Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Dirk Koetter says 'more aggressive' play calling can be expected

Published Jan. 18, 2016 11:37 p.m. ET

foxsports

Yes, Dirk Koetter called the offensive plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2015, but with his promotion to head coach, he wanted to make sure it was known that he would still be calling the plays.

So, what's that mean for the offense? Well, if you ask Koetter, it means that he may be ramping up the aggressiveness a bit, largely due to the fact that there's no head coach to "second guess" him.

Via Roy Cummings of The Tampa Tribune:

“When you’re the head coach and you’re the play caller, you have a license to be a little bit more aggressive,’ Koetter said. “That’s how I was when I was as a high school coach, as a college coach.

“That comes from inside me, because you have the power to decide if you’re going for it on fourth-and-1 or throw it deep three times in a row or give it to Doug Martin three times in a row.

“You don’t have to worry about the head coach second guessing you; you are the head coach. So you make your game plan and you stick to your game plan.’’

Now, after making the statement about the head coach second guessing your decisions, he did want to make it known that Lovie Smith was not that type of a coach.

“I want to make sure that that’s a clear point that I make because I’ve heard that in passing different times,’’ Koetter said. “In no way — in no way — did Lovie Smith tell me as an offensive coordinator, ‘Do and don’t do this.’

Regardless, if you thought Jameis Winston aired it out quite a bit in 2015, there's a good chance that we could see him throw it around even more in 2016 with Koetter as the head coach.

Jeff Smith writes about the NFL for FOX Sports. You can find him on Twitter @JSM8ith.