Ryan Clark: It’s “Absolutely Ridiculous” To Go After Todd Bowles For Chris Godwin Injury
October 23rd, 2024
Has Todd Bowles’ back.
Super Bowl-winning cornerback and current four-letter hot take artist Ryan Clark is morally offended by those in the Tampa Bay pen and mic club who — in Clark’s eyes — had the nerve to badger Bucs coach Todd Bowles Monday night about why he didn’t wave the white flag against the Crows.
For those with working crystal balls, that would have saved Chris Godwin from a season-ending injury.
The Bucs were down 10 with less than a minute in the game, no timeouts but had the ball. Some in the pen and mic club (not the Joe typing here) wanted the Bucs to curl up in a fetal position and have the refs run down the clock so the big bad Crows didn’t hit them again.
Clark couldn’t believe Bowles had to stand at a podium and, in theory, apologize for not quitting. Clark, appearing on BSPN’s postgame coverage, was outraged at the line of questioning and lashed out.
The children at Awful Announcing documented Clark’s disgust.
“That’s not how the NFL works!” Clark began. “Like, the NFL … [Y]ou sign up to go win games. You’re paid for what you do each day, every single second, every single minute of every single game.
“And Todd Bowles never wants that team to think that he gave up on them and those players and the people in those helmets. The guys with those headsets never want Todd Bowles to think that they don’t believe they have a chance to win. This team was down 34-10. So, to have fought back the way they did to be down only 10 points, you do have a belief — and you want to finish. …
“And to continuously question Todd Bowles. One question, I get, right? But to continually question him as if he did something wrong and put Chris Godwin in harm’s way in a game that’s inherently putting you in harm’s way every single snap is absolutely ridiculous.”
The major fly in Clark’s ointment about how Bowles doesn’t want his team to think he quit on them actually happened on a much bigger postseason stage back in January.
There, in an eight-point game (the Bucs would have needed a two-point conversion to go to overtime), a divisional round playoff game, Bowles pulled the plug on the game, refused to call a timeout and said afterward that calling a timeout was “pointless” and added, “You kind of know when the game is over. The game was over.”
The game, as we all know, wasn’t over.
Joe can’t help but think this was in the back of Bowles’ mind Monday night.
The Joe typing this here post can’t wag a finger at Bowles for throwing in the towel in Detroit and then wag a finger at Bowles for not throwing in the towel on Monday night.
Joe has seen weirder things happen in football than an NFL team scoring 10 points in the final minute.
As for the Godwin injury, if anyone has a documented formula that can predict with remote accuracy when players get hurt, you can get Jeff Bezos-rich by selling your Ouija board to the NFL and college conferences.
October 23rd, 2024 at 3:56 am
Thank you Reasonable Joe. Well done.
October 23rd, 2024 at 3:59 am
If Godwin hadn’t of got injured we wouldnt be talking about it – accidents happen and this one is soul destroying for the Bucs season. More concerning was sending Mike back out when his hamstring was clearly bothering him. I have no doubt Mike wanted to play but sometimes coaches have to just say no.
October 23rd, 2024 at 4:18 am
Ive been one of the top Bowles bashers (mostly on X)…. But Ryan Clark is right here.
I blame Bowles for his horrible defenses, for his horrible usage of time outs, punting……
But I dont blame Bowles for having Godwin in the game here.
Was it out of reach? Yes. Bucs wernt going to win this game…..
But these guys are NFL players making tens of millions of dollars. This is super normal.
Put on any game next week where a team is down by 20 or whatever…. They will likely have their starters in. Its not super common starters get pulled unless youre UP by like 30 in the 4th quarter.
October 23rd, 2024 at 4:20 am
10 points is misinformation. They were down badly at the midway point of the 3rd quarter. Derrick Henry was slowed down to just 60+ yards. Then, he bust out an 81 yarder going nearly 22 mph, which lead to an easy score. The defense haven’t stopped the Ravens since that moment all the way up til Godwin got hurt.
