Speaker 1: Um, Good morning everyone. It is time for Buccaneers and
Speaker 1: Saturday Live presented by a Miller like Casey Phillips and
Speaker 1: senior writer and editor Scott Smith here and this is
Speaker 1: where we take all of your questions. So if you
Speaker 1: have one of those for us, make sure you head
Speaker 1: on over to the Buccaneers Facebook page and underneath our
Speaker 1: live video that is where you can put your questions
Speaker 1: so as we give people a chance to start so
Speaker 1: many those we figured we would start, of course where
Speaker 1: I'm sure most of those questions will start, which is
Speaker 1: with injuries. That has been the storyline for unfortunately a
Speaker 1: while now for this season. So what do we feel
Speaker 1: like we might know this week? And when might we
Speaker 1: know it? What are what are we thinking? Is there
Speaker 1: is there some optimism for for once getting guys back
Speaker 1: instead of losing losing more people. Well, today we'll be
Speaker 1: really telling because it's the first practice of the week
Speaker 1: and it will be interesting to see if a couple
Speaker 1: of guys are back out there on Monday. UM head
Speaker 1: coach Bruce Arian said he was hopeful that we could
Speaker 1: get Rob Gronkowski and Lavante David this week, which would
Speaker 1: be huge, and maybe Richard Sherman. I think he's probably
Speaker 1: the longest shot of those three. Also hopeful that the
Speaker 1: guys that got hurt most notably Dee Delaney and Jamal
Speaker 1: Dean more cornerbacks that got hurt in the Chicago game,
Speaker 1: will be okay. Um, they didn't seem overly concerned about
Speaker 1: those guys, but even an injury that could keep him
Speaker 1: out of week would be trouble for the Bucks right
Speaker 1: now because they're just so thin and we're already down
Speaker 1: so far on the depth chart at quarterback. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: you just keep pasting over the next injury. And the
Speaker 1: guys are doing a fantastic job, and so is Todd
Speaker 1: Bowles putting those guys in position. And you can't say
Speaker 1: enough about what guys like Dee Delanney have done, but
Speaker 1: at some point you just run out of good options,
Speaker 1: you know. So this will be a good day to
Speaker 1: see if anybody's back on the practice field, in particular
Speaker 1: Lavante and and Gronk. Yeah, and uh, we had some
Speaker 1: questions about Sean Murphy Bunty that you know, he's one
Speaker 1: of those guys we haven't heard much about in a
Speaker 1: long time. That's kind of what happens once you've go
Speaker 1: on that i R list that you don't tend to
Speaker 1: hear a lot for a while. So is there any
Speaker 1: way that we would know a little bit more about
Speaker 1: or when might you know more about his situation? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You know, the last thing that Bruce has said is
Speaker 1: that both him and Carlton are always away. So I
Speaker 1: don't think we're to the point yet where we're starting
Speaker 1: to think about, Okay, they're returning in a week or two.
Speaker 1: I think we're still a bit away from that. So
Speaker 1: at the moment, we're just gonna have to consider those
Speaker 1: two guys kind of often the future. Hopefully some reinforcements
Speaker 1: later in the season, but not really in the plans
Speaker 1: at the moment. Okay, And we also had people asking
Speaker 1: about Scottie Miller, um and when we think he could
Speaker 1: potentially come back, and um, I also just wanted to
Speaker 1: hear what you thought about overall with him being out
Speaker 1: a b being out this last week, what our wide
Speaker 1: receiver group has has looked like in or is there
Speaker 1: a chance we see more of guys like Tyler Johnson
Speaker 1: because of that? Well? As for Scottie Miller, the thing
Speaker 1: is he has a turf toe injury and that's one
Speaker 1: of the most confounding injuries in the NFL, partly because
Speaker 1: it doesn't sound like much, um, you know, but it
Speaker 1: is a bad injury. It's a ligament injury that it
Speaker 1: often takes guys a long time to come back from,
Speaker 1: and even when they do, they're often struggling with it
Speaker 1: because it's very painful. So, um, we don't have a
