Speaker 1: Good morning everybody. Happy Wednesday, Happy Victory Wednesday. Casey Phillips,
Speaker 1: youre a senior writer and editor, Scott Smith. It is
Speaker 1: time for Buccaneers Insider Live, presented by Miller Lte. This
Speaker 1: is where we answer all of your questions. So if
Speaker 1: you're not already watching on Facebook, you can head on
Speaker 1: over there and you leave a comment in the comment
Speaker 1: section underneath the live video. We love hearing your questions.
Speaker 1: We love knowing which you want us to talk about
Speaker 1: as we give people a chance to do that. Um.
Speaker 1: A few different things we wanted to chat with early on,
Speaker 1: especially Pro Bowl voting is open, which is we want
Speaker 1: to still get people excited about this. We know there's
Speaker 1: no game, but that does not change the honor. That
Speaker 1: does not change that we want our Buccaneers recognized. So
Speaker 1: I wanted to hear from you who you feel like
Speaker 1: has a legitimate chance. Um and and I mean, hey,
Speaker 1: I just wanted to remind everybody to go vote for
Speaker 1: our Buccaneers. But for you, how many do you think
Speaker 1: we could reasonably have? Who do you think deserves it?
Speaker 1: How do you think it will shake out? You know,
Speaker 1: all of that stuff. Yeah, Actually, the fact that there's
Speaker 1: no game probably makes us a bigger honor because you're
Speaker 1: not gonna have all the replacements, and you're gonna have
Speaker 1: one roster that's I don't know, maybe forty five players
Speaker 1: instead of burgeoning up like eight players with all the replacements. Uh,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of candidates for the Buccaneers. I think
Speaker 1: we'd be uh being overly aggressive. We thought all these
Speaker 1: guys could make it. But I mean, the guy that
Speaker 1: the hot name right now because of the game he
Speaker 1: just had as Ronald Jones, and he is second in
Speaker 1: the conference in rushing um. Obviously he's got the numbers.
Speaker 1: He's only behind Dalvin Cook. So if you just go
Speaker 1: by the rushing numbers, he's second, and he's well ahead
Speaker 1: of the next couple of guys. The next guy is
Speaker 1: Kenyan Drake is at more than a hundred yards behind him.
Speaker 1: The problem, of course, you have some guys with names
Speaker 1: that don't have the same stats at the moment, like
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones and Ezekiel Elliott. And you know how name
Speaker 1: recognition goes into Pro Bowl voting, So we'll see how
Speaker 1: that goes. But there's a bunch of others. Obviously, we're
Speaker 1: hoping that all the attention this team is getting, will
Speaker 1: get Lavonte David another Pro Bowl because he probably should
Speaker 1: have about five of them by now. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: a little note here, Can I make a side note
Speaker 1: on Lavante David always, especially when it's about Lavonte and
Speaker 1: bragging on him. We can have all the sad notes
Speaker 1: we want. Well, this is more of a big picture thing. Um,
Speaker 1: Lavante in his next game, this game, he'll play in
Speaker 1: his hundred thirty second game all his Buccaneers and that's
Speaker 1: gonna tie him with Richard Wood for the tenth most
Speaker 1: starts into I mean games played in team history. He's
Speaker 1: already seventh and starts. Every other player on that list
Speaker 1: their careers started before the turn of the millennium. So
Speaker 1: in other words, you know, it's mostly guys from the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl era, you know, Derrek Brooks, Shelton, Cores, warn Sap,
Speaker 1: all those guys. In other words, since two thousand or
Speaker 1: since the Super Bowl era, Lavante David is basically the
Speaker 1: quintessential buccaneer. He's the Buck and he's the face of
Speaker 1: this franchise since the turn of the century. I just think,
Speaker 1: you know, I think we need to recognize how great
Speaker 1: his career has been. Yeah, that's an incredible point. And
Speaker 1: I think it's so true that his consistency, his longevity,
Speaker 1: it's I mean, it's unbelievable. And I actually had Mike Calldwell,
Speaker 1: the inside linebackers coach, on my radio show this week,
Speaker 1: and I asked him, I said, you know, sometimes I
Speaker 1: think we even forget how long Lavante has been playing
Speaker 1: because he still just plays at such a high level.
