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Falcons Memories Driving Josh Grizzard

June 22nd, 2025

Rookie Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard.

New Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard was the architect of the team’s elite third-down conversion rate last season.

Yeah, Liam Coen called the plays and had Grizzard’s current job, but Grizzard’s responsibility leading up to games was crafting third downs.

And by that metric, Grizzard was highly successful. The Bucs led the NFL in third-down conversion (51.1 percent), including winning at better than a 50 percent rate against Atlanta in two tough losses.

Those soul-sucking defeats to the Falcons didn’t just gut fans and sour players’ minds, they also found their way to Grizzard’s head. He told Sports Day Tampa Bay the losses to Atlanta are enough fuel to get him through the spring and summer

“Really from how we look at it, we know we got Atlanta Week 1, and as a division [rival], they beat us twice [last year]. That’s enough motivation to get through the whole offseason and be ready for that,” Grizzard said when talking about motivation and expectations.

“And then just keep playing — hopefully set a standard for playing — good football and continue that and see where it goes.”

That’s not the first time Joe has heard a Bucs player or official reference greater 2025 motivation coming from losing to Atlanta than against Washington in the playoffs.

It’s an interesting but understandable phenomenon.

Regardless, Joe likes hearing Grizzard sounding like a guy well connected to his emotions and to how players feel. He easily could have talked about how last season is ancient history and an afterthought.