There is a lot of finger pointing going around for why the Buccaneers lost. is it because Dave Canales called a bad game? Is it because Mayfield couldn’t make a throw longer than 5 yards? Or is it because Bowles was outcoached? Is it because the Creamsicle uniforms are cursed?
I will give credit to Baker, he did own up the offense absolutely sucking. Not that the defense was amazing as they couldn’t get a lot of pressure and left receivers wide open (looking at you Ryan Neal). That being said, there is clearly one unit on this team outperforming the other. I’m talking of course about the punting unit. Oh, and defense I guess. But who deserves the most blame?
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You of course have to start at the top. Canales had a very confounding game as a playcaller. Once again, he kept at the run game a lot longer than he should have. Many have pointed out already that running it feels like a wasted down at this point. What was really bizarre was how it felt like Sneak Vaughn had a feature back role. This team had kept insisting that Rachaad White was the guy, yet it felt like Vaughn kept getting handed off to. Very bizarre. At this point, I don’t know when the run game will ever arrive, if at all. Man, I wonder if somebody ever wrote about the run game issues.
With all that being said, I would honestly blame execution more than I would the coaching. Yes, there were really questionable game calls by Bowles and Canales (especially not going for it on 4th and 2 down two scores with a little under 10 minutes). That being said, there were a lot of plays that Canales designed in the passing game that were open and would’ve had big gains. It’s not Canales fault Baker’s pass got tipped for an interception. Or the fact that Mayfield kept missing wide open passes down the field. Was a deep post shot to Trey Palmer a good idea on 3rd and 2? Absolutely not, especially if he knew Bowles would punt the ball away. Here’s the thing though. Palmer was open.
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While I and others who write about the Buccaneers would still criticize it as a boneheaded move, many Bucs fans would’ve praised Canales for the call if executed well. It is not his fault that Baker couldn’t connect. He can scheme Evans open all he wants, but if he can’t hang onto the ball or commits OPI, there isn’t much that can be done.
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Like I said on Twitter (still not calling it X), I am not prepared to blow this coaching staff up quite yet. Bowles is definitely not getting a lot of leniency, but unless you want Tom Moore as the interim head coach for the rest of the year, I think we’ll have to stick with him. That being said, I think if his in game decision making keeps being cowardly, then his chances of being fired in season are higher. Obviously we are not firing Dave Canales in his first season.
But thinking on the bright side (not a lot of that has been happening lately in this community) we are still on top of the division with plenty of season left to get right. I believe that Mayfield can still be a solid QB and has proven that in most of the games so far this season. If the execution on offense just gets better, it will at least be efficient.
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We have the Falcons coming up and I think Atlanta is a beatable team. We probably still can’t rely on the run game, but Desmond Ridder has not looked great and we can easily shut down their run game. After we beat them, our fanbase will once again have expectations that cannot possibly be fulfilled. And then the fanbase will call for everyone’s head once the Buccaneers can’t perform against real Super Bowl contenders like the 49ers or Bills. Can’t wait.
Make sure you check out Devin’s blog at cannoncrunch.wordpress.com.
Cannon Crunch with Devin Sanguinett
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