Todd Bowles’ Explanation On Not Calling Timeout Makes No Sense

November 28th, 2022

Shameful details.

It’s been a handful of minutes since Joe heard Bucs coach Todd Bowles explain why he didn’t call a timeout on the Bucs’ final drive with 26 seconds remaining and the team frantically trying to get into field goal range to win the game yesterday.

Joe’s at a loss for words. This may be the first time an NFL coach all but admitted he was scared.

The Bucs have a quarterback on a historic pace of not throwing interceptions. Yet Bowles said he was scared — he didn’t use that word but that’s what he confessed — the Bucs may throw a pick and allow Cleveland a chance at a game-winning field goal.

Joe really doesn’t know how to respond.

Bowles claims he trusts the offense, but his actions state otherwise. Bowles claimed he trusted his defense to win the game, but he didn’t trust his defense enough to take a kill shot (twice) on offense in the fourth quarter yesterday on fourth-and-short in Browns’ real estate.

Bowles stated that if his offense didn’t gain sufficient yards on first down on the final drive, they would just settle for overtime. Yet he never instructed Tom Brady to take a knee and kill the clock (or failing offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich disobeyed Bowles’ instructions) after his one-yard pass to Rachaad White, who was tackled with 26 seconds remaining.

Tom Brady then hustled the team up to the line and snapped the ball with 13 seconds remaining and threw a dart to Julio Jones for a 29-yard gain into Cleveland territory. Then the Bucs call timeout with 8 seconds remaining.

Thirteen valuable seconds were trashed for no good reason.

If you are settling for overtime, why call a timeout? Why not take a knee and kill the clock?

Sounds like Bowles’ instructions either were not clear or were fully ignored by the offense. Or Bowles wasn’t being forthright today.

Bowles then stated he told the offense if they could complete a pass after a failed first down play, OK. Otherwise, settle for overtime.

Bowles was asked repeatedly about both his actions and his responses, and he continually stated he was worried about an interception.

An NFL head coach was worried about the greatest quarterback of all time who has two picks through 11 games may throw an interception. One of the most dangerous quarterbacks in two-minute offense history and he might throw a pick.

This is the first time Joe can recall a head coach all but confessing he was scared. Of the Browns!

Leaders aren’t cowards, folks. And Brady is no coward or a fool.

91 Responses to “Todd Bowles’ Explanation On Not Calling Timeout Makes No Sense”

  1. Christopher Schiefen Says:

    Tom has to take over or this is gonna be a terrible last season.

  2. Anonymous Says:

    This is straight up a fireable offense and it’s not even funny.

  3. ClwJB Says:

    Bowles is both and ham sandwich is worse

  4. TOM EDRINGTON Says:

    Todd Bowels makes no sense, period.

  5. Bucsfanman Says:

    There is no logical explanation…PERIOD!
    You have the NFLs greatest weapon with time on the clock and a fistful of timeouts.
    No amount of word soup will justify this decision. Anyone with an ounce of football acumen knows to take the timeout in this situation.

    Sorry but this was an extremely poor, and costly, decision by Bowles.

  6. BucDaWorld Says:

    This is the difference between an aggressive coach and a passive coach. Passive coaches will always underachieve because they are too scared of losing. We are literally sitting here wondering if we are going to even win our division. This is worse than the previous losing years because we have the talent we are just misusing it.

  7. ElioT Says:

    I’m done with this loser.

    Haven’t we been through enough as fans, now to have to deal with an Idiot HC who has no marbles?

    The future looks so grim for this team.

  8. GABucsfan Says:

    He has to go. If he doesn’t have confidence in the GOAT what is he going to call when it is Kyle Trask? I don’t want to think about it.

  9. AmauryGuzman Says:

    This coaching staff blows. My goodness. No adjustments. Offense is trash . I think what boggles my mind is that this offense has stayed the same all season. No inch of improvements whatsoever. I mean come on.

  10. Rod Munch Says:

    Bowles was asked repeatedly about both his actions and his responses, and he continually stated he was worried about an interception.

    =————–

    Wow, I didn’t hear this. This gutless coward was worried about Brady turning the ball over? That’s remarkable.

