So About “Accountability”
November 27th, 2022
Who really is accountable?
Recently, Bucs coach Todd Bowles had a speech about accountability that didn’t exactly resonate with Joe and you could argue never resonated with the Bucs offense.
Think about it, since that accountability speech, the Bucs barely beat one of the worst teams in the NFL (Rams) and lost in overtime to another really bad team (Browns), scoring a grand total of 13 and 17 points, respectively.
If Bucs inept offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich was truly accountable, he’d clean out his desk when the team gets back to Tampa tonight.
Let’s see how accountable folks are.
OK, Bowles had an accountability speech. Joe wants to know where is the accountability from the coaching staff?
* Who is going to stand in front of the team, raise his right hand and apologize for not going for the kill shot on fourth-and-2 in Cleveland territory late in the game? And instead punt, which set up the Browns for the game-tying score?
Accountability, please.
* Who is going to be accountable to the team losing one of its best players for who knows how long, Tristan Wirfs? By the gutless, play-it-safe decision not to go for the kill shot, the Bucs ended up playing in overtime where Wirfs was injured on a total freak play. Word is he does not have a broken leg, but who knows about his knee or ankle? Simply put, Wirfs (and the team) should not have been on the field. Who will apologize for the rotten coaching that led to this?
Accountability, please.
* Same with Pro Bowl safety Antoine Winfield getting hurt in overtime.
Accountability, please.
* Who is going to confess to not using two timeouts and keeping them in his (her?) back pocket in the final seconds as the Bucs frantically tried to get in field goal range to win the game?
Accountability, please.
* Who is going to fess up for not using a chip blocker or slide protection to help left tackle Donovan Smith against one of the best pass rushers in the game in overtime? By not helping Smith, Myles Garrett got a sack on Brady that killed a drive.
Accountability, please.
* Who is going to apologize for this three-and-out Bucs offense that despite being loaded with Pro Bowl and Hall of Fame talent, is one of the worst offense in the NFL. Even with extra time to prepare for games, even playing against sad sack franchises, this team struggles to reach 20 points worse than Joe trying to inhale bad beer at last call.
Accountability, please.
(Column intermission: The 2022 Bucs, with Tom Brady, Leonard Fournette, Julio Jones, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin average 18 points a game. The 1999 Bucs led by Trent Dilfer, Jackarse Green, Shedel Anthony and Hurt Emanuel averaged 17 points a game.)
* Who will man up and stand in front of the team and confess they are fully p!ssing away what is likely the final season of the greatest quarterback in NFL history, a guy who did so much for this franchise and got virtually every person in that locker room a ring and a fat paycheck?
Accountability, please.
Joe wants to see coaches stand in front of the team in the club’s auditorium and confess these sins and be accountable for their decisions that have this team on the cusp of missing the playoffs and a losing record in a horrible division — with Tom Brady! Then go ahead and put that video up on Twitter.
You know, accountability, please.
If you are going to preach accountability, you better practice it. Right now, there is no accountability for the awful coaching that has gone on too long this season at One Buc Palace.
Cheap talk is over with, folks.
Before we won two in a row, Coach Bowles had a message for the team.
Watch the latest episode of In the Current ➡️ https://t.co/3qm38wAWfn pic.twitter.com/l2EoINindC
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) November 24, 2022
November 27th, 2022 at 6:24 pm
Thank you Joes. Saved me from writing that.
November 27th, 2022 at 6:25 pm
Just listening to his responses make me nauseous!! He doesn’t care
November 27th, 2022 at 6:26 pm
Watching Clown Coach operate is like passing a Kidney Stone.
November 27th, 2022 at 6:26 pm
The worst is still to come Joe: at the end of this disgraceful season, Todd B will continue to be the HC…. And if no one hired him (and probably no one will), Byron L will still be OC…. So, we are heading (again) towards our well known cycle of doom, where we find ourselves looking at draft prospects in October and wondering how so much talent can’t take us to the playoffs…
November 27th, 2022 at 6:26 pm
The only way Bowles could be accountable would be to retire, but only after firing Leftwich. That would be, being accountable.
Of course nothing will happen, players will tune out the coaches, and the Bucs will end up like 7-10, maybe they make the playoffs, maybe they don’t, but no one will are in any case.
November 27th, 2022 at 6:28 pm
Nailed it joe. 1000% correct. Dudes are out there putting their careers on the line and the coaches are blowing it. Game after game, after game…
November 27th, 2022 at 6:29 pm
If we’re talking accountability then somebody ask Mike Evans why he kept giving up on his routes today, some with the ball already in the air?
