Definition Of Bad Coaching: No Improvement
December 12th, 2022
Where has offense improved?
Joe is a big coaches guy. That’s both good and bad. Joe is a big coaches guy because Joe has first-hand experience of what a good coach can do for a player as well as a team.
As Mike Tanier of Football Outsiders wrote (about lousy Lovie Smith), “Never underestimate how a bad coach can drag down a good team.”
If folks dig through Ira Kaufman’s podcasts and the free archives of this here website, Joe noted once or twice something things not looking right with this offense. Has that offense, outside of when it runs a hurry-up, looked any better since September?
Not to Joe.
And not to Eric Edholm of NFL.com.
… … We’ve written variations of this throughout what has been a trying season for Tampa Bay, but it’s just so remarkable how labored and unnatural everything looks offensively. Even the “good” plays seem to end up poor in the end, as Sunday proved. Brady hit Mike Evans for what appeared to be a 68-yard TD pass, but Donovan Smith was called for a hold to wipe it out. Smith’s hold last week against the Saints wiped out Brady’s would-be game-winner before Tampa scored the next play. It was Smith’s ninth penalty of the season and his third hold in a 13-minute game span going back to last week. After that play, Brady completed four of his next seven passes but only for 14 yards as the Niners upped their lead from 7-0 to 21-0. And they’d never look back.
Brady ended up throwing for only 253 yards on 55 attempts, taking seven QB hits and throwing two bad picks. One might wonder why Brady was even playing in the fourth quarter — with an injured hand, no less — but it could be argued (unironically) that the Bucs’ offense actually needs the reps. That’s how bad it has gotten this season
You know what that tells Joe? Failing offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich is over his head.
Coaches are there to help players improve. If an offense is this bad (with this amount of talent) and never gets better despite key rookies gaining more experience and star veterans getting healthy, Tampa Bay, you have a problem.
And that problem is Byron Leftwich.
When Leftwich is replaced by someone competent, this offense will improve, unless Leftwich has an epiphany and runs much more hurry-up offense.
December 12th, 2022 at 12:06 am
A real DC is salivating playing a rookie
They bring the house.
Bowels is such complete trash and garbage…
They are awful
December 12th, 2022 at 12:09 am
Bowles and BL are trash. Unfortunately the ship will go down with these two clowns.
December 12th, 2022 at 12:14 am
this team would have beaten CAR, PIT, and CLE and be 9-4
if the coach had even a few more braincells than bowels
December 12th, 2022 at 12:14 am
It was satisfying to here Bowles say they got out coached and the players got out played, but I think the players got outplayed because they were out coached. At least we’re still in the playoffs
December 12th, 2022 at 12:25 am
We’re in for years of really horrible, unwatchable football.
The outlook is so bleak, I can’t remember it being this bad.
December 12th, 2022 at 12:25 am
I saw todays train-wreck coming from a mile away.
I worked today from 1-7pm and got a lot done.
I’m kind of proud of myself for not sitting in front
of my TV feeling sick and wasting my day.
How was you guys Sunday LOL?
I predicted 6-24…not too far off.
49ers look great.
Purdy looks great.
Hell, they might want to stick with Purdy.
Regardless, TB12 is GONE at the end of the season unless
Glazers get to work correcting their heinous coaching mistakes.
#FLFFS
December 12th, 2022 at 12:27 am
Lefty, Bowles and Purdy in 2023!!!
December 12th, 2022 at 12:28 am
‘No Level Of Improvement’?
It’s actually declining rapidly!
December 12th, 2022 at 12:33 am
Leftwich isn’t going anywhere.
If he was, he’d be gone already.
December 12th, 2022 at 12:34 am
It is pretty crazy how fast this team has collapsed. There is so much blame to be shared. Leftwitch, Bowles, Licht, all seem to share the blame. Then there is aging Brady who is not at all athletic and seems scared to throw the ball to a wide receiver. Is that play calling or is it Brady? If the problem is Brady, BA would have called Tom out by now. Either way, we are screwed! Every dog has his day, unfortunately our day was yesterday. This Bucs team is not so far from the last Jets team that Todd Bowles coached. Bowles was a very lazy hire for the Buccaneer Organization and they should have known better.
