Welcome in everybody to Bucks Insider, presented by Ticketmaster. I'm Bucks senior writer Scott Smith, and with me is staff writer reporter Breanna Dixon. You get the two of us again this week because Casey's still unavailable, But don't worry every one, case He will be back very very soon. In the meantime, we've got a lot to talk about. A great game, a Rendez Barber event, lots of players doing amazing things.
So let's dive right in. Uh.
First of all, I think it's fair to say that there's a lot of national analysts and maybe fans around the.
League that are a bit surprised if the Bucks are.
Two and oh right, Yeah, protection is not exactly correct.
Inside the building, though there's not much surprise, right, I think the Bucks expected to be this good, And you know, the players, they're feeling it a little bit. Let's hear from a few of them how they felt after they went to two and zero against the Bears.
I'm gonna make predictions, economies.
Man, we're here, I know we're coming for. I know we're coming for. Talk on me. Nothing off with the work. We have more work than you know. And I got my first job.
Man, can you begin you buy it to that hype Yeah, you can't buy it to the hype man. We're putting that work at from day one.
We know what we got. They don't know what we got.
That's why he's saying that, but usting out the locker room must want that to sit in that facility.
We know, do we even work.
We've been putting that since day one.
A couple of rookies we see in there really enjoyed themselves early on. Huh, including Christian is Ian. Uh, he's off to a great start. You know, he won that that slack corner job as an undrafted rookie, and he's really a very confident young player.
What have you seen from him so far?
Well, two starts in the regular season and two interceptions, So I think he has an impressive resume thus far, with one against the Vikings and then one against the Bears that really put the exclamation mark on that victory
after shock bearts picked six. But I think just really all throughout training camp and even the preseason, you saw the range, you saw that the quick twitch that he has, just making plays from sideline a sideline, and really he's just kind of elevated that defense, and then obviously against the Bears, you know, Antoine Winfield hit Chase Claypool and
knocked the ball out. Christianizzian was right there. So I think it's just exciting to see him coming into this role and to already make the impact that he's having, and he has that chip on his shoulder and he plays that way.
Yeah, and as you see here on the screen, he's already making NFL history as just the fourth undrafted rookie interception in each of his first two games.
It's kind of crazy.
It's only happened four times and two of them are Buccaneers ray Eisaman.
That was in nineteen eighty seven.
There was there were some replacement games during a player strike in eighty seven, but that was not during those games. These were back when the players, when the regular players were back. So it's a pretty big accomplishment for him and a great start. Another guy that we saw there in those clips with Shaq Barrett. It was really an
inspirational story for a number of reasons. One of them, of course, is he's coming back from the achilles tendon injury and it was kind of a surprise when he was full go at the start of training camp and we're just so thrilled to see him back back to full speed, you know now that we're back.
Yeah, one, just to see Shaq at peak form, you know. And on that play he kind of initially stunned inside and then dissected the play, looked at fields, dropped back, pivoted, and then was able to make the interception kind of
by closing that passing windows. So I think just not only like you said, him coming back from the Achilles injury, but also just he lost his two year old daughter Arya in April, and I think just to see the way that the team rallied around him and even his teammates kind of helping push him into the end zone, I think is just kind of an embodiment of the team really rallying around him and his family and Geordanna
throughout this the offseason. So, you know, not a player that you could root for more than Shack.
And I think we saw from his reaction, which we'll look at here, that really meant a lot to got of his own end zone to go on a pick six just.
Unbelievable. You know, you can't even have him going through something like that.
To see him go through it and come out on the other side, play like he's playing right now to be where he is right now. So i'nbelieved I always play for my family already, but camera was on me after I made the play Tota love you miss You, which he was here, and so I'm glad I'm able to still get some spotlight for her.
Awesome moment. Everybody felt it, and you know, he's a great player. Want our best players. You know, he sealed the win for us today.
And it's so hard what the Bared family has been through. But it's just good to see him get some joy there with a play like that, especially one that basically sealed the victory from the Buccaneers. Another guy that's been inspirational to his teammates already in just two starts as
the buccaneers new starting quarterback is Baker Mayfield. Yes, I think we see from Baker that he's willing to do whatever it takes to win right that is, And some of that some of that is simple things that the coaches want him to do, like throwing the ball away rather than putting it in harm's way, but also sometimes he takes off and runs, and when he runs, he seems to mean it, and he got an award for it.
Actually, I'll tell you who's the true psycho.
Who's repping this shirt, who's repping this Segment's repping this Show's repping this network and rep in.
The sport Baker Mayfield. Let's go last week, Week one. Out of nowhere, Baker says, get your weight up. There goes the Baker with his stiff our Mike always he looks like Gaston on the sideline and he's screaming and he wins.
Now, if you're just new to this segment, you're like, what's with this idiot screaming all the time?
Some piece of crap stuff? Do you think the players care about that? Do I think the players care about that?
