WEBVTT - Rojo's Status & Playoff Scenarios 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:08.600 Good morning, Good morning everybody. How's everyone doing? Happy first 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:13.240 playoff bound edition of Buccaneers Insider Live presented by a 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:16.279 miller like Casey Phillips Scott Smith here to take all 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:18.279 of your questions. We are sure there are a ton 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:20.639 of them as we go into this final week of 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:23.720 the regular season, begin to look forward to the playoffs 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:26.079 a little bit. And as always, if you want to 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:27.479 submit a question to us, you can do it in 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:30.880 the comments section of the live Facebook video, so we 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:32.519 know that takes people a few minutes while we give 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:34.520 them a chance to do that. I figured we'd start 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:37.159 with some of the recent news that Ronald Jones has 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:39.000 been activated from the COVID list, and I wanted to 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:41.680 hear from you what don't we know about that, plus, 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.279 of course not forgetting his finger injury, what it can 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.559 mean about his availability when he might play, and now 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:49.879 that we've seen for net Keyshawn Vaughan in there just 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:53.600 that whole big picture of what all this could look like. Well, yeah, 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:56.080 since he's been activated from the list, he can now 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:58.480 return to practice, which was the first one would be 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:01.640 today in about an hour. And uh that's the key 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:03.920 because even though he's now available the team has yet 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:06.040 to have in practice since he had the fractured finger 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:08.920 and had the surgery to have some pens inserted in there. 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:12.720 And we saw that uh that Chris Godden was able 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:15.440 to play with a similar injury after missing one game, 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:17.880 and Ronald Jones has now missed two weeks because of 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:19.840 this day on the COVID list. But it's there's a 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:23.280 difference between playing wide receiver and playing running back. You 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:25.919 might think it's actually a tougher injury for a receiver 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:27.400 to play through because he has to catch the ball, 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:31.240 but um god, one showed pretty easily that he can 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:32.959 catch the ball with the splint thing he had on 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:35.520 his hand. For the running back, the issue is can 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:37.160 you get hit on that hand? Because you're gonna get 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:39.280 hit a lot if you're getting a lot of carries 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:41.960 up the middle and through the pack. If he gets hit, 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:43.640 is he gonna be able to hold onto the football? 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:46.319 And that's what Bruce Arians means when he frequently says, 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:49.080 will Ronald Jones be able to protect himself? So they're 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:51.040 gonna try to figure that out in practice this week. 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:53.520 I'm not sure the mechanism of how you figure that 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:55.640 out because You're clearly not gonna hit him in the hand. 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:58.480 That wouldn't be very smart. So they're gonna have to 0:01:58.480 --> 0:01:59.840 figure that out somewhere or another to see if he 0:01:59.880 --> 0:02:03.640 can play in in the interim. Uh, Leonard Fournett has 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:06.120 done a decent jobs. He scored three touchdowns. He's definitely 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:09.720 got some tough yards. His total yards through the two 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:12.200 games or eighty three, which wasn't a huge amount. We 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:14.440 did see a nice little extent there from Keshawn Vaughan 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:17.160 in Detroit, which was encouraging and makes you want to 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:19.240 see a little more from him. You do wonder, though, 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:21.640 with any of the accomplishments in Detroit, you have to 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:22.959 take them with a little bit of grain of salt 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:25.399 because that was such a depleted team. So I think 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:28.760 the team would be ecstatic to have a fully functional 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:32.440 Ronald Jones back as the lead back. Okay, And we 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:35.640 had a couple different people asking about Mike Evans getting 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:38.000 the potential thousand yards being the first player ever to 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:40.800 do that for seven seasons in a row, and people 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:43.000 asking do you think he'll get it? And then is 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:45.200 there a risk of maybe sitting a lot of the 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:48.800 starters kind of what's the Wayne wanting to get him 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:51.239 the record versus who you playing and what there is 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:54.680 still to play for. Just to be clear on that record, 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:57.200 it's the first seven seasons to start a player's career. 