Speaker 1: Welcome to Bucks Insider Live, Casey Phillips. Here, we've senior
Speaker 1: writer and editor Scott Smith ready to get you all
Speaker 1: the knowledge you need going up to this next week,
Speaker 1: because we've got a big week, everybody, It's a big
Speaker 1: one here. Um. First, we thought we'd start out by
Speaker 1: looking back at this Arizona game and some of the developments.
Speaker 1: Now we know there's also some very big news on
Speaker 1: the injury front and a lot of things going on
Speaker 1: with the team, So we'll get to all of that. First,
Speaker 1: Let's look back at this Arizona game and just some
Speaker 1: of the big takeaways for you and what it means
Speaker 1: of knowing what a crucial time of year, this is,
Speaker 1: the way they pulled out that win. What it says
Speaker 1: about this team and the the things that we know going
Speaker 1: into the rest of the year. Well, yeah, they've all year.
Speaker 1: They've shown resiliency that's obvious, and that come back at
Speaker 1: the end was exciting and Tom Brady esque and season
Speaker 1: saving potentially. But I think the big picture is the team.
Speaker 1: It's the same issue that they've had most of the
Speaker 1: season and that they can't quite put together sixty minutes
Speaker 1: of good football. You get a good opening drive, which
Speaker 1: we've had a lot, and it ends in the field goal,
Speaker 1: and then after that they unscore three more points until
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, just really having trouble converting third downs,
Speaker 1: getting anything downfield. Tom Brady's time to throw in that game,
Speaker 1: his average time from snap to throw was two point
Speaker 1: one six seconds, and he's been getting rid of it
Speaker 1: quick all year and last year as well, but that
Speaker 1: is the single lowest time to throw he's had in
Speaker 1: a game since they've been tracking it in two thousand
Speaker 1: and sixteen. So obviously there was pressure, there was difficulty
Speaker 1: having long developing plays, didn't get a ball to Mike's
Speaker 1: one five yeard pass until the fourth quarter. Uh, just
Speaker 1: couldn't put together four quarters of quality football. And and
Speaker 1: they'll they'll say the same thing. Coach Bowles will say
Speaker 1: the same thing. It's just that's been the issue, and
Speaker 1: it's troublesome that it has that still does happening. But
Speaker 1: it also leaves you with a little bit of optimism
Speaker 1: that this team can play a much better game than
Speaker 1: it has and therefore this isn't just some empty gesture
Speaker 1: to get to the playoffs. If they get there and
Speaker 1: they finally start putting it all together, could make some noise. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I completely agree, and I will say that the defense
Speaker 1: just incredible what they've been able to do at certain
Speaker 1: points this year. I mean, they've been a couple of games,
Speaker 1: so they've given up a lot of points, but for
Speaker 1: the most part, they are keeping the team in the
Speaker 1: game even when the offense is struggling to put up points.
Speaker 1: And that's got to be really reassuring for them. So specifically,
Speaker 1: when it comes to that, what have you seen from
Speaker 1: the defense and their ability to keep them off the
Speaker 1: scoreboard more. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, yes,
Speaker 1: it was an incredible comeback, but they wouldn't have been
Speaker 1: able to come back from twenty four to six seven
Speaker 1: to six. It was sixteen to six because for the
Speaker 1: eighth time this year, the Bucks defense held an opponent
Speaker 1: under twenty points. And that's I think tied for fourth
Speaker 1: in the league something like that. Let's see here, it's
Speaker 1: tied for fourth in the league. And when they've done that,
Speaker 1: they've held opponents i mean, they've won seven of eight games.
