Breaking Down the 2021 NFL Schedule | Bucs Insider

the comments section for us. And I'm sure there's going to be tons of questions today considering we now have the whole schedule laid out that you know, we've known the opponents for a really long time, but the winds and the wears and house and all of that stuff.

Now we have a better since for that. So again, leave your questions for us in the comment section underneath the Facebook Live video that we have so for now as we get people a chance to do that, I just wanted to hear your first thoughts when you saw the schedule, heard about it, and what all it was gonna entail That the first things that stood out to you about it, Well, I can't say that I was surprised. I think the thing that jumps out the most is

obviously five primetime games. That's the most astiming it happens, that's the most the Buccaneers will have ever played in one season, even after they won Super Bowl thirty seven, they only have four, only four primetime games. They were scheduled to play five last year, and that that was just the Tom Brady effect that was before they won the Super Bowl. One of them Las Vegas game got moved to ELI or late afternoon because of some COVID

concerns in Las Vegas. So this year, assuming there's no issues such as that, five primetime games and the first one well obviously to be the first time the Buccaneers have been in the kickoff Game, which they started on Thursday nights in two thousand and four when the Bucks won you know two, they played on Monday night because that was sort of the loose tradition back then. Now the tradition is, with just a few exceptions, the Super Bowl champions get the kickoff game at home in Week one,

and they usually try to find a Marquis opponent. I was guessing it would be the Bills because they were in the ANC Championship Game last year, but they went with the Dallas Cowboys. He despite being six and ten, do look like they could be contenders this year with dak Press got back under center. It will be a game of a lot of offensive stars, that's for sure. And of course us I've already seen people bringing up the particular week for matchup. I'm sure you already even know,

Like we don't even know. Everybody already knows what Week four is. Now, that's the going of the Patriots. Played code at this morning. Yes, yeah, the week the Week four games? So what were your thoughts something? Of course we knew that the Bucks were going to be playing the Patriots, that was not a surprise. But when you found out that it was week for what were your thoughts about that? Well, there's some good and bad in my mind. Um, if you look a little bit, if

you expand your view just a little bit. Week four you go to New England. Week three you go to the Los Angeles rams l A. Is our longest trip of the year, and actually we looked it up New England as our second longest trip of the years. So are two longest trips in a row. Um, including that weren't all the way to the West Coast before you

get to play in New England. That New England game is surely going to be intense in many ways, A lot of obviously attention on that game, probably a lot of media responsibilities for players and coaches, and before that, the Rams game. I personally feel like the Rams are gonna be one of the top contenders in the NFC, so to take them on in their place is of the tougher games on the schedules. So those two games together,

that's a tough stretch for the Buccaneers. But also considering how much attention and intensity this game is probably gonna have in New England, I think it's probably a good thing to get it out of the way. And I don't mean get it out of the way because everybody wants to see that game, but to have it be done early in the season is probably a good thing. Yeah, I completely agree with that. Um. Well, someone else named Scott asked which game are you looking forward to the most? Well,

the Rams game is one of them for sure. Um the Buffalo game, which is like Week twelve or thirteen, that one I think could be really exciting, could be tough contenders in both conferences, And if Josh Allen takes any sort of any sort of step forward similar to what he did last year, he's gonna be an MDP candidate. The Buckers may have a couple of those on their own. So um, those two really steps stick out to me as games I'm looking forward to. Um and Mike I

thought this was a great question to bring up. Mike said, the league only lets you play five times five prime time games a year. Can you play more if you get flexed later in the season or if you've already got five schedule? Does that keep you from getting flexed? No, it doesn't. You can only be scheduled for five prime time games to start the year. You can still be flexed. I think there is probably a limit. We were trying to figure that out yesterday. Couldn't get a straight answer.

And if there was a limit to how many once you got flexed, I've gotta believe there is. I mean, you don't want the same team eight or nine times, but um, yes, you can be flexed in. The Bucks finished the season with three straight one o'clock games, which otherwise is pretty rare on their schedules, so those would be flex candidates. If the Bucks are in, you know, the thick of the playoff race, which most of us

think they will be. The unfortunate part or maybe not, is that those three games are against the Panthers and the Jets, and on paper, right now, those don't look like top contenders. But you and I both know you can't tell. I mean, you don't know who's going to be the break on teams this year. So we'll see if there's any more games after that, Okay, And Uh, I thought this was interually, this was a part of

the schedule we hadn't talked about yet. You know, this is our first seventeen week season, and Zachary said, sorry game season. Yes, So Zachary said, why do we have nine road games and eight home games? Were the champs? It should be the other way around. That's just because of the way they had to set it up. Obviously, if you're play an odd number of games, some teams are gonna get nine and some teams are gonna get eight.

So how do you make that fair? I mean, we don't want to see the Saints get nine home games and we get eight. So the way they're doing it

is they're alternating, alternating it by conference each year. Uh. In the a f C gets to go first in terms of having all the every seventeenth game added is ann f C versus NFC game, and all of those games we played at the a f C homes, So all of the FC teams will have nine home games and all the NFC teams have eight home games, So in terms of your own conference playoff races, it still

remains fair. So next year the Buccaneers will have nine regular season home games as well every team in the NFC. And also worth knowing is that they also make it so this year all the NFC teams played two of their three preseason games at home, so it still works out to every team getting ten games at home between the preseason and the regular season. Yeah, that and that is a great point. Um, all right? Enrique said, Historically,

how do the Bucks fair in primetime games? And that was also something just about last year that I thought would be good to bring up. That we know that last year the primetime games weren't exactly their most shining moments of the season, and now knowing that they have five of them scheduled again, I wanted to hear your thoughts on that. Well, that's obviously what's gonna pop in

