“No Emotional Derangement”
February 22nd, 2025
Todd Bowles talks to former Bucs head coach Bruce Arians.
Bucco Bruce Arians once jumped on the field during a Bucs playoff game and smacked one of his safeties in the head.
The NFL fined Arians $50,000 and guess what the Bucs safety Andrew Adams said about it years later.
Adams told a non-NFL podcast that Arians never talked to him about what went down.
Joe thought of that while listening to SiriusXM NFL Radio this week. Hosts Pat Kirwan and Jim Miller were lauding Bucs head coach Todd Bowles and how they believe he’s underappreciated.
“You hope the ownership likes him as much as the players do,” said Kirwan, the former Bucs scout and Jets linebackers coach and personnel chief.
Kirwan ranted about how Bowles doesn’t have to be fiery because players want to be there and they respect him. Plus, per Kirwan, Bowles is a natural that can be successful without straying off course in a variety of directions.
“It’s so easy for him to know how to run a team,” Kirwan said of Bowles. “He doesn’t sit up and lose sleep at night figuring, ‘What am I going to say to them tomorrow? How am I going to treat them?’ He knows it all. He’s good with it all. He’s a communicator.
“… He’s in control, like there’s no emotional derangement going on. I promise when I tell you; he goes home, puts his head on the pillow. He’s asleep til the alarm goes off, and then he just goes back to work and does what he did the day before. He gets it.”
The Bowles love continued, with Kirwan saying the Bucs’ head coach gets most out of players without negative reinforcement or trying to be a player’s best friend.
“You don’t really challenge him because you know he’s right. And he’s not trying to browbeat you,” Kirwan said.
Joe has no problem saying Bowles has been a good head coach for the Bucs, but Joe can’t call him “great” or stand atop Bill Currie Ford on Dale Mabry Highway and scream that Bowles will lead the Bucs to the promised land.
Joe and fellow fans will learn a lot about Bowles this season — with a quality roster, a franchise quarterback and playing as the national favorite in the NFC South with high expectations.
February 22nd, 2025 at 4:32 pm
Big fan of Kirwan but that show is as safe and kiss @ss as it gets
Duemig would have the burner on high under that seat and callers lined up for the next hour lol
Do you really want a coach who sleeps soundly after allowing 500 yards to Kirk Cousins?!
Even worse are players who know they’re safe from replacement and accountability?!
February 22nd, 2025 at 4:53 pm
I think Bowles has been solid. More growth is coming. The locker room is strong, unified, with several real leaders. That’s facilitated by Bowles and the players Jason brings in.
February 22nd, 2025 at 4:58 pm
Isn’t he the DC that has had us 29th is Pass Defense the last 2 years?
February 22nd, 2025 at 5:04 pm
Players and front office love him, they know alot more than we do
Pass defense will be miles ahead if we actually keep solid starters on the field all year, then maybe we’ll get off his ass
February 22nd, 2025 at 5:05 pm
What I can’t understand is if yhe players love and respect coach Bowles at a high level and if they want to play the best game possible for him, how do they come out of the lockeroom so flat sometimes?
One of my baseball coaches in high school, Coach Clark, was a great coach, a solid man and a leader that helped turn boys into men. We played hard for that man, AND OURSELVES the entire game, every game. We loved and respected Coach Clark and we fought hard to show him that.
Now I understand the difference in high school kids baseball and millionaires in the business of football but at the end of the day at least in my mind you play for the man next to you (including coaches) just as hard if not harder than you play for yourself.
February 22nd, 2025 at 5:05 pm
Joe stop it. I don’t care how much Jason Licht pays you but the fans base still isn’t sold on Bowles especially after that putrid defense he displayed last season. We need better and we deserve better because while other teams like the saints are hiring Super Bowl winning coordinators as head coach we are stuck with a defensive coach with one of the worst defenses in football
February 22nd, 2025 at 5:20 pm
If it wasn’t for the weak a$$ NFCS and having a weak end of the season schedule 2 years in a row Bowles would be fishing with BA up in Georgia.
February 22nd, 2025 at 5:53 pm
10 wins in 2024 was the absolute floor, and the 11th best coach in voting achieved it. Woohoo.
February 22nd, 2025 at 5:58 pm
@No Mercy, We HAVE a Super Bowl (LV) winning coordinator!!!
February 22nd, 2025 at 6:03 pm
Bowles may not be in my top 3 of Bucs coaches but he is clearly in top 6.
Lots of ways to win in the NFL and his haters seem to detail passing yardage defense year in and year out. It is their right to do so.
However, it is hilarious that they tend to ignore points scored against year in and year out.
