Todd Bowles Should Know Better, At Least After Last Night
December 6th, 2022
Bucs coach Todd Bowles.
Bucs coach Todd Bowles is not a dumb man. So either he is pretending not to know or doesn’t want to know. The answer is right in front of his nose.
Last night in his postgame remarks, Bowles confessed for some reason the Bucs can only score points late in games. And he seemed bewildered as to why.
“It seems like we can only score at the last part of the ballgame,” Bowles said. “We sputtered around a couple quarters.”
Come on. Anyone not half asleep knows or should know this offense hums when it plays no-huddle, hurry-up offense. Last night was yet another example.
It’s almost as if Bowles is a pit crew chief of a NASCAR team that has a seriously fast rig but is trying to install restricter plates.
The name of the game is scoring points. This team was built to run an uptempo scheme. It wasn’t built to play ground-and-pound.
Joe understands why Bowles doesn’t want no-risk-it; no-biscuit. Bowles has said he thought the reason the Bucs didn’t get past the Rams last year was that the team was gassed from playing so fast so often.
Joe would argue that it was as much to do with playing so much football in 2020-2021 with such a short offseason (most teams were not playing in February like the Bucs). But OK, Joe still understands where Bowles was coming from. But by trying to save guys for January, Bowles is playing a dangerous game of not even making it to January. Don’t play an offensive style not suited for the talent. Square peg; round hole.
When the Bucs do play fast, they can hang with any team in the league. When they play slow, they get beat by the likes of Carolina and Cleveland.
If after last night Bowles doesn’t understand his best bet to scoring more up-tempo offense, well, there’s not much more for Joe to say.
As Bucs stud receiver Mike Evans said last night, “When we go hurry-up [offense] we’re hard to stop.”
Listen to your star players, coach. Unleash the hounds!
December 6th, 2022 at 4:48 am
Don’t know why he can’t see what the fans see, unless he is just too bullhead. Could be seeing it would show him his faults and he don’t want to belive he has any.
???????
December 6th, 2022 at 5:11 am
Rascaad White made similar comments about liking no huddle. In 2011 and 2012, NE ran a deadly uptempo offense. I could see why Bowles might not like it because the defense will tire easily. Brady’s older but I think he could still pull off the uptempo offense if need be.
December 6th, 2022 at 5:31 am
The only coach more bullheaded and dumb is bellicheat, the moron hired Matt Patricia to ruin the Patriots offense.
December 6th, 2022 at 5:37 am
Let Tom Cook!
December 6th, 2022 at 5:43 am
But we need to surprise the opponent with the first play call of the game! Don’t know how the Saints we ready for that….
December 6th, 2022 at 5:46 am
Agree about the hurry-up offense Joe, but I don’t think that was what defined ‘No Risk It – No Biscuit’. Our last 2 drives last night both resulted in TDs. The 1st one was 10 plays (1 run, 9 passes), gained 57 total yards, but only consumed 2:21 on the clock. The 2nd one was 11 plays (1 run, 10 passes), gained 73 yards, but only used 2:26 on the clock. On the night Bucs had 76 total plays to the Saints 56 plays, yet the TOP was even.
The key to our 1st TD was the 44-yard DPI on Adebo which took us from the Saints 45 to their 1-yard line. That was HUUUGE because it occurred on a 2nd & 20 play (after Donnie Smith’s 1st holding penalty) & would’ve resulted in a 3rd-and-20 since the pass was Incomplete. Even if we’d gotten a FG on that one, we still would’ve ended up losing.
Brady threw deep 7 times last night: 1 Complete (for 22 yards), 6 Incomplete (1 of those resulted in the 44-yard DPI on Adebo so it really didn’t count as a play, and another also resulted in a defensive holding penalty on Adebo so it didn’t count either, but BOTH resulted in 1st downs & kept drives alive). So officially Brady would be 1-for-5 deep for 22 yards on the night.
Overall though he was efficient (36-for-54) with 281 yards passing (his standard 66.7%). Bucs only ran it 20 times on the night in our 76 total plays (26.3%) but folks need to give a shout-out to Lenny (10 runs for 49 yards). Several of those were key runs.
