Lack Of Preparation On Offense
October 17th, 2022
Early Halloween disguises.
Joe doesn’t know if this is on Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich or if folks want to incorrectly throw rocks at the greatest quarterback of all time going to a wedding.
(Joe will ask creepy Bob Kraft again, how is it a man of your stature is not aware you never get married during the football season? You’ve got seven other months out of the year where you can give away your freedom.)
Joe can tell that when asked, the Bucs were very sensitive to the notion that Brady missing a meeting and a walk-through to attend Kraft’s nuptials might have thrown him off yesterday.
Bucs coach Todd Bowles said after the game Brady didn’t miss anything he needed to attend.
But it sure seems like, just from watching the play-calling and hearing Bowles’ words detailing why the offense couldn’t move the ball, the Bucs were totally caught off guard in what the Steelers were doing defensively.
Joe asked Bowles if the offensive gameplan was to run, despite the Steelers missing so many starters in their secondary and in the pass rush. Bowles basically said the Steelers defense confused them.
“They did a good job of disguising and getting us into things and coming up and making plays and showing us something else,” Bowles said. “We have to do a better job approaching it.”
Now center Robert Hainsey told Joe the Steelers didn’t do anything different from what they prepared. That may be true, but look at the results.
Joe used to get on Raheem Morris for not having his defenses ready for games. The Bucs’ defense back then regularly got shredded early in games. But Morris did a solid job of adjusting on the fly and his defenses usually played better in the second half if not the second quarter.
So Joe doesn’t see why he should give Leftwich a pass when he has Tom friggin’ Brady and Mike Evans and Chris Godwin to work with. Leftwich didn’t adjust.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:04 am
No excuse to not spreading the Steelers out and throwing until Brady’s arm fell off. I’ll go a step further and say Fornette should not have been getting as many touches as the rookie. Pathetic performance.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:05 am
The 2022 Tampa Bay Buccaneers are garbage. Coaches and players look like the keystone cops. Pathetic in every way. Congratulations Todd Bowles.
You’re now the Captain of the Titanic.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:06 am
Nobody will say it so I will. This Buc team has glaring deficiencies on both its O and D lines. Their play is inconsistent and will remain this way throughout the season. We will win and lose some. Its not our year to win it all guys. Just hope we can finish even stevens.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:09 am
Agree with Buc50 about the lack of passing. Most of the Steelers’ DBs were subs. No excuse for not attacking them more. Play calling issue.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:09 am
This is why Bowel movement is not just a poor head coach, but a monumental failure. He literally thinks that he is never wrong. This clown is several notches below Lovie (Howell) Smith. He is the antithesis of Mike Tomlin.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:09 am
(Joe will ask creepy Bob Kraft again, how is it a man of your stature is not aware you never get married during the football season? You’ve got seven other months out of the year where you can give away your freedom.)
“I have to get married as soon as possible because I’m old as hell.” – Kraft
October 17th, 2022 at 9:11 am
Brady should have stayed retired. Too old to be throwing 40+ times.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:12 am
Problem with “Winning Ugly” earlier in the season is that it telegraphs that the team isn’t winning on talent, it was winning on luck. We have moved from convincing win to losses to unconvincing wins to embarassing loss. So teams have broken down Tampa’s tendencies, neutralized the talent mismatches and basically figured out how to counter all phases of Tampa’s game including coaching (giving the kickers a honorable mention.)
Winning ugly against bad teams is the beginning of losing. That is why it was a problem.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:14 am
Go away!
October 17th, 2022 at 9:15 am
Joe, can u please ask someone why Lavonte was covering Claypool a damn good receiver! On key 3rd down plays! Ludicrous.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:15 am
Yeah, the OL and DL are terrible. And us fans screamed about it all preseason. Did Licht go out and pursue guys like Tretter?? Or seriously try to retain Suh?? I don’t know. Seems like all Licht and the coaches did was keep saying we’re fine, we’re fine. But us fans knew we weren’t. And now the team and season is in shambles because of it.
