The Buccaneers had offensive coordinator Todd Monken call the offensive plays for the first eight games of the 2018 season, but head coach and former playcaller Dirk Koetter took the job back in Week 10.
After the 16-3 loss to Washington, Koetter said only that he “had my reasons” for the change. He expanded his comments on the decision at a Monday press conference.
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I think Todd Monken has done a terrific job calling the plays that why he’s continued to do it,” Koetter said, via the Tampa Bay Times. “But in this game, I just felt like the type of game it was going to be based on Washington’s offense, I thought that we needed to try to control the clock a little bit more and try to give our defense a little bit of time -- maybe less time on the field that maybe we need to try to run it a little more and use our [run play options] a little bit more. That was the main reason behind it.”
Koetter, who said he hasn’t decided if he’ll call plays again, succeeded in keeping the defense off the field in the first half as the Buccaneers held the ball for nearly 20 minutes and dialed up plays that put up 501 yards. The Bucs only scored three points, though, and the loss pushed the Bucs closer to a losing season that could cost Koetter his job.
