Todd Bowles Ignored The 500-Pound Gorilla In The House
November 5th, 2024
Was Todd Bowles burned by numbers?
Joe is still trying to wrap his head around the first answer Bucs coach Todd Bowles gave for not going for the jugular on the road in one of the toughest NFL cribs to play in.
Bowles initially said “wet conditions” led him to want to win the game in overtime and not win the game with just 27 seconds left in regulation after Baker Mayfield hit Ryan Miller for a one-yard touchdown pass.
Lost in his explanation of “wet conditions” was one simple factor that should have made the decision to go for two a no-brainer.
The guy Bowles was playing Russian Roulette with was Pat Mahomes. You know, the guy with three rings? The guy who has led comeback after comeback and is this generation’s Tom Brady, Roger Staubach and Joe Montana all rolled into one?
The Bucs had this football vampire on the ropes — not even an ankle injury could slow the guy — holding a dagger just above his heart. And instead of thrusting that dagger to finish off the vampire, Bowles let the vampire go to chomp on his neck.
As the great Herm Edwards once hollered, “You play to win the game!”
Joe asked Bowles if he was influenced by the Bucs’ analytics crowd (they have a direct pipeline to Bowles’ headset) to play for overtime. Bowles bristled at that question and then dismissed not going for two claiming that’s not why the Bucs lost.
Bowles has a point. The Bucs lost because they chose to give Mahomes a chance to win. Joe guesses one could say a team deserves to lose for being making such a reckless decision.
If this decision was influenced by numbers, this is why banking on numbers can, in the words of Bruce Arians, “get your ass kicked.”
In a complete vacuum, Joe could understand how analytics might say to kick an extra point. But do those numbers factor in the Bucs playing against Mahomes on the road in the rain versus, say, Anthony Richardson in a 1 p.m. game in the Tampa heat? Of course, they don’t.
No matter how you slice it, you never want to give Mahomes a chance to burn you because that rascal will. And he did.
Bowles learned the hard way Monday night.
November 5th, 2024 at 1:31 am
Joe, why do we need 10 different articles about a 2 point play?
The Bucs had a chance to win in OT and failed. Move on.
November 5th, 2024 at 1:39 am
When you have the leagues worst defence and you’re playing the best QB in football, you go for 2. It’s that simple, there’s no way to spin it, I can’t be alone in thinking if we go for two and don’t win I wouldn’t be upset in the least because we would go out swinging whilst relying on our strength.
November 5th, 2024 at 2:24 am
Stop complaining. Who better can step in as head coach? Stop griping and on to the next one.
November 5th, 2024 at 2:27 am
If Joe is going to complain, ask Winfield jr why he’s disappeared since his pay day? Ask Jamel dean the same while you’re at it. Ask Laverne if he’s finally getting old? Ask these players why Shepard has more heart than anyone on the team getting paid the minimum. Ask where whitehead has gone. Stfu about Bowles.
November 5th, 2024 at 2:58 am
If you don’t know then that tells Joe you either didn’t watch the game or can’t grasp the most pivotal play in the game.
November 5th, 2024 at 3:09 am
Farmer,
You said it perfectly. Add to it that we were playing with house money. NOBODY expected us to win that game. We go for 2, for all the reasons you outlined, and don’t get it, oh well we were supposed to lose.
This is a consistent theme with bowles not coaching to players’ strengths. We have 2 highly paid, highly skilled WRs? Let’s be a ground and pound team with the worst running game in football! We have 2 highly paid, moderately skilled man to man CBs? Let’s have them play charmin soft zone coverage! We draft guys (including 350# Vea) to rush the passer? Let’s drop them into coverage and see what happens! We have an innovative, effective offense (despite everything being stacked against them)? Better take the game out of their hands and give it to one of the 3 worst defensive units in the NFL!
November 5th, 2024 at 3:23 am
Hey let’s drop Braswell in coverage! So sneaky!
QB sees it – There’s my mismatch!
November 5th, 2024 at 3:29 am
Again……Bowles results are consistently not there. We can second guess the 2 pt conversion but ultimately he routinely fails in game management. Not using timeouts in games, all blitz against the Rams, worrying Brady might throw a pick in Cleveland, thinking he was possibly going to come back when Godwin was hurt……Bowles decisions are simply on the wrong side too often.
November 5th, 2024 at 4:23 am
Bowles learned nothing Joe. He will do it again and again. It is his nature. He will always do the wrong thing about 1/2 the time. He is a half baked coach. No mattwr what his record will hover around .500.
November 5th, 2024 at 4:28 am
Bowles learned the hard way Monday night. Did he Joe? He didn’t seem to remember that Cousins drove the ball for a TD to beat us in OT just a few weeks ago! I guess he’s a slow learner. He didn’t learn a thing. He would do the same thing 100 out of 100 times. Bowles is a gutless coach, that ain’t changing no matter how many OT losses he piles up. I’m sure I heard Arians screaming go for it from Goergia.
November 5th, 2024 at 4:30 am
The bucs has a great team and coaches, but coaches in the wrong position which them before it’s to late. Let him be head coach of the defense and Liam head coach and call off. The cheifs even show them with rember the titans dance.
November 5th, 2024 at 4:35 am
Even if went for 2 and got it – could our D stop them from a FG?
November 5th, 2024 at 5:07 am
the real issue is:
coaches’ team is collapsing in the EXACT same fashion it did last year………………exactly…!
it’s a real issue not being able to fix stuff, or patterns…patterns…yes patterns…
this almost identical hot start, then mid season collapse as the season gets to the “meat and potatoes” of itself is wild…
all you had to do is navigate properly thru these tough seas, to smoother sailing after the bye…and you could almost coast into the playoffs…
but here we are witnessing last season all over again…
can we come out after the bye and run the table or go 6-1……we just might have to
November 5th, 2024 at 5:07 am
He routinely gets out coached and that was the best coached team in the NFL.
