Todd Bowles Not Happy With His Defense
October 19th, 2023
High standard.
Joe caught hell on social media Sunday night. Joe still maintains it is true.
The Bucs defense didn’t play that bad Sunday against Detroit. Look, Detroit has won 13 of its last 16 games. They are hot as a firecracker with an excellent offense.
Joe doesn’t care what team the Bucs are playing. You hold your opponent to 20 points, you should be in the game.
The Bucs’ offense sucked Sunday, plain and simple. And while no one at One Buc Palace that Joe spoke with on the defensive side of the ball would admit it, the defense had to have been gassed with all the three-and-outs by the Bucs’ impotent offense.
No. The defense was not to blame.
Still, Bucs coach Todd Bowles doesn’t want to hear any of this. He opened up yesterday and said his defense isn’t playing at the level he thinks it can play or needs to play.
“We should be further along,” Bowles said. “We got everybody back, it’s time for us to start coming together from a defensive standpoint.
“We’re playing good defense at times. You can’t play five minutes of bad defense – you lose ballgames that way. One or two plays you bust that cost you seven points are costly in ballgames.
“Defensively, you try and keep the scoring down less than what you’re scoring – that’s our goal every game. When you don’t do that, obviously there [are] some things you have to work on. I think we’re coming together, I think we’re close, but I don’t think we’re there yet.”
Bowles was then asked about the busted coverages that resulted in the Lions scoring both their touchdowns. It’s unfair to single out a defensive back for those busts, he replied.
Bowles added if a blitz would have gotten home or someone off the edge would have gotten to the quarterback, no one is talking about busted coverages allowing two touchdowns.
October 19th, 2023 at 12:12 am
These advanced offenses (Eagles and Lions) are revealing the games is starting to outdate Bowels and his only success (DC) is about to no longer be his only crutch to keep him employed…
The Bucs need to read the tea leaves and go get an OC for HC to compete with the updated upgraded teams!
October 19th, 2023 at 12:25 am
Tye you sound very dumb.
October 19th, 2023 at 12:33 am
“ Bowles added if a blitz would have gotten home or someone off the edge would have gotten to the quarterback, no one is talking about busted coverages allowing two touchdowns.”
The only time our edge rushers touch the quarterback is when their shaking his hand after the game!
October 19th, 2023 at 1:14 am
absent a blitz, we don’t get to the qb
October 19th, 2023 at 1:33 am
I agree 100% our edge rusher’s need to get to the quarterback, JTS is not a starter he’s terrible and I don’t think shaq has a sack yet this season. Edge and RB are the worst in the league. I understand shaq is back from a serious injury and he’s rusty but in my opinion he’s lost a step.
October 19th, 2023 at 2:03 am
Tye is absolutely right. Bowels’ def is outdated and he doesn’t even have the players to run it. You can’t play soft zone when you can’t get to the QB with four (and we’re not even great at getting there WITH a blitz). Also our corners are better at man anyhow. I swear this team is so disjointed on both sides of the ball. Our plan always seems to be “let them catch it, but then tackle them right away.” I seriously wonder if they coach it that way. Like the Joes always say about the run game (you’re allowed to break a tackle), you’re allowed to break up a pass!! AND our run defense has “sucked” (compared to what it was) these last few years. No matter who we play, our WRs are wearing their DBs like sweaters, and their WRs catching balls where there’s no defenders within 5 yards! Why?? I thought Canales was for scheming guys open? Maybe it’s this obsession with dropping big guys like VV into coverage 🙄. Just like the Godwin screen, that 1 time it works doesn’t make up for the 859 times it royally screws us. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Who is imitating Blows? I watched a YouTube video about the Wildcat offense and how quickly all the teams tried to copy it. The brotherly shove, etc. Who is doing what Blows is trying to do? What underling of his has gone on to great success elsewhere? Just wondering for everyone claiming he’s some defensive mastermind. Don’t even get me started on 21 v Rams…
As far as the Lions game, yeah they have a good offense, yeah we kept it pretty close most of the game, yeah “if” sacks. BUT their top 2 RBs were out most of the game, it was ARSB’s first game back, and their stud TE was playing injured. And we were almost completely healthy, AND coming off the bye. And this is how our D has played for years. When you take all that into consideration, the D gets NO flowers from me. Maybe don’t give their receivers a 9 yard cushion on 3rd & 8. Maybe an idiot fan like me just doesn’t understand 🤷♂️
October 19th, 2023 at 2:38 am
Anyone ask him about third downs?