Speaker 1: timetable on Scotty yet. Now asked for the receivers going
Speaker 1: into that game, before A B was down, you had
Speaker 1: those You had A B and Mike Evans and um,
Speaker 1: Chris Godwin, all with almost identical stats. And you also
Speaker 1: had guys like Leonard four Nette and O. J. Howard,
Speaker 1: especially in weeks six, catching a lot of passes. So uh,
Speaker 1: it's kind of been what is the defense giving you,
Speaker 1: and Tom Brady has been taking what they give and
Speaker 1: go into the open man, and sometimes like in Philly,
Speaker 1: that was really more the tight ends and backs than
Speaker 1: it was the receivers. But with Brown out this last
Speaker 1: game against Chicago, you know, it went back to kind
Speaker 1: of the way it was in the Jamis Winston years
Speaker 1: when almost everything went through Evans and Godwin, and those
Speaker 1: two guys accounted for almost all the teams passing yards
Speaker 1: in this game. Both of them had great games. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Mike Evans had three touch downs and you know, Casey
Speaker 1: are our streak was broken because this was our fourth
Speaker 1: home game and after every home game of the first
Speaker 1: three a Buck. We've been able to talk on Wednesday
Speaker 1: about a Buccaneer being in a Player of the Week,
Speaker 1: and we had a shot with Mike Evans and three
Speaker 1: three touchdowns, but it went to that Alvin Kamara guy
Speaker 1: that we're gonna have to deal with this week. So uh.
Speaker 1: In any case, the point is the Bucks have a
Speaker 1: lot of weapons in the passing game and and there's
Speaker 1: a lot of different ways that the Bucks offensively can
Speaker 1: approach a game, and in that in this last one,
Speaker 1: it was leaning on those two star receivers. Okay, And
Speaker 1: Matt had asked, he said, I see that the Cardinals
Speaker 1: are number one in the power rankings. Do you think
Speaker 1: that's more to do with the Bucks strength of schedule
Speaker 1: or purely that the Cardinals are seven? And oh, do
Speaker 1: you think head to head healthy we beat them? Well,
Speaker 1: I think it would be a fantastic game. I think
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers can beat any team in this league when
Speaker 1: we're fully healthy. Um it's if I'm making a power pool,
Speaker 1: which are you know they're they're kind of like um
Speaker 1: raids right after a draft. We all know that they
Speaker 1: don't mean anything and they're a little bit silly. But
Speaker 1: I mean, why do you need to power rank teams
Speaker 1: when you have standings that kind of shows you who's winning,
Speaker 1: who's the best teams? But we also all love them,
Speaker 1: right We read them every week and we love when
Speaker 1: our teams near the top. If I'm making a power
Speaker 1: raking right now, and I'm being an objective about this,
Speaker 1: I gotta start with the team that's seven and up,
Speaker 1: and they haven't had an easy schedule. They've beating the Rams,
Speaker 1: they've beaten the Browns, they've had the Cardinals are killing
Speaker 1: it and they deserve all the accolades that are getting.
Speaker 1: Do I think the Buccaneers at full strength are a
Speaker 1: better team when Cardinals? I'm biased, probably, but yeah, I
Speaker 1: think so, And we may be finding the stuff come
Speaker 1: to the Plasts. It would be an exciting game, that's
Speaker 1: for sure, with playing against Kyler Murray and with the
Speaker 1: offense that we have, Yes, I agree, that would be
Speaker 1: a very fun game. Um So looking at We had
Speaker 1: a couple of questions about trades um, but might get asked,
Speaker 1: are there any trade options you think the Bucks would
Speaker 1: be looking into before the trade deadline. I gotta believe
Speaker 1: that that Jason light is is taking any calls comes
Speaker 1: his way, and his staff is his pro personal staff.
Speaker 1: Rob McCartney, you and all those guys are scouting everybody
Speaker 1: that looks like they might be available. You look at
Speaker 1: the teams that are probably out of it and should
Speaker 1: be selling in order to gain some draft assets probably,
Speaker 1: and you see who might they be willing to let go?
