Five Things
November 5th, 2024
Chiefs quarterback Pat Mahomes runs away from Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and YaYa Diaby.
Even though Joe barfed watching the Bucs gag last night’s game away, Joe is still banging on his keyboard at 5 a.m.
Trying To Understand Todd Bowles
Set aside how Joe and Bucs coach Todd Bowles are on opposite spectrums when it comes to the value of edge rushers, Joe cannot figure out why Bowles plays scared like he did last night with a chance to go for a two-point conversion and win in Kansas City with 27 seconds remaining.
It’s almost like Bowles comes to a red light and is either afraid to make a right turn or afraid to press the gas pedal when the light turns green.
It’s one thing to want to play for overtime if the opposing quarterback is Skylar Thompson or Deshaun Watson or drek like that. But to completely ignore what a quarterback like Pat Mahomes can and has done with or without time on the clock is just about football negligence.
And not noticing how Bowles’ own defense was getting its hat handed to it by Mahomes in the fourth quarter, man, talk about detached from reality.
What kind of a coach dares a quarterback like Mahomes to beat him? That’s terribly irresponsible if not reckless.
Bowles decided to play with matches with a bucket of gasoline near his feet. And boy, did Bowles and the Bucs get singed.
Flashbacks to Cleveland
You know what that decision, not to go for the jugular and instead give Mahomes a chance to beat you reminded Joe of? Cleveland.
In Bowles’ first season as head coach, with the Bucs offense under currently unemployed Byron Leftwich, the team played down to its opponents with an apparent goal of keeping the game close, a custom with a Bowles’ team.
When you keep the game close, you also keep your opponent in the game. But that’s another story for another day.
The Bucs were playing the bungling Browns on the road after bye week, and late in the fourth quarter, Tom Brady had the ball and a chance to move the offense on a probable game-winning drive. But no! Bowles took the ball out of Brady’s hands — all together now — to play for overtime! #Facepalm
Bowles said after that Cleveland loss that he took the ball out of Brady’s hands because Brady could have thrown an interception. Could have. Tom Brady. Of all people.
Naturally, the Bucs lost in overtime.
A great way to get on the wrong side of your boss is to do nonsensical crap that costs your boss money. Joe has to start to wondering when Team Glazer will grow tired of watching their coach throw away wins. Wins make owners money. Losses hit owners squarely in the wallet. Revenue from a home playoff game was easily attainable this year with just a wee bit better coaching.
That gets the right people’s attention the wrong way.
Crazy Explanations Make No Sense
Last night Bowles’ first explanation for not trying to win in regulation was due to “wet conditions.” It rained throughout the fourth quarter, but wouldn’t wet conditions want you to end the game when you possible from two yards out?
Joe thought he misunderstood Bowles. No, Joe listened to the postgame press conference video and that’s exactly what Bowles said. Weird.
Then Joe asked Bowles if he was influenced by the Bucs analytics staff. During games, the Bucs have a stathead in direct contact with Bowles on his headset. Maybe he or she influenced/ordered Bowles based on some cockamamie calculation that it was smart to let Mahomes have the ball.
Bowles did not like that question and tersely said not going for two wasn’t why the Bucs lost. OK, then it was Bowles’ sorry defense in the fourth quarter and overtime, perhaps?
Defensive-minded coaches with soft defenses tend to get the attention of the right people in the wrong way.
Kansas City Media Stunned
Joe put this out on Twitter last night. As Joe was typing postgame stories after being in the Bucs’ locker room at Arrowhead Stadium, a Kansas City beat writer came up to Joe asking if Joe had quotes from Bowles as to why he didn’t go for two.
The writer was in disbelief that Bowles didn’t go for the win. Joe was asked out loud if Bowles may have forgotten who the Chiefs quarterback was and whether he willingly, voluntarily gave Mahomes a drive (or drives) in overtime for the win — saying that is a death wish.
And just look how it all played out.
The Kansas City beat guy told Joe he thought surely Baker Mayfield was going to run in a quarterback draw for the win.
Nope. Instead, Bowles wanted Mahomes to have the ball. Can you imagine?