0:02:57.720 --> 0:02:59.600 There have been other players like Jerry Rice and had 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:01.600 seven year in a row, but to start a player's 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:03.720 career might could be the first one. Right now, he 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:05.880 and Randy Moss are the only two that have done 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:08.040 it six times in a row to start their career. 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:10.160 And about three weeks ago, it didn't look very likely 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:12.760 he needed an average about a hundred ten yards a 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:15.680 game or more. And uh, you know, since he'd had 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:18.680 I think at that point two yard games this season, 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:21.000 you didn't think, well, that's likely to happen. But since 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:23.720 then against at Landing got about one tin and last 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:26.480 week he went off for and that hasn't met nine 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:30.160 six and obviously forty yards away, you're very much arranged. 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:33.640 I mean, that's potentially one big play. Uh, it'll be 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:37.040 harder to get the ball downfield as consistently and easily 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:40.800 as we did against Detroit then against Atlanta. Atlanta's past 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:44.360 defense is not great, but Detroit was Brilli in shambles. Um, 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:47.280 so we'll see I think, first of all, in terms 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:50.000 of starting and resting players, I think Bruce arians made 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.400 it pretty clear that at least at the beginning, they're 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:54.920 gonna play their guys and try to win. And you know, 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:57.240 he said it had nothing to do with who we 0:03:57.360 --> 0:03:59.440 end up where we end up going in around one 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:01.120 of the playoff us although I'm sure a lot of 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:03.360 us are thinking about that and the difference between the 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:05.280 five and six seed. To him, he said, it's a 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:07.320 pride issue for the team, and then eleven and five 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:09.120 is a lot better than ten and six, and that 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:10.880 the fifth seed is a lot better than the six seeds, 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:13.120 So they're gonna try to win. Now, could they start 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:16.000 resting players depending upon how the game is going, Yes, 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:18.240 I believe that's very possible, particularly if we can get 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:20.440 a big lead. But I think at the beginning, you're 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:22.280 gonna see see the guys play, and I think they 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:23.600 are going to make an effort to get the ball 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:25.880 to Mike govns well, and it's perfect that you brought 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:28.360 up the idea of getting that seed. Mitch asked, can 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:30.560 you explain who we might play if we are the 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:32.360 fifth or the sixth seed? And we'll go ahead and 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:34.640 give a disclaimer that after this we're gonna be shooting 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:36.560 our Path to the Playoffs video that we've been doing 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:38.920 every week, where we'll dive into this a lot more 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:40.640 in depth, but if you want at least just kind 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.560 of give a little quick cliff notes version before we 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:46.560 do that. Well, the funny part about this is there 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:48.880 are still with one week to go, and the Bucks 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:50.640 can only be five or six seed. You think you'd 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:53.039 be close to locked in, but there are actually six 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:56.480 different possible destinations the Bucks could go to if they 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:58.480 get that five seat, which they will do so by winning, 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:00.560 or even if they don't win, by having the MS lose, 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:03.400 then they're gonna go to the in the home of 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:06.800 the MCS champion, which will be Washington if Washington wins, 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:09.440 but if Washington loses, it will be whoever wins between 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:11.679 Dallas and the New York Giants, So there's three possible 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:15.120 destinations there. If the Buccaneers lose and the Rams win, 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:17.479 now you're the sixth seed and you're playing at the 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:20.320 three seed, and even though that's most likely to be Seattle, 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:23.159 it could also still be Green Bay in New Orleans. 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:25.279 So there's a lot still to be decided not so 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:27.920 much for the Buccaneers, but the whole picture around the Buccaneers. 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:30.119 All right, uh, And I thought this was pretty funny. 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:33.720 Mitch asked me, who makes me laugh or has surprised 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:36.640 me most during interviews, which I thought was very funny. 