WEBVTT - Unpacking Roster Updates, Matchups vs. Dallas Cowboys | Bucs Insider 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:08.600 Welcome to two Bucks Insider Live presented by Verizon. Casey 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:11.000 Phillips here with senior writer and editor Scott Smith, and 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:14.320 we have a playoff game to talk about our favorite 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:16.200 time of year. We know you probably have plenty of 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:17.919 questions for us. If you want to send those in, 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:20.759 do it underneath our live video on Facebook in the 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:23.520 comments section. For now, let's dive a little bit into 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:26.200 last week's game, which feels kind of obsolete at this 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:28.120 point in some ways of where it almost felt like 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:30.280 a preseason game of a lot our starters, get a 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:32.080 little work, pull them out, try not to get her 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:34.640 go into the playoffs. So, um, what do you feel 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:37.000 like the takeaways are that you can glean from a 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:40.400 game like that that is a little unconventional. Not much, yes, 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:42.800 not much, but I think you can take away that. 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:45.280 I think what coach Bowles wanted to do by playing 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:47.720 the starters for most or all of the first half, 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:50.440 depending on who they were, was to keep them sort 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:53.080 of in the momentum. Like the week seventeen game had 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:55.600 been pretty good, especially on offense, and so I think 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:57.480 he didn't want them to rest for two weeks and 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:01.280 just not you know, staying sort of game mode, but 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:03.760 he also wanted to reduce the injury of risk as much, 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:06.480 the risk of injury as much as possible, and so 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:08.800 in that regard it was kind of success. I know 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:11.039 the team wouldn't call it a success because they lost, 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:13.240 but they did get a fast start on offense, a 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:15.920 fast start on defense, and they got out of the 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:18.319 game in pretty good health. Several guys have said this week, 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:21.560 including coach UH, coach left Which and Tom Brady on 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:24.560 his podcast, that they are as healthy now as they've 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:26.800 been since like the O T A. S. That's pretty 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:29.880 incredible and how rare in terms of typically you think 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:31.880 you're you're least healthy most of the time at the 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:34.240 end of the season, and how nice to be in 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:37.280 that position. You know, that week a team game helped 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:40.440 us get there. We we didn't play nine guys because 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:42.760 seven and actors that were injured in two more Tristan 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:45.479 and Mike Ems didn't play. We didn't play nine guys 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:48.480 that had some issue, you know, Tristan as an ankle, etcetera, 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:51.440 Vita Bay with his calf. Actually Mike Ems was just sick. 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:54.080 But um, all those guys had a chance to get 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:56.400 better and they may all return this week, Yeah, which 0:01:56.400 --> 0:01:59.040 would be incredible. Um, And I know that one of 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:00.720 the guys that we just keep talking about on the show, 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:02.320 we talked about it might just need to be a 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:06.280 recurring segment is the Chris god Went updated the Godwin 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:09.080 segment to tell me what the Godwin segment is about 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:11.120 this week? Well, Chris came out of the game at 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:15.120 the same time that Tom did, after five five drives, 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:18.120 a little bit before halftime. But even even so, he 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:20.600 still caught six passes, and I was kind of hoping 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:22.360 that he would stay in the game a little bit longer. 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:24.440 I'm kind of glad he didn't now, so he didn't 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:27.920 risk injury. But he just needed three more catches to 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:31.760 break the Keyshaw Johnson's two thousand one single season record 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:33.640 of a hundred and six. He ended up the season 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:36.240 at a hundred four. But there's another record he could 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:38.200 still get if you add the regular season and the 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:41.200 playoffs together. Keishaw's record is a hundred nine from two 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:43.600 thousand and one, and Chris would only need six catches, 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:45.880 and he generally gets six catches in the game, So 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:47.720 there's a very very good chance by the end of 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:49.880 this game and hopefully it's not his last game this 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:52.640 season that he'll have the record if you count playoffs 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:55.000 as well. That's awesome. I love that. So happy for him, 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:57.680 and just what a cool story. We say this every time, 0:02:57.720 --> 0:02:59.440 but I mean this is this would be great no 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:01.600 matter why. We love Chris, no matter what. But to 0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:03.919 just remember where he was at with his injury last 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:06.120 year and how hard he worked to get to this 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:08.480 point and to be not just back, but back at 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:11.200 this elite level is incredible. Yeah, he and he did 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:13.000 that in about fourteen and a half games too. That 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:15.200 is crazy. That is so impressive. All right, So now 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:18.080 let's look ahead to this Cowboys game. Um, it just 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:20.079 is so funny how we keep having these playoff games 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:22.799 that are rematches from the regular season. And I don't 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:24.000 know if that's a good thing or a bad things. 