How Has the Bucs Offensive Line Performed Through First Three Games? | Bucs Insider

great win, so much we can talk about. Uh. We we did find out that we got an award for a player, so why don't you tell us that news? Yeah, Shack Barrett is the NFC Defensive Player of the Week. UM. Not a huge surprise of three. It's it's such a great storyline. And going back to Denver where he played for he was there for five years and played four seasons. UM he left. He has since said this week that UM,

or actually last week that he left. He was ready to leave Denver, even though he enjoyed his time there and honed his game there and played a longside great friends like von Miller and Bradley Chub, he was ready to go because it was clear to him that there was not gonna be a starting job for him down the road. It just wasn't gonna happen. And that's what he wanted, that's what he sought out. He got to sort of prove it contract as they call it, for

one year here in Tampa, got his chance to start. Obviously, it worked hard, better than anybody could have possibly imagined, with the league high nineteen point five sacks, and so he goes back to Denver for the first time, has two sacks, a safety, three tackles for loss. I mean, I think he had three or four plays that ended drives. Um,

it was quite an afternoon for Shack. It was a great day by the defense overall, and there were some other incredibly impressive performances by the Bucks defenders, but checks storyline was obviously the best one. And you know, he also won last week in Week two after the winning Carolina when he had three sacks and uh. The list of players for the Buccaneers that have won multiple Defensive Player of the Week awards is like Who's who are

the best players in team history? It's like Hardy Nickerson, Derek Brooks, war and Sap Simeon Rice and Rodney Barber. Wow. Yeah, that's quite a quite yes as as always for sure. That's yeah, all of those guys, that's quite a crowd to be a part of. That's that's incredible. And again for those of you just tuning in, just reminder that you can submit your questions under our live video on Facebook for us UM you know you talk. There were

so many incredible performances by the defense. I feel like we're probably gonna be saying this every week, But Antoine Winfield Jr. I'm just mind blown by how well he's playing. And I think that we've already forgotten how much time all those rookies missed in the off season. So for any rookie to come in and play like this and then much less in this kind of a year, I mean, what have you seen from him of why he has been so effective so early? I think it's incredible how

important Antoine Winfield already is to this defense. It's I mean, he's making plays on a constant basis. He he last week against Denver. He starts out in basically what is for the free safety position, and then Sean Murphy butting goes down and Sean as you know, starts on the outside in bass defense, but moves into the nickel. He's our number one nickel or number one slot corner, but

Anton Winfield is our number two. He took all the number two reps at that position during training camp, and so when Sean goes down, he moves into the slot, Mike Edwards comes into safety. We're talking about a rookie who you just said didn't get any preseason games, no offseason program, had to learn two different jobs while in training camp, and now he's playing them both in the same game. And I would advise all of you to go watch um Randi Barber, you should do this every week.

But Rodney Barber's film session video on Buccaneers dot Com, Uh, go watch that. And he said, this is Ronnie Barber we're talking about here, and he's also played safety and slot corner and outside corner. And he says, uh, it was just it didn't look like there was any difference in the defense after Antoine replaced Sean. And that's impressive. Not that we don't need Sean. We need Sean, and I hope he's back as soon as possible. But you

can't say enough about this kid. I think it was Shack who said, uh that he has yet to see him make a mental error in three games as a rookie. He has that. I mean, I don't know if that's true. I have to ask the coaches, but his teammates think that he never messes up, and that's pretty impressive. One other thing I wanted to just throw out there from

the um Rande Barber film session. Go watch that and watch the end, because the play where Levante David got his interception, Anthony Nelson sort of swarmed over Jeff Driscoll to make that ball fly up in the air like it did? You think? And I think, and everybody thinks that play was a blitz. Only four players came at the quarterback on that play it was. It was Anthony Nelson and JPP and then like Carlton Davis and Antoine Winfield and people like Vitave were dropping back into coverage.

It wasn't the blitz. And four guys on the Denver defensive line stood there with nothing to do. They were blocking nobody and it worked. And that's what Todd Bowles is doing this year. The the incredible variety of ways that he's bringing people after the quarterback. It's really really fun to watch and it's working, and sometimes you don't even realize until something like Randie breaks down for you that some of these plays aren't even blitzes. That's that's

really interesting. That is a great point. Um, Okay, so we'll get into some of these questions. We had several people, including Quincon, I saw a bunch of other people asking about Chris Godwin and his health. When we'll know things all of that. Yeah, we'll know something more today. Um. Coach talks on Monday and Wednesday, and uh. On Monday, he said, there, him and Sean Murphy bunting, we're gonna get m Ris to determine the severity of their hamstring injuries. Today.

