Has Byron Leftwich Lost Faith In Passing Attack?
October 16th, 2022
Inexplicable.
Joe was going to type a nice, positive story about the one good thing that happened for the Bucs today, but that’s going to get pushed back until Monday morning.
Joe just cannot get out of his head why Byron Leftwich decided to keep pounding the ball today despite the Grand Canyon-like mismatch in the passing game favoring the Bucs.
Has Leftwich lost faith in Tom Brady? Or Chris Godwin?
Or Mike Evans?
Joe admits to grasping for a logical answer for this mind-numbing gameplan, which cost the Bucs a win today and has set the Bucs backward who knows how far?
Was Leftwich spooked that Brady was going to creepy Bob Kraft’s wedding, and because of missed meetings and a walk-through Leftwich didn’t trust the passing attack?
Does Leftwich not believe Chris Godwin is 100 percent? Remember last week in a too-close-for-comfort win over the dismal Dixie Chicks, Godwin ran five routes total in the second half. Bucs coach Todd Bowles later explained they want Godwin fresh for January.
(Memo to Bowles, Leftwich and everyone else on the Bucs’ offense: Another couple of asinine gameplans like today and the only planning you will be doing for January will be making travel arrangements for a week in Tulum.)
The Bucs have the worst run game in the NFL. That is not hyperbole. That is fact. The Steelers’ strength on defense, with T.J. Watt out, with Minkah Fitzpatrick out, with their top three corners out was the run defense.
So what does head coach candidate Leftwich do? He runs. And runs. And runs some more.
If Leftwich really doesn’t believe defenses are waiting with bated breath for Playoff Lenny to run up the middle or to the left on first down, then Leftwich is significantly more naive than Joe thought.
Yes, Joe is that beside himself about witnessing this debacle in Pittsburgh at the Agriculture Stadium. Coaching malpractice, plain and simple.
(In Leftwich’s first year in 2019 he had a habit of running up the middle on first down with the likes of Dare Ogunbowale. Joe asked Leftwich if he thought defenses were ready for those playcalls since he used them so much on first downs, Leftwich glared and Joe and barked, “No!”)
Joe simply cannot believe what Leftwich was trying to do today. Both Playoff Lenny and Rachaad White ran for three yards a pop. What exactly gave Leftwich the idea he could be effective on the ground, especially when he had such incredible mismatches elsewhere?
There has to be a logical reason, no? Are there injuries to Brady or Evans or Godwin that Leftwich didn’t want to expose? Are they hiding injuries? Something is up. Today’s approach didn’t make a lick of sense.
Right now this Bucs team, if it backs its way into a division title, is a one-and-done team in the playoffs.
October 16th, 2022 at 6:45 pm
It has become glaringly apparent who has been really running the O for the past few years and it wasn’t Byron…..
October 16th, 2022 at 6:46 pm
no he is following the vowkes prevent game plans. quit blaming him. bowles is hc
October 16th, 2022 at 6:46 pm
Brady has a torn labrum
October 16th, 2022 at 6:47 pm
Well, telegraphing your play calls doesn’t help at all. 80% running on first downs?? Doesn’t take a brain scientist to know what you’re going to run. Might as well hand them the playbook and game plan
October 16th, 2022 at 6:47 pm
Enough with the brady injury. BL stinks.
October 16th, 2022 at 6:47 pm
why do we blame anyone but bowles
October 16th, 2022 at 6:47 pm
^^^ True, BL has been exposed. ^^^
October 16th, 2022 at 6:47 pm
Also i been disappointed with godwin. He needs to give us more. Both him and evans have to make more plays.
October 16th, 2022 at 6:53 pm
Anyone with a Healthy brain knows that Everything related with offense needs Bradys approval.
So he is part of the problem.
October 16th, 2022 at 6:54 pm
Bowelswich.
October 16th, 2022 at 6:54 pm
So, the fossil is hurt. Is his arthritis acting up? Sure wasn’t apparent at that swanky wedding he attended Friday nights.
October 16th, 2022 at 6:55 pm
For all we know, the Bucs are employing the famous Wile E. Coyote Acme Game Plan.
At least it looks like it.
October 16th, 2022 at 6:57 pm
WE’VE LOST FAITH IN BYRON
Replace him and things will immediately get better
October 16th, 2022 at 6:59 pm
People blaming brady are ridiculous. Dude he’s playing with no running game as well. Throwing it up everytime.
