Speaker 1: Good morning, Bucks fans. Happy NFC Championship Week, Casey Philips,
Speaker 1: you ever, was Senior writer and editor Scott Smith. We
Speaker 1: are doing our second of our three day in a
Speaker 1: row Buccaneer Insider Live presented by Miller Lite Blitz to
Speaker 1: get ready for everything you guys need to know. I know,
Speaker 1: I just I came up with that. Yeah, that's good,
Speaker 1: Thank you. I appreciate that. It's something our good, our
Speaker 1: team is good at, and I just figured, you know,
Speaker 1: hop on that here. Yes, we are blitzing with all
Speaker 1: the content for this week, and of course we want
Speaker 1: to know what you guys want us to talk about.
Speaker 1: So if you're not already watching on Facebook, head on
Speaker 1: over there and underneath our live video you can leave
Speaker 1: questions in the comments section for us while we give
Speaker 1: people a chance to do that. Tell us some of
Speaker 1: the things that we have learned about, particularly Vita Villa
Speaker 1: and Antonio Brown since our show yesterday. Yeah, we didn't
Speaker 1: learn a lot about Dave and the reason is um
Speaker 1: the Bucks held their Wednesday practice at walk through speed,
Speaker 1: which is not uncommon. At the end of the season,
Speaker 1: guys are banged up and and that game in New
Speaker 1: Orleans apparently was very physical, so they really just coach
Speaker 1: didn't really want to run them just yet. They'll they'll
Speaker 1: start running at full speed day. It's it's not unusual.
Speaker 1: They do that all the time. But what that means
Speaker 1: is you don't really know how well Vita ran because
Speaker 1: he didn't. He walked and Coach Arean said he walked
Speaker 1: real good. So that was his analysis. Um, we'll have
Speaker 1: to wait another day to see how he's feeling in
Speaker 1: terms of really going full speed. Antonio Brown did not practice.
Speaker 1: It again strikes me as a similar situation to Mike
Speaker 1: Evans in the Washington game where he had the injury,
Speaker 1: had the m r I that revealed there was no
Speaker 1: structural damage, was called day to day at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the week, nobody was sure, didn't practice right away,
Speaker 1: and then eventually got in some limited work and was
Speaker 1: able to play. So if a b can come back
Speaker 1: either both or one of the next two days and
Speaker 1: get some limited work and then we could feel a
Speaker 1: little bit better about his being available on Sunday in
Speaker 1: Green Bay. And I know that we had a few
Speaker 1: different people to speak to the media yesterday. What are
Speaker 1: some of the things that you learned outside of the
Speaker 1: injury e front for the two of those guys. Nobody's
Speaker 1: really worried about the cold. You know, everybody's everybody outside
Speaker 1: of the Buccaneers is worried about the Buccaneers playing in
Speaker 1: the cold. The Bucks themselves are not really worried about it.
Speaker 1: A lot of the guys, like Tom Brady as an example,
Speaker 1: have plenty of cold weather experience, some of them from college,
Speaker 1: like our Minnesota rookies, and um, basically don't they don't
Speaker 1: feel like twenty degrees, which I guess is the estimated
Speaker 1: kickoff temperature is really all that bad. We talked about
Speaker 1: it yesterday. There's so many things on the sideline to
Speaker 1: keep them warm, and then when you get it in
Speaker 1: the game, you're running around and you don't really feel cold. So, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully they're right and they're in the right
Speaker 1: mental state of mind, because that's what uh they somebody
Speaker 1: said that it was. Basically it's a mental issue and
Speaker 1: nobody's worried about it. Um. The run game is really
Speaker 1: a big topic of conversation because again at this time
Speaker 1: of the year, people often talk about how the run
Speaker 1: game becomes more important in the playoffs, and as you're
Speaker 1: getting towards the end. And that's especially true in cold
Speaker 1: weather games. And the Bucks have fresh legs and a
Speaker 1: pretty nice run going right now with Leonard Fournette Ronald Jones,
Speaker 1: and then stopping the Packers run is important because and
Speaker 1: not easy to do with they have three guys in
Speaker 1: their backfield that are pretty good and playing well right now,
Speaker 1: and um, it's if you can slow those guys down,
Speaker 1: as the books have been able to do against a
Speaker 1: lot of our our offenses. Um, it makes it harder
Speaker 1: for Aaron Jones, Aaron Rodgers, that is, to be so
Speaker 1: effective on play action, which he has been this year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and we did have a question about if Ronald Jones
Speaker 1: was playing and healthy because you know, he had just
Speaker 1: come back this last game and there was a there
Speaker 1: were a couple of moments where it looked like maybe
Speaker 1: he was still favoring that quad a little bit, even
Speaker 1: though he did run really really well. So is he
Speaker 1: good to go from everything we know, Yeah, he's basically
Speaker 1: at the same spot he was last week in terms
Speaker 1: of the injury report. He is on there and he
Speaker 1: is limited in practice, so it's still there. Um. Somebody
Speaker 1: asked him about, you know, the quad and combined with
Speaker 1: cold weather, and if that was an issue, but he
Speaker 1: says he'll be you know, he'll he'll take care of
Speaker 1: it ahead of time to be ready for that game. UM,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's really that much of an issue.
