“Todd Bowles Even Talked Mess To His Own Team”
July 15th, 2023
Todd Bowles
Joe finds Bucs fans often are stopped dead in their tracks when reminded that Tampa Bay opened last season with two consecutive road victories — at Dallas and at New Orleans.
Yeah, the Bucs were 2-0 with Tom Brady. Then they limped their way to 8-8 and a clinch of the NFC South title before intentionally tanking the season finale in Atlanta (also known as the Luke Goedeke Revival Bowl).
The Bucs hammered Dallas on opening day behind a beastly run game from Leonard Fournette followed by a nasty war in New Orleans against the rival Saints. America’s interception machine, Jameis Winston, threw three interceptions, Bucco Bruce Arians was ripped for being a sideline instigator, and Mike Evans and Marshon Lattimore were ejected after fighting.
Then it all went south.
Joe was reminded of the Saints game this week on multiple fronts.
First, Joe reviewed old notes while deleting files at JoeBucsFan.com world headquarters. They were of former Bucs cornerback Richard Sherman (2021) talking on his podcast about how head coach Todd Bowles went over the top getting into the heads of his players before that Saints-Bucs game last year.
Bowles, obviously, knows the rivalry is fierce and perhaps it was Bowles who had Mike Evans in powder-keg mode.
“Todd Bowles even talked mess to his own team to hype them boys up,” Sherman said.
Keep in mind Sherman remains tight with many Bucs.
Fast-forward to this week and Sherman, on the podcast that bears his name, asked Bucs safety Antoine Winfield Jr. to name the 2023 game he’s most fired up to play.
Joe would have bet $500.00 that Winfield would have replied naming the Vikings in Minneota in Week 1. He’s from Minnesota, attended the University of Minnesota and grew up a Vikings fan, where his dad was a Pro Bowl player.
Nope. Joe would have lost the bet.
Winfield said the Saints is the circled game on his schedule [Week 4 in New Orleans]. He talked about how nothing is more intense than a Bucs-Saints matchup.
Joe is glad the Bucs have that Saints game just prior to their Week 5 bye. It’ll be a fantastic test and could set the team direction for the remainder of the season. As Joe has written many times, the Bucs must find a way to open with at least a 2-2 record.
Joe hopes Bowles pushes the right buttons to get his team motivated like he did last season.
July 15th, 2023 at 5:13 pm
I always feel bad for a coaches who have teams with no talent.
July 15th, 2023 at 5:13 pm
I would have said the Superbowl, but you know…
July 15th, 2023 at 5:18 pm
By the end of Saints game we will know how it will go.
July 15th, 2023 at 5:34 pm
Was it, by the end of the Saints game, that the entire league had figured out how to stop our running attack?
July 15th, 2023 at 5:43 pm
Bowles gets the buttons wrong all the time. A career of it.
July 15th, 2023 at 6:03 pm
2-0 with Arians on the sidelines losing record when he was kicked off imagine that
July 15th, 2023 at 6:23 pm
The game plans for the Cowboys game & the Saints game actually look very similar, and those 2 wins were thanks to the defense playing lights out. Offense scored only 19 points in the Dallas game win, and 20 points in the Saints game win, but the defense only gave up 3 points to Dallas and 10 points to the Saints.
If you look at the defensive snaps for both games, they’re almost identical. Our Secondary & ILB starters played 100% snaps in both games, with Logan Ryan playing nickel (49 snaps against Cowboys then 48 snaps against Saints). Vea, Shaq & JTS all got a high number of snaps also (Hicks did in the 1st game, but got injured partway through the 2nd, then didn’t return until the Seahawks game, which we won also).
We ran the ball very effectively & a LOT against Dallas (33 runs for 152 yards) then ran it a LOT against New Orleans but not as effectively (30 runs for 72 yards). Saints did have a pretty good run defense as I remember.
After those 2 games, Bucs didn’t run the ball nearly as much, mostly because we’d fall behind early in the games we lost then try to play catch-up using the pass. Didn’t work very well last year. Just ask BL.
July 15th, 2023 at 7:21 pm
ME TOO JOE !..ANTOINE WINFIELD JR IS A GREAT LEADER ON OR DEFENSE..HE WILL DEFINITELY HAVE THE BUC’S FIRED UP FOR THAT SAINTS GAME !..THESE RUMERS ABOUT A TOM BRADY COMEBACK NEED TO QUICKLY GO AWAY..IT’S TIME TO FIGURE OUT THE FUTURE..THE TEAM FEELS MORE UNITED WITHOUT HIM..IF HE PLAYS FOR THE VETERAN MINIMUM, SURE, BRING HIM BACK, OTHERWISE, LEAVE HIM BE ,TO BE INDUCTED TO THE HALL OF FAME IN 2027..GO YOUNG BUC’S GO ! ! !
July 15th, 2023 at 7:27 pm
AS LONG AS WE WIN “ALL OUR DIVISION GAMES” ALONG WITH SOME UPSETS ALONG THE WAY, WE WILL BE DIVISION CHAMPIONS FOR 3RD YEAR IN A ROW & HOST A HOME PLAYOFF GAME..( THIS YEAR WE WIN THAT HOME PLAYOFF GAME ) THE SKY IS THE LIMIT FOR THESE YOUNG STUDS ! ! !
July 15th, 2023 at 7:45 pm
Bucs are going to have a prominent roll on Hard Knocks this season. We scrimmage against the Jets on the 16th & 17th. Then play them on the 19th. Plus the Jets play in the Hall of Fame game on the 3rd. Really looking forward to Hard Knocks with Rogers at QB.
July 15th, 2023 at 8:11 pm
Todd Bowles doesn’t get anyone hyped up ever, from what I can tell.
July 15th, 2023 at 8:33 pm
Make the slow starts on offense a thing of the past and get us back to putting up points in the mid-high 20’s. If that can be manifested and our D keeps at its average the last 3 seasons we’ll be well on our way. To what? No clue, but we’ll be a dangerous team to line up against every week especially with a clean bill of health.
July 16th, 2023 at 2:50 am
The more I find out about Winfield the more I like.
I hope they give Mike 20 targets over Lattimore’s P!@#$ !!!
Go Bucs!
July 16th, 2023 at 10:11 am
Bowles does not want to score points, he wants to hold teams to lower points, football from the 70’s. Bucs go 3-14, Mayfield is knocked around like a pinball. The aging alligator arms ME13 does NOT get his 1000yds. HO HUM Bucs AGAIN! $10 seats with a free dog and soda.
July 16th, 2023 at 10:14 am
I know others have said it, but I will have my time as well.
I read past Tommy Mordue’s post every time because of the capitalization.
Maybe that is what he wants.
July 16th, 2023 at 1:04 pm
Beating the Saints in the playoffs was magical. The Super Bowl was icing.