00:00running that very spread shotgun type of RPO offense that really just put a lot of stress
00:05on defenses every single week.
00:07Then he had a couple of seasons there where he was dealing with a back injury, and you
00:11guys know covering this league and just this sport, anytime you're dealing with a back
00:14injury, it's not good.
00:15It can linger.
00:16It can really affect everything that you're doing, and it mainly affects the power that
00:20you have in your body, and I think that as Jalen tried to play through that for a couple
00:24of seasons, you just saw less arm strength from him, and even that final year in Kansas
00:29is he was a little bit more healthy, but he didn't look like that player that we saw as
00:33an underclassman.
00:34So he goes undrafted, and he gets to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but man, he looks a lot more
00:39healthy right now.
00:40The preseason, he was a lot of fun.
00:41He was, again, I use that word fearless, somebody who is not afraid to come in and scan the field
00:47and attempt the throws that you need to attempt to win football games, right?
00:51You get some of these quarterbacks, especially backup quarterbacks and younger quarterbacks
00:55who say, all right, I don't want to mess up.
00:57Like, that's job number one for them is I don't want to mess up, and you watch them
01:01play the game like that.
01:03Jalen Daniels' number one point in his head is I want to win the football game, and he
01:08at least has that mentality to do so.
01:10So when you go back to last week, his first start in the league, I don't think he looked
01:14too bad.
01:15I think that there's a lot of other issues that are going on in that offense, but he
01:19did look like someone who, if the offensive line does play a little bit better and if
01:23they can have a little bit better play design to create some easier throws for him, I think
01:28he's got that mentality to see the field the right way.
01:31So I was impressed with him, even though it was a quiet day on offense and even though
01:36they lost, for an undrafted free agent making his first start, Jalen did show some good things
01:41last week.
01:41His over-under for rush yards against this defense tomorrow is 44-and-a-half.
01:46Which way are you going?
01:49I think that's a good, man, I think that's a good number for him.
01:52Um, I'm going to say, I'm going to say less, but I do think that it's, it's going to be
01:58close to that because I think it's a, just a reminder of the Panic Cowboys defense, Trevor,
02:03just in case you forgot.
02:04That is true.
02:05That is true.
02:06And they have struggled with that amongst some other things throughout the season, but I feel
02:11as though Jalen's going to want to operate a little bit more from the pocket.
02:14Uh, they didn't.
02:15Now, here's the thing.
02:16I guess this is the part that kind of, uh, is, um, maybe the main element of answering that
02:21question, they only ran two zone read plays last week for him.
02:25If you tell me that the game plan is a lot more zone read heavy, it's a lot more into
02:30what he was doing more at Kansas.
02:33Then I'd tell you, I'd go over on that number, but if it's more of the same game plan, I'd
02:37say under for him.
02:38So it kind of just depends how much switching it up do they really want to do, or maybe even
02:44do they feel like they're capable of doing?
02:46And I think that's kind of the, um, the main focal point of how much rushing, uh, he'd
02:51be able to rack up against the Cowboys.
02:52Trevor Sikkim, a host of the NFL pro show, which you can find on YouTube, joining us
02:57here to talk about the Buccaneers and, uh, using NFL pro right now, Trevor, I'm looking
03:02at EPA per pass, Tampa Bay dead last in the NFL.
03:06I'm looking at sack percentage, Tampa Bay dead last in the NFL.
03:10You were just talking about the offensive line issues.
03:11What is going on?
03:13What is so porous about this Buccaneers offensive line right now that they're having trouble
03:18blocking things up?
03:19It's really strange because this old line should be one of the better units in the NFL.
03:24And I think when they, this group, this, this five has been healthy for the most part, I
03:30think they've shown that.
03:31I mean, you've got two good bookend tackles and you've got some interior alignment who
03:35like, you know, are they all pro interior offensive linemen?
03:37No, but I think they come together and they play really well as a unit.
03:40I'd say in the early parts of the season, something that's weighing that number down
03:44a little bit is Mayfield was really erratic to start the year.
