Bucs Super Bowl QB Is No Fan Of The Fire Todd Bowles Rants
November 20th, 2024
It was very obvious this week that when former Bucs Super Bowl-winning QB Brad Johnson isn’t lighting up social media with bizarre trick shots, he’s paying close attention to the current Tampa Bay team.
Johnson was a guest of multimedia icon Rock Riley on WDAE radio and was asked about calls to replace head coach Todd Bowles with offensive coordinator Liam Coen.
That drew a laugh from Johnson.
“It’s probably a little too early right now (laughs) to be making those decisions,” he said. “I mean, honestly, the Buccaneers, I think they’ve had the hardest schedule in the NFL.
Johnson rattled off the Bucs’ tough losses and big wins against the Lions, Eagles and Commandoes.
Still, Johnson didn’t take a coaching change off the table. He just wants to see more.
“Players are going to come and go and coaches are going to come and go, but obviously you want a quarterback to be in the same system for a long period of time — over time,” Johnson said. “They’ll figure that out, but I wouldn’t make those decisions now. There’s been a lot of great success with Todd Bowles as the head coach. … They got a chance. Honestly, they got a chance. They’ve got seven games left and they’re playing against five quarterbacks in the next weeks on teams that have struggled. … I wouldn’t give up on this team and make coaching changes right now in the middle of the season with seven games to go. We’ve got time here.”
Joe hasn’t thrown in the towel on Bowles. There are no crowns handed out in November, but Joe does know Bowles needs wins to deserve a Year 4.
That starts Sunday with the tanking Giants, and then continues the following week with the sad Panthers and then home in Tampa for a whimpering two-win Las Vegas team.
November 20th, 2024 at 11:16 am
Sorry but when you are considered a “ defensive mastermind “ but have the 31st ranked defense in the league.. that’s a problem. That problem is Todd Bowles defensive scheme.. it hasn’t been good since the Super Bowl year.
November 20th, 2024 at 11:21 am
Long time Bucs fans know mediocrity only too well and we’re tired of it. It is no longer acceptable, nor should it be.
November 20th, 2024 at 11:41 am
Did we really expect him to say anything different come on
November 20th, 2024 at 11:51 am
Bowles had been in the NFL now for many years. His specialty is suppose to be DEFENSE, He can’t even get us in the top 15 defensively? Where are our nut busters, ball hawks, hard hitters, headhunters and leaders on Defense? We got none. Maybe Vita..when he is healthy. Thats it.
November 20th, 2024 at 11:56 am
Didn’t exactly say firing Todd shouldn’t be done, just that it’s to early to be making those decisions. He’s right, and we all know the Glazers won’t make any move until the season plays out. The real question should be, if the Bucs finish .500, or below, don’t win the division, and miss the playoffs should Bowles then be fired? My guess is he’ll be let go, because I believe the Glazers want better, not worse. They mentioned seeing progress. Not making the playoffs, and losing the division doesn’t sound like progress to me.
November 20th, 2024 at 12:05 pm
To me it all comes down to the 2 Atlanta loses. Fans should accept the fact that we aren’t as good as the Ravens, Chiefs, 49ers…but we should have beaten the Falcons both times and it was really about us being out coached.
November 20th, 2024 at 12:06 pm
Agree 100% with B Jhnson…..
November 20th, 2024 at 12:09 pm
Any loss over the next three games and you can start writing Bowles coaching obituary.
November 20th, 2024 at 12:25 pm
Maybe Johnson should sit this one out. That’s exactly how he got his ring.
November 20th, 2024 at 12:27 pm
Sunday=MUST WIN!!!! or this season is over my fellow fans!!
November 20th, 2024 at 12:37 pm
“but obviously you want a quarterback to be in the same system for a long period of time — over time”
Just one of the MANY issues with having a defensive minded HC (especially one whose D is ranked 31st in the league…). If your offense/OC are any good, he’ll get poached. And your QB, most important position on the field, is learning a new system. If they’re bad, your team is gonna suck. So the options are bad and worse.
