About Todd Bowles’ Fourth-Quarter Field Goal Decision
January 13th, 2025
So the Bucs trailed 20-17 with 4:41 remaining at the Washington 14 yard line tonight.
It was 4th-and-3. The Bucs had just failed on a quarterback sneak on second down, and Bucky Irving lost two yards on 3rd-and-1.
So Todd Bowles brought out the field goal unit, which tied the game at 20.
The Bucs never got the ball back.
Should Bowles have gone for the first down? Should he have had a laser focus on taking a lead there and putting the ball in the hands of his best players, rather than his shaky defense?
The Bucs had just struggled on the prior two downs. So Joe thinks the decision was a coin flip. Joe also keeps in mind that twice prior to that Commanders head coach Dan Quinn passed up short field goals in the red zone and failed on fourth down.
When Joe says “coin flip,” that means Joe would have been good with either decision.
Joe would love to hear what Bucs fans think, and not just the ones blowing up Joe’s cell phone.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:27 am
Fire Bowles!!
January 13th, 2025 at 12:29 am
Fire our DC
January 13th, 2025 at 12:29 am
Why they in a position to kick field goals anyway??? Liam’s offense wasn’t cutting it tonight. Simple
January 13th, 2025 at 12:30 am
Todd Bowles. Joe, why would Todd Bowles go for it when he has such a strong stranglehold defensive scheme that has bailed him out all year long
January 13th, 2025 at 12:30 am
I thought tying the game on your home field was the right call. Defense was porous all night but there were times in the 2nd half that I thought the BUCS would take control.
FG choice is a good question. Right now I’m stinging from the turnover. That friggin’ HURT!!!
January 13th, 2025 at 12:31 am
Todd was NEVER going for it- under any circumstances from there. This is the same coach that took the ball out of 12’a hands in Cleveland…and has coached scared throughout his tenure here. Quinn’s approach was a masterclass in going for broke. Honestly, this wasn’t a close game at all, if they kick FGs.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:31 am
Todd is criminally liable for this game. The team was flat and thoroughly outcoached. I think the Bucs are afraid of the night.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:32 am
Makes more sense to go for it when you haven’t been able to stop the offense all game.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:32 am
Typical Todd. Plays not to lose. I wouldn’t have gone for it if I was redskins in those situations. But at that point in the game with Dean out, bad and typical of Todd.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:32 am
Same thing in the 49er game. Played for the tie, 49ers march down the field for the winning FG as time expires. Todd doesn’t learn, or is just to stubburn to change. Both losses at home, not a good look. We lost all our primetime games, not good. We lost half our home games, not good. We were the only home team to lose wild card weekend, not good. I’ve seen enough, hope the Glazers feel the same.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:33 am
Defense played well enough to win, the O failed us, it isn’t 1999, 20 points isn’t enough.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:33 am
Got to see a well coached team looked like paralleled firsthand 2nite. And it wasn’t the Bandits
January 13th, 2025 at 12:33 am
Game management has been a problem all year.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:34 am
He doesn’t have any balls. I swear the most inept coach we have had since lovie. And don’t get me started on his clock management skills or lack there off. It’s the fuqing playoffs you go big or go home. And well he showed he doesn’t have the balls to go big. What a fuqking horrible coach. Ya bakers fumble killed us but our defense killed us way before that
January 13th, 2025 at 12:34 am
Liam takes a large slice of this lose. Offense was sorry tonight.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:35 am
He’s not going to win either way because results are in. But that field goal did almost miss we would have gone to OT. No guarantee we get the 1St .
January 13th, 2025 at 12:35 am
I think the Bucs played as well as they could play on defense–Washington with that QB is just too explosive. In fact, I’d say Washington hurt themselves the most by not rolling Daniels out more, they would’ve scored on their 4th and goal.
The one thing the Bucs defense needed to do and didn’t was force a turnover (they were close a couple times).
The problem was really the offense. Bucs needed to control the clock more to keep the ball away from Washington. Without the Mayfield fumble, the Bucs probably win this game (barely)…. but it says a lot about your opponent when nothing less than a PERFECT GAME was needed to beat Washington.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:36 am
It was a coin flip. Either decision results in placing the outcome in the hands of the Bucs defense. With the exception of last weeks game against the saints, the Bowles led defense fails every time
January 13th, 2025 at 12:37 am
Quinn attempted 4th down on 4 drives if I recall, passing up field goals.
