The Horrible Bucs Offense
November 28th, 2022
It’s 1999 all over again.
Aside from the Bucs’ 5-6 record and the eye damage done to fans watching the Bucs offense this year, nothing highlights just how badly Bucs coach Todd Bowles and failing offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich have wrecked the offense more than the following.
(Joe hates to implicate Bowles with the offense since he’s a defensive guy, but hey, if the shot-callers accept, approve and condone the results of this offense, then they deserve the justified flack.)
Now what demented coach in the NFL, who doesn’t already have Pat Mahomes or Josh Allen or Joe Burrow, wouldn’t want the following players: Tom Brady, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Tristan Wirfs, Shaq Mason and Playoff Lenny?
If a coach didn’t want those players, then he needs to be drug tested or on the unemployment line.
Now, flip the coin. What mental patient of a coach would want, in their “prime,” Trent Dilfer, Shedel Anthony, Jackarse Green and Hurt Emanuel?
Well, the Bucs once had a coach (that rode the coattails of a Hall of Fame quarterback into Canton himself) that actually wanted the latter group. And started those guys!
Would you believe (said in Joe’s best Maxwell Smart voice) that the roster containing Brady, Evans, Godwin, Wirfs, Mason and Lenny is nearly as bad as the sordid outfit of Dilfer, Anthony, Green and Emanuel?
That’s right. And here is the documentation.
In 1999, one of the worst Bucs offenses in history, an offense so terrible it dragged down a historic Bucs defense, the Dilfer-led gang, averaged 17 points a game.
In 2022, through 11 games, the Brady-led offense averages 18 points a game.
That’s right. An offense stocked with Hall of Fame, All-Pro and Pro Bowl talent at most key offensive positions is barely producing more scoring as guys who were lucky to be on an NFL roster.
And some people wonder why Bucs fans have the nerve to ask why Leftwich is still employed?
Joe sure hopes the loyal Bucs fans who paid two years’ worth of season tickets money with their hard-earned cash remember they are paying for this kind of trash when the Bucs next take the field of The Licht House next Monday night.
What a complete and total waste of talent Leftwich has led. My, Joe is confident the family cutting Leftwich’s paychecks are damn proud.
Irresponsible!
Outrageous!
Un… ac… ceptable!
November 28th, 2022 at 12:13 pm
TD 12 lol
November 28th, 2022 at 12:15 pm
Back to “THE COWARDLY PUNT” for a second … I don’t think anyone has mentioned this yet:
The punt resulted in a touchback so the net gain in yardage was an insurmountable 17 yards — SEVENTEEN YARDS!
Great strategy “Coach Coward”
November 28th, 2022 at 12:15 pm
Good analysis and summary.
November 28th, 2022 at 12:16 pm
I was thinking this same thing myself. Offense hasn’t been this bad since the Days of Dilfer. It really is unacceptable.
November 28th, 2022 at 12:16 pm
We need a Clown in the rigging of the Pirate ship at Ray Jay with a Blunderbuss to fire at every Bowles Blunder.
November 28th, 2022 at 12:16 pm
Byron’s inability because more obvious every week. Let TB12 be player/OC for the rest of the season and fire BL today. Offense couldn’t possibly get any worse.
November 28th, 2022 at 12:17 pm
There’s no way around it this team isn’t that good we have a good defense not excellent and below average offense exactly what the record shows.. you can blame the coaches the gm or the injury it is what it is..
November 28th, 2022 at 12:20 pm
I think one thing that isn’t getting nearly enough attention is the lack of turnovers. Teams that generate turnovers and have a positive (+/-) win in the NFL (I know technically bucs won turnover battle yesterday but the 1 turnover was a hail mary end of half so basically not a turnover). The lack of turnovers is absolutely killing the team (in addition to poor play and questionable coaching).
No easy solutions here but while Dfense is playing ok..they aren’t flipping the field for an offense that clearly needs some help.
Not sure what the (+/-) was at this point last year or the SB year?
November 28th, 2022 at 12:24 pm
And showing just how horrific this story is.
