Bruce Arians: “Nothing Scripted” For Josh Grizzard
May 14th, 2025
So how will the Bucs get their 34-year-old rookie, first-time playcaller ready for the regular season, which includes a Week 1 showdown in Atlanta followed by a trip to Houston for Monday Night Football?
Bucco Bruce Arians has some ideas.
Since Todd Bowles fired Arians’ preferred playcaller, Byron Leftwich, the legendary retired head coach hasn’t had much to say publicly about new Bucs offensive coordinators.
Tampa Bay replaced Leftwich with Dave Canales (2023) followed by Liam “El Serpiente” Coen in 2024, and now Josh Grizzard has his shot.
During a Barstool sports appearance last year, Arians gushed over the job Coen was doing. He almost seemed stunned by the success.
Speaking last night to Evan Closky of WTSP-TV, Ch. 10, Arians said one key for Grizzard will be unscripted work in practice and preseason.
Arians said he would do that repeatedly, especially for training a playcaller.
“”We’d have open practices, offenses versus defenses. Just call the plays — nothing scripted,” Arians said. “And it really helps the playcallers on both sides. So yeah, I think with that and the preseason games, you get a rhythm of playcalling — who you’re going to ask for help, ‘everybody be quiet; I got this.’
You know, so it takes a little time.”
Joe isn’t doubting Grizzard, but damn, he’s taking over a Ferrari of an offense and the Bucs can’t afford to show up in Week 1 with a minivan.
Big spring and summer ahead for Grizzard.
May 14th, 2025 at 1:14 pm
Not that much will change.
It’s the same calls just different variations.
Still Baker throwing to Mike and Chris and Jalen and Egbuka and Johnson
Bucky and White and Tucker running behind a top 5 offensive line.
You really just have to learn what plays you like.
May 14th, 2025 at 1:17 pm
thankfully Grizz was already in the room with Baker so he knows what he likes and doesnt like, not too concerned as if I remember correctly Grizz drew up 3rd down plays where the offense excelled in 2024
May 14th, 2025 at 1:18 pm
Run up the middle on 1st down.
May 14th, 2025 at 1:18 pm
The problem with Ferraris is that if you don’t know how to drive them, you can crash them pretty easily.
Let’s hope we don’t end up in the ditch by week 3…
May 14th, 2025 at 1:25 pm
Sly,
Canalas loved that play. R White not so much.
May 14th, 2025 at 1:29 pm
Arians is a good man keeping it professional. I disagree about Coen though. His cutesy plays were horrific for us. Nothing to gush over.
Agree with Bucfan1 and BillyBucco. Grizz already played a key part. May have been the hidden gem all along.
May 14th, 2025 at 1:30 pm
I know I keep repeating myself, but you really can’t oversell how incredible of a job Coen was doing last year keeping defense off balance. Not only was he fantastic at play calling, the formations and movement rarely let defense get comfortable. It’s always fun to listen to other teams podcasts after we beat them – and from professional ones with ex-players, they’d all gush about how good the Bucs scheme was, in addition to how physical the Bucs offensive line was. Also I rarely heard them being overly impressed with Baker, they generally would talk about how he did a good job taking what was there. But what they universally loved was the scheme, and you’d hear over and over again, “why aren’t we running this.”
So again I just hope The Grizz doesn’t pull a Leftwich and think he’ll “improve” the offense with his own genius. Just keep doing what was working.
May 14th, 2025 at 1:54 pm
This offensive line up sound pretty great. I think we need a beast Tight end and I miss the days of having a power back like Alstott or Blount. Add a few pieces like that and they’d be unstoppable in my opinion. TE room is promising, but I’m talking stud TE
May 14th, 2025 at 2:00 pm
It’s all up to Baker and I think it’s going to be a great transition. Baker for MVP
May 14th, 2025 at 2:04 pm
So, what the hell you got against minivans. Very dependable. They get the job done. Just saying!
May 14th, 2025 at 2:05 pm
Ferrari of an offense
That’s hilarious. Ferrari in the regular season maybe. Let’s see how this guy calls plays before yall buy Superbowl tickets.
Hopefully at his worst he’s like Canales.
May 14th, 2025 at 2:06 pm
@jude, top 5 offense in his rookie season as an NFL play caller and you say nothing to gush over lol. If you’re talking about the “cutesy” end around, you should probably look at execution and blame those responsible. The play calls were there, it’s up to the players to execute. Jmac would’ve picked up at least 10 yards if not more had he and Baker not missed handled the exchange.
Coens offense was a breath of fresh air. Was he perfect? No, but at least he was unpredictable which also showed up in the off season…
May 14th, 2025 at 2:09 pm
Giving way too much credit to these offensive coordinators. If that minivan is powered by a 454 engine (Mayfield) you’ll still end up passing everyone.
May 14th, 2025 at 2:12 pm
I’m on the side that thought Coen was an improvement over Canales but, unlike many of the commenters here, I thought the calls for Red to replace Todd were beyond Stoopid.
Grizz absolutely played a BIG part in our success last year. He will (I suspect) keep the core philosophy of 1 alignment/multiple plays with options at the line for Baker. I think we’ll see more motion @snap, more pony personnel, more explosive plays.
Sounds like Bruce is just repeating what we’ve already been told…. Todd’s going to throw the kitchen sink at him defensively in practice and Grizz will be calling (unscripted) plays in an attempt to get him up to speed asap.
