The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Tom Krasniqi Gives a Tampa Bay Perspective of Texans v Bucs

Episode Date: December 19, 2019

Tom Krasniqi of 620 WDAE and 95.3 FM in Tampa Bay joins Matt to give a preview of Texans v Bucs from a Tampa Bay Sports perspective

You know what I want to do? I want to ask our next guest if he can do anything to make this happen. The greatest uniforms, Ross, and you and I argue about this all the time. Oh, the crimsicles? The crimsicle swashbuckler Tampa Bay uniform. And you know how much I love the Houston teams, the rainbows, the rockets. The greatest uniform in the history of uniforms is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniforms from, say, 76 to what? I don't know, 2000, 2001, somewhere in that range.

I'm going to ask Tom Cresnicki of WDAE, our sister station in Tampa, if he agrees with me. Tom, first of all, thanks for joining the show. Secondly, do you miss the swashbucklers? Hey, Matt, how are you? Yes, you know, it's funny you mentioned the uniforms because this morning on our show, we were talking about, you know, the top three things that Santa Claus can bring to our local teams here. and I'm telling you, truth be told, I said new uniforms for the Buccaneers, the cream sickle uniforms. The greatest in the history.

With John McKay wearing, and this is for those of you that are really old school, John McKay was former USC coach, first coach of the Buccaneers. This is when Doug Williams is playing. He would wear a white voting hat with the orange pants and the white shirt. It was the goat of everything. So I just, I was a kid loving the Buccaneers back in the day. I'm just telling you, I would leave my allegiance for all Houston teams if the Bucks change things. But now on the more important things, Tom.

And Tom's with our sister station, WDAE, in Tampa Bay. Tom, who is James Winston going to throw two this Saturday? I don't know. I think I might suit up and, you know, outside a wide receiver. I think I might be a red zone target. Look, that's a great question because Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are both out. As we know, hamstring injury, Scotty Miller, a rookie, a speedster, a guy that was coming on a little bit. over the last couple of weeks he's out.

I think Rashad Parramette, who caught three touchdowns last week, is going to be their wide receiver one with Justin Watson, another young guy on the other side. And I think he's going to see a lot of Cameron, Brad and O.J. Howard. They're two receiving tight ends. Both guys can catch the ball well. So I think those will be his top four receivers on Saturday. Okay, so, and that makes sense because, look, he threw for 450 in back-to-back weeks.

He's not just throwing it to one guy every single play. So there has been some, there's obviously a depth chart with guys that getting involved. involved in things. So this $450 has been a big deal around the NFL for the last two weeks. How much of it is stat padding or how much it is? My God, James Winston is playing out of his mind right now. I think it's more the latter, Matt, to be quite honest with you. Look, James has always had the talent. He can make every single throw. The problem is he knows that. And he thinks he can do it whenever he wants. And that's when he kind of gets into trouble with some bad decision making and interceptions on first drives. He's done that five times this year.

where he's throwing an interception on the first time. And it's usually like his first or second pass attempt. But I give James a lot of credit because he has tunnel vision. He forgets about it quickly and then he gets on with his day. You know, Bruce Arian said when he got the job, he said, look, you're allowed to throw one interception. And as we know from James Winston, he has thrown a live interception since he came into the league. But he usually gets it out of the way and then he gets it out of the system.

And then he goes on and he throws the ball all over the yard. and he can make throws that not a lot of guys can't make. Tom Cresnicki joining us from WDAE, our sister station in the Tampa, St. Pete area. Tom, is he doing, is James doing enough to get a new contract for the bucks next year? I think so. And I think the big question here is how big of a contract is it going to be? I think you'll be back for next year. Is it going to be a shorter-term deal?

I doubt it'll be a long-term deal because, again, the turnovers are a big factor. The number one reason why you lose in this league, man, as you know, is the turnover margin. Right. When they beat the Colts two weeks ago, the Bucks turned there over four times. The Colts turned there over once, and they found the way to win that game. That's the aberration. That's not the norm. So James realizes it, I guess, so does Bruce Derry.

And so they're going to try and work with them, although the previous coaches worked with James trying to get those turnovers out of the system. I just think this is who he is. I think the Buccaneers are cognizant of that. and they look at James Winston as a high risk, high reward type of guy. So I would expect them maybe to place the franchise tag on either James or Shaq Barrett, not letting that guy get away, and probably a one to two-year deal somewhere in that range. Seven and seven and seven is the mark for the Buccaneers.

And Tom, I'll be honest with that we don't follow the Bucks very often. So I want to ask you because you are part of their broadcast and I was to talk about them every day. Is this a team that's just getting better? Or has this been a team that underachieve in the first half of the year and has been able to kind of realize who they are towards the back half of the year as they try to fight for a winning season? I think they're getting better because you look at this team, and they're the second youngest team in football.

