Byron Leftwich Pats Himself On The Back
January 12th, 2023
Reason for NFC South crown?
Before Joe gets rambling, Joe wants to be upfront.
At no point does Joe expect failing Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich to step to the podium for one of his mandatory weekly schlock sessions and say, “Guys, I’m the problem on offense. I’ve done a terrible job. I hereby resign effective immediately.”
But to say he’s a big reason why the Bucs are in the playoffs is an astounding demonstration of being fully out of touch and possessing a large set of stones.
Leftwich, maybe for the final time as the Bucs offensive coordinator, said the way the Bucs fought all year and made the playoffs is a testament to how well the Bucs are coached up.
“To be sitting right here as one of the teams that have the opportunity to be in the tournament, I think it’s a sign of our players, I think it’s a sign of how good of a job our coaches have done throughout the year.” Leftwich said. “This was a different year – this was a different year to say the least.
“To be able to fight through it and still end up in the tournament says what type of players we have and what job I think our coaching staff did – offense, defense and special teams.”
How well has Leftwich coached up the Bucs? They toyed with a potential historic plunge in scoring and simply cannot run the ball to save themselves.
Additionally, with a defense playing solid and having the greatest quarterback who ever lived take 99 percent of the snaps, and with two of the top receivers in the game and a former No. 4 overall pick at running back, the Bucs are in the bottom tier in points per game, worse than the Bears and the Commandos, even.
Special teams? Outside of a clutch kicker and a really talented punter, the special teams is a borderline clown show and has been for too long.
Oh, and the Bucs have a losing record in a terrible division. Yeah, that’s some coaching job, Byron.
Now Joe thinks Leftwich is absolutely correct in the job Todd Bowles has done with the defense. They’ve battled injuries all year and stayed stingy even after losing Bucs sack king Shaq Barrett midseason.
But as far as Leftwich glossing himself for doing a good job, let Joe ask you: Of all the current rumors about coaches being called for head coach interviews (remember: agents love to get their clients’ names out in the rumor mill), has anyone read, seen or heard of Leftwich linked to any other team?
That’s all you need to know what the rest of the NFL thinks of Leftwich’s job performance.
January 12th, 2023 at 9:06 am
This team made the playoffs IN SPITE of Byron Leftwich. It’s not too late for a New Year’s resolution. Be free of Byron in 2023!
January 12th, 2023 at 9:09 am
Personally I think that it was Todd Bowles. I still think he is good but I think Todd told Leftwich to run the ball, run the ball! Bowles is very conservative when playing offense and I think he has finally taken his leash off of Brady and Leftwich
January 12th, 2023 at 9:12 am
Byron is clearly on the professional ropes; no one makes this comment when you feel secure in your job. It’s born purely out of insecurity. Byron sees what’s being said about him, and honestly, I think he believes it!
January 12th, 2023 at 9:14 am
You need but a heartbeat to see where this all ends… Byron kicked to the curb on Dale Mabry Highway!
January 12th, 2023 at 9:16 am
Byron wasn’t patting himself on the back…..he was scratching his a$$, trying to figure out what’s going on.
January 12th, 2023 at 9:18 am
Lol. Unreal
January 12th, 2023 at 9:19 am
Let’s be fair here. We had a left tackle play centre for the first time in his life. A 2nd string rooming start at left guard replaced with our 3rd string guy. Shaq replaced Capp and both out tackles have been out or playing very injured. It is what it is. Offensive line is all about continuity and time together and we did not get any of that this season. We as fans are all offensive coordinators but unless you are on the inside you just don’t know the “why” to the play calling. There is a reason why they did what they did. Failure is life’s greatest teacher and so this season there have been a lot of lessons learned that will only make them better in the future. Appreciate what they did as opposed to what they didn’t do. Glass is half full. We won our division, we are playing on Monday Night Football at home against the Dallas Cowboys. Is that failure?
January 12th, 2023 at 9:19 am
Leftwurst will probably be here next year. He is doing such a great job, I can’t see how Bowles will want to get rid of him.
