Speaker 1: Their Bucks fans. Has everybody doing on this Friday morning,
Speaker 1: this football playoff game day Friday. This is what we
Speaker 1: are so excited about. We have been doing this show
Speaker 1: three days in a row to make sure we get
Speaker 1: to all of your questions. So if you have some
Speaker 1: of those questions, comments, topics you want us to talk about,
Speaker 1: make sure you head over to the Facebook page if
Speaker 1: you're not already watching on there and leave them in
Speaker 1: the comments section. This is Buccaneers Insider Live, presented by
Speaker 1: Miller Lite, Casey Phillips here senior writer and editor Scott Smith.
Speaker 1: So as we give people a chance to start submitting
Speaker 1: some of those questions, a couple of topics that we've
Speaker 1: learned a little bit about since yesterday. Since again we've
Speaker 1: been doing this a few days in a row, so
Speaker 1: we're just trying to update you since yesterday, before the show,
Speaker 1: we had talked about Ronald Jones and whether or not
Speaker 1: he was going to be returning to practice. To tell
Speaker 1: us what we learned yesterday, Well, he did return to
Speaker 1: practice in a limited fashion, which is what you would expect,
Speaker 1: and it was what Bruce arians was hoping for. So
Speaker 1: I would consider that a good sign. The Bucks are
Speaker 1: gonna practice here at about half an hour, so we'll
Speaker 1: get a better feel for how good he's coming along
Speaker 1: and if it's a steady progression and if they think
Speaker 1: he's gonna play on Sunday. But at least it was
Speaker 1: a step in the right direction. By the way the
Speaker 1: practice today, they're going inside, and I gotta believe that's
Speaker 1: just because they wanted to get a little bit of
Speaker 1: work on artificial turf before playing in the Superdome on Sunday.
Speaker 1: So there's a little bit of news for you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's a great point. Um. We've had a couple
Speaker 1: of questions about uh injury updates in general, and again
Speaker 1: this is something that we've we've answered the last couple
Speaker 1: of days, but we know not everyone gets to see
Speaker 1: the show every day. So we had a few different
Speaker 1: people ask about Vita Via and O. J. Howard and
Speaker 1: the implications of playoffs for there, and then we also
Speaker 1: had a question about Alex Kappa, So can you give
Speaker 1: us the updates on those guys. Yeah, let's start at
Speaker 1: the end there, because while the Bucks haven't officially anound
Speaker 1: to yet, they are about to put out scap on
Speaker 1: each reserve due to that ankle fracture. Um, that's the
Speaker 1: starting right guard. He started every game leading up to this,
Speaker 1: so that's an unfortunate loss. He was having a night
Speaker 1: season and his second year as a starter. And because
Speaker 1: you have to be on injury reserve for at least
Speaker 1: three games before you could be eligible to return, that
Speaker 1: means that's it for Kappa in So we'll be looking
Speaker 1: forward to his good return in one and the Buccaneers
Speaker 1: are gonna start Aaron Stinney in his place. He is
Speaker 1: the it'll be his first start coming out in the
Speaker 1: playoffs in the division round. It's hey for you, right
Speaker 1: into the fire. But he's the Buck's best option there
Speaker 1: right now, and the Bucks like his athleticism and his
Speaker 1: physical style of play. And one of the people who
Speaker 1: was asked about him yesterday, I can't remember, maybe Ryan
Speaker 1: Jensen who to compare him to, and he said, well,
Speaker 1: he's actually kind of a lot like Alex Kappa, So
Speaker 1: if he can give you something like the same thing,
Speaker 1: then that will be good. And the Buccaneers are also
Speaker 1: going to um restore some of that depth on the
Speaker 1: interior line by signing Earl Watford. Again that's not officially yet,
Speaker 1: but it is going to happen probably before this practice,
Speaker 1: so any minute now. And as we know, Earl Watford
Speaker 1: was with the team all last year. UM started four games,
Speaker 1: actually three of them in place of Alex Kappa, right,
Speaker 1: So he may take a little while to get his
Speaker 1: legs underneath them because he hasn't played at all this year.
Speaker 1: But that's a nice signing because he knows the system.
Speaker 1: So I don't remember the first half of that question
Speaker 1: now because I've been talking for a very long time.