Speaker 1: Now you say, of course, yeah, you hold them points
Speaker 1: less points, you're gonna win a lot, right, But look
Speaker 1: at look at the Broncos. They've done it ten times
Speaker 1: under four and six in those games, so it's not
Speaker 1: a guaranteed win, but keeping them under twenty, the Buccaneers
Speaker 1: have been able in almost every case to score to win. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I guess that's the point, right, Yeah, And that's it's
Speaker 1: it's so reassuring when you know that that it's got
Speaker 1: again as your offense. If they are if they're struggling,
Speaker 1: if they miss a few drives, or if they get
Speaker 1: three instead of seven, it's got to still be nice
Speaker 1: to know that, hey, we're going to be in this,
Speaker 1: that you just keep giving us the ball and the
Speaker 1: defense is going to hold us in this. But the offense, um,
Speaker 1: you know you talked about, there's still sometimes struggling to
Speaker 1: get a few more of the explosive plays. But I
Speaker 1: will say that we yet again keep talking about Chris
Speaker 1: Godwin and how reliable he is. That maybe you aren't
Speaker 1: getting as many of the explosive plays, but you are
Speaker 1: able to find guys on so many plays that Godwin
Speaker 1: is still making so many catches so consistently. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think I get questions about, well, let's get to this
Speaker 1: first um with the eight catches in that game, which
Speaker 1: was his twelfth straight game with at least five catches.
Speaker 1: By the way, he passed James Wilder to become second
Speaker 1: in team history in receptions, Which is kind of amazing
Speaker 1: that the top two guys on your team at the
Speaker 1: same time. I actually did a little look at that
Speaker 1: a couple of months ago. It's not very common, but
Speaker 1: the two leading receivers in team history are your two
Speaker 1: starting receive rs right now. But Chris Godwin just keeps
Speaker 1: doing it week after weekend. A lot of it has
Speaker 1: to do with the type of passes that we throw
Speaker 1: to Chris, so he gets a lot of tunnel screens
Speaker 1: and and quick hits where he gains a lot of
Speaker 1: yards after the catch, like this one right here, and
Speaker 1: he's obviously extremely good at it. But you know that's
Speaker 1: a play where the ball is out of Tom's hand
Speaker 1: like immediately. And so when I've getting I get questions
Speaker 1: in the emails and so on. You know, Iss got
Speaker 1: one now our number one instead of Mike Evans. Well, Mike,
Speaker 1: there's been no decline in the quality of Mike's play.
Speaker 1: It's the type of passes that we try to throw
Speaker 1: to each of these guys, their average depth of target.
Speaker 1: Mike's balls travel. The targets to him travel in the
Speaker 1: air about twice as far as they do to Chris
Speaker 1: Godwin in twelve yards down the field. So with the
Speaker 1: way our offense is currently constructed and Tom getting rid
Speaker 1: of the ball very quickly, those are harder plays to
Speaker 1: get the quick passes to god when obviously it's not
Speaker 1: hard to get the ball in your hand quickly when
Speaker 1: you're throwing it, you know, right down the line. Now,
Speaker 1: those players aren't guaranteed to work. They have to be
Speaker 1: blocked up well, and they have to go to a
Speaker 1: talented receiver like Chris, but you can understand why in
Speaker 1: some games he's getting the ball a lot more than
Speaker 1: Mike right. And I do think that, as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: there was some pressure in the game, and we've seen
Speaker 1: how quickly Brady is trying to get the ball out
Speaker 1: of his hands, potentially because he's not sure how long
Speaker 1: that pocket is going to be open and available for him.
Speaker 1: And I think a huge factor in that, of course,
Speaker 1: could potentially be resolved by the end of the season.
Speaker 1: Ryan Jensen, maybe it's I was just so excited that
Speaker 1: there was going to be finally news for us to
Speaker 1: share with people about this, because I know, we felt
Speaker 1: we felt so bad that everyone's of course been asking
Speaker 1: and we're just like, we don't know, we got nothing.
Speaker 1: And finally we have something to talk about Ryan Jens
Speaker 1: and so tell us the news on that and what
Speaker 1: are the odds that we actually see him in a
Speaker 1: game at some point the rest of the season. So
Speaker 1: Ryan was designated to return for major reserve, which means
Speaker 1: and that was Wednesday, and that means that it was
Speaker 1: the twenty one day window when he can practice with
Speaker 1: the team, which he did on Wednesday and will again
Speaker 1: today and doesn't count against the roster. And at any
Speaker 1: point during that twenty one days you can then activate
Speaker 1: him to the fifty three man roster, which would involve
Speaker 1: another roster moved open a spot. Um In the first
Speaker 1: four guys that we did that with, like John Wells
Speaker 1: and and Logan Ryan, we act we designated them for
Speaker 1: return early in the week and by the end of
Speaker 1: that week also activated them. That's not gonna happen with Ryan.
