Tony Dungy Calls Out Todd Bowles

January 24th, 2022

What was Todd Bowles doing?

If Father Dungy takes to social media to scold you, then you effed up.

And that’s what happened to Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles yesterday after the Bucs’ loss to the Rams in the divisional round.

Bowles, periodically, oversees a total clunker of a game with his defense. Eh, it happens. Even the great Bucs defenses of Father Dungy’s years would get roasted once in a while (remember how they traveled to Oakland and Chucky lit their rear ends up?)

But yesterday, Joe calls what Bowles did coaching malpractice. Every half-arsed NFL analyst knew the worst defense to use against Matt Stafford and the Rams is blitzing. That guy just eats up blitzes for snacks.

So what did Bowles do on the first two Rams drives? He called for a blitz 64 percent of the time. And Stafford lit up the Bucs terribly. Why Bowles didn’t have this information or why he chose to ignore it basically doomed the Bucs.

The Bucs did climb back in because the Rams got terribly sloppy with the ball. After the Bucs tied the game at 27-27, on the ensuing possession, Bowles got either sloppy himself or too damn cocky.

Bowles called for an all-out blitz, apparently not learning his lesson.

What happened? Stafford hits Cooper Kupp on a 42-yard pass. Two snaps later, Matt Gay hits a 30-yard field goal as time expired for the win.

Bowles deciding to call for an all-out blitz threw Father Dungy a curveball and he took to Twitter with his frustration.

Neither does Joe, Tony.

Again, if every two-bit stat site had data of how Stafford goes wild on blitzes, so did the Bucs analytics team, so why didn’t Bowles play it differently?

If Bowles had this information, why did he ignore it? Coaching malpractice.

Or did Bowles not look at the data because he was squeezed for time due to head coaching interviews?

No matter how you slice it, the loss to the Rams is on Bowles.

93 Responses to “Tony Dungy Calls Out Todd Bowles”

  1. Cleanhouse Says:

    Why isn’t he getting roasted like Gregg Williams for the Jets vs Raiders

  2. PassingThru Says:

    That’s exactly what I called out on the game thread, the first two Rams drives resulted in a gift of 10 points, all because Bowles didn’t game plan. That’s why the Rams have owned the Bucs the previous 2 games before yesterday. That incompetent idiot spotted the Rams 10 points.

  3. August 1976 Buc Says:

    Bowles called for an all-out blitz, apparently not learning his lesson earlier in the game.

    Then why did LVD not blitz and sit in no mans land, he never came on the blitz and why did Winfield react like he had help if it was an all out blitz?

    GO BUCS!!!!!

  4. PassingThru Says:

    The Buc defense was at ots best pressuring Stafford with only 4 pass rushers as Stafford has trouble and takes time to pass when facing full coverage. Yet that obvious observation escaped Bowles. Why on Earth would you blitz with 30 seconds left, deep in Ram territory, and leave the best WR in the NFL in single coverage with just a Safety?

  5. PassingThru Says:

    It isn’t just Bowles, he just highlights this country club coaching staff.

  6. August 1976 Buc Says:

    Why did LVD just sit in no mans land and winfield thinking he had help? That is flat out miscommunication. Again go back and watch the play, what is LVD doing. He has been an excellent player for a long time, BUT what was he thinking, to just sit there and not really be a part of the play.

    Again before the venom starts coming about this post, go back and watch the play.

    GO BUCS!!!!

  7. Roy T. Buford Says:

    The last play was bad enough…a culmination if you will, but I look at how it got to 27-3, rather that how it got to 30-27. The defense was not prepared, and yes, that’s on Bowles. Frankly, other than Lenny, I wasn’t thrilled the what the offense turned in. You can’t win games playing 1.5 quarters of football. Period. All season, it depended on which team showed up–and the Bucs team that started the game yesterday was a team we are also familiar with…unfortunately. While it should not have, I also think BL and TB were also looking at larger prizes beyond the Bucs all week–distraction.

  8. adam from ny Says:

    what if:

    bowles actually wanted to just lose the game and wrap up the season because he has a head coaching deal all worked out, and wants to move on with his life sooner than later…

    just blow the game and gtfo of tampa to new destination and fugg everyone here in the process…

    just a thought or odd scenario that popped off on my head…

    could he be leaving and just not want the bucs to have another superbowl win, or more success, or the new team doesn’t want the bucs to win the title…?

    you never know because that last call was just wrong…simply wrong

    jusy sayin’

  9. adam from ny Says:

    also:

    what if:

    tom leaves and takes AB with him elsewhere…like new orleans…

    and the goat becomes our nemisis 🙂

  10. simsini Says:

    The Bucs should have just played cover 3 and tried to jam the receivers at the line. Blitzing was suicide. It didn’t have to be ultra soft prevent either. We saw the Bills get shredded trying that with only 13 seconds left. Just play regular coverage!

