Organized team activities – or OTAs as they’re widely known in the NFL – are little more than flag football practices in the offseason. Without pads or any real contact allowed, the Bucs offseason practices typically emphasize working on just the passing game, and installing new plays at a slower pace than training camp or the regular season.

It’s hard to work on the running game without pads on in the trenches, as well as live pass rush and pass protection due to the offseason rules limiting contact.

But this year’s offseason in Tampa Bay was quite different than in years past. Bucs head coach Todd Bowles used the OTAs and mini-camp to help new offensive coordinator Dave Canales. Despite spending 13 years in Seattle in different roles as a passing game coordinator, receivers coach and most recently a quarterbacks coach, Canales has never called plays before in the NFL – or even in college.

To help prepare Canales for the real-time pressures of calling plays and making in-game adjustments, Bowles spent an extraordinary amount of OTA practice time with longer, “call it” periods during 11-on-11s.

“Yeah it was definitely driven by Coach [Bowles],” Canales said on a recent appearance during the Pewter Report Podcast. “I think that was him just saying, ‘I know what this guy needs.’ He remembers being a first-time coordinator: ‘I just need to call it. I just need to see – what hash is it? Where am I at on the field?’ So he knew that, and then he just kind of approached me.”

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Canales, who was hired this offseason to replace Byron Leftwich, was definitely on board with the idea from the start.

“Oh I need it – I needed it so bad,” Canales said. “And the cool part was he was mixing up the situations – first and second down. He was mixing up when and where the third downs happened and how much time was on the clock. We got a bunch of end-of-half, end-of-game work this spring, which I needed.

“And Coach [Bowles] was great. He was like, ‘You need this one again?’ ‘Absolutely, I need another ‘call it’ period.’ And unfortunately, when you do that it’s harder for me to actually script ‘When Chris is in on this play versus this coverage, let’s throw this.’ So selfishly, it works out good [for me]. And for the guys, they just kind of had to be patient and watch the film and see where they’re at in the formation and see what we were trying to get done.”

Dave Canales Already Understands How Hard Play-Calling Is

The hardest aspect of live play-calling is understanding all of the data – down-and-distance, hash marks, place on the field, time left in the half, expected defensive front and coverage in that situation – and then dialing up the right play.

“I mean, it’s hard,” Canales said. “It’s like I’ve been the voice in the sky for coordinators for a long time, and you feed them the coverage. You feed them ideas. ‘Hey, it’s 45 seconds, thinking time out [after the] next one.’ But to actually be coming up with ‘What hash is it? What formation and play do I like?’ You know, it’s hard.”

Bucs OC Dave Canales and QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Canales spent a good deal of time in Seattle seeing the game from the press box and helping the Seahawks offensive coordinators with an aerial view. Now Canales will be on the sidelines calling plays for the first time and having trusted receivers coach Brad Idzik, who came with Canales from Seattle, up in the coaches box feeding him the intel.

“Yeah definitely the sideline,” Canales said. “I’m going to be really heavily involved with the quarterback, especially year one. [Quarterbacks coach] Thad [Lewis] is doing a fantastic job. Not a knock on him. I just I know what I want, what I need to get out of our quarterbacks. So being down there, being able to watch the series with those guys from the bench, being able to make those adjustments.

“And also just to get a feel for who these guys are under live stress, because personalities come out. Guys respond to stress in different ways. And just being able to understand what they need from me to help them get back focused – get back on track – and then take the next series. All that is going to be really important for me to be down there.”

Todd Bowles Says “Call It Periods” Will Continue In Training Camp

The Bucs’ three preseason games will be a great rehearsal for Canales as a play-caller. But first up is training camp and joint practices with the Jets. Bowles told Pewter Report that the “call it” periods will continue into training camp to continue to help Canales, as well as mixing in some scripted sessions.

“So likely what will happen is there will be a situation of the day and then Coach [Bowles] will put us in a first- and second-down compete [period], or a third-down blitz compete period, or red zone,” Canales said. “And you know some practices will be a natural move-the-ball period that’ll take up 20 to 30 plays where you’re actually simulating a quarter of ball, or something.

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

“But yeah, there’ll be a good mix of those [call-it and scripted periods]. Really important – the scripted period – really important for the run game. ‘Yeah I need this one left. I need this one right versus this front, so that Tristan [Wirfs] can get a good look at the front side, the back side, etc.’”

The “call it” periods are more up-tempo because it simulates a real game situation with a 25-second clock. That helps the players from a conditioning standpoint in the offseason, but Canales and Bowles know they’ll have to really watch the reps during training camp when the pads come on.

“Like some of those days when you are calling it, you have to be very conscious of the rep count for guys,” Canales said. “And that was one of the things that – coming in – one of the conversations that Coach Bowles and I had was, ‘Let’s be really intentional and smart about the load we put on our players. We’re going to ask them to go full speed, and trust us. Let’s be smart about how we do that.

So just kind of working together on those and saying, ‘Hey, I think the guys have had two good days of work, let’s script it tomorrow so we can slow it down, substitute and be really intentional with the reps.’”

There is no substitute for experience in any profession, and there will be some growing pains for Canales in his first year as the Bucs’ play-caller. But credit Bowles for doing everything he can to accelerate Canales’ learning curve between now and Week 1 when Tampa Bay travels to Minnesota to kick off the 2023 season.

Watch Dave Canales On The Pewter Report Podcast

Check out the latest Pewter Report Podcast with Special Guest: Bucs OC Dave Canales by clicking the link below.