December 12th, 2022 at 12:37 am
Surround even mr irrelevant with talented and good coaching and he can carve up a defense like tampa. Coach is bad Lovie smith bad. Hopefully glazers learned from him and decide not to waste a season watching his poor attempt at coaching. They need to go with or without Brady next year
December 12th, 2022 at 12:39 am
It funny how everyone talks playoffs for us. There are still 4 games to be played and we are not better than anyone in our division.
December 12th, 2022 at 12:39 am
Nobody wants to say it but this is just a bad team now. I’m usually positive but it’s hard to be positive about this season. When you lose to last place teams, you are simply not a good team. You can’t lose to The Browns, Panthers,and Steelers and expect all of a sudden to turn it around and beat good teams.
December 12th, 2022 at 12:41 am
Bruce Arians literally F’d the bucs. He sold the Glazer’s on a failed HC and a yes man OC. Bowels of Bowles in the den of depression is the new slogan.
In all honesty I hope we lose out for draft placement. Bucs are old and slow.
Brady goes to IR with a hand issue and we see what we got in Trask. The entire coaching staff needs to be replaced in the off season and Brady…. thanks for the ring but bye bye.
December 12th, 2022 at 12:42 am
Dreambig Says:
December 12th, 2022 at 12:34 am
It is pretty crazy how fast this team has collapsed. There is so much blame to be shared. Leftwitch, Bowles, Licht, all seem to share the blame.
———–
Licht? LOL!
Vegas had this as the best team in the NFC before the season started. That means the personnel is there.
No, this is 100% on coaching, and of that 100%, at least 85% is on Leftwich being a complete idiot.
Licht, considering all the difficulties with cap space, has done an amazing job of keeping the team together this long.
December 12th, 2022 at 12:48 am
Bowleszo is the real problem.. Leftworst & Brady are using the plays the Bowleszo wants ..
December 12th, 2022 at 12:51 am
Rod,
Licht CHOSE not to bring in any other bodies for competition at O-line. Tell me the O-line is not the biggest reason for the team implosion this year? It ALWAYS is the O-line, always, and ours sucks this year. And that’s ALL on Jason Licht. Coaching could/should be better, better QB play could help, but nobody on O can do crap without an O-line.
Tell me, Rod, Joe, and all posters, how good is this O-line? DR, what is their ranking?
It all starts, and ends, in the trenches. This year, we don’t have a trench, we have a pup-tent.
JL didn’t give talent, and Bowles didn’t coach the talent he did have on O-line. Or lack thereof. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. JL. O-line.
December 12th, 2022 at 12:53 am
Hey Rod, who hired Bowles? You can LOL all you want. That was a stupid hire on Licht’s part, he had a few years of history watching Bowles run the Jets into the ground. Bowles had already proved he is not HC material. Other than that I agree with you, over the last few years Licht did a great job, just not this year.
December 12th, 2022 at 1:09 am
You know, I just watched the highlights of the Chiefs-Broncos game. In all the highlights of Mahomes throwing, I counted 1 pass that they showed that he threw where there was a defensive player within 3 yards of the receivers. How can his receivers always be wide open? Can you say Andy Reid? Their receivers aren’t any better than ours but they are always open. Mahomes threw 5 passes in tight windows and 3 were picked off. Tell me a great offensive coach don’t make a difference. Shanahan had a first time starter looking like an all pro tonight. Tell me a great offensive coach don’t make a difference.
December 12th, 2022 at 1:11 am
No improvement, no explanations, no accountability, just excuses and platitudes. Really pathetic.
December 12th, 2022 at 1:18 am
Remember the year before Mahomes started, 3/4 of the way through the season Alex Smith was favorite to win the MVP. That’s how good Andy Reid is.