Speaker 1: He's he Like you said, there were moments where it
Speaker 1: looked like maybe it was by learn him a little,
Speaker 1: but when he got the ball, he ran really really well. So, UM,
Speaker 1: you know, when he's been healthy or you know, not
Speaker 1: on a reserve list down the stretch, he's looked really good.
Speaker 1: So that combination of Leonard Fournett, who's it looks like
Speaker 1: a different beast here in the playoffs, and and Rolin
Speaker 1: Jones is pretty good to have going into this game. Absolutely. Uh.
Speaker 1: And we had a question asking if you were to
Speaker 1: compare talent and balance on both sides of the ball
Speaker 1: for the Super Bowl team and this year's team, which
Speaker 1: team would you select. Yeah, I think I get the
Speaker 1: point of this question. This team is more balanced in
Speaker 1: that UM. And I actually did a little study on
Speaker 1: this yesterday. In terms of points scored, obviously the two
Speaker 1: thousand two team. UM, that's since two thousand two, the
Speaker 1: NFL has going increasingly towards more and more and more scoring,
Speaker 1: so you can't just do a one on one comparison.
Speaker 1: The Buccaneers scored thirty point eight points per game this year,
Speaker 1: which is easily a team record, but you have to
Speaker 1: compare it to eras because the league as a whole
Speaker 1: was averaging twenty four point eight points per game per team,
Speaker 1: which is the highest in NFL history. So what I
Speaker 1: did was compared to all the years in team history,
Speaker 1: they're scoring offense and defense against um the average and
Speaker 1: the bucks. This year they're scoring defense are scoring offense
Speaker 1: is better against the average than it's ever been uh
Speaker 1: and the scoring defense was better against the average by
Speaker 1: somewhat a decent margin. The two thousand and two team,
Speaker 1: that defense was legendary and there um it was like
Speaker 1: better than the scoring average of the legal as a
Speaker 1: whole average gave up like twelve and a half points
Speaker 1: per game, but the scoring offense was basically almost dead
Speaker 1: on average. So that team was so heavily um leaning
Speaker 1: towards how great that defense was that when the offense
Speaker 1: became a little bit better in the playoffs, they just
Speaker 1: they barreled through everybody. As you saw this team in
Speaker 1: two thousand two, I don't think you could say either
Speaker 1: side of the offense, either side of the ball is
Speaker 1: as incredibly dominant as they weren't two thousand and two.
Speaker 1: But yes, it's probably a more balanced team. Okay, and
Speaker 1: a long answer, wasn't it? Yes? But you know what
Speaker 1: time for anymore? Richard asked, is this the best rookie
Speaker 1: class the Bucks have ever had? Oh? Probably not, because
Speaker 1: I mean ninth. I know it's only two guys, but
Speaker 1: drafted Derek Brooks and Warren Sap not in that order
Speaker 1: in the first round, and those guys are both in
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame. So even if it's just two guys, um,
Speaker 1: that's pretty good. There's been some other really good classes
Speaker 1: with Randie Barber and a bunch of other guys. I'd
Speaker 1: have to sit down and uh and really, do you know,
Speaker 1: look into it a little bit harder to answer that question,
Speaker 1: but off the top of my head, I wouldn't. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't say yes today question also in part because it's
Speaker 1: only been one year. And yes, you look like you
Speaker 1: have absolutely star caliber players in Antoine Winfield and Tristan Worse.
Speaker 1: But let's give it a little time to see how
Speaker 1: the whole class works out. Right. You'd have to compare
Speaker 1: it to other rookie classes after their first year, and
Speaker 1: they might have an argument there, But even so, I
Speaker 1: bet it's not the most impactful rookie class we've ever
Speaker 1: had um And this is interesting. Somebody asked about Mike Evans.
