Jesus, let the man finish the season first.
The Bears are a literal dumpster fire. While the Packers may have started the fire, the Buccaneers certainly did not help put it out (insert Office joke here). Because of their awful offense, defense, and special teams (aka, the entirety of a football team), a lot of fans are pondering a full purge of the coaching staff. And while the McCaskeys should also be thrown out of Halas Hall, Matt Eberflus and Luke Getsy will be the sacrificial lamb. I would mention their defensive coordinator, he may possibly be joining Wander Franco in jail. Allegedly.
—
The usual candidates that have been thrown around last year are on the list. Brian Johnson, Ben Johnson, and some new ones like Shane Waldron and Bobby Slowik. But, Brad Spielberger recently wrote that Dave Canales is a name to look out for.
Now, Brad wasn’t exactly complimentary of Canales, which I found a little strange since the point was to find the correct candidate for the Bears. I will link his article here, but to paraphrase it, he said that the Buccaneers have relied a lot on explosive plays for the offense (which they rank 25th) to get by. But he also complimented his shift from dead last in play-action to first and seeming to resurrect Mayfield’s career.
Now, I don’t quite agree with the conclusion that the Bucs have relied too much on the big play, but I do agree Canales has done a lot with a shuffled o-line and a QB that was tossed around a lot of teams and no one believed in.
—
It is very early to truly know whether or not Canales is the real deal, but he has done a lot. The run game still looks out of sorts and as of right now, Rachaad White is averaging worse ypg this year (3.3) than he did last year (3.7). And worse than Fournette who averaged 3.5. However, they are averaging more points (21) compared to last year (18.4). I know this isn’t exactly the most fair thing to do considering we are only 4 weeks in, but you can use the eye test to see the offense is better. Players seem open a lot more and while the run game looked straight out of the Leftwich playbook vs the Eagles, he was a lot more creative against the Saints and had runs bounce outside more.
—
We can all agree of course any kind of head coaching talk for Canales is ridiculous. Unless he manages to get the Buccaneers to have the number offense and Rachaad White to have the most rushing yards, he will likely be oc for the team in 2023. I wanted to highlight this, however, because it shows that Canales is catching more and more people’s attention. While I would argue the offense still has a ways to go, he has been making leaps and bounds. No one else had looked at him, so the fact the Bucs may have found a gem is a testament to Jason Licht and Todd Bowles as well. The future looks bright with Dave guiding the offense.
Make sure you check out Devin’s blog at cannoncrunch.wordpress.com.