Right the ship NOW, or write the season off. Those are your choices.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:16 am
Abysmal coaching. Run game is pathetic, without it we are toast. I suspect they felt this game would be a cakewalk, and they’d get much needed practice; thus the run heavy playsheet. Offense looks static, players look robotic, running to spots and wa
October 17th, 2022 at 9:17 am
Bucs ran into a HOF coaching staff. Unfortunately, they showed up with a USF quality staff and no one should be surprised at the end result.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:18 am
The whole team sucked, including Brady.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:21 am
Bowles and Leftwich, the Captain and the XO, are so inept and incompetent that the BUCS ship is rutherless right now. THey have no idea how to command a battleship. Fire both of them.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:21 am
Brady going to a wedding had nothing to do with anything. It Was A Walk Through. The lack of adjustments was glaring. Just the same thing over and over. Wasting first down over and over. For the Brady should have audibled crowd. Bucs were running out of heavy personnel on many plays making it even more obvious what was coming and limiting audibles. Bucs had a few 2-7 2-8s that were just screaming play action pass but alas, another run instead. Like beating your head against a brick wall and being surprised it hurt every time.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:25 am
Every phase was poor play. Only succup showed up to play. Besides him special teams was terrible, offense was a joke like how you know going to light them up. Seriously. Brady didn’t look good. So many passes under thrown that Godwin couldn’t get and that boy can caught. Man BL really shat himself. Please bring BA back in to tighten this ship up. Defense played meh but with all the 3 n outs on offense that will wear your defense out but still defense has to play better. Very disappointed with the Bucs.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:28 am
The OL has always been the biggest problem since training camp. They got Trask killed in the preseason. Also couldn’t block for Gabbert.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:29 am
if you think this year is bad, wait til Brady sails off into the sunset with his 25 yo swim suit model next year , i.e. his new fiance !
we’ll be left with Trask, Bowels and Leftwich.
All these stellar coaches around the league these days and we have a retread and a wannabe.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:32 am
Brady needs to get his a$$ in gear and his head in the game! Missed half of training camp to go on vacation. Skipped two meetings pre-game to go to a wedding. Came out of the tunnel pre-game, no helmet, wearing a ball cap. Underthrows Godwin, open, at least six times that I saw. One Touchdown Tom. G.O.A.T or just goat?
October 17th, 2022 at 9:35 am
Hey Joe, I noticed he side-stepped your question and once again made it about the other team and what they do. And what they do is kick our asses.
On your next poll about confidence in Bowles, I’ll be voting no confidence. I started very confident but when your play is placed at someone else’s feet, he ain’t got it. That’s that, imo
October 17th, 2022 at 9:37 am
PS – Joe that was THE question to ask and thank you for asking it.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:38 am
Wait.. You mean you’re gonna ask Leftwich some tough questions? It’s almost like people have been begging for that for weeks. Nothing will change if we don’t hold people accountable. Ask him plain and simple, why are you calling such a plain and predictable script of plays? Are you not confident in your offensive line? If so, have you talked to licht about fixing that before it’s to late? He’ll likely stumble over his words all the way to a Non answer and have you removed but at least you did your job!!
October 17th, 2022 at 9:42 am
Less than 2 touchdowns per game over 6 games. This is not a good team.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:45 am
They don’t care
I don’t care
October 17th, 2022 at 9:49 am
They were getting to Brady with 4 guys every time he dropped back, which eliminated most medium to long passes against their depleted secondary. Combined with our obvious inability to run the ball, everyone will know how to beat us
October 17th, 2022 at 9:49 am
Bucs coach Todd Bowles said after the game Brady didn’t miss anything he needed to attend.
Making that statement in and of itself is a HUGE RED FLAG. Bowles is saying brady will NOT be held to the same standards as the REST of the team. Brady does not own the team-Brady is an employee of the team. Time to STOP setting a pi$$ poor example Todd and Tom.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:49 am
I appreciate that TB12 got us another Super Bowl win, but he is not present this year. When you lose the fire, it’s time to retire. He is tainting his legacy and just looks old and tired
October 17th, 2022 at 9:51 am
@John Sinclair. He came out of the tunnel pregame without a helmet? What are you on about? This is bordering on ridiculous
October 17th, 2022 at 9:53 am
I will stand by earlier comments that Bowles appears to be in over his head as a head coach. The pathetic performance yesterday reminds me of the Bears game during our Super Bowl year. That game was a hiccup. Yesterdays was a full scale barforama. Very disappointed in Bradys prima dona treatment.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:54 am
The Bucs rank dead last in rushing. I don’t care who’s the QB. You’re making the QBs job ten times harder by being so awful on third downs.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:54 am
Between this quote and the ‘guys living off the Super Bowl’ quote I thought he was talking about the players. Perhaps he’s publicly putting Leftwich on blast?