Speaker 1: You never hear anyone saying that, like, oh is he
Speaker 1: starting to fall off, or oh is he you know,
Speaker 1: because of his age or how long, Like you just
Speaker 1: don't hear the conversations. And I asked him, I said,
Speaker 1: do you still believe that Lavante is at his peak?
Speaker 1: And he said, yeah, absolutely, is unbelievable. He's the He's
Speaker 1: the new Grande Barber in terms of just playing forever
Speaker 1: and playing at a high level the entire time. Getting
Speaker 1: back to the Pro Bowl, guys, before we take questions,
Speaker 1: Alan mar Pett was gaining a lot of buzz. Missing
Speaker 1: some time isn't gonna help him, but hopefully he'll be
Speaker 1: back soon, maybe Ryan Jensen to Devin White, Carlton Davis
Speaker 1: has kind of emerged one of the NFL's best cornerbacks.
Speaker 1: You just hope he's got enough attention. J PP is
Speaker 1: a good name, and he's he's up there among the
Speaker 1: sack leaders. And then actually you pointed this out before
Speaker 1: we went on here, we probably should consider Ryan Sucker.
Speaker 1: He does lead the NFL and scoring and he's made
Speaker 1: sixteen field goals in a row. Uh, and he's missed
Speaker 1: only twice I think, all year, So he's got to
Speaker 1: be in the conversation as well. Yeah, that's a great point.
Speaker 1: And you brought up Ali Marpett for the Pro Bowl stuff.
Speaker 1: We had lots of people with Thomas and Derek and
Speaker 1: Jake and a whole bunch of other people asking about
Speaker 1: his status, what we know about him. And then I
Speaker 1: also just wanted to hear how you felt the reorganized
Speaker 1: offensive line did this last week. Yeah, you know, all
Speaker 1: last week I think we were kind of hoping and
Speaker 1: that Ali was gonna be able to come back for
Speaker 1: this game, and and then on Saturday, he just they
Speaker 1: couldn't clear him out of the concussion protocol, so he
Speaker 1: remained in it to start the week. And one of
Speaker 1: the things, one of the steps you have to do
Speaker 1: to get out of that is to have a full
Speaker 1: practice and he hasn't done that yet, so I don't
Speaker 1: think at the start of the week they believe he
Speaker 1: will be practicing fully. Coach Arean said something about him
Speaker 1: having some individual workouts on the side of his own.
Speaker 1: So there's still some progress to me may and he
Speaker 1: still has to come out of that concussion protocol. Hopefully
Speaker 1: that it happens by the end of the week. If not,
Speaker 1: at least we found a combination that works with Ryan
Speaker 1: Jensen moving and guard and a Q Shipley stepping in
Speaker 1: the center. Both of those guys played very well obviously,
Speaker 1: you can tell that just by the numbers UM against Carolina,
Speaker 1: so they'd have their hands a little bit more full
Speaker 1: this week with the Rams and Aaron Donald and one
Speaker 1: of the best defenses in the league. But um, it
Speaker 1: does give you a little bit of confidence if if
Speaker 1: Vali can't play, Yeah, you brought up one of the
Speaker 1: best defenses in the league. Um. Daniel had asked, do
Speaker 1: you think that this could be one of those games
Speaker 1: it's more of a shootout, more of a defensive battle.
Speaker 1: What do you think that the vibe of this next
Speaker 1: game will be? Yeah? The fun thing about this Monday
Speaker 1: night against Rams is while it's been a while. These
Speaker 1: two teams have a really interesting Monday night football history.
