After a night to sleep off yesterday’s loss, I’m feeling a bit better. This Bucs team doesn’t have a quit button; they fight until the end. That’s a solid foundation to build on. But there’s still a lot to unpack in today’s rant.
I have two crucial questions, and one might stir up more debate than the other. First and foremost, this Bucs team needs to start faster in every phase of the game. Our defense has allowed points on the first drive of every game, our offense has started slow in 2 of 4 games, and our special teams… well, they’re anything but special.
Let’s dive into that. A football team is built on three units: offense, defense, and special teams. In the NFL, you can’t afford to have even one unit falter and still expect to consistently win. We got away with it in the first three weeks, albeit against inferior competition. That strategy won’t hold up against teams like the Eagles.
I wouldn’t be surprised if our special teams coordinator is shown the door soon. However, I also recognize that special teams have struggled throughout Coach Bowles’ tenure. The only consistent bright spot has been our kicker, and I don’t attribute his success or struggles to the coaching staff—that’s on the kicker. Even when Chase McLaughlin had a rough start, I believed he’d bounce back, and he has been fantastic the last two games.
I place more responsibility on the coach when it comes to coverage schemes on kickoffs and punts, as well as the effectiveness of return units. Special teams are less about personnel and more about scheme. Time and again, I see our opponents returning kickoffs against us without being touched until they reach the 30-35 yard line. Meanwhile, Sean Tucker is left to make defenders miss or break tackles at the 20. That’s a scheme issue. This has been a problem for four games now, and frankly, it’s been ongoing for a while. Before rule changes, we were one of the best teams at kicking touchbacks and limiting returns. But even then, when a kick fell short, our coverage got shredded.
Here are a few eye-opening stats to consider: We’ve had three kicks blocked (two punts and one field goal) in as many games. Yes, our punter is slow to get his punts off and may need to be replaced, but the blocking scheme is also being exploited. Having three kicks blocked in three games is embarrassing, even for high school football. That’s a fireable offense in the NFL. Our punt coverage unit ranks among the worst in the NFL (30th), allowing an average of 19.2 yards per return. Our kickoff coverage and return units are at the bottom of the league as well; for example, the Eagles averaged 29.6 yards per kickoff return yesterday, while we only averaged 19.2 yards. To top it off, we committed two penalties on returns yesterday. All of this is inexcusable and directly impacted yesterday’s outcome.
Last week, I mentioned that tough discussions were likely happening at One Buc Place. How long can we let this continue?
Now, onto a topic that may spark some pushback. It’s early to make definitive statements, but from what I’ve seen in the first four weeks, Josh Grizzard isn’t Liam Coen. He’s not bad, but Coen was an exceptional offensive coordinator. Compare last year’s offensive performance against the Eagles to this year’s game... Coen made it easier for the players. Good coaches are a step ahead of the defensive, especially early in games. His run game scheme, based on “Wing T” philosophies, created holes through his play calling as much as through the blocking.
I’m not seeing delayed screens to running backs or tight ends this season. Where are the tight ends? Grizzard is starting to show predictable patterns while Coen thrived on unpredictability. This year, we’re making big plays primarily on broken plays (like yesterday’s 77 and 72-yard touchdowns). Last year, the plays worked themselves; this year, players are struggling to get separation. We run on first down to avoid abandoning the run game, while last year we took advantage of defensive looks, throwing when the opportunity arose and running when the look was advantageous.
Coen coached with the mindset that we needed to score 30+ points a game. Grizzard seems to coach as if he’s trying to avoid mistakes. It’s early for him, and while he’s not bad and will improve, right now, he’s not Coen.
Go Bucs!
You may be right about the special teams coach, but I don't know that the block punt was a result of scheme. The long snapper and Durham let that guy rush right through the gap. It seemed to me the scheme was to have two players cover that gap and each one did a half ass job of it.
@kermit56 - that is definitely part of the issue, but that’s up to him to fix. Your job is not get your team beat because of your special teams. Get the right personnel in the right spots and rep the damn thing over and over and over again until they get it right. It’s his job.
@kermit56 - that is definitely part of the issue, but that’s up to him to fix. His job is to not get your team beat because of your special teams. Get the right personnel in the right spots and rep the damn thing over and over and over again until they get it right. It’s his job.
Coen coached with the mindset that we needed to score 30+ points a game. Grizzard seems to coach as if he’s trying to avoid mistakes. It’s early for him, and while he’s not bad and will improve, right now, he’s not Coen.
Spot on.
Let's hope he improves, but right now, it's very vanilla and predictable.
Coen coached with the mindset that we needed to score 30+ points a game. Grizzard seems to coach as if he’s trying to avoid mistakes. It’s early for him, and while he’s not bad and will improve, right now, he’s not Coen.
Spot on.
Let's hope he improves, but right now, it's very vanilla and predictable.
Yup agreed. Really disappointed with him so far
Coen coached with the mindset that we needed to score 30+ points a game. Grizzard seems to coach as if he’s trying to avoid mistakes. It’s early for him, and while he’s not bad and will improve, right now, he’s not Coen.
