No Reported Head Coach Interview Requests For Byron Leftwich
January 19th, 2023
Joe is wondering how much pull Bucco Bruce Arians has in NFL circles.
Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich is an Arians’ guy. Arians believes Leftwich is head coach material, a man with a Super Bowl ring as a player and a coach, and a smart young dude with an old-school approach and the proper training.
Consider what classy 84-year-old Tom Moore, the widely-respected Bucs’ senior offensive assistant, said about Leftwich as a head coach candidate. Moore, who is not one for hyperbole or nonsense, thinks Leftwich is a special coaching talent.
“I’ll say this to you. I’ve been around a long time. Byron is absolutely fantastic,” Moore said. “He is a great presenter of game plans. He has a great rapport with people. He had a great rapport with Tom [Brady]. And in my personal opinion, Bruce has done a fantastic job of training Bryon to be a head coach. He trained him to be a coordinator, and Bruce lets him go.
“Now Bruce gave up playcalling, which was very, very dear to Bruce and he loved it. But he has so much faith and so much trust in Byron that he gave it up to him and let him do it. And he’s done a great job. And as I’ve told people, he just had a four week interview with the four playoff games. It is what it is; if you don’t like that, I don’t know what you like.”
“[Leftwich is] really good. I sit in on most all these meetings, not to check on him or anything like that. I learn stuff, too.”
Fast-forward to yesterday, and Leftwich was available, per league rules, to interview for a head coaching gig. There were no reports of teams interested or calling the Bucs to schedule an interview with Leftwich, who is under contract to Tampa Bay.
Joe surely understands why Leftwich is unwanted coming off a terrible year for the Bucs offense. But owners don’t necessarily think that way and they’re also subject to influence from recommendations. (See Team Galzer in 2012.)
And maybe there’s an owner out there who likes Leftwich’s body of work?
Joe wonders whether Arians has recommended Leftwich to the Cardinals and Colts, two teams with openings and where Arians is tight with ownership. And Joe wonders if the Bucs are delaying firing Leftwich so he doesn’t have an instant firing on his résumé while he hoped for an interview.
That certainly would be the classy move by the organization if there’s a replacement playcaller already waiting in the wings.
January 19th, 2023 at 9:39 am
Joe, have the Bucs not fired Leftwich because if he gets another coaching gig, they save money?
January 19th, 2023 at 9:39 am
The local JUCO has an opening for assistant towel washer. If Leftwurst were lucky, he’d get an interview for that as a backup.
January 19th, 2023 at 9:41 am
Obvious ray cism at play here.
😂😂😂
January 19th, 2023 at 9:41 am
“Joe is wondering how much pull Bucco Bruce Arians has in NFL circles.” Doubtful BA has THAT much pull. How do you convince an NFL franchise to hire a coach that would be lucky to land an OC gig on his son’s little league team?
January 19th, 2023 at 9:41 am
BAAAAHAAAHAAAHAAAAA (deep breath) AHAAAAAHAAAAHAAAA!
Did you watch any games… The putrid showing of an offense that has the GOAT as their qb… the 3 and out crew….
January 19th, 2023 at 9:43 am
He was such a lovely puppy.
January 19th, 2023 at 9:46 am
Dude fumbled the bag badly… could’ve went to the jags and had his own team but mans thought he should be able to pick his own gm as a first time head coach…. Silly fast forward a year later and he’s about to possibly get fired with my suspicion being likely relegated to a position below oc with another team. Lefty I suggest you humble yourself brother and learn better to leave a year early then a year late
January 19th, 2023 at 9:46 am
Maybe he should stay a Bowles hit the road then.
The more dysfunctional and bizarre chapter in Buccaneers history!
