Todd Bowles Does Not Rule Out Personnel Changes
October 23rd, 2023
Changes coming?
After one of the worst losses in recent Bucs history given the magnitude of the game for control of the NFC South, Bucs coach Todd Bowles left open a very interesting door.
Asked if he may make lineup changes, Bowles didn’t say no. He did say those changes might not come this week.
“We got a short week,” Bowles said of Thursday night’s game at Buffalo. “We evaluate everything and we go from there but we’ll see.”
That not only was not a “no”, but Joe thinks that may have been a shot across the bow by Bowles. Bowles basically announced to his team that there is no more flocking around. Don’t play well at Buffalo, don’t expect a starting gig when the Bucs play the surprising Texans in Houston on Nov. 5.
To backtrack a bit, last week Bowles was asked if injured running back Chase Edmonds could play at Buffalo. Bowles didn’t seem to think he would, but he didn’t say no. Edmonds’ rehab apparently is well enough along that Buffalo is not ruled out.
Well, 10 days after that, the Bucs face Houston. Could Edmonds be on the field by then for overmatched Rachaad White?
Edmonds has only had four carries this season but he averaged five yards a pop. White, as the NFL world should all know, is one of the worst starting backs in the league averaging 3.3 yards a carry.
October 23rd, 2023 at 12:07 am
How about Todd looking in the mirror to see how poorly prepared his players have been.
October 23rd, 2023 at 12:09 am
JTS and Ryan Neal should be top candidates to warm the pine!
October 23rd, 2023 at 12:10 am
The ultimate change has to be a HC or the struggles will be more of the same…
October 23rd, 2023 at 12:11 am
The fact of the matter is this season is starting to spiral and he knows he’s coaching for his job.
October 23rd, 2023 at 12:21 am
If this season continues like this, I hope the Glazers won’t rule out a coaching change.
Why did they give this fool a five year deal? Who were they bidding against?
October 23rd, 2023 at 12:24 am
Todd for Head Coach pitch to the Glazers should get Bruce Arians a place in the NFL Hall of Fame! What a job that must have been!!
October 23rd, 2023 at 12:29 am
We have 2 starters who are the worst players in the entire NFL at their position: Ryan Neal and Rachaad White. Either embrace a rebuild or acquire a RB and give Baker a chance. Baker has to improve with the overthrows, but overall hard to critique a guy when there’s zero run game and defense playing with 10 guys
October 23rd, 2023 at 12:32 am
Nothing will happen before Buffalo, but after that I wouldn’t be surprised.
October 23rd, 2023 at 12:37 am
Joe,
You have been reflecting a positive image of Baker since the training camp but so fast revealing Trask’s weakness and bad plays. Baker has been really bad in the last few games and you haven’t had an obvious clear negative report on his performance.
Do you think the line up changes will include Baker after the Buffalo game before they lose their locker room ?
October 23rd, 2023 at 12:52 am
We’re the only personnel change we need Mr I’m not worried about it. Vikings and bears suddenly look like flukes. Not an overreaction I just don’t like Todd Bowles.
Can’t blame players blame the coach who had them thinking their starting job isn’t at stake. Take away snaps, what else will motivate? I don’t like you Bowles.
October 23rd, 2023 at 12:54 am
Can we put a head coach on the bench?
October 23rd, 2023 at 1:23 am
I’d loooove nothing more than to see them catch FARR with Trask & Edmonds… That would be so much fun to see… Make The BUCS Fun Again!!!! And, release Neal and SIT (or trade) JTS!!!!
October 23rd, 2023 at 1:30 am
Still trying to push this nonsense?
Joe has been very clear about this: If Bowles benches Mayfield, it means he’s effectively done as Bucs coach. Bowles knows this very well, too.
If Trask becomes a starter (barring an injury to Mayfield), that’s like a red flair being shot from a boat that the Bucs will draft a QB in the first round in April.
Joe already wrote a story yesterday that it sure doesn’t look as if Mayfield has lost the locker room by what Joe observed yesterday in the locker room.
October 23rd, 2023 at 2:04 am
I don’t understand how Trask replacing Baker will be the ultimate sign that Bowles is done. Is it his guy? No, but time and time again as reported on this here website, the competition was super close. If Todd wouldn’t have done the scouting or been as high on Baker as he was, we very well could be seeing Trask. It’s only right at this point, barring an absolute drubbing of the Bills , that Trask gets his shot. We have seen Baker and he won’t get better. I’m tired of batted down balls at the los. I’m tired of the check downs.
This team is made to throw. You know who threw a whole lot in college, because his coach didn’t like running? Kyle Trask. Our o line is better at pass blocking than run blocking. We’d be able to set up the run by pass better. Baker can’t throw as much as he did today.
