Speaker 1: Welcome to Bucks Insider Life, presented by ticket master Casey Phillips.
Speaker 1: Here was senior writer and editor Scott Smith. And it's here.
Speaker 1: The regular season of football is here.
Speaker 2: I'm glad you told me you.
Speaker 1: Would have forgotten otherwise. I'm sure you haven't been writing
Speaker 1: about it, like looking about it at all. But tonight
Speaker 1: football is back. It's not the Bucks, but it's back.
Speaker 1: And this Sunday Bucks football is back. I'm so excited,
Speaker 1: and I just feel like there's been so many interesting
Speaker 1: things about this team and this roster after a couple
Speaker 1: of years of where it was stayed very the.
Speaker 2: Same, kept the gang begin yes that it was.
Speaker 1: For us, sometimes even harder, like, well, everybody already knows
Speaker 1: all these people, you know coming up with some of
Speaker 1: these storylines, and now there's so many interesting individuals and
Speaker 1: position groups and things to talk about. One that I
Speaker 1: think is so interesting is the outside linebacker group. There
Speaker 1: are so many stories there, both from a roster as
Speaker 1: a whole standpoint of how many we kept and how
Speaker 1: deep it is to individual guys like Shaq Barrett's. I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear just for you some of the overall
Speaker 1: thoughts about that position group and now that we have
Speaker 1: the final fifty three, what we know them?
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I don't think we've because of the hurricane,
Speaker 2: we haven't had a show since the roster cut down
Speaker 2: to fifty three, right, And one of the most interesting
Speaker 2: things about the way that roster was constructed is that
Speaker 2: they kept six outside linebackers, which I don't know if
Speaker 2: that sounds like a lot to you, but historically, going
Speaker 2: back since Todd Bowles has been here, that's the most
Speaker 2: we've ever had on the roster at one time. Most
Speaker 2: of the times we've kept four, and on game day
Speaker 2: you usually have the two starters, a third guy that
Speaker 2: rotates in a lot, and a fourth guy that gets
Speaker 2: a little bit of snaps like Cam Gill. But six
Speaker 2: just indicates how much talent they weren't kidden all during
Speaker 2: August when they said, we've just got so much talent
Speaker 2: that this position is going to be hard to cut down.
Speaker 2: And you don't want to let good pass rushers leave
Speaker 2: the building. That's why you keep a guy who was
Speaker 2: a tryout player in May like Marquise Watts, on the
Speaker 2: active roster because you don't want to subject him to waivers.
Speaker 2: Like let's say, maybe we can try to put him
Speaker 2: on the practice squad. We can't risk it because we
Speaker 2: don't want to lose this guy. And so there's a
Speaker 2: lot of talent there. And if you look at last year,
Speaker 2: by the end of last year, due to injuries to
Speaker 2: Carl Nassab, who by the way, just a pair announced
Speaker 2: his retirement. Very happy for her and Coach Boll said
Speaker 2: some nice things about him yesterday and Shaq Barrett those injuries.
Speaker 2: By the end of last year, for about three weeks
Speaker 2: in a row, Joe Tryon, Shanka and Anthony Nelson were playing.
Speaker 1: Every sea, which is one I.
Speaker 2: Mean literally yeah, yeah. That never happens in that position,
Speaker 2: So I don't think they wanted to be in that
Speaker 2: situation again. You get Shack back from injury, get Cam
Speaker 2: Gill back from injury, You draft Ya Yaddabi and Jose
Speaker 2: Ramirez who's on the practice squad. You find Marquis Wattson,
Speaker 2: you re signed Anthony Nelson, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: you got a lot of depth there. And the idea is,
Speaker 2: like last year, I think you know, Vida Vea led
Speaker 2: this the defense in sacks with six point five and
Speaker 2: that's great for Vita and he's a Pro Bowl player,
Speaker 2: but you normally don't want your nose tackle to be
Speaker 2: your leading sack guy, so they want more pressure from
Speaker 2: the edge. Just if you could get that, you might
Speaker 2: have like one of the best pass rushers we can remember,
Speaker 2: because you already got the great push inside and you
Speaker 2: drafted Kalaidjah Cansi in the first round. But over the
Speaker 2: last four years, the Bucks have already been really good
Speaker 2: in secks. I mean, if you look at this, these
Speaker 2: are the top six because there's a tie there. I
Speaker 2: should have put five t at the bottom, but there's
Speaker 2: a tie there for the last two spots. Four of
Speaker 2: the top six SAX seasons in team history are the
Speaker 2: last four years. Wow, see nineteen twenty and twenty two
Speaker 2: are there? Right? Yeah, So you know it's already good,
Speaker 2: and that's partially because Todd Bowles is a very aggressive
Speaker 2: play caller and you use a lot of BLITZERZ and
Speaker 2: so on. But still your pressure has been pretty good already.
