Irresponsible Gameplan By Todd Bowles
January 23rd, 2022
Doomed Bucs.
One of the Joes is a fan of Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and thinks Bowles may someday replace Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians as head coach.
The other Joe is no fan of Bowles ever being a good head coach.
The Joe who is a fan of Bowles is typing this here post.
Today? There is no way to sugarcoat it. Bowles may have cost the Bucs another Super Bowl.
All week long, legitimate and parody sites (yeah, Joe considers the PFF tribe as parody) explained, detailed and documented how Matt Stafford and the Rams just chew up and spit out blitzes like used gum. They stated that if Bowles blitzed likes he likes to do, blitzing Stafford and the Bucs won’t have a prayer.
With the Bucs’ offense decimated by injuries, the defense needed to play perhaps its best game of the year for the Bucs to have a chance.
So even though a drunk in a bar that pays half-arsed attention to football this week knew Bowles couldn’t blitz the Rams, what does Bowles do to start the game? He blitzed Stafford.
And what did Stafford do? Absolutely ripped the Bucs defense apart.
The good people at NextGen Stats had the evidence.
The #Buccaneers defense blitzed Matthew Stafford on more than half of his dropbacks to start the game; Stafford started 6/7, 57 yards, TD vs blitz; Bucs have blitzed less since:
šø First 2 Drives: 64% blitz rate (7/11)
šø Last 4 Drives: 14% blitz rate (2/14)#LARvsTB | #GoBucsā Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) January 23, 2022
This is simply coaching malpractice. Surely the Bucs’ analytics team provided Bowles with this information and Bowles ignored it.Ā Either that or Bowles got blinded by ego. Joe learned long ago to never, ever underestimate ego when it comes to the NFL.
Yes, Bowles ignoring what virtually everyone already knew very likely cost the Bucs another chance at a Super Bowl. #Sad
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:26 pm
Back to the basement
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:27 pm
That secondary has killed them all year long…from the cowboy game till today. They suck, period. You don’t leave your 2nd year safety one on one with the best WR in the NFL.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:27 pm
Needed to play better all game. Sad to see it coming down to one play but that’s football. That failure to double cover Kupp will haunt us all off season.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:27 pm
Too much time on that Lenny TD. Take a knee at the one to kill time.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:27 pm
Leave Kupp one on one That was real smart
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:28 pm
And gave up the game-winning pass on a slot CB blitz. Absolutely pathetic.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:28 pm
Why did i blotzed? the blotz was not working the whole gameā¦. š”š”š”
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:28 pm
Another Todd Grantham story.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:28 pm
Wide open all day long, bad , bad . Lost for words….
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:28 pm
Any reason why we let that happen again?
and matt gay of all people.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:29 pm
And so what did he do on the biggest play of the game?
Called a blitz in a prevent D situation.
What. A. Total. Fkn. Moron.
Thank you for losing the game for us Todd Bowles
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:29 pm
Why?????
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:29 pm
get bowles out of here !!! š¤¬š¤¬š¤¬
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:30 pm
Wtf did you think that moron bowles was going to do? The game should’ve gone to overtime. Brady did everything humanly possible, in the end he was defeated by his own team
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:31 pm
The elixer for this defense has been 30+ points a game. Last year with the SB run, they still hit 30+ a game. If the offense was normal, then the Bucs walk away with a win.
GO BUCS!!!!
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:31 pm
What a kick to the junk that ending was.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:32 pm
You have to wonder how much of a distraction the intevries were
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:32 pm
You have to wonder if the coaching interviews were a distraction because we sure did not look prepared especially at the beginning of the game.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:32 pm
Nice go Todd…..blitzing last play knowing our secondary cant handle stafford/kupp……jeeze man!
Somebody please hire him, he’s done here, thats for sure…..idiot stupid fkn call!!!!!!!!!
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:32 pm
Couch was too distracted looking for better work.
Need to focus better/exclusively on task at hand. Don’t let Cooper get over the top at very end or Reg in a tie game. Dang!
-Bucs made it interesting tho… once we eventually woke up. Got Bucs!
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:32 pm
Kupp ran thru 2 people they still couldn’t keep up. Winfield waited too long to start running deep
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:34 pm
Our missed kick came back to bite us too. But left to much time on the clock and a bad defensive play call. Season over.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:34 pm
Our kicker missed that 45 yard field goal just like Gay so this ended same way if they would’ve made them
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:34 pm
Thank you you Todd, please leave you moron.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:35 pm
You just donāt blitz in that situation.
Ever.
You simply canāt give up the deep ball.
