What Does Danny Smith Bring to the Buccaneers?

The Buccaneers finally make a meaningful staff move. Though it isn’t at offensive coordinator (yet), it was an important piece. I lost count how many times I referenced how absolutely awful special teams was. Unfortunately they didn’t fire McGaughey after the Eagles game.

However, they hopefully rectified that oversight by bringing in Danny Smith from the Pittsburgh Steelers. The man is 79 years old, so he also takes over as elder statesman after the retirement of Tom Moore.

Danny Smith is nothing if not consistent. The Steelers unit usually ranked between 10-15 in terms of special teams ranking overall. As Greg Auman explains, last year, they were 6th in opponent punt return, 8th in kickoffs, 15th in net punting. This is incredibly solid. Obviously not super spectacular, but compared to the Bucs, this is like the greatest special teams I’ve ever seen. The other thing that Danny Smith brings can’t really be quantified. He just brings energy. He is also incredibly tough on his players and coaches them pretty tough. Considering what the Bucs have done for that side of the ball, he mkay lose his voice yelling at the coverage unit.

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That’s not to say his units are all good. The Steelers special teams, especially as of late, were known for penalties. They were 7th in the league in penalties called on them and 10th in penalty yards. Both of which are actually worse than the Bucs were. His unit also seemed to struggle with coverage on both sides as they were ranked in the bottom half of the league. That may possibly be personnel issues from Pittsburgh, but still not what you want to see.

At the end of the day, Bowles ultimately went with the safest option. He knew exactly this team needed some kind of steady hand to at least attempt to right the ship. Danny Smith will more than likely not be here for terribly long, not at 79 years old. However, he should be here long enough to bring the unit back to not absolutely horrific. The biggest thing he has to do is fix kickoff coverage as the Bucs were forced to kick it out of the end zone and give up the 35 yard line.