January 19th, 2023 at 9:46 am
He earned it. Maybe the commanders take him as OC
January 19th, 2023 at 9:48 am
they’re trying to let things die down a bit…after all these guys were superbowl winners…
maybe they wait a couple weeks when superbowl hoopla kicks up a notch, and they quietly dismiss guys while other headlines are swirling hard around the nfl…
slink them out as quietly as possible…
after all they are forever in bucs lore – as superbowl winners
January 19th, 2023 at 9:50 am
he will get interviews. courtesy interviews that is…
January 19th, 2023 at 9:51 am
“No Reported Head Coach Interview Requests For Byron Leftwich”
🤣😂🤣😂😭
January 19th, 2023 at 9:54 am
Pay Sean Peyton a Kings ransom on a one year mega deal to be our OC next year, yes even more than twice as much as the scaredy cat Todd Bowels
January 19th, 2023 at 9:54 am
Bowles has really put a dark stain on Leftwich’s reputation and career.
January 19th, 2023 at 9:54 am
Funny how everyone is quick to blame Bryon lol… 2019(Jameis) – 2021, the offense was top 5…. Brady was tired of getting hit at the ripe age of 45 and put his hands all in the pot…. Screen, slant, HB up the middle and Repeat… Leftwhich is being used as the scapegoat, which is messed up.
January 19th, 2023 at 9:56 am
Here’s your click. Dammm
January 19th, 2023 at 9:57 am
“Scapegoats” don’t have historically bad offenses with the talent the Bucs had once they’ve been given the keys to drive the Ferrari. The word you are looking for is “culprit.”
If anything, Bowles is the “scapegoat” because Arians stuck Bowles with Leftwich by waiting so long to retire.
January 19th, 2023 at 9:57 am
Have the Glazer’s taken away BA’s golf cart yet ?
January 19th, 2023 at 9:58 am
He has no chance of landing an OC job anywhere. Without a speed WR (Brown) and an elite OL (down Jensen, Marpet and Cappa) the offense was badly broken and BL didn’t have a plan to work around the losses in talent.
His gameplans were miserable. In the losses to non-playoff teams the Bucs put up points with an average only one touchdown per game.
Falcons: 17
Panthers: 3
Browns: 17
Steelers: 18
Packers: 12
January 19th, 2023 at 9:58 am
I think 3 things point to Lefty being a bad OC, let alone a HC:
1. Poor game planing as Joe has pointed out here with the Steelers and Browns;
2. The passing game, the disconnect between ME and TB. Were there changes there that didn’t work? I dont know what else you blame that on but Lefty. How on earth does ME’s # of TDs drop so dramatically??? Cant blame it on ME an TB (maybe a little on TB). Maybe we should blame it in D. Smith… lol
3.Running game. A lot of injuries, but you see other teams do more with less, such as Bears and 49ers always kick azz. with a better run game we have better play action – oh yeah, we dont use play action for some unknown reason
January 19th, 2023 at 9:59 am
Is Jason still taking his Zoladex ?
It shows!
January 19th, 2023 at 10:02 am
Leftwich might be an ok Pop Warner head coach. But probably not.
January 19th, 2023 at 10:04 am
Put the headless coich and the offenseless uncoordinator on the short bus to the shiitcan.
January 19th, 2023 at 10:04 am
@WBucsaholic Says:
“…Funny how everyone is quick to blame Bryon…”. Who else would you blame? Read my previous post and explain to me where the problem is? We have TB at QB and we drop in total points by 12 points per game from last year! That does not correlate to injuries on the Oline, or TB melting down.
January 19th, 2023 at 10:07 am
Nobody in their right mind that listens to this guy talk. Nobody that watched this season or his record on his own would or should want him. He is a puppet for someone else. Failure on his own.
January 19th, 2023 at 10:11 am
Byron “No Logic” Leftwich.
Fire this Bum!
January 19th, 2023 at 10:11 am
Not many know that Bowles is a hypnotist
January 19th, 2023 at 10:14 am
Sell the team!
January 19th, 2023 at 10:15 am
Here’s keepin’ my fingers crossed that the Panthers or some other NFC South team hires him.
