“Why Is Leftwich Calling Plays?”
November 6th, 2019
Battling bad refs killing Bruce Arians?
The way a former NFL general manager has framed it, he wonders when the season is over if the losing culture of the Bucs is going to chew up and spit out Bucco Bruce Arians the way the losing culture has almost done to his quarterback.
Michael Lombardi, who once ran the Browns and was a coffee fetcher for Bill Walsh, Al Davis and Bill Belicheat, took to his podcast “GM Shuffle” this week and had a couple of brief observations about Arians.
First, Lombardi remarked how the horrible officiating this season league-wide is and mentioned how the number of missed calls against the Bucs alone has just about pushed Arians to the cliff.
“He’s about to go berserk,” Lombardi said. “He’s going to need help.”
But toward the end of his pod, Lombardi wondered aloud if Arians handing the offense over to Leftwich isn’t just hurting America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, but hurting the Bucs as well.
The losing, Lombardi believes, is eating away at Arians.
“I felt bad, you can see it is getting to Arians,” Lombardi said while mentioning how he was watching the Bucs-Seahawks game. “He got into it with Byron Leftwich on the sidelines.
“I don’t understand: If you hired Arians to save your quarterback, and you paid Arians six, seven, eight million a year, why is Leftwich calling plays? Now seriously. Why is Leftwich calling plays? Like, ‘We hired you. You are the best coach on the staff. You coach. We are paying you to coach.’
“Like this whole notion that ‘I’m going to be Bear Bryant and stand on the sideline and I’m going to be coaching the coaches’ — that don’t work anymore!”
Well, Lombardi is about six months or more late to the dinner table.
There was a report prior to training camp that Team Glazer was getting cold feet at the altar this past January, thinking just what Lombardi verbalized. Th claim said Team Glazer thought it was paying for Arians and instead were going to get Leftwich, whose coaching resume is dubious, though short.
There have been a helluva lot of curious moves offensively for the Bucs and it is unclear if it is Leftwich or Arians behind the moves.
The repetitive running of Peyton Barber up the middle on first downs, the constant targeting of Breshad Perriman and Scotty Miller despite having four Pro Bowl-level players to throw to instead, why Dare Ogunbowale is even on the field — it’s hard to believe Arians is pulling every string here.
Arians, prior to coming to Tampa Bay, had never lost more than two consecutive games in the regular season. The Bucs carry into Sunday’s home game with Arizona a four-game losing streak.
November 6th, 2019 at 9:10 am
Arians is here to get Todd Bowles and Byron Leftwich jobs as Head Coaches first and foremost. He has stated this multiple times if you can read between the lines. The Buccaneers are just the vessel for them to get their next jobs. He would not be the HC if he wasn’t able to help his friends out and if the GM wasn’t a Yes-Man he could control.
November 6th, 2019 at 9:11 am
With Jones now starting, we should be using Barber as the third down back as he is the best blocker of the 3 and can catch the ball.
November 6th, 2019 at 9:13 am
If I wasn’t depressed going into this weekend, I am after visiting this here website… Bucs better win a few, or the coast guard will be busy pulling Bucs fans out of the bay under the Sunshine Skyway.
November 6th, 2019 at 9:19 am
no way this washed up bum returns for another season… glazers deserve to get fleeced year in and year out…. franchise is hilarious at best and horrible on a good day….
November 6th, 2019 at 9:19 am
He’s calling the plays cause Arians is retired.
November 6th, 2019 at 9:21 am
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
I think all Bucs fans are wondering why isn’t Bruce Arians running the shots on offense.
Letting Byron Leftwich “learn on the job” OC duties is absolutely killing this team/offense.
Bruce Arians needs to recognize now that the season is lost that this “isn’t working” and his OC isn’t working either.
Dirk Koetter definitely ran a much better/more creative offense.
November 6th, 2019 at 9:23 am
Just blow up the whole dammm thing now!!!
November 6th, 2019 at 9:24 am
Licht first and foremost must go, otherwise, what’s the gosh damn point anymore? If Arians accepts a gm with total control then I’m fine with keeping him as long as “on the job training” Byron Leftwich gets demoted. If not, enjoy retirement dude.
