Todd Bowles: Bucs Can Compete, Maybe Win, By Being Smart
March 3rd, 2023
Bucs coach Todd Bowles.
“Compete” is a loaded word.
Joe heard that word thrown around a lot from Bucs types this week in Indianapolis. What Joe isn’t sure of is how they define it.
“Compete” could very easily mean staying close in games and possibly getting lucky to win late. “Compete” doesn’t equate to “win.” It just means you are in the ballgame.
Super Bowl champs don’t brag about competing while they are still dripping with champagne. No, they are hollering like delirious fools because they won and are winners. There is a difference.
This week, Bowles hopped on NFL Network for a sitdown and had a lot of clichés about competing. Before and after this sitdown, Bowles was a bit more detailed. For example, he said on the “Ira Kaufman Podcast” that one smart way to spend what little money the Bucs have in free agency is to look for guys willing to play for a prove-it contract.
A really good example being dealt a full house of a prove-it contract is Bucs sacks king Shaq Barrett. He was a reserve outside linebacker in Denver and was caught in a logjam by superior pass rushers.
Shaq was signed in 2019 and totally blew up with a franchise record 19.5 sacks. The next year, Shaq helped get the Bucs a second Super Bowl win by going bananas in both the NFC Championship game and Super Bowl.
Very smart move to bring in Shaq on a prove-it deal. Can that happen again? Hard, but not impossible. But this is an example of the Bucs spending money, as Bowles said in the interview, being smart with what little available money they have.
March 3rd, 2023 at 5:31 am
Good luck, Mr. Licht. We need it.
March 3rd, 2023 at 5:45 am
“‘Compete’ is a loaded word.”
Right on Joe. B.S. has a distinct aroma.
March 3rd, 2023 at 6:39 am
It’s simple, Joe – “compete” means to be in a clear position to win a championship at the end of the season. Starting with a Division, then a Conference, and then a Super Bowl. If the team is out of contention for a championship, it’s not being competitive.
By the way, for that army of Negative Nancy commenters here at JBF, people should consider that Tom Brady started his first game in his career for the Pats where he was intended to be the understudy for their star quarterback, Drew Bledsoe. The GOAT threw for only 2,845 yards, 18 TDs to 12 INTs, passer rating of a sickly 86.5 that rookie season. A mere 6 round draft pick with a body that everybody laughed at from his photo shoot at the Combine. But it was enough for the Pats, with a strong supporting cast and even a defensive coach, to win a Super Bowl that season.
March 3rd, 2023 at 6:40 am
The Bucs would be much smarter WITHOUT bowles running the show!
March 3rd, 2023 at 6:51 am
If Todd Bowles was indeed SMART, the Bucs wouldn’t have had the abysmal showing they had last year……as Bill Parcels once said: “You are who your record says you are…” check Toddy’s record as a HC in the NFL….
March 3rd, 2023 at 6:59 am
Might as well release Shaq and save almost 16 mil.
March 3rd, 2023 at 7:35 am
As “heartwarming” as it sounds to declare “The Brady Effect will last for years!”…the reality is things move extremely fast in the NFL ( see also: Rams 2022 ) and each season is unique.
The 2023 Bucs have the feel of a franchise bottoming out yet again. A lame duck ( emphasis on lame ) coach, uncertainty at the most important position ( QB ) and an aging roster where most of the Super Bowl heroes are long gone ( Brady, Gronk, BrownEye, JPP, Marpet, Suh ) or washed ( Barrett ( sorry…a blown Achilles is typically a career ender ), D. Smith and others on their way out the door.
March 3rd, 2023 at 7:54 am
Allbuccedup Says:
March 3rd, 2023 at 6:59 am
Might as well release Shaq and save almost 16 mil.
Shaq has a dead cap in 23 of $23,154,000…..I fail to see how releasing him will save us $16 mil. (He is under contract)
As far as competing goes…..we could have don a little more of that last year…..
I simply have no faith in Bowles’ in game management….
March 3rd, 2023 at 8:22 am
By being “smart”??? We have no chance with Bowles.
March 3rd, 2023 at 8:31 am
Competing is not settling for mediocrity, that’s what Bowles does. Mike McCarthy was asked about losing their OC Moore, his response was Moore like to score and score fast, he would rather run the damn ball and keep his D fresh. Sound familiar? Now we know why McCarthy hasn’t won anything in almost a decade. Sure sit on your heals and let teams like KC, Bill’s, Cincy etc just run the score up on you. FYI, Dallas led in yards 407 and points 31.5 per game in 2022 with Moore at OC. Blows needs to stop flapping his gums, he has nothing to back his system up.
March 3rd, 2023 at 9:30 am
@Duane. The most disingenuous argument is to compare Brady’s early numbers to the current game. The game has changed tremendously! Stop trying to use Brady career arc to Trask. Brady is a complete outlier and should be excluded from any comparisons to any QB. By the way, you know how different the game was in 2002 with Brady’s full second year? He led the league in TDs with 28! That’s what was great in that era. So I’d you’re comparing Trask’a arc to Brady, I expect Trask to lead the league in TDs. Just leave Brady out of the discussion. It’s getting old.
March 3rd, 2023 at 9:59 am
Bless his heart.
March 3rd, 2023 at 10:33 am
This is not a loaded word in the NFL. Every game comes down a play here or there with more one score games each year. Compete means you keep yourself in a position to make those 1 or 2 plays that can flip a couple losses to wins. All these teams have holes. I don’t think the Bucs are going to fall far unless they have a big rise in turnovers. They bumbled into the playoffs with a D that never scores and barely gets turnovers.
March 3rd, 2023 at 10:42 am
By being smart does that Bowles is leaving. Now that would be a very smart move.
March 3rd, 2023 at 11:00 am
‘Bucs Can Compete, Maybe Win, By Being Smart’…..
IF they would have hired an offensive minded winner for a HC!
Toilet Todd sounds like he is delusional…
March 3rd, 2023 at 11:37 am
Did he say smart? I’m all on board with a rebuild. Reshuffling to try and win a lousy division with zero chance of winning a playoff game is just dumb.
March 3rd, 2023 at 11:45 am
Idjut. Maroon. STFU, Toad.
March 3rd, 2023 at 1:21 pm
If “being smart ” is a requirement to win ;; Then I think we’ll be lucky to go 4-13 next season …
March 3rd, 2023 at 1:31 pm
Bucshan – You are the disingenuous one … the numbers are the numbers and for Brady they were mediocre compared to all the other top tier quarterbacks in his first season as a starter. There is no such thing as a non passing league in 2001. The top tier quarterbacks all passed for 3,900 to 4,300 yards, threw 32 to 36 TD passes, and had passer ratings from mid-90s to 104. Much better than Brady did that sams season.
Everyone who paid attention to the Pats that year acknowledges that what won the Super Bowl was’t Brady, it was the rest of the team. It took years – -6 to 8 -for Brady to develop into what we think of as the GOAT. He was a 6th round draft pick for very good reasons.
The point being that people who presume that Trask will be a failure if he doesn’t throw for 4,000 yards and 40 TDs – numbers that the GOAT routinely achieved or surpassed once he reached his mid-carrier performance, are being ridiculous. Just as they are ridiculous for predicting that Trask will be a failure.
Nobody knows how well Trask will perform in the NFL, so everybody making any prediction at all is just spouting nonsense.
March 3rd, 2023 at 11:16 pm
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
March 4th, 2023 at 1:03 pm
Bowles is already set up for a titanic season and an immediate firing after all the games are played. I can see it as clearly as a warm summers day.
March 4th, 2023 at 4:00 pm
Duane Brady went 11-3 his first season.