The other one folks need to give a shout-out to is Todd Bowles. There were some great calls on defense that made the difference in the ballgame. Holding the Saints to 2 FGs after our INT & Fumble was HUUGE. Either of those 2 turnovers could’ve been the difference in the game, but they weren’t thanks to our defense.
December 6th, 2022 at 5:55 am
Bucs coaches have the wisdom of Greta Thunberg.
December 6th, 2022 at 6:09 am
Toilet Bowles saying they didn’t get past the rams in the NFC championship because guys were tired from playing fast so often is like good ole Brandon blaming Putin for high gas prices. The “tired” guys on offense came back to tie the game and prime it for overtime, but good ole toilet bowles calls a blitz that leaves the same guy that had been torching his D all day wide ass open. Even Dungy called him out for it. Top 5 D coordinator he is without a doubt but head coaching material he is not and never will be.
December 6th, 2022 at 6:09 am
How dare you!
December 6th, 2022 at 6:14 am
“If after last night Bowles doesn’t understand his best bet to scoring points is to allow the offense to play uptempo more often, well, there’s not much more for Joe to say then.”
Looks like we’re in for a mass of vapid articles from Joe.
December 6th, 2022 at 6:28 am
Ron White had an answer for that.
December 6th, 2022 at 6:42 am
If no risk no bisc we wouldn’t have gotten that PI foul at the end of the game. I still have no faith in him or Lefty.
December 6th, 2022 at 6:43 am
Miligram. Are you talking about the same Bilichick that has 6 rings? Are you talking about the same Patricia that has several SB rings? Biden got 80 million votes
December 6th, 2022 at 6:44 am
Bowles is a 100% Dungy ball disciple
Which isn’t horrible,
But if you got the big dawg,
You gotta let him run.
Unshackle the kraken!
December 6th, 2022 at 6:45 am
Bill headed numb skull w a Moron OC w a playbook
December 6th, 2022 at 6:46 am
If Bowles said that he’s been wrong and he should have been letting Tom run the offense, AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN!!!!! It’s not in his dna
December 6th, 2022 at 6:50 am
He doesn’t want to wear his offense out. He’d rather miss the playoffs. Sounds dumb to me
December 6th, 2022 at 6:52 am
You can’t fix stupid. As a career Brady fan it’s very difficult to watch him lose because of someone else. In the first drive, Tom took them all the way down the field. Julio runs into Godwin at the 2 yd. line. easy TD gone. Lenney was running to the right. Wide open trail to the endzone BUT someone missed a block and they stopped him. TD gone HEEEEERE we go field goal
December 6th, 2022 at 6:55 am
@defense rules… the dpi would NOT have been incomplete. Go watch it again. Evans makes the catch every time if he’s not held there! regarding the article, I personally feel like the books don’t want to show their hand completely before the playoffs start.
December 6th, 2022 at 6:59 am
Let the dogs eat.
December 6th, 2022 at 6:59 am
I am not sure if the hurryup is the only key to scoring points. I have to wonder if more intermediate passes early to get Brady into a rhythm would be just as important. IMO there aren’t enough intermediate passes mixed in early in the game. When you throw 10-12 short passes to backs in a game, it doesn’t give as many opportunities for our talented receivers to make plays in the intermediate
game that move the sticks.
December 6th, 2022 at 7:00 am
@Defense Rules, great observations…and therein lies the issue with Bowles releasing the no huddle. The D will tire out. Hell they seemed a little gassed late last night. I say we compromise. Run the first 15-20 scripted (worked last night) but IF (and when) Byron’s play calling stalls middle 1st/early 2nd quarter, go no huddle to get us sparked again.
We don’t have to go no huddle the entire game, mix it in at various stages to jump start the O if stalled.
Either that or have a scoreboard on the sidelines that reads Bucs down 14 pts from the start of the game and fool our players into “having to stage a comeback” cause that seems 2B the only time we wake the hell up on O.
