Todd Bowles: It Wasn’t That Bad

September 26th, 2023

After watching the tape…

Witnessing the beatdown by the Eagles last night, Bucs coach Todd Bowles felt his team got alley-beaten.

After catching some Z’s and going through the film early this morning, Bowles came away with a different perspective. Yeah, a loss stinks, he said in his day-after presser. But he didn’t feel overall his run defense played that terribly overall.

“When I left the game, I thought it was a lot worse than it was – I just thought they killed us,” Bowles said. “Watching the film this morning, we misfit some things and had some self-inflicted wounds.

“I thought they schemed up one of our defenses pretty good and got two runs out of it, which was good on their part. I thought we kind of misfit or ran out of our gaps on certain things, which is encouraging because it can be corrected – but at the same time, you don’t want it to happen.”

As Joe stated earlier, two or three plays here or there, the Bucs are in the game. If Mike Evans’ hands didn’t let him down early. If Devin White was healthy and able to return his interception for a pick-six. That’s two touchdowns right there (yes, Joe knows the Bucs kicked a field goal on the drive Evans couldn’t haul in a touchdown pass).

In Joe’s eyes, if two guys had shown up last night instead of continuing their standard empty uniform acts (hi Rachaad, hi JTS) that game really could have been different.

64 Responses to “Todd Bowles: It Wasn’t That Bad”

  1. Boss Says:

    bowels sis not see the game I saw. I saw our #1 WR give the game away before the half by dropping a TD and 2 3rd down balls.

    that changed everything.

    The D held up pretty darn well until the 3rd when the game was out of hand.
    especially considering their injuries

    doe ME have a broken hand or something?

  2. Mike S Says:

    They’ll never admit Baker isn’t the guy.

    And it will get Bowles fired.

  3. gp Says:

    I thought we kind of misfit or ran out of our gaps on certain things, which is encouraging because it can be corrected
    **********************************************************
    This infers that he is ready and willing to make changes to the game plan….

    THAT would be something new!
    I’ll believe it when I see it.

    Please please PLEASE! Give me a reason to change my ‘no confidence’ vote in a future confidence poll

  4. Boss Says:

    bowles does not need any help getting fired LOL

    if only ME played up to his contract. He needs to be benched at a minimum. He disappears in NO every year anyway. He might cath one or two…but that does not make up for his dismal play.

  5. Really? Says:

    They’ll lose against the saints. They kick our butts every time.

  6. Rod Munch Says:

    I agree, that while this game was frustrating due to the completely inept and stupid coaching of Bowles, who thinks it’s 1972 and you win by running the ball, the Bucs weren’t blown out. If Bowles didn’t cripple the offensive play calling by demanding we waste downs needlessly running the ball up the gut when clearly wasn’t working, then the offense is putting up some more points and the Bucs make it a competitive game.

    But ‘Big Balls Bowles’ from week 1 was an aberration, as soon as he felt like he wasn’t on the hot seat he went back to ‘Boring Bowles’ and cost the team any chance to stay in the game.

    However, it’s not all lost. The Eagles are an extremely good team, and the Bucs are not, but they’re good enough to beat bad teams, and perhaps beat a better team here or there.

    However, just like last year, the God-awful coaching will keep the Bucs from really doing anything, but they are trending in the proper direction.

  7. Jack Clark Says:

    Not that bad??? Did Bowles not see the run blocking? Running backs getting hit before they can even cross the line of scrimmage is not that bad?? Does he not know he needs to fix the run blocking since he wants to have a run first team? When is Todd Bowles gonna start being a head coach and stop being a defensive coordinator?

  8. pewter941 Says:

    @rod munch the Eagles won by running the ball. They just did if efficiently.

  9. Bucamania Says:

    Bottom 5 offense
    1. Feiler 41
    2. Mauch 48.7
    3. Kieft 50.5
    4. Otton 51.3
    5. Hainsey 51.8

    OUCH

  10. matthew veal Says:

    We really only have about one third of our super bowl starters left, and four of them were playing hurt or out.
    We have no money etc to get high level replacements, not even at the 3 hof ers we lost on offense.
    We need to draft perfect and hit on an undrafted free agent or 2.
    And those players need time
    We lost our head coach and offensive coordinator.

