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

• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Opposition Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Podcast Show, the longest-running weekly Philly sports podcast show in
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: the world. Over 13 and a half years strong, we've
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: got a great show coming your way this week here
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: on Opposition Territory where we are going to be breaking
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: down what we're seeing from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: our good friend from A to Z Sports, Evan Winter.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: My friend, it is great to see you. Always appreciate you.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Taking the time to jump on the PSD Podcast Show here.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: How are things going for you, my friend?
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: Things are going well, man. Hope it's the same on
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: your end. Always happy to be on, and I can't
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: tell you just how glad that I am that we're–
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Two weeks away from week one. I know. It's here.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Well, it's funny.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: We are always thinking to ourselves, okay, let's just get
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: this preseason here. Let's get it here. I want to
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: see some football now. We're in the thick of preseason
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: and training camp. We're like, let's get this regular season here.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: You know, it's amazing how our football minds work. But again,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: you know, it's great to have you on to talk
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: about this Bucs team here on opposition territory. Because, I mean,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, as we're looking through
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: the NFL landscape, we're And one of the reasons why
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: I wanted to have you on is because this Bucks
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: team is going to look a bit different in certain
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: areas heading into this season, for sure. Of course, we
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: know no more Mike Evans, no more Levante David, no
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: more Jamel Dean as well. There were some key acquisitions, though,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: as well, whether it's running back Kenny, I call him
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Kenny just because I'm used to calling him. I think
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: he likes to be called Kenneth Gainwell, but Kenneth Gainwell,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: who Eagles fans know all too well, running back and
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: was also out in pittsburgh for a while alex anzalone
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: as well linebacker uh just to name a couple acquisitions
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: there i mean i'm wondering what the level of confidence
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: is with the fan base heading into this upcoming regular
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: season for the bucks based on some of the key
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: departures and acquisitions so let's get things started off there
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: what are your thoughts.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: Here yeah so if you would have asked me this
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: question about five months ago yeah i would have said
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: uh probably like two out of ten but Free agency
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: was solid. They didn't really make a giant move, and
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: that's never really been Jason Light's MO anyways. So kind
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: of take that with what it is. But once Reuben
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: Bain was drafted at 15th overall, fell to the books, obviously.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: That just gave his fan base a shot in the
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: arm like no other, and the draft class in general.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: They love Josiah Trotter. They are loving what Ted Hurst
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: is doing right now. Keontae Scott's had a bit of
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: a quieter camp, but he's a fourth-round pick, right? I mean,
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: he's got promise, he's got potential, but it's not like
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: a big deal that he's not having just a standout
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: camp like Reuben Bain has had. So the confidence is high. Now,
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: there's been some ups and downs, ups and flows in
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: training camp that maybe has nicked at it a little bit,
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: and that's every team, right? There's no team that's going
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: to go through training camp and preseason just full gung-ho, hey,
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: everything's sunshine, rainbows, puppy dogs, all that stuff. So overall...
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: If you're rating it one to 10, I would say
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: an eight right now. Fan base feels pretty good.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Nice.
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  Speaker 3: Even though, and we'll get into this here in a
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: little bit, even though there are still some very key
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: questions surrounding the team. But yeah, man, overall, things are
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: looking pretty good from a fan's perspective heading into the season.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, let's get into some of those, you know,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: strengths and weaknesses of this Buccaneers team. You know, as
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: we mentioned, no team has a perfect training camp at all.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: You know, the preseason is often riddled with injuries for
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: certain teams. Every team goes through the injury bug here
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: and there as guys try to get back into form
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: as they're on the field. But there's strengths and weaknesses
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: for every single NFL team. So let's get into them
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: for the Bucs here. Let's start off with the biggest strength.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: The biggest strength on this team that you're seeing, Evan,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: here in camp and during the preseason.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: What is that? And then we'll get into the weaknesses.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: But biggest strength here.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's almost a 1A, 1B type situation, but
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  Speaker 3: I'm not going to be milquetoast. I'm just going to
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: go ahead and invest in one side. And it's got
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: to be the defensive front. Sure, Reuben Baines dealing with
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: like an AC sprain that came out this morning, but
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: he's expected to be okay by week one. Still, he
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: put in the work. I mean, if there was a
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: time to get hurt in training camp with a minor injury,
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: this is the time. He wasn't going to play Friday night. Obviously,
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: next week's off, all that other jazz. But, yes, the
