Good morning, Good morning everybody. At its time, four Buccaneers Insideer Live presented by Miller like Casey Phillips here with Scott Smith and Man. This is kind of an unusual one. We get to talk just the day before a game. Normally there's a lot more that's gonna happen between now in the game. But I guess that kind of can mean that we know more than we normally do on
a Wednesday leading up to the game. Uh So, we got a lot we're gonna talk about, and of course we always want to hear from you and what you want us to be talking about, So put your questions underneath the live video on Facebook for us to get a chance to answer those. I figured we'd start with the positive news. There was another award. We stacked up a whole bunch of defensive ones last week. This one
is on the offensive side. Yeah, Tom Brady. Unsurprisingly, after throwing five touchdown passes and three six and nine yards and leading a seventeen point comeback and all that, he's the NFC Offensive Player of the Week. After we had all those defensive player awards last week. He has thirty of those. Now, okay, not NFC has one NFC one, but he has thirty one Offensive Player of the Week awards, which is incredible. It's the most by anybody. Again, not surprisingly,
that's like one and a half a season. I mean, you get excited when you get one, and this guy has been stacking him them up multiple times per season in his career. That's Yeah, that's a pretty incredible award. Um And speaking of that, I know that he won that award missing some key people on Sunday, and uh,
that has continued to be a storyline this week. I feel like earlier in the season, the injury bug had hit a bunch of teams that you know, when we played the Broncos, we talked about that they were down so many people, and the Bucks had really been able to avoid that at least in the first few weeks. And now it seems like kind of finally caught up with them in at a very inopportune time when it's
a short week. Um, so, what what do we know at this point about some of the guys that are in are out and what this could mean, especially for this offense. Yeah, you know, you said, we're closer to the game, so we know more, and we do. We know that all the guys didn't practice the last two days. They were really walk throughs, but still they didn't walk through. So UM, that's certainly not very encouraging. Um, we won't know until later today exactly who is out, but it's
it's a pretty scary picture. Uh. Your top four whiteouts all have not practiced. That's Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Um, Uh, Justin Watson and Scottie Miller. And at the moment, what you have on the roster is ready to go is Jaden mckins and Cyril Grayson who was just promoted. And that's it. There's two guys on the practice squad, Josh Pearson and uh a new one. His last name is Whitney. Um that I've been blanking on at the moment. But
obviously those guys don't have any experience whatsoever. They could be active or elevated for the game. That's another thing we'll find out later today. Um. You know, here's the way I look at it. Uh. Three got three different people, Uh, Bruce Arians and Todd Bowls and then Lavante David all said one thing that was interesting this week after the comeback, when they all said they wouldn't have won that game last year, and Lavante said, the Bucks teams have pretty
much his entire career, wouldn't have won that game. And they found a way to win that game, and they have confidence, and you know, they figured it out and they believed. I think they're gonna have to do the same thing this week if you want to get that win and get to four and one against the good Chicago team in Chicago. I still think there's a way they can find a way to win. Even if all those guys are out and Leonard four Nett and Lashawn
McCoy are out. Uh, it's just gonna have to be power your way through this one and then you have a long break before the next game and hopefully you get a bunch of those guys back. So we'll see. It's not gonna be easy. But like you said, we nobody was, you know, nobody was crying for us when we played Denver and they had a bunch of injuries, and we played the Chargers and they had a bunch of injuries. I think this season is going to be a war of attrition and it's just our turn to
try to get through one. That's true, and um we had a few people asked a question along these lines, but Jamir had asked, um, should we look at free agents for another weapon with all of the injuries, and wanted to also hear your thoughts on how the new protocols and everything with COVID this year does affect that kind of thing. Yeah, we were talking about this after the game on Sunday, Um, when we started to see this injury picture unfold, and there really is no way
because it's a Thursday game. There really was no option. I mean, you could sign somebody sure for future, for the future, but there was no way to get somebody ready in the building and ready by Thursday because it's like a seventy two hour period with the COVID testing protocol, so you had to start on Monday. I think maybe they could get him in the building by Wednesday, but by that point you're pretty much done with your preparations. I couldn't really work them into the game plan at all.