Go Bucs!
October 19th, 2023 at 3:09 am
Tye … ‘The Bucs need to read the tea leaves and go get an OC for HC to compete with the updated upgraded teams!’
I understand Tye that Chucky is available, so that should fill the bill. Heck he got our 2001 offense … ranked #15 … all the way up to being a #18 offense in 2002 when we won the Super Bowl (coincidentally with the #1 ranked defense led by Monte Kiffin). And BTW, Chucky’s offenses averaged a #21 ranking for his 7 years with us, so dual-hatting OCs as the HC, even good ones, is rarely the answer (his 45-51 record in the 6 years as Bucs’ HC AFTER winning the Super Bowl kinda shows that?).
Same thing BTW goes for Dirk Koetter. Very competent OC, but dual-hatting him as HC wasn’t the answer. Started off with 1 decent year (9-7 in 2016 with the #18 offense & #15 defense), then slipped to 5-11 in 2017 (with the #18 offense & #22 defense) and 5-11 again in 2018 (with the #12 offense & #31 defense). Ideally there has to be some semblance of ‘balance’ between the 2 sides of the ball IMO (as we saw in 2020 with our #3 offense & #8 defense winning the Super Bowl?).
Todd Bowles is trying to build a more balanced TEAM IMO, but the talent-scale tips a bit more right now towards the defense (more based on experience than anything else). Dave Canales is doing a decent job building a new offense, but our talent on that side of the ball still has some holes, mostly in the skill positions far as I’m concerned. We’ll get there, but it’ll probably take 2 more drafts to restock the cupboard.
October 19th, 2023 at 6:27 am
@ I remember 21
Spot on. Everything you said. Spot on.
October 19th, 2023 at 6:40 am
What I’m really tired of is the exact same words out of Bowles mouth after every bad loss.
“We have to coach better. We have to execute better”.
Then do it! Don’t just talk about it. At least he doesn’t see much wrong with the run game. Any day now right Todd? It’s gonna click any day now.
😵💫
October 19th, 2023 at 7:22 am
On a few snaps the Bucs DB’s lined up so far off there man, the tv camera couldn’t get it in the frame. Literally in another time zone. On one occasion the DB was 15 yards from his man at hike, and he was the closest coverege.
They don’t even cover like that in peeeweee football. What gives?
October 19th, 2023 at 7:25 am
That different time zone coverege reminds this poster of lovie smith having 3 down defensive lineman at the one yard line of scrimmage against a stacked oline of 8. Trying to stop a score…I mean is simple math that hard?
October 19th, 2023 at 7:26 am
In the NFL, it’s an arms race, and if you’re going to compete with the big dogs, you need dogs that can hunt. That’s why, in my view, we should go after Danielle Hunter. He’s pushing 29, but he’s a beast on the field with a total of 79 career sacks and currently leading the league with eight this season.
Remember, when we got Jason Pierre-Paul from the Giants, he was also 29 and had 58.5 sacks in his career. We traded a third-round pick (No. 69 overall) to the Giants to secure his services. It’s those kinds of moves that can change the game for us.
October 19th, 2023 at 7:32 am
Of course Todd Bowles is not satisfied with his defense, and won’t be until they consistently do to opponents what the Lions defense did to his Bucs offense last Sunday – keep them out of the end zone.
That’s what coaches are paid to do – not say, “Hey, I’m satisfied … we don’t need to get any better.”
But fans and analysts have to look at where the team is compared to expectations. And right now, our defense is good. 8th ranked in the league in points allowed – the only defensive stat that matters. And held the 4th ranked offense in the league nearly 10 points below their average point production.
That the defense faltered in the second half allowing too many 3rd down conversions by the Lions is entirely explained by the fact that they were gassed, after the offense failed to stay on the field, converting only 2 of 12 third downs, and lost both the offensive snaps ratio and time of possession by huge margins to the Lions.
The offense has to sustain drives and get points, period. That didn’t happen last Sunday.
