Speaker 1: Good morning, Bucks fans, Happy Wednesday. It's time for Buccaneers
Speaker 1: Insider Live, presented by Miller Like Casey Phillips here with
Speaker 1: Scott Smith and as always, we are here to take
Speaker 1: your questions. If you're not already watching on the Facebook app,
Speaker 1: you can head on over there leave your question in
Speaker 1: the comments section for us. And I'm sure there's going
Speaker 1: to be tons of questions today considering we now have
Speaker 1: the whole schedule laid out that you know, we've known
Speaker 1: the opponents for a really long time, but the winds
Speaker 1: and the wears and house and all of that stuff.
Speaker 1: Now we have a better since for that. So again,
Speaker 1: leave your questions for us in the comment section underneath
Speaker 1: the Facebook Live video that we have so for now
Speaker 1: as we get people a chance to do that, I
Speaker 1: just wanted to hear your first thoughts when you saw
Speaker 1: the schedule, heard about it, and what all it was
Speaker 1: gonna entail That the first things that stood out to
Speaker 1: you about it, Well, I can't say that I was surprised.
Speaker 1: I think the thing that jumps out the most is
Speaker 1: obviously five primetime games. That's the most astiming it happens,
Speaker 1: that's the most the Buccaneers will have ever played in
Speaker 1: one season, even after they won Super Bowl thirty seven,
Speaker 1: they only have four, only four primetime games. They were
Speaker 1: scheduled to play five last year, and that that was
Speaker 1: just the Tom Brady effect that was before they won
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. One of them Las Vegas game got
Speaker 1: moved to ELI or late afternoon because of some COVID
Speaker 1: concerns in Las Vegas. So this year, assuming there's no
Speaker 1: issues such as that, five primetime games and the first
Speaker 1: one well obviously to be the first time the Buccaneers
Speaker 1: have been in the kickoff Game, which they started on
Speaker 1: Thursday nights in two thousand and four when the Bucks
Speaker 1: won you know two, they played on Monday night because
Speaker 1: that was sort of the loose tradition back then. Now
Speaker 1: the tradition is, with just a few exceptions, the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl champions get the kickoff game at home in Week one,
Speaker 1: and they usually try to find a Marquis opponent. I
Speaker 1: was guessing it would be the Bills because they were
Speaker 1: in the ANC Championship Game last year, but they went
Speaker 1: with the Dallas Cowboys. He despite being six and ten,
Speaker 1: do look like they could be contenders this year with
Speaker 1: dak Press got back under center. It will be a
Speaker 1: game of a lot of offensive stars, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: And of course us I've already seen people bringing up
Speaker 1: the particular week for matchup. I'm sure you already even know,
Speaker 1: Like we don't even know. Everybody already knows what Week
Speaker 1: four is. Now, that's the going of the Patriots. Played
Speaker 1: code at this morning. Yes, yeah, the week the Week
Speaker 1: four games? So what were your thoughts something? Of course
Speaker 1: we knew that the Bucks were going to be playing
Speaker 1: the Patriots, that was not a surprise. But when you
Speaker 1: found out that it was week for what were your
Speaker 1: thoughts about that? Well, there's some good and bad in
Speaker 1: my mind. Um, if you look a little bit, if
Speaker 1: you expand your view just a little bit. Week four
Speaker 1: you go to New England. Week three you go to
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles rams l A. Is our longest trip
Speaker 1: of the year, and actually we looked it up New
Speaker 1: England as our second longest trip of the years. So
Speaker 1: are two longest trips in a row. Um, including that
Speaker 1: weren't all the way to the West Coast before you
Speaker 1: get to play in New England. That New England game
Speaker 1: is surely going to be intense in many ways, A
Speaker 1: lot of obviously attention on that game, probably a lot
Speaker 1: of media responsibilities for players and coaches, and before that,
Speaker 1: the Rams game. I personally feel like the Rams are
Speaker 1: gonna be one of the top contenders in the NFC,
Speaker 1: so to take them on in their place is of
Speaker 1: the tougher games on the schedules. So those two games together,
Speaker 1: that's a tough stretch for the Buccaneers. But also considering
Speaker 1: how much attention and intensity this game is probably gonna
Speaker 1: have in New England, I think it's probably a good
Speaker 1: thing to get it out of the way. And I
Speaker 1: don't mean get it out of the way because everybody
Speaker 1: wants to see that game, but to have it be
Speaker 1: done early in the season is probably a good thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I completely agree with that. Um. Well, someone else named
Speaker 1: Scott asked which game are you looking forward to the most? Well,
Speaker 1: the Rams game is one of them for sure. Um
Speaker 1: the Buffalo game, which is like Week twelve or thirteen,
Speaker 1: that one I think could be really exciting, could be
Speaker 1: tough contenders in both conferences, And if Josh Allen takes
Speaker 1: any sort of any sort of step forward similar to
Speaker 1: what he did last year, he's gonna be an MDP candidate.
