Todd Bowles Doesn’t Believe Change Is Bad For Bucs Offense
April 3rd, 2025
“‘Bake,’ what do you think about Bucky running a wildcat and putting you in the slot?” (A Tampa Bay Buccaneers photo)
So the Bucs have a new offensive coordinator, Josh Grizzard. He got promoted after Liam Coen allegedly slipped out of town in the dark of night.
Grizzard was hired because the Bucs want to keep the offense the same, right? Well, not really.
Yes, Grizzard proved himself worthy of being a coordinator in his one year with the Bucs and Coen. And yes, Grizzard also was hired because he knows the offense and the players were all on board with him getting promoted.
That doesn’t mean things will be the same. But why change? The Bucs had one of the best offenses in franchise history with a top-three passing game and top-four run game.
Todd Bowles explained why.
“You have to tweak some things because if you do exactly what you did last year, everybody watches tape, and they’re going to catch up,” the Bucs head coach said at the owners meetings at the swanky Breakers in Palm Beach this week. “It’ll be interesting to see the wrinkles he puts in and how we adjust and how the coaches interact in practice – that’ll be a whole new thing with Liam [Coen] gone.
“When you have another guy running the entire thing, even though everyone else is the same, it’s different. The continuity is going to be big for them to build throughout the spring.”
“This Joe’s” first commandment is not fixing something that isn’t broken. And the Bucs offense last year was anything but broken. It hummed.
But Bowles hit the nail on the head. Defensive coaches have nothing to do this time of year but look at tape to figure out how to stop their 2025 opponents.
Surely the good coaches that face the Bucs this year, when they break from studying draft prospects, are now sifting through Bucs film to find ways to stop the Tampa Bay offense. Grizzard better have more options ready compared to what Coen used last year. Joe will drink to that.
April 3rd, 2025 at 5:47 am
Seems like a lot of pressure for the Grizz. From Canales to Coen, that was a fortuitous change but there was a background for success there. Grizz is a lot greener. Hopefully at least for the first quarter of the season, Bake and Mike can steer a player-driven simplified version to a 3-1 start minimum as Grizz finds his sea legs.
April 3rd, 2025 at 7:20 am
“…after Liam Coen allegedly slipped out of town in the dark of night.” Allegedly??
The way Coen handled it made the 1984 Colts hiring the Mayflower moving company and slinking out of Baltimore in the dead of night choir boy stuff.
Note: For those under 50 years of age – you’ll have to Google it.
April 3rd, 2025 at 7:36 am
Coen had a significantly better offense to work with than Canales did. We added Bredeson in free agency last year to help the OLine, then had an awesome draft adding Irving, McMillan & Barton. Not to mention that it was Baker’s 2nd year here & he was feeling a lot more comfortable (and his performance showed it).
Griz has essentially the same team to work with that Coen had. With yet another season together, they SHOULD be able to perform at the same or better level. Still, that’s hard to tell because you’re talking different opponents.
The one factor that I think will work to Griz’s advantage is our defense. By all accounts we’re focusing on fixing our defense, a defense that went from giving up 325 points in 2023 to 385 points in 2024. If we can get back down to allowing closer to the 325 points of 2023, there’s no reason this defense can’t rank in the Top-10, help the offense a LOT more, and as a team end up 11-6 and preferably better.
April 3rd, 2025 at 7:54 am
You can bet our divisional opponents are studying last year’s offense. Continuity will come from the same playbook with some additions from Grizz’s time working in Miami. I hope we can add some speed to the offense like Miami uses, getting more carries by Tuck, passes to Dev Culp, and bringing in a late round fast receiver who can get some big YAC plays.
April 3rd, 2025 at 8:03 am
I know things are slowl this time of the year in the NFL. The Bucs under Todd Bowles and Jason Litch are changing with the times just like every other NFL team.
Todd Bowles is growing as a Head coach and the Bucs should be a legit Super Bowl for the next couple of years.
April 3rd, 2025 at 8:11 am
I agree with you Jim Bob somewhere around the third fourth pick would be nice to get a speedster receiver to go with our three other studs adding another dimension to the pass game. And we’re fortunate enough we’ve got three decent tight ends if not really good tight ends to run multiple jumbo packages that can be for run or pass
April 3rd, 2025 at 8:32 am
3 good rbs 3 good tight ends 3 good receivers, best bucs o-line ever, gun sliinger at qb …they can’t cover everybody even if the defense is slightly improved it’s gonna be the most exciting year since 2020
April 3rd, 2025 at 9:41 am
Grizz has more years coaching at the NFL level than Cohen had going into the Bucs’ OC role. He’s a bit younger but I wouldn’t say he’s so much greener. I do agree that our offense will look less like the Rams and more like the Dolphins this year. Miami covets speed above all else. It will be interesting to see how that aspect will be prioritized in this off-season moves.
April 3rd, 2025 at 9:57 am
Smart. Playoff teams will eat their screen game alive. Gotta switch it up.
April 3rd, 2025 at 10:13 am
Is Trey Palmer just not that good or did the prior 2 OC’s just not know how to work his speed into their system. Palmer faster than Hill…. maybe Grizz can bring him in as a weapon that the previous 2 could not figure him in. I hope that he can.
April 3rd, 2025 at 10:39 am
Joe’s- correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t Ira mention on a podcast that he’s hearing people think the Bucs made a mistake hiring Grizzard?
April 3rd, 2025 at 10:50 am
Saw Trey Palmer sent out a picture of himself on his birthday yesterday. Looked like a GQ cover picture. Not sure where his head is at (he’s young) but I’m afraid it’s lodged up his you know what. He’s had a few highlights but we’ve been lucky that he hasn’t been exposed returning punts. Doesn’t have the confidence a good punt returner needs. It takes time I know and he does have the right guys around him to make the best of his abilities but for some reason he’s not doing it. I hope he makes it but I’ve seen plenty of speedsters not make it in the league. This year or bust for Palmer. Plenty of guys out there who will bust their tails for the chance to be the number 4 receiver on this team. I love Sterling Shepard but it’s time for Palmer to send Shep to the bench or give that chance to someone else who is fully on board.
April 3rd, 2025 at 11:07 am
It’s the changes on defense that most fans are anxious to learn about.
Teaching DBs how to cover someone in zone pass defense would be a refreshing change. So would playing more man coverage, where your assignment is very straight forward. Hopefully the head coach is telling the defensive coordinator that pass defense is important, and playing it well means being closer than 10 yards away from the receiver when he catches the football.
Teaching pass rushers how to rush the passer instead of dropping into zones where nobody is, also a priority. The HC should get the DC’s action plan for that as well.
Oh, wait.
April 3rd, 2025 at 11:34 am
Some of you people out here, are funny. Short-sighted, inaccurate, and funny.
April 3rd, 2025 at 2:59 pm
Kenton Smith,
Re: Trey Palmer
Absolutely agree with you. If Palmer is serious, he would be sleeping in CG14 or ME13 basements asking lots of questions and watching film. The fact that there is some talk of drafting another WR is an indication that the coaches are underwhelmed with Palmer. Sometime these young guys just never get it. Being on the team and making more money than they imagined is often all they want. To be great, all young receivers should be in touch with Godwin and Evans. McMillan seems like he gets it.