Speaker 1: Good morning, Bucks fans. How's everybody doing. We are back
Speaker 1: for a third day in a row for Buccaneers Insider Live,
Speaker 1: presented by Miller Lte, making sure you guys are all
Speaker 1: updated on everything going on before this first Buccaneers playoff game.
Speaker 1: Casey Phillips, you're a senior writer and editor, Scott Smith,
Speaker 1: and of course we're gonna be taking all of your questions,
Speaker 1: so if you have any of those, make sure you
Speaker 1: head over to the Facebook page if that's not already
Speaker 1: where you're watching from, and submit those in the comment
Speaker 1: section underneath the live video. So, Scott, while we give
Speaker 1: people a chance to start doing that, um, I just
Speaker 1: wanted to hear some of your thoughts on what we
Speaker 1: have learned and what we still could learn today about
Speaker 1: especially things like health of guys. Uh, the COVID stuff,
Speaker 1: you know that everything going on with all that in
Speaker 1: terms of availability, what we learned from coach yesterday and
Speaker 1: what we will be looking for today at practice. Well,
Speaker 1: I guess the biggest piece of news is that Shack
Speaker 1: Barrett was activated from the reserve COVID list, so he
Speaker 1: will be back in practice today and will be able
Speaker 1: to play on Saturday, which is great to have that
Speaker 1: Shack and JPP Combo back again. We need that. And
Speaker 1: you know, it was not a terrible surprise because they,
Speaker 1: even though the team is not allowed to say why
Speaker 1: they put a player on the COVID list, whether as
Speaker 1: he was tested positive or had some sort of close
Speaker 1: contact with someone who did, we had kind of known
Speaker 1: all along that the latter was the case for Shock,
Speaker 1: so we were expecting him back and that's good news. Also,
Speaker 1: Lashawn McCoy, who had been missing practice in the last
Speaker 1: game do to a non injury related situation, was back
Speaker 1: to practice as well, and Carlton Davis went from not
Speaker 1: participating to limited participations, so hopefully today we can see
Speaker 1: him get all the way too full and feel good
Speaker 1: about his chances to play on Saturday. Mike Emma's still
Speaker 1: did not practice yesterday, but that's not a setback or
Speaker 1: really bad news because the target all along was today.
Speaker 1: So today really is the big day. It's what would
Speaker 1: normally be a Friday practice. It's the last one of
Speaker 1: the week other than a walk through on Friday. So uh,
Speaker 1: this is where we're gonna get a better field for
Speaker 1: the status of Carlton and Mike. I don't know, we
Speaker 1: had somebody asking about Devin White and no, he will
Speaker 1: not be available. And so now knowing that, how does
Speaker 1: that change the Buccaneers defense in your mind? And what
Speaker 1: did we see from Kevin Mentor stepping into that role
Speaker 1: this last week. I don't think that they change their
Speaker 1: approach in any way. I mean, you you hate not
Speaker 1: having Devon out there because he's got a special set
Speaker 1: of skills and that was showing up in the stats.
Speaker 1: But Kevin Miner did a really nice job. And the
Speaker 1: thing about Kevin is he's got he's got a very
Speaker 1: good grasp of this defense. I know I said that yesterday,
Speaker 1: but we're talking about the same thing. So he he
Speaker 1: he knows what he's doing and he's a pretty productive
Speaker 1: guy when he's out there on the field. He proved
Speaker 1: that last year when he played three games for Devin White.
Speaker 1: So it's a position where you can't you know, there's look,
Speaker 1: there's certain spots on this team where you if you
Speaker 1: lose a guy, you can't hope to put in another
Speaker 1: guy that's just as good, right, I mean, if you
Speaker 1: lose Mike Evans, you don't have another Mike Evans, but
Speaker 1: you do have a guy in Kevin Mintor, who knows
Speaker 1: what he's doing and is showing that he can keep
Speaker 1: everything sort of humming along when he's in there. And
Speaker 1: then I like this, Uh, someone asked you where to go?
Speaker 1: Daniel asked you to put your coaching hat on, and
Speaker 1: how would you attack this Washington defense? Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna keep
Speaker 1: spreading the ball around just I think that's what works
Speaker 1: best for this offense when, um, you know when they're
Speaker 1: when they're getting the ball into the hands of all
Speaker 1: of our playmakers, as some might say. Uh. And I
Speaker 1: think Tom Brady said something along these lines of making
Speaker 1: them defend every blade of grass because we can throw
Speaker 1: deep and we can throw underneath. And I think what
Speaker 1: Daniel is looking for me to say is something along
Speaker 1: the lines of get the ball out of Tom's hands
Speaker 1: quickly because of that pass rush. And there's a there's
Speaker 1: an element of that, I agree, But um, I also
Speaker 1: think you, at least at the beginning, until proven otherwise,
Speaker 1: you trust your offensive line to be up to this task.
Speaker 1: I mean, we are rightfully making a lot about their
Speaker 1: great defensive front, but it the Bucks have faced good
Speaker 1: pass rushers throughout the year and they've done a good job. Again,
Speaker 1: not all the time, but against most of them. And
Speaker 1: when they have the offense is operated very very well.
Speaker 1: So you know, to me, I run my offense like
Speaker 1: I normally would until it becomes obvious that we have
Speaker 1: to switch up and and find ways to get the
Speaker 1: ball out of Tom's hand a little quicker. And then
Speaker 1: maybe related to this, Mitchell had asked about the weather
Speaker 1: on Saturday and is there any chance in your mind
Speaker 1: that that changes anything in terms of what we try
Speaker 1: to do offensively if there is some colder weather or
Speaker 1: some sleep. Well. Uh, the last time I look the
Speaker 1: weather in terms of precipitation was supposed to not be
Speaker 1: an issue on Saturday night. I don't know if that
Speaker 1: has changed. I didn't look yet this morning, but it
Speaker 1: could get down in the mid twenties, which is something
Speaker 1: we're not used to this year. But there's not supposed
Speaker 1: to be any rain or sleep. So you're just talking
Speaker 1: about playing in the cold. Tom Brady's thrown in the
Speaker 1: cold before. I don't see how that's an issue. I
Speaker 1: don't think it changes your approach to the game now. Uh.