Joe & other bowles defenders: over how long a time period will bowles have to demonstrate that he’s a .500 (or a little below) coach before you accept that’s what he is? Does he need to show it over 10 seasons? 15? 20? Serious question. Can he pull a rabbit out of the hat every once in a while? Sure, but we see what that gets us, just good enough to back into the playoffs, lose, and get a crappy draft pick. The more seasons tick by, the more the excuses cease to matter. If you’re a .500 coach over a long enough period of time, that’s just what you are. That evaluation period has passed for me. How long will it take for you to accept reality?
November 20th, 2024 at 12:38 pm
Great point BucVoyager!
November 20th, 2024 at 12:56 pm
“Joe & other bowles defenders: over how long a time period will bowles have to demonstrate that he’s a .500 (or a little below) coach before you accept that’s what he is? Does he need to show it over 10 seasons? 15? 20? Serious question.”
It’s my question too – by my count he’s up to 7 seasons of mediocrity or worse as a head coach. I seriously do not understand what these folks see in him. All you ever get is ‘the players love him’. Big whoop. That doesn’t move the needle IMO.
November 20th, 2024 at 1:09 pm
The defense is just like Coach Repus Bowles, soft as toilet paper.
November 20th, 2024 at 1:10 pm
Gruden!
November 20th, 2024 at 1:15 pm
Are people really calling for Bowles to be fired right now? I don’t really read most of the comments here because usually every article comment starts with some Bowles hate which I understand but we are far from finished with this season. To be fair to Bowles, we’ve had some injury issues this season which throws all the best laid plans out the windows to rely on contingencies. With the kind of coach Todd is, I don’t see this team losing hope. That is Todd’s best quality, keeping his cool under fire. This team will go on a streak here and everyone will get back to believing again. For those that want to throw gasoline on this dumpster fire of a 4 game losing streak, I would say you are not true fans.
November 20th, 2024 at 1:21 pm
If the Bucs win 10 games and reach NFL Championship game, he should be retained. Anything less than that is important to the fans and long term approach by the Glazers that they go in a different direction in 2025.
Having a defense that doesn’t hit hard, doesn’t cover receivers and allows quarterbacks a safe and secure pocket shouldn’t be rewarded by retaining this coach.
However if he can crack the whip and get the players on defense to start making plays and they can win 6 of these last 7 games, they get to 10 wins. That should be the bar as to whether they keep Bowles or not.
November 20th, 2024 at 1:33 pm
I disagree it has been to many years of the same with Bowles. Starts out good then sucks for half the season then saves his job at the end. He is NO Arians. He is never taking this team to a Super Bowl. He is out coached to many times by the better coaches in the NFL. After this season we need to move on instead of doing the same old pony show every year. We are wasting the prime years of our players that we do have at this point.
November 20th, 2024 at 1:37 pm
Are we a good team? We played and kept up with Good teams but have a losing record going out of the Bye week. Are we a Bad team? If we don’t beat them in this stretch coming up then we are one of them!!
November 20th, 2024 at 1:44 pm
Off-topic, and maybe this was reported elsewhere, but Mike Evans has returned to practice.
November 20th, 2024 at 1:45 pm
Most of us thinks Bowles is a sorry excuse for an nfl head coach but expect that he’s competent enough to beat trash and taking teams. The problem is that’s not what this fan base wants. Bucs aren’t elite but this isn’t a 4-7 team either.
November 20th, 2024 at 2:01 pm
@Fred
Gruden???? Are you out of your mind??????????
November 20th, 2024 at 2:08 pm
Simple:
Get to the playoffs……….Retained
Get to 10 wins…………….Retained
Anything else…………Fired.
Firing a coach means a setback. Unless there is a better option out there……..Firing a head coach means starting over and can also mean decades of futiility. We have been down this road.
Getting to the playoffs is huge. It shows that we fought through adversity and perservered despite injuries.
Right now………..Im not optimistic.
November 20th, 2024 at 2:17 pm
Well, it’s just stupid. Pointless. Just a complete waste of time and effort to continuously be calling for it literally, day after day (some even after their first loss of the season LoL), when you already KNOW that it is 💯 NOT going to happen. Not during the season. Definitely NOT when they STILL have a shot at making the Playoffs. It’s just not happening.