That was a ridiculous excuse to get garbage time stats. Baker played terrible after a hot start. Mike Evan didn’t stop Bucky Irvin and Cade Otten to be open, which caused the momentum swing from dominating the Ravens to getting crushed. Evan didn’t cause the missed field goal either.
Usually when a rb that got shutdown suddenly breaks out and consistently gain yards, then the defense is usually done due to fatigue and not being where they’re supposed to be. Often a sign that the game is over. Defense provided little resistance to the MVP Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry. It’s extremely rare to change otherwise.
It’s not quitting. It’s a strategic retreat. Live to fight another day. Use those tapes to stay motivated for the next game. That blowout was an opportunity to see how backups handles the bright lights. An opportunity to find hidden gems or cut material in case of emergency. An o line can get hurt later on in the season. What better test than the Ravens defensive scheme? But no, it was all ego and stat padding time. Contract bonuses time was worth it. Right?
October 23rd, 2024 at 4:49 am
That was a ridiculous excuse to get garbage time stats? But no,it was all ego and stat padding time. Contract bonuses time was worth it. Right? Red86 look at it this way. Wrong!! You sir are Wrong! You are absolutely incorrect in everything you stated. One hundred percent of NFL players would say you are wrong!! Why don’t you find one player to back up your side of this. Because you can’t. Because you are so wrong. And your statement about misinformation shows clearly you don’t know anything about that either. A strategic retreat? I don’t think I’ve seen anyone with less football sense than you Red86. And football players would agree.
October 23rd, 2024 at 4:50 am
ATL, Chiefs and 49ers are the next 3 matches!!! Being down by that much that late in the game, you take the L and pull your starters, especially when we just lost Evans earlier.
NOW LOOK WHERE WE ARE!!!!
October 23rd, 2024 at 5:00 am
Joe, you totally nailed it for me.
I was LIVID last January when Todd Bowles threw away months of hard work, sweat and sacrifice by the players and the entire organization in the final moments of the Lions game.
Now I’m just heartbroken that Chris is injured and hope he makes a full and speedy recovery.
I was one of the folks here on JBF.com that was calling for Bowles’ scalp back then.
I can’t go there this time. For as stubborn as Bowles can be at times, he clearly learned from the Lions game.
Unfortunately, there was a tragic side effect this time.
I hope and pray Chris will be ok, and I hold no ill will toward Todd Bowles for the decision he made Monday night or the tragic consequence that resulted from it.
October 23rd, 2024 at 5:06 am
NFL teams make business decisions ALL THE TIME Joe as to who is on the field and a lot of that has to do with injury risk. Just look at who performs on fourth downs.
“Oh, we’d never have this running back catch a punt or return a kick because it’s not worth him getting hurt.”
“Oh, we can’t have this linebacker or cornerback covering a key punt because he only plays fourth down in an emergency because he might get hurt.”
It’s more than fair to question why Todd Bowles put his most productive offensive player in harm’s way to chase a miracle — soon after his No. 1 receiver was lost with a bad injury. Sure, let’s go Godwin over the middle where the defense will tee off on him.
As you yourself wrote yesterday, you don’t have to “quit” to make a good decision on what player to risk.
October 23rd, 2024 at 5:08 am
You could not win the division on monday night, but you can lose one doing this. Yes, normally this does not happen. But it did, and in the light of what it most likely cost the team, it is not worth having them out there. No matter what the players want or not, it comes down to the coach. Its his call. Unless Bowels pulls another rabbitt out of his hat like last year, this is needless self inflicted situation.
Go Bucs!!!!
October 23rd, 2024 at 5:25 am
Thanks Joe. I’m still ticked about the playoff game as well. No one will ever admit it but I believe Todd forgot about the timeout. Maybe, maybe not. Grow from the experience and move on.