Todd Bowles let his hubris lose the game for us. What a moron.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:36 pm
Majority of season looked unprepared to start the game
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:37 pm
The Toad Arians has to go…terrible decisions on the secondary. Brady will leave us because of our defense.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:37 pm
Bowles as a HC? He should be fired as DC. If he takes over for Arians it would be like Lovey all over again or see NY Jets.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:38 pm
I love how everybody blames Bowles when there were blown coverages, missed tackles and no pressure from the front 4. What’s he’s supposed to do when he had a safety deep who allowed Kupp to run right by him? He had to do something
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:38 pm
Worst call ever was that slot blitz that let Kupp run free with seconds left.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:40 pm
Hope Bowles aced one of the interviews. Get the F out of here please!! Knowing Arians heāll hang on to this overrated clown forever. Same with Leftwich.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:40 pm
If Bowles get a head coaching job, it canāt be in the NFC. Rams own him. Sad way to get beatā¦ not necessaryā¦ more a reflexive decision than a game plan.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:41 pm
Bowles should have put his pride aside and doubled Kupp all game.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:42 pm
This was on the coaches. How in the world, after a great comeback, you let the other team march the field in seconds??
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:43 pm
What a way to get beat. 2 blown coverages and a terrible blitz to end game. NOT necessary to blitz with 24 seconds left. No timeouts!!
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:45 pm
Well at least Darden looked awesome out there lol
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:46 pm
Please guys quit blaming, A team just flew in a 5 hr plane ride, came into our house and kicked our A’s. period. The better team won. Had we had our injured, it would have been diffferent. We lost. get over it.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:46 pm
That last Rams series, Bowles went Full Metal J-E-T-S. If he had kept everything in the middle and short, the game would have ended. Just effing stupid.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:46 pm
my fellow fans. In case you didn’t see it, I said today that i’m curios to see how many catches/TDs Cooper catches before Todd doubles him. Look what that dumb%$# did at the end. He single covered the best wide receiver on the planet. I’ve been reading all week about never blitz Stafford. I have said this ALL YEAR if Todd Bowles is a good defensive co-ordinator, i’m an airplane pilot. (I sell health insurance) What a terrible terrible shame. I wouldn’t blame Tom one bit if he retired
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:47 pm
Not necessary to blitz in that situation. Pathetic, sad, frustrating end.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:47 pm
Didn’t a defensive coordinator get fired recently for doing an all out blitz at end of game like that without having guys deep?
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:47 pm
TODD BOWLES IS HOT GARBAGE
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:48 pm
How deep could you not have your safeties back getting worked in the pass all day? Great game Bucs. See you in September. š“āā ļøš“āā ļøš“āā ļø
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:48 pm
After the Super Bowl, Bowles is a genius, but now Bowles is a dog.
Bowles gambled and lost, simple as that.
The Bucs Defense has Been HIDDEN, by the offense. We all haver seen that.
So the Offense was a pile of crap for most of the game.
Bowles gambles and got beat, by McVey Gambling with a deep shot.
They hit it, and the Bucs did not.
Terrible game by the offense for 3qtrs, which has HIDDEN the defense with 30+ most of the time.
GO BUCS!!!!!
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:49 pm
you nailed it MadMax. what an idiot call
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:50 pm
Fire him before sunrise!
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:51 pm
Great grit by team to fight back, and yet the weak point was exposed in the end. Poor play calling, nable to adjust. Really the only time the defense looked good was when the Rams were running the ball to run clock. When they threw the ball Bowles and company were torched.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:53 pm
I’m not really a fan of the prevent defense but if a situation ever called for it, this was it. A very incompetent call by Bowles, not just the last play but the whole series… they had NO timeouts left. I’ve never seen a F…Ed up call on defense like I just say today…we were totally outcoached the entire game, especially on defense. This game should be in overtime but the D coordinator absolutely blew it….
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:54 pm
The one thing you couldn’t give up — a bomb — and they did! We fans deserve better than this crap.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:55 pm
August there was absolutely nothing to gain by gambling. They had no time-outs. At the very least if you need to blitz someone don’t let it be the corner lined up on kupp
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:56 pm
That was like the Gregg Williams playcall- pathetic and dumb
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:57 pm
CB blitz there was a terrible play call, but the offense was the real bedshatter today. Every opportunity, converted points on what 20% of them? Offensive play calling in the critical plays was atrocious; overall playcalling was wistful. Keep it simpleā¦ play 4-down football when itās obvious or kick FGs and take points. The fact this was thrilling adds to the mystique of the football gods smiling on Tom Brady, otherwise ā what a bummer.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:59 pm
Devin White showed up for the 2nd half but I dont care. His 1st half was inexcusably bad. He regressed this year. On top of that Shaq Barrett decided not to show up.
