“I’ve Kind Of Got A Handle On Who I Am As A Coach”
August 9th, 2023
Bruce Arians and Todd Bowles in 2019.
A loaded question was hurled at Todd Bowles yesterday.
Hey Coach, how have you seen yourself grow as a head coach? That was fired at Bowles during his sitdown with WDAE radio.
The pace of Bowles’ speech picked up a notch during his reply and he got into sort of a confident ramble. It felt out of character for Bowles, who is rather measured with his speech and usually crystal clear.
Joe has the verbatim reply, as Joe doesn’t want to make assumptions.
“I don’t think anything is a surprise I don’t think you ever stop learning how to coach, whether it’s as a position coach, coordinator, or a head coach. I think from last year to this year, getting the job in late March as I did, is a complete growth and turnaround from what I saw, in addition to some things with the Jets,” Bowles began.
“I’ve learned a lot from Bruce [Arians] along the way. But his style is his style and my style is my style. I know I could never be Bruce and I don’t try to be. And there’s a time when you have to change the team. I thought we did that this year, and hopefully it has some good results for us and continues. Because there’s a lot of ways to skin a cat. And we understand that, so we don’t harp on the past. But we still have good football players on this team. And being the head coach has helped me learn both sides of the ball, what they can and can’t do, what buttons to push, and being calm in hotter moments and being hotter in calm moments. I’ve kind of got a handle on who I am as a coach.”
Joe’s going to pass on reading between lines on this hot August afternoon. Fans can go there in the comments, if they desire. Bowles, of course, is a sixth-year head coach riding a streak of four consecutive losing seasons.
Joe will say that Bowles is extremely confident. At the NFL Scouting Combine in February, and at the owners meetings in late March, Joe found Bowles to be steaming with confidence, and that hasn’t let up.
August 9th, 2023 at 12:56 pm
Youngry 2.0
August 9th, 2023 at 12:56 pm
Up to this point Bowles’s track record as a HC has been a steaming pile of something….
August 9th, 2023 at 1:05 pm
Not really sure what to read from this lol.
Ultimately just gotta win man
August 9th, 2023 at 1:18 pm
Stormy beat me to it…
‘Something’ was steaming last year.
Lets hope we don’t slip in it this year!
August 9th, 2023 at 1:18 pm
Joe will say that Bowles is extremely confident. At the NFL Scouting Combine in February, and at the owners meetings in late March, Joe found Bowles to be steaming with confidence, and that hasn’t let up.
That is why I just can’t understand why the national pundits think we are tanking for an unproven college player.
August 9th, 2023 at 1:22 pm
We also have a handle on what kind of HC he is. A loser.
August 9th, 2023 at 1:25 pm
Bowles is a great guy. Great D-Coordinator.
Not a good Head Coach. Wont ever win a superbowl.
He has constantly hit his ceiling of achievement, but has not broken through. It’s obvious that he needs to grow and break through his old bad habits, or else his track record will continue to be what it has been. Bad.
His words sound like a guy who doesnt think he needs to grow that much.
Bowles style is under .500, unaggressive gameplans, poor offense, poor special teams, good defense. If I were him, I might want to be more like BA’s Style………
LOL
August 9th, 2023 at 1:28 pm
Confidence is fine as long as you self-scout yourself and learn. You have to change what’s not working. What did he learn from last year? What did he learn as Jets HC? You need to learn and be willing to change.
August 9th, 2023 at 1:35 pm
If Bowles doesn’t produce this year they going to send him packing. Lots of ways to skin a cat Todd including you exiting the building.
August 9th, 2023 at 2:19 pm
Could be worse, SpongeBob could be our coach right now.
August 9th, 2023 at 2:23 pm
This is a big year for Bowles. It will go a long way towards defining him.
He’s got a shot to rewrite the criticism against him.
We’ll see what happens.
