Jason Licht: Todd Bowles And Baker Mayfield Turned Around 2023 Season
August 20th, 2024
“They’ll follow us, ‘Bake.'”
When the Bucs lost six of seven games midseason, entering the month of December with a 4-7 mark, it sure looked like Todd Bowles’ hot seat was scalding.
Baker Mayfield also seemed to be a one-and-done quarterback with the Bucs.
Fans were openly talking about who should be the next coach, and they were getting stoked about the chance to draft Michael Penix or Bo Nix.
Then, something happened to the Bucs. They suddenly began winning, losing just one game the rest of the regular season. Next thing you know they are stomping the Eagles in the wild card round at The Licht House on Monday Night Football.
In the annual SiriusXM NFL Radio training camp tour stop at One Buc Palace yesterday, former Vikings and Dolphins general manager Rick Spielman asked Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht what clicked for the team to do a 180 as they did last season.
“I really can’t point the finger at what it was,” Licht said.
However, if Licht had to take an educated guess, it was Todd Bowles’ steady demeanor and lack of panic that not only didn’t rub off on his players, but it guided the team to the light at the end of the tunnel.
“Todd, our head coach, does a great job of being the same every day, steading the ship,” Licht said. Bowles doesn’t “get too emotional, one way or the other.”
Licht also gave credit to the leadership of Mayfield himself. The veteran quarterback had seen adversity in his short time in the NFL before arriving in Tampa Bay.
“He kept everybody positive, everybody loose,” Licht said of Mayfield. “And he fought his @ss off for every yard he threw for or rushed for.
“Everybody just jumped on the bandwagon with him. He was basically saying, ‘Come with me. Let’s go win. Let’s go turn this around and I will buy drinks at the bar at the end of the day.’
“Everybody kind of bought into that.”
Whatever Bowles and Mayfield did, it worked to turn the season around. The Bucs would go on to win the NFC South for a third straight year and they were a couple of plays away from upsetting the Lions on the road in the playoffs and advancing to the NFC title game.
August 20th, 2024 at 12:11 am
The spiral from 3-1 to 4-7 was led by Todd. Fact.
August 20th, 2024 at 1:17 am
I swear it was the Jinx of Creamsicle Uni’s that caused our midseason slide. We were possessed by the Bucs of old and we started playing like the old creamsicle Bucs in the Creamsicle game, and then we couldn’t get out of that funk for 7 games. I actually don’t like or want to remember those days as a creamsicle Bucs fan, other than to appreciate what we have now in comparison… Performance-wise and aesthetically with our new (way better color scheme)
August 20th, 2024 at 1:29 am
Creamsicle should be cremated.
August 20th, 2024 at 4:02 am
“I really can’t point the finger at what it was,” Licht said.
———-
You got to win the games on the schedule… but again, look at the teams the Bucs faced during that stretch. Each team they beat was in the middle, or at the end, of a big losing streak, in the case of the Eagles, a historic losing streak.
The only team they faced during that stretch that wasn’t on a big losing streak was vs the Saints, who gave the Bucs a big beatdown and saw Baker play his worst game of the year.
At the same time, the Lions game was at least close — so there’s some hope that perhaps it’s not all a mirage. Also, sometimes a team just has to win some games to get a roll, then everything comes together. Hopefully that’s the case here.
August 20th, 2024 at 4:35 am
Absolutely love Coach Bowles steadiness and calmness. But I also love the new side of him we see that players must have been seeing all this time. His humor, dedication, and his matter-of-facts about how they are doing. The players respect him. That says so much.
Bowles really liked Mayfield while coaching the Jets. Now we have Baker and he was the best QB to have after Brady. He is a strong fit. Players and coaches all like Baker. We are lucky to have both Baker and Bowles. Go Bucs!!
August 20th, 2024 at 4:44 am
Rod … ‘sometimes a team just has to win some games to get a roll, then everything comes together. Hopefully that’s the case here.’
That’s a key point IMO Rod, and it’s easily overlooked I think. After starting 3-1, Bucs lost 6 of 7 before turning it around & winning 5 of the last 6. The 2 teams that we beat after that long losing streak played us close, but the Bucs pulled it out … we beat the Panthers 21-18 (we could’ve lost if not for the INT with 2 mins to go) and the Falcons 24-21 (we would’ve lost if not for the TD pass to Otton with 30 secs to go).
Those 2 games re-taught us how to win IMO. Heck even the next game (34-20 win against the Packers) was a LOT closer than the score indicates. Bucs were ahead by 27-20 with 10 mins to go in the 4th qtr (we put that one away with a FF & a 52-yd short TD pass to Dave Moore). Followed that with a very nice 31-12 win against the Jags, before losing 23-13 to the Saints in what everyone felt was a must-win game, then struggling to a 9-0 win against the hapless Panthers. A bunch of nail-biters in there far as I’m concerned.
Yes we won the weak NFC South division with a 9-8 record, but we were anything but dominant (or consistent). We scratched & clawed our way to the playoffs throughout the whole season, and needed a LOT of help from ‘our friends’ and Lady Luck. But the good news is that we won, and in the process a TEAM was built. Our moves this off-season SHOULD serve us well this year. But I can almost guarantee there’s gonna be a LOT more scratching & clawing before Game 17 ends.
