Bucs No. 18
June 28th, 2019
Something to prove.
If the Bucs can’t somehow cobble together a winning season with Bucco Bruce Arians, it’s not Arians’ fault.
That’s essentially the message Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report is pushing.
In ranking each NFL coaching staff, Davenport placed the Bucs in the middle of the pack at No. 17 and even Davenport admits the staff should be higher up the pecking order.
In six seasons as an NFL head coach (counting 2012), Arians has posted a losing record just once—and that was a 7-8-1 mark. He’s won double-digit games three times.
Yes, Leftwich was the OC for the league’s worst offense last year, but not even the legendary Bill Walsh could have fixed the 2018 Cardinals. And while Todd Bowles’ tenure as head coach of the Jets wasn’t especially impressive, he’s long been considered an excellent defensive mind.
All in all, this ranking might be a little low.
Time will tell, of course. but the keys here will be the coordinators.
Yes, Todd Bowles did a nice job as a defensive coordinator in Arizona but after his first season with the Jets (2015) he was an ineffective coach. Sure, he was a head coach and not a coordinator in New Jersey. Jets fans don’t think a whole lot of him.
Joe isn’t as open as so many are to just waving off Leftwich’s failure in Arizona as a blip on the radar screen out of his control. For a team to give up that quickly on a first-round pick of a quarterback, it was unprecedented. The Cardinals dumped first-round pick QB Josh Rosen in less than a year. Who should bear some responsibility for that if not the offensive coordinator? The dude who picks up soiled towels in the locker room after the game?
In Joe’s mind it is the coordinators, not Arians, who have something to prove with the Bucs.
June 28th, 2019 at 12:08 pm
I totally trust tod bowles. You cant expect him to do anything on a team that lead the league in money available.
Leftwhich scares me. I really hope Arians is keeping tgat headset and mic on all day
June 28th, 2019 at 12:10 pm
Number 17 is way too high. We are sitting at number 15 in the NFC
June 28th, 2019 at 12:11 pm
They all better produce!!!!!!!!! Ole coach stale biscuit has the juice and got everything that he wanted here in tampa!!!!!!! If he missed out, its because stale biscuit did not want it that bad!!!!!!!!!!!
HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO PASSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fans do not want to hear excuses and stories change as the season goes south!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have heard the sheep and local media say how talented this team is, and how the last coaching staff held them back!!!!!!!!! Lets see it then!!!!!!!!! With the fix the qb and this is a reload, then production is a must, and ALL are in the hotseat already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2019 will reveal answers to the sheep, that the “real” fans already know!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 28th, 2019 at 12:12 pm
Uh yes it Grandpa Bruce’s fault. Don’t start making excuses for him now. All you Superfans have made him out to be the next great thing.
June 28th, 2019 at 12:22 pm
Number 18 staff just signed an offensive linemen, yippee – but don’t get too excited
June 28th, 2019 at 12:26 pm
This and $4.89 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks
June 28th, 2019 at 12:27 pm
Joe is spot on with the OC/DC because there are a ton of question marks with those 2. Leftwich is taking over from the bucs 2 OCs who were pretty damn good and the proof is where they took the bucs & jameis in terms of offensive production. Arians is ultimately responsible for the success or 5 wins
June 28th, 2019 at 12:30 pm
@Joe … “In Joe’s mind it is the coordinators, not Arians, who have something to prove with the Bucs”. Uhhh, that’s wrong on so many levels Joe. GMs & HCs provide 2 things to the coordinators: (1) resources; and (2) guidance (as a minimum).
Regarding the first, to quote YOU Joe … “not even the legendary Bill Walsh could have fixed the 2018 Cardinals”. The Cards last year simply didn’t have the horses. And on the second (guidance), if a coordinator is being micro-managed & is kept on a short leash, how responsible should they be for what RESULTS?