  11. PassingThru Says:

    My other beef was that final Buc score. They left too much time on the clock, but given that it was 4th down, they didn’t have a choice, not after using all ti.e outs. Why doesn’t this staff have a bag of 2 point conversion plays? The Rams D was fatigued and on their heels. That was the time to kill them. The Bucs were struggling for much of the game, they were gifted short field position. No one sane should have trusted them sustaining a 75 yard march in OT. The time to kill the Rams was right then and there.

    And yet the country club staff hadn’t the guts, the brains, or any strong 2 point conversation plays prepared for that situation.

  12. August 1976 Buc Says:

    Bowles called for an all-out blitz, apparently not learning his lesson earlier in the game.

    Again….Then why did LVD not blitz and sit in no mans land, he never came on the blitz and why did Winfield react like he had help if it was an all out blitz?

    Has Tony even asked Todd, or LVD or Winfield about the play?
    Did Tony ask LVD why he just sat there, what did he think the play was.
    Seems like LVD would know what the play was.
    Can someone actually ask what the play was that was actually called, becuase if it was an all out blitz, then why did LVD just sit there.

    GO BUCS!!!!!

  13. Tony Says:

    I’m sorry but WTF how is kupp left one on one in that situation to end the game and earlier also ??? Terrible play calling never mind someone didn’t blitz why are u blitzing to begin with??? Great comeback frustrating ending this game should have went to overtime!!! Hope Brady comes back ..

  14. adam from ny Says:

    we kinda did okay…

    let’s be realistic, things were definitely crumbling down the stretch this year…

    unlike last year when we were like the 9ers…that team gaining steam…

    tons of injuries, AB fiasco, lavonte’s so called turmoil, and so on…

    a few weeks back we didn’t seem like we were on the trajectory to head to the superbowl and evidently we aren’t…

    wow the rams whooped our azzes 3 times in a row in big national tv games going back to last season…

    forget the saints and payton…mcvay, donald and the rams own us…

  15. Defense Rules Says:

    Oh wow Joe. ‘Did Bowles not look at the data because he was squeezed for time due to head coaching interviews?’ Or ‘Why didn’t Bowles have this intel (blitzing stats)?’ Or even better: ‘Coaching malpractice?’

    The loss to the Rams is NOT on Todd Bowles. Did our defense underperform? Oh yes, big time. But our Front-4 was getting almost no pressure on Stafford without blitzing. And without pressure, Stafford was just eating us up, especially with Kupp & Beckham (and on several occasions Higbee). JPP had no business being out there yesterday (he was getting swallowed up on some of those runs, and got almost zero pressure when he did rush the QB).

    But that same defense forced FIVE fumbles, of which Bucs recovered FOUR fumbles. Two of those recoveries saved points (Rams were deep in Bucs’ territory but didn’t score). Two others provided very short field in Rams’ territory for our offense that led to Bucs’ TDs. Without those fumbles, the game would’ve been a massive blowout.

    Our Special Teams was horrific almost all game, and especially Darden. Kid doesn’t have a clue. Apparently neither did Pinion yesterday (2 kickoffs out-of-bounds; really?).

    Reality is that our offense played a horrible game. Tom Brady, the GOAT, was 30-for-54 (55%) with a fumble & an INT. In all fairness to him though, his OLine (and especially Wells who shouldn’t have been in that ballgame) AND his receivers didn’t help him out one bit. But IMO it was the game plan that was at the heart of all our problems. Rams ran the same gameplan as the 1st time they beat us earlier in the season … and so did we. Same result. Duh. Whodathunkit?

  16. adam from ny Says:

    also:

    let’s talk about how stafford kicked suh…

    he freakin’ kicked suh early in the game…

    if you need to review the tape do so – stafford kicked big suh while stafford was down…and they penalized suh by mistake – crazy

  17. bucschamp Says:

    Adam there was a rumor about Tom taking over drew Brees but drew decided not to retire. if he goes there, he’ll take Gronk, AB and Fournette (lenny is from NO) and would attract all the ring chasing vets in the league.

  18. August 1976 Buc Says:

    Terrible play calling never mind someone didn’t blitz why are u blitzing to begin with???

