Morning, everybody. How's everyone doing. We are officially four days away from the Super Bowl. Casey Phillips here a senior writer and editor Scott Smith, and this is where we take all of your question, thoughts, and comments on Buccaneers.
Inside are live presented by Miller Lte. We are doing the show again, just like we've done the last few weeks of the playoffs Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week, so there's plenty of time for you guys to get all of your thoughts, comments, questions, everything in so as we give people a chance to start doing that. There's been a lot going on this week, of course, leading up to the super Bowl. That's always how it is.
There's crazy amounts of media and obligations guys have, which is great for us because we get to hear all sorts of fun little nuggets of information. But I know the one that people are probably most going to be asking about and most care about at this point is the injury situation. So tell us what we know at this point and then when we might know more, well,
we'll know a little bit more later today. UM, But I think with the four main guys that were concerned about, UM, we probably won't really have a good feel for it til the end of the week. Um, they did a walkthrough yesterday since it was like a bonus day after they'd had a couple of extra days off, and uh, all four of the guys were talking about which is Lavante David with a hamstring, Antonio Brown with a knee, Jordan Whitehead with a shoulder, and Antoine Winfield Junior with
an ankle. All four of them took part in the walkthrough, but coach said they weren't ready to go yet, so in other words, had been a full speed practice, they would have been out or limited in some way. But I still think I always tend to think it's a good sign when they're taking part in the walkthrough, because the walkthrough is when you actually go through plays on both sides of the ball that you plan to use
in the game. And so if you didn't think this guy was gonna play in the game or had a good shot at it, then why would you bother having You'd have his his replacement in there, wouldn't you. Yeah, that's a really great point that I hadn't even thought about. Um, So yeah, that's a good sign. And and again just a reminder anyone who saw the injury reports from last week, those were based on the idea that the game would
have been this last Sunday. So I was just like reiterating that in case there's anybody knew that didn't hear that disclaimer and has been panicking about some of those designations. In fact, that that injury report is still displayed on the website on our injury report page until it gets replaced later this afternoon. The one that goes up today will not have game stest designations that won't happen until Friday, but it will now be applying to the actual Super Bowl.
So um, that's good news. I would have liked for Lavante to be just a little bit more definitive with I'm definitely playing. I wouldn't miss this for the world. He I mean, he he did. He said the truth and the right thing. But he just said he's taken a day today trusting the trainers, and then we'll see on Sunday. Well, I know what I want to see on Sunday. So you know, he's waited a long time for this game, so he'll go if you can. It's just that hamstring, I would say, if it was an
elbow or even a knee or something. I'm like, there's no way he like, let's say keep him out of this game. But hamstrings are tricky. I mean, hamstrings are injuries that sometimes your body just won't let you even if you want to fight through the pay Yeah. I mean the good news is that sometimes with things like hamstrings, you hold somebody out because you're afraid it will make lows for future games. Well, you don't have to worry
about that with this. At least it's just the one game and you're not worried about what it would mean long term the rest of the season. I also think it's a good sign that he injured, that he suffered that injury in the third quarter in Green Bay and he didn't miss a snap, so at least at that point he was able to play through it. That's a that's a really good point. Um, So of those guys in general, we we've heard a little bit from Bruce
and all that. What do you feel like in terms of who's the closest or further way, do we know who's more certain or less certain of those guys? I think you just gotta go with um what we said before, the evidence that we have at hand, uh, is that Antoine Winfield actually went on the trip to Green Bay, UM and they actually worked him out in the morning before the game with the chance that he might play, And that was what at this point a couple of weeks ago. So, UM, I gotta feel like he's probably
your best bet to play. And then Lavante just because what coaches said, Um, he seems like the best bet. So the two guys that were actually listed as doubtful for that Phantom game last Sunday were Whitehead, who got hurt in the game. It hasn't practiced since in Antonio owner didn't go on the trip. And then Daniel had a question. He said, take Tom Brady out of the equation for this answer. Outside of him, who do you think the defensive player and offensive player most valuable player
for the game would potentially be? And he said, you could give either a dark horse or a most logical answer. UM. On offense, I think I would go with Chris Godwin. I just I think he's gonna have a lot of opportunities in this game to make big plays of a slot, especially because they they blitz a lot, and so if you've got hot reads. I could see Chris Godwin being a hot read on short passes that he could gain
extra yards on. He's very, very good at that. Um. You know, I'm hesitant to pick a running back just because I don't know how the flow of the game is gonna go, and you never know. Leonard Fournett has been the you know, the lead back in the playoffs, but Ron Jones could have a big day and then I would have picked the wrong one. So I'm gonna go with Chris Godwin. Um. And you really could go with any of our receivers, but that's one I'll choose there.