Speaker 1: We know for a fact he's not gonna play this week.
Speaker 1: Coach Bowls bluntly said, no, we're gonna ask that question.
Speaker 1: Actually gives just a straight yes. It's not a politician
Speaker 1: thing of like, no, he will not be playing today. However,
Speaker 1: he did not give and I don't think he's planning
Speaker 1: to give a much more detail response about when Ryan
Speaker 1: Jenson could possibly return. And it's interesting that they're couching
Speaker 1: this return to practice in terms of it's part of
Speaker 1: his rehab. Uh. Several people have said that already, which
Speaker 1: is interesting. I've not heard that before. I get it
Speaker 1: because they can't practice until you designate them for return.
Speaker 1: So if you think getting him on the practice field
Speaker 1: is an important next step in getting him back, then
Speaker 1: whether or not you know when he's coming back, might
Speaker 1: as well do it. So because if he wasn't ready
Speaker 1: by the end of the third week, then he just
Speaker 1: reverts to die are which he if you designated for
Speaker 1: return or don't. Either way, these are and you get
Speaker 1: eight of these during the season, and this is only
Speaker 1: the fifth one bucks you, so I didn't have to
Speaker 1: save it for somebody else. So all that means we
Speaker 1: don't know if and when he's gonna be ready to play.
Speaker 1: If I were a betting man, I would not expecting
Speaker 1: him play in these next two regular season games, but
Speaker 1: perhaps he can make an impact in the playoffs. Yes,
Speaker 1: And so let's say he plays, do you see them
Speaker 1: moving Robert Hanzy over to left guard. That's a tough
Speaker 1: one because Nick Leverett is actually kind of settled in
Speaker 1: pretty well there and gotten some praise for his play
Speaker 1: and so, and I don't think you'd take check Mason
Speaker 1: out on the other side. So, I honestly was discussing
Speaker 1: with some guys in the office for a while yesterday.
Speaker 1: And it's not an obvious answer. If Ryan Jenson goes
Speaker 1: back to starting center, and he's a Pro Bowl center,
Speaker 1: one of the best in the league, so you want
Speaker 1: him in there, obviously, what do you do with Robert Hanzi,
Speaker 1: who has been a fine replacement? Right, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know that it's going to be so interesting,
Speaker 1: all right. So we've talked about how this is a
Speaker 1: huge game this coming Sunday, and it is basically this
Speaker 1: is almost a playoff game, it feels like at this point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so tell us the situation here about what this
Speaker 1: game really means in terms of the playoffs and the standings. Well,
Speaker 1: as it stands, all are three of the four teams
Speaker 1: in the division could still win it. And I know
Speaker 1: it's kind of a messy little graphic here, but you
Speaker 1: see them not messy. Sorry to people who did the
Speaker 1: graphic cluttered. Because so you see the two two weeks
Speaker 1: worth of games that involved these three teams that are
Speaker 1: left there at the top. And then we look at
Speaker 1: the scenarios. The easiest one, the simplest one, and the
Speaker 1: one we all want is all the Bucks have to
Speaker 1: do is win this game, and they they've won the
Speaker 1: division even no matter what happens anywhere else in the
Speaker 1: in the next two weeks. Uh. As you see, so
Speaker 1: both scenarios, whether Atlanta, whether we beat Atlanta or not
Speaker 1: next week not gonna matter. If we win this game. Carolina,
Speaker 1: if they win this week against the Buccaneers, they then
Speaker 1: control their own destiny. And as you can see here,
Speaker 1: all they have to do is beat the Saints and
Speaker 1: they will definitely win the division because they will have
Speaker 1: the Bucks on a tiebreaker because they will have won
Speaker 1: head to head. However, there is a scenario that the
Speaker 1: Buccaneers can win, can lose this week against Carolina and
Speaker 1: still win the division, and that would involve the Bucks
Speaker 1: meeting Atlanta and the Saints meeting Carolina. It's funny because
Speaker 1: we may actually be rooting for the Saints. I don't
Speaker 1: like it. I don't like it. It doesn't sit right now.
