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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Tampa Bay Buccaneers · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:25
Speaker 1: Welcome to Opposition Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:27
Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
0:30
Speaker 1: in the world, just about thirteen years strong. Will we
0:33
Speaker 1: celebrate in thirteen years? Mid April, folks, boy a month
0:37
Speaker 1: and I've got a great celebration coming your way. Well,
0:40
Speaker 1: I say that, and I have no idea what we
0:41
Speaker 1: have planned. That being said, but we do have planned.
0:44
Speaker 1: This week on Opposition Territory is a fantastic discussion with
0:47
Speaker 1: our good friend from A to Z Sports. You can
0:50
Speaker 1: also search them out A to Z Sports NFL. They
0:54
Speaker 1: got a lot of great content over there. Our good
0:55
Speaker 1: friend Evan Winter, my friend.
0:57
Speaker 2: How are you doing, Jeff, I'm doing great man. Always
1:00
Speaker 2: a pleasure to be on, and yeah, ready to talk
1:02
Speaker 2: some offseason football.
1:03
Speaker 1: Absolutely, we're gonna get into the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I
1:06
Speaker 1: probably should have said that right off the bat. Whenever
1:08
Speaker 1: Evan's on, we usually dive into some Bucks talk and
1:11
Speaker 1: some general NFL talk too, But this is all about
1:13
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I find this team to be
1:16
Speaker 1: fascinating because even though and we'll get to it, there
1:19
Speaker 1: was a disappointing twenty twenty five season with the Carolina
1:23
Speaker 1: Panthers winning that division amazingly enough. I still think this
1:26
Speaker 1: is a team that has a little something in the tank.
1:29
Speaker 1: But there's there there's some retooling that's going on with
1:32
Speaker 1: this team, both offensive and defensively. So really, let's get
1:35
Speaker 1: into it, and I think we need to start off
1:38
Speaker 1: with free agency and where the Buccaneers front office, what
1:42
Speaker 1: they've done thus far. Look, you've got running back Kenny Gainwell,
1:46
Speaker 1: who we know very well in Philadelphia, Alex Anzeloni. Is
1:51
Speaker 1: it anzelone or anzelone Azeloni Anzloni? Yes, two very notable
1:56
Speaker 1: signings right off the bat. And free agency. I was wondering,
2:00
Speaker 1: how are the Bucks looking at free agency this year,
2:03
Speaker 1: specifically the front office from a strategic standpoint. How do
2:08
Speaker 1: you think the front office has handled free agency thus far?
2:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, when you talk about first starting off, when you
2:13
Speaker 2: talk about how they viewed it coming in, you got
2:16
Speaker 2: a really kind of concrete vibe that they weren't very
2:20
Speaker 2: impressed with this class of free agents, this crop, whatever
2:23
Speaker 2: you want to call it. They didn't really have the
2:26
Speaker 2: I mean, they had salary cap space to work with,
2:28
Speaker 2: but you know, maybe twenty million or so, and the
2:31
Speaker 2: key part about their off season coming in was they
2:35
Speaker 2: didn't have any big time cut candidates that could have
2:38
Speaker 2: freed up, you know, not like Devonte Adams with the
2:40
Speaker 2: Jets a couple of years ago. You know, release opened
2:42
Speaker 2: up immediately, like thirty five million dollars in cap around.
2:45
Speaker 2: They didn't. They didn't even have. Their best cut option
2:49
Speaker 2: was to save them, and it was Vidavea. It didn't
2:51
Speaker 2: make any sense. It would have saved them seventeen and
2:52
Speaker 2: a half million, but it didn't make any sense. So
2:54
Speaker 2: all this stuff, so they were kind of in a
2:58
Speaker 2: pigeon they're kind of pigeonholed coming in coming into the offseason.
3:01
Speaker 2: And then the top on top of that that, like
3:03
Speaker 2: I said, kind of the feel we got from people
3:05
Speaker 2: covering the team was they just weren't impressed with this class.
3:10
Speaker 2: You know, they just kind of took it slow and steady,
3:12
Speaker 2: and I like the moves they made. I really like
3:16
Speaker 2: the Kenneth Gainwill signing. Obviously he cast seventy three balls
3:19
Speaker 2: last year, but you look at what he did on
3:21
Speaker 2: the ground outside of the numbers, what he did on
3:24
Speaker 2: the table. He averaged four point seven yards of carry,
3:26
Speaker 2: had over one hundred carries, so It's not like you
3:28
Speaker 2: just had forty carries and popped off a few big runs.