November 6th, 2019 at 9:26 am
Our wonderful,clueless owners got tricked again.They thought they hired a great coach, but instead they hired a guy who hired an unqualified rookie to run the offence and an over the hill coach to run the worst defence in the NFL.
November 6th, 2019 at 9:28 am
Arians is too loyal to his coaches to make the changes necessary…..he will let Leftwich fail and that’s a shame.
This constant run up the middle on 1st down, especially in the red zone, is killing us. We need to play action there…..running on 2nd down would likely be more productive….
And, for some reason, we can’t seem to run anywhere but inside the tackles…..
I guess our blocking schemes simply aren’t good enough to run outside.
Rojo has the quickness, so it’s not that.
November 6th, 2019 at 9:30 am
always the coaches fault around here……
sheez, then they say the players are men and shouldn’t be beaten on
then they say they need coddling……
we need more like JPP. less fireworks…
November 6th, 2019 at 9:35 am
Jameis gets a reputation as a good scrambler”avoiding the rush” …because he can’t read defenses until he’s back on the sideline looking at the laptop…
November 6th, 2019 at 9:37 am
LOLOLOL
The stupid glazers got ripped off. Old man Arians just pulling a paycheck.
Leftwich is trash. What a joke.
#firethecrappyglazers
November 6th, 2019 at 9:43 am
The Glazer Retirement Express….. All Aboard!!!!! The secret is out. Best retirement gig in America…. Varney is running a piece this week on glazer retirement express…. High speed train to prosperity for coaches and a nice streak of basement titles for fans….
November 6th, 2019 at 9:44 am
I think the reason we haven’t seen improvement in Jameis is because BA isn’t calling plays and isn’t has hands on. 50% chance BA says the hell with it at the end of the season and leaves.
November 6th, 2019 at 9:50 am
What I want to know is, if the defense is the problem, why did we get “The Quarterback Whisperer”?
November 6th, 2019 at 9:54 am
So one with balls needs to ask BA point blank: Who is the better playcaller? You or Leftwich?
If the answer is BA, demote Leftwich immediately.
But, since BS rules the day in BA’s organization, nothing will change.
Peace, out
November 6th, 2019 at 9:54 am
This is ridiculous. I thought we had the 4th highest scoring offense in the league. How is Lefty doing a bad job with those kind of numbers? It’s like people point to the stats they like to fit a narrative.
The bottom line with this team is that they do the little things poorly. They miss blocks at key times. They run into running backs with the motion man. They can’t cover anybody. The pass rush is hit and miss. They get penalties that they can’t overcome. Little things like getting a chuck on a receiver off the line isn’t happening. You can’t win in this league without being able to do little things properly. The talent level between teams is too close.
November 6th, 2019 at 10:03 am
NFL.com team ranking just came out. Our mighty Bucs came in at 27. Holding onto that spot two weeks in a row
November 6th, 2019 at 10:12 am
Dirk Koetter definitely ran a much better/more creative offense. ——————————————————————————————- AMEN TheBucsAnthem !!! totally agreed!!!
November 6th, 2019 at 10:13 am
@troy.. We aren’t 4th in points. We are 9th in points and 13th in yards and of course 31st in turnovers
November 6th, 2019 at 10:16 am
These are all fair rhetorical questions by Lombardi.
Then again, Troy above makes an excellent point. How bad can Leftwich really be if the Bucs have scored so much on the season?
November 6th, 2019 at 10:23 am
BL aint the problem….the playcalling has been fine….
the execution is the problem….
dropped balls, missed blocking assignments, penalties, wrong routes, turnovers…..
BA calling the plays wouldnt have stopped the WR from running out of bounds…lol…
BA calling plays wouldnt have stopped dotson from holding….
play calling aint the issue…its the execution….
GO BUCS!!!!
November 6th, 2019 at 10:24 am
Arians Light
November 6th, 2019 at 10:25 am
“constant targeting of Breshad Perriman and Scotty Miller despite having four Pro Bowl-level players to throw to instead”
This….this is what I b**ch about all game long. Wife gets tired of hearing it. lol
November 6th, 2019 at 10:28 am
dirk’s offense wasnt creative at all…..lol….
we were 2nd in yards and in the 20s in points….lol…
how is that creative?….lol…
we couldnt score under dirk….
