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Former Buccaneers Star Gerald McCoy Crushes Team’s Coaching Amidst 0-3 Start
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- Former Buccaneers Star Gerald McCoy Crushes Team’s Coaching Amidst 0-3 Start
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)
There is so much blame to go around for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 0-3 start that it is hard to know where to start.
The offensive line, expected to be among the NFL's best, has been terrible and is definitely the team's biggest disappointment thus far.
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Quarterback Baker Mayfield has not come close to living up to the three-year, $165 million contract extension he signed prior to Week 1. Mayfield is now sidelined for at least the next three games with a dislocated thumb on his throwing hand, forcing the team to turn to undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels with its season on the line.
The Bucs' pass rush has underwhelmed, despite all the additions the team made this offseason to its defensive front seven. The defense has only six sacks through three games.
Speaking of the pass rush, first-round pick Rueben Bain Jr. has been invisible in his two games before missing Week 3 with an injury. After a dominant offseason that caused expectations to go through the roof, Bain has failed to make any impact whatsoever.
There are plenty more, but you get the point.
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However, it is impossible to overstate how atrocious the coaching has been through three games.
New offensive coordinator Zac Robinson was supposed to bring back memories of Liam Coen. Instead, he has fans reminiscing about the good old days of Josh Grizzard, who was fired in January after one disappointing season as OC.
But nobody in the Bucs' organization deserves to shoulder more blame than head coach Todd Bowles, whose days in Tampa appear to be numbered . Bowles, who also runs the defense, hasn't gotten his team to play to its talent level in years and hasn't had a top-10 defense, his specialty, since he was only the Bucs' defensive coordinator in 2021.
Former Buccaneers defensive tackle Gerald McCoy , who starred for the team at defensive tackle from 2010 to 2018, made an appearance on This is Football with Kevin Clark and gave a scathing review of the state of the Bucs, especially the team's coaching.
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Plenty Of Blame, Most On Coaching
McCoy named several issues as reasons for the Bucs' terrible start, such as the loss of franchise icons Mike Evans and Lavonte David . He acknowledged there are plenty of things to blame, but directed most of his criticism towards coaching.
He made it a point to say he was not criticizing the coaching, but what they are coaching.
What's the difference?
McCoy explained that Tampa's roster, especially on defense, is full of players who are "extremely coachable." He thinks that may be the problem because they are going to do what they have been coached to do.
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And what they are being coached to do, in McCoy's opinion, is the problem.
"I heard some things that are being taught to these guys, and I say, 'That's not going to work.'"
Yikes.
Final Thoughts
The entire interview is definitely worth a listen. McCoy dives deep into the team's coaching problems, including his confusion about why David Walker, who has been the Bucs' best pass rusher, barely sees the field.
McCoy's opinion is strong, and nothing he says is untrue.
If Tampa doesn't fix its coaching issues, the season will be over before Halloween, and the Bucs will be looking for a lot of new coaches before next season comes around.
