Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Panthers and Bucks Part one, two games, final three weeks
to decide who wins the NFC South, and right now
it looks like neither team really wants to take it.
Let's talk to a guy who's covered Tampa Bay football
for a few decades. Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times,
kind enough to give us some time here on a
Wednesday afternoon.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Rick, how you been, brother? I appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Thanks of course.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Just lately I've been watching Bucks games. I've seen what's
going on, but you cover them inside and out. What's
gone wrong with this team? And why does it seem
like things are falling apart?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
I mean the bigger answer is is, you know, they've
had a ton of injuries, and I think that's affected
them throughout the season. Although you could argue that they
were better with more guys out when they started you know,
five and one. Now some of that are a lot
of that was Baker Mayfield coming down, you know, with
four last minute comeback victories, and you're not going to
(00:53):
see that every year. So they've hit a skid. But
I think overall the it's just not very good on defense.
I mean, that's you know, they're they're they're their hope
that Hassan Reddick would come in here and and you know,
be the Hassan Redick of a few years ago did
not come to pass. He's missed games, he hasn't really produced.
(01:15):
I think he has two and a half sacks. Some
of their younger players haven't developed as they'd hoped, uh,
and some guys have gotten old, you know, like Levonte
David And I think it's a combination of a lot
of things. But the defensively they've just not really been
very good. And then, you know, I think if there's
hope for the Bucks right now, it's the fact that
(01:36):
they are getting their guys back. When I say they're guys,
I mean Mike Evans, Mike Evans, Mike Evans, Jalen McMillan,
Chris Godwin and a Mecca Buca all played for the
first time together in a game, you know, this past week.
And I think, you know, the hope for them, uh,
is that that that's a that's an explosive offense. With
(01:58):
Bucky Irving, who they missed most of the season as well,
He's played a couple of two or three games now,
and I think as they continue with this group, even
though the offensive line is in hole, there's an opportunity
there for Baker Mayfield to put up some points. And so,
you know, you just need one more than the opponent. Right,
They're going to give up some, but that's an explosive bunch.
(02:21):
That's going to be a handful if they can give
Baker time. And I'm anxious to see just you know,
if those guys can stay on the field together, just
what they can do.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
I'm sure you and others have asked him, but when
we found out about Baker's ac joint sprain, my first
thought was, Oh, he's going to be playing in pain
probably the rest of the season to at least some extent.
Have you seen it affect him so far? How much
pain week to week do you think he's playing through.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Well, it's got to be significant, right, and I think
it's been cumulative. You know, he started out early in
the season after the Texans game, he had to come
back there. He was you know, had a knee injury
in that game. He's carried that on with him throughout
the season. You know, he had a you know, kind
of an abdominal strain midway through and I think that
(03:06):
one was problematic in terms of his velocity and throwing
the football, and then now with the left shoulder, you know,
he's got that harnessed up a little bit. It can't
be comfortable. Certainly, it affects him, and he's tried to
be very selective about when he runs or if he runs,
and that that was a big part of his game
early in the season. So we'd be naive to think that,
(03:29):
you know, the way Baker plays and the amount of
punishment he takes that when you get to you know,
week fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, et cetera, that it's not limiting
him in some ways. But you know, I think all
these guys are beat up to some extent, maybe Baker
more than others. And you know, I've seen you know,
you just look at the numbers and the accuracy has dipped, obviously,
(03:50):
complete and percentage. You know, it's started to throw you know,
as many touchdowns as interceptions, and that just wasn't the case.
I think he was like sixteen touchdowns turner sessions to
start the season, So you know, it definitely has effected.
