Speaker 1: Morning Bucks fans, how's everybody doing? Casey Phillips here with
Speaker 1: senior writer and editor Scott Smith. It is time for
Speaker 1: us to take all of your questions on Buccaneers Insider Live,
Speaker 1: presented by Miller Lte. If you're not already watching on Facebook,
Speaker 1: you can head on over there to submit your questions
Speaker 1: in the comment section underneath our live video. Anything you
Speaker 1: want to know about the Buccaneers. This is where we
Speaker 1: want you to tell us what you want to talk about.
Speaker 1: As we give people a chance to start submitting some
Speaker 1: of those questions, I figured we'd start with some of
Speaker 1: the roster moves that have happened this week and what
Speaker 1: they mean for the team. Yeah, we even have one
Speaker 1: to day um. Jaden Mickens, who was waived on Monday
Speaker 1: when the Buccaneers promoted Kenyan Barner from the practice squad,
Speaker 1: has now been signed to the practice squad. So essentially
Speaker 1: you have a switch of those two guys and they're
Speaker 1: both returnment. But the differences. Jaden Mackins is a wide
Speaker 1: receiver and Kenyan Barner's running back who coach Arians likes
Speaker 1: quite a bit and even thinks he could do a
Speaker 1: little bit on offense if they decided to do so.
Speaker 1: But what that does is give him a little more
Speaker 1: balance between his position groups there. Because we had seven receivers,
Speaker 1: he can't keep seven of them active, but he would
Speaker 1: like to keep six and four running backs. So now
Speaker 1: he can do that. And if you really really need
Speaker 1: Jaden Nickens to help you in the return game or
Speaker 1: some way in the next few weeks, you can always
Speaker 1: use up to two practice squad elevations on him, while
Speaker 1: we were already out of those options on Kenyan Barners.
Speaker 1: So it all makes sense when you put it together
Speaker 1: that way. We also brought Peck a blast from the
Speaker 1: past yesterday and Ted Larson, a really versatile interior lineman
Speaker 1: who started at all three positions, has made a lot
Speaker 1: of starts, has started every every place he's gone, beginning
Speaker 1: with the Buccaneers in two thousand and ten, but he
Speaker 1: hasn't played here since two thousand thirteen, so a seven
Speaker 1: year gap is a long time. He's on the practice squad,
Speaker 1: he could he he could be elevated if need be,
Speaker 1: so if he played, would be the same gap between
Speaker 1: his time here as work done had and a lot
Speaker 1: of fans would remember that the way we worked done
Speaker 1: came back seven years later, so it's kind of interesting
Speaker 1: when that happens. That's great. I love that. Yeah, love
Speaker 1: seeing that he was with us so long ago and
Speaker 1: now getting like a second go around. And yeah, I
Speaker 1: had been with Bruisarian, so he just gets to redo everything,
Speaker 1: which is really awesome. Um, all right, Wait a question
Speaker 1: from Reven I think is how you say it? I'm yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I'm hoping I didn't butcher that. Um. He
Speaker 1: wanted to know how many wins do you think we
Speaker 1: need to make the playoffs, and he said he's watching
Speaker 1: from Denmark, which is well, what we know for sure
Speaker 1: is that eleven will do it. If the Buccaneers went out, uh,
Speaker 1: they're in. I am of the opinion that if they
Speaker 1: win three or four and get to ten wins, they're
Speaker 1: almost certainly gonna make it, simply because there's only one
Speaker 1: other team that has seven wins uh right now, and
Speaker 1: so everybody behind the Buccaneers has that could be in
Speaker 1: play have either six or five. And so you talk
Speaker 1: about Minnesota with six wins, they would have to run
Speaker 1: the table um to get to ten wins, and even
Speaker 1: then that doesn't bump the Bucks out of the playoffs,
Speaker 1: So I don't, I don't. I think ten wins is
Speaker 1: almost a virtual lock. Nine is when it starts to
Speaker 1: get a little bit hairy and some of the other
Speaker 1: teams could catch you there, and then tiebreakers come into place.