03:48And again, I know that that's sort of been his style when he has been really anywhere,
03:53whether it was Texas tech, Oklahoma, uh, Cleveland, basically anywhere.
03:56He's just kind of a loose cannon sometimes.
03:58And you'll love it when he turns those broken plays into, you know, that magic down the field,
04:03either with his arm or his legs.
04:05But then you sometimes get these, these plays where he's bailing from a pocket before he
04:11should, he's holding on the ball, holding on to the ball a little bit longer than he
04:14should.
04:15And I just feel as though the chemistry with him in the offensive line was not there to
04:22start the season.
04:22And, and the guys up front, just, they never knew where he was going to be, whether he was
04:27going to sit in the pocket, whether he was going to roll out, they just didn't know.
04:30And I think because of that, it was hard for them to stay in front of their defenders and
04:35angle them the right way to where Mayfield had that space.
04:38And obviously with Jalen, you know, he is somebody who we've already kind of talked about.
04:43He's got a little bit of athletic ability to him, but he's trying to, he's trying to drink
04:47water through a fire hose.
04:49As they say, he's trying to process things, uh, at a speed that is so hard to do when you
04:54are a rookie quarterback.
04:55And so to me, it's less of a talent thing and it feels more of just, there's not that
05:01continuity.
05:02And when you go to the other statistic that you mentioned, the EPA per drop back and totally
05:06PA in the passing game.
05:08Yeah.
05:08I mean, I, again, I look at what Zach Robinson's trying to do and it just feels like it's far
05:15too conservative.
05:16They don't have these yards after catch monsters on their team that they can build a game plan
05:23around screen passes and slant passes and swing passes out of the backfield.
05:27And it just feels as though Robinson continues to go to that.
05:32So the rubber's kind of meeting the road here for this team.
05:35They're Owen for it's Thursday night football.
05:39You lose a couple more here over the next two, three weeks.
05:42I mean, the season's over for you.
05:44So if there were ever a time when the bucks would maybe switch it up and become more of
05:49a, or at least attempt to become more of a downfield passing team, you'd think that
05:53they would show signs of it this week.
05:54And if they don't, well, at that point, then I'm worried that it's ever going to come at
05:59some point.
05:59And I think the season might be lost for them because of how ineffective and not dynamic
06:04they are in the passing game.
06:05Trevor, some of the peripheral statistics on the Buccaneers defensively look really good
06:10and look like they've managed to, you know, keep some of these games competitive, even
06:14when the offense isn't showing it, just your overall assessment of where the defense
06:17is at right now and then how they match up with Dallas.
06:20Yeah, I think that there's plenty of potential for what the Buccaneers have out there.
06:25Now, it hasn't really hit the ground running the way that a lot of people wanted it to
06:28be.
06:28I think specifically on the defensive line, like Vita Bay has been a good presence, but
06:32you know, Kalijah Kansi hasn't been that takeover player that they've wanted him to
06:36be, even with him fully healthy.
06:37A'shaan Robinson has been great for them as a run defender, but he's never really brought
06:42much pass rush juice in his game.
06:44Ruben Bain is struggling through the early parts of, hey, how do I win in this league?
06:49As a top pass rusher, Yaya Diaby has been a decent presence for them, but ultimately
06:54a Todd Bowles defense is predicated on pressure and winning as a unit.
06:58It's not really about one-on-one pass rush winners and, you know, getting somebody to
07:03have a good matchup and watching them take advantage of it.
07:06There's a little bit of that naturally, but it's much more of a, we're going to attack
07:11the quarterback as a team and we're going to do it aggressively.
07:14That's how he's been doing things.
07:16And you could see him having one of the highest cornerback blitz rates in the NFL because of
07:21that, which just goes into, hey, we attack the quarterback as a team.
07:24So there is still talent on this defensive side of the ball.
07:27I know Bucs fans are really frustrated about how it's looked so far, but guys, the biggest
07:32issue for this team, as it has been maybe over the last three years, remains the linebacker
07:39level.
07:40They signed Alex Anzalone and free agency.
07:42He has not given them the early returns that they have wanted, trying to get a veteran
07:46presence to be a better coverage player for them.