On defense, you know, it's it's gonna have to be for defensive player to when he's gonna have to make some splash plays. I mean, when we were in the Super Bowl last time, Dexter Jackson had two game turning interceptions in the first half, and since there was nobody that really blew you away on the offensive offensive side of the ball, Um, he got it. That's the kind
of performance you need. So it's gonna have to be somebody with you know, a bunch of sacks or you know, like Von Miller uh in Super Bowl fifty, he he won the m v P because their seven sacks against Cam Newton was really what made the game, and he had two and a half of them. So with that in mind, I would say one possibility would be Shack Barrett if he has another performance like he did in
Green Bay. Okay, Um, Mike had said, who do you think are some of the big contributors to this team getting to this point that haven't necessarily gotten the name recognition? And he throughout Will Golston. Yeah, that's a good one, of course. And uh, I feel like Will was getting some, um some attention earlier in the season, which was good
because he was deserving of it. We were kind of calling him out saying, hey, did have you guys noticed that this guy is leading the team and which he did by the way, he led the team in quarterback hits, which is pretty pressive for Will considering you know, his value to the team coming into the season. Was how very very good. He is stopping the run and sealing the edge on the strong side against the run, so
for him to give you that pressure is great. Um, But I would say just about anybody on the offensive line, I think we hear Ali mar Pet's name a lot, which is deservedly, but that that offensive line has been phenomenal this season and they're peaking at the right time. They're playing great right now. Um, you know, maybe a guy like Ryan Jensen would be a good answer there. Yeah, that is a good one. Um. Scott had asked, do you think Tom is more motivated to get his seventh
ring or these young guys to get there first? I would not. I would hesitate to put anybody above Tom Brady when we're listening how motivated a person is. Um, so I'd have to go with Tom. You know, the these young guys, it's their first time, and I'm sure everybody's motivated. Of course that's obvious, but um, they may not have a full grasp of what this means and and how often or how well to not often most
players make it to this stage. You know, Tom's got things on on the on the plate there like seven titles, which is more than any franchise has, you know, So, um, that'd be to be one individual with more Super Bowl championships than any NFL franchise would be pretty remarkable, Um, I think, and you know, it would be one more than Michael Jordan's got because at the point where Tom Brady is now, people are comparing him to the best athletes in every sport, right right, Yeah, he's in a
class all his own. You can't even it's like you don't even have anything to compare him to hardly anymore. Yeah, So I think the seventh three and he'd be the first guy to um to get too after the age of forty. I think in any major sport he'd be the first guy. He'd be the second guy after Peyton Manning to win two as a quarterback with two different teams.
So there's a really a lot of historical things on the plate for Tom Brady, which I'm sure he would say he's not focused on any of that right now. But when it's all of a sudden done, it's gonna matter. Um jose had asked, do you think that the Bucks should be expecting some unique or different offensive formation plays, trick plays? And how do you prepare for that kind
of thing? And that's the last part of that is a great question, And as I wish somebody would ask Todd Bowls that, I'm sure you would say, you just have to read your keys, you know, train your eyes, believe your eyes, all that. But um, I absolutely think you'll see something from the Chiefs on offense that you haven't seen before, because every time I got a chance
to watch the Chiefs this year, that happened. I mean you'd see a play, Oh, that's really cool, I've never seen that before, and then the next week you see them that happened actually against US. I had seen them play the week before. I saw a crazy play that I've never seen before that worked really well. And then they were playing US and they started to run the what looked like the exact same thing, but then it
changed into something else, and it would have worked. I think one of our I think maybe Lavant or something made a really good defensive play to stop it from working. But it was a cool play. Uh. I think there's no way any reads going into the Super Bowl without some new wrinkle that we haven't seen before. Yeah. I think that's a it's a very fair point. Um. I don't know the answer to this question. I'm not sure if you do, and if we don't, we can try
to find it. But st I asked, will are injured players be on the sidelines for the game to get the Super Bowl experience or do they have to watch from home because of all the COVID stuff. Um, yeah, you're right, I don't know to answer to that, so maybe we can try to find it out. We'll try to track that down. I hadn't thought about that. In normal times, Um, you know, they've injured, guys tend to either sometimes watch from the sideline or maybe be up
in a suite with like your practice squad players. But yeah, I don't know how that works with it being a Super Bowl and being COVID times. And hopefully we'll not have to worry about that because we won't have anybody that's outdue to injury. But well, I mean I think he said he. I think people that asked us about like O. J. Howard, Alex Kappa, people like that. Yeah, that'll be interesting. Well yeah, boy, it's hard to imagine them being on the sideline, but maybe maybe as a
luxury suite somewhere a site or something. Yeah. Um, Dustin asked, do you think we'll be able to keep most of the players for the next season. That's a good question. Um, I'd like to believe that most of them will be in the same spot they were last year, where they believe that where this team is headed. Um, win or lose. It's been a pretty magical season for the Buccaneers, and you know everybody expects Tom Brady back. Um So, I would think that'd be a motivating factor for a lot
of these guys. Obviously, Shack is playing on the one year franchise tag, but has said on multiple occasions that he wants to stay. Obviously the Bucks want to keep him around. Um. You know the others, I guess or Chris Godwin and Don Mckinsue, Levante David. Um it's a tough prediction to say all of them will be back, but some of those guys you have a hard time
picture of them going anywhere else, like Lavante David. Um. So, I would say the majority will probably be back, but it will take a lot of work, just like it did last off season. Um do you I love this question? Tony asked, do you think Vita Via might be featured as a fullback in any of the plays in the Super Bowl? Sure? Why not? I mean it worked when we've done it. Um, it probably isn't. It is a matter of just how close to percent they think he is.