This is the old NFL when it was MUCH MUCH harder to play offense then it is today.
Also Chris Lack of turnovers really does hurt. But the defense has been playing good enough to win these games.
November 28th, 2022 at 12:25 pm
Hey… you are looking at a one-time SB winning QB right there… Like Favre and Rodgers. But frankly, who in history will rate batter… a one-time SB winning QB, or a one-time Pro bowl alternate QB?
November 28th, 2022 at 12:26 pm
I don’t know, 4th down, 2yds to go. Does anybody really think we could get them 2 yds when we can’t get 1yd on 3rd and 1.
November 28th, 2022 at 12:29 pm
Season is over I’m done watching this crap until bucs make a change they are wasting tom bradys farewell Season I’ll find something better to do on Sundays #!! I actually thought the bucs were going to beat the browns yesterday boy was I wrong #!!
November 28th, 2022 at 12:30 pm
Bucs had 56 yards rushing on their opening TD drive vs Browns yesterday.
Take away Julio Jones’ 15 yard end around, the Bucs gained just 23 yards rushing the rest of the game – that’s 3 1/2 quarters.
November 28th, 2022 at 12:36 pm
We need our Legendary HC back!
The Bucs Without BA = the Saints Without Sean Payton
Brady + a Great HC = a SB Contender Every Year
Brady Without a Great HC is still elite within himself, but does NOT equal a SB Contender.
They thought BA was the ‘problem’ and possibly holding the offense back because he used to come into the meeting room on Fridays and give the gameplan a final looksee and scrub a bunch of junk plays and ideas…
But it seems like BA was the SOLUTION, and that he was actually preventing a bad gameplan from being installed for gameday.
Now, the bad gameplans are getting installed with no oversight.
AND WHERE WAS CADE OTTON IN THE GAMEPLAN YESTERDAY????
BRATE, I’m sorry to say, is basically washed. Too many injuries, he needs to retire for health reasons.
Not to mention we lost many legendary players and HOF’ers in the offseasom.
So, we are lacking alot of talent, skill, & wisdom that we’ve had gere the past few seasons…
BRING BACK BA AT MINIMUM. – AND I WISH WE COULD BRING BACK SUH, JPP, etc, but nope too late obv
November 28th, 2022 at 12:40 pm
Erik to be fair JPP is almost as washed as Brate with how he has been in Baltimore.
Suh maybe should have been brought back.
Granted by far the biggest problem with the football team is the outright bozo at OC. but that’s been said so many times already what’s the point?
November 28th, 2022 at 12:41 pm
It’s the one thing I couldn’t understand after the game.
How can you have all these weapons on offense and lose to the Browns?
I still don’t get it…even if the coaches suck.
November 28th, 2022 at 12:43 pm
What’s worse about all of this is that almost every rule change since the 1999 Dilfer led gang has been made to improve scoring for the offense. QB hit rules, defenseless receiver rules, hand contact downfield rules, etc. If we’re being totally fair to the 1999 team, we should assume that they would have averaged more than 17 points if given the same rules as the 2022 team. It’s pathetic…
November 28th, 2022 at 12:46 pm
Buc1987 – I don’t know, maybe when your coaches are punting from the Browns 36 on 4th and short, maybe when they’re not using their timeouts, maybe when the gameplan is run up the middle on every first down, screen pass on 2nd down, leading to it always being 3rd and long, where Leftwich then calls fly patterns against teams sitting in deep zones since they know exactly what is coming.
Coaching matters a lot, in particular when you have remarkably stupid coaches.
November 28th, 2022 at 12:50 pm
We have the Bucs OC from 2001 as our QB coach, the guy who was so terrible at his job that he got Dungy fired. I’d 100% take him over dummy Leftwich.
November 28th, 2022 at 1:00 pm
I wonder if Frank Reich could fix this offense?