Speaker 1: So you know, if you're Bucks fan and you're you're
Speaker 1: trying to decide what you you know, what you need
Speaker 1: to root for. Three wins is almost certainly going to
Speaker 1: get it done. So uh and really the biggest game
Speaker 1: of those three is this first one against Minnesota. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was gonna be My follow up is how important
Speaker 1: is this particular win When we talk about the kind
Speaker 1: of overall numbers of how many wins and the different
Speaker 1: combinations of which teams that could come against over these
Speaker 1: last four games, this one in particular, how much would
Speaker 1: a win or a loss be different than maybe one
Speaker 1: of the other games. It would be really big. And
Speaker 1: even coach Areas called it a huge game yesterday, and
Speaker 1: he's right. Minnesota is right behind the Bucks in the
Speaker 1: seventh seed with a six and six record, so obviously,
Speaker 1: if they were to beat the Buccaneers, both teams would
Speaker 1: be seven and six, and Minnesota would have the tiebreaker
Speaker 1: with that head to head win and thus would jump
Speaker 1: the Bucks in the in the rankings, and you just
Speaker 1: feel more secure at six because it's seven. Somebody catches
Speaker 1: you and has a tiebreaker on you, like say the Bears,
Speaker 1: then uh, then you're in trouble. So this is a
Speaker 1: big one. If the Bucks could win this and get
Speaker 1: to eight wins and push Minnesota down to six and seven.
Speaker 1: You know, they've won five of their last six games,
Speaker 1: so they're kind of hot right now and coming in
Speaker 1: with a full head of team. So, um, it's the Also,
Speaker 1: the buccaneers last three games against Atlanta twice in Detroite
Speaker 1: are all against teams with something like four and eight records, So, um,
Speaker 1: it's the one. It's the biggest one. It's the team
Speaker 1: is always gonna say it's the biggest one anyway because
Speaker 1: it's the next one. But if you're just a fan
Speaker 1: looking at the next four games, this is the biggest one.
Speaker 1: And I know that we've got a little bit of
Speaker 1: media sessions since everybody came back from the bye week. Um,
Speaker 1: and some of these questions have been asked before the
Speaker 1: bye week and then again, now, um, what did you
Speaker 1: feel like the team really took the bye week to
Speaker 1: do What were some of the um takeaways or lessons
Speaker 1: or things that you think they got out of this
Speaker 1: incredibly late bye week. Yeah, it was weird. This is
Speaker 1: the latest bye week the Buccaneers have had since bye
Speaker 1: weeks first started, and generally they've always gotten around weeks
Speaker 1: five or six. And in those years whereways, we always
Speaker 1: felt like that was a disadvantage because you figure later
Speaker 1: in the year more likely that you'll have some injuries
Speaker 1: and just basic aches and pains that a bye week
Speaker 1: would help. But this is really really late, and coach
Speaker 1: had said a few weeks ago that he felt his
Speaker 1: team was tired. So what the bye week does for you,
Speaker 1: it's kind of different for players and coaches. For players,
Speaker 1: the main point is to rest, get mentally rejuvenated, relax.
Speaker 1: You know, if you've got minor injuries, hopefully you come
Speaker 1: back in better shape. Like say Donovan Smith and his
Speaker 1: ankle that he played through last week, Hopefully he's closer
Speaker 1: to now. Chris Godwin got the pins out of his finger.
