Speaker 1: Welcome in two Bucks inside or Live Casey Phillips. Here
Speaker 1: was senior writer and editor Scott Smith, and as always,
Speaker 1: we're here to get you ready with all your Buccaneers
Speaker 1: information leading up to our game on Christmas in Arizona.
Speaker 1: What a festive weekend. We hope it is going to be. First,
Speaker 1: we already had some good holiday news yesterday. Tristan Worth's
Speaker 1: has been named to the bro Pro Bowl. Tell me
Speaker 1: a little bit about in your mind why he was
Speaker 1: able to get this honor, what's been so amazing about him,
Speaker 1: and just kind of what this this means to him
Speaker 1: in the team. I think the only thing I was
Speaker 1: worried about was his injury, because you worried that was
Speaker 1: just while voting was still going on. But apparently it
Speaker 1: didn't matter. Um, he probably got a lot of support
Speaker 1: from the players on coaches, you know how. It's a
Speaker 1: three way ballot. What's interesting about this is that's his
Speaker 1: second Pro Bowl in three seasons, and that's already almost
Speaker 1: the most Pro Bowls that any offensive lineman and team
Speaker 1: Mystery has ever had. Tony Mayberry had three in a
Speaker 1: row at the very end of his career, and Devon
Speaker 1: Joseph A guard had to um, but he he's got
Speaker 1: two already and I gotta believe more are coming. Yes, Um,
Speaker 1: he's he's working hard to try to play this week.
Speaker 1: He's been champing at the bit to play the last
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. I think he's being held back, like
Speaker 1: if it were up to him, and he probably would
Speaker 1: have played last week. But when he's played, he's been
Speaker 1: as dominant as ever. He's one of the best past
Speaker 1: blockers in the entire league. Um And and he's I
Speaker 1: think he's allowed one sack all season, which is more
Speaker 1: than he allowed in his rookie season. So he's just dominant.
Speaker 1: And that's all there is to it. And it's been recognized.
Speaker 1: And there is a bit of a when you're a
Speaker 1: good player, especially on the offensive line, it seems, and
Speaker 1: you make that Pro Bowl once or twice, you hit
Speaker 1: a little bit of momentum. So it's to the point
Speaker 1: where a voter next year might be have to vote
Speaker 1: for a tackle. I don't really know who's been going well.
Speaker 1: Tristan Horse is good, so I'll vote for Tristan And
Speaker 1: it's and it's accurate, and it's it's also helpful to
Speaker 1: get that Pro Bowl momentum. Yeah, that's very true. And uh,
Speaker 1: I know Buck fans will be excited that he also
Speaker 1: returned to practice this week in a limited capacity. And
Speaker 1: so what are your thoughts on do we think we
Speaker 1: see him on Sunday and if not, what would that
Speaker 1: look like? It's I think it's still a question mark.
Speaker 1: Like I said before, I think he really wants to play,
Speaker 1: and it will see how this week goes. If he
Speaker 1: progresses from limited to full, then that will be a
Speaker 1: pretty good sign. But there is that whole which games
Speaker 1: is the most important to have him for kind of conversation, right,
Speaker 1: if there's any chance that playing this week makes it
Speaker 1: makes him less or has a chance of aggravating the
Speaker 1: injury for the last two games against Carolina and Atlanta,
Speaker 1: that might give you a little pause. And Josh Wells
Speaker 1: has played pretty good, but Josh Wells is also hurt
Speaker 1: this week. So uh, you know, if I were a
Speaker 1: bet man, I'd say he plays, but I can understand
Speaker 1: that they might want to at least think about exercising
Speaker 1: some caution. And then Donovan Smith was also on the
Speaker 1: injury report. So overall this offensive line, what are we
Speaker 1: thinking about? How many how many people were going to
Speaker 1: have out there that that fans were used to seeing.
Speaker 1: Donovan was getting treatment on the foot injury, and that's
Speaker 1: why I wasn't in practice yesterday. And just knowing Donovan,
Speaker 1: he's been an iron man throughout his career. If there's
Speaker 1: you know, he go if he's not, and he'll fight
Speaker 1: through injuries. He's done that his whole career. So again,
Speaker 1: I'm guessing that both Donovan and Tristan play, but I
Speaker 1: don't have any actual inside information that that's the case. Yes,
Speaker 1: all right, So we also want to talk about the
Speaker 1: other side of things. You know, we're gonna We've talked
Speaker 1: about how the offensive line and Tristan not giving up
Speaker 1: a lot of sacks, will another guy in the defense
Speaker 1: getting some sacks. Lavante David had one this last week
Speaker 1: and that gave him a pretty cool statum in terms
Speaker 1: of this franchisees. You don't think of Lavante David as
Speaker 1: a top sack guy, right, but through his career he
Speaker 1: generally gets, you know, three to six sacks the season,
Speaker 1: and he's got twenty nine now and that passed Rande Barber,
Speaker 1: who also, it's amazing, has twenty eight sacks for tenth place.
Speaker 1: On the team's all time sack list. But when you
Speaker 1: look at players who are not supposed to be the
Speaker 1: pass rushers, you know, not the outside linebackers or defensive ends,
Speaker 1: and not the defensive lineman like Vida Va or whatever.