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: defensive front, especially now that the drama with Evita Vea
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: is over. Yeah. Holy smokes, man. I mean, you've got Vitavia,
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: Kalijah Gansey, A'shaun Robinson on the defensive line, and this
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: is going to be like a base-type lineup, base personnel.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: But then you're going to have Yaya Diaby, Reuben Bain
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: on the outside, then Alex Anzalone and likely Josiah Trotter
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: as your off-ball linebackers on the inside. And you've got
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: a five-man pass rush rotation that is very legit, very stout.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: You've got a six-man defensive line rotation that is also
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: very stout. And even behind Anzalone and Trotter, you've got
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: a couple of serviceable veterans that And Servosier Dennis and
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: Christian Roseboom. So that front seven, man, if it lives
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: up to expectations on paper, it is going to be
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: one of the nastiest units in the NFL. And I
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: just can't wait to see what happens. And the cool
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: part about the deep outside pass rush rotation that I mentioned,
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: the five man aspect is the Buccaneers have a legit
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: three headed pass rush with. Diaby, Bain, and then if
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: you want to throw in Al-Quadeen Mohamed or David Walker
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: after that, it doesn't matter, either one. But this is
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: the first time that Todd Bowles has had a viable
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: three-man pass rush rotation since he's been in Tampa Bay.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: So it's going to be a good thing to see
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: how all that works together.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it really is.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: And I think they're one of the more underrated units,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: quite frankly, in the NFC.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: To be honest with you, there aren't too many. Exactly.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Not too many folks are talking about what the pass
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: rush may actually be this season for the Buccaneers. But,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: you know, then then we start, you know, shift into
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: a 180 and talk about the weaknesses of this team
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: as well.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: There's certainly a few here and there.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, what are your thoughts on what the biggest
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: weakness is heading into this season for this team?
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: It's right behind the. It's right behind the front seven.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: It's the secondary. And that's mostly because Benjamin Morrison, you know,
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: a guy that they're really leaning on this year or
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: wanting to lean on this year, he just not really
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: got to full speed in practice. He's basically missed the
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: entire offseason. That's bad considering how much time he missed
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: last year with a hamstring injury. We don't know if
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: Jacob Parrish, as promising as he is, we don't know
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: if he's going to take that step in year two. Plus,
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: he's going to have a lot more on his plate
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: this year. He's learning both inside and outside positions. And
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: he played both inside and outside last year, but not
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: like he's going to probably play it this year, right?
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: So I'm going to call him. He's been injured in camp,
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: but he's been practicing lately, and he played against the Chiefs,
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: so things look okay for him. But can he bounce
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: back from a poor 2025 season? And then, again, I
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: mentioned Keontae Scott, day three pick, rookie. And then the
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: depth after them, sure, Aiden Garns and Damarian Williams have
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: been playing well in the preseason. But we're talking about
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: a journeyman and a UDFA rookie. There's just no way
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: to guarantee that translates into the regular season, right? And
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: then so at safety, Antoine Winfield Jr., Tykee Smith, one
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: of the more underrated duos in the NFL. But behind them,
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: major question marks. And Todd Bowles basically said even like
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: a week or so ago, that if you stay in
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: shape and you're at safety, you have a chance of
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: making this team. That's how shaky the depth is behind them. So,
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: you know, and I could go into all the context
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: behind that, but that's all you really need to know
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: is just that one statement, right? So the secondary, you know,
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: it could end up being a solid, position group for
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: this team. But right now it's easily the biggest weakness. Yeah.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: I was also thinking about the wide receiver room too.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: And I say that because I, first off, I think
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: people are forgetting about Chris Godwin somehow in, in the
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: fact that he is still a very good wide receiver,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: but with, Amika Igbuka, the injury bug that has plagued
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: him during his early career here. I wonder if there's
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: some trepidation about what this wide receiver room is actually
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: going to be able to do this season in terms
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: of its health and stuff.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I'm sure I'm sure Bucks Nation has
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: been thinking about that, too.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the health is the biggest question surrounding the receiver room,
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: because with Chris Godwin, even though the Buccaneers think he's
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: got his explosiveness back. Yeah, he's still coming off. You know,
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: he's had some injury issues over the last few years. Obviously,
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: the 2024, just the gruesome lower leg injury. And then
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: Jalen McMillan, he didn't even travel with the team to
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: Jacksonville this week because he's hurt. Yeah. And this will
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: all lead into what I'm trying to say. My bullets.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: OK, sounds good. We are going to talk about the offense. Yes.