This secondary is very young. They're relying on a lot of rookies and Sean Murphy Bunting and also Jamel Dean and, you know, Carlton Davis is a younger guy in the second year. So they've got some young guys in that secondary that are trying to grow with this team. Jason Pierre Paul was injured for the first six or seven weeks of the season. Then he came back. Then he's made a big difference both on the field and in the locker room as a leader. And the offensive line has had good weeks and bad weeks, just like James Winston.

So I think they're getting better. The young guys are starting to perform. And you start to see a team that's maybe realizing their potential. So how much is there to play for this week? First of all, I wanted to tell you, I saw the real sports story about Bruce Ariens and his return to Tampa Bay and the fact that he's such diverse coaching staffs, giving some guys some opportunities. I'm going to assume he's pretty well regarded there and the future is bright,

or are there some people that are believing that, okay, this is Bruce's last get-go, he's going to make a little bit of money, and there'll be a new coach in Tampa in a couple of years. What's the general sense of the long-term future of the Buccaneer organization? I think Bruce is probably going to give this maybe two to three years, and he's going to groom someone like Todd Bowles or Byron Leftwich to take over, and then he'll probably right off until the sunset, or they might kick him upstairs and give him some fancy title within the Buckney organization because he's pushing 70 years old.

And, yes, health has been a factor. And the Bucks vetted him completely when it comes to his medicals. So far, so good with him, you know, knock on wood. But I would be surprised if I saw Bruce Ariens on the sidelines more than three years with the Bucks. All right, so after this week and looking for the future, the Saints obviously have been the dominant team in the NFC South. Atlanta's coming up and down. When will the Buccaneers?

What do the Buccaneers have to do ultimately to be a legitimate NFC South contender in the future years? Well, look, they've got a lot of decisions to make in the offseason. They have a ton of expiring contracts, especially in their front seven as well as the quarterback. So they've got to make a decision on James Winston. They've got to make a decision on Shaq Barrett, who leads the NFL and a half. So he's going to want a hell of a lot more money than he's making right now. Carl Nassad, Jason Pierre Paul, and Domican Su.

So I think they're going to spend a lot of time trying to resign. And then when they go outside of their organization, I think offensive line, specifically offensive tackle is a big need for this team as well as running back. This team can't run the football, and their stable of running backs turned over as well. So offensive tackle, the questions about the quarterback and residing some of their own guys, those are some of the decisions that the Buccaneers are facing. And last question for you, Tom, what does your gut feel for you? Because the Texans have been so schizophrenic that I don't know what team we're getting week to week,

case in point, losing it home to Denver, and then going to Tennessee and winning the game last week. Everything right now is pushing for the Texans to finish off, win the division, and maybe rest some starters next week. But like I said, when you talk about a schizophrenic team like we do here in Houston, we don't know. So you having seen the Buccaneers in recent weeks, how close of a competitive game will this be on Saturday afternoon? I think it'll be close. I think the Bucks are playing with a lot of confidence at this point, especially offensively. Their past first team, and James right now is very hot coming off two monster games.

However, I don't think they have the firepower to match up with. with Deshawn Watson and D'Andre Hopkins, and when Will Fuller is healthy, he's about as good as there is, you know, in stretching the field in this league along with Kenny Stills, who's dad, by the way, lives here in the Tampa Bay Area. I met him the first time a few weeks ago. But I like the Texans because I just don't think the Bucks have enough firepower to keep up. We'll leave it out that.

Tom, thank you very much for the time. We really appreciate it and enjoy the broadcasting game on Saturday. We'll visit again down the road. Thanks again for the time. My pleasure, Matt. Have a happy holiday, my man. Same to you. Same to you and the family in Florida.

That's Tom Cresden. He does a really nice job on the Buccaneers. There's a morning show on our sister station, WDAA, in the Tampa, St. Pete area, and a part of their extended Tampa Bay, Buccaneers pre-and-post game show. It's always nice to catch up with somebody out of the marketplace. Rossie, it's time for us to do our non-Florida stories of the week. Ross, mine comes from San Antonio. Where does yours come from?

Indeterminate. We've had two hours and 12 minutes while on air to find this story. I'm very busy working on believe it or not and Rodin 5 and you're kind of fell behind. Thanking people on Twitter for birthday wishes. So you're going last thing. Any gifts yet? Any gifts? Yes. Not GIFs, like GIFT.S. Oh, wait, no.

Gifts. Birthday wishes. I don't have any presents. Any DMs? No. All right. Nick, where's your story from? The Great State of Missouri. Okay.