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:26.480 So far, it seems like it's worked fairly well for 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:29.480 the Buccaneer except for the Rams. Except for the Rains game, 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:30.799 we don't have to think about that. So we thought 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:32.640 we'd do a little tale to tape here and most 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.440 of these what I did is I paired things together 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:37.920 that our strength on strength, So the Cowboys are the 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:39.520 second best team in the league behind the Eagles in 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:41.920 terms of getting sacks, but the Buccaneers are the best 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:45.120 in preventing them. Uh, the Cowboys have the fifth best 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:49.040 third down percentage something like, but the Buccaneers have the 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:52.920 sixth best defense. Interceptions have been They've thrown a lot 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:55.440 of them. We we don't we don't throw a lot 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:57.680 of them, but they get a lot of them. Uh, 0:03:57.880 --> 0:03:59.960 they're they're good at wrecking a passing yards, but we're 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:02.400 to stopping it. But then there's this one right here, 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:05.040 that five down that I point out. The Cowboys have 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:07.320 the best red zone offense in the in the league 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:10.400 in terms of touchdown efficiency. It's something like and that's 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:12.320 been a real struggle for the Buccaneers this year. So 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:14.600 that's an area where it's not strength on strength, And 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:16.720 I just wanted to bring it up to say this 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:18.400 is gonna be a critical part of the ballgame. When 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:20.960 we beat them nineteen to three in Week one, they 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:22.560 didn't get into the red zone. So that would be 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:24.400 a good way to take care of that problem. But 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:26.440 I don't think that you can count on that happening 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:28.400 since they've the highest scoring team in the league over 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:30.440 the last eight weeks. So if it's a bit of 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:32.920 a shootout or it's it's tied at the end, how 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:37.200 well the Buccaneers defense can can hold off the Cowboys 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:38.640 in the red zone could be key. And part of 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:41.360 that is Ezekiel Elliett is fantastic around the goal line. Yep, 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:43.440 that's gonna be so big, and I know that we've 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:45.919 seen thankfully. In terms of that health. We talked about 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.479 the difference in having both Vita Via and a Cheam 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:50.960 Hicks out there together and what that means to this 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.279 rush defense. Talk about good timing to have both of 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:56.680 them hopefully being a little bit healthier and playing alongside 0:04:56.680 --> 0:04:58.120 each other, because we have just seen what that means 0:04:58.120 --> 0:04:59.800 and we know that's what the Cowboys are gonna want 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:02.560 to do, especially when you've seen Dak throwing interceptions in 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:05.280 what seven strade games? Yeah, any type of league lead 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:07.720 of fifteen, which is crazy, you got one on him. Yeah, 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:09.040 you know that they're going to want to be able 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:11.080 to run the ball and not force him to have 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:12.520 to be doing that. So that's going to be important. 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:14.279 When a Kim and Vita were last on the field 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:16.760 together was Week seventeen against the Panthers, who the previous 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:19.280 week had run for three yards and the Bucks held 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:21.680 him to seventy one. That ended up being very important. Yeah, 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:24.280 that's a big deal. So I know also, as we 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:28.080 talk about these strengths on strengths, the linebacker positions for 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:30.760 both groups pretty dangn good. So tell us what you 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:33.440 see about those different position groups and where you think 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:35.840 maybe there's an advantage or what these offenses are each 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:37.440 going to try to do a combat that well, no 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:39.440 offense to Dak Prescott. But when you talk about the 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:42.159 Cowboys this year, the last couple of years, the first 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:45.000 name you always mentioned as Michael Parsons. He was second 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:47.360 in the voting for defensive Player not Rookie of the 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:49.240 Year last year when he was a rookie, and he's 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:51.760 doing it again this year. But the Buccaneers kind of 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:54.640 a sneaky good off ball linebacker as well. He doesn't 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:57.560 line up as an edge rusher like Michael Parsons does 0:05:57.640 --> 0:05:59.800 on some of his snaps, but he does do a 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.000 very good job of rushing the passer on blitz is 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:04.000 usually up the a gap and as you can see 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:05.719 in the two games of the Bucks and Plates. Since 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:09.279 Michael Parsons joined the Cowboys. They've both done a lot, 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:11.760 look at lots of tackles. Both of them have two sacks, 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:14.120 both of the tackles for losses Corbett hits. They both 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:16.960 broken up a path. So I think Parsons gets a 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:18.960 lot more attention than Devin White. But both of these 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:21.320 defenses have a guy in the middle that can affect 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:24.039 the game in a lot of ways, including rushing the passer. Yeah, 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:26.080 that's gonna be so interesting to see. And so now 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:29.120 looking at that, uh, this are one question we got, 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:31.119 I'm sure you will not be surprised. Is any update 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.599 on Ryan Jensen's availability. We know that the Bucks offensive 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:35.000 line is going to have their work cut out for 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:37.880 them against that Cowboys defensive front. So, first of all, 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:40.559 what is the overall health situation? As we saw Robert 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.560 Hainsey left, but Donovan Smith didn't play, Tristan just kind 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:45.520 of sat out. How how does everybody look, how does 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:48.080 everybody feel? What our thoughts on is talking about all 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.960 those guys. I think Donovan and Tristan are considered to be, 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:53.440 you know, definitely training in the right direction. They're they're 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:55.840 probably that group that they were talking about everybody possibly 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:58.640 practicing today. They had to walk through yesterday because the 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.239 schedules pushed for word by a day, so they didn't 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:03.039 the Bucks didn't have to put out an injury port. 