Speaker 1: We've talked about these other injuries. I think we kind
Speaker 1: of just because he was able to come back and
Speaker 1: score a touchdown and everything, and that he has played
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, that we forget that he there's a
Speaker 1: chance he may not be a hundred percent Still, do
Speaker 1: we know kind of where he's in in terms of
Speaker 1: how healthy? Is he healthier than these last couple of games.
Speaker 1: Was he may be on you know, a bit of
Speaker 1: a pitch counter, you know that were they withholding some
Speaker 1: things these last couple of weeks, and the percentage he
Speaker 1: would be at this week, well, he's basically in the
Speaker 1: same spot he was last week, as is Chris Godwin.
Speaker 1: I believe although last week Chris Godden was dealing with
Speaker 1: quad and hip injuries, in this week it's just quad.
Speaker 1: But both of those guys were limited to start practice.
Speaker 1: And that's that's based on an estimation, because when you
Speaker 1: do a walk through everybody sort of walks through. So
Speaker 1: for the official injury report, you have to estimate what
Speaker 1: they would have done if it had been full speed.
Speaker 1: So if the team is estimating that they would have
Speaker 1: been limited, didn't the trainers obviously know that they're still
Speaker 1: still dealing with something that's you know, keeping them from
Speaker 1: being at full speed. But in the when we got
Speaker 1: to the game last week, I don't think either guy
Speaker 1: was really limited. So it's this time of year when
Speaker 1: a good number of players on your team are dealing
Speaker 1: with injuries that you know aren't aren't fun and aren't
Speaker 1: easy to work through. What they managed to work through them,
Speaker 1: So I don't think we have anything to worry about
Speaker 1: from those guys when we get to the weekend. But yeah,
Speaker 1: right now, they're a little limited. Delvin had asked, should
Speaker 1: Jason light be in consideration for Executive of the Year,
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously Bruce arians said so for sure. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: because it works. I mean the talent on this roster. Listen,
Speaker 1: the the idea of this roster, or that the team
Speaker 1: had about this roster last March was I think we're
Speaker 1: you know, we're close. We've got talent all over the place.
Speaker 1: We've got a defense that's really really coming on, which
Speaker 1: is what Bruce arians and when he got here and
Speaker 1: with Jason Light really wanted to make sure they did.
Speaker 1: First was build that defense because he knew we had
Speaker 1: offensive pieces in place. Then to add Tom Brady on
Speaker 1: top of that and have it work out so well,
Speaker 1: basically exactly the way you wanted it to. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: that's that's good drafting, followed by you know, realizing what
Speaker 1: you had and making some very bold moves and making
Speaker 1: it happen and having it all worked out. I mean,
Speaker 1: what more do you really want from the guy building
Speaker 1: your team? So we'll buy it quite obviously. But I
Speaker 1: can't see how he wouldn't at least be among the
Speaker 1: the you know, small handful of people being considered for that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I completely agree. Um, Dustin had asked, will Aaron Stinny
Speaker 1: be starting again? And what did you think of how
Speaker 1: he stepped in for Alex Kappa. Yeah, Aaron Stinny will
Speaker 1: be starting again. And all I can say about how
Speaker 1: he handled it was I mean, you look at how
Speaker 1: the offensive line went as a whole, and we all
Speaker 1: know that you can be very, very talented on the
Speaker 1: offensive line. But if you have one player in that
Speaker 1: group who isn't playing well, your offensive line as a
Speaker 1: whole has a good chance of not looking good just
Speaker 1: because of one guy that it's that whole. You know,
Speaker 1: week is Lincoln and Chain thing, and it's really true
Speaker 1: for an offensive line. What I found interesting was Ronald
Speaker 1: Jones said, they put him in there and then they
Speaker 1: didn't give him extra help. They didn't chip block for him,
Speaker 1: they didn't, you know, make sure they were double team
Speaker 1: and everybody that he had to block. They just put
Speaker 1: him in there and said you block your guy one
Speaker 1: on one and he did did it? So, um, really
Speaker 1: really standout performance by Aaron Stinney, And yeah he'll start
Speaker 1: again in Green Bay, okay. And Thomas asked, do we
Speaker 1: expect to be able to get a lot of pressure
Speaker 1: on Rogers? Well, we want to. I mean, that's really
Speaker 1: I think that's what it comes down to on both sides. Really,
Speaker 1: you've got these two quarterbacks that if they have too
Speaker 1: much time to throw their their and the weapons they
Speaker 1: have around him, they're gonna be really hard to stop.