Missing The Forest For The Trees
Joe saw an otherwise reputable NFL site last night sticking up for Bowles, saying giving Mahomes 27 seconds to work with is suicide because Mahomes only needed 13 seconds once to beat Buffalo in the playoffs.
So let Joe get this straight: Teams are better off giving Mahomes a 15-minute overtime period to potentially work with rather than forcing him to get in field goal range in 27 seconds?
Get real!
November 5th, 2024 at 7:04 am
The game came down to a single play. Mayfield called the wrong side of the coin in the OT coin flip. Who didn’t believe that Mahomes would lead the Chiefs down for a score in OT? It was identical to the OT loss to the Falcons in our first meeting this year. Damn! Defense had to hold them to no more than a FG. They couldn’t, and now we’re 4-5.
November 5th, 2024 at 7:10 am
Joè
Coan is gone after this season . Someone will make him head coach . You know who won’t? That’s right the bucs ! Wanna know why ? Because instead of dumping a guy that has proven time and time again that he’s just a defensive coordinator who’s defence BTW has fallen off a cliff , they will continue on with him & let a guy that shows us he can coach very will in coan go elsewhere..can’t make this chit up
November 5th, 2024 at 7:11 am
Apparently the Glazers are happy with mediocrity.
November 5th, 2024 at 7:12 am
Baker should be replaced as coin toss guy.
November 5th, 2024 at 7:13 am
Good takes Joe. Look, Bowles is a conservative minded defensive coach who tends to make very poor decisions at the worst time. It appears that he has not lost the locker room yet, at least not to the extent as to what happened in New Orleans and what is happening in Chicago where 2 of Bowles’ fellow defensive minded head coaches have either been launched or are setting up the foundation to do so by alienating their players. Nonetheless, Bowles is stubborn to a fault. His arrogance and narrow minded vision is costing this team numerous games. CMC is licking his chops at a return to the Niners active roster with a well rested Niner team. Shanahan vs Bowles, who is the better coach? That is a no brainer. Bucs 4-6 into the bye and if the Bucs lose to the Giants and Carolina? Well then it is like Rah circa 2011 all over again except perhaps the Glazers do not wait until January to pull the plug…..
November 5th, 2024 at 7:14 am
3 plays = 3 losses. The Bucky fumble in ATL, the no call fumble vs ATL in Tampa and not going for 2 last night. Thats the difference between 7-2 and 4-5. Bucs luck man.
November 5th, 2024 at 7:15 am
We go for two and don’t convert everybody is complaining why we didn’t go to overtime
November 5th, 2024 at 7:15 am
Why does everyone assume Coen will make a great head coach all of a sudden?? Could be a great OC, bad coach. Remember when they hired Raheem because they didn’t want to lose him? How about Dirk Koetter? How did that work out??. Bowles defense has sucked for a myriad of reasons. But at the end of the day. He hired Canales and Coen as OC’s. He got that right at least. I think if Bowles is gone after this year. They will not go with a rookie coach.
November 5th, 2024 at 7:16 am
*Bad Head Coach
November 5th, 2024 at 7:19 am
Great effort by a team missing a lot of key players right now. Bowles needs to go. This is a talented team with an average HC at best. Bowles just doesn’t have it and it shows every game.
November 5th, 2024 at 7:20 am
How many fire able offenses do you need to get fired?
November 5th, 2024 at 7:24 am
Bowles is no coach in tight situations or playoff games. He’s only a coach when holding a big lead.Enough said. He’s not a moral booster either. We need Coen to take over and let Bowles walk off into the sunset.
November 5th, 2024 at 7:26 am
Did anyone ask what the point of calling the time out was? I didnt end hurting the bucs but it was pretty idiotic
November 5th, 2024 at 7:29 am
go get belichick
November 5th, 2024 at 7:30 am
Just look at Bowles record as a head coach. It’s enough of a sample size to predict his future performance. He’s slightly below average, and average at best.