Back to the present: You never quit on the players and you take notes on the players who quit on you. That’s a simple life lesson that apparently has been missed by many.
NEVER QUIT!
October 23rd, 2024 at 5:29 am
Of course you cant blame bowles for that. These are big boys who make alot of money to play. Only a certain amount can dress. Play them. Injuries happen. Now there is a long list of things you can blame bowles for tho. He is who I thought he was
October 23rd, 2024 at 5:33 am
Madmax – we had our butts handed to us on MNF. On that night they beat us soundly. Their MVP QB totally outplayed our QB. Their defense was way stouter than ours. But if we have the ball with a minute and a half down by 10 points we finish the game. And your statement about “especially when we just lost Evans earlier “ holds absolutely no ground in the game of football. I understand everyone is torn apart by what happened to Godwin. NOW LOOK WHERE WE ARE. We are one well played game from being 5 – 3 and in the drivers seat in the NFC South.
October 23rd, 2024 at 5:42 am
Im talking about the last 5 minutes dodo…. it wasnt a playoff game…take the L and live to fight another next 3 HUGE games!!!! last season against detroit he wasnt like that! ITS CALLED FORESIGHT!!!
October 23rd, 2024 at 6:10 am
Wasn’t the hip drop tackle outlawed? The play that Godwin was injured on was a textbook example of said tackle and yet I have heard nothing about any penalty or review by the league office.
October 23rd, 2024 at 6:27 am
Well done, Joe. Puts it all in perspective.
October 23rd, 2024 at 6:31 am
At this point I really could care less I know deep down Bowls is not the guy to get us to the super bowl. He is supposed to be this D guru but his D is getting picked apart and cost a super bowl run against the Rams. He is just not head coach material.
October 23rd, 2024 at 6:38 am
I think the player are running the show and not Bowles. No reason for ME to be in a non playoff non division game if was hurt but Mike probably wanted that 1000 catch trophy so he made Bowles play him. Coach is supposed to stop players from themselves sometimes and Bowles doesn’t have the balls to say no.
October 23rd, 2024 at 6:42 am
@Ted,
Go to the NFL’s site. It is being reviewed. I agree with August1976Buc, you can definitely lose a season in one game but you can’t win a season in one game. The red herring was Mike’s injury. You have to be cautious and think about what happens if another top WR goes down. In the heat of the game, it’s hard to make those decisions. That’s why you have to have other people come and whisper in Todd’s ear. Todd only knows defense, that’s it. He’s a DC masquerading as a HC. Not every coordinator is HC material. There have been too many game management mistakes by Todd.
I will concede that it’s much easier to pull players when you’re up, but sometimes you need to realize you’re early in the season, the NFCS is a tight race, and you’re facing the other team next week that you’re in that race with.
Playoff games are do or die, so keep the players in. Don’t compare regular season games to playoff games. I also understand that players can get hurt any time but sometimes you have to use situational awareness to know when you can and cannot take a risk. But, all this aside, hindsight makes all the salivating wolves come out. But, Todd’s track record of game mismanagement is too glaring to ignore.
October 23rd, 2024 at 6:48 am
@Joe,
What has Todd learned from the Detroit game? Nothing. He should have gone for it in Detroit with everything we had. A regular season game against an aggressive defense and an unstoppable offense (for our D), you have to reserve your troops for the season. Lose the battle to win the war. Todd can’t play those kind of chess games. He’s struggling with checkers. What he did against the Ravens he should have done against Detroit, and what he did against Detroit he should have done with the Ravens.
October 23rd, 2024 at 6:56 am
It’s over, folks. Team’s not beating anyone with the healthy wideouts that are left. Baker’s will regression will be massive. Atlanta 35 – Yucs 23. Atlanta wins the division in October. Just like all the experts said. Yucs fans were delusional to believe anything different would happen. With Clueless Todd at the helm, how did we expect anything less?