January 12th, 2023 at 9:22 am
Geez. We needed late game hero ball from Brady and co against the saints, rams, and even the cardinals to win this division. And some poor late game decisions by the Saints and Rams to even give us a chance.
January 12th, 2023 at 9:23 am
Really bothered me last game hearing announcers saying when talking about run game lefty saying oh we are dead last in running but we only dropped Tim like 26th that we were the year before. Such a loser mentality. Should be all the more reason you should improve and not get even worse. Not only that.. you weren’t just last (can’t get any lower), but we have been historically bad
January 12th, 2023 at 9:24 am
Maybe we could pay the Cardinals to take him. Glazers’ Family Trust, pay the Cardinals $25 million a year to take him. Give him a job pruning the bushes or something.
January 12th, 2023 at 9:24 am
Brady’s no huddle last second heroics are the reason you are in the playoffs. Cannot wait until he is gone. He it’s turning a lot of fans away and glazers it’s not good for business.
January 12th, 2023 at 9:31 am
He be an idiot.
January 12th, 2023 at 9:32 am
Do we know who is playing center on Monday yet?
January 12th, 2023 at 9:32 am
Seriously ask him about his immediate post-NFL coaching plans following this season. He needs to be thinking about it.
Although that presumes that a stalk of broccolini can think.
January 12th, 2023 at 9:35 am
Man, Byron’s just dumb. Just another block-head athlete. So happy to hear is is being fired. Boys 24 Yucs 17.
January 12th, 2023 at 9:45 am
No, but Bowles is scheduled to talk today. Maybe he will shed some light (unlikely).
January 12th, 2023 at 9:48 am
Getting called for interviews is not the litmus test. Leftwich got serious consideration last year… and he sucked last year too. Mike Smith got serious consideration after 2016, despite sucking for 99% of the time he was here except for a four game stretch or so at the end of 2016, and he got fired a year later. Who did Denver just fire? Apparently, he was so over his head they not only didn’t give him a 2nd season but didn’t allow him to finish the year. Being hired or considered for hired doesn’t prove anything. Hell, the Bucs used a 2nd round pick for the rights to “hire” Roberto Aguayo. That didn’t make him suck any less.
January 12th, 2023 at 9:51 am
How many coaches are hired based on their perceived ability to drive a team off a cliff?
January 12th, 2023 at 9:53 am
Bowles gets another pass from Joe. Is there some fantasy world out there where you suck as a HC but you keep getting passes because your D has been good in some games. This is called being stuck between a rock and a hard place. Worst case scenario. You keep a bad HC or you lose a good DC. Bad spot to be in.
January 12th, 2023 at 9:53 am
He is a figment of his own imagination.
And Bowels isn’t far behind him.
Two peas in a pod
January 12th, 2023 at 9:58 am
Thank you Joe for putting in print what we all see/think. While I don’t hold the same affinity for barrett as you (he is not a game changer and there wasn’t much of a drop off when he went down), I agree with your assessment on both offense and special teams. I also feel it is worth noting that Bowles is a horrible game/situational manager and if 2 of the 3 depts on your team are doing poorly, then he ain’t a very good team manager either.
January 12th, 2023 at 9:59 am
Byron Leftwich is legitimately one of the biggest clowns to ever put on a headset. The only team that will interview him is likely the Colts. The
The fact that’s he’s allowed to just stand up there and cockily dismiss how bad of a job he’s done is one of the most insulting things I have ever suffered as a fan.
The way the media treated Bernard is how Leftwich should be treated for all of his blatant, smug, lying and spitting in the face of stats and anyone who questions him. Truly disgusting stuff by him.
January 12th, 2023 at 10:00 am
Winston said he deserved a $30M contract a few weeks before he got replaced.
January 12th, 2023 at 10:01 am
Joe doesn’t think it is remotely fair or ethical to can a coach (unless you have a chance to hire Belicheat) who has yet to be able to hire his own assistants and who was saddled with a joke of an offensive coordinator and a rotten special teams coach.