3:30
Speaker 2: You know, it was a sustained success, right, and then
3:33
Speaker 2: the tape back set up as well. So I really
3:35
Speaker 2: like the Kenneth gain Will signing. I think he's gonna
3:37
Speaker 2: add you know, hit Him and Bucky aren't like similar,
3:40
Speaker 2: but their strengths are similar, if that makes sense. Yeah,
3:43
Speaker 2: and then I really like the Angeloni signing. Now, granted
3:46
Speaker 2: he will be thirty two in September, so got to
3:48
Speaker 2: kind of wonder there. But you know, Lavonte had plenty,
3:51
Speaker 2: Lavonte David, I should say, had plenty left in the
3:53
Speaker 2: tank up until the last couple of years. So yeah,
3:57
Speaker 2: their approach to free agency, they were really in Entree Hendrickson.
4:00
Speaker 2: I definitely know that for a fact. Yeah. The Ravens
4:03
Speaker 2: did screw that up for them in a pretty big way.
4:06
Speaker 1: They screwed up a lot of stuff.
4:08
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah. Yeah, So overall, I see and again, and
4:13
Speaker 2: we could talk twenty minutes about all the context and
4:17
Speaker 2: just the cloud hanging over this franchise coming into this
4:19
Speaker 2: offseason because it's a lot, it's a lot of background
4:22
Speaker 2: and it all starts with Todd Bowles. Yeah, but regardless,
4:26
Speaker 2: I still gave the franchise so far or sorry, the franchise.
4:29
Speaker 2: I still gave the Buccaneers so far a B minus
4:32
Speaker 2: just because even though Mike Evans there was clearly nothing
4:35
Speaker 2: Tampa could do to keep him in the house, he
4:38
Speaker 2: wanted to leave and that and then not being able
4:42
Speaker 2: to find Yeah, they were. They got screwed on the
4:45
Speaker 2: Tree Hendrickson Hendrickson thing. But he wasn't the top pass
4:48
Speaker 2: rusher on the market, right, or he wasn't the only
4:50
Speaker 2: top pass rusher on the market. I should say, there
4:52
Speaker 2: are plenty of other fish in the see they could
4:53
Speaker 2: go on after and signed. So the fact that they
4:57
Speaker 2: lost out on Mike Evans and the fact that they
4:59
Speaker 2: could land a top edge rusher in an off season
5:01
Speaker 2: where they literally said at the combine, that's one of
5:03
Speaker 2: their biggest priorities, and it had to be one of
5:05
Speaker 2: their biggest priorities no matter what the circumstances, where you know,
5:09
Speaker 2: I gave him a B minus so far for this
5:11
Speaker 2: for this offseason. Yeah.
5:12
Speaker 1: Look, you mentioned Todd Bowles, and perhaps we're going to
5:15
Speaker 1: get into him at some point during the course of
5:17
Speaker 1: this conversation.
5:19
Speaker 2: It's inevitable.
5:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, and again, I still think this organization isn't
5:25
Speaker 1: in the toilet by any stretch of the imagination. They're
5:27
Speaker 1: not the Cleveland Browns, They're not the the New York Jets.
5:30
Speaker 1: But I think what you said was a good segue
5:34
Speaker 1: into how the Bucks are team building for the future. Again,
5:38
Speaker 1: you mentioned they lose Mike Evans. You know, Chris Godwin's
5:41
Speaker 1: health is usually a question season after season. From a
5:44
Speaker 1: weapons standpoint, there may not be a lot on offense,
5:48
Speaker 1: but there is one gentleman who is leading this offense.
5:51
Speaker 1: We'll get to him in a little bit, in Baker Mayfield.
5:54
Speaker 1: And with Baker Mayfield under center, it gives me hope
5:57
Speaker 1: in terms of watching this team. You know, not that
6:00
Speaker 1: I'm necessarily rooting for the Buccaneers being an Eagles fan,
6:03
Speaker 1: but that this organization isn't dead in the water. Yes,
6:06
Speaker 1: there's some holes on defense as well, especially when you
6:09
Speaker 1: look at the pass rush standpoint, how do you think
6:12
Speaker 1: the front office will address future team building Evan with
6:17
Speaker 1: the draft and and E's and even as this offseason
6:20
Speaker 1: progresses here.
6:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're definitely not dead in the water. Their margin
6:24
Speaker 2: for error, however, is razor thing. Yeah, I mean they
6:27
Speaker 2: have to in order to get where they want to
6:30
Speaker 2: be and where would save Todd Bowles's job. I think
6:35
Speaker 2: if if they go out this year, then both Todd
6:39
Speaker 2: Bowles and Light are gone. However, there's some people who
6:41
Speaker 2: believe Light would survive. And sorry, my camera just went
6:44
Speaker 2: out and it's I'm not going to be able to
6:45
Speaker 2: look good. I'm not going to be back on unless
6:48
Speaker 2: I restart the computer. So yeah, no, all good. Anyways,
6:53
Speaker 2: So how they handle it, I think they're going to
6:55
Speaker 2: go defensive heavy still in the draft, edge linebacker, cornerback.
6:59
Speaker 2: I mean, you look at their cornerback room right now,
7:01
Speaker 2: it's just it is not impressive. Whatsoever they need.
7:04
Speaker 1: They need veteran presence back there.
7:05
Speaker 2: I think for sure, Oh yeah, for sure. You can't
7:07
Speaker 2: trust Benjamin Morrison right now, Zion the columns coming off
7:10
Speaker 2: the worst year of his career. Jacob Parish looked good,
7:13
Speaker 2: but that was year one. You know, how's what's going
7:15
Speaker 2: to translate in year two, so on and so forth.
7:17
Speaker 2: But I I would see them taking a tight end
7:20
Speaker 2: maybe day three something like that, early round four. They
7:22
Speaker 2: really like the kid out of Texas A and m
7:24
Speaker 2: Nate Boorkirker Warkirker. I believe it'll tell you pronounce his
7:27
Speaker 2: last name, but either way, Yeah, and this is kind
7:31
Speaker 2: of going back to what I was talking about earlier,
7:33
Speaker 2: how they had no realistic cut candidates and stuff like
7:35
Speaker 2: that because of the contract structure and whatnot. This is
7:38
Speaker 2: where the now. Sure every team wants to draft and develop, right,
7:41
Speaker 2: but Tampa Bay is really good at drafting and developing.
7:45
Speaker 2: And what that leads to is now that Tom Brady
7:47
Speaker 2: is no longer in the picture, they don't do big
7:51
Speaker 2: signing bonuses things like that. They do they do the
7:53
Speaker 2: pay as you go style, you know, big fat based salaries,
7:56
Speaker 2: little guarantees up front, things like that. And what that
7:59
Speaker 2: happens is it creates just what they're in now, this
8:02
Speaker 2: kind of traffic jam where they don't have these contracts
8:05
Speaker 2: because they're actually good contracts. The players are living up
8:08
Speaker 2: to the contracts. Yeah, so it's just kind of like, uh,
8:11
Speaker 2: we can't do anything, you know, and they're good players,
8:13
Speaker 2: so they're getting paid and they don't so they don't
8:15
Speaker 2: have it a hard place. Yeah. So and they're entering
8:19
Speaker 2: a prove it year. So you know, like I said,
8:23
Speaker 2: they were in Andre Hendrickson, they're wanting to land impact guys.
8:26
Speaker 2: They know they need to land impact guys, but they're
8:29
Speaker 2: kind of handstrung. And so the draft, though, I think
8:32
Speaker 2: they're going to really you know, like I said, press
8:34
Speaker 2: defense heavy. Yeah, and then if it works out next year,
8:37
Speaker 2: I don't know, because there's still gonna be a lot
8:39
Speaker 2: of questions after this year. Sixteeds.
8:41
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's it's very true. But and again a
8:44
Speaker 1: good segue into this next topic, and that is Baker Mayfield,
8:48
Speaker 1: because I do wonder how Baker Mayfield is going to
8:51
Speaker 1: look here in twenty twenty six when he takes field,
8:54
Speaker 1: especially without Mike Evans, you know, his security blanket. And
8:58
Speaker 1: then I know it's been talked about it nauseum here
9:01
Speaker 1: within Bucks nation, whether it's on podcasts or whether it's
9:04
Speaker 1: articles written as well. Look, Baker Mayfield, he had a
9:07
Speaker 1: very nice, in my opinion, twenty twenty five season, almost
9:10
Speaker 1: thirty seven hundred yards, twenty six touchdowns, eleven interceptions, and
9:15
Speaker 1: there were a lot of question marks on the offense,
9:16
Speaker 1: and he was still able to, I believe, produce at
9:20
Speaker 1: a certain level where this team needed him to produce
9:23
Speaker 1: in order for them to at least be in playoff contention.
9:26
Speaker 1: It is of course March here when we are recording
9:29
Speaker 1: this mid March. But what kind of Baker Mayfield do
9:32
Speaker 1: you think we're gonna end up seeing this season.
