Byron Leftwich has answers to Bucs’ offensive woes, just not specific ones

TAMPA — The pressure came at the former quarterback from both sides Thursday. Byron Leftwich, hardly a dual threat even in his heyday, couldn’t sidestep it.

He likely anticipated the blitz of questions bearing down on him, knowing they were unavoidable:

Why not protect your rookie left guard against the Steelers’ top havoc-wreaker? Why the predictable run plays to the left side on first down? Why not try to exploit the Steelers’ injury-besieged secondary with more downfield shots?

Leftwich had no recourse but to remain stationary in his discomfort zone. In lieu of juking, he generalized.

“We’re always doing the best thing for us, what we feel is the best thing at the time,” the Bucs’ fourth-year offensive coordinator said in his first media appearance since Sunday’s unsightly 20-18 loss in Pittsburgh.

“Regardless of if it works or not, we’re always trying to do the best thing at that time for it to work. When it don’t work, it don’t work. We’ve got to get to the drawing board, I’ve got to coach it better, we’ll play it better.”

Such is the current state of a once-prolific group: Nine months after regularly rolling out a unit that averaged 30.1 points and 405.9 yards, the offensive coordinator is playing defense.

Leftwich’s offense ranks last in the NFL in rushing (67.5 yards per game) and 20th in scoring (20.2 ppg). Tom Brady’s average intended air yards (a metric that shows how far the ball is being thrown downfield) has dropped noticeably from last season (8.0 to 7.4, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats). And rookie left guard Luke Goedeke ranks first in the NFL in quarterback pressures allowed (32).

Most significantly, the Bucs (3-3) have lost three of their last four.

“People probably have been waiting for years to say this stuff, right? To really get it out and say what they need to say,” Leftwich said.

“We understand we’re not playing our best football, but I trust this group, I trust the coaching staff. We’ll keep working, and we’ll try to get it turned around. That’s all we can really do. Now we’re a 3-3 football team, a lot of people may already have thrown dirt on us, right? We’ll see. We understand we’ve got a lot of football left.”

A day earlier, first-year coach Todd Bowles bristled when asked if he has considered seeking offensive ideas from predecessor Bruce Arians, now the senior advisor to general manager Jason Licht. He also said this year’s offense — missing tight end Rob Gronkowski, wide receiver Antonio Brown, guards Ali Marpet and Alex Cappa and, for now, injured center Ryan Jensen — is noticeably different this year.

Leftwich echoed that observation Thursday.

“That’s the biggest difference. It’s not the same team,” he said.

“So we’re working new people in. We’re trying to get to a point where we’re playing our better football later in the year. But in the process, you’ve still got to do enough to win games like that last Sunday. So we understand that. We’re still working on it.”

But how, exactly? On most points raised Thursday, Leftwich remained vague.

• Why not provide more help for Goedeke in his head-to-head matchups with Steelers All-Pro tackle Cam Heyward? “I’ve got to do a better job of helping him out in those situations,” Leftwich said. “Obviously it wasn’t that simple, but I’ve just got to do a better job of helping him out.”

• At what point does first-down predictability (i.e. handoffs to Leonard Fournette) become a concern? “Well I look at what I’m doing as a play-caller every week, right? I look to see what I’m doing. Obviously, everybody had their opinion, had those opinions, really, since I’ve been here. Understandable. But we’re always doing the right thing that we feel is (good) for our ball club.”

• Why not more runs behind your best linemen (right guard Shaq Mason, right tackle Tristan Wirfs)? “We’re always doing the best thing for us, what we feel is the best thing at the time. Regardless of it works or not, we’re always trying to do the best thing at that time for it to work.”

• Why not challenge a Steelers secondary missing all four starters? “Well, it’s easier to say. A lot of things happened in that game that I really won’t go into detail, we just didn’t do a good enough job really executing really on any down.”

Brady also bemoaned his unit’s overall execution when pressed on the perceived play-calling predictability (though the first-down run-pass ratio was nearly 50-50 Sunday).

“I think our problems are an execution problem,” he said.

“Yeah, if you hand it off on first down and you don’t gain yards, it’s difficult because you’re in second-and-long. But if you do gain yards, you’re in second-and-short, and you have a great selection of plays.

“Again, I think it’s not as much play selection as when you run it, you want to be efficient when you run it. When you throw it, you want to be efficient when you throw it.”

In the quest for that efficiency, no cliche will be spared. As Leftwich reiterated, the Bucs will resort to the drawing board, continue chipping wood, try to coach better, and play better.

“We understand where we’re at,” he said. “We’re just going to keep chipping, keep working. I still like who I have, who we are, the coaching staff. Same coaching staff, same everything. We’re just going to keep working and try to get this thing turned around.”

Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls

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