    I’ve generally been blah on Bowles, he was dealt a terrible hand being forced to take on Leftwich as part of getting the job, but man, that’s one of the stupidest and most gutless things I’ve ever heard.

    If that summary is correct, then that completely changes my stance on Bowles. I had previously said the guy isn’t getting a fair shot because of the dummy Leftwich, and maybe he can be a replacement-level coach for a season (I figured the wheels would come off in year 2), but now I change that to he should be fired.

    That’s indefensible.

    These two clowns, Leftwich and Bowles, without Arians, wow… Makes the job Arians did as head coach even more impressive, knowing he was surrounded by these idiots. No wonder Arians had the biggest staff in football, he needed people constantly countering whatever dumb opinions Bowles and Leftwich came up with.

  11. Caleb Says:

    He’s got to go. I bet he has had a significant negative affect on the offense as well.

  12. LOL Says:

    Todd. C’mon Man. WTF are you even talking about. I thought you knew ball man?!?

  13. Dusthty Rhothdes Says:

    From Bruce Arian’s No risk it no biscuit to George Costanza’s “Was that wrong”

  14. Davenport Says:

    Back to “THE COWARDLY PUNT” for a second … I don’t think anyone has mentioned this yet:

    The punt resulted in a touchback so the net gain in yardage was an insurmountable 17 yards — SEVENTEEN YARDS!

    Great strategy “Coach Coward”

  15. Bucsfanman Says:

    Davenport- Great point, and it defines the play and decision well.

  16. Daniel Says:

    Whoever said this event and response is a fireable offense is correct.

  17. unbelievable Says:

    Clueless, cowardly, and stubborn.

    The fact that Bowles does not even have the balls to admit he made a mistake (one of many coaching mistakes), says it all.

    I’m done with him. He is not the answer, and him and Leftwich have ruined what should have been a Super Bowl contending season.

    Please Glazers, get rid of these buffoons.

    I hope every single Bucs fan out there does not spend a single dollar of their hard earned money on this team any more this season. Send the Glazers a message.

  18. unbelievable Says:

    Love Smith 2.0, except he was gifted a team with TONS of talent. Lovie was not. So Bowles is actually worse.

    Bowles, Leftwich, Armstrong = The Trio of Idiocy.

  19. JimmyfromNY Says:

    Mind boggling press conference. This guy is a HC of a pro team with the GOAT and he is playing for Oat on the road. Speechless

  20. Jeffs Dad Says:

    Bowles is what he is a good not great d cord but is in WAY over his head as a nfl hc he just aint got the it and most likely never will what a waste of talent

  21. Buc1987 Says:

    Fire Bowles and Lefty!

  22. Buczilla Says:

    Lol, this is so infuriating that I can’t help but laugh at this point. I wonder if Brady would stay if we managed to lure Harbaugh from Michigan?

  23. chris l Says:

    what also makes no sense is you have a risk of throwing an INT in overtime as well. You dont have to take massive shots but also if he had taken a timeout before the game-tying touchdown, we would have had one minute to gain what 45 yards to set up a game winning FG and two timeouts? his explanation makes no sense.

    Arians had the same screwup against the giants in 2019 not going for the win before daniel jones came for the winning drive and we end up losing (i also dont forget the icing of the kicker).

    But this all makes me wonder if we had bowles in the 2020 nfc championship game, he would have punted on 4th and 2 before the half and the scotty miller touchdown would never have happened.

  24. SB~LV Says:

    The Lost Season
    Sean Payton!
    ASAP

  25. pewter941 Says:

    Why didnt Tom call a timeout?

  26. Dusthty Rhothdes Says:

    Davenport, excellent point there on the 17 yard net punt, in addition that fair catch by Darden at the 20 when he had at least 15 yards in front of him with absolutely no one around. The ST coach has ZERO business being part of an NFL team

  27. Jmarkbuc Says:

    Pewter941

    Ditto.

  28. SOEbuc Says:

    One thing Glazers and Licht are the worst at is hiring HC. We need to start over with a legit, accredited HC like BA was, not Schiano, Dirk Koetter, or Bowles.

  29. Caleb Says:

    People asking why Brady didn’t take a timeout. Pretty clear the coaching staff were satisfied with going to OT. They let the Browns take 30 secs off the clock before their 4th down play despite having all 3 timeouts. Obviously a HC philosophy and a crap one at that.