November 5th, 2024 at 7:30 am
wow i just listened to james yarcho’s latest bucs pod on you tube from last night…(if you know who he is)
he nailed it, if you listen from 4:30 to 7:30 in the podcast…
he really summed it up well in that 3 minutes of his opening rant
November 5th, 2024 at 7:40 am
The real issue is the countless no calls and false calls let’s talk.about that fake Tristan wirfs face mask call that killed our field position and momentum when we was driving to go up 2 scores that’s a debate. Argue about bowles this bowles that but we was not suppose to win this game by any means and the fact we took it to overtime says alot against good team outside of Baltimore we have banged with the best of em. We have a lot of season left and a soft schedule outside of the 49ers game chill out folks we still going to the dance.
November 5th, 2024 at 7:42 am
Nauseating
November 5th, 2024 at 7:42 am
Bowles has a loser’s mentality. He’s stuck in an old mindset that worked decades ago. We’ve kept him around because they won the division, but they weren’t a good team except for the run late last season. At the end of the day he has now one of the worst defenses in the league as a defensive head coach. He needs to go. I don’t know if Coen will be any good has HC but give him a chance. He is making the most of his talent even after major injuries.
November 5th, 2024 at 7:42 am
I’ve seen enough fire toilet Bowles‼️‼️‼️‼️ Tired of the conservative approach and stupid clock management why call a timeout at the end let the time run more and go for 2 to win which you would’ve had a better chance then challenging Mahomes in OT smh Bowles is clueless smh
November 5th, 2024 at 7:42 am
These bad days after the game are getting tough
November 5th, 2024 at 7:44 am
how can we have only toted the rock 14 times between our
3 headed monster…wtf…on an evening you needed to wear your totes…
walter payton would have had 38 carries last night…
jimmy wilder would have rocked 42 carries last night
i’m freakin’ serious ^
November 5th, 2024 at 7:50 am
Adam From NY: I am going to venture a guess that the Bucs will only pound the rock if they have built up a lead as they did in New Orleans where Sean Tucker got offensive player of the week. Because the defense is always on the field and allowing scores, the Bucs have had to play catch up. Bucky and Tucker cannot block as well as White either so in obvious passing downs White is often out there. One of the sacks on Baker looked like Bucky got steam rolled, not really his fault when he is giving up a 100 pounds to the defender barreling towards him. Fix the D and this often could be special.
November 5th, 2024 at 7:52 am
i see no reason belichik would be coming here…
he and tommy b sort of had that rift about who was the true engine behind the patriot’s machine…
so, tommy b comes here with a point to prove, and does it…wins a title and proved his point…
i can’t see bill going to the exact same team as tom, and trying to do what tom does…win a superbowl…and prove the same point in the same town…
then what does he say: “hey tom, look i won one in tampa too, just like you pal”…
it would just be really weird for him as well, to move on to tampa to try and get a title without the other guy…it’s so weird…
belichik has 31 other teams to choose from if someone wants to hire an old dinosaur…
he’s very old to re-start anywhere…isn’t he like 75-ish…
if i even get to 75, i’ll prolly be in diapers and looking around for where i placed my teeth, toupee and pacemaker batteries
November 5th, 2024 at 7:53 am
Serious question… if you are a top tier free agent and watch that game, do you tell your agent you want Tampa? Nope. Uninspiring.
November 5th, 2024 at 7:58 am
I am getting really sick of this manufactured smugness that Bowles has at the postgame pressers. Belicheat was allowed to do it because he was a winner. When you make countless gaffes and deliver memorable loss after memorable loss you don’t get to pretend that every question the media asks you is dumb. It’s unfortunate that we keep hanging tight in these memorable losses because they will probably save his job.
November 5th, 2024 at 7:58 am
Trask should have been in for the coin flip.
November 5th, 2024 at 7:59 am
I thought the Bucs should have gone for two points, but even if they had made it and gone ahead by a point, there was still enough time for K.C. to get in field goal range. Bowles should have gone for the two points nonetheless. I knew when K.C. won the coin toss our goose was cooked. What kills me is that Todd went conservative when everyone watching thought he should go for two points, but last week against Atlanta he green lights a fake punt that made no sense whatsoever. Todd is just a bad game day coach!
