A fresh start.
Just from watching 20 or so practices this summer, Joe can tell you the Bucs offense will look very strange for Bucs fans.
Since Dirk Koetter took the job to run the Bucs in 2016, the Bucs have very much been a vertical offense. Throw often and throw deep.
Last year, well, Joe has no clue what that was last year. There is no question Bucs coach Todd Bowles wanted to get away from the no-risk-it; no-biscuit offense. It seemed as if SpongeBob Leftwich had zero idea how to adjust.
For Joe, the thing that will forever stick out for him as how inept Byron Leftwich was as an offensive coordinator came in Pittsburgh. The Bucs were a 13-point favorite. Pittsburgh had so many injuries to their secondary they were pulling practice squad dudes off the street.
This looked like the ultimate mismatch. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin going against glorified USFL players.
But instead, Leftwich decided to pound the ball, right into the teeth of the Steelers’ top-shelf run defense. Joe was in the press box of (nee Heinz Field) and could not believe his eyes. A two-bit high school coach would know better.
Joe maintains that was the most irresponsible gameplan he has ever seen. Leftwich shouldn’t have been on the plane back to Tampa. If Joe had a major gripe with Bowles last year, it was hanging onto Leftwich until after the season.
Fast forward a few months and Joe was at media day at the Pro Bowl and had a chance to speak with Steelers Pro Bowl defensive tackle Cam Heyward. Joe asked him if Leftwich that day dissed the Steelers by trying to run on them so much.
“I didn’t look at it as disrespect,” Heyward told Joe. “I just had to keep showing up.
“It was their choice to do it. I had to make them wrong.”
He sure did do that.
So Joe will raise a glass at Big Storm Brewing in Clearwater today, toasting the fact Leftwich is long gone and a new offense is here.
Joe doesn’t think Canales will ever try the stunt that Leftwich did in Pittsburgh last year.
(Fun fact: Remember when Leftwich called Notre Dame looking for work? Well, the tight ends coach Marcus Freeman hired to take over the Irish offense, his third option, seems to have been a smart hire over Leftwich. Notre Dame through three games is averaging 47 points a game. The Bucs last year in probably Leftwich’s final season as an NFL offensive coordinator, with Tom Brady, Evans and Godwin averaged 18.4 points a game, 26th in the NFL.)
Bring on the 2023 season!
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