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00:00But who is going to win the NFC South?
00:02It's either the Bucs, led by Baker Mayfield, 9-7,
00:05or of course, the Falcons, led now by Michael Pennix, Jr.,
00:09and Ridley B. John Robinson, Drake London, at 8-8.
00:12And so, just to get some coaching perspectives
00:15on these two teams, let's start with Todd Bowles,
00:18his guy's mindset, you know, he's not concerned
00:22with the pressures of a must-win game.
00:25He's gotta do the little things right.
00:26He shouldn't respond any other way
00:27than they responded yesterday, you know.
00:30He's gotta do the little things right.
00:31It's a division opponent, we know it's gonna be a dogfight.
00:34We had to win one last year, the last game of the season,
00:36it was 9-0, it was a dogfight with Carolina,
00:38so we expect the same thing.
00:41As for the Falcons, you know, they're gonna need
00:44that Bucs loss against the Saints,
00:46however unrealistic that is,
00:48and you gotta take care of business against the Panthers
00:51to get the job done, so Raheem Morris, what say you?
00:54I don't think you can, Zach.
00:55I think you can only handle what you can handle,
00:57and you can control what you can control,
00:58so I think as a professional, and as a,
01:01what I owe to Arthur Blank and his organization,
01:03now Fanbase, is to go out there and be completely locked in
01:05to what we're doing, trying to win
01:06versus the Carolina Panthers.
01:09How do you see it playing out, Joe?
01:10Who wins?
01:12No, I think it's the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it's not close.
01:14They're 13 and a half point favorites,
01:15so normally that would make me a little shaky,
01:17because I love Baker Mayfield as an underdog, too.
01:20Historically, that's the guy you wanna bet.
01:22He loves being the guy that has the chip on his shoulder
01:25that you don't think can win.
01:28Sometimes in these big spots, as the favorite,
01:29he hasn't been so good, however,
01:31there's nothing left of the New Orleans Saints.
01:33It's the last week of the season.
01:35The Saints have shown some pride there with the Riz.
01:38I get it, he's had them giving as much
01:41as they possibly could give.
01:42There's just no one left to give it at this point.
01:45No quarterback, no running backs, no wide receivers.
01:48There's just nothing left on this offense anymore.
01:51Taysom Hill gets hurt, Alava gets hurt,
01:52they're all gone, Derek Carr.
01:54So at this point, it's just whatever's left
01:57of the Saints here, and the fact that it's also
02:01on the road in Tampa.
02:02Tampa should handle their business very comfortably,
02:05and I think it's a credit to Baker Mayfield as well.
02:08We talked earlier about guys that should get some MVP love.
02:13How about Baker Mayfield?
02:14How about a guy that really has played
02:17with a mediocre defense, had Chris Godwin get hurt
02:20for the year, had Mike Evans miss time,
02:22had a bunch of guys playing running back,
02:25like Bucky Irving's played some nice football,
02:28but was Bucky Irving a star on anybody's radar
02:30going into the season?
02:31No, it's Baker Mayfield.
02:33So we've dubbed him the intercontinental MVP.
02:36It's kind of that worker title.
02:38It's that one right below in the wrestling industry there.
02:40So he's not the heavyweight champ.
02:41He's the intercontinental MVP.
02:43And I think Baker Mayfield deserves a little bit more love.
02:47And this is now two years in a row
02:49where it's not a good division,
02:50but the Tampa Bay Bucs and Baker Mayfield
02:52come away victorious.
02:53And it begs the question too,
02:54do you think that they held on too long with Kirk Cousins?
02:56Should they have made the switch to Michael Pennix sooner?
02:59Do you think it would have made a difference
03:00for the Falcons?
03:02So hindsight's 20-20,
03:04because I was one of the people who felt at the time
03:09it was kind of foolish to go to Pennix in the first place.
03:13You know, yeah, Cousins had not performed well.
03:15I think what, one touchdown and nine interceptions
03:18over his five game stretch that led into the benching.
03:21But at the same point, you're still in a playoff race.
03:24He's a known commodity.
03:25He's been in these runs before
03:26and Pennix had never started a game in the NFL.
03:29Now, I don't know how you could look at the last two weeks.
03:31Now, the first one wasn't as much on Pennix,
03:33obviously, as the defense,
03:35but still they win that game going away.
03:37And this last time out fell short,
03:40but that wasn't on Pennix.
03:41I mean, that was, he had some unbelievable plays
03:44down the stretch of that game against the Commanders.
03:46And that was a game Atlanta absolutely
03:48could have come up with the upset win.
03:50And so Pennix has shown some things.
03:52I mean, this whole rookie class as far as quarterbacks
03:55has shown some things at least here in year one.
03:58So yeah, I mean, I wouldn't have said it at the time,
04:02but looking back now, you can certainly make a case
04:05that Pennix should have gotten an opportunity sooner.