November 20th, 2024 at 2:24 pm
All three of the so called lesser teams we are about to play are not far behind the Bucs in the win-loss column.
The Panthers are playing better than they were and the Saints look way better over the last few weeks.
We never play great vs the Giants. And I’m expecting the same.
Plus, Bowels record after the bye week is 1-5 as a HC.
He’s exactly what we thought he was. A born loser.
November 20th, 2024 at 3:22 pm
I don’t accept that fact. A few plays and some bad luck made the difference in all of our games except maybe Denver. We can compete with anyone when we’re healthy and everybody is doing their job.
We didn’t lose to Atlanta because of coaching. Code turtle is an invention of JBF. Todd didn’t miss tackles, fumble, miss penalty calls, throw any picks, etc etc etc.
I know I’m not going to convince any of the simple minds who are always looking for someone to blame for everything. Just trying to help balance out the obsessive negativity. ✌🏼
November 20th, 2024 at 3:23 pm
Keep Bowles!
Who’s gonna do it better? Belichick? Bowles has a better HC win % over the 2022 & 2023 seasons than Belichick. How is he an upgrade? This applies to Robert Saleh as well. Todd has a better HC win % against him as well.
Cohen is the upgrade? A guy who’s never been a head coach is gonna step in and improve upon what’s in place? [See Dave Canales]
Who’s gonna do it better than Bowles next season? I’ll wait.
November 20th, 2024 at 3:27 pm
If he lose 2 more in a row? 3 more?
November 20th, 2024 at 3:49 pm
@Anthony
“Who’s gonna do it better than Bowles next season? I’ll wait.”
Anyone with a fully functioning brain that isn’t stuck in a time warp and acting like it’s 1993 in 2024.
Let’s be honest, without Brady, even BA would never have won a title.
If you boast about being a defensive genius, be able to coach up a defense better than 31st.
November 20th, 2024 at 3:58 pm
Getting sick of hearing how horrible Bowles is. He coached the team this year when they gave Lions their only loss of the season. He coached when Bucs beat Eagles last two times out. Most would say those are “good teams.” He coached in competitive games against 49ers and Chiefs. He has a defensive team that lacks closing speed and are poor tacklers. Doesn’t matter whether Belichik, Saleh or somebody else is coaching the existing defense. Half of this defensive group would be backups on most NFL teams. That will change next year.
November 20th, 2024 at 4:14 pm
That is cos it’s BS. Bucs have had one helluva run in the last 3-4 years. They just have to get it straight mentally they play the other team/refs. Outplay them and Bucs win.
November 20th, 2024 at 4:59 pm
I’m getting sick of people who don’t see how HORRIBLE Bowles is. See, I can do it too. No one cares. #WorkHarder #Win #STFU
He needs to go. This team has won in spite of Bowles, who tries to give away the lead by playing off coverage. He cost the team a second Super Bowl and literally took the ball out of Brady’s hands as a head coach. He’s a terrible clock manager has poor use of timeouts doesn’t develop talent and he’s just not a good head coach. He’s a good defensive coordinator, and that’s OK—look at Vance Joseph, fired as head coach, and now he has the same team and defense looking outstanding in Denver.
Not every coordinator can be a head coach, and that’s not a negative on them it’s just a fact… Yay we can beat the cellar dwellers of the NFL who cares???
November 20th, 2024 at 6:16 pm
The irony of calling for a .500 coach (Gruden) to replace a .500 coach (Bowles).
November 20th, 2024 at 6:36 pm
No testes todd
November 20th, 2024 at 6:42 pm
First let us see what kind team we field against the Giants. Then we can asses any possibilities for the remainder of the season. I have not thrown in the towel on Todd yet, either. Also I do have faith in the players. I do not see them giving up.
Go Bucs!
November 20th, 2024 at 8:06 pm
Have been a fan since the beginning and have seen decades of losing and pathetic coaches. While Todd is not a pathetic coach, he is certainly mediocre. Todd never learns from his mistakes and he will never win the big games. If the Glazers want to get back to the SB, they need a lot better coaching and better talent in key areas on the defense. They can start by dumping Bowles in the off season.