Bucs Mailbag: The Future Of Liam Coen, Todd Bowles With The Bucs | Pewter Report

Bucs HC Todd Bowles and OC Liam Coen – Photograph by: Cliff Welch/PR

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QUESTION: To maintain Liam Coen do you assume Todd Bowles agrees to teach another yr with the promise it’s Coen’s workforce afterwards? Bowles can’t wish to be on his fourth OC and anticipate nice outcomes. Plus, he’d most likely lose Kevin Carberry, too. Tampa Bay can’t afford to lose Coen once they have Baker Mayfield in his prime.

Bucs OC Liam Coen and HC Todd Bowles – Photograph by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: There’s lots to unpack right here. If there’s a approach to preserve head coach Todd Bowles and offensive coordinator Liam Coen, that ought to actually be explored. Bowles is on the verge of successful his third straight NFC South title as head coach. Whereas his protection has been the wrongdoer in a lot of the workforce’s losses, Bowles’ regular management can’t be ignored.

Whereas the workforce would favor extra consistency than a pair of 3-1 begins dissolving into 4-6 information by midseason in every of the final two years, credit score Bowles for having the ability to get his gamers to activate the jets down the stretch of the 2023 and 2024 seasons and rocket in the direction of the playoffs. It’s not the way you begin, it’s the way you end, and Bowles’ workforce has had some momentum heading into the postseason in every of the final two years.

On the similar time, Coen has been an enormous improve over Dave Canales. When Bowled fired Byron Leftwich after the offense slumped from 30 factors per sport in 2021 to only 18 factors per sport in 2022, he changed him with Canales, who elevated scoring to 21 factors per sport in 2023. However Coen has unlocked the potential of Tampa Bay’s offense, which is now fourth within the NFL in scoring at 29.7 factors per sport following Sunday’s 48-14 win over Canales and Carolina. That’s an eight-point per sport improve, which is superb progress in Coen’s first yr as a play-caller.

The Bucs can’t afford to lose Coen, who might be the subsequent Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan. And Bowles shouldn’t wish to see Coen go away, both. Discovering a fourth offensive coordinator in 4 years doesn’t sound like a enjoyable offseason task in late January or early February for Bowles. And he can be beneath immense stress to seek out the subsequent Coen-caliber coach reasonably than the subsequent Canales, as Tampa Bay’s offense can’t afford to take a step again in 2025. Particularly since that aspect of the ball is the workforce’s energy, because the protection might want to endure some repairs within the offseason.

As a result of Bowles is 61 and Coen is simply 39, the Glazers and common supervisor Jason Licht should look out for the way forward for the franchise. It will actually be nice if a deal might be brokered the place Coen turns into the highest-paid offensive coordinator within the NFL and is called Bowles’ successor after the 2025 season. That method Coen may have another yr to refine his abilities as a play-caller with out the added stress and duties that include being a head coach. And Bowles would have one other yr with a high-powered offense to attempt to win a Tremendous Bowl – assuming Tampa Bay falls wanting that aim this season.

QUESTION: Why does Todd Bowles at all times play groups higher after changes, as a substitute of getting plan from the beginning? Additionally, Beau Allen talked about that Liam Coen is an efficient coach, however may use one other yr to be a pacesetter of males as a head man. What say you?

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles and ILB Lavonte David – Photograph by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: It was a little bit unnerving to see Tampa Bay leap out to an early 7-0 lead towards Carolina after which see the Panthers march proper down the sphere and rating a landing to tie it up within the first quarter. All of us wish to see Todd Bowles’ protection come out and get an preliminary three-and-out or perhaps a takeaway on the primary drive, however that not often occurs.

But credit score Bowles for making the required changes at halftime when the rating was 27-14 and put up a shutout within the second half because the Bucs added three extra touchdowns to make the ultimate rating 48-14. That’s three second half shutouts for Bowles’ unit this season, as that’s additionally occurred at New Orleans and at Los Angeles towards the Chargers. The massive distinction is that the Bucs trailed at halftime in these video games, however had the lead towards the Panthers on Sunday.

There’s little question that Liam Coen is an efficient coach, and I might say primarily based on his offensive success this yr that he’s truly an amazing coach. Whereas I believe management is at all times one thing that may develop inside folks and that may be improved upon, management can also be a trait that both folks have or they don’t have. All the pieces I’ve heard about Coen is that he has good management qualities. He employs a collaborative course of with the offensive assistants and offers them possession within the weekly sport plans and the on-field outcomes. And Coen’s gamers actually reply to his management given how explosive and productive the offense is.

However can Coen additionally lead the protection? Can he handle sport conditions when it comes to when to punt and when to go for it, or when to kick the sphere aim that sends the sport into extra time and when to go for the win with a two-point conversion? Can he use timeouts correctly and handle the clock? How does he deal with much more media alternatives outdoors of only one press convention every week?

