It’s time for Scott Reynolds’ post-game 2-Point Conversion column, which features two big statements, two probing questions and two bold predictions. The Bucs lost to a second one-win team in as many weeks with a shocking 21-3 loss at Carolina on Sunday. This comes on the heels of a stunning, 20-18 loss at Pittsburgh last week. The poor offensive production has put play-caller Byron Leftwich squarely on the hot seat.

2 BIG STATEMENTS

STATEMENT 1: Bucs Must Fire Leftwich

How? How does this happen when the Bucs have the greatest quarterback of all time under center and a pair of Pro Bowl receivers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin?

How does an offense that averaged 30 points per game a year ago struggle to score three pathetic points against a really bad 1-5 Panthers team in Carolina?

Bucs QB Tom Brady and OC Byron Leftwich – Photo by: USA Today

How does an offense that is struggling go from scoring 31 points against Kansas City to 21 points against Atlanta to 18 points against an equally bad one-win Pittsburgh team last week to just three points against a hapless Carolina squad?

That’s on offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, who needs to be fired.

How do the Bucs, who were 13.5-point favorites against the Panthers not only lose – but get blown out, 21-3?

That’s on head coach Todd Bowles, who needs to be the one firing Leftwich and making some changes on offense – fast. This Bucs ship is taking on water and starting to sink. And Bowles is the captain of this ship.

As I implied in Friday’s SR’s Fab 5 column, I don’t have confidence that Leftwich can fix what ails the offense. The Bucs offense is clearly heading in the wrong direction.

After the game, it didn’t sound like Bowles would be firing Leftwich or giving the play-calling duties to someone else – perhaps Tom Moore or quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen.

“I will not consider changing coaching, but I will consider what we’re doing,” Bowles said. “We definitely need to change some of the things we’re doing. We’ve been discussing that. It can’t happen over night, but we’ve got to do a lot better than what we’ve been doing as a whole.”

But Bowles wouldn’t make a rash decision in a post-game press conference in front of the media without consulting with general manager Jason Licht, either. So, maybe there’s a chance it happens on Monday – or perhaps after the Thursday Night Football game against the Ravens when the Bucs have a mini bye week next weekend.

Bucs RB Leonard Fournette – Photo by: USA Today

To be fair, Leftwich didn’t miss a block, miss a hole, fail to get open or thrown an incompletion in Carolina. But as the offensive coordinator, he’s the one in charge of an offense that is clearly not executing well – and Leftwich’s play-calling isn’t helping.

Leftwich’s play-calling was actually somewhat better on Sunday, but points win games. And just three points won’t win any game in the modern-day NFL.

Leftwich didn’t drop a a 64-yard touchdown on the second play of the game. That was a wide-open wide receiver Mike Evans, and that drop certainly didn’t help the Bucs’ cause – or Leftwich’s – on Sunday.

“It would have been a nice jump-start,” Bowles said. “But that was like the second or third play of the game. We had the whole game to go through. It was a 7-0 lead all the way down to the end of the third quarter. We had plenty of chances to come back and win that ball game.”

The reason why Leftwich has to go is because the problems that have plagued the Bucs dating back to the preseason – third downs, short yardage, red zone and scoring – haven’t gotten fixed through the first seven weeks of the season. This season, there has not been progress despite the B.S. that continues to flow from Leftwich’s mouth in press conferences about the invisible progress that he’s seeing that nobody else – neither fans nor the media – can see.

Going from 31 points to 21 points to 18 points to 3 points in successive weeks is not progress – by any measure.

It’s regression – clearly.

Without a future Hall of Fame tight end in Rob Gronkowski (retired), a Pro Bowl left guard in Ali Marpet (retired), a Pro Bowl center in Ryan Jensen (injured) and a Hall of Fame-caliber receiver in Antonio Brown (quit), Leftwich has been exposed. The 30 points per game were clearly more a function of having superior talent on offense rather than his play-calling.

Bucs OC Byron Leftwich and QB Tom Brady – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

What Bowles has to understand is that he’s been fired before because he couldn’t get the offense right in New York. And time is ticking in Tampa Bay. Starting five different quarterbacks in four years with the Jets is never the recipe for success, and that led to his departure. Right now, he’s got a damn good QB in Tom Brady in Tampa Bay. But there’s no way any Brady-led team should be averaging less than 20 points per game like the Bucs are right now.

The Glazers are impatient owners. They fired Greg Schiano and Lovie Smith after two seasons. They fired Raheem Morris and Dirk Koetter after three seasons.

The Glazers fired Tony Dungy after a 10-6 record in 2001 and for making the playoffs in three straight years. They fired Jon Gruden after a 9-7 record in 2008 after he became the team’s winningest head coach – and right after signing him to a four-year contract extension.

This wasn’t just a loss on Sunday in Carolina. This was a blowout at the hands of a very bad football team.

But the truth is, the Bucs are a very bad football team right now, too. At 3-4, the Bucs have just one more win than the 2-5 Panthers.

Nothing was easy on offense. Everything was hard. Every down was a challenge.

Bowles needs to be as impatient as a Glazer right about now and understand the current landscape of his team, this woefully disappointing offense and the season outlook. He needs to make the tough decision and find a new play-caller – now before it’s too late.

STATEMENT 2: Bucs Miss Arians’ Fiery Demeanor

It’s okay for Todd Bowles to be stoic and reserved on the sidelines. Tony Dungy was the same way in Tampa Bay from 1996-2001 – standing there with arms crossed while turning around the Bucs franchise.

Bucs head coach Bruce Arians – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

But Dungy had some fiery, energetic assistant coaches in Herman Edwards, Monte Kiffin and later with Mike Tomlin to bring some fire to the sidelines. And more importantly, he had some fiery leadership on the field in the form of linebacker Hardy Nickerson, defensive tackle Warren Sapp and safety John Lynch, who brought some swagger and attitude to the Bucs.