Speaker 1: Jamal Dean was on the practice field after missing the
Speaker 1: game with concussion, so it's helped in that regard. I
Speaker 1: did hear from Dominican sue that they did watch some
Speaker 1: film during that period, which which is interesting so but
Speaker 1: not nearly as much as the coaches did. What the
Speaker 1: coaches used the bye week for is self evaluation of
Speaker 1: what happened in the previous twelve weeks. And they went
Speaker 1: into that bye week with all of the information already
Speaker 1: broken down. They reviewed everything, and now they were going
Speaker 1: to study it and try to figure out why and
Speaker 1: how to fix the biggest problem of the recent weeks,
Speaker 1: which is slow starts on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 1: And um Bruce says to him, he it's kind of
Speaker 1: confirmed what he already thought going in. The problem on
Speaker 1: offense is not converting manageable third downs. I mean, you
Speaker 1: get their third and five, third and four, you need
Speaker 1: to make most of those. And the Bucks weren't early
Speaker 1: in the early in the games. And on defense, for
Speaker 1: some reason, they weren't matching the speed of the opposition
Speaker 1: early in the games, even though they could do it
Speaker 1: as the game went on. So those are two things
Speaker 1: that they were focusing on. How exactly they fixed those things,
Speaker 1: you know, is something we'll have to wait and see.
Speaker 1: All right, we had a question from Mike. I thought
Speaker 1: this is a good one. He said, with the new
Speaker 1: i R rules this year, is it possible to see
Speaker 1: Vita back in time for the playoffs? That's a really
Speaker 1: good question. And actually somebody did ask coach that I
Speaker 1: think it was last week and he said no, he
Speaker 1: does not believe so. So that would be great, wouldn't it.
Speaker 1: But it doesn't seem like it's going to happen. You're
Speaker 1: right about the i R rules, They would allow for
Speaker 1: that to happen, but doesn't seem like the team expects it.
Speaker 1: And does that include with playoffs versus regulars? Even with playoffs? Um, So,
Speaker 1: we had a few different people just bringing up this
Speaker 1: upcoming game against the Vikings and what are some of
Speaker 1: the keys you think it will be? The biggest players, positions,
Speaker 1: things that knowing how hot the Vikings are, how many
Speaker 1: they've they've won in a row, essentially, what are the
Speaker 1: biggest things that they bring to the table that we're
Speaker 1: gonna have to watch out for. Yeah, did you know
Speaker 1: how good of the season the Rickie receiver Justin Jefferson
Speaker 1: was happening? No, I did not. I knew he was
Speaker 1: doing well just from hearing various things on broadcast, But
Speaker 1: when I started working on the Vikings this week, and
Speaker 1: looking at the numbers, he's having one of the best
Speaker 1: rookie receiving seasons of all time. He's he's got I
Speaker 1: think the sixth most. He's got a thousand, thirty nine
Speaker 1: yards already, he's averaging seventeen yards and carry, I mean
Speaker 1: a catch. He's basically completely replaced any production they would
Speaker 1: have got from Stefan Diggs, who himself is having a
Speaker 1: great year in Buffalo. Uh. But that doesn't make him
Speaker 1: the number one concern. The number one concern, as we know,
Speaker 1: as Dominansue was stressing again yesterday, is Dalvin Cook and
Speaker 1: the running game and stopping at first and they get
Speaker 1: a hundred forty five yards a game. The Buccaneers allow
Speaker 1: basically half of that per game. So this is absolutely
Speaker 1: strength on strength. No individual rusher has gotten to a
Speaker 1: hundred yards against US. I think only one team has
Speaker 1: gotten to a hundred yards against US in the running game. Uh. If.
Speaker 1: If some things have been up and down this year,
Speaker 1: the rush defense has not. It's been good virtually every week,
Speaker 1: and even against very good backs that have had a
Speaker 1: tough time cracking that and that has That's one of
Speaker 1: the reasons why the Bucks pass rush numbers are pretty
Speaker 1: good because they've succeeded in their goal of stopping the
Speaker 1: r on early and then having a better opportunity to
Speaker 1: rush the passers. So that's goal. That's goal number one
Speaker 1: every week. And I only know that because they say
Speaker 1: that had every single week, but I think it's an
Speaker 1: even big deal this week. And uh, you know Dalvin Cook,
Speaker 1: he's great at breaking tackles. He's really good at the
Speaker 1: cutback run, you know, the quick plant the foot and
Speaker 1: then go back to the backside. And that can be
Speaker 1: an issue because if you don't, if you're you're the
Speaker 1: defender on that side, and you don't keep your containment
Speaker 1: over there, he could be gone. And one of the
Speaker 1: reasons why you might not keep your contain is because
Speaker 1: the Vikings with Kirk Cousins run a lot of bootlegs
Speaker 1: and rollouts, and so they'll play action and he'll roll
Speaker 1: out and you think it's a rollout plane it's actually
Speaker 1: run or vice versa. And that's really one of the
Speaker 1: big difficulties of stopping this offense. Okay, yeah, that's a
Speaker 1: that's a great point. Um, all right. I like this
Speaker 1: when Richard asked, is Ryan suck up on pace? To
Speaker 1: have one of the best kicking seasons in Bucks history.