Almost good enough is a waste of 3 1/2 hours of life. I watched the first two series and went to bed. Knowing full good and well we were not winning $hit.
November 5th, 2024 at 5:45 am
No it’s worse than this. The offense has carried this team and rather than give them a punchers chance he put the game on a coin flip, literally.
November 5th, 2024 at 6:15 am
Todd is our very own Dennis Allen.
November 5th, 2024 at 7:43 am
Frank, at least Dennis Allen (and Saints fans) were put out of their misery yesterday. I actually hope the Saints do that one game rebound and upset the ATL. Of course I also hope the Bucs will win out, but that is not going to happen….
November 5th, 2024 at 9:19 am
Hey Joe, that’s a great question you asked Todd. That subsequent bristling says it all..
November 5th, 2024 at 10:07 am
How many of you sexual intellectuals would be screaming this morning if Bowles had opted to go for two, and failed? You would be screaming he should have taken the one point and gone to OT! Coach cannot win on these pages!
November 5th, 2024 at 10:08 am
By now, we all know who Bowels is. Unwilling to accept blame. Unable to admit or learn from mistakes. As disingenuous as a politician on Election Day.
Bruce Arians really put one over on the gullible Glazers.
November 5th, 2024 at 11:05 am
JOE and everyone else yall seemed surprised by Bowles not going for too. WHY ? in his 3 years as head coach when have we ever seen Bowles be aggressive to win. I can’t think of a time. He always has bin conservative and it’s lost us a bunch of games. Defense is supposed to be Bowles specialty and it’s regressed to a pee wee team. I will say they played better last night but even with the sacks JOE we still lost. Vea became your edge rusher that you thought would be a savior to the defense and I’ve bin telling you even if we traded for a proven edge rusher 1 guy isn’t going to save this garbage of a defense I know it would help but to many guys running wide open a pass rush can only counter that so much. Please hear me JOE I want a proven pass rusher prob more than you but I don’t see that fixing the whole problem unfortunately. It only takes a few plays for the guys to not get there and for a QB to hit the wide open guy and most coaches know how to throw off a good pass rush from time to time. COEN needs to be the head coach and we need a new defense coordinator. Glazers won’t do anything in season so next year we will see
November 5th, 2024 at 11:11 am
Fire Lovie er Bowles I mean. Same thing. Soft a$$ pass defense. Hire Liam!!!
November 5th, 2024 at 11:25 am
No risk it, no bisquit.
November 5th, 2024 at 11:26 am
Blowles didn’t learn anything Monday night and he never will. The 9000 lb gorilla in the NFL is his defense and the lack there of any in any game. He’s one of the most clueless coaches I’ve ever seen
November 5th, 2024 at 11:31 am
John Schneider no we wouldn’t. We would’ve been proud of him momentarily that he actually had a pair. That would’ve been an acceptable moral victory from that game if he had done it and we failed. At least Baker would’ve had a chance to win the game than sitting on the bench watching the defense taken to the woodshed knowing the inevitable was going to happen
November 5th, 2024 at 1:17 pm
The penalty for fast mask that clearly wasn’t and full start that would have backed them up in ot..Chiefs thank the refs for this 1 not Mahomes!
November 5th, 2024 at 1:27 pm
if we had went for 2 and made it (and the 2 point conversion attempt is a lot lower odds than ppl assume it is) we still probably would’ve lost with a Chiefs FG in regulation. As it was they punted on 4th and inches when a conversion there would’ve led to a game-winning FG. You could say KC made the same choice we did, and the coinflip determined the winner. That might sound dumb, but analytically 50/50 is better odds than making either of those conversions, so it made sense for both teams.
The biggest mistake potentially IMO was calling the final TO with 33 seconds left- it made hetting the TD more difficult by not being able to run, and it left time in the clock for KC unnecessarily. Maybe with less time on the clock you do go for 2. Still if we won the coinflip we probably win and like i said the 2 point conversion really isnt 50/50. You can never tell… still, none of that’s really why we lost. To have played KC to a 60 minute tie with all our injuries was a good job but
unfortunately these injuries have ruined our season. That’s what it comes down to. You could blame this loss on bad calls or bad penalties or some coaching decisions in hindsight, but we all know that’s not why we lost. If we weren’t injured like crazy, we win. We need the defense to be healthy and we need Evans back. Its probably too late now for this year. We needed the injury to Godwin not to happen but the past can’t be altered. I’m bummed this season is basically ruined but I’m glad at least were fighting so hard. At least I can still enjoy watching our effort and execution but TBH, at this point I’m already looking at the rest of this season as preparation for next year when hopefully we can come back from these injuries and win the Superbowl.
November 5th, 2024 at 2:23 pm
I agree with the call of not going for 2. This game was coached well, stop acting like it wasn’t. If we went for 2 and missed it, which statistically we would miss, you all would be crying about how it was a terrible call. This isn’t a horrible fake punt call or a let’s just try to make the game not look like a blowout by risking our players. It was a logical call despite whatever you say.
November 5th, 2024 at 3:29 pm
Bowles blew it but fire that guy and who else are you going to get? your starting over again! not easy to win a sb… at least bowles is even when everything is going wrong i guesss
November 5th, 2024 at 4:10 pm
If you don’t want OLBs to drop into coverage, then your pretty well supporting a 4-3 defense. I don’t understand the drama over OLBs dropping. If you don’t want OLB dropping that means rushing 5 every down – 3 DL and 2 OLBs. Who do you want to drop??? Hall??? Kancey???