October 16th, 2022 at 6:59 pm
That’s a fact! Leftwich is a dumbass. My god awful
Can dardin. He’s as scarred as it gets. This is awful.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:00 pm
ok who can bring another excuse for bowles. is this the bowles defense team?
October 16th, 2022 at 7:03 pm
I bet the panthers are happy that they play the bucs next week. They will look like an nfl team against us. Rinse and repeat.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:04 pm
Guzman… do you really think Brady has Nothing to do with the game plan?
October 16th, 2022 at 7:05 pm
The more important question is, have the players lost faith in Byron Leftwich? If so, what took so long? Changes needed.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:05 pm
Bob Kraft ain’t creepy, he likes hot trim like any male with testosterone. And good for him for marrying a piece of A, no one wants to eat 80yr old bush. People are being hypocrites, and why should Lraft care what her intentions are. He gets what he wants, she gets what she wants. Quid pro quo
October 16th, 2022 at 7:05 pm
Guzman. Evans and Godwin can’t make more plays if they don’t have the ball thrown in their direction.
Evans is the number one weapon and as barely used to day against back up corners. What’s with that.
Do we have to run the ball up the gut every first down? BL’s game plan was a s$!t show. I don’t remember one pass over 20 years today. Pathetic showing and it starts with coaching.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:06 pm
Zzbucs yes but whose calling the plays mainly? Whose the one that runs the ball left and right on short yardage? Isn’t that BL?
October 16th, 2022 at 7:08 pm
Here’s the worst part….We won’t get comp pics for Byron’s HC job & the promotion of Bowles earned us none.
Oh, how I miss BA
October 16th, 2022 at 7:09 pm
Bucs need to make a change at LG. Put Walton in. Anyone has to be better than 67.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:10 pm
In 4 of the 6 games the Offense has scored only one TD.
DALLAS, NO, GB, PIT.
In 4 games.
I mean what is going on
October 16th, 2022 at 7:10 pm
Guzman…..anyone who plans this games is part of the problem. Coaches and as you said Brady too.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:11 pm
UNEXCEPTIONAL! AND UNACCEPTABLE! WHERE IS THE “REAL HEAD COACH” Minimum DEMOTE if not FIRE the “ALLEGED” head coach and PUT THE “REAL HEAD COACH” back in FAST……! AND I MEAN FAST!
October 16th, 2022 at 7:11 pm
To be fair. It’s hard to implement a game plan with a part time QB that shows up when he wants to.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:12 pm
Leftwich is out of the HC interview loop. This is inexcusable. He should be let go after this season. Without Arians, he seems lost.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:14 pm
I just thought of something. I think we all can agree that Tom has lost a few pounds and i’m also sure we believe it’s stress from his personal life. But I have another theory. Tom is a winner. he’s been a winner his entire career. I think he is really frustrated with Bowles and Sandwich and there’s nothing he can do about it. That has to be tearing at him being the passionate player that he is. I think Bowles is listening to Shaft with his earbuds and Sanwich is looking at a comic book
October 16th, 2022 at 7:16 pm
Zzbucs again whose getting open? I would love to see the game tape on every play on offense. Coaches have to make adjustments on what the opposing defense is doing out there. Also it’s sad enough already that the Bucs are so one dimensional.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:19 pm
Byron playing checkers out there
October 16th, 2022 at 7:22 pm
If the running game isn’t working why did we try it over and over and over and on first down to boot ???
October 16th, 2022 at 7:23 pm
Bye
Bye
Byron.
This offense sucks.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:23 pm
The season is a bust. Release Brady, play Trask. He outperformed both Goobert and Brady in the last preseason game (playing with truck drivers) and deserves it. If he had more melanin he would have played already.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:24 pm
Please fire Leftwitch and Bowles go back to doing what you do best as a D coach. Damn I look at other teams that lose premium players and still make it work but not this team.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:26 pm
Leftwichs running reminds Howard of Monty Python and the Holy Grail:
“We’d better not risk another frontal assault, that rabbit’s dynamite.”
“Let us taunt it. It may become so cross that it will make a mistake.”