This could be 100% right, but the other way to look at it would be that he's calling plays like an OC with half a line.
That is at least a possibility (fingers crossed) because both offenses, Coen and Grizz, were built off the the RUN success and if you look at Irving he is 3.2 ypc now versus 5.4 in 2024. That is a big difference.
Egbuka has helped, but if you just focused on Godwin, he was clearly NOT himself. Targeted a bunch, only a few catches. I mention Godwin because in 2024the Coen offense came out with Godwin ON FIRE, so Grizz has also been missing a BIG component of the skill player offense (statistically and heart/soul).if Godwin gets back to that as the line gets healthier, its at least possible that improved EXECUTION makes everyone see Grizz as another "offensive genius" (lol).
Just for perspective, the 2024 no Godwin or Evans offensive output was about 23 PPG, which is what we just put up against the Eagles (take out the safety). Thats MORE than the 2025 Cowboys or the Chiefs put on them. First game back for Wirfs and Godwin, but no Evans and much of the line still out
So many moving and interrelated parts in NFL football its very hard to say, but maybe the best is yet to come from Grizz? Again, fingers crossed
Thats not to discount Coen. He's added almost 45 yard per game to the Jags rushing attack. I think they are 3-1 versus 0-4 last season?
Anyway, Grizz is not catching anyone off guard like Coen did in 2024 AND he's had 1/2 an O-line. He can be good (and certainly "good enough") while Coen is too.
BTW, Canales was an offensive savior to many here. hes about to get fired, questions about him givign up play calling etc.
Coen isn’t here anymore. It’s funny that many think this was due to some negligence of our organization.
Grizzard is doing very well considering the circumstances he was thrown into with a complete shell game happening on our OL.
Let’s see how the season plays out. I already like Grizz way more than Canales.
As has been stated we had been using a completely shuffled line before the Eagles game with EVERY single player out of position except for Goedeke before he went down. Couple that with us only having M1k3 and a first round rookie as our 1-2, Evans was being doubled and coverage rolled which granted opened up Ebuka to get off to his historic start, but if you think about it we basically had our no.1 and no.4 receivers on the preseason depth chart starting. This has led teams to stack the box to stop the run, while doubling Mike. Thankfully Godwin and Wirfs came back, but Godwin was clearly knocking off the rust after catching only 3 passes on 10 targets. Wirfs, Bredeson, and Barton shifting back to their regular positions definitely solidified the left side of the line( illustrated by the large disparity of success running left) but the right side of the line was awful! Otten has all but disappeared which I’ve always felt he was always a bit overrated, but has certainly had his moments…I guess what I’m saying is let’s see what happens with the play calling once Goedeke comes back, and the offense has its full compliment of weapons. If we’re still struggling to score once that happens then we’ll have a better idea of where Griz is at
When is Goedeke supposed to be back?
if you rewatched ONLY the 2nd half you'd see a lot of good from the defense, particularly YOUNG guys stepping up over and over.
The offense is mostly sandlot scores so not that great, but the defense is stout for the most part. Morrison appears over and over, Parrish almost gets a pick. McCollum has his WR blanketed. Roberts. Smith.
Great to see such a frustrated AJ Brown
Coen coached with the mindset that we needed to score 30+ points a game. Grizzard seems to coach as if he’s trying to avoid mistakes. It’s early for him, and while he’s not bad and will improve, right now, he’s not Coen.
I think one way this is spot on is that the Grizz offense so far has combined two things that are not good (so far) with Baker. One is slow starts and when you combine that with the second, which is some deeper route options, you get less conversions and, ultimately, playing from behind leads to things like the Baker INT on 1st and 10 late.
If you listen to the commentary from Brady he points out a couple times Baker choosing deeper passes over just moving the chains.
That could just be the Eagles game and half a linea nd limited receiver options etc. but thats one way to interpret the 2nd half Bucs offense against the Eagles
One of the funny things IF EVERYONE IS BEING HONEST . . would be to watch the 2nd half as a fan of the Eagles. If some of the stuff posted here about Bowles' defense was applied to Fangio's defense the second half of the game thread would be filled with cries of ends covering RBs out of the back, etc. Too much zone shell . . especially with a fantastic man cover corner etc.
By comparison, the Eagles came out in the first half with Hurts having the Bucs defense figured out BUT the Bucs D adjusted at half and had him flat out confused a bunch of the 2nd half, with blitzes and MAN cover behind it.
Again, an ounce of honesty and the same posters would be saying "why can't Fangio call it like the Bucs DC" LMAO.
Listen to Brady's call
The most frustrating thing for me is over and over, the Bucs make critical mistakes in critical games. Granted the Eagles game was very early in the season, but home matchup of two 3-0 NFC rivals and terrible start with crucial mistakes. The Rams playoff game a few years ago. The Lions playoff game two seasons ago. The Commanders playoff game last season. Each game had critical mistakes in critical moments where the Bucs fall just short.
It's essential the Bucs correct these mistakes in order to become a truly elite team in the NFC.