Coach will tell us more. First of all, we'll get an injury report whether they practice or not, and Coach will probably give us a better idea of how long they'll be out. Personally, I don't really I think I've said this before. I don't like to make predictions on injuries because I think you can mess it up a lot, and also I feel like I always get it wrong. That being said, I would be surprised if Chris is back this week. Okay, to ask how much of the

offensive playbook do you think Brady is using at this point. Yeah, that's a good question. I imagine it's a little bit more every week, but not a huge huge amount, I would think. And remember, if the playbook is this big, you know, let's say it's a hundred pages or a thousand plays or whatever it is, they go in each week and they choose from that and they pare it down and they choose a selection of plays that they

intend to use that week. Not to say they can't go to any part of the playbook during the during the game if it comes to their mind, but um, each week is going to have a slim down version of what the offense is anyway, even if everybody knows everything, um, so I would I. I don't know that obviously the percentage, but I imagine it's not a huge amount at this point. Okay.

And uh Lewis asked if Chris Godwin is out, is there a chance we'll see more of rookie Tyler Johnson, And I know we did see him a little bit this last Sunday. Yeah, I think that's the answer to the question. We did see Tyler Johnson playing UM after Chris went down, And Uh, I would yeah, I don't see how it's don't even know how it's possibly wouldn't see more of him, particularly if Justin Watson is not

back from his shoulder injury. You know, when the Bucks drafted Tyler Johnson, a lot of the things that they that was said about what he could do sounded like what Chris Godwin does. He can play outside, he can really play well in the slot, he runs routes well, he's good with the ball in his hands after the catch.

I mean that sounds like Chris Godwin. So the same way that Justin Watson is sort of a similar player to Mike Evans, and and you know, I don't mean to compare anybody to Mike Evans, but a similar type of player. Tyler Johnson seems more like a similar type of player to Chris Godwin. So even if Justin Watson is around, I do expect we'll see more of Tyler Johnson. Yes, okay. Um Edward had asked, how do you feel about five to seven Pro bowlers now? Because I know that's something

to ask about earlier for the season. So now now that we've got a few games under our belt, what are you thinking about the number of Pro Bowls. Okay, Um, Well, Lavante and Devin both seemed like really good candidates. Um, we'll see what happens with sacks, so Jpp and Shack and uh even maybe in Dominquin, Sue I will I will probably be based on how many sacks they rack up. Mike Evans. The thing about Mike Evans is the yardage

isn't there yet. I do expect it to happen, but uh, wide receiver is always a very competitive position for the Pro Bowl. So even though he's got four touchdowns to tie for the league lead, I think he's gonna need some big games to make sure he's in. He should be in. Obviously, Tom Brady probably makes in because he's Tom Brady. Um, do we get a guy on the line like Ali, Marpett, Ryan Jensen. I don't think my answer has changed that much, to be honest with you.

I mean, I think that the first time we answered this question, I thought it was kind of a little bit aggressive at first, and then we talked it through and realized that could happen. And that's still the way I feel. And I do think that the Mike stats are going to be interesting to see because you have a game like this last week where he had two touchdowns, which you know, that's that's a sure fire way to get you towards that Pro Bowl. Atend you have two yards.

So yeah, he's the first wide receiver in NFL history to have a game where he had two catches for two ards and two touchdowns. That's incredible. It's happened to other times that they were both tight ends. That's pretty funny. Um Okay. Lewis asked if Godwin is out, what changes do you foresee taking place to the game plan? Um. And also he asked about even roster so in terms of how that might change the way they use different

guys on the offense. And then if there would be any movement, I don't know, maybe practice squad roster, who's active, who's not. I think for the most part, UH, teams and play callers and offensive coordinators don't like to have to change the offense week to week based on personnel too much. You know what I'm saying. You'll often hear that if a quarterback is replaced, I go, yeah, we'll play to his strength, but we're not going to change

