Speaker 1: Welcome into Books Insider, presented by Verizon Casey Phillips. Here
Speaker 1: with senior writer and editor Scott Smith, we got another
Speaker 1: fun one to talk about. We got a whole dang
Speaker 1: streak four in a row. Are you someone that considers
Speaker 1: three is a streak?
Speaker 2: Oh? For sure?
Speaker 1: Okay, so two is not a streak. Three is a
Speaker 1: four for obviously, we're streaking over here with like four
Speaker 1: straight wins that have been so fun. Loved this graphic.
Speaker 2: It's just incredible.
Speaker 1: It's uh and for for Christmas? What else would we
Speaker 1: have wanted other than Santa?
Speaker 2: He was shredding And I loved.
Speaker 1: Our tweet that said enters Santa because I really enjoyed that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sure all the Bucks fans must have
Speaker 1: been good this year because they asked for a win.
Speaker 1: They asked for a fun win, some good offense, some
Speaker 1: everything you got to turnover. I mean, just this decisive
Speaker 1: win is what I'm sure everyone would have said. This
Speaker 1: is what we wanted for Christmas.
Speaker 2: You want to be peaking at this time of the year.
Speaker 2: And the Buccaneers have overcome that lull in the middle
Speaker 2: of the season, fast start six or seven losses, loll
Speaker 2: but they're peaking at the right time. I don't want
Speaker 2: to invoke Super Bowl comparisons, but kind of like the
Speaker 2: end of twenty twenty, playing their best ball at the
Speaker 2: time when the hot teams are the ones that make
Speaker 2: it in the playoffs, and the Ravens have a five
Speaker 2: game winning streak after beating San fran and stop in
Speaker 2: their streak, and next is the Bucks. Those are the
Speaker 2: two teams the longest winning streaks in the league right now.
Speaker 2: So who knows what's going to happen or the next
Speaker 2: couple weeks and in the postseason, but you have to
Speaker 2: be happy about the Bucks appear to be peaking at
Speaker 2: the right time.
Speaker 1: I completely agree, and particularly the offense, where we knew
Speaker 1: it was going to take a little time to grow
Speaker 1: to gel. You got the new coordinator, new QB, almost
Speaker 1: a completely new offensive line, so we knew it was
Speaker 1: going to take some time, and it seems like it's
Speaker 1: clicking just in time. And especially in terms of Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield's performance, he just starts to look so comfortable in
Speaker 1: this offense with so many different weapons.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Bucks are scoring about twenty eight points a
Speaker 2: game over those four games. The one blemish, the only
Speaker 2: thing that this offense can't get accomplished is a touchdown
Speaker 2: on the first drive of the game. And we go
Speaker 2: into every game lately and they're driving, they've been gotten
Speaker 2: a lot of field goals, they're moving the ball, and
Speaker 2: then they get a lot of second drive first outs.
Speaker 2: But for some reason, we have not all year had
Speaker 2: touched on in the first drive of the game. So
Speaker 2: that's the next thing I'm asking Santa for if there's
Speaker 2: like an auxiliary Christmas. But so I think we're looking at.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Baker Mayfield and his passer rating has just I mean,
Speaker 1: we knew about the perfect one in Green Bay, but
Speaker 1: then he still just put up such incredible numbers.
Speaker 2: As like last week he kind of cratered only won
Speaker 2: sixteen point seventh. How terrible. We expect so much more.
Speaker 2: But yeah, over the last five weeks, four weeks, he
Speaker 2: has the third best passer rating in the league. And
Speaker 2: we all know Matthew Stafford's been red hot and that
Speaker 2: Dolphins life offense has been great all year. But look
Speaker 2: at this upcoming game. Who's fourth on Derek Carr. Interesting, So, yeah,
Speaker 2: he's been very precise and I think you said it
Speaker 2: and it's accurate. They the offense with Dave Canalis. They've
Speaker 2: taken some time to develop it. They've found some run
Speaker 2: plays that work that they can go to, and they've
Speaker 2: just kind of clicked here at the end. And a
Speaker 2: lot of that it has to do with the offensive
Speaker 2: line really gelling well together. But they've figured out answers,
Speaker 2: I think is the best way to put it to
Speaker 2: whatever they face, whatever defenses they face, and whatever game
Speaker 2: situations they face. And Dave Canais has talked about that,
Speaker 2: I know, and I think you talked with him about
Speaker 2: it on a show, but about having answers to everything
Speaker 2: that they face. And you're seeing that now and Baker
Speaker 2: is it's not just how precise is passing is it's
Speaker 2: he knows what to do. I mean, he's just really
Speaker 2: running the offense so well, and he's progressing through his
Speaker 2: reads so well and then making these accurate throws. I mean,
Speaker 2: this is what you want to see and it's really
Speaker 2: encouraging it is as the postseason potentially rides.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and one thing he definitely knows to do is
Speaker 1: throw it to Mike Evans, particularly in the end zone.
