“We Have To Move Forward”
October 25th, 2024
Reflects on losing Mike Evans and Chris Godwin to injuries.
Joe still doesn’t like the vibe of the locker room.
After the carnage following the curb stomping of the Bucs by the Crows, with news of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin being lost, the Bucs’ locker room Monday night after the game was jarring.
The best way Joe could describe the scene was players were shell-shocked.
This week in the locker room, it seemed to be the same way, though not nearly as severe. Players weren’t as chipper and outwardly keyed for Sunday as usual. Not even wearing the creamsicles on Sunday appeared to brighten moods.
Yesterday, players were channeling Donovan Smith and cranking tunes. That didn’t even seem to liven things up.
Bucs left tackle Tristan Wirfs was asked to recount the mood in the locker room after Monday night. He tried to spin it forward, tried to be positive. But his gloomy, sullen demeanor — very much unlike him — told a different story.
“That was really tough,” Wirfs said of the postgame scene on Monday. “That was a hard thing to see, Mike and Chris going down. Those are two of our leaders. They are two of our guys.
“It’s business as usual. Anyone else goes down, that’s what we have to do. You have to move on. Gotta move forward. Those guys would say the same thing.
“It’s just devastating for Chris to have that happen. He’s such a hard worker. We know what kind of person Chris is. What type of player he is. What type of teammate he is. It sucks. Are hearts are broken for him.
“We have to move forward.”
But will they? It’s a short week. Joe is just not liking the mood of the Bucs locker room. Can they mentally bounce back? Will it take a couple of series and some nasty hits to get the juices flowing?
Guys in that locker room Monday night and this week at One Buc Palace moped around like they just learned someone ran over their dog.
Joe guesses this reflects the respect and how much the Bucs look up to Evans and Godwin. It’s one thing for one player to go down. But two? Two of your best is rough. And the way Godwin was hurt, well, we’ll see if the Bucs shake the cobwebs out of their heads on Creamsicle Sunday.
October 25th, 2024 at 9:03 am
This has “free fall” written all over it. I’d love to be wrong…I suspect that I’m not.
October 25th, 2024 at 9:16 am
That’s all we need is an excuse to lose…. Suck it up, Bucs…..we are playing the Falcons at home…..
October 25th, 2024 at 9:19 am
Nothing fires up a team like wearing a winking pirate logo and a bad shade of orange with a long history of losing. Great timing, Nike.
October 25th, 2024 at 9:24 am
This is where we find out who the Bucs are this season.
October 25th, 2024 at 9:27 am
Atlanta 40 Clueless Todd’s 10
October 25th, 2024 at 9:28 am
I’d be curious to know what our win-loss record is when wesrimg those ugly losery creamsicle uni’s…
Have we ever even won a throwback/creamsicle game?
I obviously do not like the creamsicle uni’s and would love to memory hole that whole dark time period in Bucs history
October 25th, 2024 at 9:35 am
Joe if the locker room is still sullen a few days before the biggest game of the season that’s good to know. Good reporting. If that’s true then we’ll get down early in this game. But you know that may be just what we need. We’ll see.
October 25th, 2024 at 9:38 am
I’m just guessing here, but I’d suggest that the Bucs decide to use Rachaad White as a slot WR where Godwin use to play most of his reps. Then use Sean Tucker as our lead/3rd down back. It is what it is, but it’s a great idea. We still have Bucky a up and coming rookie RB for depth if need be.
White is a good WR and can do some damage if defenders don’t respect him they will fail. Trey Palmer can get some of the shorter outside looks for a couple weeks, but he’s not saving this team on his own.
I suspect multiple guys will have to step up and work together to make it happen.
Trey Palmer
Cade Otton
Sean Tucker
Bucky Irving
Jalen McMillan
Rashaad White
If Sean Tucker becomes the lead back we will need a new return man. Also not a fan of McMillan as our return man. Hope that won’t last long. We need wins and right now.
October 25th, 2024 at 9:40 am
In the four games wearing the Creamsicle jerseys, the Bucs put up a 1-3 record. Their lone win wearing the throwbacks came in 2009, the first year the jerseys returned.
All three of the Buccaneers’ defeats in Creamsicle came from their divisional opponents:
28-24 loss against the Atlanta Falcons on Dec. 5, 2010.
38-19 loss against the Carolina Panthers on Dec. 4, 2011.
35-28 loss against the New Orleans Saints on Oct. 21, 2012.
October 25th, 2024 at 9:41 am
This is on coach Todd.
