that made a big difference, even
Speaker 1: if I mean his fifth I think seven catches for
Speaker 1: yards is a good day, not overwhelming, but the effect
Speaker 1: he had on the entire offense, as you said, was big. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think it was going to know that as
Speaker 1: much as they gave up more points than they had
Speaker 1: the first three games combined, but then they scored more
Speaker 1: touchdowns and they had the first three games combined, So
Speaker 1: it's just going to be about that complete game where
Speaker 1: finally now it does feel like the good news was
Speaker 1: the offense got going and getting the running backs involved
Speaker 1: in the past game. As much as it was unfortunate
Speaker 1: that there was what three yards rushing for the Bucks
Speaker 1: and the game, yes that at least, like you mentioned,
Speaker 1: tab over a hundred yards in the receiving game from that,
Speaker 1: that was a huge thing. So it felt like at least,
Speaker 1: even though the game didn't go how you wanted and
Speaker 1: there were some areas that didn't go as well defensively,
Speaker 1: but offensively, it felt like you found some things you
Speaker 1: had not so far, and one of those things was
Speaker 1: throwing the ball to learn from Rashad White and Roshot.
Speaker 1: You know, Coach Bowls had been saying for two weeks
Speaker 1: that we need to get the other backs more involved,
Speaker 1: and I think he specifically meant Rashad White, and I
Speaker 1: think you have a sort of a two headed monster
Speaker 1: now developing with White and those two guys combined for
Speaker 1: I think a hundred and seven yards and a touchdown,
Speaker 1: and most of those passes were really quick throws that
Speaker 1: you know the Lennard would get like ten or twelve
Speaker 1: yards out of, and the same thing with Shot White.
Speaker 1: So it worked really well, and you like to see
Speaker 1: Rashade getting involved in in fact um with cam Brad
Speaker 1: leaving the game with the concussion, Kate Dotten played his
Speaker 1: highest percentage of snaps yet, and you have Luke Getta
Speaker 1: keep playing every snap of guard and you look up
Speaker 1: from the end of the game, you realize, man, the
Speaker 1: rookies played a time played a lot. I mean, look
Speaker 1: at that Logan Hall. He's kind of been getting about
Speaker 1: that many snaps every game. Obviously, Luke played every single snap,
Speaker 1: a much bigger percentage for Rashad White and Kay Doton. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Jake mart Is in the game as much as you need.
Speaker 1: All of those snaps for Potokasi were on special teams.
Speaker 1: And then co Keith, you know, he had his first
Speaker 1: career catch. It was kind of a nice spinning catch
Speaker 1: tight end there. So I mean I think, you know,
Speaker 1: especially on a team that has a lot of veterans,
Speaker 1: it's it's the oldest team in the league by average age.
Speaker 1: To see this many rookies making an impact, it's kind
Speaker 1: of I mean, even just to have seven rookies on
Speaker 1: your roster and active on game day, it's pretty incredible.
Speaker 1: It shows what a great job Jason Lett and those
Speaker 1: guys did with drafting, with you know, signing even like
Speaker 1: with you know, to have him in there, even as
Speaker 1: an undrafted guy, it's pretty incredible, and it shows I
Speaker 1: think the potential as the season goes on, because we
Speaker 1: know with rookies, every snap is a big deal, every
Speaker 1: game is a big deal in their development and their learning,
Speaker 1: and so I think that when you see how much
Speaker 1: is dependent on these young guys, it will only get
Speaker 1: better as the season goes on and they get more experience.
Speaker 1: It's probably particularly true for Luke Kettucky. Yes, absolutely, and
Speaker 1: so I know. Also the Bucks defense we talked about,
Speaker 1: it was not the game they want, they expect, or
Speaker 1: the game compared to the three before, because they came
Speaker 1: in just guns blazing in terms of being the stingiest
Speaker 1: defense and not allowing points going into it. What did
Speaker 1: you see that was different this week or just overall
Speaker 1: where the defense still stands now even with a game
Speaker 1: that did not really live up to their standards well,
Speaker 1: and and that's in in the overall picture. You have
Speaker 1: to ask yourself, do I think that this game was
Speaker 1: the aberration or were the first three games the aberration?
Speaker 1: And the truth is probably somewhere in the middle, because
Speaker 1: I don't think you're going to go through a season
Speaker 1: and allow just nine points per game. But I don't
Speaker 1: think that you're going to see a lot of outings
Speaker 1: like this one. It's a very I think it's still
Speaker 1: a very talented defense with a lot of very good
Speaker 1: players at every level. And what's kind of h I
Speaker 1: think has become a signature of this team is how
Speaker 1: many different people are contributing. And this particular game was
Speaker 1: due to injury because Logan Ryan left early and Carlton
Speaker 1: Davis left in the second half, so Kean O'Neill played
Speaker 1: a good amount of the game in the Logan Ryan role,
Speaker 1: and then Sean Murphy Bunny got his first shot, which
Speaker 1: we knew was coming at some point, and sure enough,
Speaker 1: he goes out there and gets an interception the eighth
Speaker 1: of his career. You know that he has now intercepted
Speaker 1: Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, and Patrick Mahomes. He just shows
Speaker 1: up for the big name. Well, I mean he also
Speaker 1: he also intercepted Gardner Minshew and Sailor Heinekes. Tho, I
Speaker 1: don't know. Yeah, I have to play all the big
Speaker 1: quarterbacks for him to get his picks. But um, that
Speaker 1: just put another person in the contribute. Contribution is the
Speaker 1: word I'm looking for. I guess, uh column, I mean,
Speaker 1: look at this. It just occurred to me the other
Speaker 1: day when I was looking at our defensive stats, how
Speaker 1: many different people had these big stats already. The Bucks
Speaker 1: have the most players in the league that have at
Speaker 1: least half a sack. They have them tied for the
Speaker 1: most players with the least an interception, tied for the
Speaker 1: most players with the quarterback hit, and second behind San
Speaker 1: Francisco with the most players with the tackle for loss.