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:05.680 So we don't officially know if those guys would be 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:07.599 full goal or limited or what. But I can just 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:09.200 tell you the viber on the building is very good 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:11.040 about all the guys who have been working through injuries. 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:12.920 So you're probably going to be fine on the tackles. 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:16.800 But Robert Haynes he left that game with a hamstring injury, 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:19.200 and Coach Bulls said on Monday that it was sore 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:22.000 that they didn't yet know the severity of it. So 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:25.680 what a story would be if Robert Haynes he can't go? 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:29.160 But oh look who's bad? It happens to be, you know, 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:32.360 the the NFC's Pro Bowl Center. Just do you not 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:35.440 always have Pro Bowls as as the backup to come in? Yeah, 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:39.840 that ridiculous. There has been no indication by by Coach 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:42.240 Bowls every time he's asked about obviously that this is 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:45.160 definitely gonna happen, and I wouldn't bet on it, to 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:47.680 be quite honest with you, but it's not been dismissed 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:50.840 as a possibility. And then you wonder boy. He hasn't 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:54.240 played a game in a year. You know, he hasn't practice. 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:56.679 He's practiced the last couple of weeks, but he didn't 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:58.600 do anything else season. Is he gonna be able to 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:00.960 step in there and be full range in Pro Bowl form? 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:03.440 I mean maybe maybe it's hard to be It's hard 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:05.920 to bank on that. Absolutely, he does not have to 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:09.600 be activated this week, but if the playoffs continue, if 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:11.160 he's going to play, you'd have to be activated in 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:13.320 the first couple of days of next week because after 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:15.560 that the window closes and he just reverts to I R, 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:18.720 which theoretically either means they just figured there's no harm 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.400 in activating him give it a shot, or as we've seen, 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:23.080 it means that they had an idea that maybe he 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.160 would be ready to go by the end of that 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:27.680 twenty one day window. That's always the interesting thing is 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:30.360 maybe they just were like, whatever, it's playoffs, just activate them, 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:33.320 because otherwise you're just anyway, so you can get him 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:35.320 out there. They said when this first started that they 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:38.320 consider this part of his rehab process. So it's possible 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:40.960 that that's all that this becomes, but you never know, 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:42.280 and either way that's going to be good to be 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:44.680 getting him back on the right track. So for you, 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:47.680 we talked a little bit about these linebackers and some 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:49.640 of those stats that you showed up there, but what 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:50.880 would you say, are going to be some of just 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:54.480 the biggest keys in this game. And the way these 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:57.200 teams match up is this is we looked at who 0:08:57.280 --> 0:08:59.600 they might get a chance to play. Are we happy 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:01.800 about the match up? Are we worried about this matchup? 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:03.920 What do you see about these two teams and where 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:06.439 their strengths and weaknesses matchup. Well, it's the playoffs, so 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:09.840 you're gonna be playing somebody good. You know. Honestly, I'd 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:12.439 rather be playing the Cowboys right now than for instance, 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:15.240 especially considering how that went for us the first time around. 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:17.880 You can have a little bit of confidence knowing what 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.040 you did, but it was against the Cowboys the last time, 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:21.400 but it was way back in week one, so you 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:23.240 don't know how much you can pull from that. But 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:25.480 in terms of the formula for winning the Buckneers, that 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:27.360 was one of the best running days of the whole season, 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:29.520 and Leonard Fournett ran for a hunter twenty seven yards. 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:32.719 Bucks had a hundred fifty seven UM they struggled in 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:35.439 the red zone. Otherwise that would have been even more 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:37.760 lopside of a victory. It was after that week that 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:40.160 the Bucks were feeling really good about themselves, Like Glavante said, 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:42.040 we thought we were hot stuff at that point. They 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:45.679 end up with a better record. You probably need to 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:47.920 get and Coach Bull said this, you probably need to 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:49.560 get off to a fast start like we did with 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:51.880 the starters in Atlanta, because you don't want to get 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:55.240 behind against a team that can rush the password this. Well, yeah, 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:57.320 and or they can run the ball as well as 0:09:57.320 --> 0:09:59.880 they can stopping that would be helpful too. But just 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:02.840 getting off to a fast start, getting some early momentum, 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:05.600 and just keeping it a tight game. I mean, sure, 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:07.360 if the Bucks ran away with it, that'd be wonderful, 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:09.920 but I'm not predicting that. So keeping it a tight 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.840 game until the fourth quarter, and then you know you 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:15.559 have Tom Brady and that's been a winning formula for 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:18.320 the Buccaneers. So just starting fast and not falling behind, 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:20.320 I think would be Mikey, all right, well that's going 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:21.920 to do it for us on this edition of Bucks 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:24.760 Inside Are Live presented by Verizon. Thank you so much 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:26.600 for joining us. And we'll see it here next week, 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:28.720 hopefully talking about another round of the playoffs.