I’ve said before, what excites me about BA is the QUALITY of the staff he’s brought with him. Lovie’s defensive staff was terrible, and so was Koetter’s. I wonder if Leslie Frazier and Mike Smith got to pick their own assistants. Also wonder how much input either of them had in the FA & draft selections. The RESULTS for both DCs were terrible … how much of that was their own doing & how much SHOULD be laid at the feet of the GM & HC? And yes, ownership. My guess is that we’ll never know, although BOTH ended up serving admirably as scapegoats.
June 28th, 2019 at 12:32 pm
BA is 6-8 against the nfcs though and that includes 3-4 wins against the Bucs.
June 28th, 2019 at 12:32 pm
Easy to be a Bucs fan…
Just expect very little.
Go Bucs!
June 28th, 2019 at 12:34 pm
What is wrong with just being excited about a historical good coach and what he can do for our team? No one has said he is taking us to the Super Bowl but dang being excited and looking at what he has done in the past should have any feelings about this team excited. That is the case unless you are a grumpy troll like most of the above.⬆️
June 28th, 2019 at 12:38 pm
Never been to a Starbuck’s in my life & never intend going to one. With that said I think Leftwich is the weak link in the coaching chain.
June 28th, 2019 at 1:10 pm
they all have something to prove including BA….
BA has to prove the “new” NFL hasnt passed him by like so many other former HC’s such as jeff fisher, mike smith, chuck pagano, john fox etc….
BL has to prove he can be successful in the NFL as an OC…i think he, steve wilks and rosen got the short end of the stick….
TB has to prove(again) his defensive mind is elite….
winston has to prove his worth….
i can go on and on…..
everyone has something to prove….
GO BUCS!!!!
June 28th, 2019 at 1:20 pm
“2019 BA is going to DELEGATE
no coaching
BA is going to let the ex HOF NY Jets and Arizona Cardinals coaching staff coach the players
BA won’t even be on the QB coaches meetings
2019 BA is going to be driving the golf cart into the sunset…
with the guaranteed 3 yr/21 milly”
Kobe Faker
June 28th, 2019 at 1:35 pm
I think the Cards had severe lack of talent. I saw a few games and Rosen was being hit on the drop back a lot. No way could he have succeeded. Don’t blame Leftwich for that. Ranking a new coaching staff before the first game is played is a dog’s breakfast.
June 28th, 2019 at 2:05 pm
Bryon was not the OC at the start of the year. He was promoted during the season and everyone says that the QB got better as the year progressed
June 28th, 2019 at 2:18 pm
Well you have to be optimistic about this coaching staff if you believe this team will be better than they were last year.
If you don’t believe in this coaching staff then yeah, I dont see much reason for you to be optimistic.
New coaches, new players, new schemes, new culture. This year will be explosive one way or another. Either it all gels and this prove it/fight for your job culture pays off, or Leftwich shows his inexperience, Jameis melts down, Arians gets MRSA, and licht trades next years first rounder for justin tucker.
I am a fan, so naturally i want this team to win. If history is an indicator of the future then I like Arians’ track record as well as Bowles as a DC. If the QB whisperer can’t help Jameis reach that next level of consistency, who can?
June 28th, 2019 at 2:21 pm
Wow, probably the wierdest article of the week, if not longer. If this team doesn’t win, every level has some degree of responsibility, and to say up front that it wouldn’t be on Arians just looks and smells to me like Joe just wants to get in line for face time. ??? Arians picked the coordinators. Just saying that they’re likely the problem if there are failures. –Joe Didn’t Arians have a huge part is picking those coordinators and other coaches?
Wyche and Lovie had been more successful than Arians, taking teams to SBs…and it’s clear THEY didn’t get it done here. So oh yeah, Lovie’s coaches did him because clearly it can’t be him–he was proven (wink wink). Losing is a team effort,and the ONLY true statement is that Arians had nothing to do with what happend before he got here.
Arians has proved NOTHING in Tampa yet. I hope he does well, but he’s nothing but talk and hope right now.
