“It Might Be The Hottest Of Seats”
July 17th, 2023
A team colleague of Todd Bowles 20 years ago thinks the Bucs’ head man is on the verge of getting fired without fast production during the 2023 season.
Former Browns scout, college recruiting coordinator and longtime ESPN analyst Matt Williamson was around Bowles when he was the assistant secondary coach in Cleveland.
In a recent discussion about NFL head coaches on a hot seat, Williamson said on his Peacock and Williamson Podcast that he is rooting for Bowles but thinks he’s in a perilous position. “I think this might be the hottest of seats [in the NFC],” Williamson said. “I fear he’s a coordinator and not a head guy, and a really good coordinator.”
There was a decent chance Bowles was to be fired in January, Williamson believed, but it didn’t happen. He said the Bucs were in an easy position to transition the organization but passed on that opportunity.
This reminded Joe of hearing former Bills director of player personnel Jim Monos talking on a Go Long podcast. He was adamant that the Bucs have been branded a loser by national media this season because of equal parts Bowles and Baker Mayfield.
Joe can’t say Bowles is on the hottest seat in the NFC, but it’s certainly a hot seat. Team Glazer has little tolerance for losing and has proven that’s their stance through generations of ownership.
July 17th, 2023 at 8:01 pm
I think the same way. Bowles is an above average coordinator but not a HC. I hope he proves me wrong.
July 17th, 2023 at 8:08 pm
I think it depends on if Baker or Trask end up playing good enough to be the franchise guy for the future. Can’t have another offseason of question mark at QB
July 17th, 2023 at 8:29 pm
Think we will know how hot the seat is before the bye. If the Bucs go 0-4 before the bye, I don’t see how Bowles or Mayfield survive. I would love for the Bucs to shock the NFL this season, but unfortunately I don’t see that happening with Bowles and Mayfield.
July 17th, 2023 at 8:34 pm
It is smoldering already, full born blaze by October, planning for ‘24 mid-November
Bowles is a complete joke as a head coach
July 17th, 2023 at 8:34 pm
Bowles trying to be HC/DC is a recipe for disaster. Get him out.
July 17th, 2023 at 8:41 pm
I gotta say one more – Todd Bowles in one miserable season literally ruined ALL the goodwill BA and Brady created
He is an absolutely horrendous head coach – his record is pitiful, his demeanor is that of an high school coach, and his consistent failures echo what we are doing – dumping cap and sticking with “Lovie” for a season – remember that????
It’s a shame but true…..Bowles is a joke but he is serving a purpose for the Glazers as we transition to the next phase
July 17th, 2023 at 8:42 pm
I’m willing to give Bowles a chance because he didn’t have his guys in place. He was left with BA’s leftovers. The national media not loving us has to do with the lack of trust of him and the current status of our QBs. This is a QB-driven league and we have a huge uncertainty in the QB room. Yes, Brady left, but people like to use just Brady’s departure as a reason why we’ve been ranked so low. It’s our bad lack of replacements that people are down on, and a coach who has a losing record as a HC coach
If we would’ve signed any of the big name QBs, we would not have been ranked so low by the media. If we signed Carr, we would’ve been picked to win the division. We also would have better odds if we snagged Jimmy G.
July 17th, 2023 at 8:53 pm
The Bruce Arians coaching tree is going to be short lived.
July 17th, 2023 at 8:54 pm
Winning forgives a lot. If Bucs can get 10 wins (doesn’t matter if it’s Mayfield or Trask) then Bowles will get another year. 9 wins and a title then he will likely still stay. 8 or less and no title means he is gone. I would love Bucs to get to playoffs but in the long run Bowles needs to go back to DC or be fired.
July 17th, 2023 at 9:01 pm
I’m rooting for Baker and the Bucs, but Bowles needs to go 🚶😫 Sayonara.
July 17th, 2023 at 9:08 pm
Williamson said. “I fear he’s a coordinator and not a head guy, and a really good coordinator.”
Nailed it.
July 17th, 2023 at 9:28 pm
I think the media is being overly dramatic about this whole ‘Bowles is on the Hottest of Seats’ thing. Partially because this is the most boring time in the football year, and also because the Bucs are easy targets. The 18 years in-between our 2 Super Bowl championships included just TWO wildcard playoff games, and we lost both of those. Picking on a team with that history doesn’t get much easier.
It’s funny how almost everyone who deems Bowles to be a lousy HC also sees him as a very good DC. So when you fire your HC, you’ve also fired one of the best DCs in the NFL. And since his coaching staff will almost always go too, we get to reinvent the wheel once again. Morris, Schiano, Lovie, Koetter? Remember those guys? And their records?
Does anyone remember how the Bucs’ player development really sucked during those regimes? How many All-Pros did we turn out? What are the odds that the next HC … whoever that turns out to be … can develop all these very young players on defense & offense better than Todd Bowles & this current coaching staff? Oh I forgot, the grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side of the fence. Well, except in Bucsville.
July 17th, 2023 at 9:32 pm
When the expectations are high, and you fail you should be fired. That’s not the case with Bowles. We lost Brady remember? Every expert says we have a bad roster led by Traskerfield, and we’re only favorited in 1 game! How does that put the coach on the hotseat? I would argue the seat is hotter for the Bill’s and cowboys HCs. Those teams are SB or bust. Jerry Jones will not be satisfied with anything less. The Glazers are smart enough to know that’s not where we’re at.