There’s a lot that goes into changing into a head coach, however the one method we’ll discover out if Coen can deal with of that’s with a chance to take action. Does Coen have the prospect to be a hit the best way Sean McVay is in Los Angeles or Kyle Shanahan is in San Francisco? Or will he be the subsequent Dirk Koetter – an offensive coordinator who wasn’t as profitable as a head coach? The one approach to discover out is to offer him the prospect to strive it. I might guess that Coen may be an efficient head coach.

QUESTION: Let’s say Liam Coen turns into a head coach subsequent yr. What groups would match him greatest? If he had been the Bucs’ head coach would he nonetheless name performs or who would he usher in as OC?

Bucs OC Liam Coen and Tom Brady – Photograph by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: Every time Liam Coen turns into a head coach – and wherever that’s – he’ll be the offensive play-caller. That’s simply what occurs with offensive coordinators who turn out to be head coaches within the league. Dave Canales in Carolina is likely one of the newest examples of him going from the Bucs’ play-caller to the play-caller and head coach of the Panthers in 2024.

Coen would make one in every of his assistants the offensive coordinator in title – maybe offensive line coach Kevin Carberry or passing sport coordinator Josh Grizzard – however he would nonetheless name performs. There are just a few “walk around” coaches within the NFL who aren’t play-callers and most aren’t offensive-minded guys.

Baltimore’s John Harbaugh has a particular groups background and doesn’t name performs for the Ravens on both aspect of the ball. Mike Tomlin and Raheem Morris are each defensive-minded head coaches, however neither name performs in Pittsburgh and Atlanta, respectively. The exception could be offensive-minded Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh, however offensive coordinator Greg Roman is the play-caller in Los Angeles.

As for Coen’s most closely fits, staying in Tampa Bay can be best due to the expertise he has to work with and his system is already confirmed to work with the Bucs. However I additionally talked about a few different groups that might be after Coen in Friday’s SR’s Fab 5 column. Coen grew up a Patriots fan in Rhode Island and was a Tom Brady fan. That might make New England a really engaging possibility if the Patriots fireplace Jerod Mayo. Las Vegas is also in play if Brady, a Raiders minority proprietor, needed to make a gross sales pitch to Coen. Each New England and Las Vegas have a ton of wage cap room in 2025.

QUESTION: What makes Baker Mayfield a lot simpler on this offense vs. Dave Canales’ offense final season?

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and OC Liam Coen – Photograph by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: That’s an amazing query. I believe Baker Mayfield has naturally grown as a quarterback in Tampa Bay due to his chemistry with the Bucs gamers he has round him. We might’ve seen some development from Mayfield in 2024 even when Dave Canales had remained the offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay.

However there’s little question that Liam Coen has unlocked Mayfield’s potential and helped take his sport to the subsequent stage. Mayfield has a really sturdy arm, however shouldn’t be the perfect deep ball thrower. Canales’ offense has extra vertical routes than Coen’s system does. With Coen’s offense, it’s all about getting the ball out of Mayfield’s hand rapidly and in rhythm. That’s why we’ve seen Mayfield’s completion proportion rise from 64.3% in 2023 to a career-best 71.7% this yr.

Coen does a significantly better job of scheming receivers open, too. That’s resulted in a career-high 39 touchdowns from Mayfield this season, which ranks tied for second with Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson and behind solely Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow, who has 42. Mayfield, who’s second in passing yards this yr with 4,279, is 4 landing passes away from breaking Tom Brady’s single-season Bucs report of 43 TDs, which occurred in 2021.

The truth that Coen has additionally allowed Mayfield to have a lot larger possession of the offense with extra freedom to name audibles can also be large. Underneath Coen, the Bucs usually huddle with two performs referred to as and Mayfield will go to the road, survey the protection and choose the perfect one primarily based on the pre-snap look he’s getting. That didn’t occur with Canales, and consequently, there have been instances when the play name was useless on arrival as a result of Mayfield didn’t have the freedom to name an audible.

QUESTION: Is Antoine Winfield Jr. going to be obtainable within the playoffs?

ANSWER: The Bucs actually hope so. Tampa Bay has missed Antoine Winfield Jr.’s management and playmaking potential within the secondary this yr. He’s solely performed in 9 video games, lacking 4 video games as a result of a foot harm he suffered within the season opener, after which 4 extra with a knee harm that occurred towards the Raiders a month in the past.

Winfield didn’t apply in any respect final week, and the guess right here is that he misses the season finale towards the Saints on Sunday. Had he participated even in a restricted vogue in final week’s practices, I might really feel higher about his return. Maybe that may happen within the first spherical of the playoffs.

It’s attention-grabbing to notice that the Bucs put beginning sturdy security Jordan Whitehead and beginning cornerback Jamel Dean on injured reserve this season, understanding that every would miss at the least a month’s price of motion with their pectoral and hamstring accidents, respectively. And reserve defensive again Christian Izien simply went on I.R. together with his personal pectoral harm final week.

Winfield didn’t go on injured reserve and but he’s nonetheless missed the final 4 video games. So maybe the knee harm was extra extreme than initially thought, or Winfield’s restoration has been slower than anticipated.