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:38.200 I feel like that's something we haven't ever talked about 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:41.800 on this show. Um. So yeah, I feel like this 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:47.200 year in particular, UM, I have to say Gronk because yeah, 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:49.960 I mean it's he's exactly everything that you think he 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:51.680 would be. And I still remember the first event that 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:53.039 I was doing with him, and it's weird because all 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:55.359 these people have just kind of only talked to over zoom. 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:57.200 We still haven't really gotten to do in person things. 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:59.720 So before an event, you know, we're sitting here kind 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:01.240 of time how the event is going to go. It's 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:03.320 like a live stream thing and we're on zoom like this, 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:05.440 and all of a sudden, he just starts like disappearing 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:07.800 out of the frame, and I was like, what is happening? 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:10.920 And then he's coming back, and he was in a recliner, 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:13.599 like an automatic recliner chair, and he would just all 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:14.960 of a sudden, like as I start to be like Okay, 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:16.800 here's what we need to do, like me, and he 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:20.240 just disappeared, and I was like, this is incredible, and 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:22.200 all of the interviews and everything, like he has just 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:24.760 been so fun and so funny and and even when 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:27.440 he's miked up that there's not a moment that he 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:29.560 doesn't seem to be just having the time of his 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:32.440 life in whatever he's doing. So, yes, I think that 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:36.400 would be my answer for this year setting. I laughed 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:38.880 out loud at the Robot dance, Oh my gosh, that 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:43.359 was amazing. Yeah, which apparently, um, he actually thought of 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:46.800 it as more of a Frankenstein and yeah, so I 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:49.200 heard that he was calling it either the Gronkenstein or 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:52.719 the Robin Stein or something, which I thought was pretty Yeah. 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:55.479 I liked that a lot. Um. Okay, this is a 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:56.919 good one that we didn't really get a chance to 0:06:56.920 --> 0:06:58.920 talk about last week when the news came out. Matt 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:01.800 asked who was the biggest snub for the Pro Bowl 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:04.279 in your opinion, and he gave the options in his 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:08.560 mind of Brady Ali, Marpett, Tristan Worth's, Lavonte, David or 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:15.680 Devin White all the above in a in a career. 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:18.280 Since it's Lavante David. The fact that he's only made 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:21.360 one is amazing to me. But at this point it's 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:23.520 not at all surprising. And it's a little bit tough 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:26.000 for him and Devin White because there are only two 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:28.840 two spots and there's not gonna be any replacements at 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:33.360 inside linebacker, and they're kind of both probably stealing votes 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:35.320 from each other a little bit. So it went to 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:38.120 Fred Warner of San Franz and Bobby Wagner, who makes 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:41.360 it every year of Seattle. So that's just a tough 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:45.120 go um. You know, it's hard to ignore Devin White 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:49.440 simply because if you're voting on numbers, there's not really 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:51.600 a player out there that has a combination of stats 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:54.520 that Devin White has. With his hundred forty tackles, his 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:57.960 nine sacks, I think something like fifteen quarterback hits. He's 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:01.960 got some pass breakups, some fumble forced and recovered. He's 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:04.240 got the full compliment of stats that look like a 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:07.280 pro bowler. So that one's a little tough. And the 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:09.720 one that isn't surprising, just because it's really hard for 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:12.640 offensive lineman good traction is Ali Marpett. I mean, I 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:14.720 think all of us here know that he was playing 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.320 at a Pro Bowl level before he went on into 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:19.480 reserve with the concussion, and since he's been back, he's 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:22.400 made a big difference. You know, they're all they're all 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:24.800 snubs of some sort, but I think Devon and Ali 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:26.840 stand out the most. To me. Yeah, I think the 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:29.560 Ali would have been my answer if he hadn't missed games. 