October 17th, 2022 at 9:55 am
Brady missing that walk through definitely caused Bucs to give up multiple 3rd and 15+ plays. He also could’ve stopped those long kick returns and he most assuredly should’ve caught that touchdown for Gage.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:56 am
No touchdowns in the first quarter this year……that is the quarter where a designed gameplan is put in place….
This loss was on two things……a poor gamplan (running)…..and a soft defense late.
2 of 3 games lost because of a failed 2 point conversion…..time to design a successful one….
As for Brady & the wedding….that in itself isn’t a problem…..but added to all the other selfish actions……and they are selfish…..it has meaning.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:02 am
All of it is a problem fans saying Tom isn’t it or this isn’t it yes it all adds up to the problem this looks like a bad team that doesn’t have the dedication to be a good team.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:02 am
Think it’s time for a closed door player only team meeting!! The atmosphere has to change immediately… come on man to much talent on this team, wake up for gods sake.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:04 am
Lets just admit it, Bowles and Leftwich does not have the brain capacity to be able to think beyond a simple play, like run up the middle with no openings or in defense a 3rd and veeerrryyyyy loooong rush 3 Dlinemen against a freaking Trubinsky… Bowles and his defense made Trubinsky looks like we’re against Mahomes or Josh Allen…. wtf!
October 17th, 2022 at 10:04 am
Bucs Special Teams Coordinator had this to say about Camarda after the draft.
” As a kickoff guy, he has a tremendous leg – does a really good job with that. And there’s still some room for him to develop, but I love all those things about him. Athletically, what he brings as a competitor and then also just him as a person in terms of his mental toughness, which shows up in other areas.”
Then kick the ball out of the end zone. Camarda was so unathletic on the returner that juked him I thought he had broken his ankle. You do NOT use high picks on specialists-PERIOD..
October 17th, 2022 at 10:05 am
@KentuckyBuc. If only Brady hadn’t missed walkthrough, Goedeke wouldn’t have been a turnstile. If Brady didn’t attend the wedding, Darden might have had a decent return.
How can coaches look at film and keep Goedeke in. People say taking him out would kill his confidence. Oh well!! Toughen up, Luke! His performance thus far should have ruined his confidence.
I’m thinking it’s not up to the coaches to change, but it has to come from Licht. The GM is controlling game day personnel lol
October 17th, 2022 at 10:10 am
Right on KentuckyBuc.
And Willie G, you are probably right about Kraft being in a hurry before he kicks it, but I’ve been married twice and both times in October.
Chicks dig the fall.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:11 am
Maybe Kraft served too much avocado tequila on his wedding? We should ban that drink!
October 17th, 2022 at 10:13 am
“They did a good job of disguising and getting us into things and coming up and making plays and showing us something else,” Bowles said. “We have to do a better job approaching it.”
Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, this coaching staff is the Charlie Brownest.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:14 am
I think TB12 has done that quiet quiting thing on the BUCS this season. He did not want to play here this season and it looks like he is going through the motions and will bolt as soon as the regular season is done because unless something changes, the season will end after week 17. The rest of the team other than a couple like ME13, CG14, Wirfs and Lenny who are studs but otherwise the rest are severe mediocrity.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:18 am
So many fans complained about Arians and wanting him gone and take his “red pen” with him on the way out… Now all i hear is that Arians should step back in and take over calling plays for offense. before any other fan contemplates jumping ship, Bucs were not looking great at 7-5 the year of SB victory. #perspective
October 17th, 2022 at 10:19 am
Well at least we learned the answer to why not quarterback sneak. An old man will never be able to push young men around, that play really showed his age.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:24 am
I think it’s becoming obvious that the only time the Bucs move the ball is when they are in the hurry up offense. That tells me that when Brady has control of the play calling they are much more effective. Thus it’s obvious Leftwich’s play calling sucks. You are much better off letting Brady call the plays in the huddle like the old days when most off the QBs called their own plays. Give it a try because it seems the other teams have figured out Leftwich’s offense. They are going nowhere scoring 1 TD a game. Coaching is more important than you think and right now Brady is head and shoulders a better offensive mind than Leftwich.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:25 am
Ryan Succop IS our offense!