07:50They drafted Josiah Trotter, who Josiah Trotter's got good moments in run defense, but he was
07:55never really known as a coverage backer, even when he was at Missouri.
07:58And he's one of the younger prospects in this past draft class.
08:01Anyways, the next man up is just Shavassi, a Dennis or Christian Roseboom.
08:06Those are two players who, in their time in the league, have struggled in coverage as
08:11well.
08:11They are truly missing that Levante David presence that, even with Levante over the last couple
08:17of years, like, yeah, sure, he wasn't the Levante David of old, but at least he was where
08:22he needed to be.
08:23At least he could manipulate quarterbacks with his high football IQ, and even though he
08:28wasn't the athlete that he had been earlier in his career, his presence was better.
08:33Now it's not even a presence.
08:35Not only is Levante David the athlete not out there anymore, Levante David's football
08:39IQ is, and I think with the issues that they have in coverage at the second level, that's
08:45where a lot of the failure starts to come from the defensive line getting more pressure,
08:51what you can do with your safeties, how aggressive you want to be with your cornerbacks.
08:54It all stems from the fact that this is one of the more high liability, second level,
09:01linebacker levels in the NFL.
09:03Trevor, last one.
09:04You mentioned, you know, Reuben Bain and struggling.
09:07Has he been as bad as, you know, PFF grades him as the worst edge rusher?
09:11Has he been that bad?
09:12And what have you seen from Caleb Downs?
09:13How have you evaluated, my gosh, his rookie year?
09:18Yeah, look, the production certainly hasn't been there for Reuben Bain.
09:22And when I go back and I watch a lot of his snaps, like, yeah, he's kind of playing through
09:25a little bit of a groin injury right now.
09:26He had a little bit of a shoulder injury coming into the season.
09:28So I think that those things maybe go into it a little bit.
09:31But, you know, when you kind of contextualize how he's been struggling, Todd Bowles is trying
09:36to put him in sort of this wide nine, wide seven, outside linebacker type of rush position
09:41where, okay, sure, he gets a little bit of an extra runway and a couple extra steps for
09:46those power rushes and bull rushes.
09:47But at the same time, when you play, when you place a player like that, that far away
09:52from the offensive tackle, well, guess what?
09:54Now you're shining a spotlight on the fact that the offensive tackle is going to win
09:59the arm length battle, which was the big topic of Reuben Bain.
10:02So now by playing him that alignment and not playing him, you know, closer to the line
10:07of scrimmage and allowing him to get off the ball low and powerful the way that he could
10:12be if he was lined up as more of a three tech at times or a five technique defensive end,
10:17you're totally shining a light on what he doesn't do well.
10:22And you're not really giving him the ability to showcase what he does do well, which is
10:26win with leverage and power.
10:27And so I think that hopefully they'll switch it up a little bit there and allow him to
10:32let his strength shine a little bit more.
10:34But then on the flip side for Dallas, I think that Caleb Downs, obviously an acclimation process,
10:39certainly for any rookie.
10:41But when you look at a player like Downs and everything that he can do, they are still putting
10:45a lot on his plate.
10:46They're asking him to be a coverage player on the back end.
10:49They're asking him to be a coverage linebacker.
10:52I've seen him in the slot.
10:53I see him as a box defender.
10:54And there's obviously some growth that's going to come with that because the NFL game is in
10:59fact a lot faster than it is in college.
11:01So I've seen the good from Caleb Downs.
11:03I've seen the moments where he's certainly going to go back to the film and learn from
11:06it.
11:06But just another shout out, man, you guys got a great one in Jay Sean Barnum.
11:09He is so fun when he is attacking the other team's offensive line.
11:14I mean, just as attacking off ball linebacker, that dude is fun.
11:17And I know he's made some big time solo stops for the Cowboys already.
11:21And as he kind of expands his role and plays even more fast and free on a regular basis,
11:26he's a fun player to watch.
11:28Trevor, thank you so much.
11:29Keep dominating and blowing up, man.
11:30We appreciate it.
11:31And we'll see you again in Indy.
11:33Yeah, I appreciate it, guys.
11:34Anytime.