It’s called “complementary football” – the play of each unit and each player either helps or hurts the performance of other units and players. Units and players do not play in a vacuum. This isn’t golf, where you’re only playing against yourself.
October 19th, 2023 at 7:46 am
During the Super Bowl our 3rd down front was handful
OLB Jason Pierre Paul
NT Vita Vea
DT Ndamukong Suh
OLB Shaquil Barrett
With the addition of Hunter & Kancey we can field something comparable
OLB Danielle Hunter
NT Vita Vea
DT Calijah Kancey
OLB Shaquil Barrett
October 19th, 2023 at 7:48 am
During the Super Bowl run our 3rd down front was a handful
OLB Jason Pierre Paul
NT Vita Vea
DT Ndamukong Suh
OLB Shaquil Barrett
With the addition of Hunter & Kancey we can field something comparable
OLB Danielle Hunter
NT Vita Vea
DT Calijah Kancey
OLB Shaquil Barrett
October 19th, 2023 at 8:11 am
Okay. Now I agree with everything Bowles said about the Defense. But that BS on the running game not being as bad as last year, no he was FOS.
Bowles is a strange dude.
October 19th, 2023 at 8:39 am
I’m not happy with it either..
A chronically bad secondary and DT’s that play 40-60% of snaps?
October 19th, 2023 at 9:04 am
OMG… the people TRYING to be critical of Bowles’ defense are just showing their stupidity. Outdated? How freaking dumb are you people? Doesn’t have the personnel? Clueless much? The personnel is on par with the group that pistol whipped Mahomes in the Super Bowl. The scheme is sound when players do their jobs. We gave up 20 to a team averaging 30 despite having very little in the way of sustained drives by our own offense to keep our defense off the field. Most of you posters are a joke and wouldn’t know good football if it hit you in the nose like Marcia Brady.
October 19th, 2023 at 9:49 am
That last statement, get to the QB, get him off his spot, then we are not talking about busted coverages
October 19th, 2023 at 11:07 am
Just concentrate on ATL. Because after that, we got a Thursday night turnaround.
October 19th, 2023 at 11:21 am
Good & Bad
The good part is his 4th ranked defense can get better and he’s only satisfied with perfection.
The bad part is his offense is top 4 worst in the league. The offense is losing the games. Todd is showing the inability to be a HC, instead of a DC.
October 19th, 2023 at 12:47 pm
Just because we had a few offense based HCs that didn’t work out as advertised (ol Chucky did win a SB tho, albeit mainly due to a great defense) doesn’t mean that’s not the way to go in the future. And I can GUARANTEE our next HC will be an offense guy. If we’re being honest, I don’t think Bowles would’ve been the guy in the first place if the Brady/ Arians shenanigans wouldn’t have played out the way it did. Also Raheem didn’t work out great either from the defensive side.
@ Duane
That’s what I was trying to get across, we didn’t hold the 4th ranked offense to 10 pts below their average. Sure we did on paper, but in reality they were really hobbled with injuries. I understand you play the game with the guys you have, but we can’t ignore that when evaluating our performance. And I’m not denying that the impotent offense led to the D being gassed (but don’t forget we were coming off the bye). For the record, they scored half their points in the first half. Was the D gassed already then too? Let’s not forget, this was Bowles’ plan. The offense was too good. Scored too much too fast and that’s what gassed the D (they looked pretty spry in the SB, but that was Bowles’ argument). Now they’re gassed cause the offense sucks. Can we just expect these guys to play tough and not baby them? With VV playing like half the snaps too. If they want a rest, how about stopping them on third down? Is that the only play they’re gassed for? Sure seems like it sometimes.
@ Brandon
Can’t we just talk some football without the insults? Or at least dispute the points among the insults? The idea that the defensive talent on this team is comparable to the SB team is… false. One might even say clueless. I might also suggest that having an offense that puts up 31 points (even quickly!) allows the defense an easier go of it. Maybe we can agree on that. As far as our supposed dismantling of the Lions offense, see the above point.
October 19th, 2023 at 1:32 pm
@I remember 21
You got to remember that not every one that post on this site are adults or even fully mature even if they are… Ones who result to insults give that away…
Just over look them like a child when grownup are talking and don’t let them trigger you….
October 19th, 2023 at 11:34 pm
Told you