Speaker 1: Welcome Too, Books Insider Live, presented by Verizon Casey Phillips.
Speaker 1: He was senior writer and editor Scott Smith. And this
Speaker 1: is our saddest show of the year. I felt like
Speaker 1: we needed to start with like the Debbie Downer like
Speaker 1: sounds yes, it's so sad um. You know, we were
Speaker 1: hoping we were talking about advancing this week, but we
Speaker 1: did not. So this is what we're all here for.
Speaker 1: I said this as we recorded Tampa Too this morning,
Speaker 1: and Britan I did it. If this is our space
Speaker 1: to all come together as a Bucks community commissariate, have
Speaker 1: our moments, but also get excited about the future. And
Speaker 1: we're going to do both of those things on this show.
Speaker 1: So let's start off with the takeaways from the Cowboys game.
Speaker 1: What stands out to you now that you have a
Speaker 1: few days to hear from people about it, digested, look
Speaker 1: back at it, what stands out well? The Bucks actually
Speaker 1: got off to a decent start on defense at least
Speaker 1: and two straight three and Ounce made a lot of
Speaker 1: nice plays, and it looked like it was going to be,
Speaker 1: you know, a tight game where maybe be a game
Speaker 1: in the high teams or something. Because the Bucks offense
Speaker 1: also the Dallas defense also did two straight three and outs,
Speaker 1: so four drives into the game, neither offense had gotten
Speaker 1: a first down. Then Dallas broke through with the long drive. Unfortunate,
Speaker 1: but it happened. Then the Bucks came back with their
Speaker 1: own driving. It was really nice drive with a lot
Speaker 1: of makeable third downs that were converted, and you get
Speaker 1: down there inside the tin yard line and then Tom
Speaker 1: Brady throws maybe his most unfortunate pass of the season.
Speaker 1: It's intercepted in the end zone. You know, they go
Speaker 1: the other way for a touchdown, and it was kind
Speaker 1: of it just kind of snowballed from there. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: so interesting the way that the momentum is such a
Speaker 1: real thing. And I know that also, you know, the
Speaker 1: run game never really got going. It's interesting. Coach Bowls
Speaker 1: on our show talked about how he felt like they
Speaker 1: were getting some decent runs. It actually just the the
Speaker 1: inability to stick with it because of what ends up
Speaker 1: happening with the overall flow of the game. And yeah,
Speaker 1: it makes you feel like it could have gone so
Speaker 1: differently the way they were moving in the run numbers
Speaker 1: are misleading in two different ways. I think it was
Speaker 1: maybe twelve for fifty two something like that. It's it's
Speaker 1: misleading because obviously in the second half we were almost
Speaker 1: exclusively throwing the ball. But then the average, which is
Speaker 1: pretty good four and a half per carrier something, is
Speaker 1: also a little bit misleading because on those last desperate
Speaker 1: drives we got a couple of third and ones and
Speaker 1: converted them with runs which they weren't defending against it.
Speaker 1: That so seven eight yard runs on third and one
Speaker 1: just to move the sticks kind of inflated the average
Speaker 1: a little bit. So in both ways the numbers are
Speaker 1: a bit misleading. But what is it misleading is that
Speaker 1: Tom Brady through sixty six passes in the game. You know,
Speaker 1: not how you want to draw that up. You get
Speaker 1: to three and fifty one yards passing two touchdown passes,
Speaker 1: the trio of outside receivers and Chris Godwin and Julio
Speaker 1: Jones and Mike Evans combined for two d thirty three
Speaker 1: receiving yards, which, if you tell me before the game
Speaker 1: that's gonna happen, I'm feeling pretty good about that. But
Speaker 1: when it takes you sixty six throws to get there
Speaker 1: and you're completing about of them, then it's not a
Speaker 1: particularly efficient passing attack. And that's what we see in
Speaker 1: the final numbers. And then you look at it at
Speaker 1: the end and you look at those numbers and sixty
Speaker 1: six passes, that's a lot. It is a lot. Look
Speaker 1: at this. It's almost the most that any quarterback has
Speaker 1: ever thrown in a postseason game. And it's only you know,
Speaker 1: a couple of years after Ben Roethlisberger set the record
Speaker 1: at eight, but only one game on there is a victory,
Speaker 1: and so you don't need to be throwing sixty passes
Speaker 1: in the game. Not the goal. And I know that
Speaker 1: one of the people that we threw to some but
Speaker 1: not nearly as much of this season, in particular as
Speaker 1: I'm sure a lot of Bucks Sands thought we would
Speaker 1: as Julio Jones. This is a guy who there was
Speaker 1: so much excitement about what he could bring to this team,
Speaker 1: but then of course health complications. Just felt like he
Speaker 1: was banged up on and off that injury report all
Speaker 1: season long. But what did you end have seen on
Speaker 1: the times he was healthy and able to go of
Speaker 1: what he brought to this offense. Well, you're seen in
Speaker 1: here in some of these highlights, and um he had
Speaker 1: he basically was dealing with a knee injury the entire season.