    The game was not going to be different imo.

    We might still make the playoffs, but we are iffy at best.

    No need to get too mad, Todd’s way is smarter than collapsing imo

  11. chris l Says:

    joe – someone needs to ask why rachaad white always pumps his legs before running. he was running in open field yesterday doing the same thing. all last year he did the same thing. leftwich kept calling run up the middle but white still has the same issues. at some point it is the player and he has no juice

  12. Beej Says:

    I am not seeing how you could lay this loss at the hands of the quarterback.

  13. Rod Munch Says:

    pewter941 – They weren’t lining up under center and running the ball into a stacked Bucs defense that knew a run was coming – they were pretty creative with their run, doing a lot of it from shotgun, and they passed plenty, which kept the Bucs off balance. Additionally, from watching on TV, it sure didn’t seem like Bowles blitzed a lot – however, the TV angle and be weird and not show everything, so perhaps I’m off on saying that until I see the numbers. But the Pats and Vikings were rushing 3 and dropping 8, which I saw the Bucs doing a number of times, and if you only have 3 rushers, then that’s going to open up the run game. Again, will have to see the ALL22 to know if that was the case or not here, but the Eagles were smart about running the ball and didn’t just do it to meet some quota that the 1972 Coaches Handbook says is a key to victory.

  14. Texasbucsfan Says:

    Excuses are for losers. The bucs got beaten, time to move on to Sunday

  15. HC Grover Says:

    Blind man Bowles….hey it sucked. They were bigger, faster, stronger, and better coached. Sorry Todd you are delusional.

  16. Texasbucsfan Says:

    The bucs got beaten, time to move on to Sunday

  17. Defense Rules Says:

    ‘As Joe stated earlier this morning, two or three plays here or there, the Bucs are in the game.’

    Sorry Joe, the Bucs were never in that game, regardless of what the score was at the time. Eagles had superior talent, and were at least as well coached, if not better. The result in situations like that is usually quite predictable, and it rarely hinges on 2 or 3 plays.

    Eagles had the ball for 78 plays, while the Bucs had just 44 plays. That translates to a Time of Possession of Eagles 38:55 to our 21:05. Eagles converted 10-of-16 3rd downs, and 2-of-3 4th downs, and in the process accumulated 472 yards of offense. There’s no putting lipstick on it … We used to call it ‘getting curb-stomped’ but I guess ‘butt-whoopin’ would also work.

    Last night was very reminiscent of our 1st 2020 game against the Saints. Bucs came into that game sporting a 6-2 record riding a 3-game win streak … then got curb-stomped 38-3 by the Saints here at RayJay. Saints had 73 plays to our 46, with a huge TOP advantage of 40:04 to our 19:56. They went 9-for-14 on 3rd down and 1-for-2 on 4th down and ended up with 420 total yards of offense to our 194 yards.

    That loss sent us reeling, and we lost 2 of the next 3 games before snapping out of it & finishing the regular season on a 4-game win streak. And oh ya, 4 wins after that we were Super Bowl champions. Losing sucks, and especially getting butt-whooped, but it’s still just 1 game in 17-game season. Bring on the Saints.

  18. HC Grover Says:

    Plan 9 ran out of Benzine for his retro rockets and could not reenter the atmosphere. He skipped off and remained in outer space.

  19. The Beer Whisperer Says:

    Yep, I can’t see singling out any one player, in this loss.
    The suckage, was pretty evenly spread across the board.

    If this were baseball, the stat-sheet would be filled with errors.
    With everybody having, at least one.

  20. Bucs13 Says:

    The Eagles also had many self inflicted wounds. They should’ve won by more points.

  21. D-Rok Says:

    It may not have been that bad, but at least they made up for it by not being that good.

