Liam Coen Stoked To Work With Bucs Offense
March 14th, 2024
Having fun.
It’s early March in the midst of college basketball tournaments. It’s not even St. Patrick’s Day. Shoot, the Bucs haven’t had an OTA practice yet and if they could, there is no practice field to use at One Buc Palace.
(The practice fields are torn up and being re-sodded.)
But new Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen will have you know he’s having a total blast. One reason he’s so fired up is that he’s back in the NFL. Coen spoke with reporters yesterday at the One Buc Palace gathering for Baker Mayfield re-upping with the Bucs.
A reason Coen is so pumped is that, well, look at his roster. On one side of the field Coen has a future Hall of Famer in Mike Evans. On the the other side is Pro Bowl-caliber receiver Chris Godwin. Then he’s got an emerging star pass catcher in the backfield in Rachaad White.
Why wouldn’t Coen not have a smile on his face?
So yesterday when Coen was crowing about having so much fun in his first weeks as Bucs offensive coordinator, Joe asked him about those weapons. Coen agreed and started bragging about Evans.
“There is no doubt that [the weapons] is a huge part of it,” Coen said of his excitement to come to work each day. “I have been around some really good wide receivers. But never really a true X. Like a true guy that can line up and win one-on-ones wherever he is.
“That is something that is fun, right? That’s a tool. That’s a piece to this whole puzzle.”
Coen said it’s going to be a blast being able to scheme ways for Evans to get open, knowing that defenses are already keying on him.
“As soon as you get into the workweek, the defense has to be planning for that,” Coen said about matching wits with defensive coaches. “And so that’s something that we can use to our advantage in multiple different ways.”
This is the most fun he’s had as a coach, Coen believes, with the possible exception of one other time.
“Similar feeling when I went to Kentucky the first time. ‘It’s yours,” Coen said of being the chief playcaller.
“And it’s ours. When you collaborate and do things together. Yeah, I bring the verbiage and the terminology but if there is something they did last year and it fits, I can adjust to it.”
Coen noted that before coaching for Sean McVay and the Rams, he crafted an offense from what McVay designed. Now, Coen is in control.
“It is not about me or mine,” Coen corrected reporters when referencing “his” offense. “It is being in a leadership position to be in a collaborative state of mind and environment. And that’s what this place is.”
Hopefully Coen won’t throw what worked last year in the trash. Incorporate it, maybe tweak it if you must as not to telegraph a play, but dang if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.
Former Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales found new and inventive ways to use Evans — and this comes from Evans himself. So why not build on that?
March 14th, 2024 at 9:03 am
They’re after me Lucky Charms!
March 14th, 2024 at 9:08 am
Go Bucs
March 14th, 2024 at 9:19 am
I have a strange feeling that Coen may be a better version of Canales.
March 14th, 2024 at 9:22 am
This guy better be able to bring it or the Gomer Pyle references will be dropping daily.
I just don’t get the Canales love affair. Putting your team consistently in 3rd and long is not a good game plan after a couple of runs for 1 and 2 yards.
March 14th, 2024 at 9:28 am
Sur-prise, sur-prise, sur-prise!
Hope he can call good 1st and 2nd down plays. It would be a nice surprise.
March 14th, 2024 at 9:31 am
I like what I’m hearing. Too many times last season when Evans was double covered, the coaching staff didn’t have a plan b.
March 14th, 2024 at 9:36 am
need a dominate center and, running back depth
March 14th, 2024 at 9:40 am
Looks kind of like pee wee Herman..
March 14th, 2024 at 9:46 am
LFG
March 14th, 2024 at 9:46 am
I am VERY comfortable with this guy!
March 14th, 2024 at 9:49 am
Who cares what he looks like. Dont need buddy to win beauty pageants , need him to be a mastermind in that playbook period!
March 14th, 2024 at 9:52 am
Along with Evans, Godwin and White – I would add up and coming field stretcher Trey Palmer to the mix.
March 14th, 2024 at 10:06 am
Just lock Todd in the closet and stay away from him during the games. When it’s 4th and 1 in a critical game, pretend you didn’t hear him calling for the punt team when his defense is getting gashed for 400+ yards passing, and have the creative 4th and 1 conversion playbook well oiled.
March 14th, 2024 at 10:09 am
JOE: “Hopefully Coen won’t throw what worked last year in the trash.”
What worked, again?
31st ranked rush
19th ranked offense (27th most of the year)
9 points vs Carolina
It certainly wasn’t rush the A Gap on 1st down. Scramble and pray on 3rd down worked. Not sure I want to keep doing that, though. Canales was horrible. There is more to throw out than to keep.
March 14th, 2024 at 10:19 am
The offense last year improved as Canales took more autonomy away from the Toadster and started using play action on first down a bit. Coen just needs to nod his head at the Toadster and then do what really needs to be done to score points rather than wanting 18 play drives that consume time and result in a punt or a field goal.
Oh yeah, and then there’s the ever elusive fast start. Under the Toadster, might as well start in the second quarter down 10-0. What a miracle it would be to start with an opening drive touchdown and then hold the opponent to an opening drive punt. Miracles are possible.