Baker Mayfield's trophy winner?
Did you get the scepter anger set right here? So, like I say thank you to Kyle and everybody. A good morning football. Hopefully there's more to come for the bucks here. You're damn right, Bake, and there he is. That's right, that's how you do it, Jamie pointing.
Out it does appears in some kind of sauna.
It's an angry sauna, though I like it. It you throw the water over those rocks and it's steamy. Is helling it? Extoliatehs, we love it. Baker Mayfield Week one Winner of the Seven. Yeah, I don't know who's working harder there, Baker.
Or Bran Right, he really settles out.
They both really sell out.
I think I was very impressed with Baker's play in You know, he played well in the Vikings game, but I think he took it up another level against the Bears. He was twenty six of thirty four, He had his first three hundred yard passing game as a buccaneer, And a stat that our PR department unearthed after the game is he's been incredible on third down. Yes, I think twenty twenty three and a passer rating like one hundred
and thirty two point two. It's supposed to get harder on third downs, You're not supposed to get better because everybody expects you have passed. So I've been impressed with him so far, and I think he's done a really good job grabbing this opportunity to be a starter again for a team.
What have you, right? What really stands out for you from Baker's port, I think.
Specifically from that Bears game, the Bears pressured Baker Mayfield seventeen times and they didn't take him down once. And I think you saw a lot of times where it was almost closed his legs were being wrapped up, and even if you just looked at the initial picture, you would think he's going down to the ground, and then some way, somehow he would maneuver around it, he would evade the sack, he would get off one of those incredible side arm, yeah, sidearm passes and keep drives alive.
So I think that was one of the biggest things for me, is just the effort that he plays with, and he.
Really spread it around.
When you look at this chart here, you know, thrown to all corrants quadrants of the field, and like you said, making some just really off platform throws. I think everybody on the one you were talking about where he was basically being tackled by his feet and he was almost horizontal to the ground.
Yes, flipped the little side arm.
Or too, maybe Kate Ott and I think it was it just it reminded a lot of people of the Great Bucks Super Bowl victory here when we're playing against Patrick Mahomes and the deepens an amazing job against Patrick Mahomes, but he still made a number of crazy plays like that. You know who else could do that with Patrick Mahomes, Well, we saw a little bit of that from Baker Mayfield.
But one thing, one of the reasons.
Why Baker had such a game is because he very wisely kept throwing the ball to one my Evans. Mike Evans finished with six catches for one hundred and seventy one yards and a touchdown for the second week in a row. He's another guy that maybe NFL analysts around the around the nation and fans, maybe we're underestimating, you know, going into his tenth season, is Mike is Mike on the decline? You know, he's he's played, you know, he's played in so many games, He's played so many catches.
Is this the point in his career he starts to claim, And I think it's pretty clear at this point he isn't right right.
When I think you almost get to the point where he had nine straight one thousand yard seasons, and I think at some point people have just become a little bit desensitized to what Mike Evans is able to do. Sure, and I think, you know, against the Bears, he had seventy nine yards after the catch career high that seventy
yard catch and run. But I think one of the most impressive things when I look at Mike Evans is his route running ability, and I think it's one of the things that he's maybe not has talked about, little undervalued in that in that area. But I think you saw the synergy with Baker Mayfield with Mike Evans. Even on the seventy yard catch and run. He kind of initially pushes like he's going to run a vertical route.
Then once the dB bit on it, he would pivot then flip around and before he would even turn, Baker Mayfield had already released that ball and it was right in Evans numbers, And I think that was really encouraging to see. I don't know only just Mike, but Chris ran the same route. They had a connection there. So just to see that chemistry between those guys early on in the season can't help but get fants excited.
The touchdown was another example of that, and Baker Mayfield did a really nice job of describing that play because he said, initially the Bear's defense gave them a two safety look, and so there was a safety over where Mike was but at the snapper right before they rolled that safety to the middle of the field, and Baker saw that knew that he had Mike out there one on one and they were playing off coverage and so off man, so it's man to man, but the corners
playing very deep. And as Baker said, Mike Evans is the best receiver in the NFL at beating off man coverage. And what he did is he bran it what they call an inside go and the dB because Mike's long striding speed is so deceptive the dB, and he gets on the dB before you expect him to and then he's buy him before you know what's happening. And so Baker saw that he had him. Even though he had
pressure in his face, he and he's falling backward. He lopped up because he knew he just had to get it over that dB and Mike would make them play and so he didn't. So it's really good to see the chemistry for those two. I think Baker was excited when he got here to be playing with maybe the best wide receiver duo he's ever had in Mike and Chris, and we're seeing that in action. Already, So that's pretty exciting, and Mike himself continues to move up the charts of
the all time greats. We're gonna talk about Rodney barbera here in a second. This guy is on his way to the Hall of Fame, I believe as well. He got his eighty third touchdown catch and you could see that ties him for twenty fifth with some pretty big names. But as you can see, every time he makes a catch pretty much for a touchdown catch, pretty much for the rest of the season, he's going to be moving up. And now he only needs five more to be tied
for fourteenth. Of course, DeVante Adams could get some more too, so that could change a little bit. But he's just climbing that chart really really quickly, and he's just making a kind of a new bit of Buccaneers history every time.