Because we really need Vi Tovey on defense, and you wouldn't want to lose any of of his availability because you put him on offense. Right, Yeah, maybe if he's it's less likely, but I don't think it's impossible. Yeah, that's a good point. Um, this is an interesting question. We've talked a lot about the shift that happened at halftime the last time we played the Chiefs and how that was sort of the beginning of the rest of
the season and how well the Bucks did. Scott asked, do you think the Chiefs softened up at halftime or do you think our offense just really started to figure things out. I don't know if i'd use the term softened up, but I remember during that game as we were making our comeback, I think the Chiefs were playing with the lead, and they, you know, they were playing more conservatively on both sides of the ball that they
normally would. You know, I don't think that um on offense, they were attacking quite as much, and so it made it possible for us to um build, you know, to make that comeback. But just there just wasn't enough time. We ran out of time. We got we got to within three points and there were four minutes left, and Patrick Mahomes engineered three first downs and that was it. You know, they were able to run out the clock. I think you see that with the Chiefs a lot,
to be quite honest with you. Last year in the playoffs, they got down dub digits in every game and then just came storming back. So I think there's a little bit of a you know, flip being switched sometimes with them. In this case, they just went absolutely bonkers at the beginning of the game. And um, some of that also
was adjustments on our part. For instance, in the first quarter of that game, we were in single high safety on defense about the time and that didn't work and uh Tyreekill caught something like six passes outside the numbers against um single high coverage in that quarter. We went for two high safeties on snaps the rest of the way, which was obviously an adjustment because of the previous strategy was not working. Um, so some of it was adjustment
on our part. But I think it's fair to say that the Chiefs may have eased off a little bit after they got the big lead and it worked. I mean, they won the game. I'm not criticizing, right, Yeah, absolutely. Um. Matt asked how big of a deal is it? That Eric Fisher is out, and how much do you think will be able to pressure Mahomes because of the injuries
they've had to their offensive line. I think it's a big deal, and I don't want to say that in a way that's disrespect to the people that are stepping in there now. Mike Rimmers, probably a left tackle who, by the way, started his career here. Um. I don't think he ever got to play in a regular season game, but he was here. Um, Mike Rimmers. And then uh, I think their guard Andrew Wiley will kick out to right tackle. Um. You know, I would just say, take
a look at the Green Bay game. Heading into that game, Uh, you know, we knew actually we felt that. I didn't know this until after the game and they talked about it, but they felt like they had a good matchup against those tackles because David Baker had been lost before the season. He's a Pro Bowl left tackle, and they had two guys that they've sort of been rotating between during the season on the right side, Ricky Wagner and Billy Turner, and then moved Billy Turner to the left side, and
Ricky Wagner got the right tackle job. And I just feel like our guys thought we had the advantage in both those matchups, and certainly the results indicate they were right. Uh, it looks on paper like the same thing here and again no offense to Mike Rimmers, but again, Eric Fisher was a Pro Bowl left tackle and that's a hard thing to replace at the last minute, you know, And so, um, it certainly seems like on paper you would look at it and go, that's a place where the Buccaneers have
an advantage. And I hope that proves to be true, because any pressure we can get on Patrick Mahomes will make a lot of difference. Right. He definitely is one of the harder people to pressure. So even if you're you're winning your matchups on the line, he is so mobile that just just beating that offensive lineman may not mean a whole lot in terms of pressure. So that's gonna be really interesting to see how well they're able to not only win those matchups but contain as well. Um, well,
that's gonna do it for us. On this edition of Buccaneers Inside a Live presented by Miller Lite. Thank you so much for being with us, and again we'll be back here tomorrow morning and Friday morning for any of the questions that I didn't get too, so we'll see then