WEBVTT - Tristan Wirfs Selected to Pro Bowl Team, Previewing Week 16 | Bucs Insider 0:00:05.559 --> 0:00:08.000 Welcome in two Bucks inside or Live Casey Phillips. Here 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:10.240 was senior writer and editor Scott Smith, and as always, 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:12.360 we're here to get you ready with all your Buccaneers 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:16.600 information leading up to our game on Christmas in Arizona. 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:18.960 What a festive weekend. We hope it is going to be. First, 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:22.720 we already had some good holiday news yesterday. Tristan Worth's 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:24.799 has been named to the bro Pro Bowl. Tell me 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:26.960 a little bit about in your mind why he was 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:30.120 able to get this honor, what's been so amazing about him, 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:31.760 and just kind of what this this means to him 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:33.080 in the team. I think the only thing I was 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:35.920 worried about was his injury, because you worried that was 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:38.120 just while voting was still going on. But apparently it 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:41.159 didn't matter. Um, he probably got a lot of support 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:42.720 from the players on coaches, you know how. It's a 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:45.760 three way ballot. What's interesting about this is that's his 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:50.040 second Pro Bowl in three seasons, and that's already almost 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:52.520 the most Pro Bowls that any offensive lineman and team 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:55.080 Mystery has ever had. Tony Mayberry had three in a 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:56.760 row at the very end of his career, and Devon 0:00:56.880 --> 0:01:00.600 Joseph A guard had to um, but he he's got 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:03.520 two already and I gotta believe more are coming. Yes, Um, 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:05.920 he's he's working hard to try to play this week. 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:08.240 He's been champing at the bit to play the last 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:11.200 couple of weeks. I think he's being held back, like 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:12.560 if it were up to him, and he probably would 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:15.200 have played last week. But when he's played, he's been 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:17.279 as dominant as ever. He's one of the best past 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:21.679 blockers in the entire league. Um And and he's I 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:24.560 think he's allowed one sack all season, which is more 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:29.160 than he allowed in his rookie season. So he's just dominant. 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:31.280 And that's all there is to it. And it's been recognized. 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:33.920 And there is a bit of a when you're a 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:36.440 good player, especially on the offensive line, it seems, and 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:38.600 you make that Pro Bowl once or twice, you hit 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:40.520 a little bit of momentum. So it's to the point 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:43.360 where a voter next year might be have to vote 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:45.000 for a tackle. I don't really know who's been going well. 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:46.640 Tristan Horse is good, so I'll vote for Tristan And 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:49.200 it's and it's accurate, and it's it's also helpful to 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:51.960 get that Pro Bowl momentum. Yeah, that's very true. And uh, 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:53.800 I know Buck fans will be excited that he also 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:57.720 returned to practice this week in a limited capacity. And 0:01:57.760 --> 0:01:59.640 so what are your thoughts on do we think we 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:02.480 see him on Sunday and if not, what would that 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:04.840 look like? It's I think it's still a question mark. 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:07.520 Like I said before, I think he really wants to play, 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:09.400 and it will see how this week goes. If he 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:11.440 progresses from limited to full, then that will be a 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:14.959 pretty good sign. But there is that whole which games 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:17.639 is the most important to have him for kind of conversation, right, 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:21.560 if there's any chance that playing this week makes it 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:25.240 makes him less or has a chance of aggravating the 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:27.600 injury for the last two games against Carolina and Atlanta, 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:30.000 that might give you a little pause. And Josh Wells 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:32.480 has played pretty good, but Josh Wells is also hurt 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:36.040 this week. So uh, you know, if I were a 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:38.440 bet man, I'd say he plays, but I can understand 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:41.120 that they might want to at least think about exercising 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:43.280 some caution. And then Donovan Smith was also on the 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:46.640 injury report. So overall this offensive line, what are we 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:48.720 thinking about? How many how many people were going to 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:50.240 have out there that that fans were used to seeing. 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:52.520 Donovan was getting treatment on the foot injury, and that's 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:55.919 why I wasn't in practice yesterday. And just knowing Donovan, 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:58.880 he's been an iron man throughout his career. If there's 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:02.440 you know, he go if he's not, and he'll fight 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:05.280 through injuries. He's done that his whole career. So again, 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:08.440 I'm guessing that both Donovan and Tristan play, but I 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:11.679 don't have any actual inside information that that's the case. Yes, 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:14.040 all right, So we also want to talk about the 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:15.520 other side of things. You know, we're gonna We've talked 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:18.240 about how the offensive line and Tristan not giving up 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:19.799 a lot of sacks, will another guy in the defense 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:23.000 getting some sacks. Lavante David had one this last week 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:26.160 and that gave him a pretty cool statum in terms 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:28.600 of this franchisees. You don't think of Lavante David as 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:31.600 a top sack guy, right, but through his career he 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:34.200 generally gets, you know, three to six sacks the season, 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:39.040 and he's got twenty nine now and that passed Rande Barber, 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:43.000 who also, it's amazing, has twenty eight sacks for tenth place. 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:44.880 On the team's all time sack list. But when you 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:46.840 look at players who are not supposed to be the 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:50.680 pass rushers, you know, not the outside linebackers or defensive ends, 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:53.440 and not the defensive lineman like Vida Va or whatever. 