“Back To The Drawing Board”
October 17th, 2023
Bucs coach Todd Bowles.
Bucs coach Todd Bowles is already thinking about first downs.
Not when his defense is on the field, but when his offense is on the field.
No one knew how bad the offense was Sunday against Detroit better than Bowles. He had a front-row view. And in his weekly sitdown with Dan Lucas of WFLA-TV Channel 8, Bowles said he is already trying to figure out how the offense can play better on first downs.
“We have to go back to the drawing board and find some more ways, some easy ways to complete some plays on first down to get us going a little bit,” Bowles said.
What that may be, Bowles didn’t say.
What he did say is the deep balls Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield didn’t hit on with Trey Palmer were ones the completed during the week.
“Deep-ball chemistry,” Bowles referred to the misses as. “Been pretty good at it in practice.”
Bowles added it is only a matter of time before Mayfield and the rookie Palmer get on the same page.
As for his defense, Bowles seemed largely fine with its play, save two blown coverages on long balls and a lack of takeaways.
“We stayed in it for a long time,” Bowles said. “But we didn’t get turnovers. They got one that set up three points. … There were some guys that had good performances over there [on defense].”
October 17th, 2023 at 9:21 am
I think Bowles idea of a blown coverage and mine are vastly different. A blown defensive play call is my thought on the Williams TD.
Go Bucs!
October 17th, 2023 at 9:26 am
Back to the drawing board should be tattooed on Bowels skull.
This was supposed to be a different year offensively without these types of excuses.
Everyone complained about the age on Brady and thought a younger QB would help fix the issues.
Wrong again. The problem is the head coach thinks it’s 1985 and you can pound the rock for 3 yards and somehow win games.
Time to wipe clean the drawing board with a new coaching staff entirely. And possibly a new GM.
LFG!!!
October 17th, 2023 at 9:26 am
Overall the D certainly did their job but for some reason Ben Johnson ate Bowles lunch in the second half on 3rd and LONG. It wasn’t a lack of hustle or fatigue players were simply in the wrong spot, or perhaps more positively stated, Ben Johnson showed why he is one of the most respected young OC’s in the NFL. He simply game planned his offense…especially on 3rd and long…than Bowles did the D.
Same is true for Canalas. It wasn’t all Baker’s fault, even accepting he had his worst game as a Buc. CG14 was Mr Dependable after that the dropsies continue to haunt ME 13 and as Bowles said, rookie Palmer and Mayfield do not appear on the same page. They’ll figure it out.
October 17th, 2023 at 9:29 am
Easy! Back to the drawing board options should include: RPO’s with a short outlet to Godwin. Bubble screens to Godwin. Short slants and/or 12 yard curls to ME13. Benn’d around to Tompkins 1-2 times per game. Throw a screen to White. Bootlegs with Baker to Godwin/ME13 running a sweeping out route (or curl) for 10-15 yard gain (or Baker taking off for 5-8 yard gain).
You’re paying 2 guys on offense 15% of your team’s salary cap, act like it with your play calling!
Stop jamming square pegs into round holes. Stop inside iso’s behind the worst run-blocking interior linemen with a RB who thinks he’s Le’veon Bell. Also stop pulling guards and letting DT’s untouched into the backfield. Stop the draw plays when you haven’t been connecting passes yet. Run routes past the sticks. Stop throwing deep on 2nd and 3rd downs, when you need 1st downs more.
At least I have hope that Canales is open minded enough to try to enact changes. Something we’d have no prayer that his predecessor would.
October 17th, 2023 at 9:31 am
What’s the definition of insanity?…..sticking with the run game!!!
October 17th, 2023 at 9:44 am
I’m trying to be patient with Canales…..but, he continues to run the ball on either 1st or 2nd down or both….putting us in 3rd down situations….pressure on Mayfield to connect.
I don’t believe he uses the tight ends or backs enough……hopefully, he will make some adjustments.
Defenses are setting up to stop our run…..so, don’t. We seem to have good success throwing on 1st down.
And….like last year……stop with the empty backfield….pretty hard to play action with an empty backfield.
October 17th, 2023 at 9:50 am
I saw this not once , but several times during the game. Bucs rush 3 when Lions are max protect 6 with 4 route runners resulting in a day and a half for Goff and he converted all of them. Problem was Bucs could have gone double coverage man on all 4 receivers , but they were playing zone , and when you give an NFL receiver 5 seconds to find a soft spot in a zone-he will and they did. More man schemes on 3rd and long and FREAKING rush more than 3 .
October 17th, 2023 at 10:08 am
5 years of Bowles run defense and 5 years of allowing opponents to easily convert 3rd & longs on this defense
Seems like he lives on the drawing board
October 17th, 2023 at 10:15 am
Deep ball misses aren’t what’s keeping the Offense from consistently moving the chains. Mayfield as well as the running game just aren’t getting it done.
October 17th, 2023 at 10:19 am
If he wants better production on 1st down then why does he allow the OC to run up the middle on 90% of 1st Downs right into the teeth of the defense when the IOL is weak there? Didn’t the OC say after the Eagles game that that wasn’t a good idea?
Our OC and HC need to wake up. Runs up the middle haven’t worked for 2 years! Run to the outside, do a toss, do something different. I thought our OC was supposed to be innovative.
October 17th, 2023 at 10:36 am
Dallas won last night because they just didn’t allow JH to ever sit in the pocket yet Dak had what appeared to be at least a half second more to get the ball off . …….. I don’t know where this Bucs D played well comes from ? What were Detroits passing stats ?? Did the D get off the field on third down when really needed !! No!! No Pass rush when needed , several long yard conversions late in the game and Goff was as comfortable as Joe @🍺Big Storm Brewery in 2 nd and third and long !!
