Buccaneers’ Offensive Struggles Aren’t Solely On Josh Grizzard

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have now gone three straight games – with a bye week in the middle – with the offense struggling. Baker Mayfield has completed 65% or more of his passes once in that three game stretch compared to missing that mark only twice in the first six games. On top of that, he only has four touchdowns to go along with one interception and has been sacked nine times over that stretch. Yet, somehow, the Bucs are still atop their division and still in the thick of the race for the top seed in the NFC. So why are so many people screaming for offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard to lose his job? Here’s where I think people are being too reactionary and overly dramatic about the current state of the Bucs. Grizz is not doing a bad job. You may not agree with all of his play calls – but that’s going to be any offensive coordinator on any team. Grizz is doing what he can with the hand he’s been dealt and honestly, the hand he’s been dealt is a crappy one.

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This wasn’t the offense the Bucs were supposed to have, this wasn’t the plan coming into the season for what the offense was supposed to accomplish. It wasn’t going to be an exact copy and paste from last season, but it was supposed to be similar. Instead, we have an offense that is near the bottom of the league in rushing and outside the top ten in points per game. They’re even trailing the Baltimore Ravens in points per game as if anyone thought that could be possible after Lamar Jackson missed a month. Usually, the blame is going to be at the feet of the coaches, but in this case it shouldn’t be. This is the same guy that was in charge of the Bucs’ third-down offense last year when they converted 50.9%. This year, they’ve converted just 36.5% – which is 24th in the NFL compared to last year’s first. So what’s the difference? Is it the drop off from Liam Coen to Grizz? Is that after three years in a row of having to find new play callers the Bucs didn’t get this one right? Or could it be that last year when Liam Coen and Grizz were dialing things up, they had their offensive line intact? They had Mike Evans for all but three and a half games, they had Bucky Irving in the backfield? They had Baker Mayfield taking off and making plays with his legs? That’s all gone right now.

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Baker hasn’t had a rush attempt since the win against San Francisco. The offensive line has been shuffled more times than the deck at a Las Vegas Hold ‘Em table. They have not had more than two of their top four receivers on the field together this year and even then, it’s only happened six times and not for the entire game every time. They have one offensive lineman that has started and finished every game this season and he played three of those out of position. If Matthew Stafford lost Puka Nacua, Davante Adams, Kyren Williams, Blake Corum, and three of his offensive linemen, do you think they would be winning the way that they are? If Jordan Love had his offensive line moved around every game this season, lost Romeo Doubbs, Christian Watson, Josh Jacobs, and Tucker Kraft do you think they would be leading the NFL with 47.8% of third downs converted? For that matter – can you name me any team in the NFL that could go through what the offensive line has gone through, could have lost their starting running back and three of their top four receivers throughout the season and still be sitting at 6-3 and atop their division heading into week eleven? No. You can’t. Because what the Bucs are doing right now – as frustrating as it may be at times to watch – is impressive.

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What’s even more telling about Baker Mayfield’s status is the fact that he hasn’t had a rushing attempt in three games. That injury – or those injuries – are worse than what the Bucs and Baker himself are letting on. While he’s not Lamar or Josh Allen, Baker is one of the better dual-threat quarterbacks in the league. He’s going to will his team to victory with tough runs to move the chains and extend drives. When that part of his game is non-existent, it changes the way the defense can attack. They can send more pressure knowing that he’s a statue and the offensive line can’t hold up. They can drop more into coverage knowing that Evans, Godwin, Bucky, and McMillan aren’t back there to make a play. Sterling Shepard, with all due respect, isn’t going to win a jump ball in double coverage. Why? Because he isn’t Mike Evans. So when Baker can’t take off and run, the entire offense changes.

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So calling for the head of an offensive coordinator who is stuck playing Hold ‘Em without three aces, two kings, and a queen is doing a pretty impressive job. He can’t control the fact that his receivers are out, he can’t control that Bucky is injured. He can’t control that Baker Mayfield, the warrior that he is, is not close to his normal self and can not make the plays that have endeared him to Bucs fans because he’s simply not physically capable. But to call for the head of an offensive coordinator, nine games into his tenure, for not being “good enough” without taking into account the unbelievably bad luck this team has had with injuries isn’t just stupid, it’s ignorant. Dave Canales went through lulls in 2023. Liam Coen wasn’t perfect in 2024. And neither one of them had to deal with what Grizz is going through. So take a breath, take a beat, and see what happens when this team starts to get some of their playmakers back. For more on the Buccaneers from James click here, check him out on the Locked on Bucs Podcast, then make sure you follow him on Twitter.