9:34
Speaker 2: That's a really good question, Jeff, really good question. He's
9:39
Speaker 2: also entering a contract year. Yeah, and yeah, I think
9:43
Speaker 2: we're gonna see the good version of Baker, but we're
9:48
Speaker 2: we're in. It's inevitable we're gonna see the bad stretches.
9:50
Speaker 2: And a big problem with him last year was not
9:52
Speaker 2: only trying to play hero ball way too much, but
9:56
Speaker 2: he just wasn't good towards the end. And now granted
9:59
Speaker 2: he was hurt, he was dealing with a lot of injuries.
10:01
Speaker 2: I think I think throughout the year. At one point
10:03
Speaker 2: he had five separate injuries throughout like a nine week
10:06
Speaker 2: span listed on the injury report. So there there's definitely
10:09
Speaker 2: something going on there. Josh Frizzard, that's a whole other
10:12
Speaker 2: conversation in terms of you know, being a first year
10:14
Speaker 2: OC and so on and so forth. He says, in
10:18
Speaker 2: a really big year, man, And the good thing is
10:21
Speaker 2: there's some familiarity with Zach Robinson's offense, and you know,
10:25
Speaker 2: coming from Liam Cohen and all that stuff from a
10:27
Speaker 2: few years ago. So there is a little bit of
10:31
Speaker 2: you know, lead over crossover, whatever you want to call it.
10:34
Speaker 2: But it's really tough to put a finger on Baker Mayfield.
10:37
Speaker 2: What's gonna look like this year? Now, if the offensive
10:39
Speaker 2: line stays healthy, then yeah, he's gonna be just fine.
10:43
Speaker 2: And a big reason why the Bucks offense struggled outside
10:46
Speaker 2: of the other things I've already mentioned, but their guard
10:48
Speaker 2: play and center play, even with Graham Barton, he took
10:50
Speaker 2: a huge step back last year. It was really bad
10:54
Speaker 2: and that really affected the offense on top of all
10:56
Speaker 2: the other injuries that they were having. So it's just
10:59
Speaker 2: one of those things and where its time it is
11:02
Speaker 2: going to tell that's I hate you chalking up to that. Yeah,
11:05
Speaker 2: I will say. I will say if offensive line stays healthy,
11:07
Speaker 2: he'll be okay.
11:09
Speaker 1: And you know, I think that that's what inevitably needs
11:11
Speaker 1: to happen. I was going to go there, you know,
11:13
Speaker 1: and you just kind of took the words out of
11:15
Speaker 1: my mouth. But I also think this is an opportunity
11:17
Speaker 1: and it's a theme we've been talking about here on
11:19
Speaker 1: the show with other teams and their team building, and
11:21
Speaker 1: specifically at the quarterback position. It seems to me, the
11:24
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the front office are in a
11:27
Speaker 1: very unique situation where they have a quarterback who's getting
11:31
Speaker 1: a little bit older. You see the productivity not where
11:33
Speaker 1: it was even a couple of years ago, where they
11:36
Speaker 1: may actually want to draft that next quarterback of the future,
11:40
Speaker 1: have Baker Mayfield mentor that individual because of his veteran presence,
11:44
Speaker 1: because of what he's done in the league thus far
11:47
Speaker 1: being being a productive quarterback. In my opinion, you can
11:51
Speaker 1: learn something if you're a rookie quarterback from Baker Mayfield.
11:54
Speaker 1: I wonder if the Bucks kind of start to go
11:57
Speaker 1: that route. They seem to be the perfect team that
11:59
Speaker 1: we are talking about on this podcast show of teams
12:01
Speaker 1: that can actually do that and do it perhaps well,
12:05
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe not with Todd Bowles at the
12:06
Speaker 1: helm as you're saying, but I don't know, what are
12:09
Speaker 1: your thoughts on that of getting that quarterback of the
12:11
Speaker 1: future perhaps in this upcoming draft, have Baker Mayfield mentor
12:15
Speaker 1: and mold them.
12:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, with knowing what they're facing, I don't think that'll happen. Yeah,
12:21
Speaker 2: I think I think this is you know, they're they're
12:23
Speaker 2: all in with him, and if everything goes the way
12:25
Speaker 2: it needs to go this year, they'll extend him next year,
12:28
Speaker 2: so on so forth. But yeah, the Glaziers will the
12:31
Speaker 2: way the Glaziers operate, I mean, they're milk toast man.
12:34
Speaker 2: They if it ain't try to fix it with them.
12:38
Speaker 2: If they can keep it cheap, they're okay with it.