Speaker 1: So everybody, and that just speaks I think so much
Speaker 1: to not only just the depth of talent on this team,
Speaker 1: but the scheme that Todd Bowls uses, where he uses
Speaker 1: players in so many different roles that that's what keeps
Speaker 1: offenses on their toes, not knowing are you blitzing, are
Speaker 1: you dropping back, or that you know that. This is
Speaker 1: what makes offense is so confused, because if you look
Speaker 1: at these stats, there's a reason they have no idea
Speaker 1: who's coming who's not. And it's incredible and that confusion
Speaker 1: for them ends up meaning that these guys, it's so
Speaker 1: interesting to me that he can have a scheme that
Speaker 1: is confusing for the offense and yet not for the defense.
Speaker 1: That they all reilier at a point where they know
Speaker 1: their roles. It's a good point, and they've been working
Speaker 1: towards that for long for a really long time, and
Speaker 1: that's the kind of communication and the consistency I know.
Speaker 1: Jamal Dean was on the radio show this week with
Speaker 1: me and he talked about how different it is now
Speaker 1: of the way he learns and how he understands that
Speaker 1: bulls can tell him something and he immediately gets it
Speaker 1: and that wasn't the case his first year. And he
Speaker 1: said the bulls can now tell that too, that it's
Speaker 1: so different and the bulls wore just say it and
Speaker 1: be done. And I thought that was so a great sign.
Speaker 1: And watch so many of these guys and a guy
Speaker 1: like Jamal is having such a great year. Um, So
Speaker 1: looking ahead to this game in Atlanta, what do you
Speaker 1: think are going to be the biggest things that we
Speaker 1: want to see based on this last game to show
Speaker 1: that it was an aberration and that they learned from
Speaker 1: it and have been able to fix a few things. Well,
Speaker 1: I think you want to get a quicker start, for
Speaker 1: one thing. Fast starts have definitely not been something that
Speaker 1: Buckners have had much of this year. And you talked
Speaker 1: about you threwout the obvious fact that the Bucklers ran
Speaker 1: six times for three yards in that game. Right, that's terrible,
Speaker 1: and nobody's making excuses or trying to say that it
Speaker 1: was a good game in terms of running the ball.
Speaker 1: But you also have to at least give the context
Speaker 1: of it. Um, there were only six carries because we
Speaker 1: were down fourteen three by the time. We had three
Speaker 1: carries and uh and one of those was the lost
Speaker 1: for four yards and then it was twenty one three
Speaker 1: moments later, so you were passing the entire time. So
Speaker 1: there's a lot of context to it. And Rashad White
Speaker 1: two of his three carries were from either the two
Speaker 1: or the one yard line, one of which was a
Speaker 1: one yeard touched on. Hey a one year touched on
Speaker 1: in third and one is fantastic play, but doesn't really
Speaker 1: help the stats. So that being said, I think the Buckers,
Speaker 1: while Todd Bowls constantly says it's not and Byron leftism,
Speaker 1: it's not necessarily about balance. They don't need to run
Speaker 1: the ball fifty time time every game, but they need
Speaker 1: to be able to win in a variety of ways.
Speaker 1: And sometimes you're gonna need to be able to run
Speaker 1: the ball, and I think they have the pieces to
Speaker 1: run the ball. Harold Goodwin good he was saying yesterday
Speaker 1: he was talking at the pudding because Todd Bowls was
Speaker 1: gone for a day, and he was saying that some
Speaker 1: of those guys on the interior, they do need to
Speaker 1: play a little bit better. They understand the context and
Speaker 1: they like where they're at, but they do think they're
Speaker 1: going to get better, right, And so they're going to
Speaker 1: get better. And I think learn for Net and Rashad
Speaker 1: White have the tools to give you a good rushing game.
Speaker 1: But I think you need to start quicker so you
Speaker 1: don't get off script and have to throw the ball
Speaker 1: fifty two times. I agree, And then this is a
Speaker 1: perfect to our question that we had from Richard who said, well,
Speaker 1: we see more jumbo packages to get more production in
Speaker 1: the run game. I'm not sure that that necessary would
Speaker 1: make that much of a difference. I mean, if you
Speaker 1: put the jumbo package out there, you were probably you're
Speaker 1: telling the defense you're probably gonna run the ball, right,
Speaker 1: And I don't think controlling the line of scrimmage has
Speaker 1: been what's been going well from the Buccaneers in the
Speaker 1: running game in the last few games. So if you're
Speaker 1: just trying trying to put a big package out there,
Speaker 1: the defense is going to respond with a heavy front,
Speaker 1: are you really making it any better? I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: I think they just need to run their normal expected
Speaker 1: plays the way they expect them to be run. They
Speaker 1: just need to be better at the execution of what
Speaker 1: they're of what they want to do, right, all right, Well,
Speaker 1: that is going to do it for us on this
Speaker 1: edition of Bucks Insider Live. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: being with us. We'll be back here next week to
Speaker 1: talk about that Falcons game.