December 12th, 2022 at 1:19 am
D-Rok. You’re totally spot on. The OL is the single most important position group on the team. It’s also the most disrespected position group. As a big OL guy, I’m glad people are finally seeing what a bad OL can do to a team. This team had 800 yards of rushing! That’s an abomination. Sacks are not a good pressure of OL play. You need to take into consideration hurries. The reason there’s been such bad play around the league is because of bad OL play! It’s simple! Brady is 45! In his prime, he worked around a less than stellar OL, but he needs good protection in his old age. He’s getting below average play from his OL. Brady is throwing the ball 50x a game. That’s taxing on an OL.
Brady will never admit it, but he knew this season was over when Jensen got hurt and Marpet retired. Brady’s not without fault, but the main issue is this OL. Defense Rules is right that Licht deserves blame. He should’ve brought in some veterans on the OL. At least bring in some competition. I hope Brady has someone at home with him tonight. I’m seriously concern for his well being. No one hates to lose more than him. He won’t sleep a lick tonight. Reports are he didn’t even shower after the game.
December 12th, 2022 at 1:20 am
You are who your record says you are. Period.
And what makes it worse is the wins that this team has are mainly against bad teams.
And by the way if anyone doesn’t think coaching is important at this level look at what Shanahan did with Mr. Irrelevant! Oh, and by the way he out coached Bowles without Debo Samuels to boot.
December 12th, 2022 at 1:22 am
Bowles also needs to give up defensive play calling and become a head coach!! This team needs you. I need him to be involved in every aspect of this team. Who’s gauging the temperature in the locker room. Leadership shouldn’t just all be on the players. I’m gonna get Leftwich a pass today. There were plays to be made and we didn’t make them.
December 12th, 2022 at 1:33 am
The production meeting with Brady and Romo for next weeks game should be spicy, especially after reports came out yesterday throwing Brady under the bus for offensive struggles. Romo and Brady are close. You better believe Brady will be talking his ear off about this coaching staff. I’m also awaiting the inevitable Jeff Darlington article on this clown show of a season. I think Joe should call up Brady’s dad. He used to talk to reporters in NE, but Brady threatened to put him in the retirement home if he kept talking to reporters. It’s still worth a shot.
December 12th, 2022 at 2:10 am
Man I’m drunk and pissed, and I thought the 49ers would probably beat us, but this looked like a J..V team against the Varsity. How can Houston, Charlotte, Detroit, and everybody else put up a fight against teams a lot better than them, but yet we just suck. Bucs look confused and mostly they look like they aren’t having any fun playing the game. Bengals will kick sh/t out of us. How can coaching be any worse? F#ck it my wife wants to go bed and she also sucks.
December 12th, 2022 at 2:14 am
D-Rok Says:
Rod,
Licht CHOSE not to bring in any other bodies for competition at O-line.
———
You mean like trading for Shaq in the offseason, who has been perfectly fine. They didn’t know they’d also have to replace Jensen – and BTW, Hainsey has played quite well.
So you’re whinning is about not having another ALL-PRO at LG?
Who exactly were they supposed to get when they had no cap space? Also, they had planned on using Hainsey at guard, and based on his performance at center, it seems like he would have been good at guard as well. Plus they lost Stennie.
Also the line isn’t why we’re losing. The line has been fine – the issue has been the God-awful and predictable playcalling. When the other team knows to stack the line on 1st down, knows a WR screen is coming on 2nd down, and knows you run all go routes on 3rd down, then they can just call plays in a way that leaves no one open. When I can sit at home and successfully call 80% of the plays before they even get into formation, that’s a problem.
December 12th, 2022 at 2:18 am
Dreambig Says:
December 12th, 2022 at 12:53 am
Hey Rod, who hired Bowles?
——–
You’re an idiot if you think Licht ‘hired’ Bowles. Arians ‘retired’ on March 30th. Who exactly is Licht supposed to hire on March 30th? Who are the available coaches? Arians literally said he came back to coaching in order to get Leftwich AND Bowles head coaching jobs – and Arians retired in dramatic fashion because he thought he had guaranteed both of them success by leaving them with a great team that was going to make another deep playoff run, and maybe win a SB. Arians was blinded by his loyalty, and didn’t realize what idiots those two would be. As for Licht, when Arians came back, it was only for that reason, and if the Bucs didn’t give him the succession plan that Arians wanted, he wouldn’t have taken the job, the Bucs don’t then get Brady, and don’t then win a SB.