Speaker 1: The Saints could win if they need the Saint the
Speaker 1: Panthers to beat us, and then they beat the Panthers
Speaker 1: and then the Bucks goes to Atlanta, and in that case,
Speaker 1: the Saints will just be one game ahead of everybody
Speaker 1: else in the division because they can't win the tiebreakers
Speaker 1: because of head to head records. So they need to
Speaker 1: get clear of both Bucks and the Panthers, and to
Speaker 1: do that they need the Panthers to beat us but
Speaker 1: then lose. This is crazy they would conceive. I mean,
Speaker 1: we'd be playing probably at the same time, but the
Speaker 1: Saints on Sunday of Week eight, team could be sitting
Speaker 1: there controlling their own destiny. If the Bucks are losing
Speaker 1: to the to the Falcons, that's not really controlling your
Speaker 1: own destiny. But they are the ones that they don't
Speaker 1: hope somebody else beats the Panthers they get to play them.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of different scenarios there, but just the
Speaker 1: one to keep in mind right now is just winning
Speaker 1: in for the Buccaneers. Yeah, that's that's the easy one.
Speaker 1: Let's not worry about everything else, you just win and
Speaker 1: you're in UM. Of course, there will also be the
Speaker 1: Ring of Honor induction for Bruce Arians the Sunday. So
Speaker 1: this game has a lot of entreaty, a lot of
Speaker 1: fun things about it. Um. We know that it did
Speaker 1: not go well the last time these two teams faced
Speaker 1: each other. So what do you see as the keys
Speaker 1: this week? The things that are different already that need
Speaker 1: to be different from that last matchup. I think the
Speaker 1: most obvious and the most important thing the Buccaneers need
Speaker 1: to stop the run the Panthers. The last time the
Speaker 1: Bucks played the Panthers, they had just traded Christian McCaffrey.
Speaker 1: And you know, Dante Foreman is a guy that's bounced
Speaker 1: around a little bit. Chuba Hubbard, you know, never really
Speaker 1: had much of a big role, and so it seemed
Speaker 1: like a good opportunity for the Buccaneers that week. And
Speaker 1: then they ran for a hundred seventy three yards and
Speaker 1: that has become the key to Panthers victories. Sometimes this
Speaker 1: can be a causal. You can get confused in the
Speaker 1: causation where you see, oh, every time they've gotten a
Speaker 1: hundred yards rushing, they've won. Well, that's sometimes that's opposite causation.
Speaker 1: There you're winning the game, and therefore you run the
Speaker 1: ball more and you get more yards. But in Panthers case,
Speaker 1: they are running to win games. And they have succeeded
Speaker 1: a hundred yards and eight of their games and their
Speaker 1: six and two in those games, that's all six of
Speaker 1: their wins. They lost every game when they haven't got
Speaker 1: two a hundred. And when I say they're exceeding a hundred,
Speaker 1: I don't mean they're getting a hunter. They have average
Speaker 1: one rushing yards in their eight games that passed a hundred,
Speaker 1: and they just ran for three twenty last week. That's
Speaker 1: insane team records. So Hubbard Foreman, I guess the offensive
Speaker 1: lines a lot better than it has been in recent years.
Speaker 1: They did invest a number one pick in that and
Speaker 1: some free agents. So stop the run. That is the
Speaker 1: number one key, and that hasn't as dominant as the
Speaker 1: Bucks run defense was the three period previous seasons. It
Speaker 1: has been a little bit up and down there. Miss
Speaker 1: this year and Vita Vella has been injured. Yeah, go
Speaker 1: ahead of He did practice in a limited fashion yesterday,
Speaker 1: so maybe there's a chance he can be back, because
Speaker 1: I think that would Beard he's kind of good at
Speaker 1: that whole run stopping thing. All right. Well, that is
Speaker 1: going to do it for us on Bucks in Saturday Live.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being with us. And again,
Speaker 1: I know we talked a little bit about the playoffs scenario,
Speaker 1: but we're going to talk about it again in our
Speaker 1: Path to the Playoffs if you want to hear more,
Speaker 1: so make sure you stay tuned for that video. We'll
Speaker 1: see you next week if you ver here. He sat