Why Buccaneers new OC is encouraged by club's reaction to latest playoff heartbreak

For the third time in three years, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have a new offensive coordinator after they promoted Josh Grizzard from pass game coordinator to replace current Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen.

According to the JoeBucsFan website, Grizzard spoke with reporters on Tuesday about telling players that this past January's 23-20 home wild-card playoff loss to the Washington Commanders was "unacceptable." It seems Grizzard is impressed with the response he's gotten this spring regarding that message. 

"You can see the hunger in guys to be able to push on in the playoffs and make a run," Grizzard said. "And you can tell through meeting rooms, the questions they’re asking, the stuff we’re getting done on the field … you feel like you’re even a step further [than last offseason] because we didn’t change a lot in the system. And now we can get into the nuances of route running and how we hit the blocks and get into the shape we get into."

In January 2024, the Buccaneers notched a 32-9 home wild-card playoff win over the Philadelphia Eagles. Tampa Bay then had a chance to take the Detroit Lions to overtime in a divisional-round matchup. However, quarterback Baker Mayfield tossed a late interception that sealed the Buccaneers' fate. 

More recently, Mayfield produced the best regular-season numbers of his career while playing in Coen's offense. According to ESPN stats, Tampa Bay ended Week 18 of this past campaign ranked third with an average of 399.5 offensive yards gained per game and fourth with an average of 29.5 points scored per contest. 

That said, Tampa Bay's season came to a disappointing end after a botched exchange in the fourth quarter of the playoff game against Washington sparked a sequence of events that resulted in the Buccaneers' upset loss. 

While the Bucs lost Coen to the Jaguars this past winter, Tampa Bay later re-signed wide receiver Chris Godwin to keep its offensive core together. The Buccaneers then spent the 19th overall pick of the 2025 draft to give Mayfield an exciting new weapon in Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka. 

"They’ve been hungry," Grizzard added about Tampa Bay's offensive players. "Nobody’s resting on any of the statistical success we had last year because, ultimately, team-wise and in the playoffs was far from what we’re trying to do."

As of Tuesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Buccaneers as the betting favorites at +100 odds to claim the NFC South division title for the upcoming season. Grizzard seems to understand that such an accomplishment won't mean much if the club completes a second-straight one-and-done postseason journey.