Do you armchair GM’s even know the basics?
December 12th, 2022 at 2:27 am
Bowles said at the beginning of the season that he felt the biggest mistake he made at the Jets was not having his hands in every part of the team. He said he wouldn’t make that mistake again. This is his hands on everything. Believe what you want. Bowles is mediocre at best . You can’t unscramble an egg.
December 12th, 2022 at 2:29 am
Don’t leave Brady blameless in all of this. He is missing tons of throws and tons of reads. He’s missing wide open throws, under throwing most deep balls, and not seeing wide open recievers.
Leftwich is a problem, don’t get me wrong, but he’s being led to slaughter by Brady. The fact that no changes have been made to the offensive coaching staff tells me who is ultimately calling the shots on that side of the ball. They aren’t going to fire Brady.
Brady won his power play this offseason with Arians and the Glazers, and now he’s failing to produce with his hand picked situation. It’s easy to blame only coaching, but Brady has gone rogue this year and it’s all collapsing around him now. They gave him the keys to do whatever he wanted if he came back to play. The Glazers chose home ticket sales over the team.
December 12th, 2022 at 3:48 am
It’s hilarious to me that people buy into these media generated narratives like Brady got BA fired. These are nothing but hot takes. The sports version of Jerry Springer. So many sheep out there willing to believe the most outrageous things spouted by these idiots. Life is boring . Media sells you things like this to keep you entertained to obtain viewership numbers. The mundane doesn’t sell. Outrageous sells. Spend an hour on YouTube or Twitter . This is what sells. Truth left the world a long time ago.
December 12th, 2022 at 4:01 am
Joe I really wish one of you guys would flat out ask the Glazers why the team had to lie/mislead the fan base over Leftwich’s involvement in game planning and play calling the past couple seasons prior to BA leaving. BA isn’t blameless either. Just look at his body of work this season and ANYONE can tell it’s not the same offense. Completely predictable and gutless playcalling. Why lie?
December 12th, 2022 at 6:00 am
Changing coaching crew near the end of the season usually leads to disaster. The problem is, we are already a disaster. It’s a decision between continuing to be a disaster with these coaches or changing the crew with a small chance of improvement. I would choose the latter.
December 12th, 2022 at 6:24 am
Fire Bowles, Leftwich and hire Payton. Brady stays and the team dramatically improves with Payton leading.
December 12th, 2022 at 6:32 am
I cannot get it out of my head. That video clip Fox showed during the game, where Brady was sitting on the bench next to Leftwich, and Leftwich was repeatedly shaking his head “yes” and while Brady was simultaneously shaking his head “no”.
Of course it could have been something benign, but in light of the state of our beloved Buccaneers, it wasn’t a good look.
December 12th, 2022 at 7:14 am
Lol, sorry Rod, I didn’t realize I was talking to a professional NFL expert with such an impressive NFL resume. Now, I know I do not have your expertise, but I have seen one or two off seasons and I think I might have seen an org chart or two along the way, lets see if I can help you with some of the triviality that you in your lofty stature, you may have forgotten. Ex head coaches and old QBs can provide input to the General Manager, however neither one of them can actually hire another player. The head coach has a huge role in influencing the hiring of his own staff and other players, but he does not actually hire them and he CAN NOT hire his replacement. He can make a recommendation but accepting that recommendation is the responsibility of the GM and/or ownership. To help you remember, Rod, I have included the results of a simple google search as to what the responsibilities are of a NFL General Manager.
General Manager –
In the NFL, the general manager is the highest standing employee in the team’s personnel department. He answers directly to the owner and has final veto power on all player-related decisions the team makes. Job responsibilities include hiring the head coach, building the remainder of the personnel department staff, coordinating the rubric for scouting college prospects and compiling the team’s roster in accordance to the NFL’s salary cap.
