Speaker 1: Good morning, Good morning Bucks fans. How's everyone doing, Casey Phillips.
Speaker 1: Here was senior writer and editor Scott Smith at his
Speaker 1: time for Buccaneers Insider Live, presented by Miller Lte. We
Speaker 1: are so excited to get a chance to preview this
Speaker 1: NFC Championship matchup. We're gonna be doing it like we
Speaker 1: have all playoffs, where we are here live with you Wednesday,
Speaker 1: Thursday and Friday, so plenty of time for you to
Speaker 1: get your questions answered and plenty of time to bring
Speaker 1: up topics to discuss. So we want to hear what
Speaker 1: you guys want us to talk about. If you're not
Speaker 1: already watching on the Facebook page for the Buccaneers, go
Speaker 1: ahead and head on over there. Leave your questions and
Speaker 1: comments underneath our live video. So while we give people
Speaker 1: a chance to start doing some of that, there have
Speaker 1: been a lot of roster moves all of a sudden.
Speaker 1: It's just a flurry of things happening over the last
Speaker 1: couple of days, so just kind of start running through
Speaker 1: them and the impact that they could have. It's a
Speaker 1: good thing when you're making roster moves in mid January.
Speaker 1: You know, if you have a reason to be making
Speaker 1: these roster moves. So the big one, the one that
Speaker 1: came for and was the most surprising news, the news
Speaker 1: that Vita Vea is being designated to return from injuring reserve.
Speaker 1: So he starts a twenty one day window where he
Speaker 1: could start practicing today and Uh anytime during that window
Speaker 1: if he could be activated to play in a game.
Speaker 1: Now it's possible. There's only one opportunity, you know, the
Speaker 1: Buccaneers if they have this game coming Sunday, if they
Speaker 1: win and they're in the super Bowl. So it could
Speaker 1: be two opportunities, or there could be one. Um. I
Speaker 1: think what they're gonna do is they're gonna put him
Speaker 1: on the practice field and and see if if he's
Speaker 1: good enough to go on Sunday. Is so it's certainly possible.
Speaker 1: And I guess before we get the comments and questions,
Speaker 1: I should preemptively eat some crow on this one, because
Speaker 1: we've been asked about Vita Vea, UH and O. J.
Speaker 1: Howard and the possibility of either coming back from their
Speaker 1: early season injuries. And I was going based on that
Speaker 1: my latest intel from mid November when Bruce arians said
Speaker 1: he didn't think that was likely at all. And obviously
Speaker 1: things have changed, and that's good news, and I'm happy
Speaker 1: to be wrong in this case. So sorry for leading
Speaker 1: everyone astray on that one. But now it's a shot.
Speaker 1: You know, Kennyan Barner, the running back who has been
Speaker 1: on for just three weeks. He also with a groin injury.
Speaker 1: He also has been designated to return and will start practicing. UM.
Speaker 1: Kevin Minter has been activated from the reserve COVID list,
Speaker 1: day On Buchanan has been promoted from the practice squad,
Speaker 1: and unfortunately the bad luck Jack Cichy is on injured
Speaker 1: reserve once again with his broken arms. So a lot
Speaker 1: of changes at inside linebacker, and interestingly, you get right
Speaker 1: back to where the Buccaneers started last season under Bruce Arians,
Speaker 1: with Devin White and Lavante David starting, backed up by
Speaker 1: Kevin Mintor and day On de Yeah, that's a really
Speaker 1: interesting point, and yes, I agree with you that if
Speaker 1: we were going to be wrong about something, I'm really
Speaker 1: glad that it was this direction about VI. But this
Speaker 1: is a great surprise, UM, and I think this is
Speaker 1: a great topic. Somebody brought up basically saying, can you
Speaker 1: help us appreciate how incredible the front office has done
Speaker 1: this season in terms of free agents, draft picks and
Speaker 1: everything under the salary cap of what we have seen,
Speaker 1: you know, especially in this last week, from the draft
Speaker 1: class from last year, and just what they have been doing,
Speaker 1: what Jason Light and his department have done to get
Speaker 1: this team to a position to be in the NFC
Speaker 1: Championship Game. Well, I can tell you who really appreciates
Speaker 1: what Jason Light has done, and that is uh Bruce Arians,
Speaker 1: who said on Monday that he thinks that Jason Light
Speaker 1: should be the executive of the Year. And listen, this
Speaker 1: isn't like revisionist talk here. During the off season when
Speaker 1: all this was going on, everybody realized what a remarkable
Speaker 1: job that Jason Light in his office and Bruce Arians
Speaker 1: were getting done to be able to bring back Shaq
Speaker 1: Barrett and and JPP and Dominican Sue and a bunch
Speaker 1: of other players like uh, like Nacho and and Andrew
Speaker 1: Adams and uh, you know, a lot of the depth
Speaker 1: Kevin Mintor as a matter of fact, he ended up
Speaker 1: being important down the stretch there for depth. And then
Speaker 1: also of course to sign Tom Brady, probably the most
Speaker 1: dramatic free agency signing in the history of the NFL.
