The Melding Of Two Worlds
July 22nd, 2023
Bucs OC Dave Canales.
Are the Bucs playing both sides of the fence? A prominent NFL columnist and podcaster seems to think so.
Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com looks at the Bucs’ defense and sees a crew ready to win games, perhaps as late as February if all the stars align.
Then Rosenthal looks at the Bucs offense with last year’s NFL-worst rushing attack virtually intact, led by quarterback Kyler Traskfield. That leads Rosenthal to think the Bucs are gunning for Caleb Williams (#CollapseForCaleb). So Rosenthal asks, what are the Bucs?
Rosenthal types that starting Rachaad White and Traskfield “make the Bucs sound like a team that is totally rebuilding. The rest of the roster looks more like one that was built to win fast and often while Tom Brady was around.”
It’s a fair point, but Joe thinks there is a lot working behind the scenes.
One is Bucs management seems to be saying without saying that SpongeBob was a total joke of an offensive coordinator and had zero clue how to craft a decent running attack.
Another element is the Bucs also have faith in new offensive coordinator Dave Canales. He comes from an organization that always found ways to run the ball. Let’s be real: The Bucs were built to be a pass-first offense. So Joe isn’t sure how much of an emphasis SpongeBob actually put into running the ball.
Bucs fans should find out by the bye week just how truly rotten SpongeBob was.
July 22nd, 2023 at 8:03 am
Caleb Williams is another under-sized run-around quarterback from a weak college football conference. Don’t we already have one of those? đ
July 22nd, 2023 at 8:05 am
“Joe isnât sure how much of an emphasis SpongeBob actually put into running the ball.”
Lots of emphasis on first down. lol
July 22nd, 2023 at 8:07 am
Bucs are now built to run the ball Joe, get use to it.
July 22nd, 2023 at 8:19 am
I am actually very excited for this season!
July 22nd, 2023 at 8:39 am
I think it’s safe to say that Leftwich was in over his head. But it’s not going to be an oranges to oranges comparison; Different QB, different offense, so the running game will be different as well.
July 22nd, 2023 at 8:56 am
I thought Howard Goodwin was the run game coordinatorâŚ
July 22nd, 2023 at 9:28 am
Can we be honest here? Yes “SpongeBob” or whatever other pejorative posters wish to use, bears a major responsibility for last year’s horrible offense.
But it’s obvious that the GOAT has just as much if not more. He was the one on the field signing off on the play, he was the one perhaps distracted by the breakup of his family, age issues, whatever who actually had his hands on the ball to start every play.
And if anybody here believes that Brady did not have MAJOR input including VETO power on the plays and the game planning I have some stock in the Sunshine Skyway to sell you!
Bottom line that while BOTH are too blame the loss of 60% of the offensive line before the season even began was also a HUGE contributing factor.
BOTH SpongeBob and the old worn out GOAT are gone! The OL has been rebuilt with only one returning player and Jensen returning from health penciled in. That 60% has been improved!
Just sayin’ “It’s a new day in Tampa Bay!” Embrace it!
July 22nd, 2023 at 9:30 am
@Wyoming
Goodwin is the RG coord, but eluded to the fact that he “can’t control what the play caller calls”. Evid the Bucs best and most successful run has been 22/23 Double, which set up multiple run, PA, and pass plays, but BL went complete games without calling it.
From one of his interviews after the season: “âWe have it in there,â Goodwin continued. âWe have a lot of runs. Itâs just whether we get to them or not. Itâs how the play-caller is feeling. Itâs my favorite play by far because weâve have a lot of success with it. It just depends on whether Byron is feeling like calling it that day or not. I canât control that.â
July 22nd, 2023 at 9:47 am
FLBoy84, you are correct!! Plus the H.C. didn’t step in and do his job!!!!! You know, make the proper adjustments!!!! After all he is the “man ” in charge!!!
July 22nd, 2023 at 9:53 am
The Bucs did ZERO half-time adjustments. That is on the head coach.
July 22nd, 2023 at 9:58 am
Blame for last year goes primarily to Bowles for being a terrible HC, but also Licht for not forking over the cash to Gronk. BL would be 3rd on the list.