12:40
Speaker 2: So yeah, if he has a good if going into
12:43
Speaker 2: this year, just knowing what what's ahead, considering because every
12:46
Speaker 2: team obviously you can be the Browns, but they expect success, right, Yeah,
12:51
Speaker 2: so if their vision of success comes to fruition, then yeah,
12:54
Speaker 2: they'll they'll be all in. The Baker will probably get
12:56
Speaker 2: a forty five million dollars year extension next year.
12:58
Speaker 1: And yeah, all right, folks again, Evan Winter from A
13:02
Speaker 1: to Z Sports. Head on over to eight to z
13:04
Speaker 1: sports dot com. Check out everything they've got going on
13:08
Speaker 1: over there. Fantastic content, and Evan tell everybody where they
13:11
Speaker 1: can find you on the interwebs that they want to
13:12
Speaker 1: connect with you.
13:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, find me on Twitter at Evan underscore A to
13:16
Speaker 2: Z and then obviously on a zesorce dot com and
13:18
Speaker 2: then Facebook. I don't even know how you'd find me
13:19
Speaker 2: on there, So go for it.
13:23
Speaker 1: Sounds good, folks, We're gonna take a break. We get
13:24
Speaker 1: back more Tampa Bay Buccaneers talk. Come in your way,
13:29
Speaker 1: all right, we're back with our good buddy, Evan Winter
13:32
Speaker 1: from A to Z Sports. Head on over to A
13:34
Speaker 1: to Z sports dot com. You're gonna get a lot
13:36
Speaker 1: of great sports content. And as we continue to talk
13:38
Speaker 1: about this Bucks team what we might see from them
13:41
Speaker 1: in the future, let's get into how they can possibly
13:46
Speaker 1: take things to the next level this coming season, if
13:49
Speaker 1: it is meant to be, how that could possibly happen,
13:51
Speaker 1: and really what needs to occur with current players and
13:55
Speaker 1: coaches really to make that happen. I know it's kind
13:57
Speaker 1: of a general discussion and talking, but let's start from
14:01
Speaker 1: an offensive standpoint here, Evan, how can and should the
14:05
Speaker 1: offense perhaps elevate their game in twenty twenty six in
14:10
Speaker 1: your opinion? And can that happen?
14:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, it can definitely happen. And even without Mike Evans
14:15
Speaker 2: and how it all starts, you know, outside, with everybody
14:18
Speaker 2: staying healthy. Let's just keep that out of the conversary,
14:21
Speaker 2: which's just assumed, right, But yeah, with offensive line they
14:25
Speaker 2: have still when it's healthy and together, it's a top
14:28
Speaker 2: five offensive line. This will be the third straight year.
14:31
Speaker 2: Even though they really didn't play together a lot last year,
14:34
Speaker 2: they still got the continuity all that in certain phases
14:37
Speaker 2: of the season whatnot. But either way, this will be
14:39
Speaker 2: the third straight year of the entire five going into
14:43
Speaker 2: a regular season together. So tons of continuity up front,
14:46
Speaker 2: tons of ability up front. If Graham Barton could take
14:48
Speaker 2: that step forward come back from last year, they'll be
14:51
Speaker 2: in really good shape. And that's how it all starts
14:53
Speaker 2: with Zach Robinson's offenses. Sure, he had a kind of
14:56
Speaker 2: tailor things to Michael Pennocks and Kirk Cousins because of
14:58
Speaker 2: the Achilles so and so forth. But the reason why
15:01
Speaker 2: he was able to have as much success with Jean
15:03
Speaker 2: Robinson outside of the Jon d and Bejon yeah, was
15:07
Speaker 2: just because of the offensive line and that that what
15:09
Speaker 2: the Falcons were able to do up front. The Bucks
15:11
Speaker 2: have that athleticism. He's going to Taylor to their needs.