July 17th, 2023 at 9:56 pm
BucsFan13 wrote: “If we would’ve signed any of the big name QBs, we would not have been ranked so low by the media.”
Of course, BucsFan13 doesn’t provide any information on how that could have been accomplished with practically ZERO dollars in cap room for a QB, let alone who those “big name QBs” are … Arron Rodgers in what will probaably be his very last year? Derrick Carr who has not better record of success or interception ratio than Baker Mayfield even though he had far more talented WRs to work with” Perennially injured Jimmy Garoppolo?
Really, who were those “big name QBs” that were available that would have made any sense for the Bucs to sign even if they had a magic wand that made their salary cap woes disappear?
The Bucs got, by far, the best QB for the money with Mayfield.
July 17th, 2023 at 10:06 pm
When you take the team as a whole, which means including the backups for each position, the Bucs do, indeed, have what Hodad said is “a bad roster [according to experts]”. That is undeniable.
However, when you look at just the starters, the Bucs have a better than average offense and one of the best defenses in the NFL.
Very few teams have reached the Superbowl that have not had starters with relatively injury-free seasons. Injuries are the major determining factor for teams going all the way.
Fingers crossed, the Bucs will have a season like they did in the 2020 Superbowl season, when they lost very few starters for a significant portion of time. If that happens, anything is possible with this year’s Bucs team, regardless of who the QB or head coach is.
July 17th, 2023 at 11:24 pm
Some absurd comments.Name one NFL coach who has won 8 or more games his first two years and been fired. He had no choice in year one but to accept an inferior offensive coaching staff. They are all gone now. Eight wins will get him a third year. Atlanta has back-to–back 7 win seasons and he isn’t on a hot seat.
July 18th, 2023 at 12:22 am
I’ll give Bowles at least 10 games this season before making a decision. Despite his shortcoming n conservative mindset, he accomplished something that hasn’t been done since 2007, he beat the saints twice last season. He deserves some credit. Not an easy task for even the elite coaches to do. We’ll see how he handle Canales, his draft picks, free agents n his defense. He is on the hot seat. Will he get creative, aggressive, n go all out such as the likes of Shanahan, Nick Sirianni, Mike McDaniel, Andy Reid, or will he go deer in the headlight to stick with what he “Lovie”, just score 10 points n play defense.🤔
July 18th, 2023 at 7:47 am
I think there’s more nuance than just W-L.
Does the season start slow and finish strong (arrow pointing up)? That always seems to be something the Glazers use when evaluating the team at the end of the year. Historically, Glazer HC’s don’t survive seasons that trend downward.
Are the loses due to injury and/or simply out talented? Or can they be directly attributed to coaching decisions- like the Cleveland game and the general refusal to attack opponents weaknesses. Is the team is poorly prepared week to week and looks lost on Sundays?
Is the team simply not fun to watch? If games at RayJay start sounding like away games, he’ll need to start pricing moving companies.
That being said, I don’t have a ton of faith in Bowles. His track record in NY was not good, and many of the things he was criticized for last year, he was also called out on when he coached the Jets.
July 18th, 2023 at 8:14 am
“Bills director of player personnel Jim Monos talking on a Go Long podcast. He was adamant that the Bucs have been branded a loser by national media this season because of equal parts Bowles and Baker Mayfield”
Wow finally somebody speaks a bit of truth.
Yet JBFers want Maybefield to start. I think maybe these are the casual tank for the next bust folks.
Go Bucs
July 18th, 2023 at 8:57 am
NEXT HC ON THE TEAM
Is Canales the next HC? If he crushes it and produces a respectable offense with this crew, he could be the next Bucs HC.
July 18th, 2023 at 9:50 am
They’ll take him losing, because it is his first full season… but if the ship looks rudderless, he’s a goner.
July 18th, 2023 at 11:33 am
Not saying that Bowles does not care, but he does have a 5 year contract, courtesy of Jason Licht.
Not only did Licht allow Bowles to be forced on us, but then he turns around and awards him a 5 year contract as well!
It is not like we had any competition for Bowles services, so why the 5 year contract ?
So, even if Bowles is fired after or during this season, the 5 year contract will have to be satisfied, making Bowles a very wealthy Man.
July 18th, 2023 at 12:13 pm
Like some of ya I agree that bowels is one of the better DCs in the game. I’m not sold on him as a head coach but thanks to Bowles and the defense he coached in 2020 that led us to shut down the most dangerous offense in the league on the biggest stage and let’s not forget in our own house to. We murdered those chiefs. I’d say out Bowles back at DC and bring someone else on to head coach.
July 18th, 2023 at 2:59 pm
Bowles is a great DC, but not a leader of men. His seat is toasty, but its not even the hottest in the division. Those seats are steaming in Nawlins and Atlanta. He is in a solid spot to keep his job and stick it to the rest of the division this season. He will only have himself to blame if he squanders this opportunity. He also had it tougher from the media up in NY. No excuses. LFG.
July 18th, 2023 at 11:27 pm
Joe. How can you say the Glazers don’t accept lossing? 1 winning season with Rahem, 0 with Lovie, 1 with Dirk, Gruden multiple division titles and a Superbowl and got fired. Arians Superbowl win, almost another but for bowles letting cooper kup behind the d after huge comeback. I just don’t understand what team and owners you are seeing. Bowles has a built in excuse at qb. He’ll be back no matter the record.