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:56.200 Lavante has got the most sacks in team history, and 0:03:56.400 --> 0:04:00.240 just above Rande, who's again sex for a quarterback. It's crazy. 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:03.960 Roderick Thomas and Chris Washington were both before my time, 0:04:04.240 --> 0:04:06.480 and they may have had parts of their career where 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:10.040 they were specifically edge rushers, but they also had big 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:12.520 sack total, I mean tackle total sort of tells me 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:14.600 they both played in three four like we have now. 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:16.760 It tells me that they probably had sort of a 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:19.359 hybrid role. So you can quib about whether they should 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:20.800 be on this list, but it doesn't really matter because 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:24.160 Levonte's ahead of them anyway. So most sacks in team 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:26.560 history by a person whose job really isn't supposed to 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:28.720 be getting sacks. So now I can can I make 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:30.240 the joke about how if they were before your time, 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:33.520 was that in leather Hill very much. I had to 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:35.039 do it. I had to do it. I did overlap 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:37.120 with Rodric Thomas for one season. One season Okay, in 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:40.480 that case, it was in the eighties. Um okay. So 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.239 also we we've got to talk about Chris Godwin. This guy, 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:45.800 I still just think it's incredible and I don't want 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:48.360 fans to take for granted that he's playing at the 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:51.640 level he is now and how it really still isn't 0:04:51.640 --> 0:04:54.480 that long ago that he had a really devastating injury 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:56.839 and just how amazing it's been to come back for 0:04:56.920 --> 0:05:00.120 week one and and progress the way he has. I 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:02.400 think it's just pretty incredible. And so, um, tell us 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:04.000 a little bit about what he's been doing lately that 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:06.800 is really incredible to you. Well, we had I think 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:08.760 we had a graphic last week about how he had 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:11.400 a streak of ten which is now eleven straight games 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:13.960 with at least five catches because he had eight fine 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:16.600 in this past game and this touchdown that we keep 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:20.440 seeing here and what he's done most Reeks recently in 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.440 terms of team history, is score that touchdown and move 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:26.960 into fourth place on the team's all time touchdown reception list. 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:29.440 What's interesting to me about this list is three of 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:31.360 the top four on the team right now. Incredible. I 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:33.000 mean that that that says a little bit about the 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:35.960 evolution of the games at passing touchdowns now than before, 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:39.120 but it is kind of a concentration of talent that 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:41.720 you know, we're going to look back at five ten 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:43.360 years from ago. Wow, we had all those guys at 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:46.400 the same time. But Godwin, remember his rookie season, his 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:48.840 very first touchdown was the game winner against New Orleans 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.240 in week seventeen. It took him his entire to his 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:54.080 last games workie season actually score a touchdown. But since 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:56.720 then he's been finding the enzone with regularity. Maybe not 0:05:56.760 --> 0:05:59.520 to the level of Mike Evans, which is hard, that's 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:02.480 a ridicular And speaking of him, it was great to 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:05.799 see he and Chris both have bigger games and games 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:08.120 that are more reminiscent of what you're used to with them, 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:10.400 what the team is known they're capable of, and just 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:12.840 in general the offense. At first half, it's like, this 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:15.719 is what the team has wanted known they're capable of. 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:17.680 It felt like this is it, this is the moment, 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:19.600 and then, of course we know the second half not 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:22.480 so much. So what do you think the team learned 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:24.480 from that first half? What is it that they can 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:27.200 take from that to apply to these games moving forward? 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:28.839 Where do you have a chance to see a repeat 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:31.040 of that in Arizona. One thing that the Bucks did 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:33.480 a lot in that game, especially in the first half, 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:36.400 was used play action and motion, but in in particular 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:40.599 play action. On ten of his i think twenty two 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:44.640 three dropbacks in the first half, tom Brady faked a handoff. 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.159 That's what play action is, and that resulted in seven 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:50.440 catches for nine yards and it was working, and I 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:52.240 believe they probably would have stuck with it in the 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:55.080 second half. But you know, you can't do anything well 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:56.719 when you're turning the ball over four times in like 0:06:56.760 --> 0:06:58.720 eleven plays. You just don't. You're not You don't have 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:01.160 extended drives and times to get into all the things 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:03.840 that you want to do. But the play action was 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:06.080 working in terms of buying Tom Brady time. He had 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:08.120 a lot of clean pockets and he was able to 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:11.120 let plays develop and look downfield a little bit more, 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:12.760 and that's when you get a lot more of these 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:15.600 big Mike Emmons plays. Right. So, now, looking ahead to 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:18.000 the Cardinals game, what are some of the things you 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:20.360 think are going to be keys to winning this games? 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:22.400 Things that you've noticed about the Cardinals team. We know 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:24.080 that it's been a bit of a disaster of a 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:27.600 season for them. But any given Sunday, and we've definitely 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:30.480 seen that having a third string quarterback doesn't necessarily give 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:32.559 you a win. So yeah, it's a very weird stat 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:34.720 that the Buccaneers trace something storially is about to make 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:38.360 his first NFL start Weirdly, including just a couple of 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:40.800 weeks ago against brock Purty, the Buccaneers have lost five 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:44.160 straight games against quarterbacks, making their first such a ridiculous stat. 