everyone's mind is recent history. Because the Bucks were one in three uh in prime time games, they might have been two and three because they handled Las Vegas pretty easily and that game was supposed to be in prime time. UM. And one game that they won was at the Giants, and it was it was pretty much of a nail bier against the team that finished six and ten. I

think so. UM. I don't think the team thought there was any particular reason for it, but you can't argue with the fact that the results were not very good in prime time, and I gotta believe that will be something they're very interested in proving this year that it was a fluke. I wish I had known this question was coming. I would have looked up the exact answers because they're out there. The Bucks record on Monday Night

football historically is not that bad. I think they're considering that the Buck's overall record because of so many down years, you know, for a long time before the franchise got turned around, and then the recent playoff drout. The overall record isn't great, so you would expect the Money Night record to be not great. But actually it's not bad. I have I think I remember being right around five hundred,

maybe a game or two over Uh. The other games Sunday and Thursday night, those records aren't as good, But unfortunately I wasn't prepared and I don't have the exact numbers for you. Okay, and Mitch asked which NFC South team do you think we should be most concerned about this year? Well, it's got to be the Saints until proven otherwise. I can understand people think automatically Drew Brees retires,

that's the end of this run for the Saints. But remember that they were fourth in the league of defense last year. They still have a lot of great defensive players. Uh, they're very good at creating turnovers. They still have a very good offensive line. UM stars like Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas. UM. I still think they're gonna be a pretty formidable team. Um. You know, I can understand the skepticism.

And and maybe if Jameis Winston wins the starting job and continues to have turnover problems that hurts him, or maybe Taysom Hill wins the job and just doesn't prove to be as efficient running that offense as Drew Brees was, then sure I could see a possible decline, but I'll believe it when I actually see it. Whereas with Carolina and Atlanta. Sure, either one of them could emerge as contenders this year, but they still have some pretty big

question marks. You know. Atlanta added Kyle Pitts, which means that often should be great, but their defense was not good last year, and there's you know, they're gonna have to prove that their defense is improved. And in Carolina, Sam Donald's gonna have to prove that he can win. So until those questions are answered, I think New Orleans

has to be the choice. And Ryan asked after Week three in l A. Would it be crazy to think that the Bucks could stay out and on the West coast or head to New England early and just skip out on heading back to Tampa for such a short week. Well, it's not crazy, but no, that's not gonna happen. They've never done that. I mean, if you were playing the Rams and then the Charges back to back, maybe you you'd stay out there, but you're gonna have to fly.

I mean, you know by the time you fly back, Yeah, you get in really really late on that Sunday, but you've got enough time to cover before you fly out again on Saturday. And I don't think the benefit of maybe saving one day of travel is worth not being at your home with all the things that you use to prepare yourself for games. So I would be very surprised with that. UM and Mike asked, has the league given an update about practice squad rules this year? Are

they any different or same? I'm surprised how many people are asking me that question. I get that in mailbags too, And no, we don't have the answer to that. And it's a very good question. Under the new CBA that was passed in two thousand and twenty uh this year, the UM practice squad rosters were supposed to be a twelve,

expanding to fourteen next year and beyond. However, they do have the NFL ken institute a lot of the same rules that were agreed upon last summer kind of an emergency state when the NFL and the NFL p A got together to figure out how to operate a league amidst the pandemic, and one of those rules was the expansion of the practice squad to sixteen players, six of which could be used on veterans guys with more than two years of accrued experience, which usually you couldn't put

those guys in your practice squad with a couple of exceptions. So um, it really made it a lot easier for teams to deal with the pandemic and to have roster flexibility without guys coming in and out of the building week after week after week. So um, at the moment, I would be willing to bet that the league will have some of the same COVID protocols in place to start the season. And in that case, they probably will still have a lot of those rules, including the sixte

man practice squad. It's not decided yet, but that's the way I would bet it will go. And since our last show, Blaine Gabrett has been resigned, and I know before that we had been asked a lot of questions about the quarterback room, and especially after drafting Kyle Trast. So now that we do know that all three of the guys from last year are officially back and we've drafted Kyle Trast, looking at those four guys, how do you see that shaking out in training camp and for

the regular season? Do you keep three on your roster? Do you keep too? And and you talked about those practice squad rules and and with that what that might mean for a quarterback position. Just give us all the

options there. Well, we were asked that a lot, and I'm pretty here just about every time we were asked, I said, I still think the most likely thing that will happen is that Buccaneers will resign Blaine Gabbert, because I know they like him and he knows the system, and they were confident with him as the backup last year to Tom Brady. So it just made the most sense because I thought Bruce arians would want a veteran

and someone with some starting experience in that role. And there's probably a couple of other ones out there that fit that bill, but we know blame gaber So um, I always thought that would happen. It did, And you also signed Ryan Griffin about a week before that, so now you have four. That's usually the amount they take to training camps, so that makes sense. Usually you keep three in this case, would be very surprising if the Buccaneers decided to immediately cut ties with Sick around pick

Kyle Trask. So it would seem to me like the battle for the primary backup and one of the three spots with Tom Brady and Kyle Trask would be between Blaine Gabert and Ryan Griffin and and that's fair, and both of those guys had the capability of winning that both of those guys have served as our primary backup in recent years, so that's what I think would happen. But like I just said, you can put veterans on a practice plane too, so there are some other options

as well. All Right, Well, that is going to do it for us on the decision of Buccaneers inside our Live presented by Miller Lte. And we are so excited that Rookie Minicamp really kicks off tomorrow, so we are actually gonna get a chance to see some of these guys out on the practice field and we'll have more to be able to talk about with all of these new draft picks and undrafted guys that are going to be out here over these next couple of days next week. So we'll see you then,