December 6th, 2022 at 7:01 am
TB-12 in the hurry up does his job better than anyone.
December 6th, 2022 at 7:01 am
We didn’t get by the Rams because he called a blitz against the best QB under pressure.
December 6th, 2022 at 7:05 am
I’m waiting for Jeff Darlington to drop the bomb that Brady is playing with a shoulder and finger injury. Tom hates to admit that he’s ever injured because he doesn’t want to make excuses, but it’s time for someone in his camp to leak it out. I’m sick of people saying he’s washed when in reality he’s injured. You can trace back most of his struggles to the shoulder injury against the Chiefs. It also began when he injured his finger against the Saints during the second game. His accuracy was all over the place the next game against the Packers. Rodgers was wise to fess up to his injury, but he does it to protect him from criticism.
December 6th, 2022 at 7:07 am
1. We can all agree keeping Brady healthy is job #1 or season is kaput.
2. We can all agree to do the above the ball has to get out in less than 2.5
3. We can all agree our defense is pretty darn good-Keanu Neal saved us.
4. Most should agree that to accomplish number 1 you have to design play calls that get the ball out fast-Bowles and Lefty have to protect The Franchise at all cost-Keep the game close until the 4th Quarter and let the GOAT win it for you is going to be the recurring theme for the rest of the season. If the Oline ever improves to the point where TB12 gets more time to throw this may change , but I would not count on that happening.
December 6th, 2022 at 7:13 am
No risk it no biscuit
December 6th, 2022 at 7:26 am
I heartily disagree with your first sentence, Joe. His track record states otherwise.
December 6th, 2022 at 7:28 am
Rachaad, Mike and TB all said after the game, that going up tempo is when they get in a rhythm and are hard to stop. Bucs have the 5th highest scoring offense when goi g up tempo but Blowes will not have any of it.
December 6th, 2022 at 7:40 am
JBBUCS_06 … I agree with you about using the hurry-up where needed. Even with a 20-play advantage last night (76-56), we only broke even on the TOP. Folks can say what they want, but the Bucs doesn’t do well when it’s on the field much more than that (they tire out in the 4th qtr usually). It’s even worse when we have one of the big guys (Vea or Hicks) out for the game.
The key to our Bucs’ offense IMO is manageable 3rd-down situations. When we have those, we do quite well. When we don’t, we’re pretty bad. Probably applies to most teams though. Our problem this year seems to have more to do with wasting 1st & 2nd downs (and untimely penalties) that leave us in 3rd-and-longs. Keep 3rd down at 4 yards or under and we’re actually very good, probably because we at least have the OPTION in those situations (3rd-and-4 or less) or either passing OR running. Do a decent job of disguising your formation and your odds of picking up the 1st down increase quite dramatically I would think.
December 6th, 2022 at 7:51 am
Bowles is clueless. He is a good coordinator and knows what is going on on the defensive side of the ball but he cannot expect to win games vs good offenses in low scoring games. He is too risk adverse. That throw to Tayson Hill on a 3rd and 18 is inexcusable as was the Cooper Kupp winning TD.
He just doesn’t put his guys in good position.
I think the pride of Lavonte David and the physical defensive line was what kept the Bucs in the game. Carlton Davis played like he was ready for vacation. Jamel Dean is officially a shut down corner, Davis is their second best corner.
December 6th, 2022 at 7:58 am
“No Balls”Boles…. like you said….”you can’t fit a square peg in a round hole”… Boles head is too large and hard as a rock….Brady is his job savior….
Hurry up ball….”no balll” listen to your players man…
December 6th, 2022 at 8:03 am
Time of possession almost 50/50, it’s not like we’re saving the D here
December 6th, 2022 at 8:04 am
TIE TO FIRE ALL THE COACHES , THEY ARE CRAP AND DON’T KNOW IF THEIR PLAYING PING-PONG OR SOCKER…….