October 23rd, 2024 at 7:01 am
At the end of the day, all the decisions by Bowles are measured by results. Unfortunately his results are not there, it’s always an excuse or rationale that in some cases may be valid but reality of the NFL is you still get fired for poor results.
Let’s ignore the injury, the defense still looks like trash and is getting worse as the season goes on. The vast majority of the players on the defense have been in his system for multiple years so it’s not a matter of “learning the system”, the system simply doesn’t work. Our identity is we blitz, that’s it. And we don’t even do that well as Bo Nix and countless other rookie QBs have proven. I’ve said this several times, having success with an elite front 7 (2020-2021) doesn’t mean the system ever really worked, we simply had too many mismatches for teams to deal with. We still have a very talented roster yet Bowles can’t slow down anyone.
October 23rd, 2024 at 7:07 am
Godwin’s injury is very unfortunate and sad but Bowles doesn’t deserve the criticism he’s getting for trying to win a game in the last minute. None of the players on the field wanted to give up, so why should he have given up.
October 23rd, 2024 at 7:24 am
Too much paranoia. Otten and Sheperd took over after evans got injured
October 23rd, 2024 at 7:29 am
Can’t coach talent and speed
October 23rd, 2024 at 7:44 am
Agree with Marky Mark about Sterling and Cade. We have some good talent that will step up this Sunday. Any given Sunday. Go Bucs!
October 23rd, 2024 at 8:01 am
Detroit was a playoff game. Win or go home. This wasn’t. It was a non-conference game ahead of a short-week game for the division lead. And nine more games after that one. Right now, *the season* is the game. Making the playoffs is the game. Going all out and losing a top guy in a semi-hopeless situation for the sake of winning Game 7 won’t be much comfort when there’s no Game 18.
October 23rd, 2024 at 8:03 am
I can’t get mad at Bowles over this (and I am not in love with him as a coach). The Bucs are capable of scoring fast and we had *just* seen them convert an onside kick and almost convert another.
October 23rd, 2024 at 8:09 am
“The Joe typing this here post can’t wag a finger at Bowles for throwing in the towel in Detroit and then wag a finger at Bowles for not throwing in the towel on Monday night.”
Sure you can. Context is everything, which apparently is lost on Todd Bowles (and some of these commentators).
This was a regular season game. Not meaningless, but live to fight another day. This loss would not have been the end of the world.
That Detroit game was ‘win or go home’. Not only that, he had a better chance of winning that game than he did this one. Neither was huge mind you.
October 23rd, 2024 at 8:12 am
Also – what you absolutely CAN and should roast him for is that dumpster fire of a defense.
If this defense ends up bottom third and they miss the post season, the Glazers absolutely should launch him. Especially if it came down to keeping Coen or him. If the offense continues to play well and the defense continues to be a train wreck, it’s a no brainer.
October 23rd, 2024 at 8:25 am
Do you think Brady would have thrown in the towel? Think Godwin would have sat on the bench saying “ Sorry, Tom the game is over. I’ll sit it out on the bench”. Baker has the players support, even when he is having an off night. Godwin wanted to be out there, even if just scoring another 7 pts. Quitters are losers and it carry’s on to the next game and the next.
October 23rd, 2024 at 8:28 am
Ted, you’re correct. And I read yesterday that that play is indeed being reviewed by the league as an illegal hip drop tackle.
October 23rd, 2024 at 8:35 am
IF THIS GETS THROUGH FIRE THE COMPUTER GUY!!! THE SOFTWARE OR IT’S MANAGEMENT SUCKS!
October 23rd, 2024 at 8:38 am
If our defense didn’t give up so many points this never would have happened!!