So that really wasn't an option for this week, which is what you said at the top. Because it's a short week, it was it was particularly difficult. So um, we just have to power through it. Now. If any of these injuries proved to be more long term than Yes, obviously you're gonna have to start looking outside the building. Okay, we had a few questions in a row about Tristan Worth's um. You know, east I had asked just how
impressed we are with him. Richard had asked, what do you think it's gonna take to get him some offensive Rookie of the Year consideration. That's tough for an offensive lineman. I mean, you're always gonna have quarterbacks out there. I mean, wouldn't you justin Herbert is going to get a lot more attention than an offensive tackle, particularly because you know, when an offensive tackle is doing great, you're just not saying his name very much. It's the opposite of a
lot of these other positions. So, um, he could be the best rookie offensive rookie in the field this year. But I think it would be very difficult for him to win that award. You never know, I suppose, but he is playing really phenomenally well. He's playing like he's a veteran. He's handled some incredible pass rushers. He did really well against Joey Bosa this past week. Bosa even said that Bosa said after the game that this kid
is gonna be really good. You start to see some of these um analytics sites, you know, your your Football Outsiders and and Pro Football Focus and things like that are starting to give him a lot of love. And not just in terms of rookies, but in terms of just all offensive lineman. He's playing very very well. And that's also the case for a couple of other guys like Alan mar Pett and Ryan Jenson. I mean, the offensive line had his best game last Sunday, but it
doesn't look like it's a fluke. It looks like it's something that's sustainable. And we've been looking for this old line to really come together for a while, put a lot of resources in it. I mean, think about all the first round pick, two second round picks, a big free agency acquisition in the third round pick in the last four or five years to build this line, and
now it's really starting to come together. Okay. And Jermaine had asked about our tight ends that he said, do you think if one of them emerges as a star, could you potentially see us getting rid of O J or cam one of who No. I think I think what he's saying is because we have had so many. You know, we we do have a lot of tight ends there. And then now with o J being out, if some of these other guys step up in a big way, do you think that that is a position
where maybe you trade somebody. I know that was a talk before the season potentially, but now with o J being out, just how that affects the tight end group overall? Well, we don't have a lot of tight ends anymore. We have three of them. You have, I mean el Claire's on I R so I guess he could come back and then you have four. Uh uh. Oh. Claire is not really the same type of tight end as O J. Howard Tanner Hudson. I mean, okay, if Tanner Hudson emerges as a star, would we get rid of O J. Howard?
I mean possibly, But that's really asking quite a bit. Um. Rob Gronkowski, we already know what he is. Really everybody was was pretty was raving about what o J had done and how much progress he had made, and it
was really working out nicely. He was really more of the the receiving threat than Gronk was in the first four games, and Cam Braid, you know, we know what he is and we all love Cam and he's a great player, but as one of the coaches said yesterday, he's not the same tight end that O. G. Howard is. So O. J. Howard is your best bet to really get those downfield plays work. The seems beat people because
he's more athletic. He's he's really athletic for the size that he is and fast, and you don't get a lot of guys That's why he's a first round pick. You don't find a lot of guys like that. So, considering how well it was working out, I would think that would be motivated to keep O. J. Howard around, uh moving forward. And we don't know how long Rob Gronkowski wants to play yet either, So I don't you know, I feel like the tight end depth isn't really quite
as incredible as that question seems. Deposit Okay Daniel had asked, do you think this is going to be primarily a defensive game on Thursday? Absolutely, That's the way I've been writing about it all week. The Bears have a very good defense, really good pass rushers, and the Cheam Hicks and Khalil Mack and Robert Quinn, their inside linebackers Roquan Smith and Danny Travithon are really good. It's it's a tough front seven. They've played very well defensively. The Buccaneers
have also played very well defensively. You know, I think both teams are in the top ten, but by some other metrics. Uh, some other metrics consider the Buccaneer's defense one of the top one or two in the league. Um so yeah, considering how we are so banged up on offense and have to probably Jerry Rigg a game plan and the Bears have had their change at quarterback and are still trying to really get their offense in a groove, whichever defense makes the bigger plays is probably
gonna win this game. And yeah, Shannisia asked, were you surprised that Vaughan's number got called in the situation it did for his touchdown in that game? Um? Not, not as surprised as I would normally be, given that we were down to two running backs at the time, so it was either Ronald Jones or him, and um, I think we were. We were clearly in a I think that came out of a shotgun. I think we were
clearly in a passing situation. It wasn't third down, it was second down, but it was second and goal from the nine, I think, and I feel like we were definitely gonna throw and Keyshon had already shown that he could that he could you know, serve as like a third down type back. And you saw how well he made that catch. I mean, that was not an easy catch. And Rojo in that game had had a couple of balls he couldn't hang on too. So it's not it wasn't terribly surprising in the moment that he was in
there on it for that type of situation. Now, if you asked me that at the start of the game, I would definitely said yes. And we had a lot of people asking about Tyler Johnson, what we've seen from him, how big roll he's prepared to play. Um, you know, we've seen him at least get in for a couple of games now, but hasn't had his number called too much.
So do you feel like this could be the game that he really, you know, kind of shows improves you know why they drafted him, Well, hopefully it will be because that we may not have another option. Um, he may be your number one guy going into that game. Uh yeah, I mean the Bucks felt like they got to steal when they got him in the fifth round, and there was just so much wide receiver depth in this draft that allowed that to happen. I think he
would have gone higher in some other drafts. Uh. Yeah, and he's a talented guy and he you know, he was just really really set back by his injury and training camp and there was no no role for him in the offense when the season started. So and then once you get started with the season, your primary concern is getting ready for the next game, not you know, is getting this rookie ready who's not part of the
game plan. So it was probably hard for him to advance, but coach Arian says he has advanced and he's ready for it. It's not too big for him now. So, uh, he's a talented guy and hopefully, uh this is you know, he'll make the most of a shot here, just like Keishan did in the last game. Okay, well that's gonna do it for us. On this edition of Buccaneers Insider
Live presented by Miller Lte. Thanks to all of you guys for tuning in, Thanks for those amazing questions, and we'll be back here next Wednesday, hopefully talking about a great game that we got to see in Chicago. So we'll see you then