    Never mind if it is a busted coverage?

    And never mind Brady led offense joining the party very late in the 3rd qtr.
    It should never have come down to that play to Kupp.

    The bottom line is the Bucs flat got their azz beat, this is a team beatdown by the Rams.

    Like where was a heartbeat by the Bucs to let it get to 27-3.

    GO BUCS!!!!

  19. PassingThru Says:

    Oh BS Defense Rules, the best pressure mounted by the defense was when the Bucs only sent 4 pass rushers. That’s when Stafford took more time to find an open receiver. And why on Earth would you hane plan with blitzes against a QB who thrives on blitzes? And why would you blitz him when there’s 30 seconds left, deep in his own territory?

  20. August 1976 Buc Says:

    Passing thru…. maybe let LVD know it was a blitz with 30 seconds left.
    He sat there, so their 11 against the Bucs 10. Yeah I guess it does not matter.

    BTW DS made honest points, like them or not.

    The Bucs were owned by the Rams on the line of scrimmage again.
    Btw the first game in week 3 was the most pressure Brady faced in the regular season, and now it was worse in this game.

    GO BUCS!!!!

  21. August 1976 Buc Says:

    BTW DR made honest points, like them or not.

  22. adam from ny Says:

    the o-line was a disaster yesterday…

    brady looked nervous at times in the 1st half because of the lack of protection…

    d smith looked like d smith from the winston days – seriously bad – real bad…

    you can count the times tom had a clean pocket to work from on one hand…ok maybe 2 hands – but under 10 times…

    tom wasn’t bouncing in the pocket like how tom likes to do before he delivers a dime…

    i swear i saw him bounce in the pocket maybe once or twice the whole game…

    if not for the rams fumble fiasco, we were never in this game…

    the bucs were like zombies in the first half…it was crazy…zombies

  23. adam from ny Says:

    when it was 27-3 mcvay was seen texting deshaun jackson from the sidelines that the bucs are a fuggin joke… 🙂

    how do you let it get to 27-3 at ray jay, where you lost one game all season…

    27-3…think about that score…it was over…totally over then and there…

    then the bucs got some life and a ton of fumble luck, and made us believe for no reason…

    then bowles sank us like the titanic for reasons only he will ever know

  24. JA Says:

    Anybody looking for work as a DB?
    After watching Davis, et al get roasted repeatedly yesterday, I took my broken heart and witnessed the same thing, only worse, from the Chiefs and Bills respective defenses.
    With the game on the line and seconds remaining in each contest, receivers were wide open time after time after time.
    The days of the shutdown corner are over. Now you’re lucky to see a corner within ten feet of a wideout.
    I don’t know. Maybe it’s me asking for too much from guys paid millions to excel at their craft.
    No matter, the question is worth asking: Are the current crop of receivers that good, or are the defensive backs that bad?

  25. mg Says:

    Pathetic coaching, just pathetic.

  26. Bucsfanman Says:

    I don’t blame Bowles solely for the loss but that defensive call at the end was atrocious.
    Stafford had almost all day to throw every time he dropped back and Rams WRs were almost always WIDE open.
    Brady was off early but never got help when he did hit WRs in the hands (looking at you Tyler Johnson). 50+ drop backs played right into their hands.
    Finally, can we please end this failed experiment of Darden returning kicks?! Special teams cost us big time. TWO kicks out of bounds?! Wow.
    The score says 30-27 but lets be real, we were never in that game.

  27. Defense Rules Says:

    Passing Thru … I don’t disagree with your statement that ‘best pressure mounted by the defense was when the Bucs only sent 4 pass rushers.’ Bucs sacked Stafford TWICE yesterday (Vea-1; Suh-0.5 & JPP-0.5). They had 8 QB Hits in the game out of the 40 pass plays, and Suh (4 hits) & Vea (2 hits) had the majority of those. So our INTERIOR DLine did their job for the most part.

    Our major problems on defense were (1) our big guns (Shaq & JPP) got table scraps (1 QB Hit between them … White got the other QB Hit); (2) our tackling sucked once again; and (3) our pass coverage sucked even more.

    I’m no expert on defense like so many commenters ripping Bowles today seem to be, but it looked to me like our Secondary (and LVD & White also) weren’t playing as a unit. If I had to guess, I’d say crappy communications were at fault more than likely (probably should be expected since they haven’t played together all season). Saw way too many Rams’ receivers running free (relatively few contested catches?). And Stafford (especially in the 1st half when they got up 20-3 by halftime) was pretty much a surgeon slicing us apart. We gave him too much time.

