NFL Rumors: Buccaneers to fire OC Byron Leftwich
Following their 31-14 ousting at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may be looking to fire Byron Leftwich. According to Dov Kleiman, the team considered doing so at the bye week, but opted to hold onto him.
The offense could never get going and is a big reason why they are now sitting at home and why they could only muster up eight unimpressive wins this season.
Report: The #Bucs to fire Offensive Coordinator Byron Leftwich.
The team had plans to fire Leftwich since their Bye week mid-season but Todd Bowles decided to keep him at the time, per @PewterReport
pewterreport.com/leftwich-expec… https://t.co/TkYzoD3K2Y
Scott Reynolds of the Petwer Report said:
"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. Tampa Bay won the NFC South despite averaging just 18.4 points per game in the regular season, which was the lowest in the division."
Despite employing Tom Brady, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Julio Jones, Leonard Fournette and a solid offensive line, the Buccaneers were the worst offense in a division full of bad offenses.
Despite such a poor record, it appears as if head coach Todd Bowles is safe, even though there was a dramatic drop-off in terms of team quality after he took over for Bruce Arians.
What went wrong with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers?
A lot went wrong for Tampa Bay this season. It's a miracle they even made the playoffs. If the Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons weren't some of the worst NFL teams, the Bucs never would have made the postseason.
The offense was bad. Whether that's the fault of Byron Leftwich or the clear decline of Tom Brady remains to be seen. Brady is likely leaving this offseason anyway, so the offense will be very different next season.
The Buccaneers don't exactly have a bright future on offense since Brady is either gone or a declining 46-year-old quarterback and they have a poor running game.
A good offensive coordinator could change that, which may be why Todd Bowles elected to move on.
Leftwich is likely headed elsewhere as a coordinator or an offensive assistant coach next.