Has Bowles done a great job? No, but his defense has been decent if not good. It’s not like the Bucs have sunk to the depths of the Rams or the Saints.
By your standard, Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, Bill Parcells and Joe Gibbs would have been run after one year. Not saying Bowles is a Hall of Fame coach, but dang. At least those guys had their hand-picked assistants their first year.
Did you also call for Bruce Arians to get run after the 2019 season? If not, why not?
January 12th, 2023 at 10:01 am
Byron is more likely to be hired as a Professor of English at Berkeley than as a HC in the NFL.
January 12th, 2023 at 10:02 am
He sure was at Cleveland.
January 12th, 2023 at 10:09 am
Byron is suffering from permanent psychosis. Get the guy some meds and a counselor for the love of God.
January 12th, 2023 at 10:14 am
Brains Leftout is gone about two minutes after we lose in the Divisional round, we’re going to beat the Cowgirl’s because they always choke in the first round.
Bowles is back for one more season in which we win 4 games, maybe, then he’s getting fired….the Glazer’s might start to look a Licht at that point as well.
January 12th, 2023 at 10:14 am
Defend him all you want Joe. Did BA make horrible game management decisions that cost games? Not even going to touch Tom Landry , Chuck Knoll comment. It’s not the 70s. Teams don’t wait 5-10 years to see how QBs and Coaches pan out. The guy told you he wasn’t running No bisc No risk. This isn’t his first rodeo. He’s showing the same thing he did before(Jets). I get it. You and some fans don’t want to lose one of the better OCs in the league. Rock and a hard place. He has to bear the brunt of the criticism for the year. Comes with the territory.
January 12th, 2023 at 10:15 am
These are the most dangerous kind of leaders. They have the power to do something, but completely clueless about their limitations. I think BL has no idea how dumb he really is. He is living in a bubble. Definitely all the praise and love from TB12 to him is not helping.
January 12th, 2023 at 10:18 am
Yes!
January 12th, 2023 at 10:22 am
Pretty sure Joe has been very clear Bowles not wanting to run Bruce Arians’ offense was, at best, misguided based on faulty logic. Can’t remember how many times Joe has written this and mentioned this on Ira’s pod. To suggest Joe has ignored this is simply a lie.
Sorry, Joe doesn’t believe a playoff appearance with a coaching staff not of his choice is grounds for firing. This does not mean Bowles, overall, had done a good job. There is a difference, believe it or not.
January 12th, 2023 at 10:29 am
Never said you didn’t call him out. Said you were giving him a pass. To insinuate otherwise is a lie. Your playing both sides of the fence. Are you saying he has no control over his Coaches. Who the hell would take a Head Coach position without having control. Head Coach . Is it a paper title ?
January 12th, 2023 at 10:29 am
Yawn… another full on Byron Leftwich attack by Joe. Leftwich was just giving kudos to everyone for getting our team to the playoffs, what’s wrong with that? Joe’s obvious bias and obsessive hatred for Leftwich made another mountain out of a molehill.
January 12th, 2023 at 10:34 am
All the more reason to show this guy the door. Can’t scheme. can’t make adjustments, unable to put a coherent sentence together, and now totally delusional.
January 12th, 2023 at 10:45 am
him and bowles are so clueless….especially as to their qualifications. false sense of accomplishment based on …well…not football thats for sure! they suck out loud.
January 12th, 2023 at 10:47 am
no way lefty is retained….sad thing is bowels will probably get another years…and this year has been so bad there are 2 people to blame lefty and bowls. if they are both retained i will drop the bucs just like when they hired jw.
no patience for ignorance!
January 12th, 2023 at 11:03 am
LOL. Thanks for the laugh Joe. What an out of touch clown this guy is. Can’t wait to see his game plan and adjustments this week. Oh nevermind I’m not watching that sh!t show.