  28. spicoli Says:

    The defensive call was atrocious, but here we are… We honestly couldn’t generate a pass rush all game.

  29. mg Says:

    DB’s need to be able to manhandle receivers at the line of scrimmage. Jerry Rice was the greatest because he could handle the bump and run.

  30. ClodHopper Says:

    That play reminded me of Tim Tebow to Demarious Thomas against the Steelers in overtime of the playoffs. A total gift of a play by the defense

  31. Pruritus Ani Says:

    Both Coordinators were interviewing for other positions this week. That is time away from preparation. It showed. I hope no one hires them.

  32. Bird Says:

    All they had to do was run a deep enough shell/ watch sidelines/ keep players in middle of field and run out clock

    Hey we didnt deserve to win but that ending ruined a great comeback
    One of the loudest buc stadiums i’ve ever heard
    Such a shame we are done

    But there is always next year. Cmon brady. You got one more. You could see in face this year though , he looked worn out unfortunately…

  33. Steve fan Says:

    Let’s face it. It wasn’t a just this game that the Bucs defensive secondary had blown coverages and soft pass protect. The Bucs defensive secondary has had problems last year and this year making average quarterbacks look great. I agree this has been poor coaching by Bowles and not just in this game. He is way overrated.

  34. Rich Weeks Says:

    I truly believe that if it would of went to overtime, we would of won the game..
    We had all the momentum..
    I am pretty sure Todd Bowles will not be a head coach after last night.
    We will lose Byron Leftwich to jacksonville..Hopefully Tom comes back one more year so we are not rebuilding..

  35. Silent_Partner Says:

    His buddy Leslie Frazier played like people wanted Bowles to play. That didn’t work out so well either with less time to go. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Players have to execute. If Winfield plays correct technique, that play doesn’t happen. Bowles had to scheme around terrible DB play and mass injuries at the position all year.

  36. August 1976 Buc Says:

    Silent……Bowles had to scheme around terrible DB play and mass injuries at the position all year.

    Bowles having to use smoke and mirrors, you can only play the players you have, and they still have to execute.

    GO BUCS!!!!!

  37. lambeau Says:

    Poor coaching; oh, and if Lenny thinks to slide at the one foot line, we could run down the clock that way.

  38. Hodad Says:

    Coaching didn’t win us a S.B. last year Tom Brady did. Brady over came a bad game by the Bucs all day to tie the score. All Bowles had to do was not give up one bad play to send the game to O.T.. He couldn’t, we couldn’t. This game perfectly shows that Bowles, and the Bucs do what they do no matter who we’re playing. We couldn’t, or wouldn’t adjust to the Rams, or the Saints. If we played the Rams tomorrow Bowles might blitz 70% of the time. It’s who we are, how we roll. Those who don’t learn from history, are doomed to repeat those failures. Those were your 21, 22 Bucs this season. Couldn’t beat the teams we previously lost to.

  39. Danr Says:

    I mean sure it could be on Bowles.

    But if we had a decent backup tackle, we win.

    That seems more straightforward to me. We win if wirfs plays or if the online in general played better.

    That seems more straightforward to me.

  40. 99.97.92.55.47.40.28.20.7 Says:

    Here is a thought that will hopefully take the stinger out of this for some of you.

    We got beat by the best WR in the game, Kupp.

    With 40 seconds left, second and long, he juked our CB out of his jock for a first down. It happens.

    Then the play that happened next… People coming for Bowles’ job… Think this through. Gay can kick it from like 70 yards. The rams only needed like 15 yards to get in range. They had first down with 28 seconds left. An eternity.

    Our CB couldnt cover him on the last play… So let’s go ahead and bring him on the blitz. Actually a reasonably wise tactic.

    So we are all in man with LVD underneath. Winfield has Kupp and has a 9 yard cushion. The other CBs bail at the snap – nothing over the top – the proper technique. Winfield, who is arguably out best DB and a cornerstone for the next decade, 100% blew the technique. He was in man with a 9 yard cushion on Kupp and hopped towards his man instead of bailing. He watched as Kupp ran right at him then right by him. Yes the call was a bit aggressive, but Winfield 100% made a critical error – JV football 101 technique stuff.

    If Winfield simply backpedaled like the other CBs who were also in man, then Stafford is getting splashed by Suh and a CB on his throwing arm while trying to throw it away. Maybe a sack. Maybe a fumble. Maybe overtime. Maybe game over.