GO BUCS
November 6th, 2019 at 10:32 am
“Arians is not loyal…lol
Arians cant admit he was wrong and made a mistake
He will never take the blame but instead be the victim
BA is an entitled always right Narc. Just wait for the excuses and all the players stuck underneath the bus when we are 4-12 end of the year”
The Kobe Faker
November 6th, 2019 at 10:35 am
Agreed 813, Dirks offense was far from creative. Monken was best play caller.
November 6th, 2019 at 10:37 am
First and foremost…Licht Weight needs to go. If that scares off Arians…than so be it. He can quit on his own accord if he so chooses. The defensive backfield debacle has to be the straw that broke the camel’s back/toe.
# Licht’sOut
November 6th, 2019 at 10:40 am
i dont know if you were paying much attention but they went for a run on first up the middle the first 2 runs of the game… then after that every time they lined up like that on first down it was a play action deep shot …. i think Arians was calling the plays most of the last game
November 6th, 2019 at 10:44 am
Halfway through the season we are 4th in the NFL in scoring averaging 28.8 points per game and are 2-6.
I don’t understand why so many of this fan base don’t understand that with a horrifically bad defense we are going to lose games a lot no matter who the freaking QB, coordinator, or starting RB are.
6-2 this season if we could hold teams to 22 points per game (NFL Average)
11-5 last season under the same premise.
But yeah let’s draft OT & QB and blow it all up because somehow the defense is going to just magically become good next year lol.
November 6th, 2019 at 10:45 am
Licht needs to be fired. Bowles needs to be fired. Arians can keep LW calling plays for all I care. but we need to fix the defense.
We honestly need to fix the defense period. That’s my new motto. I don’t even care what we do with the offense. Until our defense is fixed it’s not worth nitpicking for me
November 6th, 2019 at 10:52 am
The Bucs have left me saying…. WHEN DOES BASEBALL SEASON START!!!
November 6th, 2019 at 10:53 am
Well, Ive got to drop back in for one comment and just add to this.Not only.has Leftwich been horrible and the playcalling has been predictable (running on every first down) but when they do pass on first and run on second down(very rare) Its still easy to predict because every time they run the ball.or do play action they only hace one wr on the outside and bring everyone in to block.
They NEVER run the ball with the offense spread out which would create opportunuires for ROJO to bust off huge runs but its all playcalling that the defenses can sniff out more often than not.
Arians was a dream.come true hire for me….up until I found out he wouldnt be coaching. Honestly though as bad as this team has played the officiating has been just as bad.Refs have lost this team 2 games this season.Its not so much the team that Im done with, its the league.I have always been a die hard football and nfl fan, and I havent watched one game.that didnt have a bucs uniform.on the field. Getting close to.not watching any games at all.Vita Vea was.being held.on damn.near every play against Seattle and the Refs made sure bucs lost that game.
Fock the NFL
November 6th, 2019 at 11:09 am
The officiating has been beyond bad.
Timed well, coming up on negotiations and all
November 6th, 2019 at 11:29 am
LordCornelius …yup. I have no problems with the O.
Until the defense is fixed this team will keep losing.
November 6th, 2019 at 11:39 am
Not exactly looking to measure cocks when the best result would be getting credentials revoked. There is a level of etiquette that has to be followed.
November 6th, 2019 at 11:40 am
I don’t think the QB Whisperer speaks fluent idiot.
And it doesn’t matter anyway because the most important relationship on this team is thriving even if we’re not winning.
Remember, Winston publicly stated that he can relate better with Leftwich because he’s black.
Yes…. that’s what our genius QB said.
….. and it’s not racist at all.
November 6th, 2019 at 11:43 am
Joe,
If you’re looking for a cock measurer just find Rod Munch or ndog.
Those guys love “handling” stuff like that!