2 times they failed.
2 times they succeeded and got a td ultimately.
That is 14 points vs 12 points. Fortune favored the aggressive team tonight.
I didn’t like settling for the field goal. The offense is a top 5 unit. The d is not, and they were injured and gassed at that point. He put his trust in the wrong unit imo
January 13th, 2025 at 12:37 am
Blaming Liam is stupid. The Bucs never had the ball because Washington never punted. If Baker doesn’t fumble the game obviously ends differently.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:38 am
Head coach should play to the team’s strength, which is offense for this team. That dungy-esque conservatism only works when you have a strong defense. Bowles is delusional.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:38 am
Please Fire Bowles by Monday Afternoon. He will never take this team passed the Divisional round. He’s too conservative, constantly bombs on clock management, and fails to inspire this team.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:40 am
It made no sense to not kick the field goal there. That was the correct call. His lack of timeout usage is perplexing at best. He’s so bad with game management that he’s confused me watching at home. I no longer understand football. Todd Bowles has made me dumber. We are in Purgatory.
3 division titles in a garbage division is not a great feat, considering you barely make it out. We were not a good team and it showed.
This was a fitting showing for Todd Bowles.
Time to cut bait. It’s impressive what we’ve done getting out of the salary cap mess we were in. It’s more than was expected. It was entertaining enough to keep me watching most weeks. The playoffs last year was fun.
I’ve had enough of this bumbling bungling coach. It’s terrible.
And for all of you mental midgets who will try to personally insult me for having a take on a football blog, you can eat it in advance,
January 13th, 2025 at 12:44 am
So they go for it and score a TD. Bucs up 24-20. Anyone else think Washington gets the ball and drives for the game winning 27-24? If you watched the defense tonight you know that was highly probable.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:51 am
Bunch of over reacting, regarding firing Bowles. He did the right thing kicking the field goal, you have to take the points in that situation, our offense let us down bigly.
Bowles defense isn’t playing good but that is definitely related to lack of personnel. We have no rush from our d-ends. It’s like we are lining up two strong side d-ends that bull rush every snap. On top of that our cornerback play is atrocious. I for the life of me can’t figure out why you would trade away our top corner Davis and keep Dean. We over paid for Dean, he is always injured and not that great in coverage, and literally never gets a turnover. Behind Dean we have some guy that should be working at Toys-R-Us.
Our GM has some work to do if we are going to actually make a run next year, and he better not whiff again with his dline pick, feels like every year we need help on the dline.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:55 am
Can we take a moment to ask why these so called fans don’t turn out in big games? Embarrassing. Same as the Rays. Sounded like a G-D home game for the commanders.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:58 am
Should of went for the 1st down. I new we we’re going to lose the way Washington was moving the ball needing only a fg. We get the 1st down and score they need a touchdown and we probably win. The snap count and the fumble were major factors in the loss. That said we still had a good chance . Bucky gets 9 yards but stop I think he would of had the 1st down if he keeps his momentum. Then 2nd down Baker gets stuffed up the middle. Then the snap count fiasco on 3rd down. 4th down we kick the FG.. With 4.11 left I go to win the game and get the 4 yards.
January 13th, 2025 at 12:58 am
Hands down you go for that 4th and 3 every damn time in that situation.
The Defense couldn’t make a stop all damn game. If you convert at least you take more time off the clock minimum. And still get the chance to go up by 4 or tie. If you don’t convert. Their still buried at the 15 with almost 5 minutes left
To try and for a stop or turnover.
January 13th, 2025 at 1:00 am
Licht needs to buy a pass rush x 2 and draft secondary and linebacker. Get Bowles to retire and put Coen in as HC.
January 13th, 2025 at 1:02 am
Joe,
I disagree it was a coin flip. The defense hadn’t kept Washington out of FG range on a single drive for the entire game. So why suddenly think they would with 4 minutes to go? As soon as we kicked that FG, we lost the game.