Speaker 1: And and some of it has to do with with
Speaker 1: what their salaries are. And the Bucks don't have a
Speaker 1: lot of salary cap space right now. They have some
Speaker 1: and generally you can make some more by restructuring contract
Speaker 1: and pushing some cap hit into years to come, which
Speaker 1: we've been doing for the last two years. But um uh,
Speaker 1: you know who would it be? I mean, you look
Speaker 1: at those teams, does anybody have a cornerback that maybe
Speaker 1: could shake loose? Obviously that's something the Buccaneers could use,
Speaker 1: but it's all speculation at this point. I think we
Speaker 1: have until next Tuesday. If I'm not Yeah, next Tuesday
Speaker 1: four is the trade deadline. You know, I never would
Speaker 1: put money down while I can't anyway, but I never
Speaker 1: would bet on us making a trade over not making
Speaker 1: a trade. But also the last two years have taught
Speaker 1: me that you can never say never with Jason Lette,
Speaker 1: the way they're constructing this roster to try to win championships,
Speaker 1: I agree. Uh So, now looking to the Saints game
Speaker 1: this next week, you know, whenever it's a division team,
Speaker 1: you feel like there's so much familiarity, but now this is,
Speaker 1: uh there's some uniqueness to it, and some familiarity in
Speaker 1: the sense that all of a sudden, for the first
Speaker 1: time and forever and ever and ever, it is not
Speaker 1: a Drew Brees led Saints team, but there's still some
Speaker 1: familiarity there with Jase, with with Jami's at quarterback. So
Speaker 1: what do you think is going to be the keys
Speaker 1: to this game, both offensively and defensively, and then just
Speaker 1: how it could look similar different to two previous years
Speaker 1: of facing the Saints. Well, this Saints team has two
Speaker 1: really gigantic strengths. One of them is albu Kamara, and
Speaker 1: coach Arean said on Monday's six days away from the game,
Speaker 1: But he's already thinking about how the Buccaneers have to
Speaker 1: stop Kamara better than they did Khalil Herbert, and it
Speaker 1: was it was strange to see a running back get
Speaker 1: a hundred yards against our rush defense, which even after
Speaker 1: that is still ranked number one in the league. But
Speaker 1: Kamara can hurt you in so many ways. He's just
Speaker 1: like they hadn't even hardly been using him as a
Speaker 1: past catcher through the first five games, which was surprising.
Speaker 1: And in this last game against Seattle, he caught like
Speaker 1: eleven passes for a hundred twenty yards or something like that,
Speaker 1: and they were the Seahawks in the second half, We're
Speaker 1: double teaming him and they still couldn't stop him. The
Speaker 1: second strength for the Saints is a really really good defense,
Speaker 1: one of the best ones we're gonna face all season.
Speaker 1: And what's good about him is they're just good at
Speaker 1: every level. Um Tomorrow Davis, their middle linebacker, might be
Speaker 1: one of the most underrated players in the entire league.
Speaker 1: He absolutely does it all, rushes the passer, is a
Speaker 1: great cover linebacker, makes all the tackles, knows which gaps
Speaker 1: to fill when you when you're in the running game.
Speaker 1: He's just fantastic. They got good safeties, good corners. Um,
Speaker 1: it's it's gonna be a really tough challenge. Uh So,
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's gonna be like Week one
Speaker 1: in two thousand and eighteen with that record setting shootout.
Speaker 1: I think it's probably a little more low scoring than that.
Speaker 1: But it's gonna be a tough one. But it's one
Speaker 1: that the Buccaneers need because they need to get over
Speaker 1: this divisional hump. The Saints have won the last four.
Speaker 1: The Bucks want it all last year, but they didn't
Speaker 1: win a division. And if you want that easier route
Speaker 1: to this to another super Bowl with the first round
Speaker 1: buy or at least a first round game at home,
Speaker 1: you gotta win the division. Yeah, I agree, especially you
Speaker 1: know the winning the division is always something you want,
Speaker 1: but it seems like this year, with how stacked the
Speaker 1: NFC is, I think it makes it even more important
Speaker 1: for a just to know you for sure have a
Speaker 1: playoff spot. But even just we saw I mean, of
Speaker 1: course it was incredible they were able to make it
Speaker 1: all the way as the wild card team, but it
Speaker 1: would be nice to have have some whole playoff games
Speaker 1: as well. So all right, well that is going to
Speaker 1: do it for us on this edition of Buccaneers and
Speaker 1: Sadur Live presented by Miller Lte. Thanks as always for
Speaker 1: those questions, and we will see you right back here
Speaker 1: next week