October 16th, 2022 at 7:27 pm
Exactly just like what the Steelers did to the bucs how many premium players were out for the Steelers. Lol
October 16th, 2022 at 7:27 pm
Perhaps Joe you could ask leftwich if he has lost confidence in the passing attack Brady seems very capable so leftwich thought this game was a win for us and he gave Brady a rest huge loss Bucs are garbage lots of good players but awful playcalling so just wasted talent
October 16th, 2022 at 7:28 pm
Y’all not realize A LOT of good teams in the NFL are 3-3 relax already y’all. The amount of teams that are 3-3 is ridiculous.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:28 pm
😀😂 people calling fro trask.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:28 pm
Guzman I can’t go 15 rounds with this….. Seems to me you are talking about execution and I am talking about game plan.
IMO execution is poor including TB12.
And game plan is poor and TB12 is responsable too.
He is part of the problem as most of the players and coaches.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:28 pm
Leftwich should get carried off like at Marshall.
And never brought back.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:29 pm
@Anonymous but at the end of the day those teams don’t have Bowles as hc and leftwich as OC.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:29 pm
Starting to look A LOT like Arians was the actual play caller the past 2 years….
Leftwich exposed this season as a fraud!
October 16th, 2022 at 7:30 pm
Honestly.
Watching that game was as much fun as taking a peek at Nancy Pelosi’s Swimsuit Calendar Extravaganza.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:30 pm
Zzbucs that falls on the coaching dude. Again you gotta be damn creative and not som damn predictable.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:34 pm
Something to say about the sideline presents of BA, I like BL but BA has a football knowledge and swagger that got him very far in this league and multiple SB rings. I would prefer if he was still calling the game, or red lining BL’s play card.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:35 pm
I don’t know, jehza… at least Pelosi sports a decent rack these days.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:39 pm
……….THE RATS JUMPING SHIP! With fans like these the Bucs dont deserve a winning team. Fortunately most Bucs fans are not a bunch of whinning little girls!
Go Bucs!!!!
October 16th, 2022 at 7:41 pm
Brady looks like a 45 year old man out there. A statue who throws the ball away as soon as anyone is within 5 yards of him. Understandable, he’s 45 and can’t possibly absorb any hits. He is not the future, he’s the pasture. Thanks for 2020 Tom, but this is pretty much over.
Pretty soon, he’s going to demand he can go out on Friday nights and get hammered.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:44 pm
I am so sick of our teams unwillingness no actually game plan for the team we are playing. We arrogantly seem to expect to go in with a bland offensive game plan and just beat teams. We just played a team with a complete practice squad secondary and refused to throw the ball and make them earn it. I’m sorry but good coaches exploit other teams weaknesses. Do we not remember how teams played us last year when we trotted the Cologne on the field. They mercilessly attacked the guys that didn’t belong in the nfl. We just treated the Steelers secondary like they were pro bowlers.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:45 pm
Game plans have nothing to do with the timing of calls or situational calls. You can have the greatest calls in the world lined up but if you don’t know when to call what it doesn’t matter. You can’t even make a good audible out of a bad call if you don’t have the right personnel grouping on the field. With that said this is Bowles ball. He’s the one demanding these conservative game plans. Your offense is hamstrung by only have two legitimate downs to get a first down after constantly wasting first down. Also how many times did they come back to #RUNFORNONE right after a big play.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:46 pm
He sure knows how to be predictable. Very consistent in that regard. I’m not gona be able to watch much more if the play calling stays the same. Put four out wide and run sometime. More play action on first down. Draw plays. Go deep early and often. Tell Brady to audible every play. There ya go.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:46 pm
I didnt even mind the runs. What boiled my blood was when we passed nearly everything was to the middle or into the flats. Byron basically refused to attack the secondary.
We get into redzone, Steelers dont have a starting CB playing. We dont even look at Mike? This makes absolutely no sense.
October 16th, 2022 at 7:47 pm
Anonymous, if a lot good teams are 3-3 maybe they are not as good as we thought.
We have not play good football and after 6 games is more than concerning
October 16th, 2022 at 7:48 pm
The one time we moved the ball and scored a touchdown was when Brady was running the two minute offense. To any objective mind that isn’t overly invested in a certain offensive coordinators ego that should tell you the direction this offense should go. Especially when up against secondary filled with third stringers.
October 16th, 2022 at 8:01 pm
This is Todd Bowles offense. He has an old school mentality. Have to be run first. He is going to run first this team out of the playoffs. Like a lot of defense minded coaches the offense just gets in the way of his defense.