June 28th, 2019 at 2:35 pm
Or maybe accept it for what it really was, that first year Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury wanted his college hurler QB Kyler Murray instead. Not too complicated, especially if Rosen thrives in Miami. If Murray had not been available in the draft, Rosen would still be in Arizona.
June 28th, 2019 at 4:44 pm
Joe to add for clarity Leftwitch was the interim OC. Think he was QB coach before that so agree he should take some responsibility. They also did 🔥 a HC after only one season so that smells of dysfunction.
I also chuckled when you mentioned Jets fans & their opinions. I wouldn’t lose sleep over that…….There is a very long list of excellent coordinators who made for lousy HCs. Much longer then success stories. Todd could easily be just another example.
June 28th, 2019 at 5:51 pm
We’ve likely got a top 5 or even top 3 coaching staff if you look at the entire group as one entity.
A # of individuals on the Bucs current coaching staff have accepted a coaching position that is less than higher positions they have already held in the past – in order to work with BA and be part of this thing we’ve got brewing here in Tampa Bay.
DC Todd Bowles – former NFL head coach (last 4 years) – turned down the opportunity to work with Khalil Mack and lead the already stellar Bears Defense – in order to come work with BA and help rebuild this once proud Bucs defense the right way…
DL coach Kacy Rodgers – DC in the NFL for the last 4 years with the jets – prior to that he was an NFL DL coach (his current position) from 2005>2014 with Dallas and Miami.
OL coach/run game coordinator Harold Goodwin – Has 5 years of NFL OC experience and 15 years of NFL OLine coaching experience….
QB coach Clyde Christensen – has 23 years of NFL coaching experience, including stints as QB coach, TE coach, WR coach and a number of years as OC for a # of different teams (primarily Bucs starting in 96 w/ Dungy, Miami and 14 years in Indianapolis)
Offensive asst coach Tom Moore – has about 40 years of NFL coaching experience – starting as a WR position coach under Chuck Knoll in 1977. He has many years of NFL play calling and OC experience – including overseeing Peyton Manning’s development and calling plays as Indy’s OC for the entire length of Manning’s Colts career (1998>2010).
Those coaches who are not “over qualified” for their current position are at the least – very qualified for their current jobs.
ST coordinator Kieth Armstrong has 11 years experience in that same position.
Ditto for ILB coach Mike Caldwell (8 years as an NFL LB coach), OLB coach Larry Foote ( 4 years as NFL LB coach after a 13 year playing career), CB coach Kevin Ross (8 years of NFL secondary coaching experience as a position coach), Safety coach Nick Rapone (5 years of NFL experience coaching DBs as a position coach), OL coach Joe Gilbert (6 years of NFL experience as OL position coach) TE coach Rick Christophel (5 years experience as an NFL TE position coach)… and all of these guys have a good bit more coaching experience in total than what I listed….
Leftwhich and a couple others like Antwaan Randall El are BA’s handpicked young up and comers. Coaches without a bunch of coaching experience – but BA has identified them as having that “it” factor when it comes to coaching potential and the duties they have currently been assigned.
All in all – the Bucs currently have one hell of a coaching staff. Much better than 18th in the league.
We are all about to see in 2019 how much “coaching matters” as BA guides the majority of the same players on Koetters back to back 5-11 squad to a winning record!
June 28th, 2019 at 6:31 pm
A real man drinks his coffee black not that BS you idiot skinny jean wearing millennials get from Starbucks.
June 28th, 2019 at 7:04 pm
I don’t think NY was the right fit for Todd Bowles. I think this is and he will rule.
June 28th, 2019 at 9:40 pm
Joe, I’ll stick with Arians because he knows a thing or two (more than Joe):
June 29th, 2019 at 7:34 am
Pickgrin … Great rundown on our new coaching staff. Your last sentence says it all in terms of my expectations this year too.