My complaint with Bowles is about his safety’s. They were awful all day and were clearly unprepared not even understanding their assignments……….Their blown coverages killed us today.
You expect great safety play from Bowles defense and when all of them look bad like they did today its pretty obvisous the coaching screwed something badly.
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:00 pm
Don’t understand why that didn’t do a delay of game at end to run down clock
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:01 pm
I guess Bowles Forgot to call far a PREVENT DEFENSE !!!
WHY , WHY , would the local hi school even be interested in hiring him ??
BUT , I DO hope he GOES somewhere
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:01 pm
That last call was just coaching malpractice. I like Bowles and the Bucs are great at blitzing, but you cannot leave Winfield on Kupp like that 1 on 1. That’s just poor coaching.
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:01 pm
18 seconds left, 18 with no timeouts any real DC.runs sideline prevent give them the middle.
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:03 pm
todd is trash
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:11 pm
Todd Bowles had a brain fart at the end but his defense did set up the offense
for what was an improbable comeback. Really bad start on offense. Brady seemed to be forcing it to Gronk early in game.. Only 4 of 11 completions but he
is a tough competitor and finished like the champ he is. He got little help from Donovan Smith who played one of his worst games.
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:18 pm
Too busy preparing for job interviews to put together a winning gamelan… him and Leftwich… one wonders if they wanted to lose to grab a hc job
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:24 pm
Not sure if Bowles should go. Our secondary players r just some of the worst cover guys in the league. On the other hand our OC waits til about the 4th qtr to call screens and flat routes. And from early on Leftwich should have been mixing in Slants, quick outs, short drags, etc. or is he afraid that no risk it no biscuit Arians forced him to go too much vertical. Our coaching just seems toooo slowww to make adjustments for what we r facing
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:25 pm
Smb needs ball to practically fall in his lap to make a play. Tentative coverage
and some lackadaisical tackling.
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:26 pm
No idea why he blitzed on that big play to Kupp . That made absolutely no sense. They had no timeouts, just keep the safeties back, keep everything in front and theyāre going to run out of time and weāre going to overtime.
Winfield had horrible execution on it but the play call was horrendous as well
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:33 pm
Having the worst secondary in football will kill anyone even if the whole D has been uneven all year.
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:50 pm
Doug Williams, Tony Dungy, Raheem Morris, Josh Freeman, Lovie Smith, Jameis Winston, Todd Bowles, Byron Leftwichā¦all are HOT GARBAGE. But McKay, Testaverde, Perkins, Williamson, Wyche, Dilfer, Gruden, Schiano, Arians and Brady are hardly rarely critiqued. See a pattern??? I doā¦
Why make things up?–Joe
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:52 pm
Please, ANYONE, hire him!
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:57 pm
Todd Bowles should definitely be a head coachā¦. of a high school football team
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:58 pm
Todd Bowls should definitely be a head coachā¦. of a high school football team
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:59 pm
Hypocrites! Bowles was last years REAL Super Bowl MVPā¦but tonight, he canāt coach??? Every great coach/player loses every now and then. Stop it with the ignorance.
January 23rd, 2022 at 8:10 pm
Did anyone expect him not to blitz I mean honestly does he seem like a guy that looks at data or does every game plan he has ever had involve playing off 10 yards and sending the house
January 23rd, 2022 at 8:30 pm
Cut the BS, TJ.
KC lost both it’s starting OTs, filling them in with canon fodder (guys who were on a level with Josh Wells). You could get away with blitzing Mahomes because:
1. He had little time to pass
2. He isn’t much of a pocket QB (he turns rabbit)
3. He isn’t capable at dink and dunk attacks.
January 23rd, 2022 at 8:38 pm
Bowles cost us that game, IMHO.
It was stupid to not keep a safety back.
That left Kupp one on one with Whitehead, and we all saw the result.
January 23rd, 2022 at 9:29 pm
Bonehead playcall by Bowles.
January 23rd, 2022 at 9:33 pm
Mike Johnson, the Rams did kick ass, with help from several obvious game-swinging calls, for 3 1/2 quarters.
But they were knocked back on their heels. Rams were on the verge of getting KO’d. All it took was T Bowles and two plays to save them from a likely OT loss to GOAT.