Naw, on second thought, you might be right, BA must have hired Todd Bowles and Licht has no responsibility at all. When asked all he has to say is “Its not my fault, BA told me to do it, or maybe it was Tom Brady, I can’t really remember, but one of them told me to hire Bowles, after all he won almost 38% of his games when he was a head coach before, how was I supposed to know he wouldn’t be a good Head Coach here”.
December 12th, 2022 at 7:25 am
Fire Arians, Blowes and Leftwich. Cancel the Arians ring of honor, he’s the one responsible for this sh*t show.
December 12th, 2022 at 7:33 am
Rod, Hainsley is playing well? Brady can’t step up & throw, they oline is pushed back into his face 80% of the time. Where are all these wide open wr’s many of you speak of. Josh Allen throws up shat all the time are the Bill’s calling for his head? NEWS FLASH, Bucs played the #1 D yesterday, they are #1 for a reason, I believe I heard the second half scoring over the past 5 game pre-Bucs was 76 to 6 in favor of the 9ers? Shanahan toyed with the inept Bowels and Leftnut and the players paid the price. Hurry up works because they spread the formation, everything else the O runs is inside the #’s. No one is mentioning ST coverage,how was that? 13 weeks to find Thompkins??? Succop 55yd FG on wet grass in the wind, MORONIC!!! No running game has Brady throwing 40-50+ a game, he’s going to miss throws and throw ints. 100% on Coaches/BA!!
December 12th, 2022 at 8:13 am
When the Bums hit the road to look for coach jobs after last season the Bucs should have locked them out and never let them back.
December 12th, 2022 at 8:14 am
No it’s not 100 percent one thing it’s everything. WR are open and Brady is missing them he is underthrowing and not on the same page as his wide receivers, please get off your fan bias and snap back into reality both are true the coaching is bad and the execution, (and yes tom is a part of it) is bad when the plays are there to make. All phases of this team are failing from the top to the bottom. Wish people would stop pointing at one thing declaring it the problem it’s all of it this is just a bad team.
December 12th, 2022 at 9:28 am
Go back to the beginning when Bowles was GIVEN the head coaching job. 99% of the comments were what? Here come the JETS. Well here they are just as expected. I surly hope we do not get into the playoffs and give the owners any reasons to keep these clowns. You want to run it up the gut? Then GUT it. Top to bottom . Starting with the coaches rebuild this team to winners again.
December 12th, 2022 at 10:33 am
So Brady got a quarterback, friendly offenses plsy caller , like Bruce fired to bring in a zombies on the sidelines who has no track record of being successful. Yeah that makes a lot of sense. That is laughable. And while yes, Brady misses throws every quarterback in the league misses throws. Mahomes, Alan, are turnover machines both make throws down the field to guys that are absolutely wide-open. Hence why Brady has more tight window throws than both of them. Every game the other defensive coordinator knows every play that’s coming. That’s a fact. This team is a disaster and it starts on the sidelines. While Brady hasn’t helped the situation and some of the games he’s the reason why you’re still in first place with a chance of going to the playoffs. Without him
, you win two games at best. He will no doubt be gone next year make no mistake about it. If some of you will have your wish , Kyle Trask being the quarterback. Which in turn will get you the first pick in the draft the year after. Maybe that’s what you’re calling for?
December 12th, 2022 at 10:57 am
Fire Bowles and Leftwich
The culture is crumbling. TB12 will be gone next year. You have to fire the coaches or risk creating a horrible culture that will take years to repair.
December 12th, 2022 at 11:03 am
I typically go to sleep with the TV one, but this year I just play a loop of any Todd Bowles presser.
ZZZZZzzzzzzzz
December 12th, 2022 at 11:16 am
Bowles and Lefty ran this team into the ground (thanks BA).
Time to blow this thing up.
December 12th, 2022 at 11:43 am
not all byrons fault.. brady looks old.. i would move on next year.. lets rebuild
December 13th, 2022 at 11:40 am
Coaching was eay off but the refs were not calling alot of penalties againstthe 49’s I have been a Bucs Fsn from day 2 and continue to been listen to Bray more
GO BUCS
December 13th, 2022 at 6:31 pm
I took nap between the ball being hiked and next play.