Speaker 1: Not to mention playoff history, but um yeah, we all
Speaker 1: remember that two thousand shootout with the Rams late in
Speaker 1: the in two thousand. Uh here at Raymond James Stadium.
Speaker 1: It was thirty eight thirty five or Gune scored at
Speaker 1: the end. Incredible plays on both sides. Would this one
Speaker 1: be like this? I mean, our offense has obviously shown
Speaker 1: the ability to be explosive. The Rams have moved the
Speaker 1: ball well, but aren't really among the league's leaders and scoring.
Speaker 1: I think they would like this to be more of
Speaker 1: a slug fest because their defense is just been fantastic.
Speaker 1: Um there, there's their top five in just about every
Speaker 1: category you can think of. Um and they're there top.
Speaker 1: They're the second leaders in terms of yards. The Buccaneers
Speaker 1: are third and uh I think their second in points
Speaker 1: allowed as well. So they're they've been tough. And and
Speaker 1: here's one thing you gotta keep in mind, the Buccaneers,
Speaker 1: they're they're doing some things different to try to get
Speaker 1: a fast start on Monday Night, because that's been one
Speaker 1: of the problems in these primetime games is starting slowly
Speaker 1: and they really can't afford to fall behind in this
Speaker 1: game because the Rams defense in the second half, second
Speaker 1: halves of games this year has been incredible. They've only
Speaker 1: allowed thirty six points in the second half of nine games.
Speaker 1: That's four points a game. The next closest team is
Speaker 1: allowed seventy and the Bucks are third by the way
Speaker 1: on that list at seventy nine. So, uh, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be hard to mount a comeback if you fall behind early. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I think I saw staff that Sean McVeigh has
Speaker 1: never lost a game when winning by I don't remember
Speaker 1: if it was just winning at half or winning by
Speaker 1: ten at half, but I think it was just winning
Speaker 1: at half. That he hasn't lost a game. I may
Speaker 1: be wrong. I have to go yeah, they've They've actually
Speaker 1: lost one game that they were leading at half this year. Well,
Speaker 1: you would definitely not want to be done by ten
Speaker 1: at halftime, that's for sure. Yeah, that is for sure. Um.
Speaker 1: Jermaine asked, you see us resigning Chris Godwin this year
Speaker 1: during the off season. Well, that's the goal. Um. I
Speaker 1: don't know how you would let a player of that
Speaker 1: caliber get away, except that sometimes it's just impossible to
Speaker 1: sign everybody you want to keep um, I've got my
Speaker 1: fingers crossed. I don't think it's necessarily a percent certainty. Uh,
Speaker 1: it might depend on what the market is, and we
Speaker 1: all don't know what that's going to be like from
Speaker 1: a league wide perspective next year with the possibility of
Speaker 1: lower salary caps. Uh. So it's a complicated situation. But
Speaker 1: when you when you look at he misses a couple
Speaker 1: of games, and then as soon as he comes back,
Speaker 1: he's the guy playing almost every snap both of the
Speaker 1: games since he's been back, He's played more snaps than
Speaker 1: any other receiver. He plays almost all of them every game.
Speaker 1: And it's because he's involved in everything that you do,
Speaker 1: including to a big extent run blocking. He does a
Speaker 1: lot of that, and not just oh he's out there
Speaker 1: on the side trying to out there wide, you know,
Speaker 1: playing push with with the wide receiver. They put him,
Speaker 1: pull him in tight and give him specific blocking assignments,
Speaker 1: sometimes even as a lead blocker through the whole. So uh.