  22. The Beer Whisperer Says:

    I was asked about the offensive execution, I said, “I was in favor of it” ..lol

  23. Steve Garner Says:

    The season is still to early to get hyped up about. According to Troy Aikman, last year Brady was a miracle worker with the worst running game in the NFL, a banged up O-line and a depleted defense. According to Joe, Brady was the problem. OK, the Bucs are 2-0 against 0-6 teams. They are now 0-1 against 3-0 teams. Hopefully, Jameis Winston will not be on his game this week.
    Stay tune

  24. Why Bowles? Says:

    Bowles is in denial. There is NO way 2 or 3 plays in the Bucs had any chance it that game. We seem to forget 1st series Eagles went for it on 4th down giving up a very easy FG opportunity and AJ Brown dropped one right in his hands in the end zone. The Eagles played with the Bucs the entire second half and especially the last 9 min of the game. DR is right, curb stomped or whatever you want to call it. I say arse whipped.

  25. Marine Buc Says:

    Like I said earlier – watching that game against the Eagles was like watching my barn cat play with a mouse before she eats it…

    LOL- this team isn’t close to being a top tier NFL team.

    And as the injuries begin to mount it will only get worse.

    I still believe the Bucs can win the NFC South but as Cobra said – “That is like being the tallest midget” – lol.

  26. Boss Says:

    JW throwing picks is our only hope. We should put ME at DB!

  27. BigSlick Says:

    We were beat in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Physically overpowered by the Eagles. Next year we need to get better at OLB, D line, and C, G, and Rt

  28. DBS Says:

    When you watch Hurts getting decked but still hitting his receiver because or CB is so far of or beaten ? That is the story you look at along with them running it down our throats. Bowles needs to stop this we are going to be a running team and quit playing So far off receivers.

  29. Marine Buc Says:

    @ Boss

    “We should put ME at DB!”

    Only problem is most DBs have better hands than ME… lol.

  30. gp Says:

    DR
    Eagles had superior talent, and were at least as well coached, if not better
    *************************************************************
    I’m sure you would agree that doing the same thing over and over and over again, hoping for a different result, is a recipe for disappointment and failure.
    Especially when you are doing it against an opponent who knows that you’re going to do just that.
    The Eagles knew, based on personnel and position, exactly what we were doing on both offense and defense. It’s a testament to the quality of our defensive personnel that they didn’t put 70 on us like the Dolphins did to Denver.

    We were SEVERELY outcoached.

    And until we start coming up with designed game plans, there won’t be any change to that reality.

  31. DBS Says:

    Is Armstrong still employed today????

  32. David Says:

    Toilet Bowl,
    We can’t hear you. How about the qb you brought in ? How did he do last night scoring 3 points in three qtrs. for 87 yard with 50% completions in three qtrs ?
    You sure praised him after beating up on two winless teams.

  33. Herbiebuc Says:

    @GP 👏🏿👏🏿
    Every turnover we created ended up hurting us please make that make sense 😭😭

  34. David Says:

    Toilet Bowls would have benched Trask had he started instead of Baker scoring 3 points in three quarters with zero TD , one INT, 87 passing yard. I guarantee it.

    However he will not bench Baker going forward until they both are fired.

  35. MiamiBuc Says:

    25-3 with 13 minutes left in the 4th is a beat down, especially by their defense on our offense.

  36. MiamiBuc Says:

    @David

    True dat. And, everyone here would be demanding that Trask get cut.

  37. HC Grover Says:

    Back to reality after two weeks of irrational Buc hype here.

  38. SlyPirate Says:

    WTH IS THE UP WITH THE JTS HATE?!!!!

    You keep beating up on JTS. PLEASE POINT OUT WHICH DL/OLB PLAYED WELL.
    FIND ONE. FIND JUST ONE.

    >201 Yards rushing with 5 yards per carry. Most were right up the middle. JTS doesn’t play the middle.
    >1 Sack (by LVD). Are you blasting Shaq, Nelson, Gholston, Hall, Yaya, Vea?
    >3 TFL. NOT ONE by a DL … but guess what? There is one 1 by JTS.