November 27th, 2022 at 6:44 pm
Todd Balless and his idiot sidekick are clueless ass clowns. What do the Glazers ir Licht ha e to say about this sinking ship?
November 27th, 2022 at 6:48 pm
I totally agree with Joe as well as Brianbucs I love Evans but today he was a no show. Lack of effort and when he did make a catch with only one man to beat he ran out of bounds. I’ve said it for years he doesn’t know what to do when he catches the ball in space. He’s not a natural run after the catch WR. Anyone that argues that needs to watch some other teams number 1 WRS and see what they do with the ball in their hands.
November 27th, 2022 at 6:57 pm
#Bowlesout #Leftwichout
November 27th, 2022 at 7:12 pm
I swear, the Glazers are just scared of the blowback if they fire these 2 guys now. It has nothing to do with skin color, & there’s plenty of great black HC prospects coming up. These 2 just don’t have it and the season is circling the drain.
November 27th, 2022 at 7:14 pm
What another horrible coaching debacle. Something needs to change.
But there is a bright side. The GOAT will be playing for my Dolphins next season with Sean Payton as head coach !!!!
November 27th, 2022 at 7:15 pm
Excellent column. Accountability starts with leaders and the Bucs coaching staff isn’t getting through to its players. Its a waste of good players not being put in the right position to win games.
November 27th, 2022 at 7:18 pm
I’ve never seen an athlete get more of the pass in a town than Evans. He’s been horrendous. This year he quit in Carolina , doesn’t fight for extra yards either go to out of bounds /down every play. Today he barely battled thru contact and gave up on the ball that should’ve been caught in overtime to get them in field-goal range. The guy cares about one thing I was even record
November 27th, 2022 at 7:26 pm
Before anyone starts hacking on Bowles … remember the last “Confidence” poll. Unless piles of Todd’s friends loaded on, alot of guys were willing to forgive & forget.
And then the video… how many guys praised this monotone clown giving a speach that the players were tuning out? Go back and check that post. It was the Tods Bowles fan club.
He and his boy Byron gotta go now.
November 27th, 2022 at 7:30 pm
I expect prudent clock management from my head coach in the nfl.
This stuff is very basic.
November 27th, 2022 at 7:31 pm
yeah agree Joe!!!!!!!!
YOU WROTE THIS OR IRA DID: because Todd Bowles didn’t take a timeout following a 1-yard flip to White, the play took 17 seconds off the clock instead of 5. So when Brady found Julio Jones for 26 yards across midfield, needing only a FG, Tampa Bay had only 8 seconds to work with instead of 20.
who is going to account for this?? TB12 could of brought to field goal range–I would bet that would of happened.
November 27th, 2022 at 7:42 pm
Maybe the Jets want him bsck…just like we want to pay backup Jameis 25 mil. A year. LOL.
November 27th, 2022 at 8:00 pm
Excellent article. Wish it was under different circumstances, but this is one of the best posts I’ve ever seen here.
November 27th, 2022 at 8:06 pm
Excellent aritcle Joe! Hit all the points. And to think–it was just one game you were writing about..
November 27th, 2022 at 8:16 pm
Bucs are still in the playoffs if it started today.
November 27th, 2022 at 8:20 pm
Yeah the unfortunate part is nothing will change. Brady should have demanded a trade. And we are going to be bad for a few years.
At least we have that Super Bowl most teams can’t say that when they get this outright awful.
November 27th, 2022 at 8:49 pm
I’m probably the biggest Mike Evans fan, but that deep shot he appeared to loaf and not even try. I don’t know what’s going on with him and Brady, but it’s VERY concerning!! Add it to the list…
November 27th, 2022 at 8:58 pm
Great article
As for the video, that was the most boring thing I ever heard. Bowles has all the fire of a snowball.
November 27th, 2022 at 9:24 pm
What a pathetic coach we have, I mean he has to be the worst coach I have EVER seen in Tampa and we’ve had some bad ones…. To go from top 3 team in the league last year and #1 the year before, with basically the same squad, is down right pathetic! I could coach better than this mook! Idiot, egotistical, Moron who thinks his poop doesn’t stick. He’s like the right guys son who was gifted a Ferrari for his 18th bday, wrecks it in the first month, and doesn’t care cause he didn’t do anything to put that car into his life.. Bowles was gifted a Super Bowl team and he’s just too bad to do anything with it.. please for the love of Raymond James, bring back Arians
November 27th, 2022 at 9:45 pm
Accountability. Great article, Joe. The product on the field, from top to bottom, needs to be called out.
