Speaker 1: Welcome in everybody to Bucks Insider, presented by Ticketmaster. I'm
Speaker 1: Bucks senior writer Scott Smith, and with me is staff
Speaker 1: writer reporter Breanna Dixon. You get the two of us
Speaker 1: again this week because Casey's still unavailable, But don't worry
Speaker 1: every one, case He will be back very very soon.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, we've got a lot to talk about.
Speaker 1: A great game, a Rendez Barber event, lots of players
Speaker 1: doing amazing things.
Speaker 2: So let's dive right in. Uh.
Speaker 1: First of all, I think it's fair to say that
Speaker 1: there's a lot of national analysts and maybe fans around the.
Speaker 2: League that are a bit surprised if the Bucks are.
Speaker 3: Two and oh right, Yeah, protection is not exactly correct.
Speaker 1: Inside the building, though there's not much surprise, right, I
Speaker 1: think the Bucks expected to be this good, And you know,
Speaker 1: the players, they're feeling it a little bit. Let's hear
Speaker 1: from a few of them how they felt after they
Speaker 1: went to two and zero against the Bears.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna make predictions, economies.
Speaker 2: Man, we're here, I know we're coming for. I know
Speaker 2: we're coming for. Talk on me. Nothing off with the work.
Speaker 2: We have more work than you know. And I got
Speaker 2: my first job.
Speaker 4: Man, can you begin you buy it to that hype Yeah,
Speaker 4: you can't buy it to the hype man. We're putting
Speaker 4: that work at from day one.
Speaker 2: We know what we got. They don't know what we got.
Speaker 4: That's why he's saying that, but usting out the locker
Speaker 4: room must want that to sit in that facility.
Speaker 2: We know, do we even work.
Speaker 4: We've been putting that since day one.
Speaker 1: A couple of rookies we see in there really enjoyed
Speaker 1: themselves early on. Huh, including Christian is Ian. Uh, he's
Speaker 1: off to a great start. You know, he won that
Speaker 1: that slack corner job as an undrafted rookie, and he's
Speaker 1: really a very confident young player.
Speaker 2: What have you seen from him so far?
Speaker 3: Well, two starts in the regular season and two interceptions,
Speaker 3: So I think he has an impressive resume thus far,
Speaker 3: with one against the Vikings and then one against the
Speaker 3: Bears that really put the exclamation mark on that victory
Speaker 3: after shock bearts picked six. But I think just really
Speaker 3: all throughout training camp and even the preseason, you saw
Speaker 3: the range, you saw that the quick twitch that he has,
Speaker 3: just making plays from sideline a sideline, and really he's
Speaker 3: just kind of elevated that defense, and then obviously against
Speaker 3: the Bears, you know, Antoine Winfield hit Chase Claypool and
Speaker 3: knocked the ball out. Christianizzian was right there. So I
Speaker 3: think it's just exciting to see him coming into this
Speaker 3: role and to already make the impact that he's having,
Speaker 3: and he has that chip on his shoulder and he
Speaker 3: plays that way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and as you see here on the screen, he's
Speaker 1: already making NFL history as just the fourth undrafted rookie
Speaker 1: interception in each of his first two games.
Speaker 2: It's kind of crazy.
Speaker 1: It's only happened four times and two of them are
Speaker 1: Buccaneers ray Eisaman.
Speaker 2: That was in nineteen eighty seven.
Speaker 1: There was there were some replacement games during a player
Speaker 1: strike in eighty seven, but that was not during those games.
Speaker 1: These were back when the players, when the regular players
Speaker 1: were back. So it's a pretty big accomplishment for him
Speaker 1: and a great start. Another guy that we saw there
Speaker 1: in those clips with Shaq Barrett. It was really an
Speaker 1: inspirational story for a number of reasons. One of them,
Speaker 1: of course, is he's coming back from the achilles tendon
Speaker 1: injury and it was kind of a surprise when he
Speaker 1: was full go at the start of training camp and
Speaker 1: we're just so thrilled to see him back back to
Speaker 1: full speed, you know now that we're back.
Speaker 3: Yeah, one, just to see Shaq at peak form, you know.