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:31.600 I think that I I tend to see where unless 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:33.520 it is someone that is just like always going to 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:36.679 win the popularity contest because of their name recognition, if 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:40.080 a player misses very much time, it tends to hurt 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:41.920 them a lot in the Pro Bowl. So if he 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:43.640 hadn't missed those games, and yeah, I think he would 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:45.720 be my top answer. I do think Devon is a 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:48.400 big one because what we've talked about in the past 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.319 of why we felt like Lavonte didn't make it was 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:53.320 because we're like, well, with linebackers, it tends to be 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:56.480 the people vote based on sacks, you know, and inside 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:58.800 linebackers when he's having to kind of compete against your 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:01.680 in the past, these outside linebackers on a three four, 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:04.480 But now Devin has nine sacks and so that sort 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:06.559 of went like that, that blew that argument out. Of 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:08.960 the water of why our inside linebackers don't always get 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:11.880 the recognition. So now I'm just like, well, yeah, I 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:13.240 think I don't know what you can do about it. 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:15.480 To be honest with you, we're just gonna be on 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:18.200 the soapbox and for next year and try even harder. 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:20.360 And asked for Tom Brady, I don't I know Aaron 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:23.199 Rodgers is one of them, and I guess Drew Brees 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:27.160 probably and they both had very good years. And Kyler Murray. 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:30.160 I think Kyler Murray was really I think Kyler Murray 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:33.000 is the third pick, and he was really helped by 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:36.200 some really phenomenal and exciting games around mid season, and 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:38.480 that's what's fresh and in the voters minds. If you 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:40.360 look at the if you look at their numbers side 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:43.040 by side and how their teams have done, I think 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:45.560 you blindly, if you just blindly looked at the numbers 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:48.000 of the team records, you probably picked Tom Brady over 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:50.679 Kyler Murray, so that that probably could be considered a 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:53.959 snub at this point. Um, but Tim's bendo I think 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:57.240 fourteen of them, so he'll probably be okay, okay, uh yeah, 0:09:57.240 --> 0:09:59.280 I think he'll probably He's probably not up crying at 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:03.040 night about about this stat. Um all right, Riley said, 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:05.640 if Rojo's injury goes through the wild card, do you 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:08.560 think we see more of Vaughan or for net on 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:12.440 the goal line? Yeah, you'd probably still do for net 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:14.199 on the goal line. I mean, if there's anything that 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:17.480 he has definitely proved that he's very good at so 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:19.600 far with the Bucks, it's punching it in from one 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:22.160 or two yards out. I mean, that's worked, so why 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:25.520 go away from it? Uh? I think it's be more 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:27.959 likely to see Vaughan taking away some of his carries 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:32.240 between the twenties, and Kevin asked, how much do you 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:35.439 think we'll be seeing Scottie Miller anymore? And how all 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:39.760 that has been shaking out of who gets what targets? Yeah, 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:41.400 I wish I could remember how many snaps he had 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:44.120 in this last game. Um, you know, the story is 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:47.080 pretty much established at this point. He was dealing with 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:50.800 some injuries that had limited him hip and groin injuries 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:52.320 that it made it hard for him to really be 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:55.280 at full speed. And in the meantime, the Bucketeers signed 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:58.040 Antonio Brown and he's pretty much stepped right into that 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:01.400 third receiver role. And that hasn't changed week to week 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.280 to week. So I think we're pretty set and established 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:07.200 with the top three receivers, and you run that eleven 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:10.439 package more than anything else, and Scotty gets sometime in that, 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:12.839 but not as much as Antonio Brown. So now we're 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:16.199 talking about different packages that specifically a Scottie in them, 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:18.760 or four receiver packages, and there's less snaps for that. 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:21.480 So they obviously have some place for him, and we've 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.200 seen that in recent weeks, but I don't see his 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:26.080 playing time going through the roof for the rest of 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:28.360 this year. All right, Well, that is going to do 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:30.600 it for us on this edition of Buccaneers Insider Live 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:32.920 presented by Miller Lte. Thanks as always for joining us 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:34.839 and for those great questions, and don't forget after this 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:36.839 we're gonna be shooting our path to the playoffs, and 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:38.920 stay tuned to that to hear all the details of 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:41.040 all the myriad options that are still out there of 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:44.080 who the Bucks might face depending on which seed they get. 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:45.080 So we'll see you next time.