I thought Baker got a raw deal in Cleveland, last year was a joke, but he’s just not the guy some thought he could be. He got an absolute fair chance here. Week 9 should be Trask, see what we have for sure and go from there.
I’m 50/50 on Bowles getting fired this year. On one hand, he got thrown to the wolves last year, BA screwed him and us. This is really his first year with his team. Does it look pretty? No, but he can make that argument to the Glazers. I just don’t think sending in Trask is the final seal of the apocalypse for Bowles or this team.
October 23rd, 2023 at 3:03 am
Tampa has been built around a drop back QB who can actually throw the damn football. “Time to Bake” can not. If Tampa continues to play this poorly and still not make the change, then it’s obvious they never intend to do so. That being said, here’s to hoping Mr Trask can be traded to a non dysfunctional organization soon. Letting the dirty birds take your lunch money at home on a 16-13 snoozer should never be acceptable.
October 23rd, 2023 at 4:10 am
Leopold,
Throwing away the season is a legitimate statement. Although, I don’t speak for Joe or agree with many things from the guys , I think they’re referring to the obvious fact that Trask has zero experience. He’s taken what 3 actual game snaps. So if Bowles put trask in, the expectations would that of any rookie QB.
Lots of learning and lots of mistakes. Now if this team said they are rebuilding then a rookie QB is in line with expectations.
Bowles has not got long term security and this isn’t considered a rebuild year. Now that is a good discussion. Because outside of Tampa the whole nfl odds giving community gave the Bucs zero chance to compete for anything outside worst team in the league.
The Bucs on the other hand, didn’t see this as rebuilding. Therefore the expectations are high and there is no way you compete for wins with a rookie 2nd round pick. The team veterans are the ones who will be the problem if Bowles goes to trask. That’s a sign that the coach is giving up on the season. This team is a mix of vets and first contract players. They all need the win now mentality. A rookie QB is not that mentality.
This has zero to do with how trask performs. It is all pre trask messaging.
Heck, he could light it up. But listening to canales, he keeps talking about learning the system . Why would anyone think trask would come in and be able to play at a higher level when he doesn’t have any reps in a game? His learning curve has to be accounted for , and he’s known as a slow learner. That in my opinion, is a recipe for failure.
October 23rd, 2023 at 4:12 am
Bowles isn’t, and was never coaching for his job this year. Next year he is for sure, but this is a rebuilding team in salary cap hell. Firing Bowles after this season would work as well for us as it’s working for the Panthers. Yeah, things would get worse. This team has more problems than just Bowles, and more holes personel wise than swiss cheese. We we’re predicted to be a winning team this year, and we’re not. Bowles will get next year whether we think he should, or not.
October 23rd, 2023 at 5:03 am
Very good rebuttal D1. Guess we’ll have to keep trying with Baker until later. The team is still believing in him
October 23rd, 2023 at 6:44 am
@D1
Really dumb take. Teams start “rookie” quarterbacks all the time. And, Trask is not a rookie. He is in his third season and according to Trask-basher Joe himself outplayed Mayfield in training camp and according to many played better than Mayfield in preseason (deeper balls, more yards per pass attempt, more yards per completion, etc.). You members of the Cult of Mayfield need to deprogram.
October 23rd, 2023 at 6:46 am
Neal looks weak and slow.
He does not look “rocked up.”
And did you see him on the play where Antoine Winfield made one of the best plays I’ve ever seen? A play that should have changed our season?
A goal line forced fumble to save the game?
Neal was running away from the play!
Clueless!
Put Delaney in the game. Bench Neal.
White hates getting hit. He’s scared. He looks hurt after every play.
I miss Fournette. He wasn’t scared of anybody! He laughed while he got tackled!
Let’s hear White mic’s up. I bet he moans and groans like a Gen Z lil bitch!
Cut Neal. The Seahawks will pick him up and pay him.
Cut White.
Cut Hainsey.
Try Leverette at center.
October 23rd, 2023 at 6:59 am
The ideal personnel change would be at Head Coach
October 23rd, 2023 at 7:17 am
Too late
October 23rd, 2023 at 7:23 am
This Baker cult needs to end. I’m glad the game is Thursday so this chit show can be done and get a real franchise QB in there Kyle Trask all day every day 100% playoff birth with Trask at the helm TB will win the div and would of EASILY WON TODAY!!!
October 23rd, 2023 at 7:41 am
And we all know how Brady went last year behind this offensive line
October 23rd, 2023 at 7:56 am
I sense Joe’s greatest fear is a personnel change at quarterback. Fear that Kyle Trask will shine playing with the starting offense for the first time ever (yes, ever). Trask shining would not look good alongside Joe’s 2+ years of dissing Trask.
