Coaching The Coaches
April 2nd, 2025
Todd Bowles explains.
Joe remembers Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians saying one reason he agreed to coach the Bucs and put the brakes on his retirement was he was able to, in his words, get the band back together.
Arians said he didn’t want to coach up the coaches. He hired guys that worked for him because they knew his systems and demands.
Arians also once remarked had his successor with the Bucs, Todd Bowles, not been looking for work at the time the Bucs hired Arians, he may not have agreed to come to Tampa Bay.
So Bowles is tackling a task this offseason that Arians wanted to avoid: coaching the coaches. Specifically, Bowles wants new Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard to be as prepared as he needs to be by the time worthless preseason games roll around.
Grizzard, unlike his predecessor Liam Coen, has never called plays. Bowles doesn’t want Grizzard learning on the job, as in learning on gamedays.
“We’ll have a lot of call-it periods in practice,” Bowles said. “We’ll have a lot of situational things. We want to put him in every position possible before he actually has to call it in a game.
“Before the preseason starts, he’ll see so many different situations and so many types of things and call-it periods that I’ll make them go in situations.”
Bowles added this does not take valuable time from his defense. In fact, preparing Grizzard for situational drills can actually work to the defense’s advantage.
“It helps the defense as well, to say, ‘Oh, I should have done this or I should have done that,’” Bowles said. “We come back to those situations.”
Still, Bowles added, the goal is to get Grizzard ready. And if Grizzard is not ready, Bowles believes that eventually falls at his feet.
“You’ve got to help coach the coaches and bring them along,” Bowles said. “We’ve done a good job at that the past few years, bringing those guys along. Josh will be no different.”
It seemed to work with Dave Canales. Joe’s biggest problem with Canales’ play-calling was that he loved to run up the middle time and time and time again, despite the offense being built to pass.
It’s OK to constantly call for runs up the middle if you have Earl Campbell or Jerome Bettis or Mike Alstott. Canales had Rachaad White.
April 2nd, 2025 at 2:22 pm
Who will be coaching Bowles on how not to have a Swiss Cheese pass defense?
Asking for a friend.
28-27
April 2nd, 2025 at 3:20 pm
WD40 was run up the middle time and time and time and time again. Shaun King would then be forced to throw on third down. On a 3rd an 8 or third and nine King would accurately pass to Keyshawn under the first down . Then a punt.
KJ caught 113 passes that year with one td pass.
Very telling.
Subsequently Dungy was fired and the Bucs won Super Bowl.
Why Dungy is on TV or in the hall of fame is beyond me. Manning won the Super Bowl. Not Dungy.
April 2nd, 2025 at 3:47 pm
Hammerhead Says: Why Dungy is on TV or in the hall of fame is beyond me.
Say what you will, Dungy brought winning football to a forlorn franchise. I know. I suffered through the years before Dungy. Glad we had him.
April 2nd, 2025 at 3:50 pm
Joe: “It’s OK to constantly call for runs up the middle if you have Earl Campbell or Jerome Bettis or Mike Alstott. Canales had Rachaad White.”
But Grizzard has Bucky and a pretty bad a$$ O line. He can do whatever he wants! He just has to get the ball back from our defense
April 2nd, 2025 at 4:03 pm
If we have the same offense as last season with some changes to personnel I’m sure we will be fine. Just need the defense to step up. Just think, a lot of successful plays were actually made after the play broke down. Like when Mike Evans toasted the chargers.
April 2nd, 2025 at 4:27 pm
Grizzard needs lots of reps. Hire a programming wizard to create an AI tool for Griz to call 100’s of plays a day in a smart program where the defense and situation changes. Then he can go out on the practice field and call plays live. By the time the regular season rolls around, he’ll be in good shape. Heck, even Baker could use the program to practice changing plays at the line.
April 2nd, 2025 at 4:59 pm
AI sports very interesting. No injuries, broken bones, hamstrings, and most importantly no concussions.
April 2nd, 2025 at 5:03 pm
Madden 26 doesn’t come out until August. LOL
April 2nd, 2025 at 5:52 pm
@Crack3rK – I love Dungy however, I agree. He is a great leader of men, changed the culture here, but he couldn’t get it done. Everyone says Manning won that SB for Indy, but lets be honest the D of that team that year was very good. They weren’t the previous years or the ones after that. Bob Sanders comes to mind. If I remember in that game the Colts overcame a 21–3 deficit to the Patriots. They only took the lead once with 19 seconds in the game. Good game. Happy they won for Dungy, but let’s be honest. Brady/Belicheat didn’t typically operate that way. I love Dungy, but as a Bucs football coach I think he was very overrated (minus the culture change at the time but, drafting Sapp/Brooks in the 1st Round) kind of changes the culture in itself. (which it did) If Dungy doesn’t get those two..does that happen? (We will never know). I just thing that Dungy did us good, but I am tired hearing Gruden won with a Dungy team makes me sick. We won in 2002 with the likes of Dilger, Mccardell, Joe Joe Delicious, Pittman, Spires, Oben, Tupa etc. That was not the same team…PEERIOD!
