“The Fumble Wipes Away Anything That He Did Great”
September 27th, 2022
Receiver Russell Gage
Joe always loves the rare moments when head coaches break from their coachspeak scripts and appear to be candid.
Those moments were more common during the Bucco Bruce Arians and Dirk Koetter regimes. Todd Bowles is very guarded in news conferences.
Following Tampa Bay’s loss to the Packers on Sunday, Bowles seemed to step out of his cocoon a bit in the heat of the moment on the Buccaneers Radio Network. The head coach was teed up with a super softball question about receiver Russell Gage, who had his first breakthrough game as a Buccaneer with 12 catches, including the Bucs’ only touchdown with just seconds remaining the game.
Bowles didn’t roll with the setup to throw love at Gage. “The fumble wipes away anything that he did great,” Bowles said, referring to Gage’s early-third quarter fumble in Packers territory.
Joe thought that was a candid two seconds from the head coach, and it speaks to Bowles’ super-high standards. For example, his defense has allowed just 27 total points in three games and Bowles is unhappy with their slow starts and shaky-at-times tackling.
September 27th, 2022 at 9:22 am
The guy is making 10 million. Hold on to the ball.
September 27th, 2022 at 9:32 am
Turnovers are devastating in a game like Sunday’s.
September 27th, 2022 at 9:36 am
Gage and Perriman’s fumbles cost us the game. If we’d just gotten a FG on either drive we probably would have won. Both of them are gonna have to make some spectacular plays going forward to make up for those massive blunders. Hopefully they will, at least Gage.
September 27th, 2022 at 9:39 am
Before the season started, the consensus was that the defense has to carry the offense for a couple weeks due to the new additions, however, Bowles has to keep an eye on Leftwich on how he is calling plays.
September 27th, 2022 at 9:40 am
I understand where Bowles is going, but that’s a bit of a low blow to Gage. He was the offense yesterday … 12 catches in 13 targets for 87 yards with 1 TD. Fumbles & INTs suck, but they’re part of the game; it’s how you respond that makes the difference. Gage fumbled near midfield, so we weren’t in FG territory yet. Our defense held the Packers to a 3-and-out following, so we responded well.
Perriman’s fumble had a much bigger impact IMO. He fumbled on the Green Bay 26 yd line, well within FG range. More importantly, Bucs were finally moving the ball, and Brady was on fire. THAT was a real ball-buster.
September 27th, 2022 at 9:44 am
I understand where Bowles is coming from and tend to agree with him…..but,
Going forward, that was a good game for Gage……connecting with Brady…..
And, the more you catch the ball…..the more opportunities you have to fumble.
Scotty didn’t fumble…….see my point?
September 27th, 2022 at 10:07 am
Turnovers and coaches deciding not to kick field goals on 4th down are devastating in a game like that. I will never understand not taking 3 when your team is clearly struggling to move the ball and most games are decided by small margins. If your having to convert on 3rd down everytime just to get a first down, your offense probably isn’t in a good spot to go for it on 4th.
September 27th, 2022 at 10:08 am
I didn’t think Gage had completed the 3rd step or football move on his fumble. I would have challenged whether it was a catch.
September 27th, 2022 at 10:09 am
Does not matter if you can catch and get open if you just hand the ball over to the other team. Gage is supposed to ball out when he is the featured receiver, because he gets paid to do so. This guy shows up gimpy, and is very slow to catch on. He needs to step his game up.
September 27th, 2022 at 10:10 am
Inspiration via accountability, you do something that deserves an atta’boy, you’ll get it, but it’s a coaches job to communicate what more they want from their players considering it’s on the staff to keep the players aware of the teams standards. Gage bounced back in the same game, which was much needed, but “hey bro” you can’t be coughing the ball up anywhere in any game, because ball security should be a point of emphasis.
September 27th, 2022 at 10:11 am
The connection with Brady is the important thing. Building chemistry going forward is the most important thing. Yeah the fumbles sucked but when they get their full receiver rotation going it’s going to be hard to defend. Add Beasley in that rotation also. Give it time.
September 27th, 2022 at 10:12 am
After Packer game in post game interview, Rogers said the Packers figured they’d need 21 to win. Little respect for Buc’s offense.