July 22nd, 2023 at 9:59 am
SPONGEBOB WAS A PRODUCT OF BRUCE ARIANS “WISH TREE”..WE ALL HEARD HOW BRUCE WOULD COME IN AFTER TOM &SPONGEBOB MADE THE GAME PLAN & CIRCLE PLAY’S WITH A RED MARKER ( THAT HE EITHER LIKED OR DIDN’T LIKE) BEFORE EACH GAME..ARIANS LIKED SPONGEBOB (PERHAPS BECAUSE HE WAS A GOOD “YES” MAN..YOU THINK ?..WHO CAN FORGET IN ONE OF HIS LAST GAMES AT MARSHALL UNIVERSITY WHERE A PLAYER UNDER EACH ARM HAD TO CARRY LEFTWICH TO THE HUDDLE BECAUSE HE WAS SO INJURED YET STILL THROWING DARTS AGAINST THE FAVORED OPPONENT THAT YEAR ! ? HE HIRED HIM FOR HIS INTESTINAL FORTITUDE…IT JUST DIDN’T WORK AFTER BRUCE ARIANS HANDED HIS HEAD COACHING POSITION TO TODD BOWLES..PURE & SIMPLE…DAVE CANALES WAS HAND-PICKED BY BOWLES & FOR DAMN GOOD REASON..THIS OFFENSE WILL WORK OUT THE KINKS & BE JUST FINE COME PLAYOFF TIME (REGARDLESS WHO WINS THE STARTING QUARTERBACK JOB..
July 22nd, 2023 at 10:09 am
Bucs fan underpants gnome play call logic:
1.) Call play
2.) ????
3.) Positive play
Calls and player execution go hand in hand, I find it hilarious how the talking point seems to place all the accountability on the HC & OC in terms of why plays fail, but next to no mention on a particular player or players submarining tons of play being the reason calls failed more often than not. Record setting seasons 3 of 4 years on the job, including a top 5 scoring unit with a QB that threw 30 INTs lol another South Park reference would be some fans are trapped in imaginationland.
July 22nd, 2023 at 10:22 am
Coach Leftwitch is no longer a part of the organization âŚfifth time beating a dead horse âŚhe gone, BRADY sucked as well, dwell on that! The team didnât win âŚthis is not a one man sport, the team lost games!
July 22nd, 2023 at 10:22 am
Joe … ‘Letâs be real: The Bucs were built to be a pass-first offense. So Joe isnât sure how much of an emphasis SpongeBob actually put into running the ball.’
Since the Bucs ran the least of any NFL team last year, Sponge Bob obviously didn’t emphasize the run very much. Part of that IMO was because of him having Tom Brady as his QB. Part of it probably was because we WERE a ‘pass-first offense’ in 2019 through 2021 when BA was the HC. Part of it may have had to do with BA’s influence (how BL was trained to gameplan & playcall).
But I think that the biggest reason he didn’t call more run plays is because our OLine stunk at run-blocking. They simply weren’t physical enough (and probably not experienced enough) to create consistent holes for our RBs. Goedeke was a fish out of water at LG. Hainsey filled in admirably for Jensen but he regularly got pushed around quite it looked like (needs to get stronger as does Goedeke?). Smith & Wirfs were both hurt quite a bit, and Mason was about the only one who stayed healthy the whole time (so we got rid of him of course).
It all comes down eventually to the guys in the trenches. Give me the beasts who can open holes consistently and make the guys on the other side of the line wish they were anywhere but on the field getting the snot beat out of them play after play.
July 22nd, 2023 at 10:49 am
Focusing on the focus. No team in the nfl does it better than the Bucs. This team will score a lot of points, this team will win a lot of games. They will win many superbowls. This will be the most dominant decade of winning that the bucs will do and the league has ever experienced. Our fans are pumped and ready to experience bucs greatness.
July 22nd, 2023 at 10:54 am
Worst of all worlds. They are half rebuild and they should have gone full rebuild top to bottom.
July 22nd, 2023 at 11:38 am
^ Nope. Too much talent to break it all down. They unloaded the aging dead weight and absorbed a huge dead cap hit, managed to sign a few key free agents and had what appears to be a great draft. In terms of talent, they can still win if a few conditions are met. And we’ll see how it shakes out. If rebuilding means trading off key assets like Evans, Godwin, Vea, and letting David walk… I don’t think you’d find many fans who’d be down with that. Screw these national commentators who look at the pieces of a team like fungible assets.
July 22nd, 2023 at 11:48 am
@HC Grover
An NFL team is not a house. Unlike with a house, you cannot do a “full rebuild top to bottom” of an NFL team as you cannot “level” the team and replace all the parts with new parts.