Speaker 3: And on that play he kind of initially stunned inside
Speaker 3: and then dissected the play, looked at fields, dropped back, pivoted,
Speaker 3: and then was able to make the interception kind of
Speaker 3: by closing that passing windows. So I think just not
Speaker 3: only like you said, him coming back from the Achilles injury,
Speaker 3: but also just he lost his two year old daughter
Speaker 3: Arya in April, and I think just to see the
Speaker 3: way that the team rallied around him and even his
Speaker 3: teammates kind of helping push him into the end zone,
Speaker 3: I think is just kind of an embodiment of the
Speaker 3: team really rallying around him and his family and Geordanna
Speaker 3: throughout this the offseason. So, you know, not a player
Speaker 3: that you could root for more than Shack.
Speaker 1: And I think we saw from his reaction, which we'll
Speaker 1: look at here, that really meant a lot to got
Speaker 1: of his own end zone to go on a pick
Speaker 1: six just.
Speaker 3: Unbelievable. You know, you can't even have him going through
Speaker 3: something like that.
Speaker 4: To see him go through it and come out on
Speaker 4: the other side, play like he's playing right now to
Speaker 4: be where he is right now. So i'nbelieved I always
Speaker 4: play for my family already, but camera was on me
Speaker 4: after I made the play Tota love you miss You,
Speaker 4: which he was here, and so I'm glad I'm able
Speaker 4: to still get some spotlight for her.
Speaker 2: Awesome moment. Everybody felt it, and you know, he's a
Speaker 2: great player. Want our best players. You know, he sealed
Speaker 2: the win for us today.
Speaker 1: And it's so hard what the Bared family has been through.
Speaker 1: But it's just good to see him get some joy
Speaker 1: there with a play like that, especially one that basically
Speaker 1: sealed the victory from the Buccaneers. Another guy that's been
Speaker 1: inspirational to his teammates already in just two starts as
Speaker 1: the buccaneers new starting quarterback is Baker Mayfield. Yes, I
Speaker 1: think we see from Baker that he's willing to do
Speaker 1: whatever it takes to win right that is, And some
Speaker 1: of that some of that is simple things that the
Speaker 1: coaches want him to do, like throwing the ball away
Speaker 1: rather than putting it in harm's way, but also sometimes
Speaker 1: he takes off and runs, and when he runs, he
Speaker 1: seems to mean it, and he got an award for it.
Speaker 3: Actually, I'll tell you who's the true psycho.
Speaker 4: Who's repping this shirt, who's repping this Segment's repping this
Speaker 4: Show's repping this network and rep in.
Speaker 2: The sport Baker Mayfield. Let's go last week, Week one.
Speaker 2: Out of nowhere, Baker says, get your weight up. There
Speaker 2: goes the Baker with his stiff our Mike always he
Speaker 2: looks like Gaston on the sideline and he's screaming and
Speaker 2: he wins.
Speaker 4: Now, if you're just new to this segment, you're like,
Speaker 4: what's with this idiot screaming all the time?
Speaker 2: Some piece of crap stuff? Do you think the players
Speaker 2: care about that? Do I think the players care about that?
Speaker 4: Baker Mayfield's trophy winner?
Speaker 2: Did you get the scepter anger set right here? So,
Speaker 2: like I say thank you to Kyle and everybody. A
Speaker 2: good morning football. Hopefully there's more to come for the
Speaker 2: bucks here. You're damn right, Bake, and there he is.
Speaker 2: That's right, that's how you do it, Jamie pointing.
Speaker 4: Out it does appears in some kind of sauna.
Speaker 2: It's an angry sauna, though I like it. It you throw
Speaker 2: the water over those rocks and it's steamy. Is helling it? Extoliatehs,
Speaker 2: we love it. Baker Mayfield Week one Winner of the Seven. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't know who's working harder there, Baker.
Speaker 1: Or Bran Right, he really settles out.
Speaker 2: They both really sell out.
Speaker 1: I think I was very impressed with Baker's play in
Speaker 1: You know, he played well in the Vikings game, but
Speaker 1: I think he took it up another level against the Bears.
