Lavonte David Addresses Todd Bowles’ Job Status
November 26th, 2023
The legendary graybeard of the Buccaneers, iconic linebacker Lavonte David, missed today’s game with a bad groin. Joe suspects that was a big reason for Tampa Bay’s porous defense and 27-20 defeat to the Colts.
Joe caught up with David 1-on-1 after the crushing loss.
David worked all week to help teammates prepare and “stay engaged,” he said, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Bucs from their sixth loss in seven games.
And that loss puts his boss firmly on a broiling hot seat. The Bucs are 4-7 and sinking fast.
David acknowledged to Joe that the NFL can have a quick trigger for head coaches. Longtime Bucs fans will remember when David reacted on social media (very rare for him) when Lovie Smith was fired after the 2015 season. David was very upset, and then deleted his post and disappeared for a while.
As a seasoned NFL veteran, David told Joe he no longer concerns himself with a coach’s job status. David’s day-to-day is about preparing for wins. Everything else is not worth his time.
“I don’t worry about that,” David said when asked about Bowles’ job possibly being in jeopardy. “I learned from [Lovie Smith] getting fired a long time ago, that’s something that I can’t control. You know, I’m not worried about Coach Bowles at all. You know, he’s one of the best coaches I ever played for, so we’re definitely going to keep trying to turn this thing around — for the team, not for a coach or one player.”
Interesting take by David. Lots of layers there. Regardless, Bowles’ status is just talk for fans, and probably for Team Glazer.
The only way for players and Bowles to fix things is to win. Unfortunately, it sure feels like the team doesn’t know how to get there.
November 26th, 2023 at 5:52 pm
Not exactly a passionate plea to give Bowles another chance.
November 26th, 2023 at 5:53 pm
Betcha LD said all he needed to say. This team is dead. Unwatchable. Dang it!!! The Bucs are supposed to keep me engaged for the next two months. This season is over before college even wraps up.
November 26th, 2023 at 5:53 pm
He knows Bowles is a goner.
As he should be.
He’s a lousy, unmotivating, clueless and inept head coach.
November 26th, 2023 at 5:55 pm
With all due respect to one of the greatest Bucs ever, Bowles is not a great coach.
He was a great coordinator that has failed miserably in both chances to be a HC
November 26th, 2023 at 5:55 pm
If you can’t win with Brady and the investment made in this defense (4 of the 5 last top picks). You can’t win…..let’s keep the kickers & rebuild the team
November 26th, 2023 at 5:58 pm
Hey joes, lay off LVD. He’ll do his thing with hopefully ex-player (at the end of the season) Devon White.
November 26th, 2023 at 5:58 pm
Year 2 of the same uninspiring mess put on the field.
The only difference with the final result will be, at least they will not get seal clubbed and curb stomped in the Playoffs.
#Glazers Break out then AXE “Dili Dili”
GO BUCS!!!!
November 26th, 2023 at 5:59 pm
My favorite Buc and one of our best of all time tells Joe that Bowles is the best coach he’s ever played for. What ‘layers’ are you talking about.
November 26th, 2023 at 5:59 pm
Tampabaybucfan Says:
November 26th, 2023 at 5:55 pm
If you can’t win with Brady….
———————
Bucs won a SB with the dinosaur or did you miss something?
November 26th, 2023 at 6:06 pm
Todd could take the 1999 Rams offensive roster and limit them to averaging fewer than 17 points a game. But at least he could take the Steel Curtain defenses of the 70s Steelers and coach them to average 26 points a game allowed. He’s the genius who is afraid to play to win and can’t teach his players what their assignments are, or coach the slop out of them.
Too bad. I like the guy, been cheering for him since he was Jets head coach. But we’ve seen enough. Please Glazers, break trend and give him his well deserved severance tonight.
November 26th, 2023 at 6:10 pm
Out….get him out
November 26th, 2023 at 6:13 pm
Oralbucsfan
Todd didn’t win with Brady!! He went 8-9
Dumba**
November 26th, 2023 at 6:14 pm
Todd Bowles has zero job security!!!
Mind you in Orlando we were stuck with Falcons/Saints.
Congratulations Bowlzo, now I have to hope the Stinkin’ Panthers can lay a big enough egg to lose to us. Part of me wants to lose, but the division is still up for grabs because the Falcons won. Shamefully, I’m leaning towards the tankers. ( I followed the game by text updates from NFL.com.). Thankfully, we seemed to run the ball well for the most part and if I’m not mistaken we had a 38 yard run. Sans eyeballs or ears I surmise the offense wasn’t good enough to win and the defense was just good enough to lose. Baker was pretty good, but just pretty good. Fine backup material. Pay him $8-9 million next year. Draft the future. I don’t recall reading DW45’s name. JTS finally got a sack. Godwin was largely unnoticeable. All I know about Diaby is he got hurt; I hope it’s minor. For this disheartening game I had pennies on my eyes, but it won’t go away.