Speaker 1: In some weeks he could go, in some weeks he couldn't.
Speaker 1: But you can see when he's feeling okay on like
Speaker 1: on this thirty year ago route. Um, you know, he's
Speaker 1: definitely an asset and he's been this way throughout his career.
Speaker 1: As he could see that these are all of his
Speaker 1: uh postseason games. He's played in ten playoff games in
Speaker 1: his career, and every single one of them, he said,
Speaker 1: more than fifty receiving yards. So that's a streak of
Speaker 1: ten obviously, which is that I for the second longest ever.
Speaker 1: But you can see what he can still give to
Speaker 1: a team when he's feeling good. It's just that I
Speaker 1: think it's getting harder and harder for that to be
Speaker 1: an every week thing for Luo Jones. Maybe by the
Speaker 1: start of next year, if he's with us or somebody else,
Speaker 1: he'll be in in good shape. But that's what they
Speaker 1: said when he was coming in this season. If you recall, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, because I had the injury issues with Tennessee
Speaker 1: the year before and even in Atlanta before that, but
Speaker 1: he was considered healthy coming into the season. It just
Speaker 1: didn't last very long and realy that Dallas game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the first game and speaking of health issues all season,
Speaker 1: Ryan Jensen made his triumphant return, which was so excited.
Speaker 1: First of all, I loved using him for a hype
Speaker 1: video and when he get introduced as part of the
Speaker 1: starting lineup man, this stadium went the nuts and I
Speaker 1: loved that for him. What an amazing experience and just
Speaker 1: such a reward for him having stuck with it and
Speaker 1: worked so hard. That had to be a very lonely
Speaker 1: road all season when you don't even know if the
Speaker 1: team is going to make the playoffs, to give you
Speaker 1: long enough so you are rehabbing on this hope that
Speaker 1: without you you have no control over this, they give
Speaker 1: you enough time to come back. And the faith that
Speaker 1: showed he had in this team, and you know, the
Speaker 1: desire he had to get back, and then for him
Speaker 1: to not only come back but play every snap that
Speaker 1: is outrageous and to do it at a pretty high level.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're not seeing him just getting run over
Speaker 1: out there, which really would not have been that shocking.
Speaker 1: That wasn't the plan though, it wasn't the plan for
Speaker 1: the players that Robert Haynes was still active and although
Speaker 1: he was dealing with hamstring injury, he was going to
Speaker 1: play in that game. And they started, Um, they started
Speaker 1: Ryan first because they thought if we start Robert Hanzy
Speaker 1: and he gets hurt, now you're down to Ryan and
Speaker 1: we're not sure you can play every snap of the game.
Speaker 1: So you start Ryan. See how far it can go. Well,
Speaker 1: he just kept feeling better the whole guy. Crazy, typically
Speaker 1: how it goes in a football game where you feel
Speaker 1: better but well, I know, but maybe you've been waiting
Speaker 1: so long, it's just keeps fueling you. That adrenaline was
Speaker 1: probably going. So it was impressive. It will be interesting
Speaker 1: interesting to see where it goes from here because he
Speaker 1: didn't have surgery on it on an injury you usually would,
Speaker 1: so as he fully recovered now or what I mean,
Speaker 1: we don't have all the details. In fact, we really
Speaker 1: didn't have the details on what the injury was until
Speaker 1: he finally said so after the games. And it was
Speaker 1: pretty significant like m C L A c L P
Speaker 1: c L, which a big deal. Who needs those needs those? Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: it is a pretty remarkable story. Yeah, that's going to
Speaker 1: be interesting. You're right to see how this looks moving forward.