Speaker 1: He was twenty six of thirty four, He had his
Speaker 1: first three hundred yard passing game as a buccaneer, And
Speaker 1: a stat that our PR department unearthed after the game
Speaker 1: is he's been incredible on third down. Yes, I think
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three and a passer rating like one hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty two point two. It's supposed to get harder
Speaker 1: on third downs, You're not supposed to get better because
Speaker 1: everybody expects you have passed. So I've been impressed with
Speaker 1: him so far, and I think he's done a really
Speaker 1: good job grabbing this opportunity to be a starter again
Speaker 1: for a team.
Speaker 2: What have you, right? What really stands out for you
Speaker 2: from Baker's port, I think.
Speaker 3: Specifically from that Bears game, the Bears pressured Baker Mayfield
Speaker 3: seventeen times and they didn't take him down once. And
Speaker 3: I think you saw a lot of times where it
Speaker 3: was almost closed his legs were being wrapped up, and
Speaker 3: even if you just looked at the initial picture, you
Speaker 3: would think he's going down to the ground, and then
Speaker 3: some way, somehow he would maneuver around it, he would
Speaker 3: evade the sack, he would get off one of those
Speaker 3: incredible side arm, yeah, sidearm passes and keep drives alive.
Speaker 3: So I think that was one of the biggest things
Speaker 3: for me, is just the effort that he plays with,
Speaker 3: and he.
Speaker 2: Really spread it around.
Speaker 1: When you look at this chart here, you know, thrown
Speaker 1: to all corrants quadrants of the field, and like you said,
Speaker 1: making some just really off platform throws. I think everybody
Speaker 1: on the one you were talking about where he was
Speaker 1: basically being tackled by his feet and he was almost
Speaker 1: horizontal to the ground.
Speaker 2: Yes, flipped the little side arm.
Speaker 1: Or too, maybe Kate Ott and I think it was
Speaker 1: it just it reminded a lot of people of the
Speaker 1: Great Bucks Super Bowl victory here when we're playing against
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes and the deepens an amazing job against Patrick Mahomes,
Speaker 1: but he still made a number of crazy plays like that.
Speaker 1: You know who else could do that with Patrick Mahomes, Well,
Speaker 1: we saw a little bit of that from Baker Mayfield.
Speaker 2: But one thing, one of the reasons.
Speaker 1: Why Baker had such a game is because he very
Speaker 1: wisely kept throwing the ball to one my Evans. Mike
Speaker 1: Evans finished with six catches for one hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: one yards and a touchdown for the second week in
Speaker 1: a row. He's another guy that maybe NFL analysts around
Speaker 1: the around the nation and fans, maybe we're underestimating, you know,
Speaker 1: going into his tenth season, is Mike is Mike on
Speaker 1: the decline? You know, he's he's played, you know, he's
Speaker 1: played in so many games, He's played so many catches.
Speaker 1: Is this the point in his career he starts to claim,
Speaker 1: And I think it's pretty clear at this point he
Speaker 1: isn't right right.
Speaker 3: When I think you almost get to the point where
Speaker 3: he had nine straight one thousand yard seasons, and I
Speaker 3: think at some point people have just become a little
Speaker 3: bit desensitized to what Mike Evans is able to do. Sure,
Speaker 3: and I think, you know, against the Bears, he had
Speaker 3: seventy nine yards after the catch career high that seventy
Speaker 3: yard catch and run. But I think one of the
Speaker 3: most impressive things when I look at Mike Evans is
Speaker 3: his route running ability, and I think it's one of
Speaker 3: the things that he's maybe not has talked about, little
Speaker 3: undervalued in that in that area. But I think you
Speaker 3: saw the synergy with Baker Mayfield with Mike Evans. Even
Speaker 3: on the seventy yard catch and run. He kind of
Speaker 3: initially pushes like he's going to run a vertical route.
Speaker 3: Then once the dB bit on it, he would pivot
Speaker 3: then flip around and before he would even turn, Baker
Speaker 3: Mayfield had already released that ball and it was right
Speaker 3: in Evans numbers, And I think that was really encouraging
Speaker 3: to see. I don't know only just Mike, but Chris
Speaker 3: ran the same route. They had a connection there. So
Speaker 3: just to see that chemistry between those guys early on
Speaker 3: in the season can't help but get fants excited.