November 6th, 2019 at 11:53 am
To most of you idiots, The Bucs are 8th in the entire league in points scored, and 4th in the NFC. If you complained about the defense you may not sound like the morons you appear to be. Wow
November 6th, 2019 at 12:07 pm
Let the seal clubbing begin..lol
November 6th, 2019 at 12:27 pm
Joe
So a level of etiquette, doesn’t allow for legitimate questions?
Might as well not even go to the pressers, and let Buccaneers.com provide all the rosy answers.
Just another problem with today’s NFL. The unfettered adoration and tolerance of BS…”Mr. Accountability “ ought to be able to handle a tough question without taking his ball and going home…or sending Joe to timeout.
November 6th, 2019 at 12:28 pm
Winston had a pair of third-quarter touchdowns with his legs, but both were wiped out by penalty. First he scrambled and found Scotty Miller for the score, but Miller had stepped out of bounds, so no catch. Next snap, Winston scrambles and runs for a touchdown, but Dotson is called for holding. The Bucs settled for the go-ahead field goal.
****************************************************************
LOL……
YEAH PLAY CALLING IS THE ISSUE….LOL….
its the execution……
GO BUCS!!!!!
November 6th, 2019 at 12:43 pm
YOU ARE WHAT YOUR RECORD SAYS YOU ARE……….
JASON LICKED TENURE 66% LOSING RECORD ?????
November 6th, 2019 at 12:45 pm
I stated when he got hired…that they soon turn on BA!…You people!
November 6th, 2019 at 12:47 pm
I didn’t think much of Bowles before the season and he is exactly what I thought !!! Not Good and like most not able to adjust !!!
November 6th, 2019 at 12:52 pm
The Bucs offense has scored 220 points in 8 games. Most in team history through half a season. Leftwich ain’t the problem. The secondary is.
November 6th, 2019 at 12:54 pm
When you coax a guy out of retirement you get a delegator not a coach who is all in.
Arians is getting what he deserves by letting a unqualified Leftwich run the offense
November 6th, 2019 at 12:57 pm
“Here are the facts
Leftwich would have been out of the NFL if BA didnt bring him here in Tampa. He was unemployed and absolutely no other NFL team wanted him
When hired as Tampa HC, BA decided he was not going to call plays nor be at the game planning meetings. The recent fired Leftwich is the only person BA could hire to run his ancient offense and not argue because no other NFL team runs that 80s crap
The best attribute of Leftwich coaching skills is he played under the great Bruce Arians
The Great Golfcart Heist”
The Kobe Faker
November 6th, 2019 at 1:06 pm
You guys do remember where Loyalty got Dirk!! Bucco better worry about his own ass!! He won’t be walking away on his terms this time!!!They may give him a Pink Slip!! Then Bowles or Leftwich might become the Head Coach then you haven’t gained any ground!! Rather will have taken Moon Walk Steps!! Michael did go backwards on that move right! 5 & 9 best but more likely 4 & 12!!! I’m feeling Jay Miss doing a Little Moonwalking himself against the Cardinals!!!🤷♂️🤷♂️🏈
November 6th, 2019 at 1:19 pm
Bryron Leftwitch just called a heck of a game on Sunday. What the heck are y’all talking about?
And as 813 mentioned above every problem that the offense did have on Sunday was cause by poor execution by the players. Had nothing to do with playcalls.
Y’all are on a different planet.
November 6th, 2019 at 2:01 pm
Rob F … I can agree with you on half of what you said … the Bucs’ Secondary is a problem; hard for anyone to debate that, although there are valid REASONS why that’s so, right now at least. And I know that the Bucs’ offense has scored 230 pts in 8 games … almost 29 PPG average. Right now we’re sitting at #4 in the NFL in POINTS SCORED & #13 in TOTAL YARDAGE. Impressive? Yes it is, but it’s also deceiving.
That 230 pts in 8 games has been feast or famine. In 3 games (Giants, Rams, Seahawks … 3 bad defenses) we scored 120 points … 40.0 PPG average. In the other 5 games (49ers, Panthers, Saints, Titans … mostly better defenses) we’ve scored a total of 110 points … 22 PPG. What’s wrong with this picture?