This is supposed to be his specialty,
his players, his locker room.
October 25th, 2024 at 9:42 am
The very first throwback game Josh Freeman won his first game upsetting the Packers.
If memory serves, that is the same day that Lee Roy Selmon’s number was retired.
October 25th, 2024 at 9:45 am
There is one saving grace. Falcons have the worst HC in the NFL. Just go back and view the last 10 games of the 2011 season. Al losses by an average margin of 17 points.
October 25th, 2024 at 9:46 am
Run the ball, throw to Backs ,, use as much clock as you can so the D isn’t on the field so much ,,, it’s like trying to keep a great offense off the field only we would be trying to keep our bad defense off the field
October 25th, 2024 at 9:48 am
Donning the creamsicles is a mistake. They symbolize a perineal loser.
October 25th, 2024 at 9:56 am
This has to be a winning game for Chris and Mike. The Bucs need to focus on that and they can get through this low time and have a win at home.
Sadly, after reading BuddhaBuc comment about the creamsicle uniform data, maybe that is why the Bucs have low spirits too. Maybe it isn’t too late to change the uniform, or if they are losing before half time change them before the 3rd quarter.
October 25th, 2024 at 9:57 am
“Bosch Says:
October 25th, 2024 at 9:45 am
There is one saving grace. Falcons have the worst HC in the NFL. Just go back and view the last 10 games of the 2011 season. Al losses by an average margin of 17 points.”
Todd is worse. Unlike Todd, it seems as though Raheem has actually learned from his mistakes as a head coach. Todd just keeps repeating them.
October 25th, 2024 at 10:09 am
Bowles must live by this saying everyday.
“IF IT AIN’T BROKE DON’T FIX IT.”
October 25th, 2024 at 10:12 am
Bowles: “JUST THROW TO THE OPEN GUY.”
Alright so then next time he’s wipe open on the sidelines Baker just throw the ball right at his head.
October 25th, 2024 at 10:22 am
Licht’s way will never work and keeps getting exposed, this is why you draft a holes. I’m not in the locker room but what you described sounds completely unprofessional. Godwin understandable going down with a minute left knowing they would lose but not with Mike and not in the middle of that game. These dudes are mental midgets
Super Bowl team had BA, Brady, Gronk, JPP and Shaq all leaders but this team just has top performers and Bowles is no leader either which is why they are so inconsistent. Anybody trust Bowles to guide the team through this? Y’all keep saying the players but the players have to depend on the coach all week before they go out and execute.
October 25th, 2024 at 10:23 am
Man, you gotta expect Evans to pull up with a bad hammy at least once a season. Chris is a warrior and like the Terminator, He’ll be back.
Moving to Atlanta, I think they will try to make Baker beat them deep. I would. His accuracy drops past about 20 yards. Not saying he can’t hit on deep strikes, it’s just that by and large I’m not worried if he tries.
On defense, the falcons tore it up all over the field but with a focus on the middle. Our boy Antoine is back this time, and he may have something to say about it though.
October 25th, 2024 at 10:23 am
Stormy you make an excellent point. Bowles is incapable of learning from his mistakes because he will never admit to them. But is Morris capable of learning from them? Let’s wait until he completes his first HC season since 2011 before we draw that conclusion.
October 25th, 2024 at 10:24 am
Since the Bucs defense is approaching a historical worst, and the Bucs have no real head coach who knows how to lead them out of this funk, and it’s the same guy, might as well accept the fact, Bucs may have won their last game this season. Last season it was the players who dug the Bucs out, and the horrid mess of Todd’s defense hadn’t yet been totally found out by opponents.
This year, the blueprint has been exposed for all to see and use.
Damn shame. The talent on this roster is way better than the team results. Congrats to the Todd for the worst coaching performance of his career in his final season.
October 25th, 2024 at 10:31 am
All those loses in Creamsicle came from some really bad teams
October 25th, 2024 at 10:39 am
HeyJude – Exactly! Win this for Chris and Mike. You know they will be cheering the team on.
October 25th, 2024 at 10:52 am
On the bright side .. in the 4th quarter Monday, Otton looked like Tony Gonzales.🙂
October 25th, 2024 at 10:55 am
Absolute worst week to be wearing the creamsicles IMO.
I want to think the team is gonna dig deep and try to pull this one out for Chris and Mike, but I think crumbling is more likely.
Maybe the defense will finally show up and stop someone? Doubtful.
