Should the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Make Playcaller Change?
During the tenure of former Buccaneers' head coach, Bruce Arians, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offense was steadily in the top-3 when it came to top offenses in the NFL. Now that Arians has retired, Todd Bowles has taken over the HC position while much of the same has stayed intact - including offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich.
Even with Leftwich at the helm of calling plays for the Bucs, along with the abundance of talent at major skill positions, the offense has come to a screeching halt to start the 2022 NFL season. Through their first six games, the offense currently ranks 20th in points per game and 22nd in yards per game out of 32 NFL teams.
The Bucs' running game has been non-existent since Week 1 vs. the Dallas Cowboys and Tom Brady has looked more like a middle-of-the-pack quarterback than the best to ever play the game. You could point to the losses of Rob Gronkowski, Ali Marpet, and Ryan Jensen as being key factors to why the offense is struggling, but overall it seems as if the blame can be placed all over the field.
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The running backs, Leonard Fournette and Rachaad White are having trouble even surpassing 70 rushing yards. Tom Brady has seemed off - throwing numerous passes short, into the dirt, and being much less accurate than we have seen in his career. The offensive line is not holding up, or playing up to their capabilities (according to Brady), albeit they are starting a rookie and backup center. Even with the depth and talent at the wide receiver position has not yielded the results many thought it would.
Now outside of the guys on the field, enter offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich.
Leftwich was handed over play-calling duties by Arians after their first season together. Arians trusted Leftwich with a lot but always was able to input his thoughts into the offense's game plan and play calling. Now with Arians retired and moved into a front office role, Byron Leftwich, who was in the running for a few head coaching jobs, has not produced to the level many expected.
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Per JoeBucsFan.com, the Buccaneers should look to make some changes to their offensive play-calling - even if that means getting Bruce Arians back in the fold.
"Team Glazer is paying a brilliant offensive mind millions to be disengaged on gameday."
"Byron Leftwich calls the plays and has through his tenure as Bucs offensive coordinator. But Arians was an influencer, certainly on game days."
"It’s almost ridiculous considering Arians’ knowledge of the personnel and the fact he attends practice."
"What’s the harm in having him listen in and pick a spot or two each game to say, ‘Hey, Byron …?’ That’s exactly what Arians did previously."
He may be right.
With the way the Bucs' offense has come to standstill, what will it hurt to just ask Arians if he would like to be involved with the on-field part of the game even if it is somewhat in a limited capacity.
At this point, the Buccaneers need to look at ALL of their options. The season isn't getting any younger and they currently sit at 3-3. Luckily the NFC South is still fairly open for them to win it, but they will need to get things together in hurry on the offensive side of the ball to compete with the NFL's Super Bowl contenders.
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