Speaker 1: And then to get Rob Gronkowski to trade form after
Speaker 1: he came out of retirement, and then Leonard for Nett,
Speaker 1: you know, picking up guys, uh, Joe hag that give
Speaker 1: you good depth at positions, right, and Leonard Fournette has
Speaker 1: proved to be very important on the stretch. So I
Speaker 1: don't think you could say enough about it. It's been
Speaker 1: a masterful job. And and as Bruce said when he
Speaker 1: was giving Jason like credit and said and also did
Speaker 1: all this without putting us in a terrible cap position.
Speaker 1: So um, yeah, it's it's hard to overstate how good
Speaker 1: of a job that Jason Lynde in his office of time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think, um, you know, of course a lot
Speaker 1: of people want to talk even more about Vita v
Speaker 1: and I thought this was an interesting way of bringing
Speaker 1: it up that Anthony said, do you think Vita will
Speaker 1: be as strong as he was before the injury? So
Speaker 1: overall there's there's obviously a debate between can he play
Speaker 1: versus what level he would play at, you know, what
Speaker 1: what we would be able to expect from him if
Speaker 1: he was able to get in, and how you kind
Speaker 1: of make some of those decisions of is he able?
Speaker 1: But is he someone that you is he had a
Speaker 1: high enough percentage that you want him out there in
Speaker 1: such an important game. Yeah, every player is different, you
Speaker 1: know they some would come back differently than others. But
Speaker 1: I think you can probably put a blanket statement that
Speaker 1: a guy that's been out for about three months Vita
Speaker 1: Bay in this case, he's probably strength is probably not
Speaker 1: an issue. He's just as strong as it would be
Speaker 1: more like in football shape and stamina, And it would
Speaker 1: be hard to imagine a player coming directly back from
Speaker 1: um that and being exactly as good as he was
Speaker 1: before he got injured. I mean, if you look at
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown, who didn't come back from injury, but from
Speaker 1: having not really played in the league for about a
Speaker 1: season and a half, he was productive right away, but
Speaker 1: they used him a little less than They've just kind
Speaker 1: of expanded his role and you've seen him get his
Speaker 1: legs more underneath them to the point now where he's
Speaker 1: more of a guy that can make those sharp cuts
Speaker 1: in the open field when you get him the ball,
Speaker 1: get the ball in his hands. So it's probably a
Speaker 1: similar thing like that, although there's not as much time
Speaker 1: to um for this to develop. Right you either have
Speaker 1: one game left or two, so I would suspect if
Speaker 1: he does get activated for this game, that he would
Speaker 1: play in a reserve role and they'd have an idea
Speaker 1: of how many snaps they can get out of it.
Speaker 1: But um, there's no harm in having him up and available.
Speaker 1: And if Rickie Newonions, Roaches or Nacho continues to start,
Speaker 1: you just see what steps you can get out of
Speaker 1: Beta VEA. My vote is just throw them in there
Speaker 1: at fullback a few times. You know that'd be good too. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you're only gonna get a few snaps out of him,
Speaker 1: let's let's have it be that, you know, Um all right?
Speaker 1: And I think Denny asked, how do you see the
Speaker 1: Buccaneers handling plane in the snow? Well, there's not supposed
Speaker 1: to be a ton of snow. I mean, uh, the
Speaker 1: last I look, it's intermittent showers and that's mostly early
Speaker 1: only an inch, I think they said. And you know,
Speaker 1: for maybe for US Fluoridians an inch of US snow
Speaker 1: seems like a lot. But um, I don't think you'd
Speaker 1: really be like, you know, trudging through snow banks or anything.
Speaker 1: So you know, I don't know about you. I always
Speaker 1: found that, um, snow was a lot better than rain.
