New Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales used to spend time up in the coaches box on game days during his 13-year career as a quarterbacks coach, wide receivers coaching and passing game coordinator in Seattle. Canales would feed vital information to the various Seahawks offensive coordinators from his vantage point.

Canales was the “eye in the sky” for Seattle’s play-callers. He alerted them to defensive personnel changes, which receivers were actually open but weren’t thrown to on the previous play and making play suggestions based upon what he’s seeing.

But as a first-time play-caller in Tampa Bay, Canales will be on the sideline without the elevated view to see the whole field. In a recent episode of the Pewter Report Podcast, Canales said that direct communication with the quarterback on the sidelines is vital.

“Yeah, definitely the sideline,” Dave Canales said. “I’m going to be really heavily involved with the quarterback, especially year one. [Quarterbacks coach] Thad [Lewis] is doing a fantastic job. Not a knock on him. I just I know what I want, what I need to get out of our quarterbacks. So being down there, being able to watch the series with those guys from the bench, being able to make those adjustments.

“And also just to get a feel for who these guys are under live stress, because personalities come out. Guys respond to stress in different ways. And just being able to understand what they need from me to help them get back focused – get back on track – and then take the next series. All that is going to be really important for me to be down there.”

Dave Canales Likely To Rely On Two Assistants For Information From The Coaches Box

Bucs WRs Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, QB Baker Mayfield and OC Dave Canales – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

So who will be Dave Canales’ “eye in the sky” this year in Tampa Bay? Wide receivers coach Brad Idzik, whom Canales brought with him from the Seahawks, was thought to be the obvious choice. The two have been inseparable over the last four years while working together in Seattle, and Canales trusts Idzik, who grew up in Tampa, implicitly.

“It took no convincing at all – not only for Tampa, it’s really cool to be back – but only just to work with him,” Idzik said in a recent appearance on the Pewter Report Podcast. “Just to work with someone you consider a close friend, somebody you really trust, and somebody who really knows his football.

“He’s been around the block with a lot of different OCs. He’s been around the block with Pete [Carroll], being his right-hand man through the ups and downs of their time in Seattle. I’m very fortunate to have crossed paths with him the times that I have and to get a chance to show what I’m all about behind closed doors with him.”

But as it turns out, Idzik will likely join the Bucs offensive coordinator on the sidelines this season and Canales will rely on a couple of other assistants to feed him information from the coaches box.

Bucs offensive assistant David Raih – Photo by: USA Today

“We’ve gone back and forth on that,” Idzik said. “We have a lot we have a couple former coordinators on our team on our staff with Coach [Jeff] Kastl and Coach [David] Raih that have done a phenomenal job. So initially he said, ‘Yeah, I think Brad you need to be on the box, but as we’ve gone a little bit further I think he wants me to be down on the field just because he trusts those guys that we have. We have a great staff with so much responsibility that they’ve done in the past – guys who understand what it’s like to be a play-caller, what information you need, and the streams of communication.”

Kastl enters his second season as Tampa Bay’s offensive quality control coach following two years as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Indiana State University (2020-21). Raih, who was hired this offseason, brings 14 years of college and pro experience to the Bucs after most recently serving as offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at Vanderbilt in 2021.

“I think we’re going to revisit that when we get back, but from what it sounds like right now, he’s going to put me down on the field to make sure that all of the communication between the quarterbacks and receivers is always connected,” Idzik said.

Watch Brad Idzik On The Pewter Report Podcast

Check out the recent episode of the Pewter Report Podcast with Special Guest: Bucs WR Brad Idzik by clicking the link below.