November 28th, 2022 at 1:01 pm
Buc1987 … Not that hard to understand if you approach it from a military mindset. All the weapons in the world are useless without the means to get them to the target. And THAT’S where the big uglies come in. Contrary to he party line, this OLine is meh at best. Brady doesn’t trust it enough to make bombs away work (we were a miserable 3-for-10 deep yesterday (and it was probably worse than that). The backs don’t trust it to create holes for them. It all starts in the trenches.
November 28th, 2022 at 1:02 pm
Brady skill is not enough to overcome Leftwich dumbassery.
November 28th, 2022 at 1:08 pm
I went back to look at the roster and stats for that 1999 team and it is amazing we made it to the NFC championship game with that crew on offense. From looking at the stats and comparing that team to this 2022 version, offensive time of possession stood out. The 1999 team controlled the ball for 32 minutes compared to 29 minutes for the 2022 team. The 1999 defense also forced more turnovers, which no doubt created better field position for the offense. Our 2022 defense is under performing in that area. Neither offense was scary, but the 2022 team definitely passed for more yards, but the 1999 team ran the ball better. Both teams struggled on third down. The 2022 team’s poor offensive time of possession is no doubt taking a toll on the defense and the defense’s inability to force turnovers (and stop teams on third down) are making things even harder for our struggling offense. If this trend continues, the team will never pull itself out of the spin.
November 28th, 2022 at 1:15 pm
This is why they collect the season ticket money in advance right???
If I hadn’t already paid, I would not go to another game with this staff in place
Instead I will boo them for three hours to at least get some semblance of vengeance
This staff is so bad, so stupid, scared, weak, soft, – there are not enough adjectives to define the complete ineptitude that exists at 1Buc
November 28th, 2022 at 1:24 pm
OrlandoBucFan – The ’99 Bucs team had the best defense in football. It’s not comparable to the all-time great ’02 Bucs defense, which is very likely the best defense in the history of the game, and without despite is the best pass defense in the history of the game, but the ’99 defense was truly dominant.
That’s how they got to the NFC Championship game with a rookie Shaun King at QB, and a truly terrible OC in Mike Shula (and I’d still take even him over Leftwich).
Also the Bucs should have been in the SB, had it not been the completely BS Bert Emanuel catch BS – the St Louis SCAMS should never have went to the SB. If you go back to that Bert Emanuel BS, not only did the refs overturn the call, they did so during a Bucs timeout without telling the Bucs the play was even being reviewed, then, coming out of a TV break, the refs spot the ball back and say it’s 3rd down and the Bucs had no idea what was happening – PLUS the Bucs lost their timeout which was not returned. It’s one of the biggest cluster f—s in NFL history and of course the NFL trying to cover up their BS call had to change the rules, which has lead to decades of no one knowing what a catch is.
November 28th, 2022 at 1:25 pm
D-Rok Says:
November 28th, 2022 at 1:00 pm
I wonder if Frank Reich could fix this offense?
———-
I think you could randomly pull a fan out of the stands and they’d do a better job than Leftwich.
November 28th, 2022 at 1:31 pm
Wow and I was there for those putrid offenses. Hard to believe. Aside from the putrid clock management t and play calling Bradys long ball ac uracy has evaporated.
November 28th, 2022 at 1:47 pm
Nick2 Says:
November 28th, 2022 at 1:31 pm
Wow and I was there for those putrid offenses. Hard to believe. Aside from the putrid clock management t and play calling Bradys long ball ac uracy has evaporated.
————
How has his longball accuracy disappeared exactly? Because he threw the ball away on a deep ball to Jones when he was double covered?
It’s remarkable how people have no idea what they’re watching.
November 28th, 2022 at 1:51 pm
Arians is a now a great coach ? Lol
November 28th, 2022 at 2:05 pm
Jimmy, BA was a damn sight better than what we’ve got now!
November 28th, 2022 at 2:53 pm
Don’t deserve a Monday night game. All 3 coaches are not qualified for their respective assignments…. The Glaziers should be on the phone with Sean Peyton, period!!! These folks were handed a team that should have had a minimum of 12 wins… This group reminds me of the Raheem Morris era minus the strip clubs every night!!!! Obviously I could go way deeper into this particular conversation but I will not get off on a tangent at this time….