15:15
Speaker 2: I mean, god, man, so many people were freaking out
15:17
Speaker 2: when he was first hired. They're like, oh my god,
15:19
Speaker 2: the pistol, it's gonna be blah blah blah blah. It
15:20
Speaker 2: was like, no, dude, Like he literally had to run
15:23
Speaker 2: pistol because that's what Michael Pennix was most comfortable with,
15:26
Speaker 2: the guy who's played in what sixteen NFL games. I mean,
15:29
Speaker 2: you're not just gonna throw them under center right away,
15:32
Speaker 2: and then Kirk Cousins couldn't move, so he had to
15:34
Speaker 2: go under pistol. So either way, he's gonna tailor everything
15:38
Speaker 2: that everybody strengths. And they've still got that continuity at
15:41
Speaker 2: the skill positions as well. And Kenneth Gainwill. I mean,
15:44
Speaker 2: you know, I like Alex Angeloni a lot. I think
15:46
Speaker 2: he's gonna do really well. I'm most excited over Kenneth
15:49
Speaker 2: Gainwill though, just because again added that dimension as a runner,
15:52
Speaker 2: but just what he's gonna be able to do in
15:53
Speaker 2: the passing game, and you're never gonna know you're not
15:56
Speaker 2: it's not okay. It's like, for instance, let's say you
15:58
Speaker 2: have a tight end who's just really good at blocking,
15:59
Speaker 2: hes not that great at receiving. Well, if he comes
16:02
Speaker 2: out on the field and you're tied end that receives
16:05
Speaker 2: as a better receivers on the sideline, you both likely
16:08
Speaker 2: you're thinking, Okay, this guy's gonna block, right, it's gonna
16:10
Speaker 2: be a run play or there's gonna be some kind
16:11
Speaker 2: of play action, whatever it might be. So Kenneth Gainwell
16:16
Speaker 2: being out on the field, doesn't take any kind of
16:19
Speaker 2: or doesn't pigeonhole the Bucks offense by any chance. And
16:21
Speaker 2: he's explosive like Bucky. It's going to help Baker and
16:25
Speaker 2: not become Baker the bad Baker at times. So yes,
16:29
Speaker 2: the offense has a lot of potential to be better
16:32
Speaker 2: than it was last year outside of just the fact
16:34
Speaker 2: that it was just a bad set of circumstances that
16:37
Speaker 2: went upon it. But it will all start with upfront
16:40
Speaker 2: with offensive line. Baker's one A and then honestly, it's
16:44
Speaker 2: going to be a Mechagbuka in the passing game. Like
16:46
Speaker 2: you said, Chris Godwin cannot trust him. He did started
16:50
Speaker 2: kind of looking like himself towards the end of last year. Yeah,
16:53
Speaker 2: but you know, I'm not betting on that.
16:55
Speaker 1: I wonder about Kate Odden too, because I believe didn't
16:57
Speaker 1: he sign a three year extension?
16:59
Speaker 2: Yeah million? And yeah, and he's super underrated. Man, you know,
17:02
Speaker 2: he's not He's not gonna blow you away, but he's
17:04
Speaker 2: mister reliable and excuse me, he's he's super reliable in
17:09
Speaker 2: the passing game, he's not that great of a contested
17:11
Speaker 2: catch tight end, Like he's not gonna go up and
17:13
Speaker 2: just you know, get hit across the middle and hold
17:15
Speaker 2: on the ball. He's been a few of those, but
17:17
Speaker 2: he's more likely to drop those and he has to
17:19
Speaker 2: catch him. But and then he's excellent in the run game,
17:22
Speaker 2: in the pass block and go look, go watch go
17:24
Speaker 2: on tonthlpro dot com and uh go watch twenty twenty
17:28
Speaker 2: four against the Lions. I think it was week two,
17:31
Speaker 2: he had to block Aiden Hutchinson. Dude, he mauled the guy.
17:35
Speaker 2: Then he's on several different cases. So yeah, so really
17:38
Speaker 2: underrated player, and yeah, he's can help that offense.
17:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, Well let's move over to the defense
17:44
Speaker 1: and kind of the same vein here. You know, as
17:47
Speaker 1: we mentioned earlier, there's there's definitely some holes for sure,
17:51
Speaker 1: so and especially especially in the secondary cornerback position. How
17:56
Speaker 1: canon should this defense perhaps elevate their game in twenty
18:00
Speaker 1: twenty six to take things to the next level, if
18:03
Speaker 1: that's even possible?
18:04
Speaker 2: What are you thinking? Yeah, this is where the conversation
18:07
Speaker 2: gets fun. Man, Yeah, where to start this defense is?
18:13
Speaker 2: I mean, they're gonna have to do everything right. You know,
18:16
Speaker 2: that's just how it's gonna have to happen, and that
18:19
Speaker 2: just doesn't happen in the NFL. I mean, I love
18:23
Speaker 2: the A'shawn Robinson signing. I mean, my goodness, go watch
18:26
Speaker 2: his introductory presser with the Bucks from last Friday. Fortunately
18:30
Speaker 2: it was zoomed so I actually got to ask him
18:31
Speaker 2: a couple of questions. But I mean, he is just
18:36
Speaker 2: I don't know if we can curse on here, but
18:37
Speaker 2: at that but yeah, I mean, and the Bucks we're
18:39
Speaker 2: talking about. So this is how bad I got. At
18:42
Speaker 2: one point last year in the locker room. They needed
18:44
Speaker 2: a spark so bad they brought in Jason Pierre Poul.
