Wednesday, 4 a.m.
5 Thoughts
- For three seasons, he has been the most important man in the franchise, Now, in a losing off-season, he remains that way. You can understand that, this time, Tom Brady wants to take his time. But the franchise depends on a quick answer so it can know the direction. Do you tear it all up and start over? Or do you try to shore up weak areas as much as the cap allows. Of course, anyone signing Brady will want to know, too.
2. When is the last top pick of the Bucs been as disappointing as Logan Hall. Oh, that's right. Joe Tryon-Shoyinka.
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3. When Todd Bowles and Byron Leftwich go to lunch, which one of them makes the decision of a restaurant? And do they get lost on the way?
4. How does the nickname "11-Yard Lenny" strike anyone for Leonard Fournette?
5. Has a bus coach ever seemed smarter in hindsight than Bruce Arians?
5 Comments
(From Todd Bowles' Day-After Press Conference)
On if there has been a decision made to move on from Byron Leftwich as offensive coordinator): “No, there hasn’t been any decision. I don’t have any assessment. Right now, we are evaluating players. We meet as a coaching staff later in the week. I’ll meet with individual coaches as well as the staff, which we do every year, and we will make those assessments."
(On the lack of production in the run game): “I think anytime you are the worst in the league it’s a combination of everything. There is no one thing that you can point to, to say we weren’t good in the running game. We just weren’t good in the running game. We will look at the tape, we will re-evaluate everything and we will make those decisions going forward of why we had such a bad thing. We try to do that weekly, but we will do that yearly as a staff and we will go from there.”
On his assessment of RB Leonard Fournette’s season, and if the team tried to ‘shelve’ him for the second half of the season in order to keep him fresh for the playoffs) “Lenny started out the season tough. I thought Rachaad came on. We never thought about shelving him (Leonard) for the second half of the season so he could be ‘Playoff Lenny.’ I thought they were a good one-two punch. We tried to play the year out like that. Some games we had some success – moderate success, so to speak – and a lot of games we didn’t. We tried to have a one-two punch, but we never once thought about shelving him.”
(On the difficulty of planning for next season without knowing QB Tom Brady’s plan): “We will have those decisions that we have to discuss. You want to have a bunch of plans, but they can all go to pot beforehand. We will meet with Tom, we will meet with everybody else, and we will meet with the brass to come up with a plan and see where we are. If that’s the case, hopefully it doesn’t have to come after free agency and everything else like that. You want to have plans going into it, so we will do our due diligence, meet with the parties involved and we will come up with a plan one way or the other.”
(On how effective the four-man pass rush was this season): "I don’t think it was great. I think we were similar the last three years in numbers – or at least within three or four, number-wise – but they all came from different guys. I think when your nose [tackle] is your leading sack guy, I don’t think the pass rush was good enough. We fell off some, we missed some – but they came from a multiple group of people. You want to be able to get there with four so you can play more coverage. I thought we got better from a pass defense standpoint in that aspect, but we can also rush the passer better.”
Game Balls
Offense: Yes, Brady accounted for the most yards. But if you also consider not making terrible plays, you've got to give the award to Chris Godwin.
Defense: Lavonte David had 14 tackles, nine more than running mate Devon White.
Special teams: Jale Camarda, easily the team's rookie of the year, averaged 49 yards on five punts.
Grades
Quarterback: Brady looked intimidated by the Cowboys rush for much of the night. Grade: C.
Running back: The Bucs' running game was a failure all year. Grade: F.
Offensive line: Despite the return one Ryan Jensen, it didn't hold up its end. Grade: D.
Wide receivers: They ended up with good numbers, but low impact when it counted. Grade: B.
Defensive line: The Cowboys rushed for 128 yards, and Prescott was sacked just once. Grade: D-.
Secondary: They could have played blind-folded and done a better job. Grade: F.
Power Rankings
- San Francisco`
2. Kansas City
3. Buffalo
4. Cincinnati
5. Philadelphia
Bottom 5
32. Chicago
31. Houston
30. Arizona
29. Indianapolis
28. Tampa Bay
5 Disappointing Bucs
`1. Joe Tryon-Shoyinka
2. Donovan Smith
3. Kyle Rudolph
4. Logan Hall
5. Leonard Fournette
Bucs' Rookie of the Year
- Jake Camarda
2. Rachaad White
3. Cade Otten
4. Ko Kieft
5. Luke Goedeke
5 Guesses For Tom Brady's future
- Las Vegas
2. Miami
3. New Orleans
4. N.Y. Jets
5 Tampa Bay
5 Guys the '22 Bucs Missed
- Rob Gronkowski
2. Ali Marpet
3. Ndamukong Suh
4. Jason Pierre-Paul
5. Antonio Brown (I hate to type that)
5 Worst Bucs' Coaches
- Leeman Bennett
2. Phil Williamson
3. Lovie Smith
4. Raheem Morris
5. Todd Bowles
5 Mock Draft Guesses
CBS.com Bijan Robinson, RB Texas
Athletic Drew Sanders, LB Auburn
Yahoo Anthony Richardson, QB Florida
Sporting News. Kayshon Boutte, WR LSU
Walter Football Isaiah Frosky, Edge Notre Dame
5 More Thoughts
- The Bucs will decide whether to fire offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich as soon as the smoke comes from Tom Brady's house.
2. Is Donovan Smith among the team's top 10 in yardage yet?
3. Interesting stat: Joe Tryon-Shoyinka had one tackle and an assist Monday night. Punter Jake Camarda had one tackle.
4. If you're mystified that Bowles might be back, consider this: the Glasters brought Lovie Smith back after 2-14. They Brough Raheem Morris back after 3-13. They brought both Jon Gruden and Greg Schiano back after 4-12. These guys are patient.
5. Anyone else see last place in 2023?