Canales describing a balanced offense:
"“I never really go into a game saying, ‘We’re going to pound the rock,’ or saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to spread it out and rip them,'” Canales said. “I try to go into the game and say, ‘What are they giving us today.’
“This is going back to Pete [Carroll] – the way that he trained me. We were always known as a running team – playing good defense and a running team. But he was never telling our coordinators, ‘Hey, you’ve got to establish the run.’ That was never his message. His message was, ‘I don’t care about that. Score points. Take what they’re giving you.’ The guys I respect around the league, that’s what they do.
Canales describing a balanced offense:
"“I never really go into a game saying, ‘We’re going to pound the rock,’ or saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to spread it out and rip them,'” Canales said. “I try to go into the game and say, ‘What are they giving us today.’
“This is going back to Pete [Carroll] – the way that he trained me. We were always known as a running team – playing good defense and a running team. But he was never telling our coordinators, ‘Hey, you’ve got to establish the run.’ That was never his message. His message was, ‘I don’t care about that. Score points. Take what they’re giving you.’ The guys I respect around the league, that’s what they do.
Pete Carroll just last week:
"“There’s a consistency to it that I wish it was moreso," Carroll said of the run game struggles on Thursday. "We’re kind of finding our way into the 80, 90-yard areas. We need to get more yards out of it. We’ve hit a threshold for some reason of 20 to 23 plays, we need to run the ball a few more times and take advantage of it. It’s just part of mixing the whole thing.
“It goes back again, the third down things limit our chances. You limit your drives; you limit your play on the field," Carroll elaborated. "We moved the ball pretty well this past week, but we just needed a few more shots. By converting, we can get nine more runs. Converting two or three more plays, you’re going to get six or eight more runs anyway. All of that ties together unfortunately. You could just stand there and keep running it to get your numbers up and you’re not playing winning football. You’re just doing it for the wrong reason."
Canales was the perfect hire for a team that was previously roughly 65/35 pass to run. It's just taken a while to convert that kind of team to one that we see today. No b etter example of that then the explosive play highlighted by PR, which was built on a film and in-game tendency to run on 1st down
"Dave Canales has been committed to the run game all year long. He wants to run early and has been working to improve a Bucs’ ground attack that struggled for most of the year. But recently that run game has been improving.
Canales continued that trend against the Packers. Early in the fourth quarter the Bucs had a first-and-10 near midfield. Up to that point they had run on first down two thirds of the time. They had previously run twice out of pistol on two of the previous three plays.
So, when they came out in pistol on first down on the following play Green Bay was primed and ready to stop the run. Canales took full advantage with a play-action rollout with Mayfield finding Chris Godwin wide open for an explosive play."
KUDOS TO CANALES FOR STICKING WITH HIS BELIEFS
Definitely worth listening to his entire presser
https://www.buccaneers.com/video/press-conferences
Canales is a class act. Calls out all his coaching influences, gives credit to his staff and the players
There is almost ZERO patience in the NFL these days. Kudos to Canales and Bowles for sticking with their belief in RUNNING the ball even when it was struggling. Its paying DIVIDENDS now:
" . . .in the last five weeks the Bucs have had three 100-yard rushing days, in addition to a 99-yard outing at Green Bay. Tampa Bay has averaged 114 yards per game over the last five weeks, in which the team has a 4-1 record. That average over the last five games would place the Bucs’ ground game in the Top 13 during that span.
Because of the improved run game, Tampa Bay’s offense has become more balanced and less predictable, and scoring is up as a result. The Bucs have scored no fewer than 20 points in any of the last five games and are averaging 26.8 points per game over that span."
The current average of 26.8 per game puts them near the top of the league in offense jusrt as we enter the critical playoff run.
"Percentage of Mike Evan's routes that are go routes:
2022: 30% (highest mark of his career)
2023: 19% (lowest mark of his career)
Turns out it helps when you let a strong route runner run more than go routes"
- Timo Riske per Twitter
Looks like our zone beating, man beating "not a real #1 receiver who the offense doesn't flow through" has benefitted from...checks note...a competent OC who actually utilizes his strengths.
Weird...
More head coach talk . . ugh
"Canales spent 13 seasons with Pete Carroll and has some Carroll-like qualities when it comes to optimism and energy. His track record with quarterbacks is strong, helping bring out the best in Russell Wilson, Geno Smith and now Mayfield. While some candidates like this might be a year or two away, this field is wide open, and sometimes teams want to get ahead on a skilled offensive guy before they reach full potential."
This could just as easily be Tony Dungy speaking soon after he was hired by the Bucs:
“The consistent part of it is, ‘You don’t change. You continue to be about the fundamentals, about the ball, about eliminating those pre-snap penalties. About all the simple basic things.’”
"How basic did it get for Canales? He admitted his goal was not to stack wins but to stack practices. Have a good practice on Wednesday. Follow that up with a good practice on Thursday. Good practices should lead to better play on gamedays. That’s how basic Canales got."
That is/was the Dungy philosophy. As the team stacked up losses, he just told them the wins were coming, focused on fundamentals . . .
one reason Canales is alreadyin the HC discussions