Speaker 1: The Buckers may have a couple of those on their own.
Speaker 1: So um, those two really steps stick out to me
Speaker 1: as games I'm looking forward to. Um and Mike I
Speaker 1: thought this was a great question to bring up. Mike said,
Speaker 1: the league only lets you play five times five prime
Speaker 1: time games a year. Can you play more if you
Speaker 1: get flexed later in the season or if you've already
Speaker 1: got five schedule? Does that keep you from getting flexed? No,
Speaker 1: it doesn't. You can only be scheduled for five prime
Speaker 1: time games to start the year. You can still be flexed.
Speaker 1: I think there is probably a limit. We were trying
Speaker 1: to figure that out yesterday. Couldn't get a straight answer.
Speaker 1: And if there was a limit to how many once
Speaker 1: you got flexed, I've gotta believe there is. I mean,
Speaker 1: you don't want the same team eight or nine times,
Speaker 1: but um, yes, you can be flexed in. The Bucks
Speaker 1: finished the season with three straight one o'clock games, which
Speaker 1: otherwise is pretty rare on their schedules, so those would
Speaker 1: be flex candidates. If the Bucks are in, you know,
Speaker 1: the thick of the playoff race, which most of us
Speaker 1: think they will be. The unfortunate part or maybe not,
Speaker 1: is that those three games are against the Panthers and
Speaker 1: the Jets, and on paper, right now, those don't look
Speaker 1: like top contenders. But you and I both know you
Speaker 1: can't tell. I mean, you don't know who's going to
Speaker 1: be the break on teams this year. So we'll see
Speaker 1: if there's any more games after that, Okay, And Uh,
Speaker 1: I thought this was interually, this was a part of
Speaker 1: the schedule we hadn't talked about yet. You know, this
Speaker 1: is our first seventeen week season, and Zachary said, sorry
Speaker 1: game season. Yes, So Zachary said, why do we have
Speaker 1: nine road games and eight home games? Were the champs?
Speaker 1: It should be the other way around. That's just because
Speaker 1: of the way they had to set it up. Obviously,
Speaker 1: if you're play an odd number of games, some teams
Speaker 1: are gonna get nine and some teams are gonna get eight.
Speaker 1: So how do you make that fair? I mean, we
Speaker 1: don't want to see the Saints get nine home games
Speaker 1: and we get eight. So the way they're doing it
Speaker 1: is they're alternating, alternating it by conference each year. Uh.
Speaker 1: In the a f C gets to go first in
Speaker 1: terms of having all the every seventeenth game added is
Speaker 1: ann f C versus NFC game, and all of those
Speaker 1: games we played at the a f C homes, So
Speaker 1: all of the FC teams will have nine home games
Speaker 1: and all the NFC teams have eight home games, So
Speaker 1: in terms of your own conference playoff races, it still
Speaker 1: remains fair. So next year the Buccaneers will have nine
Speaker 1: regular season home games as well every team in the NFC.
Speaker 1: And also worth knowing is that they also make it
Speaker 1: so this year all the NFC teams played two of
Speaker 1: their three preseason games at home, so it still works
Speaker 1: out to every team getting ten games at home between
Speaker 1: the preseason and the regular season. Yeah, that and that
Speaker 1: is a great point. Um, all right? Enrique said, Historically,
Speaker 1: how do the Bucks fair in primetime games? And that
Speaker 1: was also something just about last year that I thought
Speaker 1: would be good to bring up. That we know that
Speaker 1: last year the primetime games weren't exactly their most shining
Speaker 1: moments of the season, and now knowing that they have
Speaker 1: five of them scheduled again, I wanted to hear your
Speaker 1: thoughts on that. Well, that's obviously what's gonna pop in
Speaker 1: everyone's mind is recent history. Because the Bucks were one
Speaker 1: in three uh in prime time games, they might have
Speaker 1: been two and three because they handled Las Vegas pretty
Speaker 1: easily and that game was supposed to be in prime time. UM.