  30. Browsing from DC Says:

    I’d rather see them lose by giving up a pick but going down fighting to win than to see what we saw in that final minute of regulation. Somebody get Todd a blankie and a binky and rock him the rest of the way to sleep when things get too tense for him and let the men play ball.

    I guess you can’t blame the guy. I mean, what has Brady ever done in those situations? Right? Smh

  31. SB~LV Says:

    Joe please STOP posting TB’s photo !

  32. SufferingSince76 Says:

    Sorry I’m late. Bowles and Leftwich must go now. The end of the season is too late. It will be a long, long time before we have the talent we have right now, so a long, long time until another Super Bowl.

  33. Jmarkbuc Says:

    Hey Arians..

    Come and get your boys.. Coaching cosplay time is up…

  34. Simeon97 Says:

    There are a lot of things you can’t control in this game. The oblong ball bounces in mysterious ways, the refs decisions (for the most part), your opponents decisions, the weather, injuries, etc etc.

    You can control the plays you run. You can control the clock SIX TIMES in the game. There is no excuse for poor clock management, particularly in the situations yesterday. Any 13 year old playing madden can manage the clock better than a lot of these NFL coaches.

    I can’t imagine any statistical model would say to punt in that late game situation. It’s the coach’s job to know the odds of actions here, particularly in the context of your team and the opponents abilities. Sorry Bowles, but your “gut” decision making has yet to establish any credibility.

    Though why didn’t Brady call time out? I’d like to think he had some reasonable explanation.

  35. Jmarkbuc Says:

    Caleb

    Did they forget he’s Tom Brady. The Rams game?

  36. Leslie Opyd Says:

    Did he forget the 30 second touchdown to win the game before the Seahawks game ??

  37. Aceofaerospace Says:

    I want to puke.

  38. Tom in MadCity Says:

    Astonishing! How many interceptions has Brad thrown this season? How many did he throw in this game? Gutless. I’d rather have an overly aggressive head coach like Staley than someone afraid of losing or throwing an interception. This sums up the season.

    Who was he afraid of? Brady making a bad read. Or Leftwich making a bad call? If Brady, that’s shameful. If Leftwich, why is he still allowed to call play? Something isn’t right and isn’t being talked about.

  39. captivajim Says:

    Toilet bowles attitude of ” we’re going to overtime” rather than using timeouts to save 13seconds on the play clock,enough for 2 pass plays, when we only needed another 15+ yrds to get in field goal range ; reflects his mind set of “we can’t win now -play safe -get into OT’ ” IS the SAME ATTITUDE he had when he “assumed “we would go to overtime in last season’s playoff loss to the Rams ..

  40. Show Me the TDs Says:

    Same with this one. Do you have an AI writing these. The horse is dead. STOP!!

  41. Cchead Says:

    Todd BALLESS. Fire this ass clown.

  42. Rod Munch Says:

    Also, people seem to be giving a pass on this, but with about 1:30 left in OT, before that huge 3rd down play at midfield, Bowles doesn’t use one of his two timeouts. You use the TO there to save time for Brady to get the ball back and score, and you use the TO to give your defense a rest before the biggest play of the game, and to make sure you got the right call in.

    Bowles was literally playing for a TIE at that point. Not only did the gutless coward play for OT, he literally wasn’t even trying to win the game, instead he was just trying to not lose it, which of course always leads to a loss.

    It’s a loser mentality, like Lovie with the Texans, in OT, just taking a knee to end the game instead of making an attempt to win it. But this is much worse since Lovie has an awful team that should be happy with a tie, but Bucs shouldn’t have been happy with anything other than winning by 30 points. Instead these worthless coaches couldn’t even get this offense to 30 points if you gave them 9 quarters.

  43. ClwJB Says:

    Hi,

    My name is Todd, I have the GOAT as my field General at the most difficult position in sports.

    Yet, I am scared and confused at what this means.

    Do I come out of my shell and see the light?

    HELL NO! I squish back under my shell and pray the other coach is more stupid and scared than me….

    Forever a loser,

    Toilet Bowles

  44. D-Rok Says:

    Wow, what an inept line of thinking. Just WOW.

