Stock Dropping On Liam Coen?
January 13th, 2025
Joe hopes and prays and hopes some more that offensive coordinator Liam Coen returns next season.
However, Coen wants to be a head coach one day and the Jaguars plan to interview him for the head coaching gig week.
Maybe Coen will pass on the interview. Maybe he won’t. But perhaps the only shred of good news that came out of the Bucs’ miserable loss to the Commanders last night is that Coen might have cost himself more interviews.
Coen doesn’t block or fumble, but the bottom line is his offense didn’t meet its usual high standard on a national stage. And Joe thinks it’s fair to say no NFL owner watched last night’s game and said, “Dammit, I gotta have Coen.”
Last night on Football Night in America, NBC insider Mike Florio talked about how Baker Mayfield told him how hungry he is to have Coen return. And Florio speculated that Coen could get more than just a Jacksonville interview with a strong showing against the Commanders.
That didn’t happen. The Bucs were driving for the winning score and were stymied on 2nd-and-1 in the red zone, and then 3rd-and-1 turned into 4th-and-3. Todd Bowles kicked a field goal and Coen and the offense didn’t get the ball back.
That was the final taste Coen left in mouths of NFL owners looking for a head coach.
Joe’s not rooting against Coen personally, but Joe’s allegiance is to the Bucs. They need Coen back, and last night might have helped make that happen.
January 13th, 2025 at 1:16 am
Coen is gone if he gets the opportunity.
I don’t blame him either.
The Defense can’t create a stop when it mattrrs most and it’s happened several times this year.
You know for a fact Coen had a play dialed up for that 4th and 3 to convert.
How do you risk the playoffs to get Evans the 1k yards but you won’t go for it to take the lead?
January 13th, 2025 at 1:16 am
Liam Coen got his azz kicked to sheit by Cliff Kingsburry
January 13th, 2025 at 1:20 am
pointless, What can any OC generate when his offense doesnt posses the ball
January 13th, 2025 at 1:23 am
Great question BucsBeast.
I think it happens when the HC thinks his defense is capable of getting a stop, but his (until tonight) high-offense CAN’T pick up a 4th down in the 4th quarter, while trailing (even though they DID throughout the season).
I’ve defended Bowles enough – we do need an offensive head coach. Let Todd “help” this team find their new DC from his new front office advisory position.
January 13th, 2025 at 1:24 am
Yeah let’s run Barney Fife QB up the gut on 2nd and 1 and then play keystone coppers on 3rd and 1 or let’s call an cute reverse in the 4th instead of doing straight play calling…derp hey I’m head coach material
January 13th, 2025 at 1:31 am
I dont know….i try to put myself in his shoes and being forced to work under this bs…if the right offer comes, i dont know. cant blame him….
but heres my selling point to him….just stick around one more year. Look at what youve got…yeah some rookie blunders are going to happen. BUT LOOK AT WHAT YOUVE GOT IN THAT OFFENSE!!! Let it ride just one more year with us.
January 13th, 2025 at 1:32 am
Why would Coen be worried about next years D unless he thinks Bowles is inept? Next years D will have an infusion of talent.
We just added Barton, Bucky and J-Mac to the O plus a couple LGs in FA. That’s 1st and 2 4ths. The same thing is happening on the D side this offseason, likely first 4 picks going D and adding CB/LB in FA. Just need JL staying hot!
January 13th, 2025 at 1:43 am
Emmanwori and Kennard….then CB, i dont know who yet, and i want Skattebo but hes gone by then unfortunately
January 13th, 2025 at 1:46 am
I know he wont last long, but Tai Felton, WR and we can use him on returns….a 4th
January 13th, 2025 at 1:52 am
Coen sucked tonight. 20 pts against Washington at home is inexcusable given the offense they had this season.
Coen was utterly afraid to use Baker in the second half and would rather try gimmick plays that let the ball hit the turf than using the guy who threw over 40 TDs this season to win the damn game through the air.
Coen absolutely Tomlin’d the season, was just happy to make it.