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: Right. Yes, exactly. So but I mean, like I said earlier,
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: Ted Hurst is doing pretty well. Tez Johnson was ripping
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: up camp before he got hurt, but he's now he's back.
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: I mean, Cameron Johnson has shown some steps in terms
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: of him being a receiver.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: So.
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: There's definitely big questions surrounding the receiver room. It's mostly
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: mostly health wise.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: But yeah. But there's also a bigger picture.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. We'll get to that in just a bit, folks. Yeah,
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: we'll get to that in a bit.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: But I guess, you know, before we go to break here,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: I guess the overall question is here when it comes
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: to the offense and defense and what we're going to
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: see from this Bucs team. I'm wondering which unit is
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: going to be just stronger defensively. heading into this season
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: and why what are your thoughts here because again both
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: both strengths and weaknesses on both side of the ball
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: here uh which unit's going to be stronger.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah starting out the season i would say defense for
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: sure uh just because it's a system that's been in
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: place for seven years now there are plenty of familiarity
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: with and now there's plenty of new faces on that
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: side of the ball but there are plenty of guys
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: who have been in the system long enough to where
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: they can help coach those guys up, bring them along
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: a lot faster just because they know the ins and outs. Right. Yeah.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: And plus, you just got some really just some stalwarts
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: on that side of the ball. The offense could be
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: better by the end of the year. But obviously, we
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: have to see all that play out. But it's definitely
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: the defense, in my mind, that's going to come out
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: the gate swinging. All right.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Very good.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Again, folks, we're talking to our good friend Evan Winter
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: from A to Z Sports. He is on the Twitter
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: slash X at Evan underscore A to Z. Where else
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: are you out there, buddy? If folks want to follow
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: you on other sites or anything, feel free to get
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: that out there.
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I actually just recently launched a YouTube channel
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: for our Buccaneers coverage. So it's A to Z Sports Bucs.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: Be sure to check that out. Yeah, we just launched
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: it back in like mid-July, and it's already up to
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: about 300 subscribers and about 50 videos that I've done.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: So we're really putting in work. Yeah, and the response
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: has been great, especially for the dead time of the year.
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: So I can't wait to see what happens during the
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: season and be able to interact with everybody.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: Awesome.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: Awesome.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: All right, folks, we're going to take a break. When
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: we get back, we got more Bucs talking. What this
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: team is going to be looking like on offense and defense.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Into this regular season. Once that regular season starts, stick
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: with us.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: We'll be right back.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: We're with our good friend, Evan Winters.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: We are now going to be looking at what this
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: offense is going to look like. what the scheme is
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: going to look like and how Baker Mayfield will need
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: to lead.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: This ship as he's getting a little bit older.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: And that window might somewhat be perhaps maybe closing for him. Yes,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: he's 31 years old. Of course, still has something left
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: in the tank as well. He's got a lot to prove,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: I think, Evan.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: But I'm wondering, how do you see.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: This passing offense and the rushing attack possibly balancing itself out?
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Or might we actually end up seeing some sort of
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: imbalance there? This season, when it comes to this Bucs offense,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: what are your thoughts here?
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So this is where we sell the teas that
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: we had earlier. I have I have zero clue what
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: to expect. And it's because just of all the different
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: variety of nicks and bruises this team has had. We had. Yeah.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: Just put it into context against the Chiefs. The Buccaneers
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: were starting their fourth or fifth string tackle on the
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: left side because Tristan Wirfs, Benjamin Chukwuma, and Justin Skewley,
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: their top three tackles were all out. They started at
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: receiver Ted Hurst, Cameron Johnson, and David Sills. Payne Durham
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: was starting at tight end instead of Cade Otten. This
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: group just hasn't had time on task together. And sure,
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: we have an idea of what Zach Robinson's offense is
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: going to look like. You can look at the last
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: two years of Atlanta's tape, you can see his 12
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: personnel trends that he likes to use and deploy. But
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: these guys just, we talked about it. Okay. Good. Jalen McMillan,
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: missing time. These guys just haven't been on the field.