Speaker 1: You know, I'd rather play and I'd rather be outside
Speaker 1: in snow than rain. It almost seems to warm things
Speaker 1: up a little bit. Uh, And I don't think, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't think the Bucks will have a big problem
Speaker 1: with that. Everybody earlier this week said it's just a
Speaker 1: mental thing. You have no problem staying warm on the
Speaker 1: sidelines with all the heat gadgets that they have, and
Speaker 1: once you get out on the field start running around,
Speaker 1: you don't feel cold. And I think Tom Brady has
Speaker 1: a little experience playing in the cold. I'm not positive
Speaker 1: about that, but I think he knows a thing or
Speaker 1: two about that as well. Um, Michael asked what happened
Speaker 1: to special teams against the Saints, And of course he
Speaker 1: doesn't mean the kicking part, you know. The main thing
Speaker 1: that happened was Deantay Harris happened. And uh, Coach Areons
Speaker 1: both times we each of the last two times we
Speaker 1: played in New Orleans, Coach Areens has volunteered Deanta Harris's
Speaker 1: name as the guy he's afraid of. Like he'll be
Speaker 1: asked about Michael Thomas and end up talking about Deanta
Speaker 1: Harris and that kid has unbelievable speed and shifting nous
Speaker 1: and you know on the first one, Uh, we got
Speaker 1: a guy down there, Jaden Mickens, and he got the
Speaker 1: hit and could have been a big play, but he
Speaker 1: just didn't get him down. And you know, when you
Speaker 1: make a missed like that, often that opens up a lane.
Speaker 1: And that's what happened. But that guy is just really,
Speaker 1: really good. And if you look back at it, Um,
Speaker 1: we had struggles with them previously in the season too, So, um,
Speaker 1: that's what happened to it. Now, I'm sure that Keith
Speaker 1: Armstrong would to get down in a much more detailed
Speaker 1: way and say, maybe this guy got out of his gap,
Speaker 1: or this guy got out of his gap, but you're
Speaker 1: not going to run into a Deontay Harris very often fortunately, right, Yes,
Speaker 1: that that is very true. Um. Richard asked, do you
Speaker 1: think we'll get the same pressure to Rogers as we
Speaker 1: did in Week six? Well, I sure hope so, because
Speaker 1: I think that's easily the best chance that we have
Speaker 1: in this game. Um, Aaron Rodgers, if you look at
Speaker 1: all of his games this season, that one was an anomaly.
Speaker 1: It's the only one where he didn't throw a touchdown pass.
Speaker 1: It's the only only one where he threw more than
Speaker 1: one interception. Uh, you know, he's been pretty much playing
Speaker 1: at an incredible level, in a very productive level every
Speaker 1: single week except for that one. So and we did.
Speaker 1: We sacked him four times, got a lot of pressure
Speaker 1: on him. So obviously the Bucks are capable of doing that.
Speaker 1: It's one thing to say that's the formula and the
Speaker 1: Bucks have done it before, and it's another thing to
Speaker 1: go out and do it. So obviously, yeah, the Bucks can.
Speaker 1: We'll see if it happens. And uh, we had another
Speaker 1: question asking do you see us playing the same kind
Speaker 1: of tight coverage that we did against the Saints against
Speaker 1: the Packers In terms of how match up wood look,
Speaker 1: it's a little bit different, and I would suspect you'd
Speaker 1: see more of a mix like we get in most
Speaker 1: weeks because the Saints and Drew Brees they were not
Speaker 1: throwing the ball downfield at all going into that game.
Speaker 1: Drew Brees was throwing the ball his passes win an
Speaker 1: average of about five yards through the air and that
Speaker 1: was about I think maybe second lowest among all qualifying quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: So you weren't really concerned about him going deep, which
Speaker 1: is the concern obviously if you play a lot of
Speaker 1: press man coverage. Um, you know, you get beat at
Speaker 1: the line and they get right past you and can
Speaker 1: make plays downfield. Now, Aaron Rodgers through the second most
Speaker 1: deep passes, which I think is defined his twenty yards
Speaker 1: in the air downfield, second most deep passes in the
Speaker 1: NFL this year at seventy four. He completed the most
Speaker 1: of them at thirty one, and on those plays had
Speaker 1: twelve touchdowns and no interceptions. So the Packers can very
Speaker 1: much get the ball downfield and will and we'll try to.