July 22nd, 2023 at 12:00 pm
The more of Drake Maye Im watching, the more I like! Hmm, its gonna be interesting comparing him and Caleb this year.
July 22nd, 2023 at 12:03 pm
They had Fournette. He cost too much. The Vikings said the same about Cook. Detroit got rid of its top back. Ekelar and the Raiders RB arenât getting paid.
But when the Bucs go with a young guy, itâs tanking for a punk unproven QB from of all places USC?
July 22nd, 2023 at 12:05 pm
Somebody disable TOMMYâs cap lock
July 22nd, 2023 at 12:26 pm
First of all, the Bucs will win the NFC South…
Second, Lincoln Riley’s offense can win a QB a Heisman but they’re usually not great NFL QB’s…Caleb Williams is just the lastest QB to benefit from playing in his offense…mind you,
(in a conference not known for playing great defense)
Jalen Hurts only had 1 year with Riley and almost won a Heisman, but imo I still consider him a product of Nick Saban…
My point is, the bust rate for QBs picked #1 is pretty high, so it makes very little sense for any team to “tank” their season to draft one there…The best strategy imo if we “happen to have” the #1 pick is to trade it for a kings ransom…Not! Draft another bust…
July 22nd, 2023 at 12:48 pm
Stpetebucfan, if Brady did have veto power I don’t think he would have let the clock run down at the end of that “mistake by the lake” Cleveland debacle.
July 22nd, 2023 at 1:13 pm
When your Oline cannot move anyone or open a hole for your RB it matters not when you run or what play you call.
July 22nd, 2023 at 1:21 pm
Its a good thing Bucs got Kyle Trask
July 22nd, 2023 at 1:40 pm
Leftwich being a total and complete predictable idiot can not be overstated. When the defense knows what you’re going to run, and just sits on the plays, that’s an issue. Arians FORCED Leftwich to open things up, and would get on him for being so predictable, he was doing this even going back to early in the 2019 season, when Arians was saying he had to press Leftwich to stay aggressive, since he basically just wanted to run it up the middle on every play. Leftwich not taking the Jags head coaching job last year just tanked the Bucs season, he was so bad he made Brady retire.
The Bucs will NOT have the worst running game in football this year. I expect White to have a big year, perhaps a monster year if Mayfield can be better than expected and can keep defenses from putting 8-men on the LOS. Also the new OC needs to not be a completely predictable idiot. But we know what Bowles wants, a 1972 run-first boring offense that will make the team nearly unwatchable. Part of that, through pure repetition, will insure the Bucs won’t be the worst running team in football this season. They might, however, be the worst passing team if Mayfield is the same QB he’s been for the last two seasons.
July 22nd, 2023 at 3:47 pm
“I am actually very excited for this season!”
Dont be….
July 22nd, 2023 at 3:54 pm
National media types by this time of year are pushing bs especially about the buccaneers. All this talk about drafting number 1 overall for quarterback is a little premature donât ya think. Shouldnât we all just find a different team to watch this year if we are going to just fold before preseason even start. If half of these media types were correct about there assumptionâs chances are they would be sitting in some plush office counting there coin .
July 22nd, 2023 at 4:16 pm
Rod Munch says:
“Leftwich being a total and complete predictable idiot can not be overstated.”
SO TRUE!!!!!!!! Also true is that when Todd Bowles let’s this go on week after week after week he assumes FULL responsibility!!!!!
July 22nd, 2023 at 5:49 pm
If Bowles can win the division and get a minimum of nine wins…a lot of us will probably forgive him.
July 22nd, 2023 at 7:49 pm
I am with Joe. It was Leftwich more than anything else. Coaching matters.
Lost Arians off the sidelines. Leftwich sucked after that.
July 22nd, 2023 at 7:50 pm
^^
If only Jacksonville would have signed Leftwich. I think we would have gotten a pick and rid of the guy.
If only.
July 23rd, 2023 at 6:07 am
A big part of the piss poor run game was when we ran the ball and the personnel.
First down runs! DCs are not stupid! No play action first down calls. OL, and RB
The O line did not open holes on a consistent basis. Running backs who are not named Barry Sanders need a bit of confidence that a hole will be there. Why we ran behind Smith at all is beyond me. He played the whole season like he would rather be in the Bahamas on vacation.
Lenny did not go to the holes that were there at times. Deciding to dance around in the backfield (slowly), pretending to be Sanders rather than lowering his shoulder and going. Lenny is a big RB but refused to use that size.
Go Bucs!