    Drop the rage at Bowles. Forgive Winfield. He is a fantastic player. Made huge plays for us today. Played with heart.

    If you want to point to a single thing, we lost this game because we didn’t have our all pro right tackle. We were outgunned.

    Be at peace. Be grateful for the moment. For Brady. For LVD. For Suh, for JPP. For Lenny. For Gronk.

    You can’t win ’em all boys.

  41. SB~LV Says:

    Yep!

  42. PassingThru Says:

    Yes Danr, a quality backup OT was needed after Haig left last season. For some reason it was not prioritized, despite a draft absolutely loaded with quality, developmental OT prospects. That was one of my major beefs on draft night. Even buying an “OK” backup OT on the free agent market is expensive, it’s a position you try to draft when feasible.

    They also needed to draft a CB. That drove me up the wall.

  43. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    Anyone thinking Lenny should have downed the ball on the one……1st & goal from the 1 sounds good to me.

    All the games this weekend ended when the team that had the ball last, won.

    You can’t give these QBs any time…..

  44. August 1976 Buc Says:

    No wonder the Bucs lost it was Tom Brady against 22 rams lol lol.

    Team Game, and the team won Super Bowl 55 and the Team lost to the Rams yesterday.

    I just never saw Brady sacking Mahome Boy in the Super Bowll maybe I missed that one.
    I have never seen Brady kick a field gaol either.
    Brady does not Block, Brady does not play defense, Brady is the GOAT, but he is 1 of 22 starters.

    GO BUCS!!!!!

  45. PassingThru Says:

    The Bucs were out of time outs, that’s what made controlling the clock a nightmare.

  46. PSL Bob Says:

    Agreed. We should have played the Rams differently as time wound down. The mission – do NOT let them get into field goal range. Two plays later, they’re in field goal range. MALPRACTICE! OK, but before everyone gets apoplectic, just keep in mind. A tie in regulation does not equal a Bucs win. A lot of things can go wrong in OT (e.g., the Chiefs-Bills game). The Bucs made a phenomenal comeback yesterday, but they played poorly most of the game and if not for the Rams’ turnovers, the game would have been a blowout. We can take some pleasure from the fact that Brady and the Bucs made for an exciting game.

  47. #1bucsfan Says:

    Love that the guy got some head coaching interviews but what I wanna know JOE is why in the hell does he have to go did interviews during game week this seems retarted. It’s a distraction. This needs to be changed. Why can’t they interview after the super bowl ?

  48. BucsFanStoppingBy Says:

    Just atrocious last drive.

    I screamed double kupp and than they let him run untouched right past Winfield with no cb even covering him.

    And the gouchbase before end of half was arguably worse. Carlton Davis I think it was kept waving off a teamafe and not paying attention and than he lets kupp run right by him whole the safety covered middle and both let kupp run open by 15 yards one god damn 3rd and 20.

    The BUCS are terrible at third and long and just stopping long throws when need to.

    Almost everyone it’s because they blitzed or called cover2.

    Why not a 2 man under? (Man coverage with 2 safeties over the top). They had no timeouts after that sack on first down. Just keep them ahead of you and tackle inbounds and that game goes to OT

    Smdh

  49. DBS Says:

    Nobody can guarantee they would not fumble or throw a pick trying to score from the 1 yard line. So that is just talking because you are trying now blame the offense. Bowles screwed this up. Not a misunderstood timing or anything else.

  50. Georger Says:

    TB12 is not going anywhere. He is under contract for 2022. He plays for the Bucs or he retires.

    Not upset we lost the game. The Bucs were overmatched and didn’t deserve to win. My heartburn was I didn’t like how we lost it in the final play. That was a terrible play call

  51. Free agent Says:

    Why not call out the head coach.

  52. DBS Says:

    And Wirfs would have made no difference in this game. So get over that. The Oline was getting beaten everywhere. They knew Brady had no threats and were coming after him with everything.

  53. Listnfrmafar Says:

    DR, this was the same o, same o, secondary we’ve seen ALL season healthy or not. You defend Bowles but if the best pressure was rushing 4, why blitz with 28 seconds left. Any DC from Pop Warner on up runs a sideline prevent, giving up the middle. The same D 9ers ran against Dallas during the Dak screw up. I assume LVD being the seasoned veteran that he is couldn’t believe the call and stayed back for the screen or crossing pattern of maybe he wasn’t included in the blitz. It looked more like a corner blitz. This was all lack of focus and preparation and Brady hinted about all the interviews being a distraction. All for one and one is myself. Thanks coaches. To be honest it doesn’t matter that all 3 phases stunk early they brought it back to 0-0 and that’s where bad coaching took over.