Speaker 1: If I'm Dave Canalis, I'm just calling playing number thirteen
Speaker 1: when we get inside that red zone and near the
Speaker 1: end zone, saying more touchdowns for Mike Evans.
Speaker 2: The first one was a nice little pivot route which
Speaker 2: it was only three yards, but I appreciate because I
Speaker 2: just feel like when you get down there two or
Speaker 2: three yards away, sometimes don't run the fade, which is
Speaker 2: a low percentage play. Run just a simple little route.
Speaker 2: This was just a little pivot route, which is just
Speaker 2: take a few steps of the end zone, cut in, and
Speaker 2: then pivot around and go the other direction. And it
Speaker 2: totally fooled the defender. He fell off right away. See
Speaker 2: the pivot there, He was wide open. He had like
Speaker 2: three yards of separation. And on the other play, he
Speaker 2: as I think Baker said yesterday, he high pointed that pass,
Speaker 2: and Baker knows he can throw it up there. Not
Speaker 2: every receiver can make that play. High pointing a hard
Speaker 2: pass between two defenders is not an easy thing to do.
Speaker 2: But Mike. Now, we've been showing graphics about Mike all year,
Speaker 2: of course, and a lot of them had to do
Speaker 2: with him moving up in the all time touchdown catch rankings,
Speaker 2: which he did again. He broke a tie and is
Speaker 2: all alone in twelfth now, which is just incredible, twelfth
Speaker 2: all time. But he did another thing. He got to
Speaker 2: he's ad thirteen touchdown catches, so this is the fifth
Speaker 2: year he's had twelve for more in his career, and
Speaker 2: he's only the fifth guy to ever do that at
Speaker 2: least five times. And look at the other names on
Speaker 2: the list. I don't know if you can read it
Speaker 2: at the bottom, but that asterisk means they're in the
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame mm hm.
Speaker 1: And that's what I've noticed about every single graphic we've
Speaker 1: shown about Mike is that all the people around him
Speaker 1: in all these categories are all Hall of Famers.
Speaker 2: The company you keep.
Speaker 1: Yes, I completely agree with that, and I know that
Speaker 1: he wasn't the only guy making some big catches in
Speaker 1: this game. That a we talked about again, Baker being
Speaker 1: able to have chemistry with so many different people, finding
Speaker 1: so many different people and guys coming up with big
Speaker 1: catches that are not easy, not givens. And I loved
Speaker 1: this one with Paine Dermott was very reminiscent of his
Speaker 1: Colts catch as well, that he loves that right by
Speaker 1: the end zone, the same part of the field and everything.
Speaker 2: This was a little out and up route which is
Speaker 2: a really nice, nicely designed play when when you look
Speaker 2: at and see what everybody was doing on that play,
Speaker 2: but it got him isolated on this out and up
Speaker 2: and according to next Gen Stats, that one and this one,
Speaker 2: which is basically a corner route to Chris Godwin. You know,
Speaker 2: there's had a lot of room for that ball to
Speaker 2: get in there between over the defender and before the sideline,
Speaker 2: and these two see that. There's just not a lot
Speaker 2: of room there and they're showing halls. There's not a
Speaker 2: lot of separation, so it has to be a pretty
Speaker 2: on point pass. And I think it says thirty one
Speaker 2: point nine percent chance probability according to next Gen Stats,
Speaker 2: and this was his most improbable completion of the day.
Speaker 2: And we already watched it before and we praised Mike
Speaker 2: for it, but just putting that ball in a spot
Speaker 2: where Mike can get to it, what does it say?
Speaker 2: They're point four percent chance that's based on similar passes
Speaker 2: over the course of many years, and what is the
Speaker 2: likelihood that will actually be complete? And so they call
Speaker 2: that his three most improbable catches of the game.
Speaker 1: You know, we've talked a lot about this offense, but
Speaker 1: I do think that there's one part of the offense
Speaker 1: that goes a little unheralded at times, and that's Chase McLaughlin.