January 23rd, 2022 at 9:39 pm
It almost unimaginable that that def was dialed up there. If Bucs were losing, you would understand. You wanna get some pressure, maybe cause a sack, or get real lucky with a strip sack or hurry Stafford into an INt. But the Bucs werenāt losing. They had came back & tied the game. Even average football fans understand that you drop everyone with 2 deep safeties there. The Rams had no timeouts & still needed at least 30-40 yards just to try a low % FG. Why on earth would you blitz & allow a 1 on 1 there. Itās just inexcusable & thatās coming from someone else who also respects Bowles. But he deserves blame here. Brady was getting rushed, hit & hurried all game. It was almost a miracle the Bucs came back in first place. Rams certainly helped, but the Bucs still did their part in the comeback on both sides of ball with timely plays in the clutch. I was amazed Brady still managed to do what he did considering how things kept collapsing around him. Dif between him & other great QBs is his OLine can completely suck, like weāve seen in 2 Giant SBs, The AFC champ against the Broncos in 2015, and he still has his team in position to win the games at end. He doesnāt have the benefit of legs either like Mahomes in SB when his line fails him. Brady doesnāt have a get out of jail free card. Yet in these games where his line fails him, he somehow just bides time, sometimes even struggles thru not fault of his, but somehow, nearing the end, you look up at score, and somehow itās a game, many time heās in the lead, or itās at least tied. Then a Welker drop, a missed vinatieri extra point, an Asante Samuel dropped game sealing int followed by a Tyree miracle, or a blown play call, is the dif between his team winning & losing a big game. I swear,u could literally count single plays on 1 hand that has been the dif between him being in 16 SBs & winning almost all of em. Thatās how crazy his career has been. Many people donāt realize how many single plays have cost him and 99.9% have been at fault of those around him. He certainly hasnāt won all he has by himself. No QB does. Itās team game, but most of time when loses, itās because others around him have failed. No QB was serving the Saints in their second matchup earlier this yr. No1 got open. Times ball shouldāve been caught in tight windows, they were dropped. And he had zero time to throw. But the 1st Saints game, he brought Bucs back, only for D to allow game winning drive. Washington, mounted a comeback attempt before D allowing 11 min drive at end capped with TD. Everyone knew Brady wouldāve scored but never got ball back in time. 11 min drive was stupid. We saw Jets & Bills games where Brady scored on game ending td passes to win. You give him enough time, and u create even a minimal amount of seperation heās gonna take youāre heart out. Heās the best QB in the league even at 44. But even he canāt do everything. No QB can. Not even the greatest. My biggest fear was Kupp coming in because he & McVay have completely pantsād Bowles and that D every time theyāve played since Bradyās been there. But when I see 27-27 with 40 seconds to go, Iām thinking Bradyās done it again. Not alone no. But make no mistake, the teams there cuz of Brady. Doesnāt mean he does it alone. And we saw that in end. It doesnāt matter if you the have greatest QB of all-time every game. Cuz all it takes is Donavan Smith to get worked ova for a game, or rest of OLine failing & having to use Gronk as a blocker when u canāt afford to, or the DEF to collapse & u have what u saw today. A team that shouldāve went back to back out in divisional round. This game shouldnāt have been the close, can thank the Rams mostly that it was, Brady as well & to some timely plays from the D. Still imo, to goats of the game & not the goat you wanna be, are the OLine, the DEF, and of course Bowles. He doesnāt deserve to get fired, hell maybe he deserves to be head coach still. But thereās no sugar coating it, he lost the Bucs the game. Cuz regardless of what happened up to that point, it was 27-27 and you just cannot make that blitz & def play call there in a tie game & Rams having no timeouts. 2 deep, drop everyone & give up something underneath. Maybe Bucs still lose. But you at least get to find out & make them earn it, as opposed to just handing em the game on a silver platter
January 23rd, 2022 at 10:26 pm
Rish, what is the sequel to War and Peace?
January 23rd, 2022 at 10:31 pm
From Tony Dungyā¦. I didnāt understand that last defensive call by the Bucs. All out blitz??? Why not just sit back let them complete a 15 yd pass in bounds and the game would go to overtime. I donāt understand???!
Even Dungy is saying its a bonehead call by Bowles.
January 23rd, 2022 at 10:31 pm
I posted this, this morning on Joe’s article entitled; “Can Todd Bowles Control Himself”:
BucsBeBack (Artist formally known as: BringBucsBack) Says:
January 23rd, 2022 at 9:33 am
I hope Bowlesā (& BLās, for that matter) ego will allow him to make adjustments based on logic & not his ātime-testedā blitzing (constant passing BL).
That slot blitz on the bomb at the end was devoid of logic.
January 25th, 2022 at 8:08 am
Fans who claim Bowles was responsible for last year’s Super Bowl win forget how porous the defensive secondary was last year, but how they were saved by a much more effective pass rush. Bowles did not take steps to upÄ£rade a very weak secondary unit from last year to this year. That’s on Arians too.
January 26th, 2022 at 4:08 am
Bowles just played himself out of HC job.