Of the 2 Bucs wins, 1 win was because our defense limited the Panthers to 14 pts (actually 12 pts on 4 FGs, plus a safety allowed by the offense). The Bucs offense had a meh game scoring just 20 pts, but the defense held at the end & we won. The other win against the Rams was a classic example of COMPLIMENTARY FOOTBALL at its finest. Bucs defense generated 4 takeaways, and our offense capitalized on those. Despite having 12 penalties, we only had 1 TO, controlled the clock, ran the ball a bunch & Jameis passed effectively (68%), well except for 1 Pick-6.
But if you look at our 6 losses, it wasn’t just the defense that didn’t rise to the occasion. The Bucs’ offense helped things along with 17 TOs in 6 games … almost 3 TOs average per game. In a 2017 study, teams that turned the ball over 2 times a game had a 40% chance of winning. Those that turned it over 3 times had a 18% chance of winning. Teams that turned it over 4 or more times had a 6% chance of winning.
Bucs have turned it over 18 times in 8 games … 2.25 times per game average. Based on that study, Bucs should have won 35% of our games this season, which would roughly be a 3-5 record. but actually we’ve only won 25% of our games in 2019. We’ve been robbed. Pretty sure it was the Giants game. But it might’ve been the Titans game. Or maybe even the Seahawks game. Quick, someone find us a new scapegoat. Smitty’s retired.
November 6th, 2019 at 2:19 pm
As long as Jason Licht is in charge this team will be crap. He cons Bruce ” BS” Arians out of retirement along with his unemployed assistants(I wonder why). We are headed for at least a top ten pick in the 2020 draft if not higher. I guess the Glazers like those 5 win seasons. I know I am getting tired of all the build up during the spring and summer how everything is fixed, how its easy to flip a team now. If they dont win at least 5 more games the whole bunch needs to be fired starting with Licht.
November 6th, 2019 at 3:33 pm
JimmyJack … I disagree about Sunday’s play-calling. It was very good at times, but it was very poor at times. And yes, sometimes it was poor execution by the players, but sometimes that’s because the defense was waiting on the play. Of course sometimes all it takes is for 1 player to screw up & the play blows up.
Quick example. Bucs ran 79 offensive plays on Sunday … 26 runs, 44 passes, 2 sacks & 7 no plays (from penalties). Despite only running on 36% of our actual plays, we still controlled the clock nicely (35:25 to 28:13), and only had 1 TO. Jameis completed 65.9% of his passes for 335 yds & 2 TDs, which is great. As was our 3rd & 4th down conversion rate (7-for-15) & our 1st downs (29). 1st down play balance was fairly good I thought … 16 runs vs 18 passes.
But look a little deeper JimmyJack & you’ll see that 2 things killed us on offense, one dealing with play-calling & one dealing with player execution (or lack of it). Bucs were 4-for-12 on deep passes (Jameis actually threw 2 other deep passes that resulted in no plays due to penalties). That means that he was 33% completions in deep passes, but was 78% in short passing (25-for-32). Do you see anything wrong with that picture?
Player execution problems often show up IMO in terms of penalties, sacks allowed, TFLs allowed & QB Hits allowed, as well as turnovers of course. Bucs committed 11 penalties for 82 yards, as opposed to the Seahawks committing 4 penalties for 45 yards. Significant difference. But our OLine only allowed 2 sacks, 3 QB Hits, 3 TFLs & we only committed 1 TO. Other than penalties, not that bad.
Ineffective deep passing & penalties hurt the offense the most on Sunday. Jameis was hot on the short passing, but we need to be more selective on our deep pass play-calls IMO.
November 6th, 2019 at 4:35 pm
Licht is the biggest problem, the guy just isn’t smart enough to be a g.m..
November 6th, 2019 at 6:55 pm
Dumb Article to write about the poor offensive play calling when they are #4 in the NFL..
Please explain???
How about more articles about our dumb secondary that doesn’t know how to JAM a receiver at the LOS when playing press coverage!!!!
There should be TONS OF ARTICLES written about this!!!
November 6th, 2019 at 8:43 pm
You’re all missing it- running up the middle the entire first half of the season is just sort of a long form play action,
No one will ever expect a pass during the second half of the season.
We go 10-6