The Bucs have made significant changes over the past few days, announcing they will retain head coach Todd Bowles while shaking up the rest of the coaching staff. The most notable departure is OC Josh Grizzard, who served as the team’s offensive coordinator for just one year. While his performance didn’t meet expectations, opinions about his effectiveness may be more nuanced than they appear.
Comparing Grizzard to Previous Coordinators
When comparing Grizzard to the Bucs’ 2024 OC, Liam Coen, it’s clear there was a sharp drop-off. In 2024, the Bucs boasted the third-best total offense, averaging 399 yards per game. They also ranked third in passing yards, and fourth in both rushing offense and scoring offense. This success was largely attributed to Coen’s innovative offensive mind rather than just a few players exceeding their career averages.
However, when you stack Grizzard’s 2025 performance against Dave Canales’ 2023 offense, the narrative shifts. Many fans may forget that Canales didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard. While he outperformed his predecessor, Byron Leftwich, I’ve seen high school coaches who could’ve managed that offense more effectively than Leftwich. Here’s a look at the rankings.
Overall, Grizzard’s offense was better than Canales’, yet he was quickly shown the door. The key difference lies in Bowles’ defense in 2025, which was significantly weaker than in 2023. Thus, Grizzard faced more pressure to score, while Canales didn’t have to contend with the same expectations.
Recently, I heard Tom Brady articulate something I’ve believed for a long time: “A good offensive coordinator gives his quarterback easy layups and creates easy opportunities for the running game through scheme and matchups.” The best offensive coordinators make the game simpler, regardless of the players on the field.
Coen’s offense provided Baker Mayfield with those easy opportunities. He made the offensive line appear stronger than they ever were before or since he was here. He created space for Bucky Irving, allowing the running game to flow seamlessly with the game’s rhythm.
Given the decision to keep Bowles as head coach and defensive coordinator, the Bucs now must rely on an offense to shoulder the team’s burdens. Unfortunately, that’s not something we’ve seen from either Canales or Grizzard. If the team is settling for mediocrity on one side of the ball, they must compensate on the other.
I genuinely hope Grizzard finds an opportunity to thrive in the future, ideally in a setup where he can leverage a strong defense while imprinting his vision on a new offense. But those opportunities are hard to find in today’s NFL.
Yeah, as a first-time play caller, Grizzard wasn’t as bad as most here thought. Like, he was nowhere near as bad as the DC - and I’m pretty sure he’s still employed. But he wasn’t great either, so I’m fine with sending him packing. His biggest problem was having to follow Coen.
Grizzard got a bad draw, injuries ravaged the offensive line for most the year, a recovering Godwin, no Evans or Irving for half the year, no McMillian
but it was not so much their rankings which was disappointing as it was what he did with the offense when we had all the guys back. Sure not having your mediocre starting guards hurts, but shouldn't have made as big of a difference.
To me, it was not the 0-3 stretch with NE, BUF, and LAR that did the coaching staff in to fall from 6-2 to 6-5 as was it the cream puff part of their schedule going 2-4 with two non inspiring wins over Cardinals and Panthers.
We went from looking like a top 5 team to a bottom 5 team after that Rams ass kicking.
That being said, the Bucs need a change and they couldn't give Grizz the benefit of the doubt. There was way too many runs on 2nd and 10 that i'd care to see again. He had a bit of Dave Canales in him. He also followed up a prodigy in Coen so by comparison it was bleak.
and of course the defense was atrocious. It's why i was so hard on Baker this year because 1 mistake was critical and basically game over.
The defense has gotten progressively worse from being a top 10 unit in 2023 (7th in points allowed, 23rd in yards allowed) to a middling unit in 2024 (16th in points, 18th in yards) to even worse in 2025 (20th in pts allowed, 19thin yards allowed) and 2025 was even worse if you take the second half of the season, believe i saw a graphic where we were last or second to last in all categories
so Baker throwing his 1 TD, 1 INT Per game just wasn't cutting it and crippling INTs against ATL, CAR, and MIA just about signed, sealed, and delivered losses each week where as in 2023 we had a better chance to overcome those mistakes with a better defense
and if we are ranking Baker years
2024 clearly tops and we have ourselves a top 10 guy
2023 next best, a breath of fresh air and saw potential that we got a guy
2025 first 6 games looked good at 5-1 playing at MVP level but then somehow managed to look worse than in 2023.
We were one of the worst teams in the league from the Rams game on, like battling for #1 overall pick type performance bad...and that's nearly half a damn season at 7 games. We haven't looked good since the 49ers game which was early October
the right move was to clean house including head coach here. And even if you want to keep Bowles, the fact that you didnt "fire your DC" in insane. That defense was atrocious and he needs a coordinator.
As SR said in his Fab 5, Canales parlayed his modestly successful OC work into a HC gig. Grizz out performs Canales, lose his job. Timing is everything. Grizz followed Coen
As SR said in his Fab 5, Canales parlayed his modestly successful OC work into a HC gig. Grizz out performs Canales, lose his job. Timing is everything. Grizz followed Coen
Canales came off Lefty.
Grizz came off Coen.
Pretty big difference to inherit
Griz was a young inexperience guy, but he had Baker Mayfield to make decisions on the field. Having a veteran like Baker should have made his job easier.As SR said in his Fab 5, Canales parlayed his modestly successful OC work into a HC gig. Grizz out performs Canales, lose his job. Timing is everything. Grizz followed Coen
Canales came off Lefty.
Grizz came off Coen.
Pretty big difference to inherit Griz
Sure, somebody had to take the fall for this season, but I still don't think he would have been sacrificed just to appease the fans. Licht knows what's going behind the scenes, in practice, in the meeting rooms. If Griz was up to the job they wouldn't have fired him.
And last time I'll bring this up (probably). Perhaps he would have done better calling the plays from upstairs where he can focus and see the field.
Perhaps he would have done better calling the plays from upstairs where he can focus and see the field
you'd like Monken if he came here lol
