Victim of poor coaching?
This isn’t really all that surprising to Joe, but the source(s) of the story is a little.
Heavy metal headbanging Jason La Canfora, formerly of the Washington Post and CBS, had sort of an eye-opening line in a story he typed for Sports Boom about Mike Evans and his looming free agency.
Naturally, La Canfora noted that Evans would like to stay with the Bucs (no surprise) and La Canfora thinks both Evans and the Bucs want each other (no surprise). But La Canfora noted Evans is looking for a team that will use him as a starter, has a proven offense, and is a legit Super Bowl contender.
The Bucs may not fit that last criteria, which La Canfora notes may open the door for Evans’ exit. And while typing how Evans is still a dynamic receiver, La Canfora included the following:
It was clear to executives from several teams that watched Evans last season that Tampa’s offense suffered from a deficient play caller and quarterback Baker Mayfield was hobbled much of the season, too, limiting the scope of the passing game.
Deficient play caller? Well, the Bucs did can former offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard last month.
And the Bucs offense, late in the season, was truly painful to watch given how Grizzard mismanaged the offense.
Joe is just trying to be fair: Was Grizzard that bad? Or was there meddling?
Did anyone gripe about the Bucs’ play-calling when the Bucs racked up 38 points on perhaps the best defense in the league on the road against Seattle? Did anyone whine about how the Bucs, terribly short-handed due to injuries (including to Emeka Egbuka), put up 30 points on San Francisco?
Joe fully believes Rachaad White was misused last year and there is some evidence that Cade Otton was, too. And how the Bucs seemingly became unraveled when the offense got healthier is a total mystery. How does that happen? Was that all Grizzard’s doing?
Again, early in the season, nobody claimed Grizzard was garbage. Then in the second half went way south.
So again, what happened?
Interesting intel from La Canfora.
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What Happened?