  54. Jaybuc Says:

    Based on that last series alone (not to mention too many other coaching blunders to mention) Bowles should be fired! Everybody at home on their coach was screaming at their TV what Dungy stated.

  55. David Says:

    Horrible call. Horrible execution. Horrible coverage.

    But I’m not blaming the loss on any of them for that play. They were out played in the trenches and getting their butts kicked the entire game.

  56. HC Grover Says:

    Hire Tony and Fire Bowles. Let Brady call all the O plays. Shuffle BA off to Arizona.

  57. Ontario Mike Says:

    The OL couldn’t stop the Rams front 4. The DL couldn’t create pressure. The special teams (KOs, punt returns) were terrible. Coaching particularly on D with blitzing which Stafford just kills(and we all knew that) was too predictable. Still a great season boys! Hope TB12 stays one more year!

  58. Chris@Apple Roof Cleaning Tampa Says:

    I will never forgive Todd Bowles for this loss.
    I am glad Tony Dungy took him to task on Social Media.

  59. PassingThru Says:

    @DBS

    Wirfs was definitely missed this game, at the very least he would have freed up Gronk for more passing plays.

    The Rams were a handful, with two Hall of Fame players on the edge. They have the most potent pass rush in the league. Providing Brady with a turnstile backup tackle on the right side definitely altered the course of the game and the game plan itself. It also limited the run options, which in turn allowed the Rams to live in the Buc backfield.

  60. Swampbuc Says:

    Todd can kiss my Bowels.

  61. Listnfrmafar Says:

    Swamparse, you love these coaches, hovers. Hypocrite. By the way BA could of easily overruled that call, Belichick would of. They brought it back to 0-0, 28 seconds, Rams own 30, it’s actually hard to lose in that situation. Enjoy BA next year, I hope Licht says thanks but no thanks BA. Go fishing.

  62. Lesko_Brandon Says:

    Todd Bowles definitely a Head Coach material… Bears/Jaguars or whoever needs a HC please take him. We can throw in Leftwich and the Special Teams coach Armstrong as an added bonus. Buy 1 get 2 free. They are all great at what they do.

  63. Erik Hesson - Fine Artist - City of St Pete- Founder of IAMSTPETE.community Says:

    This loss is on Bowles and the Refs.

    I’m putting both on Notice! You guys suck.

  64. Kansas95Buc Says:

    Is Todd Bowles gone yet?

  65. SOEbuc Says:

    64 percent!!! People say Byron has one week in his playbook, Bowles has one week in his playbook as well.

  66. Mike Johnson Says:

    Wait under Brady leaves. You ain’t seen no losses yet. Coaches don’t play the game, players do. Maybe I need my eyes checked because I witnessed a superior Defense whip out A’s. Stafford was making subway sanwiches back there ..he had so much time.They were just the better team. Get over it.

  67. geno711 Says:

    adam from ny Says:
    January 24th, 2022 at 5:31 am
    also:

    what if:
    Tom leaves and takes AB with him elsewhere…like new orleans…

    Tom is under contract with the Bucs. He cannot just go to New Orleans.

  68. Bucsfanman Says:

    So, I guess the offense’s inability to move the football was Bowles’ fault too?! Pin the two kickoffs out of bounds on him as well as the Darden return experiment while we’re at it. I think Bowles missed like 10 tackles or something, along with a FG. Yep, all Todd’s fault.
    Lets forget the fact that we played poorly as a team ALL game until the 4th quarter.
    I get that we’re all upset but this is, and has always been, a TEAM game. One play did not lose this game for us.

  69. Defense Rules Says:

    Listnfrmafar … ‘this was the same o, same o, secondary we’ve seen ALL season healthy or not. You defend Bowles but if the best pressure was rushing 4, why blitz with 28 seconds left.’

    That wasn’t the same Secondary we’ve seen all season. It was our starting Secondary, but I’d say they’ve only played together (all 5) for maybe a couple games worth of defensive snaps this season.

    I won’t pretend to understand why Bowles called up a blitz with 28 secs left, but what resulted should NEVER happen when the Bucs are heavy-blitzing. First, a blitz implies that you want to get pressure on the QB & force him to release early. Exactly the opposite happened; Stafford had more than enough time to THROW IT DEEP (which was probably exactly what Bowles was trying to prevent to keep them out of FG territory?).