March 14th, 2024 at 10:28 am
Going to be a lot of Run Run Pass early on. Although it didn’t result in rushing yards it allowed Bucs to be 8th in the amount of play action used. Where he may have to do some compensating/tweaking is his pr!ck is a little shorter when compared to the Big Boys. Average yards per attempt among teams using play action the most is 10+ yards per attempt and Bucs were right around 7.
When DB’s can predict that Play action is Run, Screen or short Route they are going to start jumping them and it will get ugly.
Like a pitcher the second time through the lineup. You won’t surprise the good ones.
March 14th, 2024 at 10:28 am
I hope the first play of the season is a play action bomb, because everybody expects us to run up the gut
March 14th, 2024 at 10:50 am
I hear you Beej. How about a flea flicker.
March 14th, 2024 at 11:47 am
@SlyPirate… I was thinking the same damn thing. This team isn’t exactly short on talent, to where we could really see how good the scheme was. I think it was the talent that made the scheme and/or play calling look better than what it was.
I didn’t see anything special, in fact during large portions of the season it was agonizing and predictable. It was tough to see this offense open up against Green Bay and the Jags and to follow-up that up with horrible performances against the Saints, and Carolina. Coen should be an upgrade given this guy has actually schemed and called plays.
March 14th, 2024 at 11:54 am
I don’t think we had a single touchdown on our opening drive last year. It was at the point I was hoping we would just always defer and take the ball 1st in the second half.
I thought canales improved over the year a hoped a second year would see improvement but him leaving to carolina was a good move up for him. Hard to say no to opportunities like that. Lets hope Coen does good things here and gets the team fired up early.
March 14th, 2024 at 12:22 pm
In the world of stats, do they track what % of drives reach third down? I’m thinking we were #1 in that list
March 14th, 2024 at 12:54 pm
I’m looking forward to seeing if he can get the running game going. When he was with the rams as OC he had one of the worst rushing attacks in football. I’m suprise that haven’t been pointed out by anyone. Akers and Williams were in that backfield with the rams so we will see what he can do with White and company but his run blocking schemes were not good at all with Los Angeles.
March 14th, 2024 at 1:39 pm
First time that Mike Evans will play for an OC that is younger than he is. That’s an interesting dynamic. Coen has a surprising amount of coaching experience for a guy who’s only 28.
March 14th, 2024 at 1:43 pm
38
^^mtn^^
March 14th, 2024 at 1:48 pm
I know what didn’t work, too meaningless runs on 1st and 2nd down putting the QB and the entire offense in a hole to dig out of on 3rd and long. Defenses knew they were going to have to pass and amazingly they still converted 41% of the time (ranking 9th) . That says more about the team that Canales
March 14th, 2024 at 2:04 pm
Have to agree, lots of head scratching moments last season & it seems the common denominator was Todd.
Will get another season to observe & see how it shakes out with Coen
^^mtn^^
Since ’76
March 14th, 2024 at 2:09 pm
One thing that didnt work, and we dont spend near enough time talking sbout,
Was our Poor TE production.
Horrible.
I realize that Otton got pushed in to starting before he was ready. That showed all season. He did improve at the enf of the year.
But even if Otton proves serviceable, we still need another quality TE.
I really like what We saw of Payne Durham. But I think ges still a year out.
We have other, Critical needs.
Pass rush, guard, center.
You cant fix everything. But A TE is such a huge part of most successful
Offenses ( think KC and San Fran), that we are really doing Mayfirld a disservice- by not aquiring him a dependable pass catching TE
March 14th, 2024 at 2:19 pm
I, too, think Coen could be a better schemer than Canales was. I’m not sure he will be a better cheerleader than Canales was though.
March 14th, 2024 at 2:44 pm
@Capt. Tim
Really like Sinott, he may still be there in the 4th.
More of a complete TE than anyone on the roster right now. Big potential.
^^mtn^^
Since ’76
March 14th, 2024 at 3:50 pm
What I don’t get about this guy is… is he a ginger or is the red in the background just making him look like a ginger?
Personally, I’m not hiring any ginger, they lack souls and don’t have the same ability to feel like real people do.
March 14th, 2024 at 3:59 pm
Lets just hope his offense doesnt look anything like Kentuckys or the 2022 Rams
March 14th, 2024 at 4:04 pm
Canales gets knocked for the “run run pass” but he sure did know how to scheme guys open….
Id argue that forcing the run too much is better than forcing the pass like Leftwhich tried to do in 2022
March 15th, 2024 at 4:43 am
Lmao @Rod
March 15th, 2024 at 8:19 am
Canales held Baker back with his establish the run idiocy.. Coen will set Baker free. Baker is making GB etter decisions now than when he was with the Browns.
March 15th, 2024 at 8:22 am
Rod I am a ginger and have two ginger sons. What you just said qualifies for a hate crime. If you said that about Bowles hair color and texture you would be in jail.
March 15th, 2024 at 8:29 am
Rod that comment is not funny. You are not judging people on the content of their character. What if somebody cracked a joke about your hair or skin color?
March 15th, 2024 at 11:41 am
The bucs need to greatly improve on the run game. Of course teams are going to focus more on Evans and Godwin because they can’t run the ball. Pretty much one dimensional