October 23rd, 2024 at 8:48 am
The year the Bucs won the SB with Brady, they were blown out by the chiefs but I do not remember Tom Brady ever coming out of the game, including the blowout against the Saints. They would see them later and we all know the outcome of those later meetings
October 23rd, 2024 at 9:09 am
It’s pretty obvious by the comments about who excelled in competitive sports and who has only watched sports. Competitors compete until the final whistle, no true competitor wants to be pulled off the field. Ya’ll blasted Bowles for pulling the plug on a game last year and then for not doing it this year. Maybe he learned or maybe some of you just don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.
October 23rd, 2024 at 9:16 am
There is a reason teams severely limit how much playing time their most valuable starters get in preseason, the risk of injury is high, and the loss of a key starter is devastating. The same situation goes in a blow-out game, particularly against a non-division, non-conference opponent. Taking a loss to the Ravens isn’t nearly as bad as losing Evans and Godwin. The most successful teams late in the season and playoffs are the most healthy ones. Take a long-term view… live to fight another day.
October 23rd, 2024 at 9:38 am
Quitters quit.
October 23rd, 2024 at 10:57 am
Very logical and reasonable, unfortunately logic always exposes unreasonable people and there’s definitely some up here. I wonder how many are really upset because Godwin was on their fantasy football team??? If this bothered you so much why not go watch women’s football fellers?
October 23rd, 2024 at 10:59 am
This is the NFL Boyz and girls. Not tiddley-Winks, golf or bowling. On any given play you can go out for the season. I appreciate the national media for backing Bowles. You Play to win the game. Our Bucs, like Mayfield says, refuse to surrender. They play hard until the final second. Now, lets move on and pray Liam finds a way to dice things up offensively to beat the hell out of them Falcons. Our D is gonna have to really show up on Sunday also for us to pull this out. The thought of Atlanta controlling our division makes me want to vomit. Lets go Bucs!
October 23rd, 2024 at 11:14 am
Fair game to question what looks like a horrible defense program in Tampa. A scheme change isn’t going to fix most of what ails the defense. You win with superior players an Bucs don’t have enough of them.
Finally, I am going to keep prodding Joe to get a ruling from the NFL on what looked like an obvious illegal hip drop tackle of Chris Godwin. Roquan Smith should be fined and kept out of action for the same period of time that Chris will be out.
October 23rd, 2024 at 11:26 am
I can’t believe everyone is saying this was a meaningless game. Sole possession of the lead in the division was possible. If Godwin had jumped up and the Bucs scored on the next play, we all would’ve been out of our chairs hoping to see a miracle. Had we then gotten that field goal, we would have all been praising the players and coaches for never giving up.
Hindsight is 20/20. Let’s stop bitchin’ and start concentrating on Atlanta. We still have talent and certainly can win. Go Bucs!!
October 23rd, 2024 at 2:17 pm
This dumpster is starting to smoke. Bowles has been a disaster from the start. Does the Cleveland game a season or two ago ring a bell? I am afraid it is time to throw out the trash. Hope I am wrong.
October 23rd, 2024 at 5:04 pm
Kenton Smith the Joe Buc Fan clueless prick.
Teams in all sports bench their starters when the game is out of reach in both winning and losing situations. They’re all quitters. Right? But, I guess you just started watching sports last year. The Celtic blew out the Knicks last night and sat their staters in the fourth. The Knicks did the same. But both teams are quitters. Right slow bus passenger?
The Bucs were down 34 to 10 in the third quarter going into the 4th you clueless prick. Our defense sucked this game barely doing anything in the 2nd through 4th quarter. It required the offense, defense, and special team to be on their A game to win. 2 of the three wasn’t. Baker screwed the game up with ints (near 3rd pick on the Otten shoulder catch), that would’ve put the Ravens in our situation, but that’s too complex for you to understand.
It’s misinformation to stated we were just down 10 as if the game was close at all time. But, we get your slow. Thanks for showing everyone you’re not worth listening too.
October 23rd, 2024 at 5:35 pm
You sound like a baby crying who doesn’t have the vocabulary to back up his senseless babbling Red86. It’s called school dude and you skipped it far too much.