Speaker 1: That this guy that I feel like a he's given
Speaker 1: a lot of flexibility to the offense of knowing that
Speaker 1: they're going to be able to come away with some
Speaker 1: points where maybe in years past you didn't feel as
Speaker 1: confident about that. If you're you know, maybe it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's a fifty seven yard or I don't know, do
Speaker 1: we punt, do we this?
Speaker 2: Do we go for it?
Speaker 1: I think that Chase has added so much to this
Speaker 1: to feel confident that you can get points from a
Speaker 1: lot further out very consistently.
Speaker 2: Well, he hit a fifty one yarder and now he's
Speaker 2: had a couple of fifty seven yarders, and to me
Speaker 2: those are still like ooh, I don't know, although he
Speaker 2: made him both, but it's at the point now where
Speaker 2: you see him lining for a fifty one yarder and
Speaker 2: kind of think, well, yeah, he's gonna make that. He's
Speaker 2: six to seven from fifty in beyond this year, which
Speaker 2: is awesome. And then at this point now he's made
Speaker 2: twenty six of his twenty eight field goals attempts, which
Speaker 2: was the exact amount that Connor Barth made in twenty
Speaker 2: eleven to break the Buckner's all time record. So if
Speaker 2: he just continues to make them, all he's gonna have
Speaker 2: is have the record, and we should probably knock go on.
Speaker 2: At this point, of course, I think I try not
Speaker 2: to put a lot of kicker stats up the during
Speaker 2: the season because I don't want to be a jinx,
Speaker 2: But at some point you have to talk about it
Speaker 2: because he's just been so automatic and the only two
Speaker 2: kicks that weren't good were blocked. And you know, I
Speaker 2: think I said it before, but maybe they were blocked
Speaker 2: because he kicked it too low and it wasn't gonna
Speaker 2: make it. I don't know, or maybe they just made
Speaker 2: a good play. We don't know if those two would
Speaker 2: have gone in, but they might have. So in a way,
Speaker 2: he's been about as close to perfect as you could
Speaker 2: expect your kicker to be. And it's awesome because the
Speaker 2: Bucks decided to move on from Ryan Suckup, who gave
Speaker 2: us three great years, including a Super Bowl year where
Speaker 2: and he was perfect in the playoffs, partially because they
Speaker 2: wanted a kicker that could give you those long kicks,
Speaker 2: and he has as we said, six of seven from
Speaker 2: fifty including four from fifty five or farther. But in addition,
Speaker 2: he's been what Ryan was, which was automatic on the
Speaker 2: ones you expect to make. So you know what a
Speaker 2: what an amazing signing that has proven to be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I completely agree. And then another guy that has
Speaker 1: been incredibly fun to watch. Yeah, yah Dyabi just one
Speaker 1: of my favorite stories of this whole year of a
Speaker 1: just his background and story of how he even got
Speaker 1: to the NFL. If you don't know about it, we've
Speaker 1: got a few diverr things up. I know that we
Speaker 1: had him on our Bucks Total Access show, which you
Speaker 1: can find on the Bucks YouTube and watch him talk
Speaker 1: about working at the airport and having to go to
Speaker 1: a military college and just so many things. Also, what
Speaker 1: a great celebration.
Speaker 2: Now was what was it?
Speaker 1: The Oh, I'm going to get in trouble because I'm
Speaker 1: not going to say it right. It's like the power Balls, right,
Speaker 1: I don't know someone that knows Powerball z E.
Speaker 2: I don't know anything.
Speaker 1: I know we're exposing ourselves the whole anime community that's watching, And.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh my gosh, that's so obvious.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so I love that. But man, yah, yah,
Speaker 1: it's just been so cool to watch him emerge of
Speaker 1: earned so many more snaps and now I mean he's
Speaker 1: second to you know, Elijah in these tackles for a
Speaker 1: loss and he's leading in sacks and all these things
Speaker 1: for rookies across the whole league. And how cool to
Speaker 1: have he and Calijah both on this team of the
Speaker 1: two top rookies in terms of disrupting the backfield.
Speaker 2: It's amazing. Yeah, they both have. I guess Colliga's number
Speaker 2: one with ten tackles for loss and then Yaya's second
Speaker 2: with nine, And now Yaya is tied for the rookie
Speaker 2: sack lead with I think Byron Young of the Rams,
Speaker 2: and a couple of weeks ago I would have said
Speaker 2: probably not, but you saw that Peter Schreker tweet there
Speaker 2: pumping Yaya for Defensive Rookie of the Year, And then
Speaker 2: I'm looking at and going, yeah, maybe, yeah, why not?