January 13th, 2025 at 1:04 am
I don’t think Todd is a great chess player. He couldn’t see beyond his choice to simply tie the game. Look at the clock, look at your weak defense and go for it and don’t give the ball back until you score a touchdown. Go up by 4 and force them to drive the field and score a touchdown. What a sour way to lose a game. Not Todd’s fault that Baker fumbled but with his conservative mindset, his playing not to lose and not playing to win, ultimately lost us this game and many others this year. Look at Dan Quinn, he went for it on every fourth down chance but for one, and he won the game. Gotta be more aggressive and play to win the game.
January 13th, 2025 at 1:05 am
@UKBuccaneer
That’s the problem with living in a Transplant city. Most of the residents in Tampa aren’t actually from Tampa, or even Florida. Its all Northeasterners moving down here to escape cold winters and sh__ty politics, but for whatever reason, they keep their NorthEastern team fandom intact.
January 13th, 2025 at 1:08 am
Should have gone for it. Too much time left for a tie to stand up, but not enough time for the Bucs to get a second possession. We gave up when we went for the tie. That’s on the coaches.
January 13th, 2025 at 1:09 am
I agree with you Joe. Normally I would be screaming to go especially with Wash going all night but it was hard to trust the O after the debacle on 2nd and 3rd that we watched. That much time left … needed 7.
They went turtle mode again. That was what had me fuming. Big pass plays right before and we can’t get a 2nd down play action pass? Evans wasn’t having a good game at all. Otton looked open plenty, didn’t have a play for him … what about Culp?
January 13th, 2025 at 1:15 am
Fire Coen!!!
January 13th, 2025 at 1:27 am
I believe we have converted or scored from that position, several times this season.
Todd got lucky with that goal line stand – he thought it was due to something his defense did / instead it was just rookie indecision.
Apparently he doesn’t learn from actual data – we could NOT stop Washington’s offense, they had trouble stopping ours – put it in the hands of the offense who has won several games this year.
Todd’s defense hasn’t won us a game this entire year – but has COST us a game several times this season.
Time for a “promotion” for Todd. I’ve seen enough.
January 13th, 2025 at 1:41 am
Unforgivable Bowles coaching..he puckered up on the KC game ending not going for 2 for the W today he puckered up again on the play it safe FG on 4th and 3 he put his faith in the D that couldn’t hit an turtle crossing Dale Mabry
January 13th, 2025 at 4:29 am
Like the rest here, my heart sank 4th quarter. Baker, Bucky and then the field goal. This wasn’t all on Todd either. I think he made the right decision.
January 13th, 2025 at 5:49 am
Dan Quinn had one on the worst games I’ve seen by a HC in the playoffs. And they won. That’s what I think. Then again our hc has been getting out coached weekly for years. Skins tried like hell to give the game away and bowles said no thanks. Yes he should have gone dor the FG they couldn’t even get the snap count right there. Many other mistakes tho. Mostly a defense that can’t stop the forward pass. Great against the run tho yay Todd!!
January 13th, 2025 at 5:49 am
But…but…but…Bowles is the greatest head coach ever….!
January 13th, 2025 at 5:59 am
I’ve run in my head many times. Taking the field goal was the right decision, if your Bowles. Baker running it on 2nd down when he had Bucky next to him was painful to watch. The fumble was the costliest mistake.
But all in all, we all knew this wasn’t a playoff defense, which tried and true wins championships.
January 13th, 2025 at 6:26 am
Utterly embarrassing performance by the Bowles led Buccaneers AGAIN.
January 13th, 2025 at 7:43 am
Fire bowles and get rid of baker
January 13th, 2025 at 7:44 am
I think some coaches make great coordinators but not head coaches.
This team is done for awhile.Evans will retire and there isn’t a receiver that can replace him.
Baker while I love the guy ,sorely disappointed with two plays we needed most.Lapse of concentration??
The defensive backfield with the exception of Smith,Winfield and mccollum needs culling.
We really could use a Dominant edge rusher,a couple corners,some inside and outside linebacker in the draft and a punter.
That’s alot to fix in one draft.The Bucs have had a good run ,time to put the car in the shop and get it fixed.
There’s always 2028!!
January 13th, 2025 at 7:48 am
I’m not sure what you do in that situation. Normally you kick the FG and trust your defense but how do you ever trust the Bucs Defense?
January 13th, 2025 at 8:03 am
I’m super critical of Bowles, but you kick the FG there.
January 13th, 2025 at 8:09 am
This Bucs fan is good with the decision to kick the FG. The Bucs defensive players are paid to make stops. They had their opportunities.