November 5th, 2024 at 8:00 am
@FortMyersDave:
yeah i hear ya…yet the game was nip and tuck, no pun intended, with us in the lead…
rainy night, wet field, calls for ground and pound…
and ball control to keep the “magical mahomes” off the field
just sayin’
(14 runs is absolutely underwhelming…double it to 28 and it’s still low…tripling it to like 42 sounds about right… we were never forced to abandon the run until late in the game)
ok maybe 42 would have been too much 🙂
November 5th, 2024 at 8:03 am
This OC is very good. Team is better than expected. Todd is still Todd
November 5th, 2024 at 8:03 am
How about the bone head timeout that Bowles called at the KC 1 yard line. Guarantee that if we would’ve gone for 2 and converted that Mahomes would’ve taken them down for a winning FG with 27 seconds and 3 timeouts.
November 5th, 2024 at 8:11 am
Bowles needs to be gone. His in game mistakes cost yet another game. Not going for it on 4th and 2 is inexcusable. Hopefully the Glazers will promote Coen to HC next season and get a DC with a different philosophy. It’s pretty clear that Bowles is not going to lead this team back to the SB.
November 5th, 2024 at 8:11 am
Hey. Im not trying to be this guy. I know AWJR is hurting. And I know he got paid as well. Is he not making some of the plays that got him that contract. You see Bates from Atlanta constantly knocking footballs out and playing winning football. Dare I say Winfield is regressing ??
November 5th, 2024 at 8:13 am
They exploited our defense again. What else is new?
November 5th, 2024 at 8:21 am
Bowles will go down his way…..hard headed and playing not to lose. His defense is trash, it has been since we lost JPP and Suh. Those two along with Shaq, White and David created mismatches that anyone with a brain could utilize. Once those guys left, our pass rush evaporated and all we do now is blitz, praying for a sack or INT. The entire NFL has figured out how to attack this defense and Bowles has shown no ability to make adjustments. Just knowing how the Bucs have gone about things over the years, I can see them promoting Cohen while they ride out the remaining years on Bowles contract. They did it after Gruden, same after Lovie and Arians. They promote from within because bringing in a new staff is costly. I dont see Bowles surviving this year, at best we are finishing around 10-7 or 9-8 and likely limping into the playoffs as a wild card. From there, he would still need to get past the 2nd rd or face the same fate as Dungy and Gruden. Ownership is all about how the team is trending and this team is clearly on the downswing….particularly the defense which is supposed to be Bowles specialty.
November 5th, 2024 at 8:23 am
I just don’t know what to say. I lean towards going for two. If it failed we would be kvetching about that. However…Bowles is wearing thin on me.
November 5th, 2024 at 8:24 am
As they say hindsight is 20/20. As Bucnation said if they did not get the 2 we would all be screaming why we did not take it to overtime. I blame Baker for throwing the ball too hard in the rain. The drive before the chiefs go ahead drive stalled because his fastball went right through Ottens wet hands. I am being sarcastic of course. I am trying to illustrate how ridiculous this blame game can get.
November 5th, 2024 at 8:26 am
Joe saw an otherwise reputable NFL site last night sticking up for Bowles, saying giving Mahomes 27 seconds to work with is suicide because Mahomes only needed 13 seconds once to beat Buffalo in the playoffs.
Honestly this argument we hear since the Buffalo game is one of the mosr lazy narratives. Mahomes did have 27 seconds to win the game in regulation and we dropped 2 INTs. We saw it happen. But hey that does not matter we will only remember the one time against Buffalo and judge only from that.
A bunch of lazy bs
November 5th, 2024 at 8:26 am
Bobby M, JPP, Shaq and Suh got old.
November 5th, 2024 at 8:37 am
One bad decision after another by Todd Bowles game after game. Someone please explain to me why he still has a job. If i performed at my job the way he does his personal would have long ago given me a pink slip. Its time to admit he is what he is… A bad head coach with an abysmal coaching record. Todd Bowles… YOU”RE FIRED !!!!!!!!!!!
