New Bucs OC Dave Canales trying to construct ‘harmful’ offense

Dave Canales admits the final time he known as performs wasn’t on the NFL and even the faculty degree, however in 2005 because the junior varsity coach at Carson High in California.

The 41-year-old will achieve this this fall for the Buccaneers as their new offensive coordinator, after 13 years as a Seahawks assistant beneath Pete Carroll, however he is optimistic he can deal with a problem he is been working towards for years.

“I know that I’m going to take some lumps and have to learn my lessons along the way, but I’ll learn quick,” he mentioned Wednesday, talking with reporters for the primary time in his new job. “I am a quick study. I have guys with playcalling experience on this staff and I’m going to lean on them, bounce ideas off of them and packaging things. I really do respect that part of it. It’s something that I am really excited about. I really have been chomping at the bit just trying to get an opportunity.”

Canales coached beneath three offensive coordinators in Seattle and discovered from every by way of not solely offensive scheme and playcalling, however one of the best ways to assist gamers perceive an offense and why it really works. His greatest affect, nonetheless, is Carroll, who he began with at USC in 2009 and has labored with for all of his tenure in Seattle.

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“What I saw firsthand, which kind of became ingrained in who I am with my football DNA, was a real toughness and style of how we play,” he mentioned. “Training the staff, training the players in the critical variables that help us win games.”

Carroll, in a press release launched by the Seahawks, had reward for Canales as somebody who introduced vitality to his teaching workers and discovered from everybody round him to get to the place he’s as we speak.

“He understands the game,” Carroll mentioned. “It comes easy to him, and he has a brilliant mind about offense, scheme, approach, and principle … He is one of the young guys that’s really at the cutting edge of it all and he understands all of the new game. He always stays abreast and studies what goes on in college football. He has a great awareness of the growth of the game and how it has changed over the years.”

Canales has just one quarterback beneath contract for 2023 proper now, in 2021 second-round choose Kyle Trask, who has been the Bucs’ No. 3 passer the final two years behind Tom Brady and Blaine Gabbert. Tampa Bay will signal a veteran to compete for the job this fall — maybe somebody very similar to Geno Smith was a yr in the past — however Canales is inspired by what he is seen of Trask.

“I really liked him coming out (of college),” Canales mentioned. “If you look at some of the skill position players he had there, Kyle Pitts, Kadarius Toney, who had the big return in the Super Bowl, Dameon Pierce. He was able to distribute, and the thing we’re going to help Kyle continue to build on here is to just be a point guard. Point guards don’t have to be the one that scores all the points. You just distribute. Play on time, get the ball out of your hands. Life’s better that way when you do that. You’ve got these bears chasing you. If you don’t like bears chasing you, then get rid of the ham.”

Canales mentioned his offense will begin with defending the ball and specializing in limiting turnovers and errors. He factors to new working backs coach Skip Peete, who spent the final three years in the identical position with the Cowboys, who had zero fumbles misplaced by their working backs in all of final season.

His first precedence is rewriting the Bucs’ offensive playbook — he makes use of the phrase “no synonyms” to emphasize the significance of all coaches and gamers utilizing the identical phrases and talking the identical language, with new terminology from what he helped create in Seattle. He’ll have two top-tier receivers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, and may have extra of a dedication to the run sport after Tampa Bay completed final within the league in yards per sport and yards per carry final season. He’ll have to guage the present personnel prematurely of free company and the draft, however over the following six months, a brand new offense will evolve.

“This is not the Seahawks. This is not the Buccaneers of 2022. This is our new team,” he mentioned. “What scope can they handle? And then just do a little bit more so that we are not predictable and so that teams cannot just pick us apart.”

And if there are issues a few dropoff in Tampa following the departure of a high-profile quarterback, Canales has been there earlier than. Last yr, Seattle buying and selling Russell Wilson to the Broncos had expectations extraordinarily low, and the Seahawks discovered success with quarterback Geno Smith, successful extra video games than that they had with Wilson in 2021 and returning to the playoffs.

“I think he will do a great job of playcalling,” Carroll mentioned. “He has always been around the game to understand how to be innovative, creative, and also be bold and take shots, but yet have the baseline of an attack that gives you a chance to be really good.”

The particulars of what the Bucs do properly on offense will develop over the upcoming season — they transfer ahead with out Brady at quarterback, making an attempt to offset the inevitable drop-off there and exceed expectations as soon as once more.

“There will be days, if they’re not fitting the runs right, we’ll run the ball 40 times and there will be days where you’ve got a matchup outside with Mike or Chris Godwin and we’re blocking them pretty (well) and we can throw for 400-plus yards,” he mentioned. “That’s happened in our past in Seattle, as well. It’s just like, ‘Do whatever it takes to win and above all, take care of the ball’. So, having that balance is critical and it’s not about establishing the run, it’s about establishing an attacking offense that makes you have to defend the run but also defend the pass. Then that’s when you become dangerous.”

Greg Auman is FOX Sports’ NFC South reporter, protecting the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints. He is in his tenth season protecting the Bucs and the NFL full-time, having frolicked on the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can observe him on Twitter at @gregauman.  

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