January 13th, 2025 at 8:11 am
The play calling on that set of downs was atrocious. Bucket up the gut, qb sneak….boo. after watching those plays, kick the fg
January 13th, 2025 at 8:13 am
Reminiscent of the Chiefs game where Bowles’ decision to kick a field goal sent the game to OT and we never got the ball back. It’s that conservative mentality. Play not to lose instead of playing to win. Obviously, Bowles decision to kick the FG was because he thought the D could stop the Commanders and get the ball back to win the game. So, if you go for it on 4th down and don’t make it, why wouldn’t the same philosophy apply. If you didn’t make it, that’s ok. The D will stop Washington and we’ll make another run to win the game. But, had the 4th down attempt been successful, Washington would have had to score a TD to win. They wouldn’t have been trying to eat up the clock, and in all likelihood even if they did get a TD, the Bucs would have time to drive for a winning FG. I know, it’s easy to be an armchair QB in hindsight. But I wonder what happened to that guy that let Mayfield throw to Evans for the 1,000 yds last week?
January 13th, 2025 at 8:26 am
Todd played his standard game plan despite the results on the field.
There is zero sense of urgency from him whatsoever.
I think he forgot that when you lose in the playoffs your season is over.
We just gotta get better only works in the middle of the regular season.
I’m choosing to take a more positive approach to it.
He did us a favor not subjecting us to more inept coaching until September.
Enjoy your vacation from the toilet bowl.
January 13th, 2025 at 8:49 am
a hc with NO balls
January 13th, 2025 at 8:53 am
In this instance, he made the right call. Take the points and tie the game. Barton snapped the ball early on the prior play. That was the real cause of this situation.
January 13th, 2025 at 8:56 am
I’m throwing in with PSL. Bad play calls in that series for Baker and Bucky runs. What happened to having Vea in the backfield for short run blocking? Better yet, why not give him the ball? If he can push 300 lb men into the backfield out a 3 point stance, who the heck is going to stop him when hit head on while under a full head of steam? Bottom line for me, if Bowles stays as HC Glazers should insist that we hire DC. Awful way to end a promising season in prime time but we have been there so not shocked.
January 13th, 2025 at 9:38 am
Bowles put to much trust into his defense. I was telling my wife when they brought out the field goal unit that they should go for it and try to get a TD because I dint think the defense could get another stop.
January 13th, 2025 at 9:50 am
The only way we win is when our offense gets hot and we can play with a lead. This game was lost as soon as Washington showed they could sustain long drives and keep our defense on the field. It was pretty obvious this game was our only chance to come away with a win, since it was really unlikely we’d win against Philly or Detroit on the road when it really matters.
I’m still happy we made the playoffs and had a shot, but our defense needs a lot of improvement. At least we have a decent draft position and our dead cap issues are behind us.
January 13th, 2025 at 10:02 am
At 2nd and 1 imo you have to have a four down mentality. What are the chances you can’t make 1 yArd with three tries? Yes we did lose a bit of that yardage. Yes there is a chance you don’t make it with two downs, but your chance is higher with three
January 13th, 2025 at 10:03 am
How long as long time Bucs fans can do we have do put up with Toilet Bowels mediocrity? Unfortunately, he’ll be contained and we’ll be having this same conversation ext year. It’s time to move on from him but the Glazers will not. I will not be watching this team next year if he’s retained as head coach. Guys the proofs in the pudding. He’s also our DC and look at the results. Please get rid of this uninspiring 500 coach, promote Coen, hire a competent DC, draft a Cb and Lb and pick up an edge in free agency. Otherwise, same results, different year. So frustrating!
January 13th, 2025 at 10:31 am
God, I hate this no-it-all fan base…Just absurd the number of idiots coming onto JBF website and bitching about Todd Bowles, name calling, you’re just stupid spoiled fanbase. And as I completely remove myself from commenting further on this site, because there’s just too many idiots to deal with, I sleep comfortably knowing that no matter how stupid you get, Bowles isn’t going any where and you can just hate for another season.
Most of you will never be happy, so just find another team to support. You’ll be missed.
January 13th, 2025 at 10:42 am
I’m fine with the decision. If they failed to convert the 4th down everyone would have criticized it.
