The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have room for improvement, and Todd Bowles knows it.
The Buccaneers are coming off a tight 27-24 loss to the Chicago Bears that dropped them to 3-6. It's not the end of the world, however, as the Buccaneers are just a half-game behind the Carolina Panthers for the NFC South division lead.
Tampa Bay has been underwhelming this season, and one of its key players is wide receiver Emeka Egbuka. After taking the NFL by storm early in his rookie season, his production has dropped sharply. He hasn't posted a 100-yard receiving game in a full calendar year and hasn't stepped up after Mike Evans' departure.
During Bowles' press conference on Monday, the Buccaneers head coach explained why he believes Egbuka's production hasn't been
there.
"There's a lot of variables involved, injuries being number one," Bowles said about Egbuka's decline in production. "We got to get him upright and healthy so he can stay on the field. We got to design more plays for him. Obviously, that's come from a player standpoint and a coaching standpoint, and mix it that way. But it's been a mixture, guys. When he started making plays, everybody started taking him away. But that's no excuse. We still got to find ways to get him the ball. But his health has really been the main thing. We just got to keep him upright, and he's got to get his feet better."
Egbuka leads the Buccaneers in receiving, but that says little, considering the entire receiving corps has been underwhelming. The second-year receiver has just 31 catches for 278 receiving yards and two touchdowns more than midway through the season. That's a far cry from his rookie production of 63 catches for 938 receiving yards and six touchdowns.
Chris Godwin ranks second on the team with 29 catches for 259 receiving yards and zero touchdowns. The Buccaneers rank dead last in passing yards and second-to-last in touchdowns, as it's clear they miss Evans after the longtime receiver left for the San Francisco 49ers.
We'll see if the Buccaneers make any moves at the trade deadline as they enter their Week 10 bye.
This article originally appeared on Bucs Wire: Todd Bowles explains why Emeka Egbuka's production has declined drastically