December 6th, 2022 at 8:11 am
Shout out to Josh Wells and Neal !! Neal needs to replace white on third down ( passing situations ) when Winfield or Edwards is back !! That’s what a real defensive minded coach would do !! Neal is faster , more athletic, better hands , hits harder , better tackler , better in coverage , covers more ground when the ball is in flight and actually appears to rush a lil better ( better hands ) . This would be a big improvement to the third down defense and May keep lil Devie from getting all pooped out and make him valuable at the end of the game , instead of running around all lazy legged not wanting to make the play but be by it …….. Just like good ole Gerald M …………… For those that disagree think about the huge plays and impact that these two camera lovers have to win a game in the 4 th quarter or even make huge plays / stops during the game , # ers but not impact plays !! now think about some of the defensive leaders / standouts the Bucs have played against this year !!
December 6th, 2022 at 8:14 am
Who called the plays during the last minutes drives, the no huddles? Not Leftwich.
December 6th, 2022 at 8:15 am
Bowles is still an idiot. Yep we won…DESPITE him. Punting from the Saints’ 40 yard line in the 4th quarter, down 13 points???
December 6th, 2022 at 8:25 am
Morgus. You are the idiot. Who other than you and the 12 year old Madden player would go for it on 4th and 10 with that much time on the clock, a punter who has been killing it, and a defense that is playing well? Go Bucs!
December 6th, 2022 at 8:27 am
Up-tempo/hurry up is not (NOT) the same as “no risk it, no biscuit.” We saw both last night, but they are not the same. Simple as that. Go Bucs!
December 6th, 2022 at 8:35 am
mg Says:
December 6th, 2022 at 6:09 am
How dare you!
^^^^^
Hahaha!
December 6th, 2022 at 8:42 am
Brady proved we don’t need the OC and head coach we have…
December 6th, 2022 at 8:52 am
Toddboy go no huddle.. it’s a no brainer
December 6th, 2022 at 8:54 am
Again, coaching ineptitude. The no huddle is used to jump start momentum for the O when you get sluggish – like after 3 punts in row
Our coaches feel it is 1972 and the newly invented scheme should be used with extreme caution!!
I bet Bowles kids wore life jackets in the bathtub…..
Dude is scared of his own shadow and coaches like it
December 6th, 2022 at 8:56 am
Dalton could read a book out there and pick apart our loose zone D. Brady with our OL has to dump it fast. I get bombarded with Brady hilites from yesteryear at NE with mediocre receivers and he lights it up with play action and time to throw. Bucs have great receivers and no time to throw. Our GM should take a hit for not going after better OL guys to protect the Franchise TB12.
December 6th, 2022 at 9:04 am
Anyone who watched the games this season knows that Todd Bowles is a great defensive mind. They also know he makes a bad head coach. He doesn’t believe in his offense. He got lucky last night. TB12 saved him from being fired!!
I agree with you Joe, this offense produces using hurry-up. Bowles doesn’t get that you don’t have to use hurry up every possession!!!!! But using it more will produce more points. EVEN AN IDIOT AS MYSELF CAN SEE THAT!!
Seems to me that running the ball on 1st down 8 out of 10 times setting up 2nd and 3rd and longs will produce more 3 and outs. Doesn’t 3 and outs tire your defense? Doesn’t that put them back on the field? Maybe being more un predictable would produce better results!!!!
December 6th, 2022 at 9:11 am
DR, nice subtle shot at Brady to protect uncle Bowles. The end zone pass to Evan’s was perfect, the sideline throws to Evan’s, Godwin, Otton, White and Jones perfect (yes even the Jones great catch was under the DB and away from the safety) The over throw to Jones not good and I blame the under throw to Miller on not enough reps. Miller is faster than Jones and Evan’s. The problem is all but the end zone pass to Evan’s, they are contested and have to almost be perfect throws. The int Brady got baited and he knew it the minute he threw it.
My only conclusion is he is releasing the ball too soon due to pressure, he’s throwing to a spot and wr’s aren’t breaking quick enough or wr’s quitting on the routes or poor route tree scheming, which is my belief. Those saying Brady is afraid to stand in there are foolish and never watched this guy. But, he also knows if he goes down the Bucs season is over so playing defensive makes sense. Please enough with the sideline screens.