Speaker 1: And he's just he's so reliable in third downs. He
Speaker 1: runs such great routes. I mean he's still catch the
Speaker 1: ball despite having a splint on a broken finger. He's
Speaker 1: such a great player that you don't want to see
Speaker 1: him get away. We had a question about the Bucks
Speaker 1: defense in recent games, um seeming to play, you know,
Speaker 1: a little bit more zone and maybe a little bit
Speaker 1: more off of some of the wide receivers, and they
Speaker 1: wanted to hear, Um, what you think about why that
Speaker 1: was and will that be a new thing continued or
Speaker 1: was that more about the opponents that they were playing
Speaker 1: Some of that stuff when they're playing off is because
Speaker 1: it is a zone, but it's also they're they're getting
Speaker 1: ready to disguise something. And I would I would guide
Speaker 1: you two on keneers dot com. Randi Barber's film session
Speaker 1: this week where he breaks down the play where Jason
Speaker 1: Pierre Paul intercepted the past and the movement that Todd
Speaker 1: Bowl's device between these players is incredible and it it
Speaker 1: starts out looking like one thing and at the end
Speaker 1: it's actually something completely different that Teddy Bridgewater didn't expect.
Speaker 1: And so you've got by the end of it, Carlton
Speaker 1: Davis is a safety, Jamal Dean is a is an
Speaker 1: end shack. Barrett is a defensive tackle. Jason Pierre Paul
Speaker 1: is a scene dropping linebacker. I mean you're defying expectations
Speaker 1: by moving these guys around and disguising what you're gonna
Speaker 1: do and turning it into something else. And and in
Speaker 1: some cases you have to be a little bit off
Speaker 1: to make the Carlton Davis has to be playing pretty
Speaker 1: far off to slide from corner into a safety position.
Speaker 1: So I think if there's any concern about that, it
Speaker 1: comes from the Saints game, where absolutely nothing went right
Speaker 1: and it did look like the defense was being more
Speaker 1: passive than usual. But you know, we held the Saints,
Speaker 1: and I think Teddy Bridgewater is a good quarterback. We
Speaker 1: held the Saints to a or an eighty seven yards,
Speaker 1: So a lot of times it's not it's not a
Speaker 1: matter of how passive or aggressive they're being, it's just
Speaker 1: how well they're they're executing it. And then I saw
Speaker 1: a few different people brought up the fact that we
Speaker 1: have another primetime game night game and that has not
Speaker 1: gone as well as some of the other games this season.
Speaker 1: And I know that Bruce has said that he's making
Speaker 1: a few changes this week to try to get the
Speaker 1: guys prepared. So um, I wanted to hear you know
Speaker 1: what those are and what you think of what they
Speaker 1: might do for the team's readiness on Monday night. Well,
Speaker 1: the big changes that they're going to practice in the
Speaker 1: evening on Friday and Saturday, starting at seven thirty, which
Speaker 1: is pretty close to what the actual kickoff time on
Speaker 1: Monday night will be. And fortunately they can do that
Speaker 1: because we have the indoor facility with the lights. Wouldn't
Speaker 1: have been possible before then because those fields back there
Speaker 1: are not lit. Um. That's the big change, and I
Speaker 1: think that's a coach just trying to get his players
Speaker 1: acclimated to a schedule and getting used to getting their
Speaker 1: energy up at the right moment, you know, instead of
Speaker 1: one o'clock, it's in the evening. It's worth a try.
Speaker 1: I don't see really how it could hurt, and it
Speaker 1: certainly could help. They're also going to do more, he
Speaker 1: said on Monday. Monday is the day. Monday night games
Speaker 1: are the ones that really mess with the players because
Speaker 1: on Sunday they can watch football all day and on
Speaker 1: Thursday night. Usually on Thursday you're still trying to get
Speaker 1: prepared because the week is so short, but on Monday
Speaker 1: you just sit around all day, maybe you take a nap, whatever.
Speaker 1: So he said they're gonna do more on Monday morning,
Speaker 1: probably just to keep the players more you know, involved
Speaker 1: and not just sitting around all day. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: that's gonna do it for us on this edition of
Speaker 1: Buccaneers INSIDEUR Live presented by Miller Lte. Thanks for all
Speaker 1: of your amazing questions. Enjoy the game Monday night, and
Speaker 1: we'll see you back here on Wednesday