Dave Canales Talks New Bucs Offense And His Influences

The new Bucs play-caller began discussing his influences by talking about Bates and the impact he had on Canales right from the beginning in Seattle all the way back in 2010.

“I’ll go back and start with Jeremy,” Canales said. “Jeremy taught me how to work. He was [in Tampa] as a quality control coach for Jon Gruden and there was a huge level of expectation from a work ethic standpoint, so he brought that to me. [He] was really demanding with me early on in my career.

“I was just kind of that laid-back kid from southern California and spent time at the junior college level and the high school level so when I got to Seattle with Jeremy, that’s where he really taught me how to grind, taught me how to work. Of course, he’s just brilliant in his own right with play calling and just how fluid he was with the calls – setting things up throughout the game and getting back to them, he was really extraordinary with that.”

Darrell Bevell Gave Dave Canales His Offensive System

Next up was Bevell, who had the longest tenure as the Seahawks’ play-caller. Canales, who helped turn Geno Smith into a Pro Bowler and the NFL Comeback Player of the Year in 2022 due to Seattle’s QB-friendly system, discussed play structure and personnel usage when talking about Bevell.

“Darrell Bevell, the number one thing was, ‘No synonyms’ – let’s use the same language, let’s teach the coaches the language, let’s teach the players the language and let’s all use the same words,” Canales said. “Let’s make everything look the same – the way we lined up, the way we put our inside foot or outside foot back – we got feedback from across the league as we meet people at the combine and they would say, ‘We could never tell what you guys were doing because Marshawn [Lynch]’s feet were always matching the tackles, so it looked like run or pass.’

“And then Darrell gave me the pass game – he gave me a great system. We were just situationally sound – third down, red zone, two minute – different situations. He really gave me a nice toolbelt that I’m still using – Geno [Smith] was able to employ some of the same concepts there. Darrell is really humble – he listened, he asked, he took criticism from anybody who was willing and had a backing – ‘Well, show me that.’ So he taught me how to handle himself as a leader that way.”

Brian Schottenheimer Expanded On Dave Canales’ Knowledge About QBs

Canales then spoke about Schottenheimer and how working with him improved his ability to coach quarterbacks from a fundamental standpoint.

“‘Schotty’ came in and taught me how to train the quarterback,” Canales said. “Darrell was awesome at it as well. Carl Smith – known as ‘Tater’ – was one of my mentors. He taught me how to teach winning football to the quarterback. But Brian Schottenheimer – you look at his track record, it’s Philip Rivers, it’s Drew Brees, it’s Mark Sanchez as a young guy, Andrew Luck as a young guy in Indianapolis.

“When he came into Seattle, he really took my quarterback school to another level with how he presented it, how demanding he was with the footwork and timing. And then, of course, he was just a really skilled veteran play caller as well. So, to sit back and watch him do the same thing I saw the guys before him [do] – in-game adjustments, setting things up – that was a huge impact that he had on me.”

Dave Canales’ System Is Based On Shane Waldron’s Evolved Offense

Waldron came from Sean McVay’s Rams offense, where he served as L.A.’s tight ends coach (2017), passing game coordinator (2018-20) and QBs coach (2019) before landing the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator role in 2021. Waldron is now 43 and is just two years older than Canales.

“Then, Shane Waldron came in and he came from a system of young offensive head coaches who really didn’t have to answer to anybody, so that’s where you had the think tank, the ‘R and D’ (research and development) – they could do or try anything,” Canales said. “And then instead of leaning on the ‘This is just the way that it’s always been done,’ he said ‘That was no longer acceptable – what’s the smartest way to do this? What’s the fastest way to do this? How do we set this up with this type of tempo?’

“That’s where a lot of the study across the league, across college really started to come in and really make sense as an offense there. While we’ve been in Seattle for the last two years, that’s where Shane and the staff, we were able to really employ a lot of different offensive personnels to the same principles – to the same system that’s being used across the league. It’s why a lot of us – counting myself in that now – as coordinators and head coaches have been coveted across the league, to be able to bring that system in there.”