Speaker 1: That will be one of the storylines of the off season,
Speaker 1: I'm sure, is the offensive line. And one of the
Speaker 1: things that we'll talk about sure with that is the
Speaker 1: draft of is this a position that you address how early,
Speaker 1: how often? And so now one thing we do know
Speaker 1: since the buck season is over, is where they'll be drafting.
Speaker 1: So take us through that and what you think this
Speaker 1: is going to mean to the team. So the Buccaneers
Speaker 1: end up in the nineteenth slot because the first eighteen
Speaker 1: teams were already ordered. Those are the ones that didn't
Speaker 1: make the playoffs and the rest of it depends a
Speaker 1: lot on when you exit the playoffs. And so the
Speaker 1: six teams that were eliminated this past weekend are then
Speaker 1: added in slots nineteen through twenty four. And since the
Speaker 1: Bucks record of eight and nine was the worst of
Speaker 1: those six teams, they get the nineteenth pick. And I
Speaker 1: show you the teams here right around them before and
Speaker 1: after them. Should note that number twenty one Miami they're
Speaker 1: slotted there, but that pick is actually forfeited because of
Speaker 1: all the stuff that happened earlier this year. But um,
Speaker 1: you can see the Buckets are gonna be picking after
Speaker 1: the Packers, the Commanders, the Steelers and the Lions. So well,
Speaker 1: as we start to do mock draft seasons and so on,
Speaker 1: we'll see, you know, what kind of players we think
Speaker 1: those teams are looking for and how that could affect
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers. But at least they know their nineteenth. And
Speaker 1: one interesting thing about that is because because of that
Speaker 1: eight and nine record doesn't match any of these other
Speaker 1: teams around them, um, they are not in a segment
Speaker 1: of teams that rotates through the draft, So they'll be
Speaker 1: picking nineteenth in every round that they have a pick. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that makes sense. So for you looking at what we
Speaker 1: know about just typically what is available at nineteen. Let's say,
Speaker 1: of some of these top positions you think the Bucks
Speaker 1: could be interested in, how likely is it you get
Speaker 1: someone you are excited about at nineteen. I think it
Speaker 1: depends on the position. I mean, there's usually some good
Speaker 1: cornerbacks there at that time, and the Buccaneers do have,
Speaker 1: um do have some issues with free agency and the
Speaker 1: potential departure of some cornerbacks. So I think or safety,
Speaker 1: I think you can get one of the best, you know,
Speaker 1: one of the three or four best corners. Or safety
Speaker 1: is probably the best safety at pick number nineteen unless
Speaker 1: there's some superstar out there and I haven't really done
Speaker 1: my draft home. Yeah. Yeah, we have plenty of time
Speaker 1: over the next few months, and I'm sure we'll talk
Speaker 1: about it. If you want an interior a linement, it
Speaker 1: should have no problem getting one of the key ones
Speaker 1: there tackles. Usually the premier tackles are gone by there
Speaker 1: and you're looking at sort of the second tier by
Speaker 1: the nineteenth pick, and who knows what if the Bucks
Speaker 1: are looking for a quarterback, nineteen isn't really I mean,
Speaker 1: we did get Josh Freeman at seventeen a few years ago. Um,
Speaker 1: can you pick it went around that area as the
Speaker 1: first quarterback of this past year, So it's possible. But
Speaker 1: generally the premier quarterbacks tend to rise into the top ten.