Speaker 1: And we had a couple of people asking are there
Speaker 1: going to be fans in the stands on Saturday. No. No.
Speaker 1: Who you know who said he does is not bothered
Speaker 1: by that is Ali Marpett. And he made a good
Speaker 1: point like I went to a really small high school
Speaker 1: and then I went to a really small college, Hobart,
Speaker 1: it says, I'm kind of used to not playing in
Speaker 1: front of fans, so to me, it's not really hard
Speaker 1: to bring my own energy. Yeah, it's funny. I did
Speaker 1: a I did a virtual UM event with cam Brad
Speaker 1: the other day and he said something similar that finally
Speaker 1: this time at Harvard kind of paid off. That you know,
Speaker 1: you don't have the massive crowds of people and your
Speaker 1: I'm really glad for Kim that his time at Harvard
Speaker 1: is finally paying offering. Usually these guys who go to
Speaker 1: Harvard really find it tough when they can really struggle
Speaker 1: in the world. They really do struggle. That's a great point. Um.
Speaker 1: We had also had someone asked about if Steve McClendon
Speaker 1: will be available for Saturday. You know, he was considered
Speaker 1: a question mark by coach when you first started talking
Speaker 1: about this week on Monday, and it didn't sound very
Speaker 1: pot do and the fact that he has not yet
Speaker 1: been activated from the reserve list. I think is a
Speaker 1: pretty clear sign that he's not gonna be available. Uh
Speaker 1: and we had somebody asked, can we afford to double
Speaker 1: team Young or what would that do to the rest
Speaker 1: of the group. Yeah, I think you can, um if
Speaker 1: he's the one you're most worried about. Of course, Montest
Speaker 1: Sweat was actually their leading pass rusher. And here's why
Speaker 1: I would say yes, from what I could see on
Speaker 1: the the I don't know if you ever look at
Speaker 1: next Gen stats, but they have One of the things
Speaker 1: they have is a player location. It will show the
Speaker 1: of a defensive player, will show their pre snap location
Speaker 1: where they're standing on the field before the ball is snapped.
Speaker 1: And Sweat and Young do both switch sides and rush
Speaker 1: from both sides, but more commonly Montes Sweat rushes from
Speaker 1: the left side of the defense, which was over the
Speaker 1: right tackle and Young over the left tackle. And the
Speaker 1: right tackle for US is Tristan Worfs, who has had
Speaker 1: an unbelievable year and according to you know, a couple
Speaker 1: of versus has only allowed one sack the entire year,
Speaker 1: and it probably, I mean, it's crazy to say this
Speaker 1: about a rookie, but he's probably your He's probably playing
Speaker 1: best among all your offensive linemen, so maybe Ali mar
Speaker 1: pet So the fact that he could maybe handle mine
Speaker 1: to sweat on his own for most of the game.
Speaker 1: If you're gonna have a tight end in the game,
Speaker 1: you certainly could afford to put him on the other
Speaker 1: side to help keep Chase Young at bay. So yeah,
Speaker 1: we could afford it. But again, as I said either
Speaker 1: yesterday day or the day before, remember that Bruce arians
Speaker 1: is not really a max protect guy. He he would
Speaker 1: always prefer to get more guys into routes. So I
Speaker 1: don't see us turtling up and and max protecting for
Speaker 1: most of the game. Yeah, I think I agree with that.
Speaker 1: Um Liz had asked how big of a factor do
Speaker 1: you think a b will have to be in this game?
Speaker 1: That's a good one, and I think someone that depends
Speaker 1: upon how much if Mike's playing Mike Evans and how
Speaker 1: much because when Mike went out, uh, Antonio Brown became
Speaker 1: your X, which is the position that Mike plays. Instead
Speaker 1: of just being your third receiver, he was basically your
Speaker 1: starting X, which is a luxury to have when you
Speaker 1: think about it. Because this guy put up insane numbers
Speaker 1: in that position for Pittsburgh. So, um, that you can
Speaker 1: just plug him in is pretty amazing. And you saw
Speaker 1: what he did with a Loven catches for a hundred
Speaker 1: yards and two touchdowns. And also the question that Daniel
Speaker 1: asked earlier, if we're trying to get the ball quickly
Speaker 1: into players hands, Uh, he obviously is the guy that
Speaker 1: we like to do that with the most right now.
Speaker 1: We did that repeatedly against Atlanta and UM, and so
Speaker 1: I can see that he's starting to move. I think
Speaker 1: like he is used to moving at the peak of
Speaker 1: his game. So when you get him that short pass
Speaker 1: he's making, you know, and he gets the ball at
Speaker 1: the last scrimmage and makes seven or eight yards, or
Speaker 1: if you get him you know, he might break one
Speaker 1: and make twenty yards. So I think he could He
Speaker 1: could really be a big factor in this game. I
Speaker 1: think yes, all right, well, that is gonna do it
Speaker 1: for us on this edition of Buccaneers Insider Live presented
Speaker 1: by Miller Lte. That is it for us this week
Speaker 1: on these Uh, the team just has a walk through
Speaker 1: tomorrow before leaving for Washington. But of course we're hoping
Speaker 1: if that Bucks win and If they win, we'll be
Speaker 1: back here doing this again next week, so we'll see
Speaker 1: you then, Pip stiff him