18:46
Speaker 2: They tried to make it seem like they were bringing
18:48
Speaker 2: in him to actually play. Yeah, by god, when he
18:51
Speaker 2: actually did get on the field, he was awful effective.
18:53
Speaker 2: But because you know, he's known for his fire, and
18:55
Speaker 2: he had this like huge presence and that he had
18:58
Speaker 2: this huge locker room speech at one time point during
19:00
Speaker 2: their Super Bowl season, all this other stuff. But they
19:03
Speaker 2: brought they literally brought him in to try and put
19:05
Speaker 2: a spark into the locker room, to get like a leader.
19:08
Speaker 2: So anyways, he brings that he brings some good ability,
19:12
Speaker 2: but they didn't land that edge rusher excuse me, like
19:15
Speaker 2: I mentioned earlier, and that's huge because this defense under
19:20
Speaker 2: Todd Bowles for whatever reason, and they have tried. I mean,
19:24
Speaker 2: you got to give them credit. They have. They've at
19:26
Speaker 2: least tried to a certain extent. I believe they could
19:28
Speaker 2: have gone out and traded for Max Crosby wrote a
19:30
Speaker 2: whole big article on why it made sense and they
19:34
Speaker 2: didn't do it. So there's certain you can argue otherwise
19:37
Speaker 2: in a few areas, but either way, they just cannot
19:41
Speaker 2: generate a four man pass rush. Yeah, they just can't.
19:44
Speaker 2: And with how bowls where he sends his blitzers from
19:48
Speaker 2: so on, so forth, when he does blitz and just
19:51
Speaker 2: the zone pressures or sorry, the fire the fire zones
19:54
Speaker 2: or the sim pressures that he sends, he's got to
19:57
Speaker 2: be able to get there with four guys. And that's
19:59
Speaker 2: why the defense has been and burned over the last
20:01
Speaker 2: couple of years, on top of not having a linebacker
20:03
Speaker 2: in the middle. So they don't have the guys to
20:06
Speaker 2: do that right now. They don't. It's just that simple.
20:09
Speaker 2: I like the Al Quadine Muhammad signing with six million
20:13
Speaker 2: Bucks guys coming off eleven sacks last year. Sure there's
20:16
Speaker 2: context that goes behind that, but still great value. Right.
20:20
Speaker 2: It reminds me so much of the Shaq Barrett signing
20:22
Speaker 2: from twenty nineteen. We all saw how that turned out. Yeah, So,
20:26
Speaker 2: I mean, they just they're gonna have to do everything
20:28
Speaker 2: right and they're gonna have to hit on every single
20:30
Speaker 2: one of their draft picks. Those guys arena have to
20:32
Speaker 2: come in and they're gonna have to be impact players.
20:36
Speaker 2: Morrison hamstrings are gonna have to be at least stronger
20:39
Speaker 2: than paper, you know. I mean, it's and then the
20:42
Speaker 2: depth you look at their secondary depth. It is just,
20:45
Speaker 2: with all due respect, hey, these guys are in the NFL.
20:48
Speaker 2: You know, I'm sitting here in my basement talking. You know,
20:51
Speaker 2: we're working here at about football. So they are good players,
20:55
Speaker 2: but they're just not NFL good players. Yeah, yeah, man,
20:59
Speaker 2: So everything is going to have to go perfect on
21:01
Speaker 2: defense in order for the defense to improve. Not it's
21:03
Speaker 2: all task whatsoever.
21:04
Speaker 1: Exactly in this day and age in the NFL, when
21:07
Speaker 1: you've got some interesting storylines in the AFC South, I'm
21:11
Speaker 1: sorry the NFC South quite frankly, look, I think at
21:15
Speaker 1: some point, the Saints are going to get some sort
21:17
Speaker 1: of momentum. What that momentum looks like. Who the heck knows.
21:21
Speaker 1: Carolina Panthers making the playoffs last year winning the division
21:24
Speaker 1: surprised everyone. Eight to nine. Bucks were also eight to
21:27
Speaker 1: nine last year, but at the end of the day
21:29
Speaker 1: didn't really do much for them. I mean, I'm just
21:32
Speaker 1: wondering even with the you know, the Falcons too, you know,
21:35
Speaker 1: making making some moves and they seem to be a
21:38
Speaker 1: stagnant organization, but who knows if momentum at any point
21:42
Speaker 1: is on their side. I just wonder how this Bucks
21:45
Speaker 1: team can rebound from last year remain competitive in the NFC. Yes,
21:50
Speaker 1: in the NFC South. You know, we talked about the
21:52
Speaker 1: offensive line needing to stay healthy and needing to be
21:55
Speaker 1: that top five offensive line that it can be. We're
21:58
Speaker 1: just talking about the defense. Everything has to go right.