Speaker 1: So I don't think you can play all press all day,
Speaker 1: all tight all day. I think Todd Bowls will do
Speaker 1: what he does well, and that's mixed things up and
Speaker 1: anticipate what's coming and try to disguise things and try
Speaker 1: to you know, get the or back thinks he think
Speaker 1: he's getting one look and then ends up getting another look. So, um, yeah,
Speaker 1: that'll be times when we played that aggressively, as is
Speaker 1: the case every week, but probably not to the extent
Speaker 1: that they did in New Orleans. And Martin had a
Speaker 1: sort of combination question, part for me, part for you. Uh,
Speaker 1: he said, Casey, how much more fun is it for
Speaker 1: you to be covering a team winning in the postseason,
Speaker 1: and then he said, Scott, how much does this feel
Speaker 1: similar to O two and going on the road to
Speaker 1: get to the Super Bowl? So for my part, um,
Speaker 1: it is very fun, although it is also very sad
Speaker 1: because I am doing it from my couch, so of
Speaker 1: all of all the years, uh for for this to
Speaker 1: be happening, it is. I am not nearly as involved
Speaker 1: in it as I would like to be, or I
Speaker 1: would be in normally years. But of course, yes, it
Speaker 1: is incredibly fun to get to do the interviews, watch
Speaker 1: the games, be involved when they're winning one percent, So yes, Scott,
Speaker 1: how about you? Well, yeah, that's the For me personally,
Speaker 1: it doesn't feel the same as oh too, because I
Speaker 1: got to go to that Philadelphia game. But I think
Speaker 1: he means the circumstances. Um, it's a little bit different.
Speaker 1: It's almost like a hybrid because in O two, um,
Speaker 1: you know, we beat San Francisco in the NFC Championship
Speaker 1: game and we were, I mean in the divisional round,
Speaker 1: and we were there after a bye because we had
Speaker 1: one in Chicago in the last week and got in
Speaker 1: that first round by so we did have one home
Speaker 1: game and then we went to Philly, which was the
Speaker 1: team that we couldn't get over the hump. They knocked
Speaker 1: us out of the playoffs in two thousand, two thousand one.
Speaker 1: They beat us earlier in that Super Bowl season. That's
Speaker 1: more like what New Orleans was to us. So in
Speaker 1: a way, the Buccaneers this time, they had to win
Speaker 1: a game on the road first, and then they went
Speaker 1: to that team that they couldn't get over the hump,
Speaker 1: but then they did, so we kind of already got
Speaker 1: that victory and now we got to play an old
Speaker 1: foe and the Packers, which was a team that we
Speaker 1: had to get over the hump against in the mid nineties.
Speaker 1: And once we did that, then we were able to
Speaker 1: you know, then became Philly, and then we were able
Speaker 1: to make it all the way to the super Bowl.
Speaker 1: So it's almost sort of like a mixture of those
Speaker 1: two things. But yeah, there's some similarities to Howard Field.
Speaker 1: But that was eighteen years ago. Yeah, that was that
Speaker 1: was a wee bit ago. I don't tell you how
Speaker 1: old I at that point, I don't want um alright,
Speaker 1: So Tim brought up, we know it's kind of hard
Speaker 1: for a team to beat another team multiple times in
Speaker 1: a season. How do we tweak our game plan to
Speaker 1: make sure that we're able to get both wins over
Speaker 1: the Packers. You know, that's the thing that that people say, um,
Speaker 1: but isn't necessarily backed up by stats. I think maybe
Speaker 1: it feels like it's hard to beat the same team,
Speaker 1: but we've certainly, you know, we did it to several
Speaker 1: teams this year, Atlanta and Carolina and New Orleans did
Speaker 1: it to us, And everybody said, it's hard to beat
Speaker 1: a team three times, But in reality, um, there were
Speaker 1: thirty two instances of what happened with the Bucks this
Speaker 1: year before us, in twenty of them were born by
Speaker 1: the team that already won the first two. So it's
Speaker 1: really not that hard to be the team multiple times
Speaker 1: in the same season. UM. I think in this case,
Speaker 1: it's just hard to beat the Packers multiple times in
Speaker 1: a season because other than our game, they lost one
Speaker 1: game by six points and one game by three in overtime,
Speaker 1: and they haven't lost in a while, don't have the Buccaneers.