It seems to be a pattern every year where the
later the year goes the more beat up he is,
(04:10):
and he's not the biggest guy in the world. And
he also plays like you know, he's a fullback, so
some of that is on him, but overall he's a warrior,
and you know, he's not going to use it as
an excuse, and I don't think the Bucks will either.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Rick Stroud, Tampa Bay Times covers the Bucks with us
here on a Wednesday afternoon. You know, I was I
was really surprised last week with what Todd Bowles had
to say after that loss to Atlanta. And I've seen
a lot of allegations down your way of Todd Bowles
losing the locker room as a result of it. I
think our afternoon drive sports radio counterparts down there said
exactly that yesterday, you're in the building, you're in the
(04:45):
locker room. Do you get the sense that that's true.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
I'll be happy to tell those guys and I know him,
that they're wrong. Okay, yeah, you know, they need to
spend more time in the locker room and then they
would know there's there's not uh. And that's the shot.
They're all friends of mine, uh, they or they were
they they you know, listen, players playing coaches, coach and
(05:09):
that's an old cliche, but it's true, right, I think
to a man. Uh, what's interesting about that rant was No,
we have not seen Todd Bowles do it on the podium.
I assure you he does it often, uh, in the
meeting rooms. And I think that the misnomer about bulls
is that, well, you know, he's on the sideline, he's blasted.
He has no emotion. That's why you know, Look, it's
(05:31):
only whether you win or you lose. Right, if you're
that guy and your your you know, winning uh and
not showing much most in your Tom Landry like right,
the teams are they're cerebral, and they're they're controlled and
they're poised. Right, if you're losing, you have no emotion.
And that's why you know. The opposite is true too.
You know, if your fiery and and your teams are winning,
(05:52):
it's like, well, look, you know, Bill Parcelves, you know
they're you know they're they're they're really like their coach.
And if you're losing, you're a maniac your great ship,
you know what I mean, you're off the rails. The team.
The team doesn't know, it has no discipline, like so
it's just whether you win or you lose. And you know,
I think that that what Todd said, he was he
was ticked off, he said it, and he had just
(06:13):
said the exact same thing to his football team. I
was a little surprised that he dropped seven F bombs
uh in public. That it's not what we hear. It
was maybe a two or three more excessive. But you know,
I think it also kind of you know, I think
what Todd was trying to do. You know, coaches can
(06:34):
bring you so far. And you know, they had a
situation in that game, you know, third and twenty eight, right,
fourth and twelve or fourteen, whatever it was, and they'd
had an injury and Sia McCollum's out. But you got
an NFL player, Kendall Filldor, and you know that you're
just supposed to play, you know, play to the sticks,
(06:55):
right like you know, just anything you tackle guys short
of that mark or the game is over and he jumps,
he jumps the running back in the backfield and they
throw it over his head for a first down. That's
an unforgivable thing to do at any level of football.
In that situation, you got to be situationally aware and
is it everybody every play. No, but that's the kind
of thing that gets you beat, and it's been getting
(07:16):
them beat, especially on defense. So I understand his frustration,
but you know, maybe he's lost Kendall Wieldel or I
don't know, maybe they should. But at the end of
the day, it's like, you know, you can put guys
in position that's installed day one, right, Like you got
to make plays. You know, It's not to me, a
(07:39):
lot of it is players, not plays. When you get
to this level and you get to this time of
the season, now, if you don't have good enough players,
let's start talking about the GM okay, or start talking
about the draft, or start talking about the coaches that
don't develop these guys. That's all fair game. But when
you're into the season, and you're this late into the season,
there should be no mystery about what technique you're playing
(08:02):
right or what you're seeing on film. Everybody should know
what the hell to do and they should be able
to communicate it. So I was in the locker room today,
I've been in it before this week on Monday, and
there's nobody, you know, down in the mouth about Todd Bowles.
Do they know that if they lose and lose big,
there could be a change coming. Yeah, they probably figured
(08:23):
that out, but no one's out there making business decisions,
you know, waiting for the next guy to take over.
I mean that that just hasn't happened. I mean his team.
You know, realistically, we saw what pressure does right to
Carolina in New Orleans. They had every reason to go
down there and win that game. But you know what,
sometimes when the expectations are now on your side, right,
(08:45):
sometimes when you're the hunted and not the hunter, it's different.
Now it's different, right, So pressure does funny things to people.