February 22nd, 2025 at 6:08 pm
Isn’t he the dc that shut down mahomes helped us win a Superbowl. I think he might still be evolving as a coach. Go Bowles!
February 22nd, 2025 at 6:38 pm
I’m with No Mercy on this. You can beat the drums about how great Bowles is all day long. You won’t convince many on this board. We see it year after year. The last time we had a good/great defense is when BA ran the ship. My pet peeve is trying to put a square peg (JTS) into a round hole (pass rush/defend passes). Where is Braswell? Interceptions?
Duh.
February 22nd, 2025 at 7:04 pm
“Joe and fellow fans will learn a lot about Bowles this season — with a quality roster, a franchise quarterback and playing as the national favorite in the NFC South with high expectations.”
This is the part I don’t get. How is this any different than last year? Or the year before? How much more do you need to see of Bowles before accepting this is who he is? His side of the ball has been stagnant for years. Same assistants, same players, same scheme. Todd is not changing, growing or evolving.
February 22nd, 2025 at 7:08 pm
Truth Be Told … I get as frustrated as anyone with this pass defense, but I’ll be the first to admit that Todd has to look at a lot more factors than I do, and that he’s playing to MINIMIZE POINTS with the players who he has available in any particular game.
When he had a quality pass rush available (2020 & 2021 with Vea, Suh, RNR, etc), his run defense ranked #1 & #3 those years, but his pass defense ranked #21 both years (not great; not terrible). We blitzed a bunch (542 blitzes in 2020 & 532 blitzes in 2021). Defense got 48 sacks & 193 pressures in 2020, then 47 sacks & 224 pressures in 2021. Significantly, the overall defense ranked #8 in 2020 then #5 in 2021 in POINTS ALLOWED.
Todd’s defensive approach changed in 2022 though when we lost Suh, RNR & JPP as well as Whitehead. His run defense ranked #15 that year, but his pass defense improved a bunch to a #9 ranking. We blitzed less than half as much (250 blitzes in 2022). Sacks were down (44), as were pressures (144). The overall defense slid to a #13 ranking in POINTS ALLOWED. Looks to me like Bowles de-prioritized the run defense in favor of improving the pass defense using more coverage & less blitzing, but the overall result was a worse defensive ranking. And oh ya, an 8-9 record.
He went back to his previous approach it looks like in 2023, even though we ‘didn’t really have the horses’ on defense. His run defense improved a bunch to a #5 ranking that year, but his pass defense slipped a bunch to a #29 ranking. We blitzed more (341 blitzes in 2023). Sacks came back up (47), but pressures fell even further (136). The overall defense however turned in an excellent performance and improved to a #5 ranking in POINTS ALLOWED. Looks to me like Bowles re-prioritized the run defense in favor of playing a lot more zone in pass defense, and the overall result was a quality defense that only allowed 325 points, the lowest since 2008.
He kept a similar approach last year it looks like, but got much different results, most likely because of excessive injuries to our defense (constantly changing position groups apparently called for much different ‘tactics’?). His run defense improved a tad more to a #4 ranking last year, but his pass defense stayed at the #29 ranking. We blitzed a LOT more (461 blitzes in 2024). Sacks were about the same (46), but pressures increased by almost 30% (to 175). The overall defense however slipped a bunch to a #16 ranking in POINTS ALLOWED and we gave up 60 more points in 2024 than we did in 2023. Looks to me like blitzing MORE didn’t help. Our Missed Tackle Rate as a team went from 6.3% in 2023 to 8.8% in 2024. We did good at stopping folks on 3rd down (38.1%), but were abysmal on stopping them on 4th down (63.3%). And it looks like we gave up a lot more explosive plays. All in all, we’ve got a lot of work to do to fix this defense. But fix it we will.
February 22nd, 2025 at 8:07 pm
DR, about last year. Yes excessive injuries may have been the prominent cause but I’m impressed that we still have a ballin run defense. It’s aggravating enough to be diced up in our pass defense but I would be more forlorn if we were constantly being run over. Winfield healthy will make a big difference. Todd Bowles and Jason Licht know what a good NFL defense looks like. They chose to invest in our offense’s identity the last few years. One or two key additions, stay healthy and we’ll get that points against back down to 20 or under and soon enough these Bowles skeptics won’t have anything to complain about.
February 22nd, 2025 at 8:34 pm
No one bothers to run on this defense… it’s not necessary when you can get 6-8 yards or more on every pass play.
It’s been this way chance Mike Smith.
February 22nd, 2025 at 8:54 pm
Kenton … What intrigues me is that so many disregard the bottom line: POINTS ALLOWED … in favor of Pass Defense (Yards Allowed). Todd Bowles is playing the long game, and so many others are playing the short game.