October 16th, 2022 at 8:01 pm
They need to have Ko Keift in there more if they are going to run the ball like that
October 16th, 2022 at 8:21 pm
Byron can do better. He is struggling to adjust with this banged up oline. He needs to get creative. Bowles is driving me nuts, though. How do you not call a timeout during that substitution? Why is the defense so average and undisciplined. And lastly I’m sick of seeing our defenders celebrate on 1st and 2nd down stops, then give up 3rd and long over and over again. They need to concentrate and stop patting them selves on the back for such minor achievements.
October 16th, 2022 at 8:21 pm
leftwich needs to GO
October 16th, 2022 at 8:28 pm
put up the bat signal for ariens now. his assistants are lost in space and have no idea how to win a super bowl.
October 16th, 2022 at 8:28 pm
Joe you have access to him, ask him. Nobody else will
And why your at it ask Bowles why he didn’t call a timeout when we got called for to many men, the guy trying to get off the feild was right in feont of him.And then his d left their receiver open for a 40 yard gain.
October 16th, 2022 at 8:29 pm
Did anybody just hear that. Yeh just right there, right there. That’s right the national media isn’t talking about the Bucs with any context. They are irrelevant, they are flat, no enthusiasm whatsoever. If Tom Brady starts to quit it is time to think about how we are going to stink next year. I have been watching this team since Ray Perkins had them running gassers three times a day. It isn’t fun to put your hard earned money on the table and turn around and give it to a football team that won’t produce. I don’t even live in Tampa anymore but I can tell you when this team is flat and incapable of mustering any energy, folks that time is now. The play calling is putrid and the execution is even worse. Next week we play the Stinkin Panthers, if we loose to them or win in a squeaker, this season is definitely over this early into it.
October 16th, 2022 at 8:33 pm
This offense hasn’t been the same since Gronk hurt his ribs and we lost AB… Then Godwin got hurt and we counted on Jones and Perriman to play at least a few games each before landing on IR…
Plus – our offense line is struggling. Smith is playing injured. Goedeke is a rookie and it shows. Hainsey is a below average starting Center.
To quote the great Tony Dungy – “This offense is out of sync.”
October 16th, 2022 at 8:36 pm
if bowles loses to carolina i am done. awaiting his firing and team rebuild.
October 16th, 2022 at 8:36 pm
leftwich is horrible
Licht screwed up the offseason.
He will be fired within 2 years
October 16th, 2022 at 8:59 pm
In certain parts of the game, Leftwich was running an RPO with Tom Brady. Leftwich must be blind for doing that. Let Tom Brady cook idiots.
October 16th, 2022 at 9:20 pm
Bowles and Leftwich are like deer in a headlights. No idea what hits them. Both are inept and incompetent. Fire them!
October 16th, 2022 at 9:21 pm
It’s time for some tough questions at press conferences! I want everyone, including Brady pressed! Don’t let them off the hook. I need answers about our OL. Tired of the “they work hard” BS!! Matter of fact, i want Goodwin and Gilbert to answer questions. Why don’t we have answers for two high safeties
October 16th, 2022 at 9:36 pm
The playcalls stink, but there are also serious personnel issues that were unaddressed this off-season. The interior O Line stinks despite what the Buc unofficial cheerleaders say, and both Gage and Juiio are not red zone or end zone replacements for Gronk or AB. Again, why wasn’t JC Tretter signed?
October 17th, 2022 at 12:44 am
Biggest reason for lackluster offense that you people don’t want to acknowledge… The 45 year old immobile Quarterback who is the GOAT has one foot out the door. He took a two week vacation in the middle of training camp, is going through public marital discord due to him opting to play, and then takes off from mandatory team meetings, walk thru and travel to attend the wedding of another teams owner. He is the GOAT but you can’t demand commitment from your teammates when they see you are not all in.
October 17th, 2022 at 1:01 am
Just think about next year !
HC : bowel prep man
OC : dumbo
QB : Trask
Perhaps in 2 years we will have the no.1 pick again !
JL: draft picker
October 17th, 2022 at 1:04 am
True about TB12
He has gone from GOAT to a disgrace !
Afraid of getting hit.
Has quickest release only because he won’t take chance on getting it.
If pass ain’t there it’s to the ground near his receiver .
I suppose Giselle has made him miserable but he can’t want this to be his final years work !??
Although going to a wedding for grandpa is a real dooshlarue type move
October 17th, 2022 at 2:01 am
leftwich should be let go THIS season–sooner ,the better.