The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have been NFC South champs and earned home-field advantage their wild-card game against the Dallas Cowboys, but their season was far from impressive. The Bucs went 8-9 and stood no chance against the Cowboys on Monday night, losing 31-14 and struggling on all sides of the ball.
The Bucs offense was not up to par this season, leaving offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich's job in jeopardy. There are some rumblings that he could be fired this offseason, but no moves have been made yet.
When asked whether the team will be parting ways with Leftwich, Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles did not give much away.
"No, there hasn't been any decision," Bowles said at his end of the year press conference.
He was also asked how he would evaluate Leftwich's season, but again the head coach did not give much away.
"We're evaluating players," he said. "We'll meet as a coaching staff later in the week and I'll meet with individual coaches as well as the staff — which we do every year — and we'll make those assessments then. I don't want to sit here and say we're talking about things when I haven't even talked through things with my coaches. We do our yearly assessment just like we do with the players."
The offense looked lost in their playoff game and often looked lost during the season. They were last in the league in rushing yards, 15th in total yards and 25th in points scored. Being in a division of all teams under .500 is the only reason their season was extended into the playoffs.
Leftwich's job is not the only question mark for the Bucs offense as they head into the offseason -- their quarterback will also need to make a big decision on his future. Tom Brady has yet to announce if he is staying in Tampa next year, and if he is staying in the NFL at all for that matter. At 45 years old, retirement would not be that shocking, but this is No. 12 we are talking about and he always seems to have more left in the tank.
After a disappointing season with the Buccaneers, there are rumors he could be jumping ship, with the Las Vegas Raiders, Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers a few teams emerging as possible landing spots.