Speaker 2: But now you talk about possibly combining Vita, who you
Speaker 2: see there, with you know, a robust edge rush where
Speaker 2: you can rotate guys in throughout the game depending on
Speaker 2: how many you keep active, and it could be something special.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think this will be really interesting to see
Speaker 1: and I think this first game could be an interesting
Speaker 1: test for them. I mean, the Vikings tackles are, you know,
Speaker 1: pretty decent, typical desaus good. Yeah, And also knowing how
Speaker 1: much they want to be able to throw the ball
Speaker 1: deep downfield. If you're wanting to give Justin Jefferson time,
Speaker 1: you're wanting to let those plays develop that hopefully that
Speaker 1: means kirk Cousin's trying to hold onto it a bit
Speaker 1: and these guys are going to be able to try
Speaker 1: to tee off a bit and try to make him uncomfortable.
Speaker 2: Their sack sacks a loud numbers were basically middle of
Speaker 2: the pack last year. But I don't know, if you
Speaker 2: watched that quarterback series on Netflix, Kirk Cousins, of one
Speaker 2: of them, obviously takes some beatings. It feels like most
Speaker 2: of his story is about how beat up he was
Speaker 2: and how many times he got hit all year. So
Speaker 2: I don't know, maybe there's some opportunity.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So all right. Also, I know that one area
Speaker 1: we want to talk about is the run defense in
Speaker 1: particular and versus Minnesota. Easy to talk about Justin Jefferson
Speaker 1: and some of their passing attacks and everything. But now
Speaker 1: they've lost Dalvin Cook, it's going to look very different
Speaker 1: for them. And so what are some of the things
Speaker 1: that you feel like this team is going to have
Speaker 1: to do to focus on outside of some of that passing.
Speaker 2: Attech Just yesterday, our defenders, I think Antoine Winfield was
Speaker 2: talking about how stopping the run is their number one priority,
Speaker 2: and everybody's been talking all last month about how they
Speaker 2: really need to get back to where this defense was
Speaker 2: from nineteen twenty nineteen to twenty one, when over that period,
Speaker 2: I think they finished first, first, and third in the
Speaker 2: league in run defense. Last year it slipped to the
Speaker 2: middle of the pack. Middle of the pack isn't in
Speaker 2: the world, but it's not what we're known for. He Yep,
Speaker 2: they want to get back to that, and so you
Speaker 2: want to get off to a nice start. And yeah,
Speaker 2: the Vikings don't have Dalvin Cook anymore, but as anybody
Speaker 2: who plays fantasy football knows, every time Dalvin Cook has
Speaker 2: missed a game in the last four or five years,
Speaker 2: Alexander Madison has stepped right in and been really good,
Speaker 2: really productive. And I look at this, He's made six starts.
Speaker 2: All those were because Dalvin Cook was hurt. Look at
Speaker 2: his averages in those six starts. I mean that's pretty good.
Speaker 2: One hundred and fifteen point five yards from scrimmage and
Speaker 2: basically a touchdown every game he's got five and six games.
Speaker 2: Also catches the ball about four times a game. This
Speaker 2: is a very productive player. So when you talk about
Speaker 2: the Bucks wanting to get off to a good start
Speaker 2: in terms of run defense, you talk about can they
Speaker 2: slow down Alexander.
Speaker 1: Madison and Angeline Winfield is someone I'm excited to watch
Speaker 1: in this game that hey, we know he gets to
Speaker 1: be back to focusing on safety this year and not
Speaker 1: having to also do the slot. But then of course
Speaker 1: also grew up, yeah, back to his hometown. Grew up
Speaker 1: a Vikings fan. Dad played for them. Like guys will
Speaker 1: say every game is the same and whatever, but like
Speaker 1: you know, there's there's maybe a little extra juice there.
Speaker 2: He has never played yet back in Minnesota because we
Speaker 2: haven't been there since twenty seventeen. But in his rookie
Speaker 2: year we beat the Vikings here in Tampa and he
Speaker 2: had a really good game, like twelve tackles in the sack.
Speaker 1: So yeah, maybe there's Yeah, that's gonna be interesting. All right,
Speaker 1: And then of course, one of the other things that
Speaker 1: I think everyone is excited to watch in this game
Speaker 1: is this new look offensive line that it really is
Speaker 1: a very new look, which is crazy that even some
Speaker 1: of the guys that are not new to the team,
Speaker 1: but to basically have Hainesy be the only guy that
Speaker 1: is starting where he was starting last year and that
Speaker 1: was not the plan last year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, it's crazy.
Speaker 1: So tell me what your thoughts are about this group
Speaker 1: and what you're going to be looking for.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, here you see it. I mean Tristan
Speaker 2: Worfs moves to the other side and replaces Donovan Smith.
