Pressure On Todd Bowles
May 13th, 2022
“Bruce, put down the 7-iron and study Saints film tomorrow morning.”
The NFL cranked up the heat on Todd Bowles yesterday.
Just look at the opening four games for the new head coach.
First, the Bucs will be the guests at two home-openers at raucous venues in Dallas and New Orleans. And then they come home for the Packers, a team that’s won 13 regular-season games in each of the past three seasons. Then the Bucs’ fearsome foursome ends with the beastly Chiefs in Tampa on Sunday Night Football.
Joe has no doubt the Bucs have as much or more talent than those clubs, which is why the pressure on Bowles is intense. The Bucs are on a 22-5 run, including a Super Bowl victory, so a 2-2 start this year would feel like failure and a step backwards.
That’s unfair to Bowles, but that’s NFL reality when you’re handed a great team with the greatest quarterback the game has ever seen.
Bowles had plenty of pressure as Jets head coach in a rough media market compared to the softball game that is Tampa Bay. But Bowles never dealt with the kind of expectations he’s under now.
Joe suspects there will be no panic in Bowles and he won’t feel any outside pressure early in the season.
Bowles knows what matters most is playing great in December and January and winning the NFC South. Tom Brady won three Super Bowls with New England when his team won 12 or 11 regular-season games.
No, Joe is not putting Bowles on a hot-seat watch. But a lot people might if the Bucs get off to a shaky start and stumble to a 6-4 record at the bye week.
May 13th, 2022 at 8:40 am
I think the thing we forget is those 4 teams also have to play the Bucs so early on. They can’t be sleeping easy knowing that either.
May 13th, 2022 at 8:45 am
Todd Bowles will take one game at a time. He better be all in on Dallas…until that game is over.
May 13th, 2022 at 8:55 am
I think even 6 – 4 at the bye week isn’t the end of the world. The schedule gets much easier after the bye and I could see the Bucs running the table after the bye to finish 13 – 4 and going into the playoffs HOT!
May 13th, 2022 at 8:59 am
We’re probably going 1-3 in our first four….just because…..thats how it goes…then we win all the rest including the SB….screenshot this
May 13th, 2022 at 9:04 am
here’s Todd’schance to show that he really a genious. the 1st four games!!
May 13th, 2022 at 9:10 am
I’m sure that everyone will agree that the Bucs are notorious for starting slow. RIGHT?? including Tommy Boy. Mr genius, (Bowles), had better find a way to fix that this because looking at the schedule we will get our d*^% knocked in the dirt. Come on Todd, don’t freaking wait till we are behind in the 4th qtr to make adjustments in every damn game. Todd if you are going to ride on Tom’s back at least use a saddle
May 13th, 2022 at 9:22 am
At least it won’t be hard to get the team to focus….knowing what’s in front of them.
May 13th, 2022 at 9:25 am
When you look at the 4 games together it’s daunting. But, take it one game at a time. We can beat Dallas. We’ll come out 1-0. We can beat NO. They’ve got a new coach. Winston is coming off an injury. At WR, they’ve got the rookie Olave and Callaway. That’s it. No reason to lose to NO. That gives us a 2-0 start and great momentum. Then we play the Packers and Chiefs at home. Let’s say we split those two. That gives us a 3-1 start coming off a deadly 4-game stretch. At that point we’re a legit SB threat.
May 13th, 2022 at 9:46 am
EVERY GAME counts exactly as much as every other game in our regular season schedule. Playoffs are a whole different animal.
Saw that last night when we went to the Lightning’s game. Maple Leafs had the better season record & were ‘favored’, but the Bolts hung in there & came away with the victory in OT. Wasn’t pretty, but a victory is a victory, and the series is now tied at 3-3.
We’ve all heard all our lives that ‘it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish’. Bucs have many of their supposedly toughest games up-front this season. But then again, every game is tough IMO. Take any team for granted, and we’ll get our asses handed to us on a platter called ‘Losing’. Like K2 said ‘take one game at a time’.
May 13th, 2022 at 10:03 am
No pressure this year Bradys still running the show. Next year is when the heat starts rising.
May 13th, 2022 at 10:04 am
The real issue is who drives that cart.
