Former NFL MVP Calls Out Buccaneers' OC Dave Canales
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were one of the most surprising teams early on in the 2023 NFL season after getting off to a hot start going 3-1.
Then things started to not go well and snowballed from there losing three straight to the Detroit Lions, Atlanta Falcons, and most recently the Buffalo Bills on TNF.
The Bucs currently sit one game under .500 at 3-4 and also sit in third place of the NFC South, but the goal of winning the division is still in reach as both the Falcons and Saints only sit a game up with both sitting at 4-4.
A large reason why the Buccaneers have struggled as of late has been in large part due to the inefficiency on the offensive side of the ball. The lack of a run game, questionable play-calling, and inconsistent quarterback play are just some of the reasons for this, and those around the NFL are starting to key in on what the Bucs want to do on offense because of it.
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This offseason, the Buccaneers brought in a new face to become the play-caller on offense after the souring final year that was under former OC Byron Leftwich in former Seattle Seahawks wide receiver's coach Dave Canales. Once the change was made, fans were happy, but with the offense slumping once again those same fans are starting to question whether or not Canales is the man for the job.
Former NFL MVP Rich Gannon - who won the award back in 2002 with the then Oakland Raiders - appeared on Sirius XM Radio and pointed to Canales for some of the key reasons for the Buccaneers' struggles.
“You just cannot allow a team like Buffalo to take away your best player. You just can’t. The good teams find ways to get their players the ball," Gannon said. “You gotta still find a way within your scheme, whether it’s bunch formations, stacked alignments, motioning the receiver, moving him around so they can’t get their hands on them at the line scrimmage, making it difficult for a team to double him."
Clearly, Gannon is speaking to the fact of the lack of use of WR Mike Evans in the offense, but he continued by acknowledging the fact that is indeed Canales' first opportunity to have an offense completely under his control.
"It just comes with experience as a play-caller."
Mike Evans is still on pace for another 1,000-yard season and was also able to find pay dirt in their last game against the Bills, however, the glaring issue remains that he needs to be targeted more, and for that to happen he needs to find a way to get the star WR open - which isn't happening.
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Excuses can be made, but ultimately time is running out for Canales to figure things out as they do not want the possibility of winning the division and making the playoffs to run out. If things can get corrected week-to-week and even in-game and on the fly then this Bucs' team can start to build off of its success. If not, things will likely start to get dark in Tampa Bay.
Stick with BucsGameday and the Locked On Bucs podcast for more coverage of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throughout the 2023 season.