November 5th, 2024 at 8:43 am
I think not going for two was not a bad call…….
Everyone including de Joes predicting a BUcs big time loss, some saying was going to be a Blowout….. Well it came down to a coin toss…
Guys Bowles is not a Magician, team is playing with no pass rush, no WR, really bad secondary, including BOTH safetys…. Playing with just one LB, and the other is not getting any younger…..
And you expect him to be 6/1????
Sooner or later the truth need to be said, the BUCS have not a deep roster, and is extremely obvious!!!!!!
November 5th, 2024 at 8:49 am
BucsFaninTN Says:
“At the end of the day he has now one of the worst defenses in the league as a defensive head coach.”
It’s 7th in the nfl com rankings
November 5th, 2024 at 8:52 am
Sorry, that was week 10 rankings…we’re actually around 24th
November 5th, 2024 at 8:53 am
You miss the 2-pt conversion you lose, period. You make it, you still have 27 seconds that Mahomes could get a field goal. And they almost did. If KC were playing from behind, they probably do get in field goal range.
So your odds are 50% of winning if you go to OT. But in this case, going for 2, in my opinion, your odds of winning are less than 50%.
November 5th, 2024 at 8:54 am
Nobody gave the Bucs a snowballs chance in hell of winning this game. Most figured it would be a blowout and not even watch it. The Bowles haters are going to do what they do. But had he gone and missed they would be doing exactly what they are doing right now.
November 5th, 2024 at 8:59 am
Time for a change need more diverse defensive schemes and younger mind DC.
November 5th, 2024 at 9:12 am
LVD, JTS, Britt and Dean will all be gone next year. Hopefully the new coach will stock up on the pathetic defense.
November 5th, 2024 at 9:16 am
Bowles actually gave Mahomes two chances to beat them at the end of the game last night.
The first was that timeout with the ball at the 1-yard line. You don’t need 33 seconds to run four goalline plays. No good coach calls a timeout at that point. Hell, no mediocre coach calls a timeout there.
The second was not going for two. Yeah, I would have been upset if the Chiefs stopped them, but I would have understood it, accepted it, and just said KC is a hard place to win a game. But this is just another example in the growing pile that tells us Bowles is not a good enough head coach to win games for his team.
November 5th, 2024 at 9:22 am
@zzbuc
The problem is Bowles knows the players. If he thought they were not good enough it would have been very easy to pick up some others to help. Shaq basically told the whole world, he is waiting/hoping the bucs would call him. Even if he was average, he may be great to motivate the defensive ends.
Plus we have seen just the last couple weeks, receivers were available for 5th/6th round if they thought that could help.
I thought the coach of Detroit was not going to be offensive minded enough but he does something that everyone appreciates. He takes responsibility for bad decisions. He immediately says he should have doen something different. Thats awesome.
Last year in the playoffs, Bowles was handed a chance to take a lucky break and MAYBE get a couple more plays if the detroit kicker missed. But he just said, game over, lets go home. This year he says the opposite.
He just is not the guy that will lead to years of more wins than losses. Time to go.
November 5th, 2024 at 9:30 am
If they lose Cohen and keep the “Toilet Bowl” coach, Its gonna be really REALLY HARD to not be done with this franchise. I can deal with losing, but not with being a loser. His game planning and decision-making are not suited for 2024. You go for two there; you don’t fake a punt last week. You pull Godwin. You play more aggressively down the stretch instead of playing not to lose. If he doesn’t make these adjustments, he needs to be gone. This is the best offense the Buccaneers have ever had, and it’s being wasted with the worst defense they’ve ever had.
November 5th, 2024 at 10:05 am
lol…….we need dean severely right about now ^^^
lvd and others are trying to cover more space than previously expected…..due to britt’s middle of the field issues on passing plays
November 5th, 2024 at 10:16 am
The teams the Buc’s have played thus far have a combined record of 59-25. Only one of those teams is below .500 (New Orleans). The teams we’ve beaten have a combined record of 22-12, while the losses add up to 37-13. IF ANYONE had told me at the beginning of the season that we would be the ONLY team to beat Detroit, take KC to Overtime, and beat Philly and Wash, I’d has asked what kind of dope they were smoking. And all of this with major injuries on both sides of the ball.