Speaker 2: I mean, there isn't like last year the winner was
Speaker 2: Sauce Gardner, who was having an incredible year. I guess
Speaker 2: Brian Branch, the safety for the Lions, is doing pretty
Speaker 2: good but doesn't really have quite the same type of
Speaker 2: numbers and buzz that Sauce had last year. So there's
Speaker 2: not one guy at any position among the defensive rookies
Speaker 2: of the year that's really standing out above the crowd.
Speaker 2: So then you go, well, he's typing leaving sacks up
Speaker 2: there and TACKX for loss. And it's just been it's
Speaker 2: been a nice progression. And what's really cool about it is,
Speaker 2: coach said. Coach Bowle said the other day is I mean,
Speaker 2: we got him in the third round. You don't normally
Speaker 2: get a good pass rusher in the third round. They
Speaker 2: really drafted him primarily because they thought he could be
Speaker 2: he could really close off the edge and be a
Speaker 2: great run defender. And he has been. They've been pleasantly
Speaker 2: surprised at his arsenal pass rush moves and how good
Speaker 2: of a pass rusher he's been. And I mean that
Speaker 2: makes it a home run of a draft pick.
Speaker 1: Yeah, at this point, I completely agree, especially at that
Speaker 1: round where you are not used to finding elite pass
Speaker 1: rushers at that point. All right, so this Sunday kind
Speaker 1: of a big one. Anytime you play the Saints already
Speaker 1: fun you know, you got the rivalry there and.
Speaker 2: Everything, and well, ye know, not if it's in New Orleans.
Speaker 1: That's fair, but you know, we're home, it's not. So
Speaker 1: we're excited about it, and especially when it is for
Speaker 1: the division. I think it's just so perfect that they
Speaker 1: would be who we would be playing when we have
Speaker 1: a chance to clench it. So tell us about just
Speaker 1: sort of the situation this Sunday and what this game
Speaker 1: means and the whole NFC South Pax.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Baker said that, He's like, it is really huge
Speaker 2: to have this opportunity to potentially clench in front of
Speaker 2: your home fans, and also against a division opponent. And
Speaker 2: let's be honest, it's the division opponent that we've been
Speaker 2: most emotional about. Yeap, maybe the last six or seven years.
Speaker 2: Probably one of these two teams is going to win
Speaker 2: the division, and so that would be seven straight years
Speaker 2: where it's either the Bucks or the Saints. What we
Speaker 2: have though, for the Bucks is a really good position
Speaker 2: to be in. After these four straight wins, they now
Speaker 2: come into this game knowing they can clinch the division
Speaker 2: by being the Saints. No matter what else happens, you
Speaker 2: don't want to lose, but even if you do, you
Speaker 2: have a little bit of a safety net because the
Speaker 2: Bucks only have to win one of their last two games,
Speaker 2: and being in Carolina against the team that currently has
Speaker 2: two wins. They've been playing well lately, but they currently
Speaker 2: have two wins, and you just have to win one
Speaker 2: of those games. So even if New Orleans beats us,
Speaker 2: the Buccaneers still control their own fate. They can win
Speaker 2: the division with a win in Carolina, but everybody on
Speaker 2: this team wants to do it now.
Speaker 1: Yes, and you we'd have talked about how the Bucks
Speaker 1: have been remarkably healthy now in December compared to what
Speaker 1: teams normally are and when you had such an early
Speaker 1: bye week. The Saints may not be quite as fortunate
Speaker 1: as the Buccaneers, and we still don't know all the
Speaker 1: final injury reports for either team, but it looks like
Speaker 1: they might be missing a few pretty pretty key pieces. Well.
Speaker 2: They've had Marshall and Landmore, who we all know him
Speaker 2: and his battle with Mike Evans every time. He's a
Speaker 2: very good cornerback. And then Michael Thomas, who's had a
Speaker 2: lot of injury issues for years now but is when healthy,
Speaker 2: is a very productive player. They've both been on injury
Speaker 2: reserve for more than four games, so they are eligible
Speaker 2: to be activated. However, they're head coach nanz Allen said
Speaker 2: this week that he doesn't see that happening, So those
Speaker 2: two are probably not going to play. You don't wish
Speaker 2: injuries upon anybody, but that does make their lineups a
Speaker 2: little less formidable on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 1: Yep, it's going to be interesting to see. All Right,
Speaker 1: that's going to do it for us on this edition
Speaker 1: of Bucks Insider. Thank you so much for being with us.
Speaker 1: We hope you have a safe and fun New Year's
Speaker 1: and we'll see you next week.