October 17th, 2022 at 10:25 am
When I saw Tom Brady’s midweek presser this week, he seemed much more light-hearted and happy (smiling), reflective & good spirited than he has seemed lately.
Then he even recorded the Armchair QB segment, which is pretty light-hearted & goofy.
He seemed in a good place.
I thought for all the world it was a sign that the BUCS were going to come out and DESTROY the Steelers with about 40 points of offense.
Man was I wrong. We have no choice but to bounce back next week and get this damn thing rolling properly… as a full team.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:26 am
Gage dropped a perfectly thrown ball that hit him right in the hands and he had no shot at being hit and would have been the go ahead touchdown.
Why is no one talking about this?
October 17th, 2022 at 10:30 am
This is a historically bad OL.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:30 am
This is not gonna be our year, that is clear to see
October 17th, 2022 at 10:30 am
The yuckaneers are back!
October 17th, 2022 at 10:37 am
It’s not just the offense being unprepared. The defense is giving up opening series points in every game. This is a very poorly prepared team overall. Have there been injuries and all that crap, yes, but a good coaching staff still finds a way to scheme around most of that. That opening series is scripted in offense, so the lack of effectiveness there tells me all I need to know about Leftwich. The defensive game plan to open the game appears to be to let them punch them in the face and then hopefully counter with something that might work.
Brady missing practices and walk through and meetings IS a big deal. It may not be the reason for a loss, but it’s totally out of character throughout his two decade career. Bill Belichick wasn’t at that wedding by the way. He was preparing to do his job.
Everybody on this roster is looking to Brady for leadership, and what they’ve been shown is 10 days of vacation during camp and a skipped Saturday pregame. It takes a major lack of self awareness to scream at guys on the sideline when you’re not putting in the same work. Yes, he’s had two decades worth of working his butt off as credibility, but it’s always a new team and a new season. What he did last year or ten years ago has no bearing on this year.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:40 am
I’m not quite ready to say that I have given up all hope on the OL.
It has been 6 games, and they are inconsistent in the middle, especially the 2 young guys.
Some games, run blocking was pretty good and pass blocking not very good. Other games, pass blocking was actually pretty good and run blocking was not.
They need to get better and keep growing as a unit. They can still accomplish this season.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:41 am
(alot)
October 17th, 2022 at 10:46 am
You guys are funny. What I saw was receivers not beating backup and practice squad DBs. The coaches weren’t throwing the ball or failing to get open. The coaches didn’t take 11 days off, start marital problems, and attend a wedding a few days out from a game. The coaches didn’t allow repeated first downs at the end of the game. What the coaches did do was, continue to call plays to run the ball on third and short, continue to run the ball when the DBs were deficient.
The blame lies more on the players for not executing against a lesser team. Brady is not giving us his all in his “last” season. Too many distractions led to what we saw yesterday. The players and the coaches aren’t going to call out Brady, but we sure as hell should. This is a player’s problem with some stubborn coaching thrown in. So be upset but know who to truly be upset at.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:55 am
I concur with every comment on this post.
October 17th, 2022 at 11:00 am
No one knows more than Tom Brady that he should have been there.
Brady is not all in.
There are other problems with this team but that was inexcusable.
October 17th, 2022 at 11:08 am
1st and goal on the 4 yd line, 3rd qtr- later 9 yd line because of penalty- not even 1 target for Evans or Godwin.
October 17th, 2022 at 11:08 am
The preparation is obviously poor but the Bucs are getting absolutely owned in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Not gonna win many games getting whooped at the LOS. Licht should’ve brought in a quality LG/C in a trade. This is Brady’s last year and they roll out with a backup C and a rookie LG. Just dumb.
October 17th, 2022 at 11:10 am
It’s not Brady that needs reps and walk through for himself. The other players need him there. New pieces will gel faster if he commits to being all in.
When the offense is not prepared, the defense will end up being worn out by our lack of offense.
All that starts with Brady.
October 17th, 2022 at 11:14 am
This is all coaching folks. I mean give me a break. Put a good decent head coach and they’re 4-1 or even 4-2. Also these players sometimes are lazy that falls on the damn coaching staff. Unfortunately this season will likely be lost because the Bucs thought it was a good idea to hire Todd Bowles as head coach. Leftwich is another clown.