Speaker 1: And the pressure was the difference in Week six. Our
Speaker 1: offense didn't go crazy in Week six. We had to
Speaker 1: pick six, and we had another really short field on
Speaker 1: another interception, and I think we had maybe three or
Speaker 1: twenty yards of offense, which is well below our average
Speaker 1: in that game. But the obviously the Packers had by
Speaker 1: far the worst offensive game, and Aaron Rodgers did and
Speaker 1: it was because he got pressured. We had five sacks
Speaker 1: and thirteen quarterback hits in that game, and and for
Speaker 1: the most part, Tom Brady didn't get hit at all.
Speaker 1: And there's your difference. And that's easy to say and
Speaker 1: say duplicate that on Sunday in Green Bay and you
Speaker 1: can get another win, and that could happen. Hopefully that
Speaker 1: will happen. But the backers have a good offensive line
Speaker 1: and they are gonna try to make sure that doesn't happen.
Speaker 1: So I can't predict if we're going to get the
Speaker 1: pressure on or not, but I do believe that that
Speaker 1: will be the key to the game. And Daniel last
Speaker 1: is for net our new number one running back. I
Speaker 1: don't think we have one right now. Um. I think
Speaker 1: it's a one two punches as Bruce arians called it,
Speaker 1: or a two headed monster as some people would say. Um.
Speaker 1: And as we know, and we probably said a jillion
Speaker 1: times on these shows, it really doesn't matter who you're
Speaker 1: starting running back, is Um. If those guys are splitting
Speaker 1: carries almost straight down the middle like they did in
Speaker 1: New Orleans, what does it really matter who took the
Speaker 1: first one? Uh? And and I know and you know,
Speaker 1: and Bruce arians even said it again this week that
Speaker 1: if one of the other guys is particularly hot, they
Speaker 1: will ride that guy. So, um, sure callin heard Frind
Speaker 1: at the starter right now if you want to, But
Speaker 1: it doesn't really matter. Um. And we had I think
Speaker 1: let me see who was it that asked this? Uh?
Speaker 1: Emmanuel said, will the team go to Green Bay a
Speaker 1: few days early to get ready for the game? Um?
Speaker 1: And you want to explain why that part of why
Speaker 1: that is, um, well, COVID stuff that. Yeah, well then
Speaker 1: you explain it. Well, yeah, I mean essentially, a I
Speaker 1: think teams like to keep things their normal routine anyways,
Speaker 1: and it is teams to only go a day head.
Speaker 1: So even COVID aside, teams tend to only go the
Speaker 1: day before. They want to stay in their normal routines,
Speaker 1: stay in their um normal you know, houses, all the stuff.
Speaker 1: But then there's also the factor of that with COVID,
Speaker 1: they definitely want to stay in their bubble as much
Speaker 1: as possible. You don't want to have to go to
Speaker 1: hotels and other places where you're more exposed than you
Speaker 1: have been at home. So that has definitely emphasized how
Speaker 1: much teams have tried to not travel until as late
Speaker 1: as possible, and they've even kind of helped some of
Speaker 1: those rules, even of the rules at how early you
Speaker 1: had to go in the past. So I think that's
Speaker 1: definitely part of it. And what is the advantage to
Speaker 1: going early. I don't get that part of it. Potentially
Speaker 1: they were asking about adjusting to the cold. I've seen
Speaker 1: a few people ask about that, if maybe they wanted
Speaker 1: to practice in the cold beforehand, But yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: think that's really part of their plan. Yeah, it's definitely not. Yes,
Speaker 1: the travel plan, it's they're leaving on Saturday. They're leaving
Speaker 1: on Saturday. Yes, all right, Well, thank you guys so
Speaker 1: much for all those amazing questions. Thank you for watching,
Speaker 1: and again we will be back here tomorrow morning. I
Speaker 1: know we didn't get to every question, so if we
Speaker 1: didn't get to yours, make sure you come back here
Speaker 1: tomorrow morning ten am again and we'll answer some more
Speaker 1: of those in our final Buccaneers in Saturday Live before
Speaker 1: the NFC Championship games. So thank you guys for joining us.
Speaker 1: We'll see tomorrow