Speaker 1: The touchdown was another example of that, and Baker Mayfield
Speaker 1: did a really nice job of describing that play because
Speaker 1: he said, initially the Bear's defense gave them a two
Speaker 1: safety look, and so there was a safety over where
Speaker 1: Mike was but at the snapper right before they rolled
Speaker 1: that safety to the middle of the field, and Baker
Speaker 1: saw that knew that he had Mike out there one
Speaker 1: on one and they were playing off coverage and so
Speaker 1: off man, so it's man to man, but the corners
Speaker 1: playing very deep. And as Baker said, Mike Evans is
Speaker 1: the best receiver in the NFL at beating off man coverage.
Speaker 1: And what he did is he bran it what they
Speaker 1: call an inside go and the dB because Mike's long
Speaker 1: striding speed is so deceptive the dB, and he gets
Speaker 1: on the dB before you expect him to and then
Speaker 1: he's buy him before you know what's happening. And so
Speaker 1: Baker saw that he had him. Even though he had
Speaker 1: pressure in his face, he and he's falling backward. He
Speaker 1: lopped up because he knew he just had to get
Speaker 1: it over that dB and Mike would make them play
Speaker 1: and so he didn't. So it's really good to see
Speaker 1: the chemistry for those two. I think Baker was excited
Speaker 1: when he got here to be playing with maybe the
Speaker 1: best wide receiver duo he's ever had in Mike and Chris,
Speaker 1: and we're seeing that in action. Already, So that's pretty exciting,
Speaker 1: and Mike himself continues to move up the charts of
Speaker 1: the all time greats. We're gonna talk about Rodney barbera
Speaker 1: here in a second. This guy is on his way
Speaker 1: to the Hall of Fame, I believe as well. He
Speaker 1: got his eighty third touchdown catch and you could see
Speaker 1: that ties him for twenty fifth with some pretty big names.
Speaker 1: But as you can see, every time he makes a
Speaker 1: catch pretty much for a touchdown catch, pretty much for
Speaker 1: the rest of the season, he's going to be moving up.
Speaker 1: And now he only needs five more to be tied
Speaker 1: for fourteenth. Of course, DeVante Adams could get some more too,
Speaker 1: so that could change a little bit. But he's just
Speaker 1: climbing that chart really really quickly, and he's just making
Speaker 1: a kind of a new bit of Buccaneers history every time.
Speaker 2: He catches a touchdown.
Speaker 1: So anyway, that's actually a pretty good segue because if
Speaker 1: we're talking about possibly him ending up in the Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame, he would be joining a growing number of Buccaneers.
Speaker 1: The latest is Rodney Barber And last night we had
Speaker 1: the premiere at great just ornate, beautiful Tampa Theater of
Speaker 1: Prototype The legacy of Rodney Barber. Steven Lynch, our great producer,
Speaker 1: Emmy winning producer, made this great movie. It's an hour
Speaker 1: and twenty minutes long, and it's not just about his career,
Speaker 1: it's about his Rondie's whole life, his family.
Speaker 2: It's awesome. If you were there, I'm sure you loved it.
Speaker 1: One of the things that really impressed me at this
Speaker 1: premiere was I was not expecting this.
Speaker 2: How enthusiastic the crowd was.
Speaker 1: They were having the best time, chants and cheers and
Speaker 1: laughing at all the funny spots. They were just pouring
Speaker 1: out the love for Randi Barber, and it was really awesome.
Speaker 1: If you weren't able to get there, that is going
Speaker 1: to be put on the Buccaneers YouTube channel at seven
Speaker 1: o'clock tonight. It'll also be on Buccaneers dot com, so
Speaker 1: you don't have to wait very long.
Speaker 2: I highly recommend it.
Speaker 1: If you he really enjoyed Rhandi's career, are just a
Speaker 1: Buccaneers fan, You're going to really love it.
Speaker 2: I don't want to miss that.
Speaker 3: I think one of my favorite moments in the documentary
Speaker 3: was Mike Tomlin, who used to be Barbarer's former Devins
Speaker 3: Bocks coach, and he said that when he came in,
Speaker 3: he joked and told Ronde that he was LT and
Speaker 3: he was Bo Parcels and he said, I knew that
Speaker 3: that's what he would mean to me as a coach,
Speaker 3: and I thought, there is nothing more telling than that.