November 28th, 2022 at 3:12 pm
He’s definitely a better coach than TB , but let’s not forget the first season here with Brady he was seven and five and being crucified, they changed the o to be more Brady specific and they went on a huge run . Outside the second half of the Green Bay game Brady was perfect in the postseason, allowing the defense to pin the ears back and go after it. If Brady doesn’t sign with Tampa in 2020 do you think Bruce Ariens winning a Super Bowl? He’s another coach that fizzles out the league without post season success
November 28th, 2022 at 3:45 pm
Jon Gruden needs a job…….OC?
November 28th, 2022 at 3:51 pm
The Defense is nowhere near the 1999 Defense. The offense might be worse. If Dilfer had stayed healthy, Bucs probably would have beaten the Rams in the championship game. No way this defense can carry us like the Bucs D of those years.
November 28th, 2022 at 4:15 pm
Predictable is the word we’ve all used to describe a leftwich game plan. You win a superbowl Brady’s first year. When you come back teams have had an entire offseason to study you and now after two years they just have not adjusted
November 28th, 2022 at 4:29 pm
Pewter Power – If we were still running Arians offense, even with these morons in charge the team would likely be 7-4, at the very least. The issue is they’re NOT running Arians offense. This is not Arians deep ball no riskit, no biskit offense, this isn’t the 2020 offense that merged in some shorter routes for Brady, this is Leftwich’s offense, which is why it’s God awful, and only ahead of the Texans, Colts, Steelers and Broncos.
BTW, let’s look at those teams…
Texans – worst talent in the game, HC is gonna get fired.
Colts – already fired their OC and HC.
Steelers – rookie QB, injuries, rebuilding year
Broncos – the most dysfunctional team in football, R. Wilson looks completely washed up.
Then you have the Buccaneers with the greatest QB of all time, 2 HOF WRs, one more ALL-PRO WR, a very promising rookie RB, and a proven very productive RB.
What changed from last year to this year on offense… gee… humm…
Oh right, Leftwich went from running Arians playbook, how Arians wanted it ran, to Leftwich running HIS playbook as Leftwich wants it ran.
Pretty obvious the issue.
November 28th, 2022 at 4:34 pm
Thank God it only cost me about $10 to get in back then to get the whole stadium booing dilfer. I can’t believe firehim still has a job. I keep popping in to see that he’s been canned. C’mon Glazers!
November 28th, 2022 at 4:38 pm
Pewter, I would agree but if not for HC Bowles Bucs most likely go back to the SB last season. To your point, the Ravens told you what is wrong with this O, they know what’s coming. A team CANNOT be successful when they throw away their first down 85% of the time even if Mahomes, Allen, Hurts etc are under center. Look what Shanahan has.done with Garapolo, McVay/Stafford, Reid/Mahomes etc. Bucs coaches have handcuffed the O with their run first strategy. Can we all agree now Lenny is not the problem?
November 28th, 2022 at 5:13 pm
If leftwitch had any concern for the team and it’s fans, he would immediately tender his resignation.
November 28th, 2022 at 8:25 pm
Play for draft picks
November 28th, 2022 at 11:52 pm
Yes, Bowles doesn’t seem to have what it takes to be a successful head coach. I also think a structure in which a single player – even the greatest of all time – is seen as the dominant force in the organization, and essentially diminishes the stature of the head coach and the coordinators as a result, is really unhealthy.
One thing I really don’t get is why people think the Bucs have a lot of talent on Offense. The offensive line is poor, they don’t have an impact player at Tight End or Running Back, and the receivers and running backs are poor blockers.
Whereas receivers like Gronk and Antonio Brown can run their routes quickly, Mike Evans needs more time to run his, time the O-Line can’t provide. Julio Jones hasn’t been Julio Jones for a while now. At this point, Godwin’s the only reliable receiver.
And taking marginal players and turning them into real contributors a la Belichick has never been something Arians and his acolytes have shown an ability to do.