When the Buccaneers take the field Sunday in Atlanta to take on the Falcons, they’ll see a familiar face staring at them from the other sideline in Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, who served as the Bucs’ head coach from 2016 to 2018, and before that as the team’s offensive coordinator in 2015.
For better or worse, Koetter coached Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston from the time the former Heisman Trophy winner was picked first overall in the 2015 NFL Draft until Koetter’s firing this past offseason.
The former Bucs coach had a strong start to his head coaching career, going 9-7 in 2016 and nearly making the playoffs. But, two-straight 5-11 seasons sealed his fate, and the Bucs chose to go in a different direction by bringing in Bruce Arians.
Koetter spoke the other day about facing the Buccaneers for the first time since his firing, and he had some pretty interesting things to say.
Take a look.
Falcons OC Dirk Koetter talks about facing the Tampa Bay Bucs franchise that fired him as head coach. “Obviously, you’ll see some people that you’re fond of, and maybe some that you’re not.’’ pic.twitter.com/W8jPAeKqER
— vaughn mcclure (@vxmcclure23) November 18, 2019
Koetter went 19-29 in three years as Bucs coach with zero playoff appearances.
The Bucs and Falcons both sit at 3-7 heading into Sunday’s game. The Falcons are coming off a huge road win over the Carolina Panthers in Week 11, in which they sacked Panthers quarterback Kyle Allen five times and intercepted him four times.
Not surprisingly, Atlanta opened as a favorite at home against Tampa Bay, which I’m sure made Koetter happy.
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