Bucs fans loved animated head coaches like Jon Gruden and Bruce Arians that cussed out refs and chewed out players who weren’t playing up to snuff. Like Gruden had with guys like Sapp and Lynch, Arians also had the benefit of a couple of fire-starters in veterans Ndamukong Suh and Jason Pierre-Paul. Both Suh and Pierre-Paul brought attitude and accountability to the defense over the last couple of years, but weren’t re-signed this offseason due to age. Their bodies were wearing down, so moving on from the thirty-something defenders made sense. But their leadership has not been replaced.

Pro Bowl center Ryan Jensen is the fire-starter on offense, but he’s on injured reserve. The Bucs sorely miss his nasty, tone-setting play up front. Rob Gronkowski kept things light in the locker room and led in his own unique way, but he’s gone. Mike Evans is a team captain, but he’s usually a leader by example rather than a rah-rah guy. Now, outside of Tom Brady’s occasional yelling at his offensive line, there just isn’t much life in the Tampa Bay offensive huddle.

Bruce Arians and Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

On defense, the lack of leadership outside of Lavonte David is more noticeable. Devin White is the biggest talker on the team, but he struggles to walk the walk after talking the talk. The case in point is Sunday’s five-tackle performance while the Panthers racked up nearly 200 yards rushing. It’s hard to be an actual leader when you miss as many tackles as you make, as White did in Carolina.

Vita Vea had a nice sack on third down against the Panthers, but continues to get pushed around in the run game more than he should. The Bucs’ other $17 million-a-year defender, outside linebacker Shaq Barrett, has just two sacks this year, and none in the last five games. No one is going to confuse Vea and Barrett for Suh and Pierre-Paul from a leadership standpoint. And that’s unfortunate.

It’s not in Bowles’ nature to start cussing guys out, yelling and screaming like Arians. That’s fine. He doesn’t have to become Arians. Bowles is a good leader in his own right. But there is no doubt that this Bucs team misses Arians from an energy standpoint. And Arians had a unique way of calling players out on their B.S.

If Bowles is not going to erupt and provide that energy himself, then he needs to find some fire-starters on his staff or in his huddles to step up and ignite this team in a hurry. Because right now, this 3-4 football team is smoldering pretty badly and the fire is about to be extinguished.

2 PROBING QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1: Why Did The Bucs Rotate Goedeke and Leverett?

Bucs LG Luke Goedeke – Photo by: USA Today

Who the hell knows? It was a dumb move to rotate Luke Goedeke and Nick Leverett throughout the game, though. The Bucs’ coaches should have watched the film, seen Goedeke’s struggles since Week 1 and benched him after last week’s poor play in Pittsburgh.

Goedeke’s not ready. He’s still making the transition from right to left and from guard to tackle. And that’s okay.

It’s not to suggest that Goedeke is a bust or a lost cause. It’s just suggesting that he’s not ready right now as a rookie. Heck, even Robert Hainsey got a redshirt year last year to learn behind Ryan Jensen.

The offense was noticeably better when Leverett was in at left guard. There was no need to put Goedeke back in the game after Leverett’s initial series. Just poor coaching by the Bucs. Leverett should start on Thursday against Baltimore. If he doesn’t, it just becomes coaching malpractice at this point.

QUESTION 2: What’s Wrong With The Bucs Defense?

Bucs NT Vita Vea and LB Lavonte David – Photo by: USA Today

A couple of things. First of all, the Bucs’ stars aren’t shining. Linebackers Devin White, Lavonte David and key defenders upfront like Vita Vea, Shaq Barrett and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka were all pedestrian on Sunday. The Bucs don’t have a takeaway in three straight games, which is mind-boggling.

Second, rookie cornerback Zyon McCollum got schooled on Sunday. He gave up two big runs, including a 60-yarder from D’Onta Foreman, and got lost in coverage on Tommy Tremble’s fourth-quarter touchdown catch. The Bucs missed veteran cornerbacks Carlton Davis III and Sean Murphy-Bunting in a big way in Carolina.

And finally, when the Bucs offense continues to sputter, stall and not score points, it’s demoralizing for the defense. When Tampa Bay fell behind 7-0 at halftime and 14-0 in the third quarter, players on the defense began to press, leave their gaps and blow some assignments trying to make plays they either couldn’t make or shouldn’t have tried to make.

It still shouldn’t have happened. The Bucs defenders have to play with better discipline regardless of the score. But it’s human nature to press in those situations, and that’s when most of Carolina’s explosive plays happened in the second half.

2 BOLD PREDICTIONS

PREDICTION 1: Leftwich Does Get Fired Before The End Of The Season

Bucs OC Byron Leftwich and HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Todd Bowles has to make a move to hold the offense accountable and show that ineptitude won’t be tolerated and can’t be accepted. That means firing Leftwich before it’s too late.

Whether that happens on Monday or after Thursday’s game at Baltimore is up to Bowles. But this season is slowly slipping away, and Bowles needs to see that and act fast.

PREDICTION 2: Ravens Beat The Bucs On Thursday Night Football

It’s probably going to get worse before it gets better in Tampa Bay, unfortunately. The Ravens (4-3) are a better team than the Bucs (3-4) and Lamar Jackson and Gus Edwards will have a chance to combine for 200 yards rushing if the offense can’t turn it around and score points.

If the Ravens get an early lead, which history suggests will happen given the Bucs’ struggles scoring points in the first half, they will run, run, run the ball and wear down Tampa Bay’s defense. Just like Kansas City and Carolina have done this season.