Bucs QB Jalon Daniels On His First Start: "You Can’t Be The Thermometer, You Have To Be The Thermostat"

Rick Stroud can't stop repeating a line Jalon Daniels dropped in his first press conference as the Bucs' starting quarterback: "You can't be the thermometer, you have to be the thermostat" — set the temperature in the room instead of just reading it. It's a fitting mantra for a guy about to become the first rookie quarterback to start an NFL game this season (yes, ahead of the Raiders' Heisman winner), and the only backup Tampa Bay has turned to since 'Fitzmagic' in 2018. Rick is clear-eyed about the degree of difficulty: Evan Closky's blocking cut-ups from last week were "some of the worst tape I've seen," Daniels knows far less than Baker Mayfield about getting out of bad plays, and Green Bay will blitz him mercilessly the way Minnesota did. But the Packers are deeply flawed too — patched together on the offensive line, unable to stop the run, playing in front of a fan base that's reportedly booing at Lambeau — and Rick and Steve talk through how Todd Bowles might manage Daniels' workload if the game gets away from them, plus the gut-punch injury report (six players missed Wednesday practice, including Rueben Bain Jr., Yaya Diaby, and Chris Godwin) that makes the 0-3 start look even worse in hindsight.

From there, three mailbag questions: what the Bucs should do with the number one overall pick if the season ended today (take a quarterback, grab Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith, or trade down for a haul), how to separate rooting for people at One Buc Place from grading Todd Bowles' performance, and whether anything short of winning can fix the "away game atmosphere" at Raymond James Stadium. Rick also vents about MLB's wild-card seeding dropping the Rays into Yankee Stadium's short porch for the ALDS, previews Drew Rasmussen's Game 1 start, and the guys close with a full NHL season-opening night: the Lightning play at the Rangers, sitting on the second-best season-opening record in NHL history, with Nikita Kucherov chasing a record fourth straight opener with multiple goals.

Segments:

• Jalon Daniels' "thermostat, not thermometer" mentality ahead of his first NFL start
• The degree of difficulty: brutal offensive line tape, a first-ever rookie starter league-wide, and how Bowles might manage his workload
• Injury report fallout: six players out Wednesday, Baker Mayfield's timeline
• Mailbag: What should the Bucs do with the number one pick — quarterback, Jeremiah Smith, or trade down?
• Mailbag: Separating rooting for the people at One Buc Place from grading Todd Bowles
• Mailbag: Can anything fix the "away game" atmosphere at Raymond James?
• MLB wild-card fallout: Rays drawn into the Yankees' short porch for the ALDS; Rasmussen gets the Game 1 ball
• NHL opening night: Lightning at the Rangers, chasing franchise and Kucherov records
• Sponsor: Breitling Boutique, International Plaza

Timestamps:

• 0:06 – Jalon Daniels' "thermostat, not thermometer" quote from his first presser as starter
• 2:51 – First rookie QB to start a game anywhere in the NFL this season
• 5:57 – The offensive line tape: "some of the worst I've seen"
• 8:16 – How Bowles might manage Daniels if the game gets away from the Bucs
• 13:06 – Injury report: six players miss Wednesday practice
• 14:13 – Baker Mayfield's thumb, timeline, and the 0-3 start in context
• 15:47 – Sponsor: Breitling Boutique, International Plaza
• 17:05 – MLB wild-card seeding sends the Rays into Yankee Stadium's short porch
• 21:35 – Mailbag: Number one pick — quarterback, Jeremiah Smith, or trade down?
• 25:31 – Mailbag: Separating the man from the job grading Todd Bowles
• 35:26 – Mailbag: Fixing the "away game" atmosphere at Raymond James
• 37:21 – NHL opening night: Lightning at the Rangers, Kucherov's scoring streak
• 39:13 – Yankees beat Red Sox 9-2; Rasmussen named Rays' Game 1 starter

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