Other teams are copying Bowles. Baltimore is a good example. They went 12-5 last year and had the #9 ranked defense (Points Allowed). Their Run Defense was ranked #1, but their Pass Defense was ranked #31. Sound familiar? They blitzed a LOT less than us (only 199 times), but got more sacks (53 vs our 46) but fewer overall pressures (164 vs our 175). Ravens also run a 3-4 BTW.
Detroit’s another team than seems to be copying Bowles’ approach, even though they run a 4-3 (and they went 15-2 last season and also had a bunch of injuries on defense). Their defense ranked #7 … Run Defense ranked #5 while their Pass Defense ranked #30. Sounds familiar huh. They blitzed LESS than us (356 times vs our 461), but got a lot fewer sacks (37 vs our 46) and a few more pressures (184 vs our 175).
Guess that being a DC is more about making strategic decisions than it is about making tactical ones. And the key to strategy is HE WHO GIVES UP THE LEAST POINTS IN EACH GAME WINS.
February 22nd, 2025 at 10:43 pm
Defense Rules… the only issue is that Harbaugh and Campbell, when it’s crunch time will keep the ball in the Os hands and be aggressive cause they know the D is the weak link.
Ol Bowles there is so scared of a turnover that he wants to get his D back on the field to win the game. That and clock/timeout management have been the big problems here.
February 22nd, 2025 at 10:47 pm
I agree with the original article though, Bowles is great at the leading men part, his players wanna play for him. Would never bash him for that, but once his weaknesses enter the equation… I don’t think it’s enough. Not for a team with SB aspirations. We shall see. Please have a healthy season… I want no excuses.
February 22nd, 2025 at 11:04 pm
Saskbucs … Excellent points about the difference in coaches. Dan Campbell sure bears that out. Lions’ offense scored 564 points last season (ranked #1) and Campbell gambled a bunch on 4th down (22 conversions in 33 attempts … 66.7%). Certainly paid off.
Bucs on the other hand scored 502 points last season (ranked #4) and Bowles gambled a lot less on 4th down (9 conversions in 14 attempts … 64.3%). So even though our offense waa successful almost the same % of the time, TB gambled almost 20 times less on the season (about once per game).
February 23rd, 2025 at 12:20 am
I don’t hate on Bowles like a lot of people do here – but the FACT is, if the Bucs were in the NFC East, the NFC West or the NFC North – Bowles would have been fired already.
With that said, the Bucs sure feel like they’re on the upswing, and if Licht can hit some homeruns on defense in the draft, the Bucs might be a team that would make the playoffs even in a different division.
February 23rd, 2025 at 12:32 am
I rarely disagree with Kirwan or Miller. This is one of those things that I see the point but disagree with the premise.
I worked at the same job for 28 years and always tried to do my best. Needed very little …extra motivation… to do that. However I did discover that at times I had slid into a bit of a lackadaisical attitude and needed to be reminded of my goals.
I wonder at times if Todd does any reminding. I do not mean a slap in the head. But a reminder that you are falling short and a correction is required in order to keep your job.
Even the best of us can get lazy.
Go Bucs!
February 23rd, 2025 at 3:01 am
garro … Interesting point. One of the things I came to believe about leadership over my many years in the military and in business is that ‘your troops’ (OK, and workers) will follow you just about anywhere … as long as you’re right just about all the time. That’s the secret to high quality leadership IMO … be right close to 100% of the time.
Look at Todd Bowles record, big picture. We had a rocky 2019 while we transitioned to a 3-4 defense, but won the SB in 2020 & came reasonably close in 2021. Had excellent records both years. Then we took a meat axe to our defense (money issues) & Todd took over as HC/DC for the 2022 season.
Since then we’ve still made the playoffs 3 times in a row. That’s 5 years in succession making the playoffs with TB as our DC. It wasn’t necessarily pretty, but I’m confident that 5 years in a row is impressive to ‘his troops’. And in those 5 years his defense has given up an average of 355 points a year, roughly 21 PPG. Since 2020 his defenses have ranked #8, #5, #13, #7 and #16, an average of #10 in the NFL. Hmmm, and that despite all the complaints about crappy pass defense. I’m guessing that there are 22 other NFL teams who would’ve loved to have had that level of performance.
February 23rd, 2025 at 5:21 am
How come TB never gets any credit for the offense? He hires the coordinators, helps draft the players. Yes he’s a defensive minded coach, but he’s the head coach. His team. Offense and defense. Personally I love being in the playoffs every year. I remember when—-