  45. ocala Says:

    Fire this idiot!!

  46. Rod Munch Says:

    I didn’t even consider this until now… but is it possible that Bowles is throwing himself on a grenade to save Leftwich? Did he think, what is the dumbest, stupidest thing I can think of to say, that will draw fire away from ‘fire Leftwich’ crowd which is at a fever pitch.

    Wow, what a selfless act, to clown himself, make himself look like the biggest gutless coward in town in order to save one of the coaches under him.

    What a great guy.

    Or maybe he really is the biggest gutless coward in town.

  47. cmurda Says:

    He’s still our Coach? Glazers and Licht all suck until this clown is gone. Every single half-knowledgeable Bucs fan knew this staff was jive when they bumbled their way through the Steelers game. Todd is conservative to the point of no common sense and Byron is a dumpster fire. I’ve had 24 hours to calm down and it’s even more evident that the coaching staff needs to go now. I sincerely can’t respect this front office from ownership to Licht if you don’t remove the dead weight while the season can still be saved.

  48. David G Says:

    I think I just heard the last nail being hammered into the #fireTerdBowles coffin!

  49. David G Says:

    I think I just heard the last nail being hammered into the fire Todd Bowles coffin

  50. Tucker Says:

    Just do everyone a favor and quit Todd and take leftwich with you what you are doing to this team is absolutely criminal.

  51. HawaiianBuc Says:

    Not being forthright – just like not providing a clear explanation of Jensen’s injury. #Bowlesout #Leftwichout

  52. GumboIsForWinners Says:

    Did nobody ask him why he call timeout with 1:00 left and Browns facing 4th and goal from the 10 and Browns only having 1 timeout remaining?

    That cost another 30 seconds.

    3 just objectively terrible game management decisions not to mention horrible offensive scheme. This coaching staff needs to be fired today. I don’t care who replaces them. Hell see if Jeff Sunday is available. Anybody, literally anybody could do no worse.

  53. adam from ny Says:

    wow coach bowles threw tommy b under the bus…hardbody!…

    i’d say that was the last card he could pull…

    #BowlesBodiedBrady #PushingTomOutTheDoor

    BA would have never ever said that…

    and with BA the time outs would have all been used correctly to save 0:35 and 0:13 seconds…

    equaling 0:48 more clock seconds for tommy b — the all time uber master of final drive victories

    #TomGravyHasNeverBeenKnownForInterceptions

  54. NEfan Says:

    Jmark and Pewter trying to turn Bowles incompetence on Brady. Bowles told you why he didn’t call it. What he really meant was I panicked and had no idea what to do. I wish he did let Brady take over, Bucs win by 3. If this doesn’t prove his incompetence nothing does. Every loss keeps getting better & better. Oh and where is BIG mouth BA today? Defend this Arians.

  55. Kgh4life Says:

    It’s clear Todd Bowles is not cut-out to be a head coach. He can scheme with the best but when it comes strategy and game management he’s lost. The Bucs has to move on.

  56. NEfan Says:

    So what he’s saying is he doesn’t trust his O or D, if Brady threw the int there would have been like 20 seconds on the clock and Browns smartly used all their TO’s. I call BS!!!!!

  57. unbelievable Says:

    Lovie Smith 2.0, except Lovie inherited a team with no talent, and Todd inherited a team with incredible talent.

    Todd Bowles is worse than Lovie Smith.

    Simple as that.

  58. captivajim Says:

    by Bowleswich not calling the time outs– with Godwin , Jones & Evans on the field -he took the ball out of Tom Brady’s hands !!!!! So bowles dosen’t trust Brady , Godwin , Jones & Evans —there has to be some undercurrents in that locker room …

  59. HC Grover Says:

    We do not know or understand what he is doing. Worse yet Bowles does not know or understand what he is doing.

  60. alton d green Says:

    folks meet the new VP Caramel Harris (Todd Bowles) no chance of him cackling hahahha

  61. HC Grover Says:

    He let the clock run on the Browns last 2 plays also and wasted at least a minute. I think he will not improve and blunder his way out of the playoffs by losing the NFC South. Even if by a miracle he wins this rotten division it is one and done, but they will not fire him and Brady will run not walk to the exit.

  62. mark2001 Says:

    No accountability Bowles. The river of no return.