There’s the first half and then there’s the 4 th quarter !!
October 17th, 2023 at 10:38 am
Pass more on first downs and stop moving people around in the secondary to disguise coverages, it moves DB’s out of position.
October 17th, 2023 at 10:39 am
it took Tom and Mike a few games to get on the same page, struggled most of that first year, so I expect Baker to get on page with Palmer as long as OU is not on BSPN Game Day
October 17th, 2023 at 11:01 am
We need to pass to set up the run and we keep running to set up the pass. Just stop it already!
October 17th, 2023 at 11:03 am
Some fellas just love being miserable
October 17th, 2023 at 11:18 am
Could not have said it better.
Leighroy needs to take Canales out for a beer or two – Seriously.
Leighroy Says:
October 17th, 2023 at 9:29 am
Easy! Back to the drawing board options should include: RPO’s with a short outlet to Godwin. Bubble screens to Godwin. Short slants and/or 12 yard curls to ME13. Benn’d around to Tompkins 1-2 times per game. Throw a screen to White. Bootlegs with Baker to Godwin/ME13 running a sweeping out route (or curl) for 10-15 yard gain (or Baker taking off for 5-8 yard gain).
You’re paying 2 guys on offense 15% of your team’s salary cap, act like it with your play calling!
Stop jamming square pegs into round holes. Stop inside iso’s behind the worst run-blocking interior linemen with a RB who thinks he’s Le’veon Bell. Also stop pulling guards and letting DT’s untouched into the backfield. Stop the draw plays when you haven’t been connecting passes yet. Run routes past the sticks. Stop throwing deep on 2nd and 3rd downs, when you need 1st downs more.
October 17th, 2023 at 11:37 am
6 Points Last Game, 18 Point Average, Top 5 Worst Offense
When your offense is that abysmal, isn’t it time to be looking at something other than easy plays on 1st down?
October 17th, 2023 at 11:39 am
Of course they hit the deep ball in practice, they’re going against the Buc secondary.
October 17th, 2023 at 12:09 pm
How is St Brown catching balls over the middle ALL GAME LONG ok with this guy? The scouting report pretty clearly defined what they do. Why does Bowles NEVER play man defense? This is what GOOD teams do when you blitz. We played 10 yards deep and blitzed and Detroit ALWAYS had an outlet.
Bowles might as well blow his toes off with a shotgun.
We can call Dean and Davis SOFT all day long, but when your HC, a defensive guru supposedly can’t even admit mistakes, you are Doomed.
Anybody still believe Canales is gonna get poached and God Forbid, take Baker with him?
October 17th, 2023 at 12:20 pm
StPete … ‘Ben Johnson showed why he is one of the most respected young OC’s in the NFL. He simply game planned his offense…especially on 3rd and long…than Bowles did the D.’
I’m very impressed with the Lions’ game plan, but most of their successes converting 3rd-and-longs came down to 2 players: Goff & the guy who caught his 3rd down passes. He was money all game long on 3rd downs (in their 16 opportunities on 3rd down, Goff passed 15 times and completed 10 of them, with 6 of those being for 1st downs & 2 others being for TDs).
What’s even more impressive to me StPete is how they kept us very much off-balance by the way they mixed runs & passes, and the way they threw the ball all over the field to a bunch of different guys. If you look at how far they had to go on 3rd downs, they were masterful at getting the 1st down with just 1 yd to spare. That shows great awareness IMO on the part of both the receives & the QB.
October 17th, 2023 at 12:32 pm
Bowles bend but don’t break, trying not to loose, soft zone coverage had the defense on the field for way to long. Lions offense took advantage of that and took what was given to them resulting in long sustained scoring drives. That style of D will not work against a good well coached offense.
October 17th, 2023 at 12:45 pm
The Best predictor of what someone will do in the future is what they have done in the past, Cleveland believed that, Carolina believed that , the Rams believed that , and they all changed , why don’t We? If you have a quarterback who leads the league in interceptions , fumbles lost , and has only had one winning season in his six years in the league ,and statistically , We now have one of the worst offenses in the league ,production wise , what has changed? More importantly , based on past performance, what is likely to change for the better? Our opposition has figured it out , accuracy throwing long is a problem , that’s why they stack the box on all downs, to stop runs and short passes while minimally covering deep. We could throw deeper on earlier downs , but if We can’t connect , what’s the point? Then We are still in third and long and still facing stacked boxes to cover the dinks and dunks. Nothing will change until We change.
October 17th, 2023 at 1:57 pm
Clueless Todd! He only thinks about stopping the run, when it’s the pass that consistently beats him. Senor Clueless.
October 17th, 2023 at 4:34 pm
D.R. Agree that the Lions were the better prepared team Sunday. Will Bowles and Canales learn from their errors? I still feel positive about Canales.
I like Bowles and think he has potential to be a solid HC but perhaps his grey beard means he needs to hand off his DC responsibllities to some younger guy like the Lions Aaron Glenn.
October 17th, 2023 at 5:08 pm
They only scored 20 yeah they weren’t perfect but that should be enough to give a team a chance at winning not going to blast the defense for that poor offensive performance.
October 17th, 2023 at 6:53 pm
Bench white let tucker and Vaughn fight for the meaningful snaps. He can’t run
October 17th, 2023 at 7:33 pm
JD STILL: What’s Cleveland done since it’s they traded Baker? Answer: Nothing! They’ve had a losing record. What’s Carolina done since they cut Baker? Answer: Nothing! They too have had a losing record. And btw, the Rams wanted Baker back. McVay has mentioned that in a few stories. Lastly, the Bucs are are 3-2 and leading the division. Suck it up…