Win Or Go Home For Todd Bowles?
June 11th, 2023
A Mike Evans ranking leads to a reality check on Todd Bowles.
Future Hall of Fame receiver Steve Smith, a hated Buccaneers division rival for 10-plus years, always speaks his mind, more so on his Cut To It podcast than during his NFL Network gig.
On his recent podcast, Smith set out to rank the current top 32 NFL receivers as a part of a deep dive into where they are as players and how they’ll fit into their schemes and situations.
The rankings were two parts real football and one part fantasy football. Joe was dialed in with a tray of Hooters wings for the real football talk.
Mike Evans, the greatest receiver in Tampa Bay history, got the No. 11 overall ranking from Smith, sandwiched between Deebo Samuel at No. 10 and DeAndre Hopkins at No. 12.
Smith sees Evans with a downward arrow because of Baker Mayfield being the top-dog QB.
“They have their quarterback out there in Tampa and I’m not really drinking the Kool-Aid on that,” Smith said. “I can see this may be the year that Mike Evans does not get 1,000 yards.”
More interesting to Joe was Smith drifting into a conversation about head coach Todd Bowles. Smith’s co-host was pushing Smith to talk about why the Bucs didn’t just blow up the roster, admit they’re rebuilding through a salary cap mess created by the Tom Brady years, and either trade Evans or give him a long term deal.
“If you tear it down, you pretty much doom Todd Bowles,” Smith replied.
He believes Bucs players and fans are in win-now mode and won’t tolerate Bowles through a rebuild. “Because in the sports world when the expectation for your team is not met for what the fans expect, whether it’s unrealistic or not, the Coach gotta go,” Smith said.
Does Evans want to be traded to a team with a better quarterback situation?
Smith said he doesn’t know because he hasn’t asked Evans. However, Smith believes a star like Evans wouldn’t have a trade-me mindset.
Receivers believe they are “superheroes and we think we can fix all the problems if we just make enough plays.”
As for Chris Godwin, Smith ranked him as the No. 21 receiver, just ahead of Amari Cooper and behind 49ers former first-round pick Brandon Aiyuk.
June 11th, 2023 at 1:19 pm
A little surprised Godwin made the list….
June 11th, 2023 at 1:42 pm
I surprised Smith put any Bucs on the list,
he hates the Bucs from his days as a member of the Carolina Kitty’s
June 11th, 2023 at 1:54 pm
“Win or go home for Todd Bowles?” Yes please.
June 11th, 2023 at 2:14 pm
When has Bowles won as a HC?
June 11th, 2023 at 2:48 pm
Bowles will prolong the agony and delay the recovery. At least they won’t get away with mandatory 2 year season tix again. The head bags will be out by the 10th loss.
June 11th, 2023 at 2:57 pm
Reality is what it is – it is a flush the cap season with a disposable HC – the only reason Todd was retained was the correction year that was inevitable
What he put in the field last year as a HC was uninspiring, pathetically boring, conservative beyond belief, and plain out stubborn to a fault.
Like Lovie and Mike Smith….
Toad and Byron…two peas in a pod and one got an extra year salary….
June 11th, 2023 at 3:23 pm
Part of me wishes the Glazers forced Licht to completely rebuild the team starting this year……no Mayfield…..make a couple of trades…..build draft capital.
Don’t resign LVD….draft his replacement……five Trask the reins & let it fly.
Sure…Bye, Bye Bowles…….no problem for TBBF.
June 11th, 2023 at 3:30 pm
I like Bowles and thinks he can get it together this year!
June 11th, 2023 at 3:37 pm
Cue the anti-Bowles crowd with that ‘Win or Go Home for Todd Bowles?’ title. Nice setup Joe, although the question mark at the end did add a nice air of deniability. Personally think that there are a lot of factors that will go into any decision by the Glazers to retain or fire Bowles at the end of this season, reasons that’d go far beyond a simplistic ‘Have a winning record or you’re toast’ analysis.
For one, how well the Bucs’ DEFENSE performs this year. You seem to spend the majority of your efforts talking about the offense & how it might or might not do, but IMO it’s our defense that’ll be the key to Bowles’ retention. It’s got tons of question marks over it’s head & it’ll take a superior effort on the part of Todd Bowles & this defensive coaching staff to just claw their way back into the Top-10. Gotta wonder if we have the talent or the DEPTH to pull that off.
For another, our offense isn’t exactly stacked with talent, despite what some are trying to sell. QB performance? BIG question mark going forward. RBs performance? Ditto. TEs performance? Oh ya, ditto again. And that’s before we even address the Offensive Line OR having a new play-caller who, oh ya, has never called plays before.
For my part, I don’t like Todd Bowles being dual-hatted as HC & DC, but I can’t think of any coach I’d rather have as our DC than him at this point. Really hoping that Dave Canales is the real deal to jump-start our offense and that we as a team at least break even this year. Even that will be a tall mountain to climb.
June 11th, 2023 at 4:06 pm
What is it with all you ” Win or go” Bowles hate..
Damn can the guy get a chance?
He’s only had 1 opportunity as a HC and Who wins with the Jets?