what we do. We are who we are. Um. You know, I would say, the biggest thing is when you have Mike Evans and Chris Godwin both out there and makes it easier for everybody else because they draw so much attention. And we saw that when Chris didn't play. We've seen three games and two of them Scottie Miller has had around eighty yards and but the year the week like Chris Godwin didn't play, Scottie I think only had a

couple of catches for not very many yards. And I think it's easier for opposing defenses to um pay more attention to your ancillary targets like Scotty and the tight ends. UM. And we also saw that when Chris Godwin was out in a week two, the Buccaneers ran more than the plays out of twelve personnel, which is two tight ends, which was higher than what they've done in the other

two games. So that would probably be the biggest change, I think, especially if our blocking tight end is catching passes now, so UM, you know, I think that would be the biggest deal. Whether or not there's a change to the roster or maybe a practice squad elevation from one of the receivers on the roster would probably depend on if Justin Watson is available, because if Justin's available, you still have Mike, Justin um Scottie Tyler Johnson, Jaden

Mick and so you really have enough for a game. Okay, Bruce asked, do you see Hugh Shawn Von getting any snaps? Well, it doesn't seem like that's likely real soon. I mean he was it went in the wrong direction last week when he was not active for the game. The Buccaneers brought up Kenyan Barner from the practice squad and used

him on special teams, and he was. He made an impact according to Keith Armstrong, and some of the kickoff returns even though he wasn't the kickoff returner um his presence back there changed the strategy of the Broncos, according to Keith Armstrong, um so and then and then Keishan was inactive for the game. Obviously, you can't get snaps

if you're not active. We'll see this week. But it does seem like all the offense in terms of running backs going through the splitting of the carries between Ronald Jones and Leonard four Nette, and then Lashaw McCoy is your third down pass catching back. So I'm not sure there's a real spot for Keishan right now, and it may not have anything to do with Keishan even he's progressing. Yeah's just one of the things when you have that

many talented guys in a room. It's kind of like what we talked about all those other offensive weapons that sometimes they're just dart enough snatched him around passes to go around. So Cam Braid's not getting a lot of snaps right now as an example, and we know if he was out there on the field, he would definitely be helping um. So Jordan asked, how well would you say the old line is playing. I think they're playing

pretty good. I mean, I feel like the majority of the time, UM, Tom Brady is being afforded enough time to throw. I mean, every quarterback is gonna get sacked from time to times, and it seems like the majority of the sacks of Brady this year have been on instances where he's he's really held the ball for a long time to try to find somebody open. Um. You know, I think we're about tenth or something like that in terms of sacks per pass play allowed. It's pretty good.

The numbers are pretty good. I mean, the offense overall seems to be rounding into shape. It seems to be pretty steady. I don't think you can do that if your offensive line is having a rough go of it. So I think they've been pretty good. And you brought up you know, Cam Breake, but overall, we just the Titans. I felt like had been such a big storyline in the last few weeks, the fact that they weren't getting targeted as much. And then Christopher asked, what are your

thoughts on Gronk catching more passes? Do you see him getting more catches down the road or will he still do more blocking? Again, Well, he's always going to be doing a lot of blocking because he's on the field for most of the snaps and he's a great blocker. So you know, you are going to run the ball, whatever your game plan is, you're still gonna run the ball twenty and thirty times the game. Uh So he's gonna be doing a lot of blocking, and that's good

for the Bucks offense. But I would suspect that what we saw in Denver is closer to what you you should expect on a game to game basis about you know, he had six catches, let's say four or five six catches for around fifty yards, and that's you know, that's pretty good when you're talking about a lot of it is situational because in that game, both Gronk and Chris Gobin before he got hurt, caught a lot of passes in the intermediate zone where the passers were thrown between

zero and ten yards, and according to next Gen Stats, Tom Brady's Tom Brady was excellent on passes in that zone throughout that game, and and that a lot of those were like underneath passes where you got seven or eight yards on third and six, things like that. So it was very effective and I think it can be

effective in that manner. And then you saw the one time where Tom took a deep shot to him in the end zone and drunk did get behind the defensive all just was a little too long and got out the back of the in Zoe, Okay, well that's gonna do it for us. On Insider Live presented by Miller Lite. Thank you guys so much for being with us. Those were great questions. We'll be back here next week to break down that game against the Chargers, where we will

actually have some Bucks fans in the building. That's going to be so much fun. So I see you guys next week.