Out with the Old and In with the New for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Good bye Jon Gruden, Monte Kiffin, Bill Muir and Bruce Allen. Hello Raheem Morris, Jim Bates, Jeff Jagodzinski, and Mark Dominik. The mass exodus of coaches mean the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have significant changes on both sides of the ball.  

Offense:

Thankfully one of the first things Jeff Jagodzinski said when hired was it won’t take three years to learn his playbook. After seeing players getting lost trying to figure out Jon Gruden’s west coast offense Jagodzinski is focused on simplifying the terminology.

Jagodzinski is also determined to run the ball. The vision is “A downhill and physical [group]. We will run the lead zone, both strong and weak, inside and out, and we'll also run some gap schemes because of the personnel we have. We will run some power gap schemes; the zone scheme is dependent on the whole unit, not just one guy.” (quote courtesy of pewterreport.com)

The hope is they will have the type of success Oakland had last season. Oakland went from being 20th in the league in 2007 to 10th in the league in 2008 once they predominantly ran with zone schemes.

Just like Oakland the Buccaneers have had some change in running backs. Derrick Ward will be the speed change of pace back while Earnest Graham will have the brunt of the lead carries.    

Jeff Jagodzinski ran the ball 54 percent of the time his final season at Boston College. Considering the Buccaneers only ran the ball 45 percent of the time last season it should be a new direction for offense this year. Running the ball will be the primary goal for a change.

Defense:

The main focus on the defense is to fix their main deficiency. Jim Bates has a plan.

“We're going to use what the players were comfortable with under Monte in certain areas. The blend is going to be for the better. The fronts will change a little bit. We're a little more of a constant 4-3; we're not as much of an over and under front defense.” (quote courtesy of pewterreport.com) Jim Bates is trying to have the best of both worlds.

Under Monte Kiffin last season the Buccaneers were able to force 22 interceptions. Under a Jim Bates defense he would like to keep the zone at bay while implementing his “vectoring” system. A Bates defense is a regimented defense which is designed to cut off the running lanes.

In theory it could be a very novel defense, if they have the right players for it. So far in this mini camps Bates isn’t sure but excited to find out "We're throwing a lot at them. We're still trying to build a foundation. It's hard to say until we get into camp and see where they are mentally.” (quote courtesy of the St. Petersburg Times)

The “Tampa 2” zone will still have some resemblance under the new scheme. Though look for a new style to stop the run with everyone minding their assigned area.

General Management:

The biggest mover and shaker of the new group has been the one pulling the trigger, Mark Dominik. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers needed a receiving tight end that could go over the middle, Dominik went out and got the best available in Kellen Winslow.

After an injury plagued season at running back Dominik added depth with Derrick Ward.  Dominik also thought the quarter back for the future was in this years draft so he went and traded up to get Josh Freeman.

Dominik doesn’t shy away from controversy either. He made the tough decisions and cut the veteran players that were fan favorites but also a salary cap albatross. Time will tell if the moves were the correct decisions, though one thing was for sure, tough decisions needed to be made.

Head Coach:

The past seven seasons Jon Gruden’s platitudes finally have worn out. The offensive genius is out and now the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach is back in the hands of a defensive mind.

Raheem Morris has been running his practices the way you would expect, enthusiastically and fast.

It would be hard not to be enthusiastic around Morris since he seems to be always smiling and moving. Right now the goal is to get everyone in the best shape possible so they can run with Morris’s fast defensive plan and brand new offensive scheme. The offense will be more open and the defense will try to cut off the open running lanes.

The Buccaneers coaches might as well wear construction hats because that’s what it seems like they are doing. They’ve had to rebuild the foundation and it’s starting to look complete. The theory and plays are set on both sides of the ball, now the question is, do they have the players to carry it out?