January 13th, 2025 at 3:57 am
Coen never got to put up points cuz they never punted once and Chicken legs Bowles was a Chicken.
January 13th, 2025 at 4:03 am
I bet hes gone and accepted a headcoachingjob somewhere. Already thinking about his next team
January 13th, 2025 at 4:43 am
Fully agree, Joe.
Bucschamp – Thinking the same thing, and it showed.
Not going against Coen either and his future goals. However, if teams are still in the playoffs there should be no talks and interviews until after the SB. This weighed on the team too.
January 13th, 2025 at 6:15 am
I don’t think Cohen called his best game. Reminded me of Leftwiches “We do what we do” at times”. He kept going to Bucky in the early in first half and Commanders had his number. Bucky got going in the second half ,but I wish our
play calls were more imaginative. He goes to Bucky on a lot of consecutive plays.
Mike Evans wss on fire, but wasn’t used enough in the second half. Only recall one pass to Otten. We win when we score early and often, and we failed to do that. I am not sure who called the Baker run into the line on third and short but that was a drive killer. That was a play that White was a far better choice
to give the ball to. Sometimes when the defense is bent on stopping a third and short a long run is broken off. Design a play that has the potential to gain more than a couple of inches.
January 13th, 2025 at 6:47 am
How about the fact that he doesn’t throw the ball downfield?
January 13th, 2025 at 6:53 am
^^^ Upon further review, Bakers run was on second and short and Bucky was stuffed on third and short. Cohen just went to well too many times with Bucky
and on this occasion it backfired. ^^^^
January 13th, 2025 at 7:01 am
Coen needs to look hard in the mirror. Why are u essentially benching white. We git predictable on offense. This is his fault.
Also why tf are u using baker like that. We have 3 flipping good rb. Idk it’s just literally stupid whst he called on.all 3 plays. Critical moments and u butcher it. No screens no quick game. I don’t get it
January 13th, 2025 at 7:06 am
This should quiet those calls for Cohen to be the next HC here.
What a waste of a top 3 offense.
January 13th, 2025 at 7:07 am
Seemed to get too cute last night. Offense got away from RB screens. White only works as a decoy when he is used.
January 13th, 2025 at 7:41 am
The only way you can stop another offense is get to the quarterback. Our secondary didn’t play good but we didn’t get to the quarterback either. We beat the Chiefs with 2 good edge rushers. Is that Bowles fault that we couldn’t beat the Commanders? Is that Lichts fault for not being able to draft or find a free agent edge rusher who can help this team? Bowles will look like a genius again when he can get a gamewrecking edge rusher. We have to trade or draft a free agent edge rusher. Diaby, JTS, Hall, Braswell isn’t the guy ..yet? Maybe? Lets be sure what we’re getting. Either trade or get a free agent edge rusher. Priority 1. Defense will look great again.
January 13th, 2025 at 8:29 am
Cohen lost the game by try ing a trick play deep in our own territory. Simple hand off is what you do here. Let him go. Canales made Carolina worse. Baker is the key not an OC. We can just hire Alex,Van Pelt or Freddy kitchens.
January 13th, 2025 at 8:34 am
The last 2 games the play calling was pretty predictable.
January 13th, 2025 at 8:37 am
It’s called good defense, hunger, will power, lots of names for it there is nothing on his call sheet to beat that. At some point people will stop blaming individuals and admit Washington players wanted more and the head coach definitely wanted more because he refused to give Bowles the ball on a punt. Why was Washington more focused than this Bowles team? We already knew his unit wouldn’t create any turnovers. On offense the o line got manhandled which makes it hard as a play caller. Not a good night for the Bucs coordinators
January 13th, 2025 at 8:40 am
You folks are crazy to think Coen lost that game for Bucs. Certainly questionable to get “cute” backed up like that on the 12 but that’s a play they have probably run 100 times in practice. Bucs didnt execute. That’s on Baker and McMillian.