October 17th, 2022 at 11:16 am
Bowels is still employed?
He is obviously holding this team back!
October 17th, 2022 at 11:18 am
We look suspiciously like a Bowles coached team. AKA the jets.
October 17th, 2022 at 11:20 am
It’s the same offensive game plan every week.
Brady wishes he could work from home.
October 17th, 2022 at 11:26 am
I really wonder if the Bucs had stats envy and wanted to be ranked higher in rushing, so they kept doubling down on it.
October 17th, 2022 at 11:27 am
“They have way better coaches.” – paraphrase of Todd Bowles
October 17th, 2022 at 11:30 am
A guy who has given his all cant take days off and hope the team has the maturity and leadership to carry on.
How quickly forgotten all that this man gave up to bring us a SB, his dedication and time spent to strengthen the Bucs off the field and not in front of the TV cameras
The national media has hated Brady nonstop for years. The attention and scrutiny goes where he goes.
Who will they hate on next when he retires? The next Bucs qb? Dont think so.
This team will come around, unfortunately it looks like its later rather than sooner. Too much talent. Go Bucs.
October 17th, 2022 at 12:23 pm
In other words… Pittsburgh figured out our pre snap formula for choosing plays and baited us into running what they wanted us to. Real great.
October 17th, 2022 at 12:50 pm
Empty backfield…guess what we’re going to do. 41 in the backfield with Lenny..guess what we’re going to do. How about play action to give TB12 a bit more time?
October 17th, 2022 at 12:51 pm
There is no doubt that Tom Brady isn’t comfortable at all with the protection. He screamed at the offensive line and while he isn’t throwing darts out there, many of his throws are rushed and he isn’t able to step into the throws.
Jason Licht deserves some blame here for not adding enough veteran pass blocking linemen that can give Tom 3 seconds and a cleaner pocket.
If you can’t take shots down the field, you have squeezed the playing field. I’d like to see some more throws to Evans on the sidelines and some jump balls. He is the stud of the offense, feed the man.
Fournette is another player that isn’t quick enough to jump around run blitzes. Neither is White. I think Vaughn needs to get into the mix.
Leftwich needs to sit up in the coaches box and get off the field. He isn’t seeing what fans in the stands see or what the TV is showing. Offensive coordinators can get a better view of defense’s weakness from above the field than down on it.
He has been a complete failure with the uncreative and slow moving offense. Where is the speed on this team? Last year Brown and Grayson were able to get open. Godwin is slower and Mike Evans is forgotten. Gage is the biggest free agent dissapointment wr since Bert Emmanuel, another ex-Falcon.
October 17th, 2022 at 1:02 pm
Coaching sucks, absolutely no doubt about that. O line lazy, too much pressure too often. However Brady (and I’m a huge Brady fan) has made a huge mistake by being away from the team. He may not need the actual walk-through but the team as a whole NEEDS him there. They need to see his drive, his work ethic, so they can translate it to themselves. They NEED their LEADER back or they will be going home early.
October 17th, 2022 at 1:35 pm
I’ve seen enough of lefty’s play calling! Let’s switch it up Bucs! Still time to right this thing. More stubbornness and time will run out quick
October 17th, 2022 at 2:25 pm
Never did understand signing washed up receivers (Julio, Beasley, Rudolph) instead of addressing offensive and defensive lines. Didn’t they learn last year when old vets went down as soon as they came in? Just a train wreck of a team right now. Unimaginative play calling, Brady distracted, no decent running game. Questionable WR3, miss Gronk, no pass rush without blitzing, and for Gods sake, quit running Fournette up the middle into a stacked box on 3rd and short.
With the brutal schedule, games like yesterday, against a depleted Steelers team are a must win. Bucs could very well miss the playoffs this year.
October 17th, 2022 at 5:44 pm
Reason brady shouldn’t take off when teammates are required to be there except for sickness or personal/emergency leave is bc it sets a precedence and also can cause resentment from teammates. Regardless of the seniority, importance, background record, giving special treatment could cause team lack of commitment. Tom Braìdy has been said that he’s like another coach and considered the leader. As I’ve quoted before when Brady has set a bad example: “with great power comes great responsibility”