    Second, our Secondary TOTALLY BLEW THE COVERAGE. A 5’9″ SAFETY on an island against Cooper Kupp, the most productive WR in the NFL? I don’t think that’s what Bowles had in mind. No, somebody didn’t communicate with somebody and blew the coverage. And it cost us the game. But you could say the same about any number of plays earlier in the game (like Kupp’s 70 yd TD catch early in the 2nd qtr over I think it was Davis?). Prevent that & the outcome MIGHT have been different.

  70. Bellingham Bucs Fan Says:

    hE dEsErVeS tO bE a hEaD cOaCh!!!11

    Why? He sucked at that too.

  71. Nano107 Says:

    Tony how many SB you won in Tampa
    The defense didn’t lose the game
    They force turnovers
    Their Dline dominated simple as that

  72. Sorryjackchuckiesback Says:

    They coaching interviews in-season are BULLS**T!!!! … I mean what is that telling your team!! Wouldn’t that be major F’n distraction while you still have the best teams on the NFL to play!! …. I think bowels has always been overrated and the bucs defense has a lot more talent than bowels allowed it!! …. Carlton Davis is one of the most underrated corners in the league!! but he struggles against small speedy cut guys … why he let Davis line up over there with kupp is beyond me it should have been Dean on kupp all day long because he played him well when he was covering him a defensive coordinator has to see that and make adjustments there used to be a thing called shadowing receivers!!! …. And why did they wait so long to have a TE or a RB stay back to help with the pass rush!! That help didn’t come until the 4th quarter that gave Brady enough time to have a major comeback!! …. This game is all on the coaches not having a good game plan and refusing to change it until it was too late … Not to mention Brady threw over FIFTY F’N TIMES!!! They had a lot of success running and I guarantee that’s how the 9rs are going to beat the Rams …. They totally have up on the run after about the second or third series!! That was ridiculous!! Even if you’re not getting ten yards a play you still keep the defense honest!! … Bad game plan offense and defense, bad blocking, bad tackling … They only one who looked ready for the type of game they were going to have was the REAL immortal one Tom Brady …. P.S. … The coaches had it out for the bucs too!! Some of those were HORRIBLE calls!!!

  73. Sorryjackchuckiesback Says:

    The refs* … Not the coaches

  74. Tony Says:

    There was no way they were winning after the way they started. Even when they’d score LA was just gonna keep scoring because the D wasn’t stopping anything. Sure it was exciting to see they were finally starting to show signs of life but you can’t do that in the playoffs. You can’t just show up at certain points of the game. They need at least one or two more CBs, one more S, at least one more OL, one more DT & probably one more DE. Depending on if they wanna bring in one more WR, too! Wouldn’t hurt.

  75. Tony Says:

    Was really surprised they didn’t use John Brown at all. They should’ve given him a chance.

  76. Tony Says:

    They started off running the ball & they were running the ball pretty good at first but then for some reason they decided not to run the ball that much after that. I thought that was weird because they should’ve run the ball more than what they did.

  77. cmurda Says:

    Listen the reason I went nuts about Todd Bowles and the reason I say he is not a good coach is this. The call was stupid as Tony Dungy pointed out. It was too risky and it was Bowles trying to play hero with a bold call that predictably backfired. Any average football fan knows that the talk was all about how good Stafford is against the blitz. So, it is indisputably a stupid defensive call by Bowles but believe it or not that’s not the worst part of it. The worst part is the fact that all year and now 19 weeks into the season we are having multiple defensive breakdowns. I don’t mean a corner getting burned. I mean men on our defense confused as to their assignment like clearly AW31 was. We also had a breakdown on the 3rd and 20 Cooper TD. Those breakdowns that still occur are all about coaching and unacceptable.

  78. Alanbucsfan Says:

    Who was dumber yesterday?
    Todd Bowles or Sean McDermott?
    And why not squib kick the kickoff and run some time off the clock? Worried about execution? I agree with Joe- the ST coach should be fired.
    Hey, Bucs coaching staff, maybe if you weren’t so busy doing interviews last week, you might’ve worked on an upcoming playoff game more… pathetic performance for 2 1/2 quarters…and that’s Coaching.

  79. Tony Says:

    They really do need to dump Donovan Smith. I’ve been saying that for awhile. I would’ve let him go like a year or two ago. I probably would’ve let him go after his rookie contract was up. You’d think the dude would’ve picked it up by now. He’s in like his sixth or seventh year now. Don’t know what they see in him.