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: And I don't know. I can't tell anybody what I,
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: and the running game has not been good. So, you know, I,
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: I think there's going to be an adjustment period very
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: early in the season throughout the first, probably the month.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: And I do, I am optimistic as long as they
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: stay healthy, of course, That things will eventually click down
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: the line. But right now, I would say if we're
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: talking balance, this team is going to be a pass
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: heavy in terms of production. It's going to get most
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: of its production and move the ball mostly through the
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: pass game just from what we've seen of the running
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: game so far. Yeah. And yeah, like that's the thing though.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: It's like, I actually did a video speaking of my show.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: I did a video on this the other day and
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: I was just like, you tell me what the offense
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: is going to look like. I have no idea.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: I really thought, I really thought from an offensive perspective,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: this was going to be, and this was, you know,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: after the last couple of seasons, this was going to
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: be Bucky Irving's like offense in a way, not necessarily
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: like from a pure rushing standpoint, establish the rush, We
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: have to be on the look. If you're opposing defense,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: you've got to be on the lookout for Bucky Irving
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: consistently because he's that much of a threat and because
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: his ceiling is pretty high.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: That was my thought.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Now I'm uncertain with with what we are going to
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: be expecting from him within this offense and how this
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: rushing attack is really going to go, because I thought
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: he was going to be one of those running backs
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: in this league that had a really high ceiling. I'm
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: a little unsure about that right now at this point.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And it's super interesting because so Liam Cohen, when
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: he was back here in 2024, he initially tried, you know,
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: Zach Robinson. Again, we know what he's going to want
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: to do in terms of his history. He's going to
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: want to install the zone system. He's going to be
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: more of a zone team. And Liam Cohen tried that
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: with the same group of offensive linemen in 2024. It
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: didn't work. He switched to gap scheme midseason or kind
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: of a little bit before then. And that's what really
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: allowed Bucky Irving in the run game to take off.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: And now Zach Robinson is trying to do the same
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: thing with the same group of guys at an even
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: heavier clip. So we might be looking at a situation
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: where you're trying to fit a square peg or a
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: round peg in a square hole, and it just doesn't work.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: But again, these guys just haven't had time on task together.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: So a lot of questions.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: Lots of questions.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you like what you see on paper, and even
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: with the nicks and bruises, you like what you see
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: on paper, and you know they have a plan. We
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: just haven't been able to see it all together so far.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Leave us a comment below if you're watching on YouTube.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Let us know what you think of this Bucs offense,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: how things may balance out, how there may be an imbalance.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: We'd love to hear from you. And as we're moving
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: along here, let's switch to.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: The other side of the ball, the defense.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: And look, Todd Bowles, I mean, he isn't going to
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: abandon his scheme at all. You know, you mentioned earlier Evan,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: how he now really has that, you know, three man
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: rotation in terms of the pass rush, which I think
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: is going to be a great thing for this defense. But,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: you know, I wonder, you know, even aside from that,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: how he's really going to try to evolve his brand
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: of defense. Now, as Vita Vey, as you mentioned, solid
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: piece of a specimen up front. And it's just going
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: to be interesting to see how blitz heavy the scheme
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: is going to be this year. How do you see
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: this defense really taking shape throughout camp? the remainder of
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: camp and the preseason and into the regular season.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a lot to like on the defensive side
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: of the ball, even with all the new additions. And
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: the pieces they added are going to allow Todd Bowles
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: to raise the ceiling on his defense. Back in, we're
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: talking 2020, 2021 type years where, you know, Buccaneers were
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: a top 10 defense. Obviously the Super Bowl victory over
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: the Chiefs, they just absolutely flattened them. Because when you
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: look at pieces like Alex Anzalone, can cover, can blitz,
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: can go sideline to sideline, can make that tackle for loss.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: Same thing with Josiah Trotter. Even though he's maybe not
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: as much as a coverage guy, he can still cover
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: to an extent. I think the coverage stuff with him
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: coming out of the draft was overblown quite a bit.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: But the versatility just there on the inside, and you
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: could argue that the inside linebacker position is the most
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: important position in a Todd Bowles defense. just because all
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: the people he's sending from different places, you've got to
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: have guys that can fill those gaps from inside the hashes, right?
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: Split in the field in half. So when you look
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: at those pieces, you look at a piece like Keontae Scott,
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: who can play inside, outside, safety. He's basically a linebacker
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: in a safety's body. You've got the front, like I
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: mentioned before, Kalijah Kansey, A'shaun Robinson, Vita Vea, just their
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: separate skill sets and how they can all feed off
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: of each other is just going to allow so many
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: different stunts, twists, and If you watch the Buccaneers, good Lord,
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: you know, Todd Bowles loves his stunts.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: Oh yes, he does. Yeah.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: So, and I mean, Alex Anzalone even did it the
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: other day and it freed up, oh man, I'm slipping
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: on the defensive tackles name, but it allowed him to
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: make a play and it was a Sean and it
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: allowed him to pressure the quarterback and get in his face.