May 14th, 2025 at 2:15 pm
Jason Licht and his staff have only gotten better when scouting for coaches. The Brady influence most definitely helped, but Licht put the personnel together and knows the type of person and character it takes to get the job done.
Licht has most definitely applied what he’s learned over the years and honed in on the skill it takes to be successful in the interim as well as the future. Lots to be excited about.
May 14th, 2025 at 2:34 pm
JustOneGame – Yes, Coen wasn’t perfect. That is for sure.
In my own opinion and courteously, it felt as though Coen was auditioning for a coaching gig at the end of the season. He had one team interested. If he was so good, there would have been plenty teams interviewing him. We will see how he does in Jacksonville and come back and talk about it mid season. Also, his professionalism at the end was not desirable either.
May 14th, 2025 at 2:58 pm
BA’s handpicked OC Leftwhich had nothing scripted for him either…
May 14th, 2025 at 2:58 pm
Had a mini van with a brush guard like a train and mud tires on the farm I’ll take that over a Ferrari any day lol fun times.
May 14th, 2025 at 3:08 pm
Can’t get a sheet of plywood in a Ferrari. if you are in heavy traffic I don’t see an advantage.
Tampa’s Potofino M is very nice. That is until they line up to next to Green Bay’s new 2025 Purodangue and the Lions top of the line Daytona SP3
Gentlemen Start You engines.
May 14th, 2025 at 3:24 pm
The danger comes with too many options. It can make a play caller lazy. There can also be problems juggling plays to keep all players engaged. There is potential for the greatest offense we have ever seen and also the potential for a big letdown. The playmaker need to kept their egos in check. We already know if Godwin isn’t getting enough touches his wife will be whining.
May 14th, 2025 at 3:31 pm
Follow the Marcus Arroyo run run pass approach. Never fails.
May 14th, 2025 at 3:31 pm
It is amazing how well we did passing the ball when almost everything we ran was in a box. We rarely threw downfield, as Joe documented many times, yet our guys were still open and able to complete passes and get first downs and touchdowns. I love, and prefer, a lot of downfield plays but last year worked very, very well. I expect this year to be much of the same really.
May 14th, 2025 at 4:04 pm
as long as we use a similar blocking scheme with motion
May 14th, 2025 at 4:08 pm
My first concern about the shorter game was ME13, but he only averaged about 2 yards less per catch
May 14th, 2025 at 4:20 pm
First 4 games are falcons texans and jets eagles at home
May 14th, 2025 at 5:39 pm
This is yet another reason we hope our D has improved as much as it appears to have on paper.
As the Bucs say, Iron sharpens iron. Hopefully the O and the D really challenge each other this year,
May 14th, 2025 at 6:30 pm
Too bad we don’t have a full time DC working for a full time HC. The comments in the linked article were very telling. Now we have to hope what was found in the lab fixes the D, and doesn’t ripen into a festering stank..
May 14th, 2025 at 6:45 pm
I think the old Ferrari gear box is getting some much needed synthetic gear lube and will hum along and shift better at higher RPS’s.
May 14th, 2025 at 6:49 pm
Yes, the great Bruce Arians offensive coaching tree of Sluggo Leftwich and Freddie Kitchens.
May 14th, 2025 at 6:54 pm
I’ve seen peeps on this site gush about Coen during the regular season and cull him for the loss to Washington. I think the Buc’s will come out firing on all cylinders from the first game for many reasons, not the least of which is Grizzard seems really in tune with his offense and they all seem to want to put the foot down and just trounce everyone they play. I have this feeling that the offense is more than pissed at how last season ended, defense too but more so the offense. I can see this season being the best in franchise history. Hope so.
May 14th, 2025 at 6:55 pm
Sad now, bumped into a sharp object.
May 14th, 2025 at 8:00 pm
Ws baby!!!!!
Ferreri or minivan I could care less.
Just WIN!!!!!
May 14th, 2025 at 9:05 pm
Really embarrassing you dullards trying to make it out like you’re happy driving your wifes minivan. You’re whipped, you quit on life, everyone knows it. Stop pretending that you wouldn’t rather be driving a Ferrari or BMW or Mercedes, that the minivan life is great. It’s not, it’s cringe.
May 14th, 2025 at 9:09 pm
Chrysler Town and Country Limited. One of the finer vehicles ever built. Had 3 or 4 of them. Miss them, always rent one when I travel. I think they call them Pacifica now.
May 14th, 2025 at 9:54 pm
I rather drive your mom around like a Flintstone car like a neighborhood golf cart.
I don’t drive European trash I drive American made garbage ..tesla and dodge punks
May 14th, 2025 at 11:59 pm
“heyjude” – aren’t all offensive coordinators “auditioning” for their next job!? That’s just the ‘reality’ of situation with how it works. Comes with the territory. Especially, for a ‘30-something’ year-old, who’s lifelong DREAM is to be a head coach. Come-on. You’re just all butt hurt and being bitter. That JAX Offense (if healthy) is probably going to CRUSH-IT, right!? You already know this. They are looking VERY SCARY. If Lawrence is the real-deal, Cohen will showing him off. They have weapons.
May 15th, 2025 at 4:17 am
MelvinJunior – Our players were crushing it. Coen wasn’t on the field. They were. Baker, Mike, and all the others made him look good. And this season again, our offense will do well. Grizz has been the gem within that group too. He will do well.
Coen was unprofessional in the way he handled leaving the Bucs. He showed us who he was in the end.