  80. Cleanhouse Says:

    I think there was a bit of arrogance by our front office- Rams retooled mid season- we floundered and dwindled

    Von Miller and Beckham on our squad would have been helpful yesterday

  81. IE Buc Says:

    Looking again at the play, even if LVD had blitzed, Stafford would still have made that pass. He had a ridiculous quick release on that play. SMB rushed free and Stafford still released it before SMB got to him.

    I wished somebody had jammed Cooper on that play. The problem with Winfield is that he needed to be 10 yards deeper than he was at the snap. If he had been deeper, he would have been stride with stride next to Cooper.

  82. unbelievable Says:

    1st half of the game: Bowles blitzes constantly and we get lit the F up.

    2nd half of the game: Bowles stop blitzing, we stop the Rams and tie it up.

    Most critical play of the game with less than 30 seconds left and the Rams needing at least 30 yards to get into FG position: That dumbarse calls a blitz.

    You never blitz in that situation. EVER! And especially not against the best QB vs. the blitz in the league…

    That is a fireable offense IMO.

  83. Old Sombrero Says:

    Bucs didn’t deserve to win and the last play epitomized just how lopsided the game was. Does anyone think that without a right tackle, a banged up center, one wide receiver, that this offense was going to be able to generate offense? Godwin being injured was a huge loss. Wirfs’ loss before the Rams with their front was too much. Raheem schemed a great game the way he used Donald. He’s a handful regardless. With Wirfs out the exploited the edges. Then you have Ramsey at corner who’s a beast. Their front four allowed the secondary to lockdown our woefully depleted receiver corp. Had Wirfs gone down sooner we could’ve installed a scheme and implemented it a game in advance. Rams are a great team.

  84. Ex-Pats-Fan Says:

    Terrible coaching. They need a Bill Belicheck to coach defense because of the lack of dicipline and communication. The secondary was horrific all year.

  85. captivajim Says:

    it sucks that we lost.. Worse yet is that with this loss–both BL and Bowles are less likely to get HC jobs —which means they’ll be back with Bucs next yr

  86. Tony Says:

    BRING BACK MONTE KIFFIN!!!!!!!!!

  87. Steve fan Says:

    Donovan Smith got beaten to the outside on nearly every play. He cannot move sideways. Amazing that Lefkowitch didn’t make adjustments. Also Murphy-Bunting is the worst tackler. He misses on every wide receiver slip screen pass by diving past the receiver.

  88. Tony Says:

    Monte Kiffin even would’ve played better D even if you put him in there. They should’ve dressed him up.

  89. Tony Says:

    We already got on the phone to work on contracts to bring back Barber, Kelly, Dexter, Robinson, Abraham, Brooks, Quarles, Rice, Booger & Sapp & we’re gonna send whatever it takes to get Lynch out of SF & sign him. Not only him all of them because all of them probably could’ve played better.

  90. ChiBuc Says:

    Pa-rum- puh-pa- pum… all seem to be beating on the same drum (Joe inc), Bowles sucked: scheme, preparation, play calling, and DR inadvertently points out communication too. Most seem to agree with or at least acknowledge Dungy’s assessment, now compare it to BA’s defense of the blitz call (‘ughh, might work if they communicated.’ Seems a bit out of touch imo as well as unwittingly pointing out a major qualification fail for a dc). Do you still think BA is the best HC ever in franchise history? Maybe more staff will bolster “his input”

  91. THEVERV Says:

    Main difference between these past two seasons has been luck…injuries, chemistry and even the timing of who we played in the postseason. I honestly believe we lose to the rams last year if we had played them in the postseason. All the stars aligned for us last season…this year not so much.

  92. Anthony Says:

    Players have to e execute but I believe the offensive and defensive steams were bad. Blitzing Stafford that much is suicide and why the offense didn’t use the no huddle is beyond me. They are way to methodical. Why it took almost 2 quarters to go to no huddle them go back and forth was nuts. 3 tight ends plus Evans would have been a nightmare for the rams. One could block then release the other 2 and Evans and Fournette could run routes. Also how about Vaughn he’s quick to the hole. Even 5 or 6 carries would have meant something. Special teams sucked

  93. Steve fan Says:

    Chris Collingsworth noted that even the Rams defensive secondary backup players were making great plays so it’s not all about injuries for the Bucs. It’s about having a well designed and well coached system. The Bucs defensive secondary has seemed confused the last two seasons letting receivers get wide open and opposing quarterbacks like Taylor Heinicke look great in the passing game. Granted in the Super Bowl last year something finally worked right but otherwise, porous. The Bucs always played from behind this year which Brady noted.