Bucs' coordinators face similar balancing act

Todd Bowles and Byron Leftwich know their units have to both attack and react effectively.

Just like any other NFL team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers want to have a balanced offense that can just as effectively wear down opposing defenses with the ground game as they do gash them with a potent passing attack.

Similarly, Tampa Bay's defense endeavors to impose their will on opposing offenses, perfecting their understanding of their scheme and executing it with excellence every game.

But both sides of the ball face the constant challenge of doing what they do well no matter what, but also adjusting to their opponents in many different ways. In-game adjustments are key, as is the ability to tweak things on a week-to-week basis to win in a week-to-week league.

For Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, a successful game on offense comes with equal parts preparation and execution to achieve that balance.

"You want to do it organically, right, because you can't anticipate everything" Leftwich said. "You just want to call good plays, good plays that can be executed versus a lot of different coverages. You can't always predict what the defense is going to be, and I wish we could, but you can't always predict that. So, you just try to make sure that your execution is at a high level. And once you have that, it doesn't really matter what the defense is running from a coverage standpoint, what they're running from a front standpoint in the run game, you just want to get good plays called."

For Todd Bowles, the Bucs' defensive coordinator, the balance is between sticking to what his players do well, while also leaving room to adjust on the fly to their opponents.

"It changes by the week," Bowles said. "Sometimes you can do that, impose your will, and then once you get into a game and it starts working your way, you can do that. But you have to scheme some, and you have to do what you have to do some, you just have to pick your spots."

If the Bucs want to come away from Sunday's game against the New York Giants with their first home victory of the 2019 season, this balancing act on both sides of the ball will be required.