January 12th, 2023 at 11:35 am
Excellent posts on this article. Lots of facts being posted.
January 12th, 2023 at 12:10 pm
It’s not going to be up to Bowles whether Leftwich is here next year – it’ll be up to Brady, assuming Brady comes back.
Bucs starters have scored 47 points in last 6 quarters, getting it together at the right time.
January 12th, 2023 at 12:15 pm
And for those of you that don’t think that this year was a major failure offensively, stop watching the Bucs, you have no clue. The Commanders looked better than us and also half the league. Thanks Joe you have been writing about this all year long. Leftstiff is covering his a$$ for the next job he gets, which head coach at the Academy of The Holy Redeemer.
January 12th, 2023 at 12:35 pm
I am not going to say it.
January 12th, 2023 at 12:47 pm
@ grover…you just did, and you are not wrong!
January 12th, 2023 at 12:51 pm
Arians was the only good offensive coach we had. Leftwich should be a high school coach, Clyde is just along for the ride hes all washed up
January 12th, 2023 at 12:54 pm
man, that guy should be unemployed this morning.
Between Bowles crowing about how well this team is prepared for tough games and this idiot talking about how well the coaches did == its enough to clear out the entire coaching staff before midnight on Monday
January 12th, 2023 at 12:56 pm
I wonder if any teal won the Super Bowl and then immediately fired their offensive coordinator?
January 12th, 2023 at 1:06 pm
Much depends on what brady thinks. Is the line health the root cause or is brady frustrated with consistently running for 0 yards and dealing with 3rd and longs. Should it have been a shot gun season with fast pace? If brady thinks it was 100% line and guys are coming back next year them Leftwich is safe. But bill Obrien looms
January 12th, 2023 at 1:23 pm
Get this inept moron out of the damn building already. He will hold this offense back and they’ll lose because of it
January 12th, 2023 at 1:24 pm
So that’s is focus? Leftnut check your cell maybe it’s on silent mode.
January 12th, 2023 at 1:28 pm
The struggles on offense simply highlight BLs weakness. The BA offense is all he knows. Give him a loaded roster and he’s fine, most anybody would be. When he has to rely on scheming and creative play calling, his shortcomings are clear. To be fair, the mangled line didn’t help. It still doesn’t justify 18 PPG. Good for 25th in the league.
January 12th, 2023 at 1:58 pm
I think it was the fourth or fifth game of the season, I said to my son. First down, run up the gut, second down quick throw for sideline screen to Godwin, third down, long pass to get nine years for a first. The insane thing is with the exception of the Bengals game in the first half that continued. No half-time adjustments. In the Steelers game with backups in their defensive backfield, with TJ Watt and Micah Fitzpatrick out we ran the ball more that in any other game.
BL has no self-awareness, can read stats on how pathetic the offense has been, and the season was saved by Brady going hurry-up to beat the Aints, Rams, and Cardinal. Clueless.
January 12th, 2023 at 1:59 pm
“yards”
January 12th, 2023 at 2:08 pm
Joe, you make too big of a deal about Bowles not having a chance to select his own coordinators. How many did he go through with the Jets, particularly for offensive coordinator? Bowles had three offensive coordinators and the results (after his first year) never got better. One of the reasons for optimism about this season was that Bowles inherited a seasoned and successful group of coordinators. These were the same coordinators who coached the Bucs during the Super Bowl season. They were good enough then, but not now. Bowles would put in a near perfect situation to win and he failed! I give him no credit for the playoffs. Isn’t there an old expression about how even a blind squirrel can find nut every once in a while. The Bucs got lucky this year and luck ain’t a good strategy for success.
January 12th, 2023 at 2:34 pm
Orlando, in NY Bowles hired an 18 man coaching staff. By his final year, he had fired 14 of them. Hopefully he has little to no input on offensive coaches. The guy still thinks running and playing great defense is the way to the Lombardi.