December 6th, 2022 at 9:15 am
Oh, I will take 31 points and a gassed D all day that just has to strap one on, man up and make a big play. This conservative stuff SUCKS!
December 6th, 2022 at 9:19 am
Bowles won’t throw Leftwich under the bus. He has a loyal personality. Time for Licht to step up and make the OC changes. Either that or the Glazers may. It seems like Bowles and Licht think if you ignore the problem it will just go away. Three points on national TV is embarrassing for the coaches, management and the owners.
December 6th, 2022 at 10:36 am
Great comeback but another lame 17 point output for the Bowles-handcuffed offense.
December 6th, 2022 at 10:39 am
Brian Flores or Eric Bienemy.
Bowelswich = incompetent stubborn arrogant know-it-all maroons.
December 6th, 2022 at 12:05 pm
If the players believe in the leader they will play their guts out for him. If they don’t they’re 6-6
December 6th, 2022 at 12:33 pm
Enough said about the no huddle. You guys are dead wrong. Your players would be shot in 3rd. Put the guys Brady wants in the game and just let him call the plays he wants. Brady has the football brain to ever play this game. He’s on the field and has the feel of the game. Let the big dog hunt. Get our backs better at pass blocking and receiving. We need a guy like Stevenson in New England. That guy has great second effort and making guys miss at point of impact, he has learned from a great coach how to play in a passing game offense. Give a first round pick for that guy if you could even get Belichick to trade him. Fornette can’t make guys miss often enough. White still needs another year or two to develop into a Stevenson. With our line we help from our backs and we aren’t getting it. Let the big dog hunt. Give Brady more input on play calls.
December 6th, 2022 at 12:45 pm
He knows it’s 100% on Leftwich, but Leftwich is Arians project, and Bowles has too much respect for Arians to call out Leftwich as being a worthless piece of trash who should be fired. Plus Bowles has no ability to fire Leftwich – so what’s the point of calling him out if he can’t do anything about it. Bowles got his job very late in the offseason, didn’t get to choose any of his own personnel, the understanding was just keep doing what was working.
But no one, outside of myself of course, knew what a clueless idiot Leftwich was, how he’s so stupid he thinks he needed to improve upon what Arians gave him.
That’s not to excuse Bowles for being a stupid, gutless coward. But the offense, that’s 100% Leftwich.
December 6th, 2022 at 12:57 pm
I’ve been screaming for weeks that the Bucs NEED about 4 drives per game in hurry-up. At the start of each quarter, then late in game if needed.
We are a dangerous O in hurry-up, that much is evident and really isn’t debatable.
That said, the team must be balanced and can’t tire out the D with hurry-up, so that’s why I’ve been screaming we need MORE hurry-up drives…3-4 per game.
Other teams in history have made their O a hurry-up offense (Chip Kelly, Eagles) BUT, those teams likely began on Day 1 in training camp practicing/preparing that way.
December 6th, 2022 at 1:21 pm
A tale of Two Halves. At the end of the second half, the Bucs go hurry up with about 6 minutes to paly and score 14 points. At the end of the first half. They get the ball with about 3 1/2 minutes and three timeouts. They play it very conservative with multiple rush attempts and no hurry up. The result: an interception by Brady.
It seems like they play with more energy when they go no-huddle. This carries over to the defense. And who knows, maybe Brady is calling all the plays at that point. Whatever it is, it works. Sprinkle it in now and then instead of the first down run to the left that everyone knows is coming.
December 6th, 2022 at 1:36 pm
We didn’t get pas the rams last year because Bowles blitzed Stafford and left Kupp wide open. Rams don’t complete that pass we would have back-back SB wins
December 6th, 2022 at 4:10 pm
D-Rok … I agree with you about needing MORE hurry-ups, and 3-5 is probably about right. IF we use them at the right time & in the right situations, they serve to keep our opponent’s defense off-balance & unable to make substitutions. Do it too often though and we’ll burn ourselves out.