Speaker 1: You you you hit? Uh, Well, it was Vita and
Speaker 1: o J. Yeah, they're not they're not coming back. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like I said, not everybody's heard all these But as
Speaker 1: we've said repeatedly, while we would love to have either
Speaker 1: or Vita there or o J. Howard left, this this
Speaker 1: extra month hopefully of playoffs is not enough to get
Speaker 1: either of them back from their injuries. UM, and we
Speaker 1: since we were just talking about Alex Cappa, Frank had asked,
Speaker 1: how big of an impact do you think his loss
Speaker 1: will have on on this team and what the offense
Speaker 1: is able to do. Well, it's potentially a big impact,
Speaker 1: and we don't want it to be honest with you,
Speaker 1: because um, if it has an impact, it probably won't
Speaker 1: be in a good way. That the Buccaneers offensive line
Speaker 1: really is peaking at the right time. They've been playing
Speaker 1: well for the last month or so, I mean really well,
Speaker 1: given given Tom Brady tons of time to throw and
Speaker 1: most of his passes, which is why he's been able
Speaker 1: to hit so many of those downfield twenty five thirty
Speaker 1: yard plays to Antonio Brown and Chris Godwin and Mike
Speaker 1: Evans and Scottie Miller and uh Cam Braid. I mean,
Speaker 1: we've had something like eleven touchdowns of more than twenty
Speaker 1: yards in the last five games, which is really a lot.
Speaker 1: And obviously the overall numbers for Tom Brady have been
Speaker 1: incredible over the last five or six weeks, and you
Speaker 1: can't do that without good protection from the line. So
Speaker 1: hopefully Aristony can help keep that going. So it will
Speaker 1: be saying there wasn't a huge impact from him coming
Speaker 1: into the game, right. And then we also had a
Speaker 1: question from Alan do you expect Todd Bowls to blitz
Speaker 1: more than usual this Sunday Hot Bowls. Already blitz is
Speaker 1: more than almost every defensive coordinator in this league. I
Speaker 1: think his blitz rate this year was about fort and
Speaker 1: Just to be clear, a blitz is actually defined as
Speaker 1: more than four defenders coming at the pass around pass rush.
Speaker 1: So sometimes things you see that look like a blitz
Speaker 1: aren't necessarily a blitz. Like if a corner comes out
Speaker 1: of the slot, but one of your outside linebackers drops
Speaker 1: into coverage and you're still only bringing four that's not
Speaker 1: a blitz. But just from a blitz standpoint, I think
Speaker 1: Todd Bowls has been in the top three in terms
Speaker 1: of aggressiveness in the league, including when he was a
Speaker 1: head coach for the last five years. So he's he's
Speaker 1: gonna blitz. Okay, it's gonna happen. Will you be more?
Speaker 1: That will probably depend on how well it goes. You know,
Speaker 1: if you if you blitz Drew Brees five straight times
Speaker 1: and he gashes you and you don't get nearly near
Speaker 1: close to him, then you might think maybe this isn't
Speaker 1: the best strategy in the world. So we'll see how
Speaker 1: it goes. A lot of times this year I've seen
Speaker 1: that he has started out not blitzing as much and
Speaker 1: then doubted up a little bit later, and that's been
Speaker 1: an effective way to go Okay and east. I asked
Speaker 1: how many turnovers do you think our defense needs to
Speaker 1: force to win the game. Well, they don't need to
Speaker 1: force any particularly if the Buccaneers defense offense is not
Speaker 1: turning the ball over. UM one would be enough if
Speaker 1: the Bucks can keep keep the ball secure on offense,
Speaker 1: because the Buccaneers are nine and oh this season when
Speaker 1: they have a positive turnover ratio. So it's more about
Speaker 1: the net number of turnovers that the Buccaneers have and
Speaker 1: if it's on the positive side, I'll feel pretty good
Speaker 1: about it. So it could be too to nothing, they
Speaker 1: could be forwarded to. Either way, it's it's probably a
Speaker 1: good sign for the Bucks. Um And we also had
Speaker 1: Vaughan asked, do you think Gronk needs to be more
Speaker 1: involved in the passing part or is it okay for
Speaker 1: him to stay more in the blocking role. Well, it's
Speaker 1: just it's game. Plans change from game to game. I mean,
Speaker 1: Gronk had some big games down the stretch and then
Speaker 1: in the last game he was mostly blocking, although they