Speaker 2: Matt Foiler was one of the few really big time
Speaker 2: free agent acquisitions that we did during the off season,
Speaker 2: and Cody mack Mauk was a second round draft pick.
Speaker 1: We made too many of those jokes about mock drafts
Speaker 1: that screwed us up. We gotta come back to mouch drafts.
Speaker 2: And then Luke Getticky started last year at left guard,
Speaker 2: but he's now playing in his college position of right tackle,
Speaker 2: and I think there's a lot of optimism about this.
Speaker 2: One thing that the coaches like about this lineup is
Speaker 2: that a lot of these guys really are a good
Speaker 2: fit for the type of run scheme that Dave Canalis
Speaker 2: is bringing in. So, especially like malk and Getticky just
Speaker 2: really good at movement skills when you may be trying
Speaker 2: to do some mid and wide zone and you're doing
Speaker 2: lateral movement, and so I think they're excited about it.
Speaker 2: I don't think anybody's at the least but concerned about
Speaker 2: Tristan Worf's handling left tackle.
Speaker 1: I don't think there's a position on the team. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be happy with him playing that guy just somehow.
Speaker 1: I'm like, he'll figure it out. Quarterback, baby safe. Whatever.
Speaker 2: But he said also that this playing in the you know,
Speaker 2: they didn't play a lot of their stars of the
Speaker 2: first two games. Playing in that third preseason game and
Speaker 2: getting some actual snaps in a live game at left
Speaker 2: tackle was kind of like basically the last step for him.
Speaker 2: He's like, okay, yeah, I got.
Speaker 1: This, said.
Speaker 2: He admitted there was a little bit of jitters because
Speaker 2: he hadn't done before, but then he didn't like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm cool, I'm a left tackle now, so love that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of optimism about these guys,
Speaker 2: But it is absolutely fair to say, well, that's we
Speaker 2: don't know yet, right, So that's going to be one
Speaker 2: of probably the main storylines of the first three or
Speaker 2: four weeks of the season, is this line working out
Speaker 2: the way that we think it will.
Speaker 1: And the good news is, even if maybe it isn't
Speaker 1: quite as solid, maybe especially just right early on, takes
Speaker 1: some time to grow, you do have a quarterback that
Speaker 1: can move around a bit. That with Brady it was
Speaker 1: like you knew he wanted to be able to sit
Speaker 1: there in that pocket, yeah, or get rid of the ball,
Speaker 1: or get rid of the ball quickly. And now the
Speaker 1: idea that Baker can be on the move a little bit,
Speaker 1: he feels like that's something that's good in his game.
Speaker 1: That's something Canalis has even schemed up a little bit.
Speaker 1: I'm sure that will help the offensive line a little
Speaker 1: bit of knowing it's not like if you've given up
Speaker 1: this spot, that's it, we're done.
Speaker 2: It helps, But then it's also another challenge because let's
Speaker 2: say you're the left tackle and you know Baker Mayfield
Speaker 2: takes off, which Tom Brady basically never did, which doesn't
Speaker 2: matter even is still the goat, but now you got
Speaker 2: to worry like, now you got to figure out where
Speaker 2: the guy is in which way you got a block. So,
Speaker 2: but that's not unusual. Most teams have guys that move
Speaker 2: around a little bit. But not only will the Bucks
Speaker 2: be doing a planned movement with bootlegs and so on
Speaker 2: with the quarterbacks. But Dave Canalis has said basically, two
Speaker 2: point seven seconds is when they want to get the
Speaker 2: ball off by and if you haven't thrown it by
Speaker 2: then you need to have a clock in your head
Speaker 2: and if you haven't thrown it by then you probably
Speaker 2: need to move Yep, you know, get outside and either
Speaker 2: scramble or by time and do you know scramble drills.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it'll be fun to watch the new Canal's offense.
Speaker 1: We know they don't pull out all the stops in preseasons.
Speaker 2: They just it was very vanilla the first two games,
Speaker 2: and then the third game they cracked open that playbook
Speaker 2: just a little bit. And I was cool to hear
Speaker 2: Baker talk about that. He's like because in that third
Speaker 2: game he had one drive. He only threw one pass
Speaker 2: to the first drive. It was a three and out.
Speaker 2: Second drive was a great drive, six for six and touchdown,
Speaker 2: and then he came out and Kyle Trascott his first drive,
Speaker 2: and it was an awesome ninety four yard touchdown drive
Speaker 2: with a lot a good mix of plays and Bakers like,
Speaker 2: it was really cool to see Dave get in a
Speaker 2: groove play calling so great. You know, it's his first
Speaker 2: time play calling, so it is cool to see that happen,
Speaker 2: and it's cool to see what this offense could be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's gonna be fun. All right, that's going to
Speaker 1: do it for us on this edition of Bucks Insider Line.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us. We'll be back here
Speaker 1: next week to talk about that first game against Minnesota