Buccaneers OC Jeff Tedford Takes Leave of Absence Due to Health Issues

Updates from Wednesday, Sept. 24

Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times reported on Jeff Tedford's status with the Buccaneers:

Original Text

Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford is reportedly taking a leave of absence from the team due to ongoing health issues. 

According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the Buccaneers want to make sure that Tedford is 100 percent before resuming his duties. 

Ed Werder of ESPN had information on a timetable for Tedford's return:

Tedford had a coronary angioplasty late in the preseason, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, and wasn't able to call plays for the Buccaneers in their season-opening loss against Carolina.

The day after Tampa Bay's loss against the Panthers, Tedford was back at the team's complex working with the offense, according to head coach Lovie Smith, via ESPN's Pat Yasinskas:

"We were really kind of gearing toward him being ready this week," Smith said. "He's in the office. He was in there early this morning, full-time, ready to go, leading the meetings. Hopefully, we're back on track. We need Jeff out there, of course."

After being able to call plays in Week 2 against St. Louis, ESPN's Chris Mortensen noted that Tedford didn't make the trip to Atlanta last week.

They have lost all three of their games and been outscored 95-45 in the process, including a 56-14 loss in Week 3 at Atlanta. The Buccaneers rank 30th in total yards and have the fewest passing yards in the NFL this season. 

Stroud also noted that the first half has been particularly troublesome for the Buccaneers offense and how Tedford's absence could be playing a role:

Some of the struggles can be attributed to using Josh McCown at quarterback, but the inconsistency on the coaching side certainly isn't helping things. Tedford has a well-earned reputation as a quarterback guru from his days coaching college with California. 

Unfortunately, health has severely limited the amount of work that Tedford has been able to do with McCown and the offense. For the Buccaneers, hopefully he gets better in order to fix the problems on the field. The bigger picture is making sure he's healthy and able to live a full, normal life. 

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