Speaker 1: So um, you know, more like the less premier positions
Speaker 1: like defense, you know, edge, rusher and quarterback less likely
Speaker 1: to have studs there at nineteen. And then as you
Speaker 1: go down the list of you know, the less premier positions,
Speaker 1: you might be able to get the top ones. It's
Speaker 1: so funny how once now the season ends, all of
Speaker 1: our shows that we do for the next few months
Speaker 1: is all of the prediction stuff right of what they're
Speaker 1: going to do in free agency, what they going to
Speaker 1: do in the draft. And I feel like, now until
Speaker 1: there is some sort of decision made about tom Brady,
Speaker 1: every one of our shows is going to have this
Speaker 1: asterisk there of like pending tom Brady. And it's amazing
Speaker 1: to see the way that will end up affecting free
Speaker 1: agency and the draft of what you think your needs are,
Speaker 1: you know what you're trying to bring back, what you're
Speaker 1: trying to do in terms of the rebuild, reload, all
Speaker 1: of that, and how aggressive you are and how much
Speaker 1: people want to come back. If we just compare this
Speaker 1: to last year when Tom Brady made that sort of
Speaker 1: late in the like eleventh hour decision before free agency
Speaker 1: to not retire and come back, then you start seeing
Speaker 1: Domino's fault. Ryan Jenson re signs, Carlton Davis from Science,
Speaker 1: Chris Godwin after getting the franchise tag resigns, and so
Speaker 1: it could make a big difference depending on what your
Speaker 1: plans are a quarterback, whether some guys how motivated they
Speaker 1: are to come back, and how motivated you are to
Speaker 1: continue this aggressive style of free agent signing where you
Speaker 1: do sort of have to pay for it a little
Speaker 1: bit down the road, bucks are you gonna have to
Speaker 1: pay for some of that this year? There's some catishes,
Speaker 1: some pretty big capishes they have to work through because
Speaker 1: of these types of contracts over last two or three years.
Speaker 1: But it was worth it, of course to win the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl and be Super Bowl contenders for this window
Speaker 1: and hopefully a little longer. Yeah, that's going to be interesting.
Speaker 1: And I know this week we did at least hear
Speaker 1: about some futures contracts. Uh, not quite as newsworthy and
Speaker 1: exciting as all of the other free agency decisions wind
Speaker 1: up hearing about, but it is something to tell everybody
Speaker 1: a little bit about a remind people what futures contracts
Speaker 1: are and some of the names that stood out to you.
Speaker 1: What the futures contracts do is allow every team, even
Speaker 1: the ones that are in the playoffs, to um sign
Speaker 1: guys now that and the contract takes effect when the
Speaker 1: new league year starts. I think that's on March fifteen
Speaker 1: this year, but you don't have to wait till then
Speaker 1: to sign these guys. And generally what they are, what
Speaker 1: they're used for, are the guys that were on your
Speaker 1: practice squad because as soon as your season ends, whenever
Speaker 1: it does, all your practice squad contracts expire, so those
Speaker 1: guys become free agents, and so if you want to
Speaker 1: bring them back, you sign them to these futures contracts,
Speaker 1: and they almost always happened like just a day or
Speaker 1: two after the season and did so. So far, we've
Speaker 1: brought back third fourteen I think fourteen of our sixteen
Speaker 1: guys that were on the squad at the end of
Speaker 1: the season, and then one other guy. I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 1: I don't think I can think of alternately in my
Speaker 1: head right now. But um, it's a lot of the guys.
Speaker 1: I mean, some of the names are very recognizable because
Speaker 1: we've been using them this J. J. Russell for instance,
Speaker 1: the guys that either were elevated multiple times and got
Speaker 1: into action there or eventually got promoted to the active
Speaker 1: roster and then, in JJ's case, was released right before
Speaker 1: the last game because to make a spot for Ryan Jensen.
Speaker 1: So it's a lot of you you would recognize a
Speaker 1: lot of the names, but um, I can't name them already. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: that's very understandable. All right, Well, that is going to
Speaker 1: do it for us on this edition of Bucks Insider
Speaker 1: Live presented by Verizon. Thanks as always for being with us,
Speaker 1: and again we'll be here throughout the offseason to talk
Speaker 1: about all of these upcoming pre teen major decisions and
Speaker 1: things going on to build the team for next season.
Speaker 1: So we'll see you next time.