When the Buccaneers’ offensive difficulties were at their worst have led to criticism of offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and speculation about his job security, but it doesn’t appear to have affected Leftwich much.
During a Thursday press conference, Leftwich was asked how much pressure he felt for the offense to have a good showing against the Seahawks in Germany in Week 10. Leftwich said that teams that are losing — the Bucs had lost five of six before beating the Rams in Week Nine — are going to hear people saying bad things about them, but that he has been able to tune out such chatter since his playing days.
“Once I got cut as a player, I couldn’t get no lower than that. I stopped worrying about what people think. . . . When you’re losing, people get to say what they want. We earned that. It is what it is. We’re just trying to win football games. We’ll get to the end then we can say whatever we want and we’ll add ‘em up at the end and see where we’re at. We can handle anything that comes our way,” Leftwich said.
The win over the Seahawks was followed by a bye week that the Bucs will try to use as a springboard to a strong finish that puts them back in the postseason.