NFC South Title Showdown: Buccaneers & Falcons' Paths

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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.

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