Speaker 1: And one game that they won was at the Giants,
Speaker 1: and it was it was pretty much of a nail
Speaker 1: bier against the team that finished six and ten. I
Speaker 1: think so. UM. I don't think the team thought there
Speaker 1: was any particular reason for it, but you can't argue
Speaker 1: with the fact that the results were not very good
Speaker 1: in prime time, and I gotta believe that will be
Speaker 1: something they're very interested in proving this year that it
Speaker 1: was a fluke. I wish I had known this question
Speaker 1: was coming. I would have looked up the exact answers
Speaker 1: because they're out there. The Bucks record on Monday Night
Speaker 1: football historically is not that bad. I think they're considering
Speaker 1: that the Buck's overall record because of so many down years,
Speaker 1: you know, for a long time before the franchise got
Speaker 1: turned around, and then the recent playoff drout. The overall
Speaker 1: record isn't great, so you would expect the Money Night
Speaker 1: record to be not great. But actually it's not bad.
Speaker 1: I have I think I remember being right around five hundred,
Speaker 1: maybe a game or two over Uh. The other games
Speaker 1: Sunday and Thursday night, those records aren't as good, But
Speaker 1: unfortunately I wasn't prepared and I don't have the exact
Speaker 1: numbers for you. Okay, and Mitch asked which NFC South
Speaker 1: team do you think we should be most concerned about
Speaker 1: this year? Well, it's got to be the Saints until
Speaker 1: proven otherwise. I can understand people think automatically Drew Brees retires,
Speaker 1: that's the end of this run for the Saints. But
Speaker 1: remember that they were fourth in the league of defense
Speaker 1: last year. They still have a lot of great defensive players. Uh,
Speaker 1: they're very good at creating turnovers. They still have a
Speaker 1: very good offensive line. UM stars like Alvin Kamara and
Speaker 1: Michael Thomas. UM. I still think they're gonna be a
Speaker 1: pretty formidable team. Um. You know, I can understand the skepticism.
Speaker 1: And and maybe if Jameis Winston wins the starting job
Speaker 1: and continues to have turnover problems that hurts him, or
Speaker 1: maybe Taysom Hill wins the job and just doesn't prove
Speaker 1: to be as efficient running that offense as Drew Brees was,
Speaker 1: then sure I could see a possible decline, but I'll
Speaker 1: believe it when I actually see it. Whereas with Carolina
Speaker 1: and Atlanta. Sure, either one of them could emerge as
Speaker 1: contenders this year, but they still have some pretty big
Speaker 1: question marks. You know. Atlanta added Kyle Pitts, which means
Speaker 1: that often should be great, but their defense was not
Speaker 1: good last year, and there's you know, they're gonna have
Speaker 1: to prove that their defense is improved. And in Carolina,
Speaker 1: Sam Donald's gonna have to prove that he can win.
Speaker 1: So until those questions are answered, I think New Orleans
Speaker 1: has to be the choice. And Ryan asked after Week
Speaker 1: three in l A. Would it be crazy to think
Speaker 1: that the Bucks could stay out and on the West
Speaker 1: coast or head to New England early and just skip
Speaker 1: out on heading back to Tampa for such a short week. Well,
Speaker 1: it's not crazy, but no, that's not gonna happen. They've
Speaker 1: never done that. I mean, if you were playing the
Speaker 1: Rams and then the Charges back to back, maybe you
Speaker 1: you'd stay out there, but you're gonna have to fly.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know by the time you fly back, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you get in really really late on that Sunday, but
Speaker 1: you've got enough time to cover before you fly out
Speaker 1: again on Saturday. And I don't think the benefit of
Speaker 1: maybe saving one day of travel is worth not being
Speaker 1: at your home with all the things that you use
Speaker 1: to prepare yourself for games. So I would be very
Speaker 1: surprised with that. UM and Mike asked, has the league
Speaker 1: given an update about practice squad rules this year? Are
Speaker 1: they any different or same? I'm surprised how many people
Speaker 1: are asking me that question. I get that in mailbags too,
Speaker 1: And no, we don't have the answer to that. And
Speaker 1: it's a very good question. Under the new CBA that
Speaker 1: was passed in two thousand and twenty uh this year,
Speaker 1: the UM practice squad rosters were supposed to be a twelve,
Speaker 1: expanding to fourteen next year and beyond. However, they do
Speaker 1: have the NFL ken institute a lot of the same
Speaker 1: rules that were agreed upon last summer kind of an
Speaker 1: emergency state when the NFL and the NFL p A
Speaker 1: got together to figure out how to operate a league
Speaker 1: amidst the pandemic, and one of those rules was the
Speaker 1: expansion of the practice squad to sixteen players, six of
Speaker 1: which could be used on veterans guys with more than
Speaker 1: two years of accrued experience, which usually you couldn't put
Speaker 1: those guys in your practice squad with a couple of exceptions.
