1 week Ago By John Romano
By John Romano Tampa Bay Times TAMPA — You can move X’s. You can shift O’s. You can draw pretty pictures on every page of the playbook.
But there is more to being an offensive coordinator in the NFL than theories and plans. You need to understand the moment and recognize the situation. You need to be decisive, fearless and flexible.
When it comes to calling plays, you need to trust your gut. And your quarterback. It was during the commercial break between the third and fourth quarters Sunday when new offensive coordinator Liam Coen debated whether to stick with the call the Bucs had dialed up for a third-and-7 play from the Washington 32.
Maybe, he thought, the Commanders would call a zero blitz to potentially force the Bucs out of field-goal range. Maybe, he pondered, it would be better to call a screen play to take advantage of what he expected would be a ferocious pass rush. But Baker Mayfield wanted to go for broke, and insisted the original play would work.
“That wasn’t a third-down play that we use. It was a red-zone play we have that I thought might be a hard cover for them,” Coen said. “Baker and I went back and forth on it.
He loves the play so I said, ‘All right, let’s keep it on.’ ” Rookie receiver Jalen McMillan was split wide right and went in motion when Mayfield began barking signals. As the ball was snapped, McMillan cut upfield between Chris Godwin and tight end Cade Otton.
Cornerback Mike Sainristil and safety Jeremy Chinn were momentarily befuddled about which receiver to cover and McMillan ended up wide open while curling toward the corner of the end zone. Mayfield hit McMillan in stride for his first NFL reception — and first touchdown — and the Bucs pretty much stomped any hope out of the Commanders for what turned out to be a 37-20 opening-game victory. And while the crowd cheered and the players celebrated in the end zone, Mayfield turned toward the sideline and emphatically pointed at Coen.
“Pretty pleased with how everything went,” Coen said. You think? In their previous 36 games in the post-Tom Brady era, including the postseason, the Bucs had scored 37 or more points just once. And now Coen, in his first game as a primary play-caller in the NFL, just directed an attack that included four touchdown passes, 112 rushing yards and no turnovers.
“I thought Liam called a great game,” Mayfield said. It wasn’t perfect. Coen alluded to that repeatedly, and so did head coach Todd Bowles.
The Bucs had three first-half drives stall short of the goal line and had to settle for field goals. They also struggled to run the ball early in the game and Mayfield had to scramble more than the Bucs would have liked. On the other hand, the Bucs had eight offensive possessions and scored on seven of them.
“It’s a pretty player-friendly scheme for us all to pick up and really dial into,” said left tackle Tristan Wirfs. “When we’re playing fast and have confidence and fly around, I think that’s when good things happen.” The anticipation was that this scheme would be more flexible and diverse than what the Bucs did last season with Dave Canales as offensive coordinator or in 2022 with Byron Leftwich.
It had more pre-snap motion than what we’ve been used to seeing and the running game attacked Washington from multiple angles. But the most noticeable difference was also the most important: Receivers getting separation from defenders in the secondary. It helps that McMillan brings a new dynamic as a third receiving threat along with Godwin and Mike Evans, but it also matters that the Bucs are running a greater variety of routes from the same basic formations.
“That’s a pretty high first start, right?” Godwin said. “There was some plays that we could have executed a lot better on. But I think, for our first game, Liam would probably say he’s pretty happy with how he was calling things.
” Coen bemoaned the lack of play-action passes he called. And he fretted that the Bucs could have topped 40 points if they had just converted one of those drives into a touchdown instead of a field goal. But standing in a hallway outside the locker room with a constant stream of players and coaches walking past and patting him on the shoulder, Coen did recognize the importance of having success with a unit that was working on its third offensive coordinator in as many seasons.
“You want them to look at it and say, ‘Yeah it works. All the work we put in, all the time we put in, it worked.’ ” Coen said.
“You don’t think this way but, you know, you don’t want to come out the first week and stink.” Mission accomplished. John Romano can be reached at jromano@tampabay.
com.