Being held “accountable” means a reckoning – an admission of guilt with a change of behavior.
Being accountable is akin to repentance, which means admitting wrong and changing behavior in the future.
None of this would matter on the Jags, or the Texans, or any team without any obvious talent or playoff aspirations. Yet, this team has all the talent in the world and should be much better than they are.
It all starts with leadership, and in any group throughout history, that’s where accountability starts. As we used to say in the Army, it starts with the top leaders and it rolls downhill from there – in this case, starting from the owners, to the coaches, to the team leaders, to the team, to the waterboys.
Change must begin, and it must begin now. Does it mean changing people? Maybe. Maybe it just means stepping up and doing their jobs, from the top to the bottom.
The bottom line is, this team is massively underachieving. Everybody knows it, including this fan.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:00 pm
D-Rok, you know I love you buddy, but you can’t fix stupid. Bottom line, the coaches are a liability to the players. It’s their job to put these guys in the best situation to win. Unless someone loses their job tomorrow, nothing will change. Nothing. This team should be 7-4 at worst. Sadly, all these dopes will be gainfully employed tomorrow. The signs of a hands off ownership, that’s more worried about being PC than winning.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:38 pm
Taking the words out of my mouth Joe, thank you.
Let’s also add to that list Keith Armstrong (and by extension his boss mr. Bowles), telling Darden not to return the punt before our last possession, so as not to risk a turnover. Despite having at least 20 yards of empty turf in front of him.
Cuz god forbid we actually score more than 17 points in a game…
But sadly, we don’t see any accountability. Because these coaches are so clueless, that they don’t even know THEY are the problem.
It’s on the Glazers at this point, and I’m not holding my breath there either.
November 28th, 2022 at 12:56 am
Arians has a true passion for football and winning. Bowles does not. The players probably like Bowles, but do not respect him. Arian’s influence on the offense was palpable that was laid bare when Leftwich had to go it alone with Bowles input. Todd Bowles is an excellent defensive co-ordinator, who will go down in history as one of the worst head coaches. He is no better than Lovie, Koetter or Schiano IMHO.
November 28th, 2022 at 1:13 am
Redeemer,
Thanks bro. Much love back to you bro. “The greatest commandment is to love your neighbor.” I’m not in the mood to discuss/debate PC at the moment cuz I’m pissed at this loss that shouldn’t have been a loss.
OK, I will admit there MUST be a leadership change right now, in order to salvage THIS season. I would fire the OC first and bring in, let’s say, Frank Reich, who is available. The DC is cool, Bowles, he be holding his own and actually doing a great job overall. Now the HC….it aint Todd.
The HC must be a passionate leader of men, and Todd isn’t that, this year – forget his stint as Jets HC, although that has some merit right now.
Is there any HC worthy of leading this team, right now, who can step in and change this team? I mean, we seen many interim coaches through the years who have done just that.
What IF we had a coach on payroll right now who was a winner – a coach that that the players respected and listened to? Is there anyone?
Bruce Arians is the answer. I thought he was a good coach the last few years, winning a SB and all, but now, I’m convinced BA is what the Bucs need right now, today.
Totally convinced, and I don’t say that without a lot of thought.
BA!!!!
November 28th, 2022 at 1:27 am
Upon re-reading your comments, Redeemer, I sense you are calling out the owners to make changes NOW. I can agree with that.
Team Glazer, please make changes NOW. If it were this fans wish, I’d say place Bruce Arians as Head Coach tomorrow if he’s healthy. I’d also suggest Frank Reich as OC, if he is available and willing.
Keep all coaches, don’t fire anyone. Put Todd as DC and Byron as Semi-OC under Frank.
For those screaming for PC, my plan above makes everybody happy, including the players. Hopefully?
November 28th, 2022 at 2:28 am
All spot on Joe …..maybe Glazers should hire Vilma ?/
November 28th, 2022 at 6:15 am
The 2022 Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be remembered as a laughingstock. Congrats Mr Accountability Todd Bowles. F this organization till they throw out the trash. I’ll never watch another game until they fire the keystone cops coaching staff.
November 28th, 2022 at 10:31 am
Hmm lets see if the Glazers man up and be the accountable ones!