If the offense didn’t shat all over itself, we wouldn’t even be discussing this.
The offense failed us last night. Simple as that.
January 13th, 2025 at 11:03 am
If bucky Irving lowers his head instead of stopping it’s a first down he’s an NFL back scared of the contact!!! That’s why they lost weak player!
January 13th, 2025 at 11:05 am
Full head of Steam inside clearly coming lower your shoulder don’t stop he would have had IT or at least tried no one is talking about that!
January 13th, 2025 at 11:08 am
Why didn’t bucky Irving get it on the first down lower the shoulder you know inside leverage was coming scared of the contact!!!
January 13th, 2025 at 11:09 am
Having Josh “Toast” Hayes in at CB was more than enough reason to go for it.
January 13th, 2025 at 11:17 am
The number of racist, overweight white men masquerading as Bucs fans on this site are disgusting.
January 13th, 2025 at 11:45 am
That fumble did us in. I just knew then that it was over. Daniels played alright, nothing spectacular. The Commanders had an “ace in the hole,” knowing regardless if it were 3rd short or long that they just can throw it in the middle of field to continue the drives. They played to win by going on 4th downs within 40 yards of goal line. Bucs offense really didn’t get on the field that much due to the Bucs porous defense. Yes, Baker’s fumble probably doomed us but honestly, even if we had won last night, the season ended there, anyway. I really didn’t want to go through another angst of watching the Bucs’ defense get shredded by the Eagles or Lions, anyway.
Bowles can never get us to the Super Bowl with that defensive scheme. Licht needs to hire lLian Coen for head coach to run the offense & hire someone like, Robert Saleh, to be the next defensive coach. That’s the solution. We will always be 10-7 team & barely be able to beat anyone in the playoffs. If Licht keeps Bowles then why bother watching them anymore.
January 13th, 2025 at 11:53 am
They should have stuck to the plan of getting a TD. They needed those extra points. We have plenty of weapons to get it done.
.
January 13th, 2025 at 1:18 pm
Fire Todd Bowles. Washington was playing Madden with us and you have to match that energy and sometimes take a chance. No adjustments on defense. At the game on my 45th birthday and I got 6 months to get back into game shape to show Jamal Dean how to play cornerback when I last played safety. Back to taking chances. At KC, go for 2. You want to be the Champs? Beat the Champs! They did went for it 5 times on 4th down. Never punted. 4th and 3 at the 20. I’ve seen this defense all season. 3 wasn’t good enough. We needed 7. Why we didn’t go for it? Todd Bowles can’t coach. Can’t clock manage. Can’t adjust on defense. Time for a change. The only coach to coach Tom Brady to a losing record. Hire someone that’s never been in the Jets organization. Hire someone with balls like Sean Payton or Dan Campbell has that is the difference between us sitting at home right now and us winning it all. And don’t get me started on the refs aka Stevie Wonder…
January 13th, 2025 at 1:30 pm
Why was Baker running the ball so much on that drive? He was like 15 for 18 throwing it.
January 13th, 2025 at 1:33 pm
The Bucs should have gone for the first down rather than kick a FG in the first quarter.
January 13th, 2025 at 2:46 pm
As soon as the field goal unit came out I knew we lost the game. Our Defense can make a goal line stand but cannot defend the middle of the field. The decision was clear. Give the ball to Baker. We lost because of DEFENSE and COACHING.
January 13th, 2025 at 3:58 pm
Since this defense hasn’t stopped opposing offenses on just about every (if not every) attempt at scoring FG’s with 30 seconds or more left in the half or game all year, kicking a FG is definitely the lower percentage play. Turning the ball over to them in a tie game with 4+ minutes to go, only hope was to let them score quick and get the ball back.
January 13th, 2025 at 4:08 pm
I’ve waited all day for the “Bowles Fired” headline. When will it come?
January 13th, 2025 at 5:46 pm
I don’t like Liam’s QB sneak play calls or any QB designed run. It’s not Bakers strong suit. Use his arm and accuracy. Not his legs.
January 13th, 2025 at 8:21 pm
I can think of one time in the past three years where Bowles made a bold call to go for it on 4th down, the 4th-and-8 this year (I can’t remember but I think it was against the Panthers, maybe Saints). It’s not in his DNA, which is why we lose a lot of close games – fortune favours the brave, as they say.