The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were run over by the Dallas Cowboys 31-14 in the NFC Wild Card Round. The game wasn’t that close and featured more dysfunctional offense and questionable decision making.
So it’s not surprising that Scott Reynolds of Pewter Report is reporting the Buccaneers will part ways with Bucs’ offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich.
From Reynolds, “Pewter Report is reporting that the team is expected to fire offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich.”
Reynolds continued,
“This move has been anticipated by Pewter Report for some time. The Bucs offense generated 386 yards against Dallas, but only ran the ball for 52 yards as Tampa Bay fell behind early and trailed 18-0 at halftime. More importantly, the Bucs offense produced only 14 points after trailing Dallas, 24-0 in the third quarter.”
The guys over at Pewter Report are as about as plugged in to the Buccaneers’ organization. So this isn’t somebody just spit balling.
Reynolds went on to report the team considered removing Leftwich during the season, but was overridden by head coach Todd Bowles.
“The Bucs okayed a plan to fire Leftwich at midseason – either after the Ravens game on Thursday Night Football or after the bye week. Instead, Bowles decided to trust his defense and Brady’s heroics and hoped that Leftwich and the offensive staff could make some improvements along the way, which didn’t happen. It’s likely that Bowles didn’t see a potential upgrade at play-caller on the current staff, which is why he stayed with Leftwich for the rest of the year.”
So the question has to be asked, if the team wanted Leftwich gone but Bowles said no, shouldn’t that put Bowles on the hot-seat as well?
This offseason is going to be very interesting.