Speaker 1: Lavante has got the most sacks in team history, and
Speaker 1: just above Rande, who's again sex for a quarterback. It's crazy.
Speaker 1: Roderick Thomas and Chris Washington were both before my time,
Speaker 1: and they may have had parts of their career where
Speaker 1: they were specifically edge rushers, but they also had big
Speaker 1: sack total, I mean tackle total sort of tells me
Speaker 1: they both played in three four like we have now.
Speaker 1: It tells me that they probably had sort of a
Speaker 1: hybrid role. So you can quib about whether they should
Speaker 1: be on this list, but it doesn't really matter because
Speaker 1: Levonte's ahead of them anyway. So most sacks in team
Speaker 1: history by a person whose job really isn't supposed to
Speaker 1: be getting sacks. So now I can can I make
Speaker 1: the joke about how if they were before your time,
Speaker 1: was that in leather Hill very much. I had to
Speaker 1: do it. I had to do it. I did overlap
Speaker 1: with Rodric Thomas for one season. One season Okay, in
Speaker 1: that case, it was in the eighties. Um okay. So
Speaker 1: also we we've got to talk about Chris Godwin. This guy,
Speaker 1: I still just think it's incredible and I don't want
Speaker 1: fans to take for granted that he's playing at the
Speaker 1: level he is now and how it really still isn't
Speaker 1: that long ago that he had a really devastating injury
Speaker 1: and just how amazing it's been to come back for
Speaker 1: week one and and progress the way he has. I
Speaker 1: think it's just pretty incredible. And so, um, tell us
Speaker 1: a little bit about what he's been doing lately that
Speaker 1: is really incredible to you. Well, we had I think
Speaker 1: we had a graphic last week about how he had
Speaker 1: a streak of ten which is now eleven straight games
Speaker 1: with at least five catches because he had eight fine
Speaker 1: in this past game and this touchdown that we keep
Speaker 1: seeing here and what he's done most Reeks recently in
Speaker 1: terms of team history, is score that touchdown and move
Speaker 1: into fourth place on the team's all time touchdown reception list.
Speaker 1: What's interesting to me about this list is three of
Speaker 1: the top four on the team right now. Incredible. I
Speaker 1: mean that that that says a little bit about the
Speaker 1: evolution of the games at passing touchdowns now than before,
Speaker 1: but it is kind of a concentration of talent that
Speaker 1: you know, we're going to look back at five ten
Speaker 1: years from ago. Wow, we had all those guys at
Speaker 1: the same time. But Godwin, remember his rookie season, his
Speaker 1: very first touchdown was the game winner against New Orleans
Speaker 1: in week seventeen. It took him his entire to his
Speaker 1: last games workie season actually score a touchdown. But since
Speaker 1: then he's been finding the enzone with regularity. Maybe not
Speaker 1: to the level of Mike Evans, which is hard, that's
Speaker 1: a ridicular And speaking of him, it was great to
Speaker 1: see he and Chris both have bigger games and games
Speaker 1: that are more reminiscent of what you're used to with them,
Speaker 1: what the team is known they're capable of, and just
Speaker 1: in general the offense. At first half, it's like, this
Speaker 1: is what the team has wanted known they're capable of.
Speaker 1: It felt like this is it, this is the moment,
Speaker 1: and then, of course we know the second half not
Speaker 1: so much. So what do you think the team learned
Speaker 1: from that first half? What is it that they can
Speaker 1: take from that to apply to these games moving forward?
Speaker 1: Where do you have a chance to see a repeat
Speaker 1: of that in Arizona. One thing that the Bucks did
Speaker 1: a lot in that game, especially in the first half,
Speaker 1: was used play action and motion, but in in particular
Speaker 1: play action. On ten of his i think twenty two
Speaker 1: three dropbacks in the first half, tom Brady faked a handoff.
Speaker 1: That's what play action is, and that resulted in seven
Speaker 1: catches for nine yards and it was working, and I
Speaker 1: believe they probably would have stuck with it in the
Speaker 1: second half. But you know, you can't do anything well
Speaker 1: when you're turning the ball over four times in like
Speaker 1: eleven plays. You just don't. You're not You don't have
Speaker 1: extended drives and times to get into all the things
Speaker 1: that you want to do. But the play action was
Speaker 1: working in terms of buying Tom Brady time. He had
Speaker 1: a lot of clean pockets and he was able to
Speaker 1: let plays develop and look downfield a little bit more,
Speaker 1: and that's when you get a lot more of these
Speaker 1: big Mike Emmons plays. Right. So, now, looking ahead to
Speaker 1: the Cardinals game, what are some of the things you
Speaker 1: think are going to be keys to winning this games?
Speaker 1: Things that you've noticed about the Cardinals team. We know
Speaker 1: that it's been a bit of a disaster of a
Speaker 1: season for them. But any given Sunday, and we've definitely
Speaker 1: seen that having a third string quarterback doesn't necessarily give
Speaker 1: you a win. So yeah, it's a very weird stat
Speaker 1: that the Buccaneers trace something storially is about to make
Speaker 1: his first NFL start Weirdly, including just a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago against brock Purty, the Buccaneers have lost five
Speaker 1: straight games against quarterbacks, making their first such a ridiculous stat.