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:46.600 It's and and a lot of it is just doesn't 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:48.800 make sense. Like the Giants and Daniel Jones a few 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:52.080 years back, the Bucks win that game if that game 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:54.400 makes like a thirty two yard field. Are the Jets 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:58.440 in like two thousand thirteen or fourteen playing against Geno 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:00.640 Smith and his first start who just made the Pro 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:03.560 Bowl by the way, when rebound that guy's had, But 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:08.560 we win that game if there isn't a highly questionable, 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:13.040 uh unnecessary roughness call on a late hit by Levante 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:15.400 David who does not do that, and the call was 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:17.760 highly questionable, which gave them fifteen yards allowed him to 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:20.040 kick a game winning field though field goal is time expired, 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:23.520 So it's a flukey, but it is a thing, and 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.040 I guess the lesson from it is, don't assume that 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:28.280 the Buccaneers are going to just easily roll the victory 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:31.280 because they're facing Trace mcstorlean's first start. That being said, 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:34.520 the Cardinals have had a rough season and we've had 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:36.720 some injury issues, but they've had I think even worse, 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:39.160 and their offensive line has been just ravaged by injuries 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:42.160 all season, and you would think that there's some possibility 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:45.400 there for our pass rush to get to an experienced 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:47.440 quarterback and force them into some mistakes. I think that's 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:50.360 probably the key to winning that game. And I think 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:52.520 that for me, it's so interesting that they it feels 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:54.640 in some ways like these teams mirror each other where 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:57.440 the injuries have happened in different positions, and so I 0:08:57.480 --> 0:08:59.880 know that in particular, they've been a little beat up 0:08:59.880 --> 0:09:01.880 on their offensive line, have been beat up in their 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:04.439 secondary in terms of their corners a lot as well, 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:07.000 and so it's kind of interesting and to me, I 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:08.319 feel like this is a game where it should be 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:09.800 so much like the Bengals, where if you can get 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:13.040 up to a lead, that this is going to be 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:16.360 so important against this team in particular, So get that 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:18.559 fast start. Yes, get that fast starting. Don't commit for 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:21.520 turnovers in a row that. I know, it sounds crazy, 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:24.400 It sounds like a crazy game plan. But yeah, and 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:27.400 do you feel like those turnovers was that just more 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:28.720 of a flukey thing? I mean, when it is as 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:30.839 many in what is eleven plays as he'd had in 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:33.560 eleven games, is it just a flukey thing? Is there 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:36.680 something obviously, but it doesn't excuse it, and nobody's trying 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:39.000 to excuse it. There were some bad plays made. I 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:41.960 think Tom Brady said in his Monday podcast that he 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:44.400 can't remember ever turning the hand the ball off and 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:47.080 just having to slip out of his hand, so that, yes, 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:49.280 that's obviously a bit a little bit flukey, But also 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:52.120 it happened, and he took responsibility for one of the 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:54.840 interceptions on a bad throw. Another one was tipped, but 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:56.839 that's because the pass rush was getting to him. I 0:09:56.920 --> 0:09:59.520 think actually wasn't tip, but he was hit as Even so, 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:04.520 there are factors that go into these flukey turnovers that 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:06.559 you need to try to eliminate as much as possible. 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:10.480 But yeah, I mean, I think if you look at 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:13.040 the balance of the season, as you said he had 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:15.520 almost no turnovers to the first eleven games. So the 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:18.040 fact that the Buccaneers have nine turnovers and that doesn't 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:21.319 even account they messed up fake punt nine turnovers in 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:24.480 the last three games after committing probably just that many 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:29.319 in the first eleven games. What what is more representative reality? Right, 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:31.520 there's a bigger sample size that Buckner's being good at 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:33.680 not and Tom Brady in particular being good at not 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:35.720 turning over the ball. So I don't think you go 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:37.600 into this game thinking, well, we got a real turnover 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:40.000 problem tom Brady turning the ball over all the time, 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:44.400 because for the most party hasn't just did in that game, right, Yeah, well, 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:46.280 there's gonna be some interesting things to watch for sure 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:48.600 on Christmas, And of course right after this, we're actually 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:50.439 gonna shoot our path to the Draft segment where we 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:52.920 break down our path to the draft, path to the 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:55.800 playoffs for the love of fete. You know, it's not 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:58.280 like I get paid to talk hair path to the playoffs. 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:00.160 We still have a while before we rattled one to 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:01.560 be the next three games to be a path to 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:03.840 the draft. Yeah, you're right, that's the opposite of what 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:06.840 we're trying to do back to the playoffs. We're gonna 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:08.560 shoot that right after this, where we're talking about all 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:10.920 of the different scenarios that the Bucks are going to 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:12.760 need to have happened, what wins they're going to need, 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:14.920 what other teams are going to need to cooperate potentially 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:16.880 or not. So make sure you stay tuned to that 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:23.959 on Buccaneers dot com, and we'll be back here next week.