I blame defense. I blame the defense. Let me say that again – I BLAME OUR DEFENSE. Defense couldnt get off field. Defense didnt create a turnover. There were no 3 and outs. Hell, Washington didnt have to punt! Washington ran 25 more plays (69-44) than Bucs and dominated time of possession.
Hats off to Dan Quinn and his team – they executed his game plan and didnt make critical errors. Bucs did.
January 13th, 2025 at 9:03 am
Not sure how the Bucs offense could get into a rhythm. I see some crazy posts here that don’t seems based in reality., the Bucs offense didn’t play well and committed 7 penalties how about part or the lopsided time of possession. This team always plays like trash in prime time as if they saw Dallas cowboys ghost helmets up in the stands.
January 13th, 2025 at 9:43 am
It would be a nice rule that a team can’t hire a head coach if that person is in the first year of being a coordinator for another team.
January 13th, 2025 at 9:50 am
When it comes to the game, most of these takes are misguided. Bottom line, we needed to drain clock and score a TD on our final possession. When it’s third and less than a yard in the 4th, and you’re already deep in the red zone, you go the safest, shortest distance to pick it up. You don’t get it. It’s most likely 4th and less than a yard now. You go again. They weren’t stopping us twice there on a sneak or White running. Keep bleeding clock and keep your drive alive. No play mattered more than that 3rd down. You can argue we should have went for it on 4th and 3 rather than tying it up, and we should have, but we never should have been in a 4th and 3 to begin with. That 3rd down play call was a mistake.
January 13th, 2025 at 9:51 am
the elimination of the screens to white in coen’s offense is one real glaring issue…
bucky is excellent at it…
but so is rachaad
——-
also when bucky was being shut down early and often, i thought a nice dose of tucker to the outside was an interesting option
January 13th, 2025 at 9:55 am
For those blaming Coen. Our offense had 7 possessions in the entire game. NFL average is 12. I’d wager a publix pub 7 is the fewest of any NFL game this season.
We only 43 plays. The offense bungled 3 drives with bad execution on the jet sweep (which if not bungled was going for big time yardage) and a 3rd and 1 where the center forgot the snap count and a dropped pass. That’s not on Coen. Our points per possession and points per play were good enough. In a normal NFL game where we have 11-13 possessions we put up over 30.
January 13th, 2025 at 9:56 am
Maybe Coen looks around and wonders to himself do I really want to hitch my wagon to a coach that can’t produce a defense which can at least hold up its own end of the bargain. When Coen has to be relied upon week after week with little help from the other side of the ball maybe he would be better off with a different team.
January 13th, 2025 at 10:02 am
He did a good job of scheming Evans v Lattimore yesterday
January 13th, 2025 at 10:07 am
Coen will probably be gone no one can put up with Bowles for more than one year look at the mass exits last year after the season and not just Canales.
January 13th, 2025 at 10:11 am
While I agree that stability in the coaching ranks is probably the right decision here (Bowles has been able to limp his way into 3 consecutive NFC South titles as HC with one playoff win), I do think he and/or the Bucs organization really need to consider hiring a DC to take that responsibility away from Bowles. IMO he needs to focus all his attention on the game nuances that seperate the good HC’s from the OK ones. Right now I’m worried we’re in Cincinnati Bengals circa 2010’s era with Marvin Lewis as the HC. Always got them to the playoffs but always flamed out in round one (though Todd at least did win one playoff win). Good enough to warrant keeping their job another year but never good enough to point the needle in any direction than sideways. I guess we’ll have to be patient and see what a year not in salary cap purgatory can produce?
January 13th, 2025 at 10:15 am
I really want Coen to stay. Mostly because I want this offense to have a second year with the same coordinator so we can build off this year and not need to start from scratch again. I am not sure, but I don’t think Baker has had the same offensive coordinator in consecutive years in his career? Maybe once in Cleveland. The matching of a quarterback and a coordinator makes for big things. It’s a synergy thing
January 13th, 2025 at 11:38 am
I want Coen to stay be IMO he majorly screwed up the last 3 weeks.
The decision to just stop using Rachaad white completely was terrible. We lost 2 out of 3 games since we stopped using him.
