Byron Leftwich held his first press conference since being hired as the Buccaneers offensive coordinator on Friday and fielded questions on a variety of topics, including his experience with the 3-13 Cardinals in 2018.
Leftwich opened the season as the team’s quarterbacks coach and moved up to offensive coordinator when Mike McCoy was fired after a 1-6 start to the year. The record wasn’t much better with Leftwich calling the plays, but he said the experience was still a beneficial one.
“I got better as a coach last year just being in that situation, being in a situation that’s not ideal because everyone’s hurt,” Leftwich said, via Eduardo Encina of the Tampa Bay Times. “Sometimes we had seven or eight rookies in the huddle. Those type of things were things that I learned that I never experienced in my early years of coaching. I got the opportunity to experience those things and I think I became a better coach.”
If everyone’s healthy, Leftwich will have more to work with as he tries to put those lessons to work in Tampa.