  63. gotbbucs Says:

    You can trace this entire debacle back to one person, maybe two. Brady’s half arsed retirement/un-retirement. Followed closely by Arians half arsed retirement, yet I still want to stick my nose in there and give my unwanted opinion.

    We sold our souls again for another Super Bowl, and these two men’s ego’s are burning what’s left down to the ground.

    Bowles isn’t cut out for this job, that much is obvious, but he’s the sacrificial lamb for the power struggle between Arians/Brady, and Bowles won’t be the last lamb killed in this mess.

    It took close to two decades to climb back out of the muck the last time the organization sold its soul for a Super Bowl, let’s just hope we don’t have to suffer through another drought that time forgot before we see light again. Salary cap hell is coming and the roster is going to upheave shortly. Cut our losses, trade assets, deal with dead cap ramifications, and start the long climb again.

  64. CChead Says:

    Dis anybody ask why he punted from the Browns 37? If so, what did Balless have to say?

  65. mark2001 Says:

    gotbucs. I find it much more likely that when Brady came back, he thought Arians will be the HC. And he was promptly informed that Arians was retiring…. and he had to say, no, I’m retiring again. Or move forward. I think Brady always wondered about Bowles…but now he doesn’t trust him.

  66. Bring back the lawn chairs Says:

    Dirk koetter would be a welcomed breath of fresh air compared to babbling Bowles.

  67. adam from ny Says:

    bowles is not cut out to take things thrown at him on the fly…

    and all top head coaches play field chess…

    coach just knows the game and knows how to go through the motions of being a HC…

    there is creativity in everything – even sports – you gotta wing things sometimes, flip things around, go for the kill, crash and burn, play chess…

    all he knows is what he knows…just listen to his pressers, all responses almost sounds rehearsed and are somewhat repetitive…

    other coaches at pressers know to be tight lipped with the media, but their responses are not so inside the box…

    coach is living inside the box…

    but that’s a good thing because now he’s boxed and ready to go…

    lol…just ask tommy b

    the b in “tommy b” stands for busdriver

  68. Bring back the lawn chairs Says:

    Lovie smith 2.0 sad… but true. Actions speak louder than words.

  69. Darin Says:

    Alot of decisions from him have been questionable at best. To me this is the last straw. Time to clean house. Just don’t think they’ll do it in season. Sad. What a waste of Brady’s last season. Let Tom be the player/coach and let’s have some fun!

  70. Chip Says:

    Hmmmm…..what was the spread?

  71. Iamabuc Says:

    Bowles, Leftwich, Armstrong = The Trio of Idiocy.
    Do you mean, …Moe, Larry and Curly…😂😂🤣🤣

  72. NEfan Says:

    I believe now there was no riff between Brady & Arians only that Brady wanted out of Tampa maybe through Giselle pressure and once that didn’t happen he said screw it Tampa isn’t so bad. The curve ball was BA taking the job, I believe once he heard Brady was coming back his master plan of setting Bowles up went into affect. He thought, hey he’s got Brady, Gronk will come back how can he fail? This is how BOWLES SUCKS!!! Game over. Where is BA again? Couldn’t shut him up the last two weeks!!!

  73. Erik Hesson | Fine Artist | Founder of UniqueModernArt.com Says:

    NO SWAG WHATSOEVER.

    BRING BACK BA, THE KING OF SWAG

  74. NEfan Says:

    Erik@ you won’t hear from BA until the next W, he will let us all know how.he was a part of the W. Biggest BS artist ever.

  75. Joe Morello Says:

    Because Todd Boles is a joke alongside Byron. Both haven’t got a clue. They need to look at coaching Division 2…
    Glasers are the worst owners too.

  76. firethecannons Says:

    Sounds like Todd Bowles was not being forthright today. Bowles was in over his head, unsure what to do, did nothing and 13 seconds wasted away. It was time that should of been spent getting 15 yards in 2 plays. We could of done a field goal. Face it everyone , Todd Bowles screwed up the clock management and refuses to be accountable for it. Instead he blames the players for not being accountable. The team will stop putting in the effort especially in the next game and TB12 likely is a sitting duck with bad tackle play. Just not sure the Glazers will fire anybody.

