Tampa Bay Buccaneers 'Got To Get Better At Everything' Next Season

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles wants to see his team grow on every level.
In this story:

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers surprised a lot of people this season by winning the NFC South Division, a Wild Card Round playoff game, and making it to the Divisional Round before exiting the postseason tournament.

First-year Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales impressed so much as a rookie play-caller that he got the head coaching job for the Carolina Panthers. 

Former Buccaneers' OC Releases Statement After Leaving For Carolina Panthers

And quarterback Baker Mayfield surprised everyone and is expected to draw a multi-year offer from Tampa Bay because of it.

Still, falling short of a Super Bowl is always going to be considered falling short of team goals, and coach Todd Bowles wants to see his team get better in 2024. At every level.

“We’ve got to get better at everything," Bowles said when asked where he wants his team to improve next year. "Coaching-wise, you want to get better at situational football all the way around. Defensively, I know for sure third downs we’ve got to get better at. We used to be good in two-minute [situations] – we gave up some two-minute plays. We could look back and point at a myriad of things. We’d like to get the running game even better than it was – it got better, but we could get it better. We’d like to have a better return game on special teams. There’s a lot of things we can get better at from a coaching standpoint. There are a lot of things to get better at from a teaching standpoint and from a playing standpoint. That’s just coaching. That’s constant football for us.”

It's going to be hard to get better on offense considering most quarterbacks regress in their first year with a new coordinator and system. 

Obviously, if Mayfield returns to the Buccaneers he'll have a new offensive coordinator, and assuming that coach is one he hasn't played for yet in the NFL it'll be his eighth in seven years.

Carolina Panthers Request Permission To Interview Buccaneers Wide Receivers Coach

Given how often the quarterback has had to adapt to new coaches perhaps its his version of normal, but once again we'll be resigned to asking what would happen if Mayfield got some consistency. 

Meanwhile, Bowles will be aiming for improved offense, despite the changes coming.

Stick with BucsGameday for more coverage of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throughout the offseason.

Follow BucsGameday on Twitter and Facebook


Published
David Harrison
DAVID HARRISON

David Harrison has been in sports media since 2015 using written, audio, and video media to cover athletes, coaches, and games. In addition to covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for BucsGameday and Locked On Bucs he also covers the Washington Commanders for Commander Country and Locked On Commanders and the Washington Wizards for Inside the Wizards. David also covers the NFL as a whole as one of the Friday hosts for Locked On NFL. He is a graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and previously spent 20 years as an active member of the United States Army. Contact David via email at david.w.harrison82@gmail.com or on Twitter @DHarrison82.