    JTS is the only OLB to show up with a meaningful play on the stat sheet.
    JTS leads this team in Sacks.
    JTS leads all OLB in Solo Tackles.

    How’d the other OLB do yesterday?
    Shaq: 0 tackles, 0 sacks, 1 QB hit
    Nelson: 1 tackle, 0 sacks, 0 QB hit
    Yaya: 1 tackle, 0 sacks, 0 QB hit
    JTS: 2 solo tackles, 1 TFL, 0 QB hit

    Not saying JTS is lighting it up but he is doing better than every other OLB.

  39. Mike Johnson Says:

    You right Todd. Philly had mercy on you and left an easy 20 to 30 points on the field. It was Bad. Your O and D lines got blown off the ball almost every series and your secondary got lit. Play like that against the Saints and Jay-miss will be eatin crab legs during his victory speech in their locker room.

  40. RagingBrisket Says:

    This team does not run the football and hasn’t for 10 years. Where is the accountability from Jason Licht. The oline and backfield are atrocious. Absolutely embarrassing oline performance with lousy backs.
    This is Licht’s fault 100%

  41. David Says:

    Joe says;
    “In Joe’s eyes, if two guys had shown up last night instead of continuing their standard empty uniform acts (hi Rachaad, hi JTS) that game really could have been different.”

    NO Joe,
    1. That was a sign of blow out game from the start when Eagles marched down easily twice but came up with three points. ‘
    2. That was a sign of blow out game when the offense made two turnovers late in the first half.
    3. That was a sign of the blow out game when Baker overthrew wide open Thompkins for TD on his third throw followed by a high throw to Mike E. on the sideline on his fourth throw.

    The game was lost when you starterd Baker on national TV against team with the best DL in NFL.

    The game should have been 55 to 11. How the heck you expect to win NFL scoring 3 points in a half or 11 in the game ?

    For all the Baker’s fan out there, please stop pointing fingers at Mike E. and OC. Just admitt it, Baker sucks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  42. StickinUp4Centers Says:

    IMO, the defense is almost an extreme version of bend don’t break. They bend like gumby until the red zone and then turn it on. For much of the game, the Eagles had their way marching down the field, but the D was pretty strong in the red zone. I think Vea not being 100% really affected the front line of the D.

    While we play some of the “If” games, I didn’t see Zyon as a gunner on the long punt return. IF Carlton Davis wasn’t hurt, Zyon is the gunner on that play and makes it down there to limit the return.

  43. BucU Says:

    I agree with Joe. If some people just did their job it would’ve been competitive. Dave Canales is more to blame than BM.

  44. DBS Says:

    MiamiBuc. New name. And your giveaways are showing.

  45. optimisticbucsfan Says:

    We got hammered.

    If this and if that…get outta here with that excuse BS.

    That talk is WEAK talk.

    Own it. We got beat down. SMDH

  46. gp Says:

    Sorry Herbie, some things just won’t ever make sense.
    You can, however, rationalize that giving up 2 points with a safety is better than giving up 7 for a TD.
    Doesn’t make it feel better though.

  47. BucsFanSince1996 Says:

    It was pretty ugly last night despite the HC indicating that it wasn’t that bad.
    Fortunately, much of the bad stuff can be corrected.

    What IS concerning though are the injuries that many of our key players on defense are experiencing already after the 3rd game in a 17-game season.

  48. orlbucfan Says:

    DR, last time I checked, Iggles lost the Stupid Bowl last year. Bucs won theirs in their crib 2 years before. Bucs didn’t need Brady and all his baloney, not to mention the salary cap blows to do it. All they needed was a competent QB. Bucs don’t have the equal to the Iggles right now. But they aren’t wussies either. I will stand up to any yahoo who messes with my team on that one. I have the same feeling about Sunday’s game that I had about da Bears. 3-1.

  49. Pewter Power Says:

    I thought they schemed up one of our defenses pretty good and got two runs out of it

    ???? So after running for 130 and not being touched until like 5 years up field is that his take? I mean Bowles did you run the same defense all night?