Speaker 1: So both teams were playing at a really high level
Speaker 1: right now. And the Packers have home field advantage, and
Speaker 1: they have a quarterback in Aaron Rodgers who not only
Speaker 1: is probably the m v P, but has an incredible
Speaker 1: history of winning in cold weather at lambeau Field, even
Speaker 1: against very good teams. So, um, that's what's hard to overcome,
Speaker 1: I think this week, and of course we've had several
Speaker 1: people wanting to know how Antonio Brown is doing. We
Speaker 1: saw before halftime of that last game there was a
Speaker 1: little bit of limping, and there was reports on Monday
Speaker 1: about getting an m r I. So what what do
Speaker 1: we know and what do we not know at this point? Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is that whole Monday through Wednesday continuum about how
Speaker 1: news comes out. So on Monday, when Bruce Arians was
Speaker 1: asked about it, he said that Antonio was getting an
Speaker 1: m r I and that at the moment he had
Speaker 1: no other information as to like what he thought, you know,
Speaker 1: the results might be. Since then, we obviously have seen
Speaker 1: reports and you know those are generally well founded reports
Speaker 1: that the m r I did not turn up anything, um,
Speaker 1: any structural damage, and that therefore Brown will probably be
Speaker 1: considered day to day. Now it's Wednesday, and it's the morning,
Speaker 1: and in the afternoon we'll get to hear from Bruce
Speaker 1: Arians again, and I would imagine we would get an
Speaker 1: update then but certainly from what we're hearing from other sources,
Speaker 1: it's at least positive news. Kind of like the same
Speaker 1: thing that happened with Mike Evans, maybe just a little
Speaker 1: less dramatically. Yes, yeah, just didn't look quite Yeah. Sean,
Speaker 1: as you asked, what have you thought of Sean Murphy
Speaker 1: Bunting's performance recently? Well, I think it's been great, um,
Speaker 1: And he's been making big plays. Anytime you can do
Speaker 1: a thing where it says he and Roddy Barber are
Speaker 1: the only ones who have ever done that, you know
Speaker 1: you've done something good and in that in this case,
Speaker 1: that means he had an interception and consecutive postseason games.
Speaker 1: He and Ronde are the only two Bucks to do that.
Speaker 1: And he's just he's making big plays. The corners in
Speaker 1: general were fantastic against New Orleans. Um. You know, I
Speaker 1: did a story yesterday using next Gen stats and Jamal
Speaker 1: Dean and Carlton Davis and Sean Murphy Bunting all had
Speaker 1: incredible coverage numbers in that game. And you saw how
Speaker 1: you know, I think Drew Brees at a hundred forty
Speaker 1: three passing yards. Michael Thomas didn't catch a pass for
Speaker 1: the first time in his entire career in the game,
Speaker 1: and Sean particular, you could tell by the way his
Speaker 1: teammates talk about him when they're asked about him, he'll
Speaker 1: tell you he's had some ups and downs this year
Speaker 1: after finishing last year so strong. But um, his teammates
Speaker 1: know how talented he is and they love watching him
Speaker 1: stay at it, stay at a hard, stay confident and
Speaker 1: then sort of come out on the other end now
Speaker 1: and be a guy that's making big plays for the defense.
Speaker 1: So everybody's really happy for him as and I'm sure
Speaker 1: you are too. Yeah. Absolutely. Um And Richard asked do
Speaker 1: you think Antonio Brown should return kicks? And I don't
Speaker 1: know if maybe this isn't the question for this particular
Speaker 1: game because he is maybe coming off an injury, but
Speaker 1: more of the overall big picture, why have we not
Speaker 1: been using him as much in that? That was Richard
Speaker 1: that asked that. Yeah, I think you and me, Richard
Speaker 1: are gonna be uh, we're gonna be aligned on this one,
Speaker 1: but we're not gonna get what we want. I I
Speaker 1: do think i'd like to see Antonio Brown returning punts. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, our punt return game has been you know,
Speaker 1: solid right, but certainly no big splash plays and he's
Speaker 1: showing me do that, and you know, if you've got
Speaker 1: this guy on your roster, you know why not utilize
Speaker 1: that option too. But I think that Bruce arians has
Speaker 1: made it pretty clear that he doesn't want to use
Speaker 1: Brown in that role unless he absolutely has to, and
Speaker 1: so I don't think we're going to see that, And
Speaker 1: I understand that side of it obviously, And like you said,
Speaker 1: it's probably a different story now that he has a
Speaker 1: knee issue. But even without knee issue, I don't think
Speaker 1: they want to um expose him to the possibility of
Speaker 1: injury on such a place. So I can understand that certainly.
Speaker 1: But I think I'm with Richard that i'd like to
Speaker 1: see some punt returns. All right, Well, that is going
Speaker 1: to do it for us on this edition of Buccaneers
Speaker 1: in Sidur Live, presented by Miller Lyte. Thanks so much
Speaker 1: for joining us, and I know there were definitely some
Speaker 1: amazing questions we didn't get a chance to get to,
Speaker 1: but we are coming back here tomorrow morning and Friday
Speaker 1: morning at ten am, so if we didn't get to years,
Speaker 1: come back then and ask it then. And thanks as
Speaker 1: always for joining us. We'll see you tomorrow.