He catches a touchdown.
So anyway, that's actually a pretty good segue because if we're talking about possibly him ending up in the Hall of Fame, he would be joining a growing number of Buccaneers. The latest is Rodney Barber And last night we had the premiere at great just ornate, beautiful Tampa Theater of Prototype The legacy of Rodney Barber. Steven Lynch, our great producer,
Emmy winning producer, made this great movie. It's an hour and twenty minutes long, and it's not just about his career, it's about his Rondie's whole life, his family.
It's awesome. If you were there, I'm sure you loved it.
One of the things that really impressed me at this premiere was I was not expecting this.
How enthusiastic the crowd was.
They were having the best time, chants and cheers and laughing at all the funny spots. They were just pouring out the love for Randi Barber, and it was really awesome. If you weren't able to get there, that is going to be put on the Buccaneers YouTube channel at seven o'clock tonight. It'll also be on Buccaneers dot com, so you don't have to wait very long.
I highly recommend it.
If you he really enjoyed Rhandi's career, are just a Buccaneers fan, You're going to really love it.
I don't want to miss that.
I think one of my favorite moments in the documentary was Mike Tomlin, who used to be Barbarer's former Devins Bocks coach, and he said that when he came in, he joked and told Ronde that he was LT and he was Bo Parcels and he said, I knew that that's what he would mean to me as a coach, and I thought, there is nothing more telling than that. I mean, you're talking about Lawrence Taylor, who is one of the greatest defensive players time, one of the greatest players,
if not the greatest player. And I mean just offensive linemen had to change their stance because they couldn't get out of it fast enough against a guy like Lawrence Taylor. And to say that Rende Barber was going to be that player for him to really take the Buccaneers to
the next level. But I mean, he was just a guy that did it all and he kind of refined that nickel corner position with blitzing, with being an inside linebacker setting that edge against the run, and a guy that just really has been kind of transcendent across the NFL.
And that's why he's in the Hall of Fame.
Yes, and on Monday night, this is very fitting that the Buccaneers are going to be playing the Philadelphia Yes, and he's going to run he's going to receive his in a halftime ceremony. He's going to receive his Hall of Fame ring and on the Ring of Honor at
the stadium. His name's already up there, of course, because he's in the Ring of Honor, but like Tony Dungee and Warren Sapp and Derek Brooks and John Lynch, he's going to have his Hall of Fame logo presented next to his name, So that'll be exciting.
And team again. I'll tell you there.
Was a panel after the movie last night up on the stage which I was fortunate enough to moderate, and we were getting to the end of it and Ronnie was talking about what he was most proud of about his career, and there was a lot of good answers there, but at the end he kind of made a joke. It's like, I'll tell you what I think I'm most proud of, just being a pain in.
The butt for the Philadelphia Eagles.
So it's so fitting that it'll be against the Eagles, and that's going to be really exciting too. But you know, before we go here, that's a big game for the Buckaneers. Two and zero Eagles are two and oh it's the only matchup of undefeated teams in the NFL in Week three, and for the Buccaneers, it's really an opportunity to prove that this two and oh start isn't a fluke and that they are actual contenders because the Eagles are the
defending NFC champs and they're very good again this year. So, I mean, what are the challenges that the Buccaneers are going to be facing on under now?
I think one of the biggest challenges is certainly going to be Jalen Hurts, who has that incredible dual threat mobility Like Justin fields last week, I think that gives you a little bit of confidence this week coming in after they held Justin fields to just I think three yards three yards on four carriers, So that again, but just to be disciplined in your run fits. They were able to contain Justin fields to where he wasn't able to do the boot action all those kinds of things.
But the Eagles system is predicated on Jalen Hurts with the the RPOs, and then once the defense kind of allocates resources there, then that kind of creates those advantageous matchups down field for Devonte Smith. So I think that's going to be a really big thing. And then their defense has a lot of star set of players like Hassan Reddick, who is one of the most explosive pass
rushers in the league. You have Darius Slay on the back end, so you know, got to be on the p's and q's this week against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Yeah, they've got that's a that's a star studed roster.
Wi Ye.
Why I say this is a great opportunity before the Bucketeers. Hopefully you get a chance to be there or see it on television. It's going to be a very exciting night for the Buccaneers. And so with that, thank you for joining us again this week. And we'll be back next week. And I said it last week and it wasn't true, but I think next week Casey Fields will be back to run the show like really does. So thanks for joining us today. M HM.