Ryan Neal: Todd Bowles Is A “Mastermind”
April 7th, 2023
Bucs safety Ryan Neal.
Man it was fun watching new Bucs safety Ryan Neal hold court yesterday for the Tampa Bay pen and mic club.
Neal has a huge personality. The passion he has for football jumped off him. This is going to be a fun guy to watch.
So Neal was asked for a reason he decided to come to Tampa. Obviously, the Bucs offered a starting opportunity (if he wins the job). But another big reason for Neal was Todd Bowles.
Neal raved about Bowles, claiming when he was with the Seahawks, defenders would watch Bucs tape not to scout the team but to try to figure out what the Bucs were doing that worked while they scouted their opponent.
“Even game-to-game, we’ll watch tape on them for the teams we would be playing and stuff like that,” Neal said. “One thing about [Todd Bowles] is he’s a mastermind. He never ran the same thing so it was kind of hard trying to figure out what was going on. It was like, who’s doing what? You don’t know who’s doing what, who’s going where.
“I think it’ll be really cool for me. I’ve done a lot of different things in our defense for the past four years – been in multiple positions. It’ll be cool to see how [versatile] I can be.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge, man. I’m always looking to see if I can affect the game anywhere – that’s always been a goal of mine. I’m excited to play for Coach [Bowles] – it’ll definitely be exciting.”
Joe is fortunate to periodically talk to defenders from other teams and they have mad respect for Bowles. Even when Richard Sherman signed with Tampa Bay he admitted Bowles was a big reason.
Yeah, Joe admits it was only a press conference. You don’t win games standing at a podium. But if a dude ever won a press conference, Neal did so yesterday.
Joe’s eager to see him wearing pewter and red (and creamsicle this year, too!).
After a 2022 season filled with career highs, Ryan Neal is off to join the @buccaneers. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/H1LyhwNkEk
— NFL (@NFL) April 6, 2023
April 7th, 2023 at 4:07 am
This guy is fun to watch. I like him!
April 7th, 2023 at 6:22 am
Everyone was trying to figure out what Bowles was doing. The players included.
April 7th, 2023 at 6:36 am
When do we get to see Bowles masterminding?
April 7th, 2023 at 6:58 am
We needed a safety…ad I guess beggars can’t be choosers….but smells like another sub to me.
April 7th, 2023 at 6:59 am
Smb not sug…autocorrect
April 7th, 2023 at 7:30 am
Neal has a little Rick James vibe too him. Nice pickup.
April 7th, 2023 at 7:58 am
HC Grover wrote:
“Everyone was trying to figure out what Bowles was doing. The players included.”
Really, you talked to the players and they told you that? Like in private conversations? Because no Bucs player has EVER said that about Todd Bowles in any media statement or public statement of any kind. Whenever moved to comment about Coach Bowles, Bucs players have always had nothing to high praise for him as a coach.
April 7th, 2023 at 8:26 am
Not only did we get Neal on the cheap, but we got him after the best year of his pro career and the dude STILL has a chip on his shoulder. Still think we get another safety, still waiting on Bowles to find a player that can play that “moneybacker” role that was copied elsewhere around the league when Bowles was still in Arizona.
April 7th, 2023 at 8:41 am
This guy was a free agent steal. I still can’t believe we got him. Bucs fans are going to love how he plays. He’s very smart, never out of position, plays the run well and can play either Nickel or Safety effectively. Will be an excellent compliment to Winfield Jr.
April 7th, 2023 at 8:56 am
Great signing by Licht. And Neal is onto something, where the positive is a negative. He says,
“ He never ran the same thing so it was kind of hard trying to figure out what was going on. It was like, who’s doing what? You don’t know who’s doing what, who’s going where.”
His players demonstrated they didn’t know the answers to those questions either, at critical moments. Tamp down the genius and ramp up the execution.
April 7th, 2023 at 9:36 am
Give our QB some time to throw we win 10 games this season. Bet
April 7th, 2023 at 9:56 am
A win is a win and Bowles will be judged by it. If our defense can keep teams to under 20 points every game, and our offense finds a way to get to 20, all of a sudden Bowles is brilliant. To write him off as a head coach following last year’s cluster of offensive execution is very premature.
We were 32nd in rushing yards and rushing TDs. Our defense was decent last year (10th in yards allowed), so think how different the season would have been if our running game had simply been ranked in the teens instead of dead last? That would likely have resulted 10 or 11 wins instead of 8, and the story of Todd Bowles as HC would be very different.
April 7th, 2023 at 11:00 am
Yes Bowles is a defensive mastermind except for that final play of the rams game that knocked us out of the playoffs
April 7th, 2023 at 12:30 pm
All of the negative JBFers, who just know how bad Bowles is as a Coach. Read how the Seahawks defense was trying to figure out how Bowles was doing his thing as HC/DC. But then I guess all the JBFers know more than the other team’s DC’s, HC and GM’s what was I thinking??
April 7th, 2023 at 2:55 pm
Mastermind at conceiving and disguising – I give Bowels that.
Now, the more you change and the faster the frequency of the changes, the more risk there is for confusion. Add to that disguises, multiple and ever changing blitz schemes that are often telegraphed by the players, meanwhile those not blitzing don’t know what to do and you have what we’ve seen.
No this isn’t the 1999 defense where the execution was fast and flawless on a simple concept. It’s the opposite. Maybe a compromise simplifying some of the mastermind stuff for the sake of quality execution. You know, for the sake of improvement. Like more wins.
Better results.
April 7th, 2023 at 3:24 pm
^^^Your trying too hard and it’s showing
April 7th, 2023 at 3:37 pm
Hey Dooshley – what?! Wow, girl, maybe down some Midol. You’re getting cramps. I’m not the one the writes 8000 word posts to make a point that could be made in 50. Now that would be trying hard.
April 7th, 2023 at 4:07 pm
Ask the jets what kind of mastermind this fool was, you got Rooney ruled Tampa, sorry for your luck
April 7th, 2023 at 4:13 pm
Highest rated safety in coverage
April 7th, 2023 at 6:50 pm
“Todd Bowles is a mastermind.” LMAO Thank you I needed a good laugh after the last few days.
April 7th, 2023 at 7:58 pm
Did Toad announce who his defensive coordinator is and who will call the defense yet? I may have missed it, given all the Leadership Toad has been exuding recently.