Let him pick his players , His Coaching staff and give him a few years to put it together.
June 11th, 2023 at 4:15 pm
Godwin is always hurt! That makes him no good.
June 11th, 2023 at 4:31 pm
Both.
June 11th, 2023 at 4:34 pm
I wish he would just go back to being DC. He is way beyond his depth as an HC because he doesn’t understand how to make the clock his friend.
June 11th, 2023 at 4:57 pm
David Jones … ‘Godwin is always hurt! That makes him no good.’
Godwin has missed 11 games in 6 years; roughly 2 per year. I’d bet that most NFL WRs miss more than that over any 6-year span. Cooper Kupp for instance has missed 18 games in that same timespan.
And in terms of being ‘no good’, Chris has given us a total of 446 receptions (almost 75 per year average) for 5,666 total yards (approaching 1,000 yards per season average). He’s added 32 TDs, 289 first downs, and averaged 12.7 yards per reception in the process. And as an aside, he did it by catching 71.5% of the baIls thrown to him, much higher than Mike Evans’ 57.6% and pretty close to Cooper Kupp’s 73.0%. If that’s your definition of ‘no good’ David, I’d love to see what ‘good’ looks like.
June 11th, 2023 at 5:03 pm
Steve Smith is a punk, but he’s probably close to being right on this point.
June 11th, 2023 at 5:08 pm
He should be fine that talent is there…
JTS is our best outside pass rusher
Luke G and Hainsey and our new right tackle will be formidable…..
June 11th, 2023 at 7:03 pm
WHOEVER PUT DOWN CHRIS GODWIN IS A COMPLETE NUT JOB !..RUSSELL GAGE IS THE ONE WHO IS CONTINUALLY GETTING TOO HURT TO PLAY ! GODWIN WAS OUT WITH AN MCL/ACL TEAR IN 2021, BUT BOUNCED BACK LAST SEASON & HAD ANOTHER PRODUCTIVE YEAR ! THAT’S FIVE OF SIX GOOD YEARS ! THIS YEAR WILL BE HIS 2ND YEAR BACK FROM SURGERY & HE’S GETTING HIS EXPLOSIVENESS BACK HE HAD BEFORE THE INJURY ! HE’S ONE OF THE FINEST RECIEVERS IN THE NFL ! & HAS BEEN SINCE HE WAS A ROOKIE !
June 11th, 2023 at 7:10 pm
GODWIN CATCHES ALOT OF SLANTS & CROSSING PATTERNS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIELD , YOU GOTTA BE FEARLESS & A RELIABLE RECIEVER TO CONTINUE TO DO THAT AT THE HIGH RATE HE DOES, GIVE THE MAN A BREAK..HE’S OUR SOLID #2 RECIEVER & NOT MUCH SKILL SEPARATES HIM & MIKE EVANS..
June 11th, 2023 at 7:54 pm
We’re in rebuilding mode & Bowles will be trying to win to save his job. This is a problem because the team is in cap hell & they need a franchise QB. They need to get the stud from USC for this team to start winning again.
June 11th, 2023 at 10:03 pm
I’m betting Bowles gets another year to turn this thing around. Hopefully Canales is the real deal and can develop both of our young QB’s. The odds are that we will need both of them at some point. If we can get decent QB play then we have a chance at a winning season. If the defense is formidable and the team is trending up towards the end of the year then Bowles sees year 3. With a bit of luck we win our division and maybe a playoff game this year
June 12th, 2023 at 12:14 am
Despite what that idiot babbles I’m confident that Evans and Godwin will surpass 1000’yards again.
BTW, joe. The Google ads usually block comments, but this time they blocked the end of your article. I realize you need ads, but if they block what you write they defeat the reason we all tune in. Even when they merely block comments it’s annoying. This is the only bucs site with a good comment section.
June 12th, 2023 at 8:36 am
Great NFL reiever who gave us fits for years.
But yet another Thug and a Punk who would probably be seving time somewhere were he not such a good player.
Now he has a blog so he is respectable?
June 12th, 2023 at 8:39 am
I forgot more football then that idiot knows
June 12th, 2023 at 10:19 am
Defense rules you are spot on. Godwin is not always injured and a major asset to this organization. We are truly blessed to have both Evans and Godwin together. Something we will talk about decades from now. Doubt Tampa ever has two better receivers at the same time kn their roster again.
As for Bowles I can’t just rally behind him. His history speaks for itself. He is so bland and boring and shows no fire and the players play like that on the field. Terrible decision making in game and just not someone I ever see leading a team to a trophy or even a consistent winner. I like him as a person. Seems like a good dude but not necessarily a good leader for a team/organization. He reminds me so much of Lovie and that dude stained this organization so bad. Fair or not it’s the reality of it!
June 12th, 2023 at 2:30 pm
I still find it hard to believe that Jason Licht gave Todd Bowles a 5 year contract!
June 12th, 2023 at 2:57 pm
I cannot think of a NFL coach in my lifetime who inherited a team as teed up for success as Bowles inherited last year.
Solid defense. Two great receivers. Best quarterback in history.