Speaker 1: I know, right, I know. On the it's like what
Speaker 1: Joe Buck did to Justice Tucker the other night. Did
Speaker 1: you hear that? He's like at five yard or he's
Speaker 1: made a billion in a row, and it's like, well,
Speaker 1: now you know he's gonna miss So he's he unpaced
Speaker 1: for what was the question, one of the best kicking
Speaker 1: seasons in Bucks histor? Yeah, he's he's missed too. He's
Speaker 1: something like twenty two the record for the Bucks by
Speaker 1: Connor Barth, the guy we really liked. Fun guy was
Speaker 1: I think, and you're thinking that you're kicked. I'm doing
Speaker 1: this off the top of my head, so I apologize,
Speaker 1: but I think I've got it right. So basically, Ryan
Speaker 1: can get that record, just can't really miss anymore. And
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully he's made seventeen in a row, which
Speaker 1: is the second longest streak we've ever had. And I
Speaker 1: don't mind saying that as a jinks because we already
Speaker 1: talked about it last week and then he still went
Speaker 1: ahead and made his kick and it's it's been in
Speaker 1: all of our notes. Prs putting it in their notes.
Speaker 1: You don't want to Jinks the kicker. But you can't
Speaker 1: just ignore these things. So I'd like to think it
Speaker 1: can't be a jinx unless it's during the game. That's
Speaker 1: my view of it is that during the week it
Speaker 1: doesn't count. It's the like right before the kick. That's
Speaker 1: when the jinks there's like a statute of limitations. That
Speaker 1: makes sense. I'll go with that. In that case, the
Speaker 1: answer is yes, he he could have right now. He
Speaker 1: does have one of the best kicker seasons in team history,
Speaker 1: and he also is on pace to break the record
Speaker 1: for scoring um Brian a hundred one in two thousand
Speaker 1: eight I think, and he's on pace to get that,
Speaker 1: he said, I think a hundred three or a d
Speaker 1: two with four games to go, so heasually get there.
Speaker 1: That's pretty great. Yeah, and see, I I just have
Speaker 1: my view that I am not superstitious. I am a
Speaker 1: little stitious. You're a little stitious and not superstitious superstitious
Speaker 1: that's my favorite. Okay. Delvin asked, do you feel the
Speaker 1: absence of Scottie Miller has had an impact on our
Speaker 1: deep pass attack? Well, my initial reaction that is no.
Speaker 1: For one thing, he hasn't really been absent he's been there,
Speaker 1: so we could throw it to him if we want to,
Speaker 1: and we did. I believe one time it may have
Speaker 1: been played that was intercepted down the left sideline against
Speaker 1: Kansas City. I think that was a throw to Scotty Miller. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, Scotty had a couple of deep catches, but
Speaker 1: so of other guys when we were when we were
Speaker 1: doing well in that regard, and then we did actually
Speaker 1: did pretty well in that regard in the last game
Speaker 1: against Kansas City. So um, I don't think just his
Speaker 1: reduced playing time was the issue while that was going on. Now, okay,
Speaker 1: well that is going to do it for us on
Speaker 1: this edition of Buccaneers Insider Live presented by Miller Lte.
Speaker 1: Thanks as always for all those amazing questions, Thanks for watching,
Speaker 1: and we'll be here next week. Gify water here, said
Speaker 1: the skil.