And you know, we'll see these two teams are going
to play each other twice in three weeks. I think
this one's got a lot of guys with pedigree that
played in bigger games than this. They've won Super Bowls
and I and they've been here before where they've lost
(09:06):
a bunch of games then had to rally to win
the division. I think they'll respond, but I don't think
that it's because you know, if they don't, it'll be
because Todd Bowles has lost the locker.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Un I hear you, and I'll let you go on this.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
I think I can combine two questions into one because
I'm pretty sure what you and I talked after the
Panthers hired Dave Canalis and uh, just kind of as
a refresher, I'd love to know what you recall about
his offense that year that really stands out to you.
And I asked that in part because yesterday we were
pointing out that they're seven and seven. There's no doubt
been improvement in this organization that much as obvious they're
(09:39):
seven and seven in the playoff hunt. But at the
same time, they're you know, twenty eighth in the NFL
and points per game at eighteen point nine. So this
offense is not produced to the level that I think
they hoped it would. So what do you recall from
your season covering Dave Canalis's offense in Tampa and what
do you think of the job that he's done here?
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Well, I those are two different questions. I think you
know his offense in Tampa is probably not and I
haven't seen a lot of Panther games. Admittedly I did
watch the New Orleans game. Look, I would say this
about Dave. His strength is not playing calling. Okay, now,
he may not agree with that, assessment. But it's true.
(10:22):
And you know, and if you ask people in this
building and players in particular, they will tell you that.
Now having said all that, I know he had fancies
himself as an offensive play caller when he got here.
He hadn't done it since Carson High School in California. Now,
you know, just because you're in the NFL, and this
is what I would do. All that kicked great, but
(10:43):
they didn't run. They were last in the league in rushing,
I believe when when Dave was here, and you know,
they didn't have a lot of answers at the line
of scrimmage right for the quarterback to get out of plays.
I don't know if that's changed. I suspect it hadn't
changed a whole lot. But those those things will get you.
And you know what I will tell you though, and
(11:04):
I think this has happened. Baker called Dave an optimist bully,
and you guys have seen it every day, right, every
day he's mister Rogers. Right, it's like, hey, guys, how's
it going. You know, it doesn't matter if you win
or lose, And that's good as long as you're the
same guy all the time. And and for Baker, who
was you know, coming up being in four teams in
eighteen months. That was a hell of a thing. And
I think it was a great thing, you know, for
(11:25):
your quarterback. There no question, you know, you need that positivity. Frankly,
they could use a little bit of that around Tampa
right now. But but you know, you got to put
players in the best position to succeed. And and I
don't know, I haven't watched the Panthers offense enough to know,
but I'm not surprised, you know, Uh, maybe they need
(11:47):
more players. Maybe that's part of it. Maybe the offensive
line isn't great, but they didn't have success with those
of those offensive line coaches in Tampa, and and Dave
couldn't run the ball right and they didn't score a
lot of points. So you know, take that for what
it is. I mean, if it's still a young program,
he's still he's still only in year two. I think
(12:08):
he'll grow. I always thought that he would be a
better head coach than a play call, you know, because
a lot of the job of the head coaches to
set the tone. I think he's done that Carolina. You know.
Now we'll see where they go from here. But he's
been good for the quarterback and getting him, you know,
confident again, getting his confidence back. And now it's just
(12:29):
a question of, you know, whether they can execute the
plays that he calls and he calls him in the
right order. I mean, you know, we can all question
fourth and one. You know, why aren't you running a
sneak there? Why you know, like it did? You can
do this all day. But but Dave's reputation here was
at least among some of the players that I talked to.
(12:50):
Great guy, very good optimist. You know, sets the tone
extremely well, not so good getting you in and out
of bad plays when when you need to be and
you need those answers at the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Rick, appreciate the time, buddy. Happy holidays to you and yours.
We'll talk to you soon. Save travels to Charlotte.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Same to you guys. Thanks to you so, Rick
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Stroud Tampa Bay Times with us on the hotline.