Knowing Your Talent On Offense
November 28th, 2022
Too much to ask?
Joe thinks it is fair to criticize Bucs coach Todd Bowles and whatever influence he may have on the Bucs offense. The Tampa Bay offense hummed the last three years. There was no need to fix something not broken.
Regular listeners to the “Ira Kaufman Podcast” know that for years, Joe preaches to no end two things constantly. They are among Joe’s pillars of winning football.
The first is, “Production… production… production.” The NFL is a production league. Either produce or get the hell out of the way. The Bucs offense is clearly not producing and it woefully under-produces for the talent on hand.
The second is “Don’t Fix What is Not Broken.” If something works, you keep at it and don’t stop unless a defense (or offense) proves they can stop it.
The Bucs were built for no-risk-it; no-biscuit. They do not have the personnel to pretend they are the Titans. They don’t have Derrick Henry or Earl Campbell or Walter Payton or even Mike Alstott. If they had the personnel to ground-and-pound, they would succeed in doing that. Instead, they have one of the worst rushing offenses known to mankind.
(Unless you want to come at Joe that the offense is terribly coached up — Joe won’t argue with you there.)
So yesterday this all came to mind when, during the FOX broadcast of the galling loss to the Browns, a game thrown away by bad coaching, FOX producers displayed a graphic that shows the Bucs are one of the best teams in the NFL using a hurry-up offense.
Yet the Bucs prefer to try to grind games out and keep opponents in the game (Joe is guessing someone with influence at One Buc Palace really takes to heart the saying that you keep your friends close and your enemies closer), hoping everything turns out OK when the final whistle blows.
You know what Joe thinks about “hope.”
(Column intermission: The NFL really needs to bring back referees shooting pistols at the end of each half. Maybe “The Rock” will have Smith & Wesson or Glock sponsor the final gun in the XFL and let zebras pull the trigger on a rod when the clock hits “0:00?” That would be so cool.)
When the Bucs had a chance in the second half to pull away from the Browns, why did Bucs coaches not use their hurry-up offense to score points and then sit on a comfortable lead?
Of course, this would mean failing Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich would have to use foresight and very little Leftwich has shown suggests he looks ahead or adjusts well, if at all.
Joe is also guessing this is what Bowles wants: Play it safe and not be aggressive on offense. It’s in the DNA of defensive coaches, man. They are so wired to be risk-averse they would rather keep a team in the game than put it away. Why? Because that may mean the offense may use a risky play.
It’s very, very frustrating to watch, especially when it’s the likely final Bucs weeks of the greatest quarterback who ever lived thrown away like four-day-old Thanksgiving leftovers that are too spoiled to feed the dog.
November 28th, 2022 at 10:30 am
There’s definitely room for improvement.
November 28th, 2022 at 10:42 am
Leftwich already said he doesn’t listen to the “noise”. Bowles made it clear he wasn’t interested in Arians’ counsel. There you have it.
Jason Licht seems to be a little quiet lately.
November 28th, 2022 at 10:44 am
Spot on. I’m super frustrated today, but what kind of idiot runs an offense the way Bowles is running it when you have probably the top group of receivers in the league. As a fan, it’s maddening.
November 28th, 2022 at 10:49 am
It’s time to break out the bags, signs that say “FIRE COACH BOWLES!”
MNF @ Home will be a perfect time…
November 28th, 2022 at 10:55 am
Risk adverse unless its against the Rams (playoffs) and you call an all out blitz. Then no problems with risk.
November 28th, 2022 at 11:05 am
Faspro, I agree: fire ALL the coaches!
November 28th, 2022 at 11:06 am
That failure to call timeout while the clock ran down was unforgivable!
November 28th, 2022 at 11:14 am
Missing on hainsey and Luke doomed this team
We can’t run, we you can’t run and get your ass kicked in the trenches
You just don’t win
Look at Phily
Jalen hurts is an awful passer but he has the line
November 28th, 2022 at 11:15 am
i dont see another win on the schedule
November 28th, 2022 at 11:20 am
Maybe these coaches know something about #12 and that’s why we continue to run the same plays with no creativity?