  50. Tbbucs3 Says:

    It’s puzzling how someine could watch that game and identity Baker as the main issue….Baker has proven over the years that when he has the right peices around he can play effectively and he wasn’t even all that bad last night.

    Last night the lack of talent at the running back and tight end positions reared its ugly head as well as lack of depth at WR.

  51. Beej Says:

    I’ve seen a thousand times where the writer will say “blah blah blah quarterback doesn’t do all that well under pressure”

    WHAT QB goes well with 320 lb dudes dragging him down?

  52. RuKa Says:

    So many “if” Joe…. Too many! No excuses! We can put the same amount of “if” in the Eagles…

    What about this one: if only Todd Bowles was really a good coach…

  53. unbelievable Says:

    I get where Bowles is going… but I don’t think we were ever going to win just based on how badly we were dominated in the trenches.

    But there were definitely about 4 -6 plays that could have possibly changed the game, such as:

    – Baker’s interception

    – Evans dropping that pass in the end zone (Though to be fair, Baker floated that thing like a raindbow for no reason which is why the DB had time to come back and get a hand in there. But Evans still needs to catch it).

    – Baker failing to throw the ball to Chris Godwin just 1 second earlier on the previous play, when Godwin was still in bounds.

    – Devin White being injured and unable to return that INT

    – Terrible punt coverage by our STs x2.

    – Izien turning his back to Hurts when we was right there to make a sack.

    – The moronic run call when we were backed up on own 1 yard line after Philly had been literally living in our backfield all night long.

    Oh well, on to the next one.

  54. unbelievable Says:

    Oh yea, and the BLATANT holding on Gaines during Hurts first touchdown pass.

    – Or the BLATANT false starts (plural because there was at least by Lane Johnson, both of which led to huge plays for the Eagles).

    But again, on to the next one….

  55. TonySoprano Says:

    That’s right, Bowles, way to set a high bar. “Meh, it’s ok, we didn’t lose THAT bad.” But then again, I guess when the HC’s pregame speech includes “it’s not the end of the world if we lose this game,” Bucs fan shouldn’t exactly expect a winning mentality from this team.

  56. Defense Rules Says:

    orlbucfan … You lost me on that one. 2020 & 2022 are both gone; water under the bridge. I don’t think anyone has said that the Bucs are ‘wussies’. They lost to a team with superior talent. In this era of the salary CAP, teams rise, teams fall, teams rebuild (oops, forgot, they ‘retool’).

    The Eagles fielded a team that Bowles would love the Bucs to become. Strong in the trenches on both sides of the ball, solid running game, adequate passing game, etc. My guess is that we’re 2 drafts away from having that team because (tada) we can’t afford to buy it. I prefer the draft approach anyways because it’s more ‘enduring’.

  57. Buccaneer Bonzai Says:

    Barring a two game run into the playoffs, I think Bowels is getting fired after the season.

    I think we may be surprised at his replacement.

  58. Steelers fan Says:

    Unbelievable, What about when Baker threw a pick or only had 80yds through 3Q’s ? Joe hasnt said anything about Baker and he is clearly the problem.

  59. steele Says:

    It was that bad. And worse. They took mercy on the Bucs.

    But given the weakness of the rest of the division, Bowles will win some games and maintain the delusion until the next beatdown from a top team.

  60. RGA Says:

    It was that bad, was an ass kicking.

  61. MiamiBuc Says:

    A field goal deep into the 4th quarter. Think about that.

  62. confido75 Says:

    I CANNOT stand this HC! The players may like him and he comes across as low key and easy going to the media, but he has the ego the size of an aircraft carrier. This guy never admits when he makes a mistake and epitomizes the definition of insanity. His arrogance and stubbornness will result in a losing record for this team. I will be over joyed when ownership realizes they need to hire a new HC.

  63. unbelievable Says:

    @Steelers fan- yes I listed Bakers INT as one of those plays.

  64. orlbucfan Says:

    DR: Go back if you check back, and read my comment word for word. Bucs were outmanned and outcoached MN. How come with all the bots on here, they didn’t get slaughtered into the ground like Denver did against the Fish?