September 27th, 2022 at 10:21 am
He did grip the ball a lot harder after that fumble. Hopefully that was enough for him to not make that mistake again.
September 27th, 2022 at 10:26 am
At least he was available and produced…but yes, TO’s are a Gage of productivity too
I mean, Bill Parcells could say Scotty Miller’s best ability right now is availability and be true…but how much does that really mean right now re: him. At least Gage was productive though is a key difference to not discredit or discount and heap a tiny bit of praise
September 27th, 2022 at 10:26 am
Gage is a fine player and will be fine.
But I wish Boron would regularly use a WR in motion – fast motion – to break away from the press. And it also gets the defenders moving laterally. But he’s the Boron, stubborn and knows best.
September 27th, 2022 at 10:47 am
Almost everyone fumbles at one time or another, heads up play by the defense. We still almost won that game despite the frustrating offense. 2-1 with the chiefs coming up as well as all of our weapons. I’m hoping for 3-1 start for the first quarter of the season
September 27th, 2022 at 10:54 am
I see why Coach would make those comments; however, Gage DID respond to his fumble in a great way by catching a critical TD later. He got lit up on his TD catch and at first he seemed to get up wobbly.
His fumble was a big error, yes – but did he bounce back and perform? Yes, he did, according to this fan.
September 27th, 2022 at 11:22 am
Tampabaybucfan-
You’re better than that
September 27th, 2022 at 11:51 am
There’s a page right out of the Bruce Arians media playbook from Bowles.
Perriman’s fumble took points off the board.
September 27th, 2022 at 12:05 pm
yeah Gage has potential we need more hurry up offense and more focus from these players BETTER PLAYCALLING to fit these wideouts on the field since scooter miller doesn’t work anymore lets get the guy on the practice squad in–cant think of his name
September 27th, 2022 at 12:18 pm
The fumbles were only the easiest things to remember. Lots of off things for our offense in that game.
Get it back to basics and cut the penalties first, then get Gage some help. He had a good game, but nobody needed a safety floating down on them.
Work one receiver too hard and he will be double teamed with someone really trying to punch the ball out.
September 27th, 2022 at 12:24 pm
TOs are TOs. PERIOD!
Those two fumbles were costly. So, as “productive” as Gage was, he deserves the criticism.
At least he can catch. Dare I say, the same can’t be said for some of the other WRs on the field that day. (Ahem, Scotty!)
September 27th, 2022 at 1:30 pm
That’s why teams & coaches need to get out of this stupid analytics mindset & take the points when they can because if we would’ve just been able to get at least three on one of those drive we more then likely win. Just hurt with Evans out. Even if they just had Godwin or Julio in there they probably would’ve won.
September 27th, 2022 at 1:44 pm
Even if they put Keyshawn or Antonio in there they probably would’ve won, too! Yeah there’s a perfect WR duo.😃
September 27th, 2022 at 1:56 pm
Maybe while they’re in Miami they can find a way to sneak Tyreek out of Miami & leave Miller Perriman & Gage down there instead.
September 27th, 2022 at 3:17 pm
This why Gage and Perriman are second and third tier receivers.
September 27th, 2022 at 3:47 pm
It’s like when Humphries fumbled and lost that Bills game – I always hated him after that, I never let it go. That’s Bowles now.
September 27th, 2022 at 4:00 pm
You could argue that those two fumbles killed to potential scoring drives. At least two field goals. Would have made the difference in the end.
September 27th, 2022 at 4:29 pm
That sucked and it was a huge mistake but he is known to be very sure handed, he’ll be fine.
Perriman, on the other hand, drops too many to throw in a fumble as well
September 27th, 2022 at 5:46 pm
We harp on the fumbled which we should but what about going for it on forth and short in scoring territory and getting stuffed. Ko Kieft did a damn good job the previous two games at fullback blocking for Fournette, but I don’t think they had him lineup one time on offense at fullback against Green Bay. Did Leftwhich forget how to make in game adjustments?
September 28th, 2022 at 8:49 am
My hopes were to be 2-2 or 3-1 given all the injuries. It is what it is. The schedule gets easier and key guys will be coming back. But it’s a long season and a hard slog. And there likely will be some surprise teams that do very well. Going to be hard for the Bucs to be dominate.