Along somewhat similar lines, the Bucs’ offense has had very good results on our 1st possessions this season. Those 1s drives have shown better run-pass ‘balance’, have done well at eating up the clock, and most importantly have by far provided the best results of any of our drives … 2 TDs, 5 FGs, 4 Punts, 1 Fumble. That’s scoring on 7 of our 12 first drives (58.3%), MUCH better than what we’ve been doing on our other drives (32.8% overall).
Question is WHY though. Because the offense is fresh? Because the plays are ‘scripted’ for the most part? It didn’t look like we were running a hurry-up on those 1st drives, but who knows, maybe we were using a modified version. In any event, that’s a pretty dramatic difference.
December 6th, 2022 at 4:15 pm
Is Bowles really this dumb? I didn’t think so, but now I’m genuinely starting to wonder…
Has no one informed Bowles that last year, Matt Stafford was THE BEST IN THE LEAGUE against the blitz? So what did Bowles do for the entire first half? Blitzed like crazy.
Then what happened in the second half? He stopped blitzing, and the defense started getting stops. Imagine that! But then he called a blitz, and didn’t have his players ready to execute it, which resulted in the bomb to Kupp and the game winning field goal for the Rams…
But this idiot thinks we lost b/c the offense played too fast?
JFC. I almost want the Bucs to lose just so we can get rid of Bowles. He’s great as a defensive coordinator, but clueless about offense as a head coach.
December 6th, 2022 at 5:17 pm
DR,
Good thoughts as usual. WHY is hard to answer without speculation, but IMO it’s because something changes in hurry mode – whether that’s Brady calling his own plays (likely), OR BL totally changes his play-calling philosophy during hurry up.
All I know is it works and we need to use it more often. How often? That’s a delicate balancing act. Hence, I suggested 3-4 more per game, which should get our PPG up into 20’s range somewhere, which, coupled with our D, should be games where we win in the range of 24-20. Just my thoughts.
December 6th, 2022 at 5:20 pm
DR – Sorry, WHY the scripted plays work so much better? Probably a combination of many factors. My guess is the O knows exactly what plays are coming and have a chance to memorize and practice them. Also, being fresh is probably a big factor as you alluded to.
December 6th, 2022 at 5:41 pm
Unbelievable … ‘I almost want the Bucs to lose just so we can get rid of Bowles. He’s great as a defensive coordinator, but clueless about offense as a head coach.’
Apparently you don’t see the contradiction in your comments. Get rid of Bowles & what are the odds we’ll find a better DC? And without this defense performing as well as it is, we’d be REALLY hurting. And as far as Bowles being ‘clueless’ about offense, would you say the same about Gruden? All he knew about defense was ‘Monte handles that’. I suspect that Sean Payton felt the same way when he was with the Saints … ‘Defense? That’s Dennis Allen’s job’.
I seriously doubt that Bowles gets all that involved with the offense. To him, ‘That’s Byron Leftwich’s job’. IF he was involved, we’d be running on more than just 33% of our plays. It’d be more like the 42% that Dennis Allen runs, or the 45% that Ron Rivera runs with the Commanders, or the 51% that Mike Vrabel runs with the Titans.
BTW, did you notice that the Titans gave Jon Robinson his walking papers today? He’s been with them almost as long as Jason Licht has been here, and the Titans are currently in 1st place in the AFC South with a 7-5 record. And they made the playoffs 4 out of the 6 years he’s been there.
December 7th, 2022 at 5:58 am
TOM BRADY through years and years of play had a. Simulated knowledge of players in the game year after year and D and O Strategies of teams and coaches over 23 years. Hes not a jumping jack guy like in KC who can do things 100 ways as a young athlete or a bull of a Qb like in GG or Baltimore. That’s not what he does hes a th thinker a tactician and a drop back fast release.guy and a thinking atratagest………..all those other guys are gone early in the game while the only thing he needs most in his fast pace is a bit of time and quick recievers to break as targets. W0hen he gets this success follows and opens up the occasional ground run and scoring especially in red zone