November 26th, 2023 at 6:17 pm
Frontfour:
David said “one of” the best coaches.
Look at who Lavonte’s had in his career. Very bad coaches.
Some of you all are complete idiots. You can even read yet alone comprehend Bucs history.
November 26th, 2023 at 6:17 pm
Bowles should be fired by the time the plane lands in Tampa. Not just for being a bad head coach and an overrated defensive coordinator, but because he rolled over and quit at the end of this game. The head coach sets the standard for the team. Todd should have called the time outs and made the Colts finish the game. Todd Bowles is not a leader of men!
November 26th, 2023 at 6:28 pm
Where is Bowles on the Bucs head coaching list since David has been here…
#1. Arians – obviously
#2. … um, Dirk?
#3 Lovie Smith
#4 Todd Bowles
#5 The Jersey Trash
Wow, #2 and #3 are hard. Was Lovie better than Dirk? Was Dirk literally the 2nd best coach of the last decade for a team that has had 5 of them?
November 26th, 2023 at 6:30 pm
Dave Pear Says:
November 26th, 2023 at 6:06 pm
Todd could take the 1999 Rams offensive roster and limit them to averaging fewer than 17 points a game.
———-
THUS PROVING THAT WE’RE “THAT CLOSE” TO A BREAK THROUGH! MVP COACH TODD BOWLES WILL WATCH THE FILM, AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS, SHOW YOU WHY HE’S THE BEST, AND THE BUCS WILL COME OUT ON FIRE NEXT WEEK AND BLOW OUT THE STINKING PANTHERS AS WE START OUR MARCH TO THE SUPER BOWL!
#TEAMPOSITIVE!
November 26th, 2023 at 6:30 pm
Only positive thing that you can say about Clueless Todd, is he is achieving a top 5 draft pick
November 26th, 2023 at 6:37 pm
Lavonte’s words echo Ya-ya’s when he was asked about his snap count a couple weeks ago: I can only control what I control. David isn’t just a beast on the field he is a solid gold mentor to the talent Licht has drafted that warm the bench. Ray Lewis, Jack Lambert, Lavonte David- there is no one best ever but damn am I grateful Lavonte David is a Buccaneer. The stats are there but he will never make the HOF which is a damn shame.
November 26th, 2023 at 6:48 pm
ElioT….
Just a hater.
November 26th, 2023 at 6:54 pm
Front Four:
Yes, I hate loser head coaches.
November 26th, 2023 at 7:09 pm
Rod. – LMAO
November 26th, 2023 at 7:15 pm
Any predictions on who the next coach is going to be ?
November 26th, 2023 at 7:18 pm
After watching this defense today I think the Bucs better be saving all their draft capital for the D! The loss of LVD really exposed them. DW45 may have a sore foot but that isn’t why he missed those tackles. The starting CB’s are grossly overpaid.
The team is simply not able to make a play. MAKE A FREAKING PLAY and don’t drop the damn ball!!! Make a tackle and don’t overrun a QB and give up a TD.
This team just can’t tackle.
And so I give in to the naysayers. However we have two QB’s either of which could possibly win with a decent team around them. Do not waste draft capital on a QB crapshoot before you FIX the damn D!!! Do that and then if QB is still a problem find a QB.
The ONE MAJOR move I would be ready to pull the trigger on is Jim Harbaugh!!
He will absolutely be the best coach available next year if he’s finally tired of the college game BS and suspensions. Harbaugh is a WINNER! He could take one or both the current QB’s and with another good draft turn the team around quickly. Harbaugh gives the Bucs a much better chance of winning than (fill in your college QB).
November 26th, 2023 at 7:20 pm
Sources are beginning to swirl that the next head coach has been the head coach of the Patriots up until now.
November 26th, 2023 at 7:20 pm
Eric Bieniemy ? Seems like a good offensive minded coach. Who knows maybe Greg Schiano comes back lol.
November 26th, 2023 at 7:26 pm
Do we expect a Todd Bowel movement if this slid continues, which it will?
November 26th, 2023 at 7:27 pm
Kinda lame to ask this question midseason about a coach LVD clearly respects in the middle of the season, joe.
What are you trying to bait LVD into bashing Bowels? What else his he supposed to say.
Player’s have nothing to do with the decision making that goes into firing coaches.
November 26th, 2023 at 7:31 pm
Soooo he compared him to Lovie Smith. SMH.
November 26th, 2023 at 7:31 pm
No player let alone a 10 year Bucs veteran should be pressured into answering a question about a coach who’s clearly on the hot seat.