Speaker 1: did have one play dialed up frohim and the end
Speaker 1: zone that they really thought was gonna work and just miss. So, uh,
Speaker 1: if they if if Bruce arians and Byron left, which
Speaker 1: have a plan this week, to unleash Gronk and have
Speaker 1: him out there. They wouldn't tell us, So do we
Speaker 1: need to do that? No? I mean there's so many
Speaker 1: weapons on this offense that if you decide again to
Speaker 1: you know, to make him more of a blocker and
Speaker 1: help you in that way and let Cam break room
Speaker 1: around a little bit more, it would probably work. But
Speaker 1: playoff Rob Gronkowski in his career has been pretty pretty phenomenal,
Speaker 1: so I wouldn't mind seeing him unlashed. Yes, Curtis asked
Speaker 1: who's more dangerous to our defense, Breeze or Taysom Hill. Well,
Speaker 1: Breeze because he's gonna play, um you know percent of
Speaker 1: the snaps. Taysom Hill could hurt you with some gadgetry stuff,
Speaker 1: and you know he might have one or two big
Speaker 1: plays that that hurt. But overall, Drew Brees is the
Speaker 1: bigger issue. Yeah. Obviously. We also had a question who's
Speaker 1: the backup for Devon and Lavante this game if Mentor
Speaker 1: is on the COVID list, Yeah, it would be Jack
Speaker 1: Cichy and um, I guess you could elevate um Daon
Speaker 1: Buchanan from the practice from the practice squad again, so
Speaker 1: I'd probably be those two, which you know, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that's a great feeling because that's not a
Speaker 1: lot of depth considering Jack Cichy only came back a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago and Daon Buchanan just came back
Speaker 1: last week. So I'm not trying to tell you that's
Speaker 1: a perfect situation. But sometimes due to injuries or illness
Speaker 1: or whatever, you end up a little thin in one
Speaker 1: position or another. And definitely we are right now there.
Speaker 1: And uh, we also had Dustin asked is case I'm
Speaker 1: still hurt? So I know that he was out of
Speaker 1: practice for the Saints. Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's Saints
Speaker 1: last practice report UM had him as out still that
Speaker 1: he missed the last two games. UM, so we'll see
Speaker 1: today we'll be much more telling. One thing I want
Speaker 1: to point out if you happen to go to the
Speaker 1: injury report on buccaneers dot com to see the Bucks,
Speaker 1: you might see some strange things from the Saints injury report.
Speaker 1: Something's messed up with their injury report on their website,
Speaker 1: and it's showing guys like Michael Thomas and Mark and
Speaker 1: Depp Mark Stavenport is out and that gets automatically pulled
Speaker 1: onto our injury report on our website, So we're not
Speaker 1: trying to say Michael Thomas is out. There's just some
Speaker 1: glitch in the system, so don't read anything into that.
Speaker 1: And we also had a question of asking you to
Speaker 1: predict the score. UM, I know you do, so how
Speaker 1: about instead of making you give a specific score? Um,
Speaker 1: do you think this is how high scoring or not?
Speaker 1: Do you see the game being It feels like a
Speaker 1: high scoring game to me, something like that, not nothing
Speaker 1: out of control like forty. But I don't think we're
Speaker 1: going to see a fourteen to ten game here. The
Speaker 1: Bucks offenses just clicking on all cylinders right now. And
Speaker 1: as I've said the last couple of days, just as
Speaker 1: long as they can give Tom Brady a good amount
Speaker 1: of time to pass, I think we will move the
Speaker 1: ball and score. And it's pretty hard to stop now
Speaker 1: that Drew Brees has Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara back
Speaker 1: um and Deonta Harris, that really fast small receiver who's
Speaker 1: a great kickoff returners starting to get more involved. Um,
Speaker 1: They've got a lot of weapons as well. So it's
Speaker 1: a tall task to ask either of these defenses to
Speaker 1: keep the other team under twenty points, so to me,
Speaker 1: it sounds feels more like a kind of game. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: that is going to do it for us on this
Speaker 1: edition of Buccaneers Insider Live presented by Miller Lyte. Thanks
Speaker 1: for all of those amazing questions, Thanks for being with
Speaker 1: us throughout this week, and enjoy that game on Sunday night.