Speaker 1: So um, it really made it a lot easier for
Speaker 1: teams to deal with the pandemic and to have roster
Speaker 1: flexibility without guys coming in and out of the building
Speaker 1: week after week after week. So um, at the moment,
Speaker 1: I would be willing to bet that the league will
Speaker 1: have some of the same COVID protocols in place to
Speaker 1: start the season. And in that case, they probably will
Speaker 1: still have a lot of those rules, including the sixte
Speaker 1: man practice squad. It's not decided yet, but that's the
Speaker 1: way I would bet it will go. And since our
Speaker 1: last show, Blaine Gabrett has been resigned, and I know
Speaker 1: before that we had been asked a lot of questions
Speaker 1: about the quarterback room, and especially after drafting Kyle Trast.
Speaker 1: So now that we do know that all three of
Speaker 1: the guys from last year are officially back and we've
Speaker 1: drafted Kyle Trast, looking at those four guys, how do
Speaker 1: you see that shaking out in training camp and for
Speaker 1: the regular season? Do you keep three on your roster?
Speaker 1: Do you keep too? And and you talked about those
Speaker 1: practice squad rules and and with that what that might
Speaker 1: mean for a quarterback position. Just give us all the
Speaker 1: options there. Well, we were asked that a lot, and
Speaker 1: I'm pretty here just about every time we were asked,
Speaker 1: I said, I still think the most likely thing that
Speaker 1: will happen is that Buccaneers will resign Blaine Gabbert, because
Speaker 1: I know they like him and he knows the system,
Speaker 1: and they were confident with him as the backup last
Speaker 1: year to Tom Brady. So it just made the most
Speaker 1: sense because I thought Bruce arians would want a veteran
Speaker 1: and someone with some starting experience in that role. And
Speaker 1: there's probably a couple of other ones out there that
Speaker 1: fit that bill, but we know blame gaber So um,
Speaker 1: I always thought that would happen. It did, And you
Speaker 1: also signed Ryan Griffin about a week before that, so
Speaker 1: now you have four. That's usually the amount they take
Speaker 1: to training camps, so that makes sense. Usually you keep
Speaker 1: three in this case, would be very surprising if the
Speaker 1: Buccaneers decided to immediately cut ties with Sick around pick
Speaker 1: Kyle Trask. So it would seem to me like the
Speaker 1: battle for the primary backup and one of the three
Speaker 1: spots with Tom Brady and Kyle Trask would be between
Speaker 1: Blaine Gabert and Ryan Griffin and and that's fair, and
Speaker 1: both of those guys had the capability of winning that
Speaker 1: both of those guys have served as our primary backup
Speaker 1: in recent years, so that's what I think would happen.
Speaker 1: But like I just said, you can put veterans on
Speaker 1: a practice plane too, so there are some other options
Speaker 1: as well. All Right, Well, that is going to do
Speaker 1: it for us on the decision of Buccaneers inside our
Speaker 1: Live presented by Miller Lte. And we are so excited
Speaker 1: that Rookie Minicamp really kicks off tomorrow, so we are
Speaker 1: actually gonna get a chance to see some of these
Speaker 1: guys out on the practice field and we'll have more
Speaker 1: to be able to talk about with all of these
Speaker 1: new draft picks and undrafted guys that are going to
Speaker 1: be out here over these next couple of days next week.
Speaker 1: So we'll see you then,