It sucks that we’ve lost 2 OT games without even a chance to play (maybe we need to hire a coin toss specialist???). That rule needs to be changed, and Todd is on the rules committee…
The 2nd half is WAY, WAY easier – I think only one team in the 2nd half currently has a winning record.
But this team, without the injuries, is among the best in the NFL. It may not show this year, but it will soon.
November 5th, 2024 at 10:20 am
It’s a theme of Bowles’ tenure – the team gets conservative in crunch time. The other inevitably makes a play when it counts because the Bucs get tight and predictable.
November 5th, 2024 at 11:07 am
Good things come for those who wait was never a said in the NFL. The Glazers have an extraordinary amount of patience, but they can and do make the hard decisions. The Manchester United finally replaced the soccer version of Todd. If the San Fran game is a loss…..it should be last fame Todd coaches for the buccaneers, and there may be few in the locker room willing to lay down next Sunday to get better leadership
November 5th, 2024 at 12:23 pm
Opponent 2 Point Conversion Rates for 2024
10 Teams allowed 0% including Bucs
7 Allowed 1 in 3
5 It’s a Coin flip
6 Sure Bet to try
3 Untested Chiefs, Browns, and Rams.
Bowles made the right decision.
November 5th, 2024 at 1:20 pm
Since today is the last day of the deadline, if Licht fails to bring in a LB and CB, no matter who they are, it clearly shows the fans that no one is listening to us. To almost everyone on this site, the defensive lapses in the middle of the field are too glaring to ignore and Bowles has had 3 or 4 games now to fix it. He hasn’t so its up to the GM to force some changes on Bowles. With Licht wasting high draft picks on bad defensive players Hall, JTS and so far not seeing much from Braswell, he isn’t exactly a genius at drafting defensive beef. A no trade day today is a slap in the face to BucNation.
November 5th, 2024 at 1:34 pm
Yeah toilet bowels, snapping the ball, catching the ball, setting the ball, planting your foot and kicking an accurate kick in wet conditions is so much easier than a quarterback draw. Please fire this idiot. 4-6 here we come.
November 5th, 2024 at 2:27 pm
We go for two points and don’t make it everybody’s talking about how bowls is an idiot for going forward we don’t go for it and going to overtime and we lose because of the coin toss hose is an idiot. I mean, everybody had us at losing by more than two touchdowns and now everyone is mad because we lost by six points by a team that is undefeated you talk about his defense yeah we have players that are banged up and not in right now that’s what the defense is lacking death at inside linebackers and a decent edge rusher hopefully we can get more help at corner too, but for everyone to really be mad at balls for tying up the game and playing it safe just in case we did not get the two points is ridiculous. I’m pretty sure a lot of you guys have never even played a sports but talk big game because you play Madden.
November 5th, 2024 at 2:33 pm
Bowles is the lame driver in front of you in the fast lane who will not pull over.
November 5th, 2024 at 2:35 pm
Bakefield knew it was over when he lost the coin flip.
November 5th, 2024 at 3:24 pm
Analytics said play for over time, damned if you, damned if you don’t once a narrative has already been decided.
November 5th, 2024 at 4:42 pm
Participation trophy Todd. Just keep the score close and you’ll keep your job.
Todd still thinks his defense is good. It’s a problem. The only guy coaching well is Liam Coen.
November 5th, 2024 at 4:45 pm
This game should’ve never came to over time with 2 dropped ints by KC they should’ve won by 2 tds
November 5th, 2024 at 4:49 pm
Time to bench these two:
JTS 40.7
Whitehead 48.6
November 5th, 2024 at 7:56 pm
They say a picture tells 1000 stories and the lead photo for this story certainly does that. SirVoccea is chasing Mahomes from the left side of the line, JTS from the right where he overran Mahomes depth so he was able to skip out and roll out to the right side instead of keeping him contained in the pocket. The end result was Mahomes tossed a TD and JTMs blowing another assignment.