May 13th, 2022 at 10:25 am
Joe, you make a very solid point. It is not how the Bucs start but that they finish with momentum. I don’t care if our record is 2-2 to open the gate, nor do I care if we end up at 6-4 before the break. I care that we go to the SB
May 13th, 2022 at 10:30 am
@DR
That Maple Leafs team is faster than us. However, our bigger defenseman and underrated defenseman start to make more and more a difference as the playoffs continue. If we can get by this faster team on Sunday, I think the Bolts will be in great shape to get to our 3rd straight Stanley Cup final.
May 13th, 2022 at 11:13 am
0-2 start, then win 7 straight. Finish 12-5.
With a rebuilt O-Line and no Godwin, it will take a couple weeks for the Offense to mesh.
They’ll win the division . Injuries and no more AB stunts are key.
May 13th, 2022 at 11:42 am
Geno711 … I thought both teams looked lackluster last night; just didn’t see the ‘urgency’ that I thought would be there on the part of the Bolts especially. They’ll have to turn it up 1 or 2 notches if they expect to advance.
May 13th, 2022 at 11:42 am
Among the good teams, key injuries determine outcomes much more than realized, or outwardly proclaimed, because injuries are lumped in with those who make excuses for losing. And nobody wants to hear a “crybaby” coach blaming a loss on those who couldn’t play.
Without spending the better part of my afternoon scanning the record books, I can still comfortably state that backups don’t win Super Bowls.
And that’s why it’s pure folly to predict 17 game records in a league where hundreds get injured every year.
Last year, the Rams won because they remained relatively healthy for the duration. The year before, the Bucs were a mostly healthy bunch and did the same thing.
All the talent in the world cannot win anything while roaming the sidelines in street clothes.
May 13th, 2022 at 11:43 am
Perfect season. Beat them all.
May 13th, 2022 at 11:56 am
Dallas, NOLA, GB, and KC all lost big-time players in the offseason.
Bucs still need Gronk to return or they’ll be in a similar situation.
May 13th, 2022 at 12:19 pm
One more thing … No NFCS Team besides Tampa is projected to have a winning record this year.
There is pressure on Bowles, but the NFCS Champs (and the playoffs) should be a lock.
May 13th, 2022 at 12:43 pm
I’m much more worried about our front office shortchanging (so far) Bowles at corner and wide receiver than our schedule. Our schedule does look pretty rough (fun too!) on paper, but teams are usually up and down year to year.
May 13th, 2022 at 12:59 pm
The secondary and the wide receiver groups are two of the deepest groups on the team so I don’t know where buczilla is getting the “shortchanging: thing?
May 13th, 2022 at 1:15 pm
I’m sure Todd must be very happy that Job didn’t put him on the coaching hot seat. Before he is ever coached a game for this team.
May 13th, 2022 at 3:34 pm
Super pumped for our season!! Wife and I going to Rams game and then coming back along with our 16 year old twin daughters for Bengals!
May 13th, 2022 at 4:43 pm
@D.R. and Geno.
I’m envious D.R. That game last night was a classic!
Have you seen that incredible stat where Vasilesky is undefeated in games after a loss the past post seasons…something like `14-0.
And I’m determined to enjoy the Bolts this season since I think the league is going to have a challenge next year as difficult as the Covid. If Putin can’t figure a way to end the slaughter in Ukraine the Russian players in the US will have it extremely tough. They all seem like personally nice guys and they didn’t get a chance to vote for Putin or not and so it’s hard to hold them responsible….but…there is this.
Collectively the Russian players take more than 100 million from the North American economy. They are in effect mini oligarchs. It’s not their fault but it is their position in life. They perhaps could avoid talk of “sanctions” by taking their salaries in escrow with the money stuck outside of Russia?
What will happen to the Lightning next year if this entire situation blows up and we lose 2 of our top three players and several others with talent?
Gotta enjoy this year I guess.
May 13th, 2022 at 6:20 pm
If he doesn’t go for it on 4th and short ever and/or gets ultra conservative on offense when the Bucs have a 1 or 2 score lead, and then stumbles to a 2-2 (or worse start), I’ll know he isn’t the man for the job.