Idiotic. But they that’s what the Joes and a bunch of fans wanted. Hope you’re all happy.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:02 pm
Both Bowles and Coen will still be here next year…and I endorse it.
Let’s see what Bowles does with a top offense and a restocked defense.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:23 pm
Myron Coen shat the bed on prime time. His game plan was terrible.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:47 pm
Can we acknowledge that Coen was outcoached last night?
7 possessions and 44 plays on offense with a running game and short passing game that is killer is not going to cut it
If it weren’t for a couple of huge momentum plays (Baker run and successive Bucky runs) this game was going to be a blowout
The D was just not going to be able to hold up and we needed the O to score more and possess the ball more and we just didn’t have that
January 13th, 2025 at 1:15 pm
EEK – did we watch the same game? Defense could not make plays to get off the field. Washington had NO 3 n outs. Washington did NOT punt one time. Washington ran 69 plays to our 44. Time of possession was Washington at 36 min and TB at 24. Defense created no turnovers and had one sack. When we did get in the Washington backfield the Bucs were tackling towels instead of Daniels.
While I will admit its not time to get cute inside our own 20 the players need to execute. That’s on Baker or McMillian or Barton and or all three. And if we are going to blame Coen for this loss what’s on Bowles and the under-performing defense? Oh, we only have up 23 points so we should have won game? BS. Defense was once again the biggest problem.
And I do agree, Baker got momentum back on our side with his play at end of first half.
January 13th, 2025 at 1:20 pm
One reason the offense didn’t get many plays is all the three and outs. I thought the game plan was too conservative. The Bucs have smaller linemen and a small RB. They need to pass to open up the running game, no vice versa. Second and then third and five is hard to work with, unless you’re facing the Bucs secondary.
At least Bowles had Diaby, Nelson, and Shaq Barrett back playing zone half the night so the little guys could rush the passer. Now that’s creative!
January 13th, 2025 at 3:18 pm
At U Mass he threw for record yards and had a TD to Interception of 1.95-1.
As the OC at Kentucky his QB Levis led the Conference with the Most Interceptions. Impressed a team enough to waste a drafdt pick on himas he’s about washed up now.
This season Mayfield threw for a lot more yards and TD’s but led the league in Interceptions on only 4 more pass attempts.
Bucs Turnover Differential in 2023 was +8 and -5 in 2024. That swing of 13 is from 7 fewer Takeaways by the defense and 6 additional Interceptions. Those extra 6 are squarely on Coen’s Offense and his coaching of Mayfield.
We’ll see how he does in his second year with the Bucs because I don’t see him going anywhere but Tampa Next season.
Canales may have been more conservative with the main focus on protecting the ball but had the team winning one fewer games and winning a playoff game decisively with the worse running attack in the league.
January 14th, 2025 at 1:59 am
Bowles went four the tie against. the Chiefs and lost, went for this against the Commanders and lost again. Why doesn’t he learn from his mistakes, or does he think he doesn’t’ make any, just the players?
As a Defensive Coach I get how that perspective might have crossed his mind, but after losing to KC on the road, he doesn’t trust his OC and QB well enough to go for the win at home in a playoff game?!
Bowles’s been blessed to the the DC when the GOAT was here and the HC was a “no risk it no bisquit” type of guy. Bowles? He doesn’t coach to win, he coaches not to lose and isn’t very good at it. As a HC with a record barely over .500, he is a “just missed it, can’t risk it” guy, he’s never been nor will be ever be a HC.
January 14th, 2025 at 2:51 am
I think Coen has his moments, but this guy is not exactly the 2nd coming of Bill Walsh.
These teams offering HC gigs to coordinators after just a year or two is nonsensical. It really shows what a narrow-stooled version of a brain these GMs have.
January 14th, 2025 at 7:24 pm
I want the Bucs to fire the HC And give the OC the head coach job. We could have won the game but the Defence and Bowls couldn’t stop them in 4 minutes and 44 seconds to give the ball back to the Bucs.. Please fire Bowles and donate the OC as HC.