TAMPA, Fla. – All season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been downplaying the fact they don’t have an offensive coordinator.
But after Sunday’s 20-3 loss to the Green Bay Packers, quarterback Josh McCown admitted the lack of a coordinator has been detrimental. The Bucs managed only 109 yards of offense and didn’t get near the end zone.
“There are no excuses," McCown said. “But there’s a reason why 31 other teams have an offensive coordinator. It does matter. It does make a difference. We’ve done the best we could to pull ourselves out of it. Everybody has fought and fought hard, but we just haven’t been good enough to get ourselves out of it."
It’s refreshing that someone finally has spoken out about the coordinator situation. Tampa Bay’s offense has appeared to be in disarray most of the season. It’s no coincidence that Jeff Tedford, who was hired to be the offensive coordinator, has been missing. Tedford had heart surgery at the end of the preseason.
He took a leave of absence and eventually he and the Bucs agreed to part ways in early December. Tedford since has taken a job as a head coach in the Canadian Football League. Quarterbacks coach Marcus Arroyo has called the plays all season with input from the rest of the offensive staff.
“It’s not an excuse, but we lost a coordinator at the start of the season," McCown said. “We’ve fought all through that for 16 weeks now. Just that, in and of itself, can help a team. Just an extra guy working with those guys. We don’t make excuses, but there are things we can point to and say just that alone may help us improve."
Coach Lovie Smith didn’t want to talk about Tedford, saying he was ready to return to coaching two months ago.
“I’m not even going to go down that road anymore," Smith said. “We need help on the offensive side. We have needed help for a while. I’m not talking about coaching; I’m just talking about our play overall."