October 25th, 2024 at 11:44 am
I love this team, but my biggest gripe with them is the inconsistency in their mental toughness, which seems to be an issue with this young bunch. They couldn’t mentally bounce back seeing Evans go down with a hammy everyone knew he was already dealing with. It should’ve been expected that he’d go down, but the game was lost the minute left the game. Also, after a big win, they put up duds the next week, even last year. This team will not get over the top until it brings in mentally tough alphas who demand toughness, like JPP, Sue, Brady, etc.
October 25th, 2024 at 12:34 pm
Falcons have the worst HC in the NFL. Just go back and view the last 10 games of the 2011 season.
It’s 2024! Todd Bowles didn’t exactly light the world on fire with the jets either. Plus the worst coach in the nfl already beat Bowles once.
October 25th, 2024 at 3:13 pm
Pewter, that is because the worse HC in the NFL (Morris) is ironically, a much better DC than Bowles, who is the grand architect of the fourth quarter / OT defensive collapse. And I believe the game you are referring to was one of those collapses.
October 25th, 2024 at 3:21 pm
The Bucs have been mentally weak for years. Nothing new.
October 25th, 2024 at 3:48 pm
It seems like this team struggles more when things are looking/feeling good. I don’t know whether they’ll win, but I think they’ll show up to play.
October 25th, 2024 at 4:01 pm
The benefit of moving forward is a replay against the Falcons, they do not want to be embarrassed by a division foe, especially the falcons, with possibly the division on the line. If it was a nonconference foe that was not as talented, there could be a letdown, but the importance here is this could be season defining. Not sure if this is the team that after the KC lost the year we went to the Super Bowl, can put it all together and go on that type of run
October 25th, 2024 at 4:34 pm
Creamsicle = Guaranteed Loss
I have no idea why they wear them. Auto-loss every time.
October 25th, 2024 at 5:52 pm
It’s definitely got to be a traumatic experience, the brutal part of the game you know is there but when it happens at home it hurts the worse than we can imagine. Sorry guys.. hoping for the best Sunday, we all love you and we’re praying for you.
October 25th, 2024 at 6:35 pm
Baker has the ability to lead and assure the team everything will be allright. I would come out throwing. Once the team sees other guys can catch the ball their attitude will change.
October 25th, 2024 at 6:46 pm
Our much healthier defense is playing against Cousins and the Falcons Sunday not Jackson and the Ravens. Huge difference!! I believe the defense shuts Cousins down, Bucs beat the Dirty Birds and rise to first place in the NFC South !!
October 25th, 2024 at 7:26 pm
SlyPirate, I am guessing that the reason for the cursed uniforms is marketing, people buy creamsicle merchandise. I have been a fan since ’76 and besides ’79 and ’81 there was nada to be proud of. The unis remind me of a time when Hugh Culverhouse was the worst owner in all of sports. If or when Bowels loses to Rah, I say that the Glazers permanently retire the uniforms.
October 25th, 2024 at 7:53 pm
Bowles kept them together last year during a long bad spell. One or two of the young receivers needs to step up over the next three games then the schedule gets easier.
J.J. Russell should get a shot to step up Sunday, I hope. Doubtful!
October 25th, 2024 at 9:03 pm
Move on.
October 25th, 2024 at 10:05 pm
This is all sound and fury, signifying nothing. Of course the locker room is somber. The concern is Bake not being careful with the ball. They can move it, otherwise. This is obfuscating the real issue, our Swiss cheese defense. Bowles is clearly responsible for this mess. Trade for a WR??? How bout trade for an inside backer that isn’t slow as maple syrup dripping down a Toronto tree trunk. This is on Lyght on some level as well. We knew coming into this season how thin we were at LB and DE. Meh… Go Bucs!
October 25th, 2024 at 10:20 pm
@BartowBuc
I’d like to believe that but Cousins was able to throw for 500 against them last game. Sure they were missing some players but they weren’t missing Godwin & Evans & that won’t help.
October 26th, 2024 at 12:55 am
During the last game against the Falcons, Bucs were playing with 13 defenders. They were totally gassed. I don’t believe Cousins will have the sane level of production on Sunday.
Playing without Evans and Godwin is definitely something new, but Sterling Sharp and the rookies will step up. We still have an incredible amount of offensive talent and weapons to work with. I have a lot of confidence in the OC Liam Coen
Go Bucs !!
October 26th, 2024 at 8:04 am
I know I am gonna be in the minority but those Creamsicle uniforms are ass ugly.
October 26th, 2024 at 9:29 am
Bucs win tomorrow…Kupp in next week