January 19th, 2023 at 10:16 am
If he gets a gig elsewhere then Bowles must be the problem!
January 19th, 2023 at 10:18 am
Joe already wrote about this earlier this morning: Todd Bowles made it clear on Tuesday nothing would happen until he has meetings with his staff “later this week.” It’s not even 11 a.m. on Thursday.
What “delay?” There is no delay.
Here’s something to keep in mind and cannot be dismissed: Could one of Brady’s conditions on returning be linked to keeping Leftwich? If that is the case, Leftwich is likely safe.
January 19th, 2023 at 10:21 am
Them’s a local circus that sets up in parking lots with rickety rides and dubious acts. They have an opening for a clown. The candidate doesn’t have to be funny, he just needs to have a vacant look and inability to comprehend reality.
Leftardwich might be perfect for the role.
January 19th, 2023 at 10:23 am
JOE SAYS: “Byron Leftwich is a man with a Super Bowl ring as a player.”
He didn’t play a down in that Super Bowl. Big Ben was the quarterback the entire game. Leftwich’s “ring” has as much meaning as the trainer’s “ring”.
January 19th, 2023 at 10:25 am
Good coaches are ones who can attack any problem. When everything was firing on all cylinders, sure he did fine. So would I.
The claim that it wasn’t his fault because he was calling the plays during the Super Bowl year and therefore he must be good at it, that misses the point.
When even one component of the engine misfired, he had no idea what to do to fix it. Not a good coach.
Same thing with Bowles too.
January 19th, 2023 at 10:26 am
If they keep Bowls they have to keep Lefty.
January 19th, 2023 at 10:27 am
Leftwich officially fired
January 19th, 2023 at 10:28 am
May as well keep the clowns all together and tank.
January 19th, 2023 at 10:35 am
Bowles and Leftnut needs to be fired. Players do not have any confidence with these 2 clowns. If Bucs wants to attract players to come to tampa, they have to rebuild the coaching staff
January 19th, 2023 at 10:43 am
I just read the headline Joe. But that is shocking! Some team must want tank next year. Love as the head coach and Leftwich as the OC. You can’t lose!
January 19th, 2023 at 10:59 am
BA calling his buddies trying to get so good will out there. Bottom line he is being tagged for having a boat load of talented receivers an elite QB and he couldn’t put together game plans to play to these guys strengths. You’re dead to the Bucs. Take BA with you.
January 19th, 2023 at 11:06 am
But but but Ian beckles said he was best O.C. in the nfl that clown can go ruin Kenny Pickett
January 19th, 2023 at 11:17 am
It’s funny and kinda ludicrous to even suggest there was a chance someone would interview him as a HC after this season. Only Jax was interested last year… and seriously, if you listen to this boob speak, he doesn’t sound convincing as a leader. Why would someone want him… That said, I hope he gets a gig coaching QBs somewhere else.
January 19th, 2023 at 11:54 am
Seriously?
You wrote an article on this?
Having a problem with writers block Joes?
January 19th, 2023 at 4:22 pm
Doubt even a HS team would want this bozo.
January 19th, 2023 at 11:19 pm
Tom Brady is the greatest ever, but he totally sucked this year. He was distracted and lost focus. He threw tons of bad passes almost all of them short of target. Receivers dropped way too many catchable balls as well. Leftwich sucks but the players on offense doomed him as much as he did himself, especially Tom Brady.
January 20th, 2023 at 1:13 am
BigMac.
I wouldn’t say Brady “lost focus” was the main thing, altho I agree it was definitely part of it. I think he’s just OLD. The ball no longer goes where the brain wants it too. I’d never seen him show as much grimacing, face palms, and self-frustration after his throws as I did this year.
He should’ve stayed retired. Might’ve still had his wife and avoided his first ever losing season.
January 20th, 2023 at 8:09 am
I doubt he gets an OC gig either.
January 21st, 2023 at 10:17 am
You got rooney ruled TB, congrats, hack coaches, terrible decade ahead