October 23rd, 2023 at 8:32 am
I too want to see what Edmonds looks like but I think maybe some other “personnel change” might be warranted.
Go Bucs!
October 23rd, 2023 at 8:58 am
Did Devin White play Yesterday , has he played all year !! I doubt Licht could get a third round pick for the guy before the tdl ……… folks this is the 5 th pick in the draft and we just seem to give this guy a CNN pass on being the best blocked LB in the game . He looks like he plays with ankle weights .
October 23rd, 2023 at 9:03 am
Kyle Trask needs his chance, You never know what a quarterback will do in the pros until you know what a quarterback will do in the pros, it’s a unique position and takes a blend of physical, mental, and emotional skills that’s hard to judge while the guy is sitting on the bench, look at Tom Brady , a sixth round , part time qb at Michigan and a going nowhere backup to the sixty million dollar man, Drew Bledsoe , who had just signed the largest contract at the time, but he got his chance and the rest is history, then look at Brett Farve and Drew Breese whose initial teams gave up and traded them before they even got a chance and came to regret it, and Purdy , Mr Irrelevant , the now starting quarterback at SanFrancisco, compare them to the can’t miss guys who have come and gone , Winston, Garropolo, and the latest can’t miss editions in waiting , Bryce Young at Carolina ,Anthony Richardson at Indianapolis and Baker Mayfield at Cleveland , Carolina, LA, and Tampa Bay, You don’t know what you got until you know what you got , (not hearing too much “tank for Caleb “talk either after his last two games, strange ,no?).
October 23rd, 2023 at 9:19 am
Where is Licht? This is your problem. He shops for the ingredients. This fool has left the team with two healthy backs and a ghost in tucker. The only time I hear about Licht is his cameo on the last preseason telecast…then poof! We need a fresh change at gm…
October 23rd, 2023 at 9:24 am
It won’t take long for DC’s to figure out all you have to do is blitz and pressure Trask. When Bowles is fired both quarterbacks will be gone.
October 23rd, 2023 at 9:38 am
Look peeps…
Mayfield is playing about as well as expected under a crap coach. Canales doesn’t have the authority to go all out because he’s not the HC. Gotta give Mayfield more time to learn yet another new off3nsive system,, he’s only human like the rest of us.
Trask is NOT the qb of the future for TB, I’m getting that out there now. If he was, they wouldn’t of picked up Tom Brady, as good as he was, there wouldn’t of been a need for him if Trask was THAT good.
Bowles is not a good HC and until they make a change there, the Bucs will be subpar.
October 23rd, 2023 at 9:40 am
If Baker has another below-average game this Thursday night, he should be benched. And if Todd “Big Balls” Bowles does bench him, it does not signify his end, but rather 2 things:
1) He has big balls.
2) Most importantly, he shows he is willing to try something new because he wants to win.
This fan would be impressed by Bowles IF he doesn’t remain stubborn and instead tries to change things up – it shows he cares. Right now, he remains a perfectly chaotic storm of stoicism – and that’s reflected in games by his players.
Do SOMETHING else, Todd – this approach is woefully inadequate and non-competitive.
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:27 am
Yes let’s keep blaming the running backs for the o-line allowing multiple defenders into the backfield every. Single. Time. We. Run. The. Ball.
Brilliant!
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:33 am
JD Still Says: “Kyle Trask needs his chance, You never know what a quarterback will do in the pros until you know what a quarterback will do in the pros, it’s a unique position and takes a blend of physical, mental, and emotional skills that’s hard to judge while the guy is sitting on the bench, look at Tom Brady, a sixth round, part time qb at Michigan and a going nowhere backup to the sixty million dollar man, Drew Bledsoe, who had just signed the largest contract at the time, but he got his chance and the rest is history, then look at Brett Farve and Drew Breese whose initial teams gave up and traded them before they even got a chance and came to regret it, and Purdy, Mr Irrelevant.”
Great post. But facts don’t matter to the haters. Trust me, if Brady, Favre, Breese, and Purdy had played their college football at UF and came to the Bucs, they ALL would be getting the same treatment Trask gets from Joe, the Bucs, and much of the Bucs fan base. I know both UF alumni and FSU alumni, and, trust me, the FSU alumni live, breathe, and sleep hatred for all things UF. The UF alumni nowhere near as much.
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:44 am
The amount of hate Rachaad White gets is baffling. He’s an amazing RB with a o-line unit who’s still meshing with a new offense. Yall need to wake up and stop reading stat lines. That doesn’t make you an analyst.
October 23rd, 2023 at 9:36 pm
What’s all this talk about Trask being a rookie .he has been there 3 years . Just look at Brock purdy with the 49 ers. Talk about rookies .you don’t know till you give him a chance with the starters and more games !