  77. C.j. Massie Says:

    Also, losing Wirfs effing sucks. Real bad.

  78. DrunkinYbor Says:

    Just a cowardly cowardly admission Please Bowles go away to the way side. Where conservative biotches talk about scary strategy. Well what if if if if if Brady throws int. Hey sissy boy Bowles You LOSTanway grow a Pare

  79. Vlad The Impaler Says:

    Glazers and Arians will go down in history as the people who ended the GOATs career with the Bucs because of horrible criminally negligent coaching.

    If they had any balls they’d:
    * Fire The Bowles-Witch project
    * Tank the season
    * Sit Brady against his wishes and sacrifice Gabbert
    * Out-bid the partial ownership offers that Brady has gotten from other teams (in order to bring him back)
    * Go all out to hire Sean Peyton

    What they will do:
    * Keep The BWP
    * Let Brady play behind this No-Line
    * Deflect any accountability for the results
    * Say nothing to the fans

  80. Vlad The Impaler Says:

    Terrible negative, caustic, fearful vibe surrounding the whole team right now.
    Bad times indeed…

  81. Vlad The Impaler Says:

    Glazers have hired ONE real HC since Gruden and that is Arians.
    Now they’re back to their old games of trying to pass of 5th-rate assistant coaches as head coachs.

    Raheem
    Schiano
    Lovie
    Koetter
    ^All examples of how the Glazers play the game

  82. IrishTony Says:

    You know what I blame BA for pushing this Bowles as head coach agenda. He’s clearly a very good D coordinator but not head coaching material doesn’t even seem comfortable in that role. If BA didn’t want to continue coaching then they should have brought in an offensive minded HC. This team is built for passing the ball. Even White’s more of an all purpose back.

  83. IrishTony Says:

    Nepotism never works

  84. IrishTony Says:

    I’m sorry but Brady is part of the problem. He had open receivers: Godwin and Evans and overthrew them. We only needed 20 points folks.

  85. IrishTony Says:

    Here’s what I think is happening. Bowles philosophy as a d coordinator is for the offense to maintain possession and keep the d fresh. He certainly trusts the defense which makes sense since he’s a d coordinator. He’s entrusted the offense to an Arian disciple (should I say wannabee) who would prefer taking risks but doesn’t really know how to make it work within the general Bowles philosophy. Bowles is not the right coach for this team. I questioned his hire from the outset and had a bad feeling about the outcome but (like others) was hoping that Brady’s insight and experience would carry the day; i.e., makeup for the coaching inadequacies. That’s obviously not the case.

  86. Your Mom Says:

    Fire Bowles and Leftwich! Let God sort ’em out…

  87. Crickett Baker Says:

    There were two other games played Sunday with one team losing by 7 points. Both got a touchdown. Did they kick a field goal to tie? NO. Both teams tried for a 2-point conversion to go ahead by one point. Both of them made it. No guts, no glory.

  88. GaryJ Says:

    Bowles and Leftwich should both be fired. Let Brady call the plays. Boles was a loser when he coached before. No different now. He has no clue how to coach or make changes. The play calling is predictable on most plays which gives defense an edge and makes it hard for offense. Bowles may be a nice guy but Tampa needs a coach not someone trying to be everyone’s friend. With Evans, Jones, Brate, and Godwin as receivers they should be able throw the ball a day long. Until Bowles is gone I am done and not going to another ga.e. it’s just too frustrating. It’s not the losing its the stupidity.

  89. Ohta Says:

    I don’t understand how after 12 weeks of abysmal coaching that both Todd and Byron still have a job…. If this was a rebuild year then fine….but this was supposed to be a super bowl contending team with literally the greatest QB to ever play football and we trash it with these garbage coaches that should have been fired in week 4.

  90. AbucAway Says:

    The fact that the game may have come down to a timeout speaks louder than anything. It’s the Browns; not the Bills. Much like it was the Steelers. And Carolina. And. And…
    We aren’t a good team this year and there just aren’t enough timeouts to save the season. Plenty of blame to go around. If I was the Glazers I’d blow it up and BA can go to hell with trying to save his boys’ coaching reputation.

  91. DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH Says:

    TIME TO PULL THE PLUG ON TODD BOWLES AND LEFIWICH …….