There was good reason to have a positive feeling after hearing from new Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales. His detailed vision of Tampa Bay’s offensive future mixed with a confident enthusiasm in his responses was a convincing notion that has many buying in already.

Canales is bringing a needed to change to the Bucs offense. If he can walk the walk with his plans for the offense, Tampa Bay should be in position to make a run at a fourth straight postseason regardless of who’s under center. That doesn’t mean Canlaes comes in without a couple of fair questions.

While Canales has developed multiple players at receiver and quarterback, he’s yet to call plays in the NFL or college level. The last time he was a play caller was he was coaching a JV team at his alma mater, Carson High School. During his run in the pros, Canales was glossed over for coordinators from other teams than move up the ranks himself. It’ll be a new change for him in his role with the Bucs this season.

“Well, I have never called plays at the collegiate or NFL level,” Canales said.  “I called plays way, way back. I was a head JV coach in 2004-05. That was really fun. I didn’t answer to anybody, so we did all kinds of fun stuff. I didn’t have a head coach knocking on my door saying, ‘Hey, I don’t think that’s something we are going to do.’

“Anyway, that’s way back then. But yeah, that was a concern that came up in both interviews with Baltimore and with Todd [Bowles] and Jason [Licht].”

There’s More To The Play-Calling Story For Canales

Bucs OC Dave Canales – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

He addressed the cause for concern over this being his initial opportunity as a play caller in the league. In the sense that he communicated it, this may just help Bucs fans ease their nerves about the situation. Canales also showed his appreciation for the art of being a successful offensive coordinator.

“I really respect the play-calling position,” he said. “I respect how hard it is. I respect the skill that the guys that I worked for [have], that they had to have the mastery of the game plan and the call sheet. I know that I’m going to take some lumps and have to learn my lessons along the way, but I’ll learn quick. I am a quick study.

“I have guys with play-calling experience on this staff and I’m going to lean on them, bounce ideas off of them and packaging things. I really do respect that part of it. It’s something that I am really excited about. I really have been chomping at the bit just trying to get an opportunity.”

Practice makes perfect, they say. Canales believes he got plenty of that during training camp and regular season practices. It sounds like there will be some spirited competition in Tampa.

“I’ve called mock games. I would be like the offensive coordinator for the twos,” Canales said. “That’s been a lot of fun, especially when I had Geno [Smith] for the last couple years and we would go in and embarrass the ones a little bit. I took a lot of pride in that.”

Creating A Culture Is Just As Important

Bucs OC Dave Canales – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Canales wanted to point out that in his view, the play calling is a piece of the puzzle. He emphasized an important focus on building a culture with everybody together to get the best out of the whole group.

“I will say though, play-calling is not the hardest part about this job,” he said. “The hardest part about this job is creating a culture, creating a language, teaching my coaches what the system is so they can give me good information and then teaching them how to communicate it to the players making sure that our language stays consistent. No synonyms, we say it like this. High and tight – that’s how we talk about ball security. And, of course, the game plan aspect of it – those are the most challenging parts of this position. The play-calling is just fun. That is the part that is like the payoff at the end of the week.”

“Just one more point with that… when you are in the quarterback room and you’re the quarterbacks coach or pass game coordinator like I was, you’ve got to know the call sheet cold. You’ve got to know it like the back of your hand. Feeding play ideas for the last three coordinators at different times in my career has allowed me to cut my teeth a little bit on what that looks like.

“Just having a mastery of the call sheet comes with the role of being the quarterbacks coach, which is why it’s important. Thad Lewis, having a quarterback background, he has called it. He has been in a huddle. He had to look in people’s faces and say things. So, when a guy becomes a quarterbacks coach, it’s so natural to him. He’s the QB of that room.”