August 20th, 2024 at 6:59 am
To add to what DR typed, we definitely have the skill and athleticism to have a good winning record but there’s going to be a lot of scratching and clawing from the inexperience. With this youth infussion I think we added a lot of depth, speed and pure ability but we have a lot of young inexperienced players that need to come into their own. If hese guys were all seasoned and everybody was extremely familiar with the defensive and offensive systems, we’d be blowing teams out but there’s going to be a learning curve here (many teams problem… especially the ones with constant coaching changes). The O line needs to gel (which will equate to it better and game), the D line needs to find a pass rush and the secondary needs to cover much better than last season. It will be fun to see how this plays out, though rough trying to handle these nail biter games that will drive you crazy, since it’s likely we’ll probably suffer a few close losses as well (as long as those aren’t divisional games, I want those to be 6 blowouts of our favor LOL)
August 20th, 2024 at 7:16 am
Defense Rules-one of the most studious commentators on this sight. I like learning something new or at least finding food for thought with your breakdowns. …I think we’re not factoring in the new offensive schemes or the extra year of being together. Plus some great looking new pieces. We’re gonna win a bunch of games this year and be one of the favorites entering postseason. I know a confident team when I see one. And despite all us fans fears-this is one confident team for which the sky is the limit. Take that to the bank.
August 20th, 2024 at 7:29 am
I can help you think through this run, Jason. The schedule went from hard to soft and as a result, we started winning again. At the same time, the nfc south was pathetic and we were obviously never out of the chase, which kept everyone focused. It’s that simple.
August 20th, 2024 at 7:46 am
You can look at how Detroit and Philly dominated us early in the season, vs how we played them in the post season to see how much the team improved over the course of the season. Benching White, swapping out left guards, playing YaYa more, had something to do with it as well
August 20th, 2024 at 8:06 am
Its no secret why we were in that losing steak. Here are the QBR for Baker in the games we lost last season:
DET 54.6
NO 19.8
IND 29.1
SF 47.9
HOU 64.4
BUF 44.7
ATL 46.4
DET 16.7
PHI 23.3
August 20th, 2024 at 8:51 am
Bubby … Interesting perspective, and in many respects I agree with you. We started off the season 3-1, beating 3 teams that went 7-10 (Vikings), 7-10 (Bears) & 9-8 (Saints), while losing to the (eventual) 11-6 Eagles. IOW we beat 3 teams with the same or worse record on the season.
But then the spiral began … losing to the 12-5 Lions, the 7-10 Falcons, 11-6 Bills, 10-7 Texans, 12-5 49ers & 9-8 Colts while beating the 6-11 Titans in there. Finally went on a tear winning 5 of the last 6 … beating the lowly (2-15) Panthers twice, the 7-10 Falcons (barely), the 9-8 Packers & the 9-8 Jaguars while losing to the 9-8 Saints.
Not hard to figure out that on the season we didn’t beat a single team with a record (9-8) better than ours in our 9 regular season wins. We lost all 4 games against teams with records BETTER than ours, and lost 3 games to teams with the same 9-8 as us, plus 1 loss to the 7-10 Falcons.
So I guess that you could say we pretty much played at our 9-8 level. We only lost 1 game to a team (Falcons) with a record worse than ours, and broke even (3-3) against teams with the same 9-8 record as ours. Unfortunately we weren’t quite good enough to beat those teams with 2023 records BETTER than us. What did they used to call that? ‘Not quite ready for Prime Time?’ I’ve got a feeling we will be this year though.
August 20th, 2024 at 10:33 am
Jason improved the roster, especially the OL. It appears.
The Lunatic Tepper took Canalwater off our hands in one of the miracle moves of all time. And he took two slugs with him. So offensive couching will be better. It appears.
Those two factors right there should be worth a few more points scored per game. Baker with another year to learn his receivers and the new Macmillan, only helps.
What will the defense actually do? We are hoping Todd is saving up the new and improved defense for Washington. Todd is 2-0 in Buc openers as the head coach, so there is a degree of hope.
At this point, the soft camp is ingrained, so don’t get anyone injured. Of course that’s probably what will happen next, it’s a Bucs life.
August 20th, 2024 at 10:33 am
Bucs have been called “Cardiac Bucs” for probably as many years as they’ve been in existence. Close games are no surprise, and winning more than losing seems to be the pattern now. Hope it keeps up.
August 20th, 2024 at 10:54 am
The Week 1 game vs Washington is big. Two games in Sept are a toss up at best (Lions and Eagles). 2-2 going into Atlanta is big. 1-3 and that’s an immediate “coach on the hot seat” game.
August 20th, 2024 at 12:38 pm
@view from: Exactly my thoughts on needing that game 1 win against Washington because our 1st 10 games are brutal and we most likely need to go at least 5-5 to finish the season with a 10 win record so without the game 1 win it will be very hard.
August 20th, 2024 at 2:27 pm
They lose to Washington that will be a bad signal flare and the uphill climb gets steep immediately.