November 28th, 2022 at 11:23 am
Bowles needs to be asked again why no time out…….
And, you would think Brady would call one under the circumstances….unless he is prohibited and that is a HC decision….
November 28th, 2022 at 11:32 am
As I stated before, Todd Bowles is the total opposite of Bruce Arians.
This is the same Byron Leftwich who had the offense humming under Bruce Arians. Now though he is having to run the offense under the parameters given to him by Bowles.
Dungyball is alive and well in Tampa Bay
November 28th, 2022 at 11:41 am
The amount of unproductive run plays is mind boggling. You can’t run on first down than why keep doing it. You are wasting downs. What is missing from the offense is the Gronk seem routes and the short zone throws. They open everything else up and are there on play action first downs. I am not sure why brate is not running those routes
November 28th, 2022 at 12:12 pm
Hurry up limits the Clowns interfering in the game as much.
November 28th, 2022 at 12:31 pm
I’ve never hated a coach as much as I hate Byron Leftwich.
He has ruined this offense. And Todd Bowles has done nothing about it. Bowles is a great defensive coordinator, but he simply isn’t a good head coach.
Throw me both off the plank. They are the biggest losers. The biggest under achievers. The dumbest managers ever.
Clueless, stubborn, and inept.
Todd Bowles turned out to be the only head coach that could actually stop Tom Brady.
Well done, arsehole.
November 28th, 2022 at 12:31 pm
*Throw them both
November 28th, 2022 at 1:02 pm
“…the Bucs are one of the best teams in the NFL using a hurry-up offense.”
———
Gee, look at what happens when Brady is commanding the offense and Leftwich is out of the picture. Literally been saying the same exact thing since 2019, whenever Leftwich is not involved with what is happening, the Bucs excel. The guy is a moron, a dullard, an idiot, and has no ability to call a game. He should have never got the job, and he literally should have been fired dozens of times. He’s trash.
But I’m glad you all are at least finally catching up with me, even if it’s years too late.
November 28th, 2022 at 1:54 pm
My dad is no Bobby Knight, but he had a similar refrain concerning hope. “S[p]it in one hand, and hope in the other. See which one fills up first.”
November 28th, 2022 at 1:56 pm
G-Buc! Says:
“Risk adverse unless its against the Rams (playoffs) and you call an all out blitz. Then no problems with risk.”
.
.
Against the one quarterback known league-wide to be deadly at beating the blitz.
November 28th, 2022 at 2:20 pm
and nobody is talking about the three time outside frickin Boles had he didn’t use until it was too late.. Glazers are jerks for putting Boles in charge. They let down their fan base. Next year they will definitely feel the pain in ticket sales. They’ll be at a discout.
November 28th, 2022 at 2:41 pm
The Bucs should use the hurry up offense every series. Not the whole series, but for two to three or four consecutive plays each series. This would make it impossible for opposing defenses to substitute players as they normally would.
The Bucs also need to take deep shots every series. Have Miller and another speedster take the DBs for a sprint. If the play doesn’t work, that’s okay because the DBs will be winded for the next series, making Godwin and Evans jobs so much easier. I’ve never played professional football, but I’d assume getting separation is so much easier when the guy covering you is panting.
And my biggest annoyances: stop treating 2nd and short like it’s 3rd and short. Have faith that you will convert 3rd and short if that big play you try doesn’t work.
Rush the damn punter! I’m pretty sure pressure causes bad kicks. And maybe you’ll get lucky once in awhile.
November 28th, 2022 at 2:59 pm
I said about three weeks ago the Bucs should play hurry up or at least no huddle the whole game. You can’t tell me that calling the play at the line of scrimmage would put every defense at a disadvantage with Tom Brady calling the play. Look what Peyton Manning did in Denver winning a Super Bowl when Peyton had half an arm left. Brady has seen every defense there is and knows by how the defense is aligned what play will work best. Instead we have BL looking at his play sheet for 15 seconds and calls a run up the middle, when that doesn’t work he calls a tunnel screen to Godwin, then a go route to Evans. None of it works and we punt.
November 28th, 2022 at 3:00 pm
Lock up Sean Payton now