22:01
Speaker 1: Is there more of that overall picture for you, Evan,
22:04
Speaker 1: about how this team really can rebound remain competitive in
22:08
Speaker 1: the division.
22:09
Speaker 2: They can, They definitely can, and it all starts with
22:13
Speaker 2: the coaching staff. It has to They have to be better,
22:16
Speaker 2: you know, and a lot of it credit to Bowls
22:19
Speaker 2: over the time as head coach. He's made philosophical changes
22:23
Speaker 2: every single year. He fired Biden Leftwich a you know,
22:26
Speaker 2: a Bruce Arians disciple through and through after the first year,
22:29
Speaker 2: and went to Dave Canalis, which was a completely different
22:32
Speaker 2: shift in philosophy in terms of offense. And then he
22:35
Speaker 2: went to Liam Cohen, who was you know, a kind
22:37
Speaker 2: of a I mean, he had been oc before for
22:40
Speaker 2: the Wildcats Kentucky, but he had never done it in
22:43
Speaker 2: an NFL, right, so you know he's and he's done
22:46
Speaker 2: some other things. They hired an analytical guy last year
22:49
Speaker 2: to help him with game management because he knew he
22:51
Speaker 2: had to work on his game management. So he's done
22:53
Speaker 2: things every different every single year to kind of change
22:56
Speaker 2: it up and mix it up. I don't know what
22:58
Speaker 2: he's going to do this year. So far, he hadn't
23:00
Speaker 2: done anything. But if this coaching staff, that's how they improve,
23:04
Speaker 2: if they don't get better, yeah, I mean the special
23:07
Speaker 2: teams last year too were aberrant. I mean, my god,
23:10
Speaker 2: they were awful. And it went from the return teams
23:12
Speaker 2: to the punter and the kicker was the only guy
23:15
Speaker 2: that was excluded, Chase of Claughlin and he was the
23:16
Speaker 2: only you know, bright side but even then he had
23:19
Speaker 2: like a two or three week period where he struggled
23:21
Speaker 2: a little bit. So regardless, starts with the coaching staff.
23:24
Speaker 2: If they don't improve, which that's up in the air,
23:28
Speaker 2: you know, then this team's not going to improve. It's
23:31
Speaker 2: just that playing simple. I know, there's the Jimmy's and
23:33
Speaker 2: the Joe's saying and all that other daff and they've
23:38
Speaker 2: got the guys. They've got the guys. But this coaching
23:41
Speaker 2: staff last year was incompetent. It's that simple. You can
23:44
Speaker 2: ask anybody who watched the Bucks up close and follow them.
23:48
Speaker 2: The coaching staff was incompetent. I don't care how many
23:50
Speaker 2: good players you have. If you have a stupid coaching staff,
23:54
Speaker 2: then it's just it's not gonna work. Man. And there's
23:57
Speaker 2: a reason why. There's a reason why it's hashtag third
23:59
Speaker 2: and twenty eight. That's that's the thing right now in
24:01
Speaker 2: Tampa is and people are getting like Mike Evans jerseys
24:05
Speaker 2: with thirty to twenty eight patch on it and stuff,
24:07
Speaker 2: because you know, he screamed that after they gave that
24:09
Speaker 2: up to the Falcons and whatnot. Yes, just man, it's
24:13
Speaker 2: it's like I said, we could go twenty I would
24:15
Speaker 2: love to do it, but you know, I know this
24:17
Speaker 2: is you know, just not but I would love to
24:20
Speaker 2: like just sit down talk for twenty minutes just about
24:22
Speaker 2: how we arrived at this point. It's like documents, like
24:24
Speaker 2: documentary documentary worthy.
24:27
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, dude, I'd love to talk to you at
24:29
Speaker 1: some other point down the road. Perhaps we can get
24:31
Speaker 1: into it then, because I love having yon man folks. Again,
24:35
Speaker 1: Evan Winter from eight to the sports dot Com my friend,
24:38
Speaker 1: thanks so much for taking the time. Always love talking
24:40
Speaker 1: to you. Let's let's let's talk more bucks stuff down
24:43
Speaker 1: the road. Perhaps we can get into it in more detail.
24:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, always man, you know I'm down.
24:48
Speaker 1: That's gonna do it for us here on Opposition Territory
24:52
Speaker 1: this week. Please share our podcast with your friends and
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24:57
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