August 9th, 2023 at 2:27 pm
He’s the reason we lost. Not Leftwhich- We had a top offense w Leftwhich for 3 years. This GM guy sucks- went from no risk it to no clue
August 9th, 2023 at 2:28 pm
* GM typo
August 9th, 2023 at 2:40 pm
Everybody keeps calling Bowles a loser but 1.) he won 10 games with the Jets, with Ryan Fitzpatrick as his starting QB no less. 2.) the Jets haven’t won double digit games since Bowles 1st year as HC so there’s something to say for that. 3.) his is truly one of the greatest defensive minds in the game today. If Canales can hold up his end of the bargain , we can win the divison. Go Bucs!!
August 9th, 2023 at 2:47 pm
Focus is the key guys. Bucs have a young and hungry team. Did I mention lots of talent and a potential super bowl winner? Believe guys. This is the year. 2020 Made me a believer. Lets believe again in 2024.
August 9th, 2023 at 3:14 pm
he certainly did change the style of the team last year to ” his style” -I guess because it worked so well for him in new york
August 9th, 2023 at 3:17 pm
I’d like to believe in Bowles. We all want him to succeed. But him wearing both the HC and DC hats is not good for the team. I don’t believe he’s talented enough compared to many NFL head coaches much less taking on the responsibilities as a DC as well. He sat on his hands while Geodeke was getting destroyed every game at guard and changed nothing. An injury forced his hand to finally make a change in week 7 or 8. Let’s not even bring up the Pittsburgh or Cleveland games.
It’s a new year so I’ll reserve judgement on this season. He needs to do much better.
August 9th, 2023 at 3:24 pm
When Brady was with Belechik (who had a Bowles/Jets kind of start in CLE) Brady gave Bill less than 10 plus wins a season except one. Could say Brady let Bowls down going 8-9. We all know Tom saved him from maybe a 5 win season. Some sites have Tampa defense ranked 15th in the league. Over perform on defense and don’t give away the store on offense and they will be competitive.
August 9th, 2023 at 3:51 pm
Will Bowles run up the gut first place of pre season or trick them all with a pass?
August 9th, 2023 at 4:23 pm
Jeff’s grandpa Says:
Youngry 2.0
^^^^ Loved This ^^^^
Morris needs another shot at HC. Still think the Bucs should have stuck with him.
August 9th, 2023 at 4:24 pm
I know what he wants to be and that is a winner. I am not sure if that is possible in the modern NFL when the HC won’t give up his DC hat.
August 9th, 2023 at 4:34 pm
It took Licht a few years to figure out his GM strategy.
Bowles should get the same courtesy.
August 9th, 2023 at 5:02 pm
i like bowles, i dont think he really said anything crazy. Hes trying to run his team.
Unfortunately, we sold out to win the superbowl. And we did!!!!
Every real bucs fan should understand the price we paid to win it all..
Lets be patient and accept the rebuild thats happening..
August 9th, 2023 at 5:39 pm
kyle some of us are too old to be patient where like let’s go out and kill something now and I resent coach Bowls skinning cats
August 9th, 2023 at 6:21 pm
DR. POPS … Go around skinning cats & that’ll earn you a 1-way ticket to Belleview real fast.
August 9th, 2023 at 6:26 pm
‘Joe’s going to pass on reading between lines on this hot August afternoon.’
Hallelujah! But then followed by …
‘Bowles, of course, is a sixth-year head coach riding a streak of four consecutive losing seasons.’
Admittedly factual Joe, so that’s not ‘reading between the lines’, BUT … kinda set the tone for the comments that followed it seems.
August 9th, 2023 at 9:18 pm
I don’t think there’s anything to read in between the lines. What he said was pretty explicit and clear. I guess if you wanna make shyte up, you can.
August 10th, 2023 at 12:43 am
We might have a chance if he doesn’t start the turnover machine week one in Minnesota.
August 10th, 2023 at 1:35 am
Confidence is a great thing…When you have a valid reason to be. Otherwise it just sounds foolish. As in right now. Bowles has done nothing to be confident about as a head coach thus far.
Go Bucs!