January 12th, 2023 at 2:44 pm
Losing Gronkowski hurt more than any other loss. He was always open down the seam and Brady would place it perfectly and then he would rumble through the secondary. Losing AB hurt too on the field only. But he could always get open too very quickly and caught everything and also had YAC
January 12th, 2023 at 3:13 pm
Again, Leftwich has had to run the offense under the parameters and requirements given to him by Bowles.
Maybe Leftwich is giving himself some credit for being able to put together Anything while being handcuffed by Bowles.
As long as Bowles is the head coach here the OC will look bad no matter who it is.
Leftwich will just end up being the Scapegoat just as next season’s OC will be also
January 12th, 2023 at 4:07 pm
Brian you could be right, it’s not like Bowels has a great track record.
January 12th, 2023 at 4:34 pm
What a duesch!
January 12th, 2023 at 4:41 pm
The man is dumb as a box of rocks
January 12th, 2023 at 4:48 pm
bet he can cook the $hit out some shrimp though!!!
forest should have left him at the creek.
January 12th, 2023 at 5:37 pm
D-Rok Says:
January 12th, 2023 at 5:23 pm
Just listened to Leftwich presser. He cracks me up. I always push pause and make sure I’m about 3 beers in before I can listen to him.
His latest? OK remember Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny ( a New Yorker with his mafia-esque-speak) when he talked to the Judge? “Those yutes.” The Judge (Herman Munster, LOL) was all like, “Scuse me?” Pesci: “Yutes!” “Oh, you mean YOUTHS!”
So Byron just referred to young chillen as “Youffs.”
Good stuff, man. First there were youths, then there were Yutes, and now we have Youffs. Say it with me….YOUFFS.
I can’t make this stuff up, I promise. Leftwich’s pressers are must-see TV.
January 12th, 2023 at 5:37 pm
D-Rok Says:
January 12th, 2023 at 5:26 pm
Joe,
Do you slam 3 Bromosa’s right before a Lefty presser? C’mon man, I know you do. I know you have to.
BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
January 12th, 2023 at 7:59 pm
Remember Leftwich is so delusional he, reportedly, turned down the Jacksonville head coaching job because he thought he’d be able to name his designation this offseason. Remember, this idiot thought that when Tom Brady was retired, so he thought so highly of himself that with Trask or Gabbert or whatever other scrub, he’d turn them too into a HOFer, like he did with Brady.
Also, as a reminder, the one other time Leftwich was OC without Arians as his HC, 2018 in Arizona, his offense finished 32nd. But, again, this dope thinks he’s an offensive mastermind.
January 13th, 2023 at 12:07 am
He is just preparing himself for a head coach speak!
January 13th, 2023 at 7:44 am
Teams with better offensive production and worse offensive rosters fired their offensive coordinators this week.
The big problem with Leftwich is he is trying to run someone else’s offense and he has no idea how to adjust it. He hasn’t figured out out how to use any of the new pieces that they brought in this year.
Gage should have been a really nice piece to play with, and yes, he was injured, but they’ve done a terrible job of integrating him into the offense. Julio Jones has been a total waste of an acquisition, not because I don’t think he can still produce, but because their trying to get him to do 2015 Julio stuff instead of just letting him work the middle of the field against Safeties and Linebackers.
All this offense looks like, even when it’s producing, which his been very rare, is a neutered version of what we saw the last two years. You have to do a little bit of scheming when the field isn’t completely covered in HOFers, and Sluggo Leftwich has no idea how to do that. The only thing he’s pretty good at is throwing on that flat bill dunce cap, and spewing jiberish to the media.
January 13th, 2023 at 11:42 am
Let us all hope he pats himself on the back right out the door.
January 13th, 2023 at 2:36 pm
You can’t take anything he says seriously. He doesn’t project professionalism or does he have any strategies to fix the issues with the Bucs play selections.
I don’t know what he has done this year that anyone could say he has improved the Bucs scoring or preparation to attack his opponents.
Its a very passive and conservative approach that only hurts the team’s chances of winning games. His replacement will be welcomed by Buc fans.