Speaker 1: It's and and a lot of it is just doesn't
Speaker 1: make sense. Like the Giants and Daniel Jones a few
Speaker 1: years back, the Bucks win that game if that game
Speaker 1: makes like a thirty two yard field. Are the Jets
Speaker 1: in like two thousand thirteen or fourteen playing against Geno
Speaker 1: Smith and his first start who just made the Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl by the way, when rebound that guy's had, But
Speaker 1: we win that game if there isn't a highly questionable,
Speaker 1: uh unnecessary roughness call on a late hit by Levante
Speaker 1: David who does not do that, and the call was
Speaker 1: highly questionable, which gave them fifteen yards allowed him to
Speaker 1: kick a game winning field though field goal is time expired,
Speaker 1: So it's a flukey, but it is a thing, and
Speaker 1: I guess the lesson from it is, don't assume that
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers are going to just easily roll the victory
Speaker 1: because they're facing Trace mcstorlean's first start. That being said,
Speaker 1: the Cardinals have had a rough season and we've had
Speaker 1: some injury issues, but they've had I think even worse,
Speaker 1: and their offensive line has been just ravaged by injuries
Speaker 1: all season, and you would think that there's some possibility
Speaker 1: there for our pass rush to get to an experienced
Speaker 1: quarterback and force them into some mistakes. I think that's
Speaker 1: probably the key to winning that game. And I think
Speaker 1: that for me, it's so interesting that they it feels
Speaker 1: in some ways like these teams mirror each other where
Speaker 1: the injuries have happened in different positions, and so I
Speaker 1: know that in particular, they've been a little beat up
Speaker 1: on their offensive line, have been beat up in their
Speaker 1: secondary in terms of their corners a lot as well,
Speaker 1: and so it's kind of interesting and to me, I
Speaker 1: feel like this is a game where it should be
Speaker 1: so much like the Bengals, where if you can get
Speaker 1: up to a lead, that this is going to be
Speaker 1: so important against this team in particular, So get that
Speaker 1: fast start. Yes, get that fast starting. Don't commit for
Speaker 1: turnovers in a row that. I know, it sounds crazy,
Speaker 1: It sounds like a crazy game plan. But yeah, and
Speaker 1: do you feel like those turnovers was that just more
Speaker 1: of a flukey thing? I mean, when it is as
Speaker 1: many in what is eleven plays as he'd had in
Speaker 1: eleven games, is it just a flukey thing? Is there
Speaker 1: something obviously, but it doesn't excuse it, and nobody's trying
Speaker 1: to excuse it. There were some bad plays made. I
Speaker 1: think Tom Brady said in his Monday podcast that he
Speaker 1: can't remember ever turning the hand the ball off and
Speaker 1: just having to slip out of his hand, so that, yes,
Speaker 1: that's obviously a bit a little bit flukey, But also
Speaker 1: it happened, and he took responsibility for one of the
Speaker 1: interceptions on a bad throw. Another one was tipped, but
Speaker 1: that's because the pass rush was getting to him. I
Speaker 1: think actually wasn't tip, but he was hit as Even so,
Speaker 1: there are factors that go into these flukey turnovers that
Speaker 1: you need to try to eliminate as much as possible.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, I think if you look at
Speaker 1: the balance of the season, as you said he had
Speaker 1: almost no turnovers to the first eleven games. So the
Speaker 1: fact that the Buccaneers have nine turnovers and that doesn't
Speaker 1: even account they messed up fake punt nine turnovers in
Speaker 1: the last three games after committing probably just that many
Speaker 1: in the first eleven games. What what is more representative reality? Right,
Speaker 1: there's a bigger sample size that Buckner's being good at
Speaker 1: not and Tom Brady in particular being good at not
Speaker 1: turning over the ball. So I don't think you go
Speaker 1: into this game thinking, well, we got a real turnover
Speaker 1: problem tom Brady turning the ball over all the time,
Speaker 1: because for the most party hasn't just did in that game, right, Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be some interesting things to watch for sure
Speaker 1: on Christmas, And of course right after this, we're actually
Speaker 1: gonna shoot our path to the Draft segment where we
Speaker 1: break down our path to the draft, path to the
Speaker 1: playoffs for the love of fete. You know, it's not
Speaker 1: like I get paid to talk hair path to the playoffs.
Speaker 1: We still have a while before we rattled one to
Speaker 1: be the next three games to be a path to
Speaker 1: the draft. Yeah, you're right, that's the opposite of what
Speaker 1: we're trying to do back to the playoffs. We're gonna
Speaker 1: shoot that right after this, where we're talking about all
Speaker 1: of the different scenarios that the Bucks are going to
Speaker 1: need to have happened, what wins they're going to need,
Speaker 1: what other teams are going to need to cooperate potentially
Speaker 1: or not. So make sure you stay tuned to that
Speaker 1: on Buccaneers dot com, and we'll be back here next week.