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: So in terms of evolution, I just see a thing
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: is going to be a higher ceiling. I think Todd
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: Bowles is going to under, he's got the pieces that
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: he wants that can be effective in the areas he
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: needs them to be. And I think he's going to
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: be like a mad scientist this year. Now, will it work? Yeah,
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: we'll see. But I think he's going to be in
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: his back this year and especially with just the pieces
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: they've added.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's going to be real interesting to see for
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: sure how this defense can evolve here and whether it
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: can be even perhaps maybe a top 10 defense in
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: the league this year.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: And if that's the case.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: They're going to do pretty well in the division, at
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: least I think, at this particular point in time as
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: we're recording this towards the end of August. But, buddy,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: before I let you go here, always like talking about
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: under-the-radar storylines here on this podcast platform with various teams,
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: whether they're inside the world of Philly sports or outside
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: the world of Philly sports. So I'm wondering if there
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: is one under-the-radar storyline during this Buccaneers preseason and camp.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: What's that under-the-radar storyline and why?
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so this is always kind of tough for me
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: because I'm so dialed in. I'm sure it's the same
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: way with you and the Eagles, right? You pay so
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: close attention, nothing kind of catches you off guard or surprised.
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: So taking a step back, kind of looking at trying
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: to pinpoint what people have been talking about and what
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: they haven't been talking about. I don't mean to cash out,
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: so to speak, on this, but it's got to be
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: the offense and just the lack of cohesion that the
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: team has gone through over these last few weeks. And again,
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: it's not just one guy missing a few practices. It's
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: three or four guys missing several practices and then depth
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: guys missing practices after them missing preseason games, so on
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: and so forth. There just hasn't been cohesion. And that's
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: what you need when you're learning. And it's not like
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: an entirely new offense. There's going to be a lot
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: of carryover from the Liam Cohen, Josh Grisard offenses that
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: we saw the last couple of years, but there's new
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: terminology that, Baker's still got to get his rhythm down
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: with his guys. The offensive line needs to gel together. Yeah.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: And so just the overall lack of cohesion is definitely
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: on offense. And just in terms of availability is it's
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: got to be the most under the radar thing, because
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: I haven't seen outside of myself and a couple of
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: other local, you know, Buccaneers people. I haven't really seen
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: anybody talking about it. Yeah.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: And I think the perhaps lack of explosive, explosive side
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: of the offense as well.
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: That's a great point.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: We're living in an NFL time where you have to
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: have explosive playmakers plays in general and, that are going
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: to help give the offense a jumpstart and a spark
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: during the course of a game. And I'm not sure
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: we're seeing that with the Bucs here at this point.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: So I think it's, I think that that was a
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: good point you made.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah. The only spark that we've really seen is Jalen
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: Daniels and he's the UDFA rookie quarterback that no, no,
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: no other Buccaneers quarterback has led a scoring drive or
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: a touchdown drive rather, I should say in the preseason,
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: except Jalen Daniels. Yeah. Yeah, it's bizarre.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: It is wild. It is wild for sure.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: And we're going to be following what the Bucs are
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: going to be doing throughout the preseason. And of course,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: as we are almost at the regular season again, my friend,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: get out the some promos for you. New YouTube channel,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: A to Z Sports. Feel free to get out some
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: promos before we head out here.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So the hub of everything is A to Z
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: Sports dot com. So be sure to check us out there.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: We've constantly just got great coverage coming out just across
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: the board and in college as well. Find me on
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: Twitter at Evan underscore A to Z. I love how
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: it's got it right there because I even mess up
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: my own Twitter handle a lot. So it's so nice
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: to be able to read it right there. And then, yeah,
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: check out the YouTube channel, A to Z Sports Bucks.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: You just type that in. You'll find it. You'll see
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: me right there in all my ginger glory.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Always great talking to you, my friend. Thank you so
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: much for taking the time. And let's talk at some
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: other point down the road.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: Love to have you back on.
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: Always, for sure, man. I'm sure the Eagles and Bucks
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: will find some way to meet each other.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely.
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: They always do.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: That's going to do it for us here on Opposition
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Territory this week. Please share our podcast with your friends
• 21:35
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• 21:38
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• 21:41
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• 21:46
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• 21:49
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• 21:53
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• 22:00
  Speaker 1: as well at Philadelphia Sports Table.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: Take care. We will catch you next time.