TMZ Joe making an appearance today.
November 26th, 2023 at 7:40 pm
Hahaha. On to the Super Bowl!!! Posithink rules.
November 26th, 2023 at 7:41 pm
Vast majority of Bucs fans are looking for a scapegoat right now, and the Head Coach is the usual candidate. Todd Bowles is toast. If he’d been smart, he would’ve said ‘He11 No’ when BA said he wanted him to be the next Bucs’ HC because this whole thing was literally guaranteed to fail.
When your QB is a 45-year old legend, you’d better have an OLine that can protect him big-time. We obviously didn’t. In addition we started culling the defensive herd soon as Bowles took over last year (Suh, JPP, Whitehead, etc) and didn’t draft comparable replacements. That accelerated this year, as did the ‘youth movement’ that started in 2022, big time (as in 11 rookies on the team?). Lack of leadership & lack of depth literally guaranteed failure with this particular coaching staff.
Todd Bowles trying to do 2 tough jobs at once has been his undoing because he’s not doing either well. Funny thing about scapegoats though; once they’re gone and the team still does poorly, folks start looking for the next scapegoat. In the process they usually find that it’s rarely 1 person who should shoulder the blame for poor team performance. Losing is always a team effort too. Wonder who JL can entice out of retirement next.
November 26th, 2023 at 7:54 pm
StPete … ‘This team just can’t tackle.’
That’s it in a nutshell St Pete. Colts weren’t running sweeps around the ends; they were gouging us right through the middle, and we couldn’t stop them. We’re not stout enough in the middle of our DLine to keep virtually any RBs from gaining 5 or more yards, UNLESS we happen to get them in the backfield before they get up a head of steam.
I got disgusted today watching the center of our DLine get pushed aside by a meh Colt’s OLine. Equally horrified watching Devin White end up outside the play time after time. Your MLB has to be the one to own the middle, but White never did. We couldn’t stop them. Probably why Colts ended up with 70 plays & we ended up with 55.
November 26th, 2023 at 7:59 pm
BUCCANEERS ALL-TIME HEAD COACH POWER POLL
1. TONY DUNGY
2. BRUCE ARIANS
3. JOHN MCKAY
4. JON GRUDEN
5. SAM WYCHE
6. RAHEEM MORRIS
7. DIRK KOETTER
8. LOVIE SMITH
9. TODD BOWLES
10. GREG SCHIANO
10. RAY PERKINS
11. RICHARD WILLIAMSON
12. LEEMAN BENNETT
November 26th, 2023 at 8:02 pm
Defense Rules wins the thread.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:12 pm
Todd = Lovie
November 26th, 2023 at 8:48 pm
I’ll just sum up everybody’s comments here….WE SUCK.
November 26th, 2023 at 9:22 pm
They should have fired Toilet Bowles a month ago ! This guy is clueless. Very incompetent.
November 26th, 2023 at 11:24 pm
Rod
Ranking Lovie over Bowles and Schiano? Are you high?
November 27th, 2023 at 7:11 am
Not challenging that catch (ruled a non-catch) by Evans had me yelling at the screen. We did end up picking up the first down anyway but unless the guys upstairs who look at the replays saw the ball hit the turf or not enough to overturn the call, Bowles should have challenged as convinced Evans was that he made the catch and wanted a challenge. It was a big play in an important game but no challenge?
R. White finally got a 100 yard rushing game but suddenly the line couldn’t pass protect. It was a Jekyll and Hyde situation with these guys yesterday. The pocket collapsed on Mayfield all day.
Early in the game on two of Minshew’s first couple of completions, McCollum took really bad angles on the receiver and whiffed on the tackles. Luckily, both time D. White was there to clean them up before they turned into even bigger plays. As a former DB, how does Bowles not have this group playing better? They certainly weren’t focused on stopping the run.
It was another winnable game that they let slip away. More penalties at the worst time and that lack of discipline is on the coaches, starting with Bowles.
Reading between the lines of LVD’s answer to the Bowles question, he said he was “the best coach” he’s played for not the best HC. “Coach = teacher” so that may be a true statement in that regard, but he also didn’t sound very hopeful that things will turn around. Seems like they’ve all lost their “fight” again, like last year with a few exceptions.
November 27th, 2023 at 7:46 am
Rod is a sucker
November 28th, 2023 at 6:04 pm
First of all.. NOBODY is winning with BAKER MAYFIELD at the head of their offense. NOBODY.
Second this pop warner offense can’t generate more than two touchdowns a game. THERE IS NO RUNNING GAME. Meantime there’s a guy named ERIC BIENEMY up in D.C. ? This man has SAM HOWELL 300 yards a week and three touchdowns. Do the Glazers still own this team? Smh. Who’s consulting them ?
.