April 2nd, 2025 at 6:06 pm
The Down side is that in this case, subpar Coaches are teaching the new coaches how to be subpar!
April 2nd, 2025 at 6:14 pm
Hopefully, someone on the Bucs staff who can command the attention of Bowles and Grizzard is analyzing the last set of downs for every drive that did not end in a touchdown. If I were the Glazers, I would also have someone on the outside doing it.
I did it for just a couple of games using the Play-By-Play game summaries on ESPN and then fast forwarding games to watch select plays.
From what I saw, Coen would mix things up pretty well so long as the Bucs were moving the ball. But, too often, when he had second and long, he would put Baker in the shotgun with no motion or play action, no viable hot read, and have Baker try to throw fifteen or twenty yards down the field while the receivers were jammed and the pass rushers came with their ears pinned back. And, Baker, being Baker, still tried to make a play – occasionally with fantastic results, but too often with disastrous results.
Slot receivers and tight ends have to recognize blitzes and alter their routes to come open with leverage in the receiver’s favor by taking altering their routes to get open immediately in the space vacated by the blitzers. And, Baker has to fling the ball as soon as those guys make their break.
And, when passing on second or third and long, there must be some razzle-dazzle – motion, play action, something. Line White up as a flanker, and then put him in motion to pick up a blitz or double team a rusher – anything.
April 2nd, 2025 at 6:18 pm
I hope the head coach put together a serious and urgent performance improvement plan for the defensive coordinator.
Oh, wait…….
April 2nd, 2025 at 6:20 pm
Some of you guys could give us your picks for HC and what their win/lose percentage, playoff victories etc look like.
Who do you think could have done better the last couple of years under the Bucs circumstances (cap hell, loss of key players, injuries, etc) ?
April 2nd, 2025 at 6:42 pm
The last two lines: Ouch! That left a mark.
April 2nd, 2025 at 7:46 pm
And Joe not to forget if you want to just run and run and run and run up the middle time and again and again and again it also helps with having a great offensive line with continuity. Which again canal’s ass did not have established while trying to run that philosophy down here
April 2nd, 2025 at 8:14 pm
Jody
Tony turned around literally the worst franchise IN ALL OF PRO SPORTS. Changing that culture was no easy feat. No one else had.
He also installed and maintained one of the fiercest, hardest hitting, most ferocious defenses in NFL history. He made it great to be a Buc fan. Being one since’76 I’m eternally grateful.
And until my dying day, I’ll always believe that if the Glazers had taken a more Pittsburgh approach, Tony and McKay would’ve finished building a DYNASTY. One more year would have done it
April 2nd, 2025 at 8:16 pm
Or if you have Bucky Irving.
April 2nd, 2025 at 8:23 pm
You got conned too, eh?
Drove Joe bananas how Dungy always said, “This is the way we did it in Pittsburgh.” It was NOT. Sure the Steelers started by beefing up the defense initially, but the Steelers didn’t ignore the offense. The Bucs (McKay/Dungy) did. Except for running backs.
Additionally, the Steelers threw the ball. Of the four titles they won in 1970s, the last three were because Terry Bradshaw launched the ball. Mel Blount even said (have seen the video many times on “America’s Game”) Chuck Noll gathered the team together and said how they were going to throw the ball because the rules had changed. Father Dungy was on that same team. Did he fall asleep in that meeting? Did he take the day off and not hear Noll?
Drove Joe nuts when he heard Dungy parrot that line and nobody in the Tampa media had any pushback. #Sad
Another year would have just prolonged the obvious. Chucky came in, revamped both the offense and offensive personnel, and got a Super Bowl. And it was perfect timing to get rid of Dungy. The team collapsed the year after the Super Bowl (yeah, Chucky was part of the reason).
April 2nd, 2025 at 9:15 pm
Todd Bowles … “We’ll have a lot of call-it periods in practice. We’ll have a lot of situational things. We want to put him (Griz) in every position possible before he actually has to call it in a game.”
Griz has got some On-The-Job learning to do, and focusing in preseason on helping get Griz prepared for the regular season makes perfect sense to me. He’s smart, but quality practice & repetition certainly helps.
April 2nd, 2025 at 10:06 pm
Joe
None of what you said really changes my opinion of Dungy.
I certainly never felt “conned” by him. He made this team legit in a completely honest way, without the manipulation of Gruden.
I think I remember Dilfer saying (after playing for Wyche), that he appreciated playing for Dungy because he’d rather beat you straight up than rely on tricks.
That Defense certainly wasn’t smoke and mirrors.
April 3rd, 2025 at 12:04 am
Well, at least Tony could coach defense.
And, at least Todd knows and appreciates he needs to score points.
Bucs wouldn’t ever have won a Super Bowl under Dungy. Thank you Jon Gruden and Malcolm for insisting we trade for him.
This year is probably Todd’s last chance.