Speaker 3: I mean, you're talking about Lawrence Taylor, who is one
Speaker 3: of the greatest defensive players time, one of the greatest players,
Speaker 3: if not the greatest player. And I mean just offensive
Speaker 3: linemen had to change their stance because they couldn't get
Speaker 3: out of it fast enough against a guy like Lawrence Taylor.
Speaker 3: And to say that Rende Barber was going to be
Speaker 3: that player for him to really take the Buccaneers to
Speaker 3: the next level. But I mean, he was just a
Speaker 3: guy that did it all and he kind of refined
Speaker 3: that nickel corner position with blitzing, with being an inside
Speaker 3: linebacker setting that edge against the run, and a guy
Speaker 3: that just really has been kind of transcendent across the NFL.
Speaker 2: And that's why he's in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: Yes, and on Monday night, this is very fitting that
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers are going to be playing the Philadelphia Yes,
Speaker 1: and he's going to run he's going to receive his
Speaker 1: in a halftime ceremony. He's going to receive his Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame ring and on the Ring of Honor at
Speaker 1: the stadium. His name's already up there, of course, because
Speaker 1: he's in the Ring of Honor, but like Tony Dungee
Speaker 1: and Warren Sapp and Derek Brooks and John Lynch, he's
Speaker 1: going to have his Hall of Fame logo presented next
Speaker 1: to his name, So that'll be exciting.
Speaker 2: And team again. I'll tell you there.
Speaker 1: Was a panel after the movie last night up on
Speaker 1: the stage which I was fortunate enough to moderate, and
Speaker 1: we were getting to the end of it and Ronnie
Speaker 1: was talking about what he was most proud of about
Speaker 1: his career, and there was a lot of good answers there,
Speaker 1: but at the end he kind of made a joke.
Speaker 1: It's like, I'll tell you what I think I'm most
Speaker 1: proud of, just being a pain in.
Speaker 2: The butt for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 1: So it's so fitting that it'll be against the Eagles,
Speaker 1: and that's going to be really exciting too. But you know,
Speaker 1: before we go here, that's a big game for the Buckaneers.
Speaker 1: Two and zero Eagles are two and oh it's the
Speaker 1: only matchup of undefeated teams in the NFL in Week three,
Speaker 1: and for the Buccaneers, it's really an opportunity to prove
Speaker 1: that this two and oh start isn't a fluke and
Speaker 1: that they are actual contenders because the Eagles are the
Speaker 1: defending NFC champs and they're very good again this year. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, what are the challenges that the Buccaneers are
Speaker 1: going to be facing on under now?
Speaker 3: I think one of the biggest challenges is certainly going
Speaker 3: to be Jalen Hurts, who has that incredible dual threat
Speaker 3: mobility Like Justin fields last week, I think that gives
Speaker 3: you a little bit of confidence this week coming in
Speaker 3: after they held Justin fields to just I think three
Speaker 3: yards three yards on four carriers, So that again, but
Speaker 3: just to be disciplined in your run fits. They were
Speaker 3: able to contain Justin fields to where he wasn't able
Speaker 3: to do the boot action all those kinds of things.
Speaker 3: But the Eagles system is predicated on Jalen Hurts with
Speaker 3: the the RPOs, and then once the defense kind of
Speaker 3: allocates resources there, then that kind of creates those advantageous
Speaker 3: matchups down field for Devonte Smith. So I think that's
Speaker 3: going to be a really big thing. And then their
Speaker 3: defense has a lot of star set of players like
Speaker 3: Hassan Reddick, who is one of the most explosive pass
Speaker 3: rushers in the league. You have Darius Slay on the
Speaker 3: back end, so you know, got to be on the
Speaker 3: p's and q's this week against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they've got that's a that's a star studed roster.
Speaker 3: Wi Ye.
Speaker 1: Why I say this is a great opportunity before the Bucketeers.
Speaker 1: Hopefully you get a chance to be there or see
Speaker 1: it on television. It's going to be a very exciting
Speaker 1: night for the Buccaneers. And so with that, thank you
Speaker 1: for joining us again this week. And we'll be back
Speaker 1: next week. And I said it last week and it
Speaker 1: wasn't true, but I think next week Casey Fields will
Speaker 1: be back to run the show like really does. So
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us today. M HM.